I tensed when Gojo guided me through the lively city, the other two boys tagging along. We came to a stop and I could hear trains running so I knew we were at the train station waiting for the other student. I stared ahead with a blank face.

A face I had taught myself to make a long time ago. A face I hadn't had to use since I had moved into a new home with Gojo. A face I never thought I would have to use again. I should have never been so careless. Nothing in this world is good.

We stood waiting on the busy platform until someone came up to us. They all did introductions and I tuned out everything around me. Go back to your happy place, go through the motions again. Only I couldn't, I couldn't find my happy place. I could only think about how it felt to have my body not under my own control once again. I never thought that my master would do that to me.

I didn't notice until we were stopping but we had started moving again. I could feel cursed energy radiating around whatever was in front of us.

"There's a curse here." It was my master that said it, but I'm sure everyone knew it. "I want to know what all of you are capable of. Think of this as a field test. Nobara, Yuji, you two will go inside and exorcise that curse."

I could hear their footsteps as they made their way towards the building.

"Oh. One more thing. Don't let Sukuna out." My eyes flickered up when he said Sukuna's name, but I quickly looked back down to whatever I was looking at. "If you use him, you'll get rid of all the curses nearby in a flash."

Gojo and Fushiguro sat outside the building. Fushiguro suggested that he go with them, but he was quickly shut down.

We sat and watched. They obviously saw something that I didn't see, which would be everything, because Fushiguro seemed panicked as he said 'I'll exorcise it.' I'm guessing that means the curse escaped the building, but how would I know.

They came out of the building with a child and we ended up taking the poor thing home. Nobara was muttering the whole time about getting into foul moods when she is hungry.

—

They all arrived back at the school and went to their respective rooms. (Y/n) and Gojo however went to his office. She stood behind him and to the side a little while he sat at the desk looking at a letter that had come in.

"A special grade curse has appeared out of nowhere. They're calling it the womb curse. Hmm... I'll be gone...

"(Y/n)-Chan, do you think you'll be able to watch over those three if they go to fight this curse?"

"Yes master." Her voice was almost silent but he heard it loud and clear. It rang through the silence like a bell. He knew he messed up.

He never wanted her to address him like that. He knew those words by heart, he knew what they meant, and how he had changed her mind. Those were the only words she ever said to his father.

She was ordered to stab herself in the leg: "Yes master."

She was ordered to betray her husband and bed another: "Yes master."

She was ordered to cut her ear lobe off: "Yes master."

She was ordered to kill an innocent baby: "Yes master."

He never wanted to hear her to say that to him. Of course he noticed her blank expression that she had all day, but he didn't put two and two together. He didn't recognize it as the face he saw all those years ago in the kitchen after a beating, he didn't recognize it as the accepting face he saw when he was forced to punish her that one time. Only because he hadn't seen it in so long.

His chest felt tight. He had just betrayed her trust. She had finally started being a little bit of herself around him and he unintentionally made her close right back up.

"(Y/n)-Chan... I'm sorry." This was coming from a man who had never apologized once before in his life. But her face remained the same.

"I had to command you. If I didn't then someone would have found out what we were doing and we would both be in huge trouble. I know you hated it and I do feel bad, but I don't regret it. I had no other choice. Do you understand?"

He was hopeful that he had cleared things up, he didn't want to feel guilty like this any longer.

"Yes master."
"No."

Her eyes darted back and forth in confusion and a little bit of anxiety while her eyebrows raised. He had never been angry before, he had never raised his voice before, he had never punished her out of his own decision before. She was getting a little scared at this new development in his behavior.

"I don't want you to act like I'm some terrible person because I was trying to keep us both out of trouble."

She didn't know what to do at this point, she was acting how she was taught to act, why was that not what he wanted? How should she be acting? What does he want from her? This was how she was supposed to be.

"You know, I don't like it when you think I'm going to hurt you all the time. I guess I really will have to punish you."

Her breathing stopped, it was like her body shut down. If she could just be how he wanted her to be, she wouldn't be getting into trouble. But she didn't understand, did he not want her to listen? She was being obedient and doing exactly as she was taught, so why was she getting in trouble.

"Go stand in the corner."

...

"Huh?" Her body relaxed but her face scrunched in confusion.
"That's your punishment. Go stand in the corner."
"Umm... I-I do-don't... uhh"

He smirked at how easily he fried her brain.

"Well? Corner, I'm waiting."

She put her hands out and felt along the room, trying to find the wall without falling over. He sighed and got up from the chair. He walked the three steps that she had made it and lightly grabbed her shoulders. He took notice of how her muscles tense up but chose to ignore it.

He guided her to the corner of the room and gently pressed her forehead against the cold wall.

"And now you stand there until I say you're done."

He could feel her confusion as he sat back down. But he knew that he had to get her trust back and he knew that being gentle was the only way to do it.