There was silence for all of a second before the room burst into motion. Despite everything he had been through today, the fight, the injuries, the ridiculous expenditure of curse energy, somehow Jiki still managed to match Satoru, and they were on their feet a heartbeat later. He began to move, feet leading him past the door Maki had burst through, before he felt a hand clamp down on his shoulder.
He looked up into Satoru's gaze and read older Gojo's intentions without a word passing between the duo. He gave a single nod of confirmation, then he braced himself, and a split second later, he felt it. A pull, as the very fabric of space and time was pulled apart and re-stitched together. Then there was a crack and a pop. A heartbeat later, Jiki was standing in a familiar room. A room he had only stepped out of barely minutes ago.
His eyes catalogued the chaos of upturned strollers and beds, then he focused on the figure resting her back against the wall, two students behind her, helping to put pressure on the wound. Mai and Emi. Where were the rest of the students? Most importantly, where were Todo and Yuji?
"Shoko," Satoru called out, his voice soft as he immediately moved towards his old classmate, adding his hand to the others' futile attempt at stopping the bleeding. Yet a sudden spurt of blood that stopped shy of splashing on Satoru's face showed the attempt as useless. His cousin focused, his brows furrowing deep.
"I don't suppose you've suddenly learned how to heal others, have you, Satoru?" Shoko rasped out in a half-laugh. Satoru's silence as he furiously pressed against the injury was enough of an answer. His actions displaced the two students, and they shifted, allowing him to crouch by his friend. Shoko let out another gurgling laugh in response. "It's not your fault, you bastard. It was bound to happen sooner or later. At least Geto left before me, which meant my plan of picking the healing gig to increase my lifespan worked well enough." The woman finished with a bit of gallows humor.
Her free hand stretched out and Satoru instinctively deactivated Infinity to allow her cradle his face with her blood-stained hands."You're not dying here, Shoko. I've pulled enough miracles, I'm not going to stop now." Despite Satoru's words, Shoko only let out a chuckle.
"Come on, Satoru, we are too old and too jaded as sorcerers for this. There's a reason why you've not bothered teleporting me to a hospital. I'm too damaged to survive your particular brand of transportation, and you can see my injury well enough with those eyes of yours. It's too deep. So do me this one last favor."
Her hand left Satoru's face, slipped into her coat pocket, where she brought out a pack of cigarettes. Her hand shook, the blood loss getting to her. "Just light me a cigarette so I can go out as a badass instead. At least then I can tell you all about whom you've to obliterate to avenge me."
Satoru ignored her words as well as the cigarette that had fallen beside him. Instead, his head snapped to the side, facing Emi and Mai. "Why is her cursed reserve so low?" It was a stupid question. They all knew it. Shoko was no fighter, but she was a healer. The healer. After a fight like this, she was the one everyone went to to recover, and the older woman was not stingy with her prowess.
Considering how draining the reverse curse technique was, especially with her mediocre reserves, the only reason she managed to heal as many as she usually did was borne of long practice, experience, the utter focus and disregard of every other thing that had to do with jujutsu. Jiki had not seen the woman do so much as a simple reinforcement to her body. Sometimes he wondered if it was a binding vow she had made. But above all, it was her insane ability to completely deplete herself of her curse energy to heal others.
He refused to let her die because of that, so he stepped forward. "Satoru is right, Iieri-san. You're not dying here," he finished as he crouched beside her, taking a stick out of the cigarette pack and slipping it into her lips. His words drew attention to him, distracting Satoru from lashing out further. A quick flex of curse energy manipulation, transforming curse energy to heat, ignited the butt of the cancer stick.
Shoko somehow managed to draw in a deep breath before exhaling. Jiki and Satoru noted the faintest whisper of smoke coming out of her midsection. The injury was deep enough to reach her lungs. The only reason she could probably even talk still was owing to her prowess at the reverse curse technique.
"Is that my favorite little genius and matchstick in one white-haired combo?" she asked as she tried to look at him, but her pupils had begun to expand. Her eyes shaking in their sockets and unable to focus on him, the blood loss was getting worse. "I suppose this is what you saw when you were losing your sight." She noted with a far off tone. "I admire how you carried yourself despite it."
"That's enough, Shoko," Satoru cut her off sharply. "Save your breath." Then he turned to Jiki, and Jiki saw his cousin for the first time as fragile. It was not anything he said; it was the way his body tensed. The way his features shook. Gojo Satoru was the strongest sorcerer the world had seen for centuries, yet for all his strength, he had been unable to learn how to apply the reverse curse technique to another.
He looked at Jiki with blindfolded eyes and asked a question with tight lips, gnashed teeth, and no words. Can you do it, Jiki?
He didn't reply with words; he simply pressed his hands against the injury and focused. If he were in this same position a day ago, it was nearly certain that they would all sit down and watch Shoko Iieri, the greatest healer of a generation, die. But the Gojo Jiki of a day ago and the Gojo Jiki of right now were a world of difference.
"Hold on to this." He passed Satoru the wrapped satchel he had recovered during Mahito's flight before refocusing.
"Reverse Curse Technique"
With his new and enhanced understanding of curse energy and its manipulation, thanks to the black flash and his domain expansion, Jiki was able to further translate, interpret, yet paradoxically separate curse energy from the more familiar chakra and its manipulation he knew. There were differences which made it difficult to recreate the more complex past jutsu's. However, enough similarities remained for Jiki to try something novel.
Transferring chakra between shinobi was still a difficult skill, and one every ANBU was mandated to learn. Yet sorcerers didn't seem to bother with it much, though it was also the first step of healing for iryo-nin. Uchiha Itachi was no expert. He knew the basics theoretically, but that was all. Gojo Jiki was no expert either, but unlike his past life, he had more than theory this time; he had practice. Combined with his ability to transfer energy, he immediately went to work, slipping his cursed energy into Shoko's body.
He was not explicitly sure this was how it was traditionally done; he was no learned healer, so he took his time. The method he used was curse energy manipulation-intensive. Slipping his cursed energy into Shoko's body was surprisingly easier than it was for chakra. Perhaps it had more to do with the makeup of the two power systems. Chakra was a mixture of the body, soul, and mind, and when it sensed an intruding chakra, it acted defensively, like a white blood cell. Curse energy was not nearly as hostile.
His spread of curse energy allowed him to scan her body on a fundamental level, and then he focused it. Concentrating all his curse energy on the gaping and gushing wound in her side, then like a switch was turned, a flex of his curse energy as he shifted negative to positive, and Shoko's injuries instantly began to heal. Starting with the heart. While the delicate organ had not been outrightly hit, it had been bruised badly by whatever attack had struck her.
Then he went to work mending her ribs, forcing them back into shape and reforging them. The next step was the lungs. Already, he could feel an ache in his guts. His curse energy had been low already, and if he went any further, he would drain himself dry. Then he remembered Satoru's face, and he remembered his promise a long time ago to share the burden of the strongest with him. Sharing that burden meant complementing him. If Satoru could not heal, then Jiki could become the best healer in the world just for him.
With a grunt of effort, he squeezed himself dry, forcing out every drop of curse energy in his body, an act that forcefully cut off the flow to his Sharingan, then he pushed it into Shoko, transforming it into positive energy as well as he drained blood out of her lungs, inflated it, then recycled that blood through her body, replacing the one she lost instead of the more intensive act of creating a new one. Then, ignoring where muscles should've been regrown, he began to seal the skin instead, stopping more blood loss, when all of a sudden, he lost connection as his hand fell to his side, limp.
His eyes opened blearily, and he was greeted by Satoru's blue eyes, yet for the first time, they didn't look eerie. Satoru looked between him and Shoko with wide, surprised eyes. When had he taken the blindfold off? Jiki asked himself deliriously. Then he forced his neck to turn to Shoko, and for a second, he held his breath. Had he failed?
Badump.
The sound was low, nearly nonexistent.
Badump.
Yet, regardless of that, it was there. Her chest rose the slightest, then fell with each heartbeat, while her head hung down, unconscious. Only then did Jiki finally manage a smile, as he looked back at Satoru and spoke with a whisper. "I told you that you wouldn't stand alone for long, didn't I?"
Satoru's eyes widened, growing wet as he let out a laugh. Jiki didn't hear the rest before the darkness clouded his vision and he sank into unconsciousness.
x
It was not often that Gojo Satoru found himself here, considering his capabilities. However, he disliked it. The flickering white light above, the smell of disinfectant in the air. The low moans of the sick and the dying. Gojo Satoru disliked hospitals, yet for the past day, he had not stepped out of one.
He sat with arms folded along his chest, his head tilted back, and his legs crossed. Anybody would've mistaken him for sleeping, but beneath the pitch-black glasses that covered his eyes were red-rimmed blue eyes that stared at everything, waiting for an enemy foolish enough to strike.
"How is he?" Shoko called out from her bed in the room. He turned slightly towards her to show he was awake.
"The doctors say he's fine. Exhausted but fine." Shoko simply nodded in response, then she made an attempt to stand, but her shaky feet sent her back to the bed, so she changed tactics by pressing her hand on her chest. A second later, when she made to stand again, it was with a firmer stance.
"I thought I was going to die," his old classmate started with an amused smile on her lips as her hand trailed beneath the hospital gown she wore.
"You would've," Satoru admitted with an uncharacteristic grunt. Shoko turned to look at him, surprise written on her face, before she burst into chuckles.
"That dour look and somber air does not fit you, Satoru. Not even you can have it all." He remained silent in the face of the jibe; his mood would not change. Could not change. Not until Jiki woke up himself.
Shoko walked up to the other bed in the room and ran her hands through Jiki's hair. "He's grown so much." Her voice was a whisper, and it brought back memories of the past. Memories of a better time. A much simpler time. When their enemies were clear, their friends distinct, their goals obvious, their path straight. Now everything was ambiguous, their friends… Geto dead.
"I remember when he still chased after us when he was so little, always with that somber and serious face. I'm not surprised he beat you to figuring out applying the Reverse Cursed Technique on another person. Unlike Jiki, you're simply a fraudulent genius. How no one has found out yet is the big surprise." This time, the jibe managed to coax out a smile from his lips.
"I think he learned more than the external usage of Reverse Cursed Energy," Satoru said as he refocused his eyes on Jiki's sleeping form. "The other students said they saw a black barrier form over where he had his fight. Considering the details available, I'm going to assume he finally figured out his Domain Expansion." Satoru replied with no small amount of pride. Jiki would hardly be the first to figure out his Domain expansion this young, regardless, what had been his little cousin's biggest obstacle - his inability to project his technique into a barrier - was no longer an issue.
Satoru wasn't sure why, but he was certain it had something to do with his eyes. Something about them must have disrupted the part of his brain where regular techniques formed, which inversely turned his eyes into external technique storage, similar to Yuta's Rika. It was by watching Shoko heal those eyes and the technique attached to them that he got the faintest idea for something new.
Satoru shifted his focus to Shoko. "How are you?" She turned to him and gave him a half-lidded smirk. "Jiki focused his healing on the most damaged parts. The essential parts that would've killed me were what he prioritized. It's not the best work I've seen, but considering the circumstances, it's more than I expected from him. Better than even my first attempt at healing someone else." Satoru quirked up a brow.
"Healing yourself is easy," she continued. "Your soul remembers the shape of your body. It acts as a template, guiding your cursed energy as it goes to work. It's different when it comes to healing another. The person's cursed energy might not get in the way, but the soul does not answer to foreign cursed energy. For simple injuries like a cut or a stab, it's easy to fill the wound with positive energy. More complicated injuries require skill, experience, and knowledge."
Satoru nodded along. This highlighted many things. It didn't suddenly gift him with enlightenment, nor did it bless him with the ability to perform the Reverse Cursed Technique on others, but it was valuable knowledge all the same.
"Now that you've recovered, I want to know what happened," Satoru said as he changed positions. He leaned forward and steepled his hands beneath his chin, his head tilted down just enough to let him peer at Shoko even while seated. She was silent for a second, still stroking Jiki's hair.
"I'm worried about your reaction and what you would do."She started, and Satoru remained silent. The only sounds in the room were the flickering of the light above, the whir of the machines, and Jiki's slow, measured breathing. It didn't take long before Shoko began to speak once more, unable to endure the silence.
"Jiki brought an unconscious Itadori Yuji and Aoi Todo to me a few hours ago. It didn't take me long to treat their injuries. The most serious was Aoi's broken spine. Then, a few minutes after Jiki left, while I waited for the other students to arrive with their own injuries…" She chuckled darkly, her gaze distant. "It came from the last person I expected."
"Former Principal Gakuganji," Satoru guessed. Shoko turned to him with a brittle smile that highlighted the dark circles under her eyes. "Former, eh? Who would've thought you finally managed to kick the old fogey out of his beloved seat?"
Satoru shrugged. "He overstepped. I saw the opportunity and took it. His summary execution was only delayed by the extremely convenient attack on the school." He trailed off in thought.
Shoko nodded in response, but Satoru could tell her heart was not in it, as she continued speaking. "Anyway, he came in, and I allowed it. That was when he struck. I don't even know why he bothered with subterfuge. I would never have been able to slow him down. All the old bastard had to do was wave that damn walking stick in my face violently, and I would've let him take the boy. I'm not even a fighter, goddammit." Shoko's voice burned with outrage.
Satoru almost chuckled at her fury, ignoring her lie. Shoko Ieiri was as nonchalant as they came, but he doubted she would've simply stepped aside and let the former principal cart off with one of her patients. "He attacked you because he knew it would slow everyone down and divert attention from him, even if it was only temporarily," a hoarse voice interjected dryly.
Satoru's head snapped to the side, and he ripped off his glasses, his lips curving into a grin as wide as a greatsword. "Jiki-kun, you're awake!"
His cousin groaned like a man thrice his age before shifting into a seated position. Satoru was beside him in an instant, helping him sit up. A second later, Shoko moved swiftly, filling a glass with water before helping the younger Gojo drink.
"How long?" Satoru asked, his smile unwavering. His eyes studied his cousin intently. There was nothing new, unless one counted the refined flow of his cursed energy. Jiki still had the most malevolent cursed energy signature Satoru knew, second only to the King of Curses himself, and most of that negativity stemmed from his eyes. Yet somehow, his cursed energy manipulation had improved even further, becoming downright sublime.
"Long enough," Jiki answered, easing the cup away from his lips and leaning back with a sigh.
Satoru nodded. "I agree with Jiki-kun. Unlike the rest of the higher-ups, who've probably never seen combat, Gakuganji has been an active sorcerer most of his life, only stepping back somewhat when he became principal."
Jiki nodded. This time, Shoko voiced her confusion. "The question is why? I would've understood if he just killed Yuji, it would've made his escape easier without turning me into collateral damage, considering he's been pushing for it for ages. But kidnapping the kid makes less sense, especially when you consider how much he pushed for the boy's execution."
"The answer is simple," Jiki said, swinging his legs over the bed as he channeled cursed energy into his eyes. The dull gray irises shifted into menacing whirling wheels in an explosion of cursed energy, he seemed oblivious to. Then he turned to them. "Gakuganji is a tool, a puppet on clear strings, acting as he's bidden. The real question isn't why he kidnapped Yuji. It's why his puppet masters made him kidnap Yuji."
Satoru leaned back as realization struck. Looking past Shoko's confused gaze and into Jiki's knowing eyes, he understood immediately. "We're going to have to call another meeting immediately. This... this changes everything."