「e n e m y」gojo s. x reader [book 5]

⊳twenty

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chapter twenty: mind fuck

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"Tell me more about those people."

Isamu paused when he heard the girl's voice, looking away from the cooking eggs on the stove. She stood in the doorway of the kitchen, a deep frown on her lips. He frowned a little at the dark circles staining under her eyes. The man sighed, rolling his sleeves up as he rolled the egg in the rectangular pan. Sora looked at the tattoos lining his arms.

"What do you want to know?" He asked.

"Who are they?" She walked into the kitchen, leaning against the counter beside him.

"The people chasing after you are called the Blackstorm. They're part of an organization that takes contracts if the pay is good enough," Isamu said, sliding the finished egg onto a plate before pouring some rice into a pan. "Their work varies from stopping robberies, helping bounty hunters, finding missing people to kidnapping and assassinating."

"How do you know all this?" She asked.

"I was part of it," He replied simply. "The leader's name is Maddox Miller. He took people who were orphaned or had their parents assassinated and turned them into his 'children'. He took advantage of weakness and turned it into power for the worse. I hadn't realized it before, but he was using jujutsu the whole time."

Sora frowned. "Mind control?"

"In simple terms, yes," He said, turning his head to look at her. "Maddox was caring in the start; he took care of us and made sure we had everything. He was slow with our training, but he made sure we knew everything. By the time you hit fourteen, if you couldn't fight, you got killed by the other kids. And this was because he drilled it into our minds that only the strong were fit to survive."

Isamu turned, plating the three meals. He handed one to Sora and walked to the table, calling for Kota. The boy jumped up from the couch, the jingling from the dog's collar following after as the canine jumped to follow after him.

"When I first came to Maddox, I had no idea who I was. Somewhere from what my father did to me, to when I regained my memory a few years ago, I had no idea who I was. I would have flashes here and there, and I would write everything down so I wouldn't forget it. It seemed like everyone in that place had a terrible memory," Isamu said, taking the bowl of dog food from the table and placing it down on the ground. "When Maddox found out I was slowly breaking out of whatever trance, he got pissed off. I was one of the few assassins he had left; he didn't want to lose me. So he started doing things to try and get me to stop. Then one day, I remembered everything, and I was ready to leave. Maddox wasn't happy, so he labeled me as a rebel."

"Those people that were found dead," Sora muttered. "Were they rebels too?"

"I suppose I set an example," He said. "People starting breaking out of the trance and becoming aware of what was really going on. I've managed to keep away, but they weren't as fortunate. There is a handful more that have survived away for the last few years, but I have a feeling we're going to be in the same boat soon enough."

"Is that why you're helping me?" She asked.

"Hm, not entirely," He replied, looking down at the black and white shepherd dog at his feet. "You've already lost a lot, Sora. We may not have known each other for long, but I want to do what I can to prevent you from losing anything else."

"Why?"

Isamu seemed to think for a moment. He scratched his jaw, rubbing over the scar there. After a minute, he shrugged.

"I don't like seeing the past be repeated."

Sora looked at him. Slowly, she nodded and looked down at her food. She stirred the rice around with a spoon.

"So what do I do? Go after Maddox?" She asked, looking up at him.

"Maddox isn't the one leading the attacks against you. There's someone else out for your blood, and from what I've been gathering, it isn't your clan."

Sora's eyebrows pinched together. "But...I thought you said—"

"I was wrong," He shook his head. "It doesn't make sense to me. "They may have something to do it, but they're playing from the sidelines. I have a rat on the inside, who still works for Maddox. I'm going to get in contact with them and ask them for whatever contracts include you, and any of your friends' names."

She nodded. She looked at Kota, who'd been silent the entire time. She could tell he was homesick, just by the way he'd been clutching the toy Satoru got for him when he was just a baby, and how he'd been sitting in front of the TV, watching reruns of the show he did with Y/n.

"I'm sorry about what's happened to you," Isamu said, making Sora glide her eyes to him. "I don't know how close you were with them, but I understand it hurts. I want you to take your time before we get into this. You need to have time to grieve."

"I don't want to grieve," She said, tightening her hands into fists. "I want to get back at whoever killed them. I want to beat the shit out of whoever took Kameyo."

"It's fine to—"

"Crying is going to get me nowhere," She said, clenching her jaw. "Whining and mourning don't bring anyone back. I should know. I've seen enough people do it."

Isamu sighed softly, knowing that she was speaking of their mother. He hung his head, brushing his hand over his short black hair. He placed his half-eaten plate on the ground before standing up.

"Finish eating," He said, taking a cheap phone from the counter. "I'm going to make that call."

"Nee-san," Kota said, making the girl look over.

"What?"

"Why did Mama ignore us?" He asked.

Sora looked down. "She's..."

She couldn't help but feel anger swirl in the pit of her stomach. She had been ignoring them. A part of her knew that it wasn't her fault, but the majority of her emotions began to attack her. Why did she ignore them? Sora was hurting too. Even Kota. He wasn't even allowed to see their father before they left. She remembered the boy standing outside of Y/n's room, holding his pillow and blanket because he had a bad dream and wanted to sleep with her, and watched as she turned away and closed the door. Kota had slept with his sister that night.

How could she do that? Sora understood her mother was in pain; scared of losing her husband. But what about her children? Had they suddenly vanished to her? She couldn't understand. And it pissed her off.

"She's selfish. That's all."

Kota put his hands in his lap. "Mama made me sad.."

Sora placed her hand on his head. "Me too, bubba. Me too."

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