[M/N][L/N]
"It's fine, I can do it myself" I stated
"I don't think you can right now" Nanami pointed out to me
"No, I've done first aid like this before, could you pass me the alcohol and the wipes? I would use the reversed technique but I'm way too low and I suck at it still. I was training four hours and gardening before I followed Itadori onto that mission. Domain Expansion is a pain to practise" I said as he passed me the alcohol.
"How often do you practise in a day?" Nanami asked
"When I'm training, so two hours in the morning and four at night but I can only repeatedly practice until three hours at night." I stated
"Where did you learn first aid?" Nanami changed the topic
"My mother" I said with a small smile
"She must be a nice lady," Nanami replied, noticing the change.
Propping myself up slightly, I lifted up my shirt to expose where I had taken the most damage. I agreed with Nanami's words about my mother before continuing. It was only to my side along the usual small cuts I would get from being thrown into a floor which have healed up with the ones on my face that happened from the glass. I sighed at Itadori being so reckless before wondering how those miniature cuts healed so fast. Did I have a healing factor since learning the reversed technique?
Sighing, I pulled out the alcohol and started carefully cleaning my wound. Wincing at the pain, I made sure it was done properly once more before asking him to past me the ointment and cream which I lathered onto my sides. I didn't need bandages so I just pulled back down my shirt and laid back down while we waited for Itadori. Hopefully he wouldn't take too long
Knowing him, he's going to come see the corpses immediately which is where we were at. Nanami went ahead to sit on the couch as well since he was tired. I decided to clean up his cuts too which he initially refused before accepting. Thankfully, his injuries weren't too bad which showed how skilled he was. He still winced too at the feeling of burning antiseptic on his side but the rest passed by quickly as I bandaged his wound. I apologised if it hurt but he reassured me that it was better.
"Your mother did a good job of teaching you how to bandage" Nanami stated
"Yeah, she had to otherwise our neighbours would point it out. It'll be a big surprise if she sees how good I am at this" I bluntly said
"A big surprise? You only came recently to Jujutsu Tech" Nanami examined me for a moment before asking
"Oh yeah but I haven't seen her since I was possibly 7." I stated bluntly.
"Were you staying with your father then?" Nanami asked
"No way, he's still getting milk" I smiled slightly.
The look of silent shock he gave didn't startle me but confused me. I remember Itadori's grandfather doing the same. I didn't understand why. It's normal to do that. I was old enough to and they loved me so I was alright with it. I miss them a lot but they taught me not to complain. It's normal. Some other children did it and we were called hochigo children. Itadori's parents weren't really there for him too so I didn't get the big deal. I mentioned offhandedly that even Itadori didn't have his parents around but he had his guardian his grandfather.
Speaking of the devil, Itadori arrived at that moment in a new outfit. Black jackets look cool on him. He looked handsome. Nanami got up and went to lean forward against a railing. He had no lectures to give to people who saved his life which made Itadori question it. The explanation was that since Itadori entered the Domain, Mahito ended up touching Sukuna's soul even though Sukuna never swapped in. I wondered why Mahito got attacked so brutally.
Silently, I watched while drinking the juice. It wasn't technically Itadori who saved Nanami then. It was just Sukuna's whim. Well, maybe Sukuna did have a reason but Sukuna wasn't interested in anyone currently so I didn't get it. The spiral downhill of Itadori questioning death and asking what a proper death was something unusual. He was growing mentally. He was still going to save people and try to give them proper deaths from what Nanami said before leaving. Well until Itadori understood what a proper death was and killed Mahito, he wouldn't lose.
"(M/N), I'm sorry for hurting you" Itadori apologised
"It's fine, tis but a scratch. Plus, you were the one with holes in you. Take care of yourself more." I brushed off, laying back down.
"(M/N).." Itadori trailed off
"I'm fine, I forgive you. I'm just thinking about things right now" I turned away
"Like what?" Itadori asked
"Why does 5x2=10? Why am I such an idiot to not realise how useless I am? I wasn't even able to co operate with you.. why can't I even do that? Oh yeah, why does American sliced cheese like the ones that come in plastic square packets so weird?"
"You're not useless (M/N)"
I felt my legs get moved slighty so Itadori could sit down. His hand rested on his lap while sighing heavily. I didn't bother saying anything because I was still thinking. Was 5x2 really 10? Why? I felt Itadori's hand brushing softly against my hair. I sighed softly at how nice it felt. Eventually, Itadori started talking again. He told me he wouldn't be so reckless anymore so he won't lose.
I agreed with his words before asking if I could stay with him tonight. I was too lazy to get Ijichi or even walk back myself. I could hear Itadori laugh a bit of my laziness before moving to pick me up over his shoulder. I was so tired, I wanted to see Ieiri so we could practice but I was out of energy. Itadori pointed out because I trained too much.
"But the results aren't showing" I mumbled
"I don't think so, maybe you haven't applied yourself properly" Itadori hummed
"Don't use big words on me, I'm really dumb remember, I'm dumb farmer boy bumpkin." I reminded.
"No, you aren't. You're forgetting that your not a vessel. You've been seeing curses longer than me but you only developed a technique a few months ago right?"
Nodding my head, I let Itadori cheer me up and appreciated that he did. He's such a good person. He dragged me to the room he watched movies in where he laid me down on the couch. Blinking, I realised my shovel wasn't with me and groaned at that. I would go get in in the morning for now I just wanted to sleep, all my muscles hurt. Right as I was going to drift off, Itadori put a blanket on top of me and a pillow under my head, he wished me goodnight with a smile. I told him to lean down and he did so since he assumed I wanted to whisper something to him. Quickly, I gave a quick kiss to the cheek before turning away.
"That was for you and Sukuna... goodnight kissie, I don't know if Sukuna sleeps or if he likes kissies but he gets one because he helped today" I mumbled sleepily
"You must be really tired, you usually do this when your sleepy" Itadori's light laugh filled the air
"Mhm, I always give my cat hugs and kisses to his head but he doesn't want to come out right now so I kissed you instead. I'm really tired, goodnight"
[Third]
Itadori lay on his bed while (M/N) peacefully slept on the couch. He tried asking Sukuna why he did what he did. For once, Sukuna was willing to answer but left him hanging somewhat. It's clear he did that because Mahito did something he didn't like but what was that? Eventually, Itadori gave up while Sukuna was left to smirk at how good it felt to put someone in their place. He warned him not to put his filthy hands on his gardener and he means what he said. His thoughts were suddenly brought to the goodnight kiss. He got it because he did good? Well maybe a good act here and there wouldn't hurt.
He may be planning to take over the world but who's to stop him from having a proper person by his side. His mind was taken back to someone similar he wanted in the past by his side but died before he met them. He couldn't recall exactly how that person died but it wasn't a peaceful death supposedly because the people ruined his garden. He heard they died with a cat in their arms. The cat was then said to be a curse that roamed. The family line of that clan slowly disappeared because their heir had died. The similarities were there but that was all.
The image of (M/N)'s lips kissing his cheeks distracted him and he let his mind have a bit more perverted thoughts. Once he got back his body, he was going to take (M/N). Having someone by his side to build the garden of corpses was a brilliant idea to him that he was still extremely fond of. The unintentional hilarious blunt responses (M/N) had to the way he was treated like a human by the other despite being a curse.
"This disgusting feeling... I hate it. I want to kill him so badly now. I should, this weakness shouldn't be tolerated. It's not the same feeling as the others I've had in the past before when I fucked them. I hate it, I really should kill him for making me feel this way but at the same time I don't want to. I'll kill him when the time is right."
A/N: Will Sukuna really kill (M/N)? Possibly? I love how Sukuna is questioning how he's feeling because if you read the manga, he has basically no warm emotions so I like to think he banters on whether to kill (M/N) when he's starting to fall for him. Thanks for reading! 2k words wow, good job readers!
Also a hochigo child translates to left alone child based on my research and its a very common problem in Japan where parents work so much and basically abandon their children onto neighbours to provide the children with snacks and food. In fact those neighbours will typically refer to that child as a Hochigo child to not bad mouth the child. The neighbours only do this because they feel like the parents are wasting their resources and being extremely irresponsible. There was even a quote from a parent, the one that doesn't care for their kids that if their child is out after dark and alone then its the child's problem to navigate the trains alone as well as strangers and they don't care. It's a big problem in Japan so I wanted to bring that up in the story since it is set in Japan. Its a fine line in the media's eye between parental abandonment and raising children the Japanese way. I'll go into more depth about this topic in future.
As to the first aid kit scene, yes, it's a hint that (M/N)'s mother was abusive but not to the extreme you all think. In fact sometimes, it's parents that will physically hurt themselves to guilt trip the child and if the child gets hurt in the process then they need to cover it up which is why (M/N) is good at first aid. He's still been physically abused though. It's hard to notice these details but they do exist. I wanted to show that abuse its just physically but can be done through emotional manipulation.
This will lead into me explaining why (M/N) still loves his parents despite what they did and the coping mechanisms he has. I hope you all start seeing more of the hints I drop.
The next two chapters are the tinker bell one to avoid the story from getting too dark but we will be exploring a bit more of (M/N) before the next arc begins.
Thank you for reading, stay safe.