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Yuuji lay half dead against the bathroom wall as his opponent fled. He needed to get out- get to help- he couldn’t defeat the special grade, but he might be able to escape. But he could barely move. Every part of his body hurt, but his limbs were starting to go numb from blood loss. Something- something wasn’t right, but he couldn’t figure it out. Aside from his numerous organs that were damaged- he felt like there was something he was missing.
He looked at his legs. Normal.
He looked at his hand. Normal.
Wait. Hand. Singular.
That would explain why he was losing so much blood.
That revelation was the last thing he remembered.
His head hurt. His torso hurt. Everything hurt.
Shibuya. Special grade.
Gojo.
Gojo was sealed. He had to get up now. He had to spread the word, and continue fighting, because without Gojo-
He panicked and tried to get up before someone pushed him back down. He noticed he wasn’t on the ground, but instead lying in some sort of hospital bed.
Shoko
“Kid. Itadori. You need to calm down,” She said. She sounded way too calm for what Yuuji knew of the situation.
“Gojo,” Yuuji rasped out. He struggled harder. He didn’t want to hurt Shoko, but the situation could wait any longer.
“Shit! Stay down Yuuji, you’re still severely injured,” This didn’t calm Yuuji. He struggled more. It was uncoordinated, and sluggish compared to usual.
“Gojo,” He said again, “Sealed.”
“Gojo’s fine,” Shoko began to say but was interrupted by Yuuji.
“Gojo!” He tried to yell. “Need to-”
Yuuji began to cough. His throat hurt, and his voice was hoarse.
He was flailing at this point.
“Shit! Hold him in place, I’m getting Gojo,” She said.
Yuuji felt someone else pushing his shoulders back down. He continued kicking. Whoever was restraining him felt warm- even hotter than a fever. They were saying… something in an attempt to calm Yuuji, but he couldn’t hear it anymore. He couldn’t hear it over his own heartbeat, his own breathing. He was about to try and kick himself into a standing position when-
“Yuuji!” A panicked voice called. That was not Shoko. That was- That was.
Gojo stood in the doorway to the infirmary. It couldn’t be- he’s-
“Gojo-” Yuuji rasped again. Suddenly, Gojo was on the other side of his bed, holding his hand.
Well, almost holding. It was Gojo . It really was Gojo.
Yuuji started crying. The hands on his shoulders let up, and Yuuji began to sob into Gojo’s uniform. Gojo let him- let him touch him, get his tears and snot and everything all over him-
“Sensei-” Yuuji gasped.
“Yuuji- Breathe. Do you know where you are?”
“Shibuya- special-” Yuuji coughed again. It felt like he hadn’t spoken for years.
“You’re at Jujutsu Tech,” Gojo said, gently squeezing Yuuji’s hand. “It’s been a week since the attack on Shibuya.”
“But- you- sealed,” Yuuji continued stuttering.
“You think they can contain me that easily?” Gojo said and ruffled Yuuji’s hair.
Yuuji looked around the room. Shoko was standing on the other side of the room from Yuuji. Gojo sat on one side of Yuuji’s bed and on the other-
The Special Grade
“Gojo- he-”
“Your brother got you out of the station. They- the curses behind it were about to make you consume about 10 fingers, but he got you out before then. You’d lost a lot of blood and had hit your head pretty hard.”
“Brother?” Yuuji asked. The special grade stood up.
“I deeply apologize for what I have done to you during the attack, little brother,” The Special Grade said. Gojo wasn’t fighting him- was letting him stay by his side- Yuuji couldn’t imagine what could have happened for him to gain their trust.
“You were in pretty rough condition when he got you to Shoko. Several of your organs were punctured, you were bleeding from your head, and you’d have bled out if Choso hadn’t intervened,” Gojo continued. Yuuji remembered that the Special Grade - Choso, Gojo had called him - had some sort of technique related to blood, which may have been what Gojo was referring to. “and your hand-”
“You're stressing the kid out,” Shoko interjected. She was chewing gum and looked as if she hadn’t slept in days. “You’re alive. Your classmates are alive. You’ll mostly recover, although I couldn’t do anything for your hand.”
Hand. He remembered something happening to his hand. He looked down. At his hand. Singular.
His right hand was gone entirely. The wrist too. The stump was covered in bandages.
It hurt. His hand hurt. His hand- How hadn’t he noticed this when he woke up?
“It was already gone by the time you got to us. Beyond that, you’ll probably make a full recovery,”
“What about- the others-” Yuuji interrupted her.
“They're fine. You were injured the worst out of your classmates. They’ve been checking in on you every day.”
“Can,” Yuuji coughed again. “Can I see them?”
“Tomorrow. Don’t want to stress you any more than you already are. Your condition is still pretty bad. You’ll be out of commission for a month, a least.”
Yuuji nodded. He couldn’t imagine training or fighting right now. Not with how his hand- his entire body-
Shoko said something that Yuuji couldn’t process
“Yuuji- are you with me?” Shoko asked. Yuuji nodded. “Could you point to what level of pain you’re experiencing right now?”
Shoko was holding up a printed piece of paper with a numbered scale. There were words on it. Yuuji was pretty sure he was reading them. Yuuji pointed to “8” on the chart.
“Shit. I wish we could give you painkillers, but they wouldn’t affect you,” She said.
She handed Yuuji a small bottle of water.
“Drink this. You haven’t been drinking very much since Shibuya and you’ll need to stay hydrated for your recovery.” She said.
Yuuji was too tired to say anything and allowed Gojo to pour the water into his mouth from the bottle.
“Tired,” Yuuji mumbled. “Hurts.”
“You can sleep now kid,” Gojo told him, ruffling his hair again.
Hurts. Tired. Gojo is here. He doesn’t need to fight anymore.
Fushiguro was there the next time Yuuji woke up. Gojo had left, but Choso hadn’t.
“ -shuro?” Yuuji mumbled.
He was able to sit up. Fushiguro didn’t look injured beyond his left arm in a sling.
“Itadori,” Fushiguro said. He looked like he was… crying?
“You’re okay,” Yuuji quietly said.
“I am,” He said
“Kugisaki?” Yuuji asked.
“She’s safe too.”
“Can I see her?” Yuuji asked
“Let me text her.”
Yuuji gave a weak smile.
Soon, Kugisaki had joined them, much to Choso’s discomfort.
She was much more injured than Fushiguro. She had several, mostly healed burns on the left side of her body, and she wore an eyepatch over her left eye. She was using a cane on her unburned side.
Yuuji smiled wider.
Kugisaki saw Yuuji staring at her eyepatch. She chuckled.
“The eye is gone,” She said. “I was thinking about adding a heart so it’ll match my hammer.”
She was alive. They were alive. Yuuji hadn’t realized he’d started crying.
“What happened- after I was knocked out?” Yuuji asked quietly.
“The Prison Realm- what they tried to seal Gojo in- couldn’t contain him. Once he got out he was able to figure out the situation from Mechamaru and Choso,” Fushiguro said.
“Choso- Gojo said he was my brother,” Yuuji asked Fushiguro.
“You’d have to ask Gojo about that. We don’t know the details. but Gojo seemed pretty convinced.”
There was silence for several minutes. Yuuji continued to look at Kugisaki’s injuries. She noticed this.
“Patchwork almost got me. Me and Nanami finally exorcised him before anything too bad could happen,” She said. She sounded somewhat proud.
“The cane?” Yuuji asked.
“Did something to my hip in the fight. It’ll heal soon enough,” She said and gave him a somewhat smug smile.
“Could you- tell me- about things that happened? Need- need a distraction,” Yuuji said. His hand was burning. His hand he didn’t have.
So they told him. They told him about how Maki, Nanami, some old Zenin man, and Fushiguro exorcised one of the special grades. None of them were too injured, except for the Zenin man who died. They told him about how the second years fought against the Volcanoe head curse together and nearly completely exorcised him. They told him about how Kugisaki, Nanami, and Gojo managed to finally exorcise Mahito. They told him how Gojo killed the plant curse before he was sealed.
“ ‘s anyone else hurt?” Yuuji asked.
“Inumaki messed up his arm. It’ll heal, but will take a while. Maki was burned pretty badly by Jogo but is recovering. Panda was hurt but was easily mended. I- I don’t know about most of the Kyoto students. Todo was hurt and Mechamaru-” Kugisaki’s tone suddenly changed. “He was dead before Shibuya.”
His friends. They were okay. People were okay. The curses were gone. Everything was okay.
Over the next day or so Yuuji became more and more lucid. He was pretty sure he had a normal amount of blood in his body now. His hand (Wrist. Stump. Empty space.) still hurt, but the pain was becoming more manageable. His head had stopped spinning. Yuuji was even able to start eating solid food again.
As he grew more aware, something stuck out to him; how is he brothers with a curse? What does that mean?
Yuuji hadn’t been human since he ate Sukuna’s finger. But now, he realized he may have never been human to begin with.
Now that he was no longer delirious from a head injury, Shoko had said it was alright for him to handle learning about ‘the situation.’ Whatever had happened, it was serious. Serious enough to make even Gojo feel the need to handle it with tact.
“So he’s really- really my brother?” Yuuji asked, gesturing to Choso. Choso nodded.
“Based on what he’s told us, I’m convinced it's true,” Gojo said. “A non-human parent would explain how you’ve been able to contain Sukuna.”
It was Choso who spoke next.
“Did either of your parents have stitches on their forehead?” Choso asked.
“I- I don’t know. They- I was raised by my grandfather.” Yuuji admitted. “I never really knew my parents. I know my grandfather never really liked my mother but-” Yuuji was suddenly overcome with horror. “My mother. My mother did.”
“My father was not Kamo Noritoshi,” Choso began. “Not really. It was merely his body being used. The person leading the attack on Shibuya has lived for hundreds of years by taking over the bodies of those who have died. They transplant their brain into the body, which is why any body that they use has a scar across their forehead.”
Yuuji looked over to Gojo. Gojo knew something about the situation. He had to know something that would prove this wasn’t true. That this wasn’t always his fate-
“When I encountered Kenjaku in Shibuya, they were in the body of someone-” Gojo began, but then suddenly stopped. He took a deep breath in and continued. “They were in the body of someone I knew was dead. I could tell it was truly his body but- I knew it couldn’t be him. He’d never work with curses in that way,”
“Who-” Yuuji began to ask, but cut himself off. This was clearly a sensitive subject for Gojo.
“It’s alright, Yuuji. His name was was Geto Suguru. He was- he was once my best friend. We were the strongest, together. I don’t know what happened but one day- he killed an entire village. He decided all non-sorcerers needed to die to truly eliminate curses. He died about a year ago. The second years- they faced off against him basically on their own- so they might be able to tell you more. But I know it isn’t him. He’s dead. I killed him myself,”
“I’m sorry,” Yuuji said. “Why- why him?”
“He was a special grade like me. His technique was incredibly powerful- it allowed him to control and store cursed spirits- some of which were incredibly powerful,” Gojo’s voice grew quieter. “But, I think they may have done it to get an advantage over me. Not to trick me, they couldn’t- but to make me hesitate. And it worked.”
“You’ve never mentioned him before,” Yuuji said.
“I don’t like to talk about it- I should have been able to notice he was struggling before, I-” Gojo’s voice cracked. “I just don’t want any of my students to end up like him. Yuuji, promise me, that if you’re struggling, that you’ll reach out to me- to someone- anyone.”
“Sensei,” Yuuji said, struggling to look Gojo in the eyes (looking into everything, into the universe itself, seeing right through him.) “I promise.”
“You’re a good kid, Yuuji. All of you guys are. Much better than I was at your age.” Yuuji looked at him confused. “I don’t want you to have to live like I do. You deserve better.”
Yuuji looked to his… brother.
“Choso,” Yuuji began hesitantly. “Gojo, can I speak with him alone?”
Gojo looked reluctant to leave but relented.
“Choso,” Yuuji continued. “I- your brothers. How can you- how can you forgive me?”
“Would killing you bring them back?” Choso asked. Yuuji shook his head.
“Did you know they were your brothers?” Yuuji shook his head again.
“Would you have killed them if you knew?” Yuuji didn’t know.
“If they’d known, they would never have attacked you. Would you have killed them if they never attacked you?” Yuuji shook his head.
“You didn’t know. Kenjaku did. They deliberately pitted us against each other,” Choso said. “You’re a victim in this, just like they were.”
“Kugisaki,” Yuuji asked. “Do you- would you-” Yuuji couldn’t finish his sentence.
“Killing her wouldn’t bring them back either. I may not like her, but it would hurt you if she was hurt. I could not do that to you.”
“M sorry,”
“You couldn’t have known better. I’m the eldest brother, it was my responsibility to know.”
“S not your fault”
“If it’s not my fault, then it's not yours either,”
Yuuji wasn’t sure he believed him.
The next few weeks were… strange. Yuuji saw Shoko more in over those few weeks than he had since he came to the school. She’d come to check his vitals, change his bandages, and collect samples from him multiple times a day. His bandages had to be changed every day as well.
A few times, a boy from the Kyoto school came to help Yuuji. He did… something that helped with the pain of Yuuji’s amputation because drugs couldn’t.
Slowly, the pain became more manageable, and he was able to use his arm again.
There were some more… unpleasant things that he needed help with. He couldn’t get out of bed for the first two weeks. Shoko helped him with some of taking care of himself, but Choso mostly took responsibility for him.
It was definitely strange. One day you’re fighting to the death against someone, and the next he’s helping you use a bedpan.
Choso was very attentive. Overly so. If there was anything Yuuji needed- from food to water to his friends- Choso would ensure he had it. If anything seemed slightly wrong, Choso would ensure Shoko would be there soon.
Choso provided emotional support as well. Whenever the guilt got to him, Choso would comfort him. Even when it was nightmares about Eso and Kechizu, Choso set aside his grief to put his brother first. If Yuuji asked about their brothers, Choso would tell him. He spoke with such reverence, with such respect, that it almost hurt (Yuuji wondered, that if he was dead and they were alive, would Choso speak of him the same way?) Choso would listen to Yuuji ramble about himself and his life without complaint. About his friends, his teachers, his childhood, about training and Sukuna and movies Choso never could have seen.
Choso didn’t even complain when Kugisaki came to visit him, no matter how uncomfortable he looked.
Things got better. By the end of the year, Yuuji was up and back to training, although he was out of shape compared to where he was before. He was adjusting to living without his dominant hand. His friends’ injuries healed as well. Nanami, who’d received similar injuries to Kugisaki, would help take Yuuji to physical therapy once a week.
Yuuji returned to his dorm room, and Choso continued to stay at the Tokyo campus. Choso was helping the sorcerers to establish a plan to counter what Kenjaku had been planning. They didn’t know exactly what they were up to now, but Gojo had succeeded in exorcising Jogo and collecting all 10 fingers he’d had. The elders weren’t happy about Choso’s presence, but Gojo was behind him. And what Gojo wanted, he got.
A pair of twins- Geto’s adoptive daughters apparently- had joined the Kyoto school. They didn’t exactly like Jujutsu Society, but they hated Kenjaku even more. Yuuji figured they’d probably drop out once Kenjaku changed hosts or died.
The aftermath of Shibuya was difficult, but Yuuji had support from more people than he could imagine. He had his classmates, he had his Senpai (Okkotsu had returned to the country, and was able to understand Yuuji in a way no one else was. While Gojo (and Choso) promised they wouldn’t let him be executed, it still hung over Yuuji’s head.) Gojo ensured Yuuji was able to train back to his previous skill and strength. Nanami helped Yuuji understand growing older. Even the Kyoto students treated him differently, more kindly. Kamo Noritoshi, (the first time Kamo had met Choso was certainly… interesting,) had begun to spend time with both Yuuji and Choso. Todo… was there. Most of all, he had Choso. He had the best brother in the world (even if he didn’t deserve it.)
Kenjaku wasn’t gone. Their plans loomed over Jujutsu Society, Yuuji especially. But Yuuji was hopeful. They knew Kenjaku’s plan. Gojo was safe. They could win. They would win.