Chapter 04: Childish Rebuttal
The 4 first years had been sent on a mission to exorcise a potential 1st grade curse that had been born inside a school.
The higherups deemed that it was possible due to the fact that the batch of first years held 2 grade 2 sorcerers, so they sent all four for safety measures.
"We could've exorcised the curse much quicker if we attacked it from both sides, like I said," Fushiguro commented, and (Name)'s brows furrowed.
"Well I said that we should've attacked it from one side together instead," (Name) countered, "It worked, didn't it?"
"Yes, it worked," He spoke, "But then it only needed to guard one side with cursed energy instead of two at the same time. We would've gotten it quicker."
"We didn't have time to map out the school. We don't know how long the pair of two would need to get to the other side of the curse, since it took up all the space in the hallway. Not to mention how there are other curses here."
"Minor curses. They wouldn't be a problem for any of us."
"But then we don't know how long they would take to get to the other side. The other two would need to last until then."
"A matter of only lasting is simple," Fushiguro replied, "We were already told that this curse in particular was slow, but it's attacks hit hard. That's all we had to look out for."
"Geez, you guys really just argue everytime you talk, huh?" Kugisaki sighed, Itadori trotting towards the two boys.
"Come on you guys! We got the curse, didn't we?"
(Name) huffed, turning to the side as Fushiguro internally sighed at the act.
Kugisaki rolled her eyes. "You two can keep fighting it out. I'm gonna go outside and find Ijichi."
Itadori frowned, not too fond of the air that surrounded Fushiguro and (Name) as he turned towards Kugisaki. "I'm coming with you."
Once the two other first years had left, (Name) and Fushiguro were left staring at one another, e/c eyes clashing with dark blue ones.
They both remained silent, neither wishing to further engage in the conversation.
The silence was defeaning. (Name) was about to turn around and walk away, before his eyes widened.
The strong presence of a cursed spirit could be felt, and he felt his hands instinctively reach up to shove the black haired male away, a hand breaking through the roof of the building and grabbing him. It's grip on the h/c was tight, and (Name) felt like his body was getting crushed. He gritted his teeth, his eyes going wide as he felt the curse's long, sharp nail stab into his stomach. He hunched over in the curse's grasp, and blood flew out of his mouth at the sudden attack.
"(L.Name)!" Fushiguro's hands quickly formed the shape of a snake, Orochi breaking through the school's floors and grabbing hold of the curse's hands that quickly released the h/c haired male, allowing him to fall to the ground as he clutched onto his stomach, and his wound, "Are you okay?"
"I'm fine," (Name) mumbled, coughing up a bit of blood as he bit at his lip, "What happened to Yuuji and Nobara? Are they okay?"
"They're okay," He glanced out the window, biting at his lower lip at the sight of them battling a curse in front of the school. It was only a 3rd grade- nothing too major. Now he looked over at the curse that stood before them. It seemed although it were some sort of horrific sludge monster from a movie, having defining arms and hands that only seemed to make it more scary.
A first grade. Again?
The only reason they had defeated the first grade 1 with ease was due to the fact that there were four of them, all in perfect condition.
Had this curse been hiding it's presence? It was quite skilled in the feat, managing to evade being recognized by the 4 sorcerer's until the very last second.
"Shit...," (Name) clenched his jaw, blood slowly trickling down his chin.
"Stay back," Fushiguro spoke, rushing to (Name)'s side as he sat the injured sorcerer up against a wall, "I'll deal with this one."
The e/c eyed male was about to protest, ready to stand to his feet before falling back down on his butt, going back to clenching onto his wound that hindered him from properly moving.
"Demon dogs," Fushiguro summoned, a black dog appearing at his side as (Name) reached over, biting his tongue to keep him going as his fingers gently hit the creature.
"Artemis," (Name) blurted, the woman appearing at his side as she took aim at the curse who had begun to walk forwards. She pulled the string back, an arrow appearing as she shot, the cursed spirit seemingly unphased as it continued to drag itself forwards, leaving a residue of slime on the ground where it walked.
"It has some sort of armor," She spoke with caution, slightly surprised since it looked although it would have a softer surface, judging from it's appearance.
"(L.Name), get out of here," Fushiguro demanded, "Go get down to Itadori and Kugisaki."
"I'm... not leaving," (Name) scoffed, glancing down to see a stab wound that almost resembled a knife, blood slowly oozing out of the injury.
"It has some sort of armor, right?" Fushiguro asked, his left leg sliding back as he got into a fighting stance, "That must mean it has a weak point."
"Artemis, help him find it," (Name) glanced up at the woman who slightly frowned.
Hesitant at the sight of her injured contractor, she sighed. "Very well."
The demon dog pounced at the curse that simply shrugged it off as if it were nothing more than a mere bug. Artemis shot again, the arrow simply bouncing off aswell as it hit what she assumed was the curse's armor.
The curse glared at Fushiguro whose hands formed the shape of an owl, his voice firm. "Nue."
The owl-like shikigami let out a loud screech as it dashed forwards, it's wings producing a purple electricity as it hit the curse, seemingly doing no damage against it.
The curse lifted it's arm, bringing it's arm down in Fushiguro's direction as he was about to dash to get out of the way before he felt it.
He couldn't lift his feet. He glanced down, eyes widened at the sight of the slime that had been attached to his feet. When did that even get there?
"Fushiguro get out of the way!" (Name) yelled at him, standing to his feet as he almost stumbled over himself.
"I can't move-!" He replied, and Artemis dashed in front of him, lifting her bow and arrow to face the palm of the curse's hand that was about to collide with him. The arrow appeared, shooting and only barely managing to gouge a bit of it's flesh, "What are you doing? You're gonna get hit!"
The hand of the curse came crashing down, and (Name) lifted his hand in her direction, crossing his fingers as she seemed to turn into a bright green light, retuning back to the h/c who was now standing, being supported by the wall. The curse's hand had barely missed him- it had probably changed it's target to the Goddess right before, and (Name) must've noticed.
"Fushiguro, get me it's blood!" (Name) called out to him, and he didn't bother to question it, instead looking over at the two dogs who gave a small head nod, snarling and baring their teeth before jumping at the curse and sinking it's teeth in the small wound that had been inflicted by the arrow previously. The black dog had been hit away, while the white dog retreated to the injured sorcerer who was against the wall, it's teeth slightly stained with the purple blood of the curse.
Fushiguro turned his attention back to the curse before him, still unable to move his legs as he lifted his arms above his head in attempts to take the least amount of damage as possible.
I need to take this hit! Fushiguro thought to himself in an attempt to steel his resolve. The curse's arm had lifted once again, letting out a low grumble as it's hand came flying down, cursed energy filled in the palm of it's hand.
Fushiguro felt his blue eyes clench close, ready to embrace the hit as he gritted his teeth. He could feel the shadow of the curse's hand looming over him, slowly approaching.
Before he heard it.
An annoyed grunt from a male.
"Tch. Annoying."
Sword clashed against the palm of the curse's hand, a tall man stood in front of Fushiguro. He wore a heavy chest piece with two swords at his back as he held a different one in his hand, a dark red aura surrounding him.
"Who are you?" Fushiguro questioned the male who scoffed.
"Save the introductions," The male replied, pushing the curse's hand off of him with pure strength.
The mysterious man clicked his tongue, before jabbing his sword into the small wound that had been created by Artemis, blood gushing out.
The curse, in a fit of anger, redirected it's attention to the h/c haired male who clenched his jaw in place, unable to move out of pure fatigue. Fushiguro immediately noticed how (Name)'s breathing was slightly erratic, heavily panting as he seemed to struggle to stay awake.
The man who had saved Fushiguro moved to stand before (Name), gripping onto the handle of his sword.
"You exorcise it," He spoke, lifting his sword in the direction of the curse, "I'll protect (Name)."
Fushiguro blinked, before the windows had suddenly broke, nails jabbing into the curse's back which were quickly deflected, as Itadori jumped up, using his sword to cut at the curse, which also did no effect.
More nails were shot in the curse's direction, one stabbing into the small wound in the palm of it's hand as that nail slowly went deeper into the curse, it's eyes widening as it slowly began to crack.
"Gama."
5 toads appeared at his side, holding the curse's hands and arms down with their tongues as Itadori attempted to cut at the curse once again, where one of the cracks on it's body was forming. It seemed to effect it more after Kugisaki had used her technique.
As the nails slowly broke at the curse's slimy skin, Kugisaki shot more that dug deeper into the cracks and slowly spread throughout it's body, the curse crumbling in on itself and leaving nothing but a pile of purple blood on the ground.
Fushiguro let out a sigh of relief when he felt that he could once again move his legs, the man who had saved him now facing (Name).
"If you die on me, Artemis won't let me live it down."
"I won't," (Name) replied with a small pout.
"Now who are you?" Fushiguro asked, and the man turned to face him, eyes slightly narrowing.
"Ares. God of War. I've heard quite a bit about you, Fushiguro."
Fushiguro nodded. "It's nice to meet you."
"Ares the God of War?" Itadori slightly tilted his head to the side, "Sick!"
He recalled (Name) telling him that he was going to go for Ares as his 4th contract. Did that mean he had 4 shikigami's at his disposal?
Already?
"Come on guys," Kugisaki called, standing idle on the pavement, "Come down here. We need to get (Name) to the nurse."
"Coming," Itadori called back, and Fushiguro walked towards (Name).
"(Name), I'm heading back now," Ares spoke.
"Thanks again Ares," (Name) managed to smile. Fushiguro walked towards (Name) who had his eyes downcasted, looking down at his bloodied uniform. Fushiguro allowed the male to wrap his arm over his shoulder for support, and (Name) did so, "... You're not hurt, are you?"
"I'm fine," Fushiguro frowned, "You have it worse."
(Name) bitterly chuckled. "I'll be fine soon enough."
"... I'm sorry about arguing with you about the first curse."
(Name) shook his head, his eyes slightly turned downwards. "No, I'm sorry. I was the one who started the argument in the first place."
~
His wounds were tended to, but he still had bandages that wrapped around his stomach. Fushiguro stood outside of the nurse's room, his arms crossed over his chest as he leaned back against the wall, eyes peeking around the corner to see (Name) sitting on a bed in the nurse's room, Itadori and Kugisaki at his side.
"I'm fine," (Name) reassured, and the pink haired male pouted at his bedside, while Kugisaki only nodded.
"You don't look fine," Itadori countered, and (Name) chuckled.
"You worry way too much," (Name) smiled- a genuine smile that Fushiguro hadn't seen for quite some time at Sukuna's vessel, "But thank you."
"You're supposed to be getting a check up soon, aren't you?" Kugisaki questioned, and (Name) pondered for a moment.
"In an hour. But I feel fine!" (Name) grinned.
Fushiguro took a deep breath. He got this.
He reached for the door knob, grabbing hold and forcing himself to push the door open. The scent that was similar to that of a hospital filled his nose, and he made his way towards (Name) who had turned to glance at him.
"Fushiguro," (Name) spoke, "Is something wrong?"
"I'm just here to check up on you," Fushiguro replied, standing in front of (Name)'s bed, seeing as there was no other chairs in the room for him to sit, "Are you okay now? How's your stomach?"
"I'm fine," (Name) chuckled, "My stomach's healing well, thanks to Ieiri."
"That's good to hear," Fushiguro let out a small sigh of relief.
"Oh yeah!" Kugisaki reached over to the table beside (Name)'s bed, grabbing the deck of cards and placing them in Fushiguro's hand, "What was that game you guys were playing before?"
"A game we made as kids," (Name) laughed, "Actually, Fushiguro, I'm surprised you remember it.
"I forgot about it until we played," Fushiguro confessed.
"How do you play?" Kugisaki asked, and Itadori chimed in.
"Yeah, I was trying to figure it out and I couldn't."
"You want us to teach you how to play?" (Name)'s brow raised.
"We can play a game and explain it through that?" Fushiguro offered.
(Name)'s eyes narrowed. "You wanna lose that badly?"
"... You've never beaten me before."
(Name)'s cheeks slightly puffed out. "Huh? Yes I have!"
"Because you cheated."
"No I didn't!" (Name)'s mouth went agape at the accusation (although it were true), and Fushiguro nodded in fake acknowledgement.
Kugisaki and Itadori smiled at the two's friendly, childish argument.
"Okay, come on you two!" Itadori grinned, "We only have an hour before (Name) has a checkup."
"I can beat him in 10 minutes. Watch," (Name) rolled the sleeves of his hospital gown up, and straightened his posture.
Fushiguro sarcastically nodded, and (Name) irked when he did. "Right."