If you get a second chance at life, do you become someone new or just a better liar?
Yami Zenin woke up in a crib, he felt warm under heavy blankets.
The crib swayed, so did he, his eyes darted around as panic set in.
'I survived... shit.' The thought hit him hard, surviving meant he had to go through with his plan.
He tried to move his body, 'No need to second guess myself.'
Then reality struck.
'W-what?' He waved his hands and legs, only to find that they were tiny
He looked up, the wooden ceiling loomed above, it looked ready to fall at any time.
'No, this can't be happening.'
He slapped the blankets wrapping him tight, but all that came out was a soft pfft.
He didn't survive, he was elsewhere, in someone else's body.
'Please... Please, let me go. I'm so sorry, please...' Tears spilled from his eyes before he could stop them.
'Mom, Dad, I'm sorry. I promise I'll pass the exam this time, just let me go back... MOM! DAD!'
But all that came out was a pathetic, trembling, "Wa... wa... wa..." The sound made him sick. he was trapped, he couldn't even scream for his parents; he could only cry like an infant.
He was trapped in a body that was not letting him mourn, and soon the reality of the situation settled in.
'So many people would kill for a second chance. Why not them? Why me? I had a life.' As he thought that, his eyes grew heavy, and his tiny heart felt like it was breaking all over again.
'No, maybe... not.'
****
An old man who looked like he had played checkers with Jesus walked into the room. He stared at the baby in shock, and his whole body shook.
Another elder came in right after him. He picked up Yami, but his arm was shaking too.
Yami knew that look right away.
It was the same look a teacher gives a student who just got a perfect score on the hardest test. No one had ever looked at him that way before, still, he recognized it. He had seen it on other kids.
"Inform the clan head," the first elder said, his eyes shone with real reverence. "Tell him the Zenin clan has been blessed."
He glanced at the name written on the crib. "What a pity he is an orphan. Yami Zenin, do not worry. Your life is about to change."
'Jujutsu Kaisen,' Yami thought the moment he heard the word Zenin.
'God, can it get any more cliché than this,' he thought and made a small tsk sound like a doctor.
Soon more people came into the room. The cursed energy coming off Yami was so strong they all took a small step back.
"Truly extraordinary," one of the elders said. "The Zenin clan has found its heir."
But another elder patted him on the back.
"Don't get too happy yet, he might have a useless cursed technique. We need to wait and see."
"Maybe you're right," the first one answered.
'This feels familiar,' Yami thought.
****
He was five when they finally stopped running, when his parents found him.
Survival on the streets was brutally honest. You fought to eat, you fought to sleep.
It was tough, but it was simple, anyone could survive if they wanted to badly enough.
But when he finally found a family, the simplicity ended, the comfort became a cage.
He wasn't smart nor was a prodigy and because he wasn't specal, they decided they would have to build him.
"Don't worry, son," his father said, gripping his shoulder to tght. "You'll be an engineer, you'll bring us prestige."
"No," his mother countered, her voice cutting through the air. "He has my hands, he will be a doctor like me."
"He will—"
The arguments stacked up like bricks, one after another.
Every day, a new expectation laid on top of the last.
No one ever asked what he wanted.
'Before knowing them, I forgot how it feels,' Yami realized, looking down at his small hands.
'Todo something just for yourself.'
That freedom didn't cost anything on the streets but here, it cost everything.
The memory faded, snapping him back to the present. The Zenin elders loomed over him, eyes wide with greed treating him like a lottery ticket they'd won.
Giving them all a sharp side-eye, Yami thought.
'Try your best, this time, I am not doing it for you.'
'I will live for myself.'
[A/N: thought I would upload this tomorrow. If there are any issues with anything, please do tell me.]