.・。.・゜✭・.・✫・゜・。.

❝ i might never forgive the universe for treating you so badly ❞

[ Honestly sort of wish I wrote this with Sirin's personality. Though it'd be the original one since I didn't pay attention to her personality in the bubble universe... I love her but it's captainverse and I just can't with it 😭 ]

┏━━━°⌜ 罪人 ⌟°━━━┓

Maki lunges forward, the weapon hitting against the curse's arms (which had blocked the attack aiming for it's chest) and knocking him all the way back into the forest.

The three jump down to the ground to chase after the curse.

Lifting up his arms, Fushiguro holds his hands together, forming a familiar hand single, "Demon Dog: Totality!"

The dog forms, notably larger than before as it's fur changed from being pure black to mostly black with white on some of its face and the bottom half of it's legs.

The dog runs forward into the river the curse was standing in, slashing it's claws at him as a large cut appears on his arm with two smaller ones next to it.

It's fast. The curse realizes, glancing down at his slowly healing arms. It's trying to take off my wounded arm first?

The sorcerer boy is in the forest with L/N... The curse glances off to the forest when—

SLASH!

The curse raises his arm just in time to partially block an attack from Maki, who had lunged towards him with a sword.

Fushiguro jumps over the curse, hitting it's head with the three-part weapon before landing next to Maki.

They both throw their weapons towards eachother, switching them before taking off towards the curse.

Their attacks were simultaneous, rendering the curse frozen as the two turn back to face it.

Y/N steps out of a portal to stand beside them, looking between them in awe. They're so cool!

"Please don't ever make me use that three-section weapon again!" Fushiguro implores with an exasperated look, "It's too hard to use!"

"It's handy once you get used—" Maki turns towards Fushiguro only for her eyes to widen when they land on him.

Y/N turns to look at Fushiguro as well, curious as to what could get Maki to go silent, eyes widened in shock at the sight.

"Megumi!" Maki exclaims instinctively, faces paling at the side of blood dripping down his chin as branches with pink buds bloom out of his chest.

Without warning, a branch shoots out towards them, hitting Maki in the shoulder once she shifts her body, it originally aiming for her chest.

Maki swings her weapon, shoving the branch out of her shoulder and into the river below her.

Y/N extends her hand to the side, summoning three lances as she observes the curse intently, cold sweat dripping down her face. When did he have time to attack Fushiguro? I didn't even notice...

"My strike was aimed for your heart. What a wonderful reaction." The curse hums to himself. "Jujutsu sorcerers are extraordinarily compassionate. An opening is always created when their ally is injured."

Demon dog lunges towards the curse form behind only for it to melt into shadows just before he makes contact.

It's destroyed?! Maki's eyes widen, gritting her teeth. No, Megumi released the technique!

"You shouldn't use cursed techniques anymore." The curse advises, "The bud embedded in you loves cursed energy. The more you use techniques, the deeper it's root will extend into your body."

"How kind of you to warn me." Fushiguro manages a sarcastic grin despite his sickly face and blood dribbling down his chin. "You're planing to kill us anyway, though."

"Apparently, it works faster when I explain it." The curse answers offhandedly.

Maki lunges forwards, swinging the staff towards the curse as it dodges, "You—"

The curse was forced to cut himself off as a lance flies towards him, it grazing the edge of his face as blood spills down before it quickly heals.

Taking the chance given to her, Maki aims another attack towards it, only to get knocked back.

Branches wrap around Maki tightly, holding her just above the ground by her neck and shoulders, nearly cutting off her airway.

"You're missing the edge you had earlier." The curse speaks, the branches squeezing around her painfully.

Suddenly, before anyone could react, two blurs of pink and beige jump down from the sky, landing between the curse and Maki.

The splash towers over the river before falling back down, revealing Itadori, who had punched the branch into the ground, forcing it to let go of Maki— who was being held by Todo bridal style.

"You good to go, my friend?" Todo asks with a large grin.

"Yeah!" Itadori responds, standing up properly as he get's into a fighting stance.

Huh? Y/N's head tilts to the side in a show of silent confusion. Since when were they friends?

Todo turns to face the curse, "Your strength is the one thing you've got going for you."

"Stop, Itadori!" Fushiguro shouts, "That's not something we can handl—"

Fushiguro breaks down coughing, snapping the girl next to him out of her stupor.

"Fushiguro?" Y/N frowns with a worried expression, crouching down beside him as she looks at the root still imbedded in his chest.

Todo walks towards their direction, "Panda."

Huh? Y/N thinks, only to turn and see panda standing behind them, answering her unasked question on what Todo was talking about.

"Yeah?" Panda asks, taking Maki from Todo, who had handed her over.

"Take those two and exit the veil. According to Nishimiya, this is an anti-Gojo Satoru veil, so we can come and go without issue." Todo explains, putting a hand on his hip casually.

"Wait!" Fushiguro interrupts with a shout, "Even you can't—"

"Fushiguro." Itadori calls, turning to look over his shoulder and smile at him, "It's okay."

Fushiguro pauses to stare at Itadori wide-eyed, a beat of silence passing over the six.

"Looks like you've realized it. Nobody is allowed to touch those who have started growing wings. And that's exactly where Itadori stands right now." Todo turns to look at Itadori as well.

Fushiguro stays silent for a moment before gritting his teeth and shouting at Itadori, "If you die again, I'll kill you myself!"

"Okay, let's go." Panda grabs Fushiguro, throwing him over his other shoulder. The two students now on each of his shoulders as he turns and starts to run into the woods.

"Pandash!" Panda exclaims, disappearing behind the leaves.

Y/N snorts, standing up before grimacing at the feeling of the wet bandages falling against her skin, wrapping around her ankles uncomfortably. Gross.

"Guess I can't afford to die now." Itadori grins widely, adjusting his arm as he puts a hand on his shoulder.

"Me and Y/N won't lift a finger to help, Itadori." Todo says, picking Y/N up by the back of her outfit as he holds her in the air like a mother cat would hold her child.

'Y/N'? Why is he calling me by my first name? Who even is this guy? Y/N's eyebrows furrow in confusion, turning to look at Itadori for an explanation.

Unfortunately for Y/N, Itadori wasn't looking at the two, staring at the curse infront of him with narrowed eyes.

"Not until you land a Black Flash. If you can't land a Black Flash, then I'll just watch you die, no matter what happens to you." Todo finishes with his tone serious.

"Got it!" Itadori nods firmly.

Sukuna's vessel and... Who is that man? The curse wonders, He has a certain presence, but the amount of cursed energy he possesses is most definitely less than mine.

However, he has that mysterious brazenness. He must have quite the technique, since I couldn't move carelessly before him. And what is this 'Black Flash'? The curse raises a hand as the tips of his fingers extend into branches. Now, how will they attack?

The branches form together at the tips, forming a ball of thin branches that slowly grows bigger and bigger.

"You can talk?" Itadori questions, tone blank and unreadable. "There's something I want to ask you. Are you allied with a humanoid cursed spirit who has a patchwork face?"

The curse stays silent for a moment before replying, "And if I say I am?"

Itadori doesn't respond, only swinging his arm down as a splash of water obscures their vision of each other momentarily.

He didn't carelessly close the distance. I commend him for that. The curse notices, swinging his arm as the ball of branches gets sent flying through the splash of water

Itadori dodges easily, darting forward as he kicks the curse twice in chest and once in the face.

He's fast! He has more explosive power than the girl with the glasses! The curse thinks to himself. However, its intensity is poor.

Its torso's wide open! Itadori realizes, looking at the unguarded torso of the curse, It's letting its guard down because I held back. I can land it now!

Black Flash! Itadori swings his arm intensely, only for the curse to jump back at the last moment, sliding away from Yuuji.

The curse summons branches behind him, curling into one as it stabs at the spot where Itadori stood. Itadori jumps back at the last moment, the branches stabbing into the ground.

"My friend." Todo walks over next to Itadori, Y/N still dangling in his hold as she looks down at the ground boredly.

Todo raises his free hand, slapping Itadori across the face; startling the two as they both look at him surprised.

"Anger is an important trigger for sorcerers. Sometimes they can be taken down purely because they accidentally angered their foe. And the opposite is also true. Sometimes they lose because their own anger disrupts their cursed energy, so they can't exercise their abilities." Todo explains, staring down at Itadori.

"Your friend has been wounded, and worse yet, they've rained on your honeymoon with me, your best friend, so I can really understand why you'd be boiling with rage." Todo explains with an understanding expression.

Uh... Y/N looks between the two helplessly, confused on what happened while they were fighting.

"But that rage is too much for you. Put it away for now." Todo slaps Itadori across the face again.

Are they fighting each other? The curse wonders, looking at the two who stood across the lake with confusion.

"Are those stray thoughts gone now?" Todo's lips curl up into a smile.

"Yeah, not a single one left!" Itadori puts his hands together with a energetic grin, "Thank you so much, best friend!"

Itadori walks out to stand in the lake across from the curse again, silence dawning on the two for a moment before they both lunge forward with impossible speed.

"Black flash!" Itadori exclaims, punching the curse straight in it's torso, his cursed energy flashing black. The water that they stood in rises up, blasted from the impact as it curls around them like a cocoon.

Wha— The curse can't even finish its thought as it gets pushed back.

"He's grown." Todo says with a proud smile, looking like a parent at their child's graduation.

"Yes...?" Y/N agrees hesitantly, looking at the boy holding her with a weird expression.

That was... Black Flash? Itadori looks down at his hands with his eyes sparkling in awe, This is my cursed energy, right?

"Now you understand the taste of cursed energy." Todo speaks, walking towards Itadori as the boy turns to look at him.

"Up until now, you've just been throwing an ingredient you've never tasted before into a pot and boiling it without knowing why. But after experiencing Black Flash and understanding the taste of your ingredient, your cursed energy, you stand on a completely different level as a chef than you did three seconds ago." Todo announces. "Congratulations, brother. You can become strong."

"Pft." Y/N covers her hand with her mouth before shoving Todo's hands off her, easily freeing herself as she moves to stand next to Itadori.

"Good job, Itadori." Y/N congratulations him with a smile, raising a hand to ruffle his hair shortly before letting it fall by her side again. "You looked really cool, I'm impressed."

"Thanks, Y/N!" Yuuji beams at the praise, an imaginary tail wagging behind him.

I had heard that Sukuna's vessel was immature as a sorcerer, but he, L/N, and this mysterious man... something about them is different from the other masses. The curse's hand which had previously been destoryed, heals itself.

"It can heal?!" Itadori's eyes widen at him.

"...?" Y/N looks at Itadori with a confused frown. "Cursed spirit's bodies are made of cursed energy. Unlike you guys, humans, we don't need a reserved cursed technique to heal."

"You... didn't know?" Y/N tilts her head to the side, "Injuries like that aren't really anything to Special-Grades. Though it does shave away at our cursed energy..."

"And if you crush their head, it's game-set." Todo adds with a nod, resulting in Y/N inching closer to Itadori as she puts a hand on her own head protectively.

"Now, shall we get cooking!?" Todo announces, grinning at the curse.

"It is would seem that..." The curse trails off, shedding the white cloth that had previously covered his arm. His arm was dark and had a red rose bud on the top of his shoulder, a hole through the center of his palm.

"I should take you three somewhat seriously."

.・。.・゜✭・.・✫・゜・。.

❝ 𝐈 𝐊𝐍𝐎𝐖. 𝐈 𝐖𝐀𝐒 𝐓𝐇𝐄𝐑𝐄. 𝐈 𝐒𝐀𝐖 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐆𝐑𝐄𝐀𝐓 𝐕𝐎𝐈𝐃 𝐈𝐍 𝐘𝐎𝐔𝐑 𝐒𝐎𝐔𝐋, 𝐀𝐍𝐃 𝐘𝐎𝐔 𝐒𝐀𝐖 𝐌𝐈𝐍𝐄 ❞