(Y/n)' s eyes shoot open while gasping for air. Akio falls back off his chair, coughing up blood, while also grasping for air.
"Why! T-That memory! Why would you force me to relive that!" (Y/n) shouts, holding her head in agony.
She glares at him from the corner of her eyes, despising the fact he forced her to kill the person she loved. From those emotions, she could feel hot tears cascade her cheeks.
"You arsehole!" She breaths deeply.
"I can't believe you did that!" She falls to her knees, holding her throat, still trying to grab a breath of air.
She felt the hot tears continue to drench her cheeks and neck, as the memory repeats itself over and over in her head.
She takes notice of Akio, staring at the floor. He looked confused, but also shocked at the memory. Not because of how he went around killing Sukuna, but because he planned it all from the day Akio implanted those curses in (y/n).
(Y/n) clenches her teeth, shaking her head while she watched him.
"How could you do that?" She silently says, waiting for his reply.
"...God dammit, Akio! Say something!" She yells.
"I'm sorry!" He yells back, his lungs finally getting the air he needed.
"No... I shouldn't apologise!" He says to himself, before locking eyes with (y/n).
"You forget, Sukuna was a mass murderer! Killing innocents wherever he roamed... You knew that obviously! Yet you believe he still had the right to live." He continued to yell.
"Be honest to yourself, (y/n). If Sukuna lived that day, and continued to live on for the next one thousand years. Do you believe the world would be the same as it is today...peaceful?" He sternly suggests to her, catching her by the tongue.
With wide eyes, (y/n) starred at him; disbelieved that he was right. She didn't want to admit it aloud to him, or to herself, but the love she has for him truly blinded her. She was somewhat...disgusted in herself.
After a long silence, Akio sighs, hanging his head, knowing she agreed with him. He shuts his eyes, taking one more large breath, before he lifts himself back to the chair.
"I thought so." He huffs.
"...(y/n), I know you care about Sukuna more then life, but... You need to understand, and I mean truly understand, that no matter how you see him. He goes against the laws of nature." He exclaims, watching her stare off into the distance, recalling all the memories she's had these past few days.
She takes a large breath, gazing out at the setting sun.
How long have I been missing... Akio took me about a day ago. And now that the sun is setting... This'll be my second day... Please hurry up Seiichi.
Suddenly a zap in her mind penetrates her head, causing it to scramble around like a migraine.
She heaves Over the bed, holding it has tight as she could. She clenched her teeth and groans with pains as Akio sat up from his chair.
He watched her shake her head countless times and ears burn red with illness. She continued to hovel around the mattress until she went completely still.
Like a light bulb going off in her head, she starred at the bed below her with hands covering her ears. Her eyes dart back and forth, as though she was watching something play in her mind.
"...Training Facility." She says out of breath.
"What?" Akio replies, raising a brow.
"My heart...it's buried beneath the Jujutsu Training Facility." She continues, taking her hands away from her head.
Akio was skeptic about her comment. Was she telling the truth, and if so how does she know?
Akio could see the cogs churning in her head, while a similar look she use to have from the past, peaked through her eyes. He widened his eyes, as the realisation hit him.
That was her final memory... don't tell me her personality from a thousand years ago, is present in front of me?
(Y/n) ignored the surprised look in his eyes and continued to explain to him.
"No one knows where my heart is, except for the person that had it near him the whole time." She lifts herself off the bed, while holding her head as pain continued to throb.
"The Gojo's and Sugawara's we're in possession with it for a very long while, and the only curse that stood by them that entire time was... Takibi. A cursed spirit who was part of the Sugawara clan before he died."
"That old curse! Seriously?" Akio says, disgusted.
"How do you know this." He continues.
"I do, and I don't. It's hard to explain." She frowns, confused herself.
"For one. I faintly remember him telling me in the past he was a Sugawara who was executed by the family head, and was cursed by his younger sister, turning him into a cursed spirit." She furrows her brow, as she tried remembering more.
"And two. About how I know where my heart is...Well. I have a memory, but it's not mine... I think Takibi gave it to me recently. So that when my final memory comes to pass, his will shadow it."
(Y/n) lends her fingers out, showing the same pose Akio would give her before a memory.
If I show him the memory, he will be convinced, right? I can vaguely remember and feel the amount of cursed energy Akio put into this 'spell' so maybe I can reflect his technique.
"You know how to manipulate the mind?" He asks, looking at her fingers.
"With my final memory, I know a lot of things." She frowns, her fear of Akio vanishing.
(Y/n) could feel her old self slipping away as her beliefs and reasons to live change, right in front of her. She was becoming the woman she was 1000 years ago.
She wasn't sure to be scared or happy, but she knew she didn't want to get rid of the person she became in this current era.
Akio shrugs his shoulders and shuffles towards her, sitting across from (y/n).
Her nails dig into the sides of his temple, causing his eyes to go white.
•••
- 20 years ago -
Takibi stood in a plain field of nothing. He looked out into the distance enjoying the calm scenery.
From the shadows, a fox trots over to his side. He takes the form of a human as he walks up to him so they were shoulder to shoulder.
"What is it?" Seiichi says, looking out at the scenery with Takibi.
However the curse didn't speak, instead takes a deep breath of the clean air. Seiichi frowns and glares over at Takibi.
"Don't waist my time, if all you're going to do is give yourself pollen allergies by breathing like that." Seiichi huffs, tucking his arms into his Yukata.
"Heh, sorry." Takibi laughs under his breath.
"I just feel like something is about to happen, and I want to conserve my peace before it does." He says, watching the trees blow over in the breeze.
"Your intuition is usually never off, so what is it!" Seiichi asks, his patience running thin.
"(Y/n)..." He says with a smile.
Seiichi's eyes widen at her name. It had been so long since the last time he heard it aloud. Though his shock was short lived.
He had been sending their signal since the day she died, not once has it showed up. Not even now in this new modern era.
"What about her." He says, playing it cool.
"I don't know... Hers and Sukuna's name have been repeating in my head for the past few weeks." He smiles, hopeful for the coming future; however, his brows stitch in a frown.
"So has Akio's though..." He finishes.
Seiichi glances at Takibi, unhappy with the last name he mentioned.
With the loud breeze that blowed past them and the long grass by their feet, Takibi glances down.
"Her heart... it was kept secret, so was her life beside Sukuna, because I made it so." Takibi continues.
Seiichi looks down at the grass with him, already aware with the influence Takibi has had in the Jujutsu world.
Because of him, a lot of history has been saved, but also a lot of it has been completely forgotten. It was Takibi's decision to see, what and who was remembered, and who was forgotten.
Not because it was his duty, but because he was the only curse close enough to one of the largest and most well-known sorcerer family.
Through the years, he's change the records ever so slightly.
He managed to erase Akio, (y/n), the secret war that started before the full scale war between curses and Jujutsu Sorcerers. Sukuna's feelings towards a human girl and more.
All to protect the identity of (y/n), but also to wipe the forbidden love between a curse and human girl. And finally to protect the power in (y/n).
These were things Takibi wanted erased from the history books. It was a history that shouldn't be told.
"I made it my mission after the Gojo's and Sugawara's freed me; to protect the heart that once belonged to her." His eyes went supple as he looks out into the field.
"And I like to say I've succeeded..." He smiles, looking down at the gravel that laid around the fragile heart of (y/n).
Seiichi raises a brow, knowing the heart was right below him, but he didn't understand what his point was, until Takibi continued.
"I'll be chained again soon. This time to the new Gojo kid, Satoru. So my freedom will be limited." His eyes darken the mood, unhappy that he has to leave this place.
"I can't protect her heart like this. So please... protect it for me. That is of course, until she returns." Takibi turns his whole body towards Seiichi, who's eyes slightly widened.
"I..." he staggered his words for a moment.
He had a thought linger in him for years. What if (y/n) lived a normal human life...What if I don't get her involved with Sukuna, or Jutsu?... But I'm not even positive if she'll even remember anything. So maybe... I'll just watch her from a distance when the time comes for her rebirth.
Seiichi exhales a large sigh. Excepting the fact he won't introduce her to any of this vile world.
"Alright." He answers, hanging his head as it scanned for doubts.
Takibi smiles to his response. They were both over a thousand years old, and have definitely changed. From it being how they appear to people on the outside, but also how they appear to each other on the inside.
Takibi was happy with the friendship he has with Seiichi and is glad that he had someone by his side this entire time.
"Haha, who knows, I might whisper little things into this Gojo kids ear to build a Training Facility of some kind, here in this field. That way for sure, no curses will be getting in and eating it; nor will Akio claim it, if the time comes." Takibi laughs at his own joke, watching the fox snicker with amusement alongside him.
•••
Akio pulls back after the memory goes blank, like a fade of black, blurting his vision.
"Hmph, manipulative son of a bitch." Akio laughs, rubbing the blood away from his temple.
"Obviously he convinced Gojo Satoru to build this—so called Training Facility " Akio continues to laugh, amused that Takibi grew into quite a smart curse.
(Y/n) knew that telling Akio where her heart was, was the wrong thing to do; However, now that the most important memories of her past have returned, her mind has changed.
If she was smart about this, she will devour her heart and consume the once power she owned so long ago.
Maybe, just maybe she will be able to defeat Akio. She knows he's powerful, almost as powerful as Sukuna, but now that she remembers how to trap a soul into objects, she was hopeful.
She could role reverse what happened to Sukuna, to Akio. Although... it will permanently rid her of her powers, or at least she thinks.
"Why tell me this..." Akio glares at her, suspicious to her acts, as he reads her facial expressions like an open book.
He wasn't sure what she was up to, but he didn't like it.
"I want my heart back just as bad, y'know." She says back to him, her ears turning red from the anger bubbling inside.
"All this time, my only wish is to spend my life with Sukuna... and because of you, I can't have it." She huffs.
"Sukuna is nothing but a soul in a high school boys body. Honestly. What can the great (y/n) do, to fulfil that wish of yours?" Akio says, keeping (y/n) from thinking about having a peaceful future with Sukuna.
"I can't... that's the problem." She turns away, knowing what will happen to him, has to be done.
"Living in this life, has retaught me about compassion and understanding of the innocent lives effected by curses." She takes a breath, before facing him again.
"I understand, that Yuji and Sukuna have to die, but..."
Akio watches her as she breaks down from the thought of killing Sukuna again, but also losing a friend she has made.
"I don't want it to happen... I know it's a selfish thought, but I can't bring myself to accept what the future has for him." She says.
Yemiko who had been watching them the entire time, gazes to her side.
She really is in love with him... how could a girl like her have the greatest and most powerful curse alive, to love her back? Yemiko thought.
"With my heart, with my powers. I will take any chance to use it, in order to find a way to seperate Yuji and Sukuna." (Y/n) declares.
"Being stuck in Yuji's body limits himself. He's constantly surrounded by high level sorcerers... if given a new body, then maybe he has a chance in escaping the sorcerers." She finishes.
Yemiko pushes herself forward, trying to butt into the conversation.
"Why don't you just feed all the fingers to the boy and have him eradicate the vessel." Yemiko says.
"Because that boy, is my classmate... I'd rather them both alive." She frowns, until Akio crosses his arms.
"Y'know I could just kill them both... what you're saying is pretty much giving me your plan." Akio grunts, stepping towards (y/n).
"Not before I kill you with my own hands." Her eyes narrow with a dark glare, staring at Akio who stood above her.
"Heh, heh." Akio laughs, amused by her anger.
"This time I won't hesitate to finish you off." She continues, shoving him to the side.
"Haha. I missed this spunk of yours. It reminds me of how you were, during your prime." Akio laughs, with a dirty grin on his lips.
"Was this before or after you had your way with me?" She bluntly says.
"...ouch." Akio huffs.
"I forget you inherited Sukuna's temper... it leaves a sour taste in my mouth." He glares at her, knowing she wasn't some school girl to mess with anymore.
"We don't have time to waste Akio. Let's get moving." She begins to walk out the room, but Yemiko steps in her way.
(Y/n) tilts her head, confused that a lowly sorcerer would stand up to her.
Didn't Akio warn her about me? Surely the cursed users and special grade curses are aware of my possible transition.
(Y/n) crosses her brows, angered at the thought.
Like Akio mentioned, both him and Sukuna see me above them both.
"Move please..." (Y/n) demands.
Yemiko's lips tug up into a smug smile.
"Oh? So you're the one giving orders now?" She laughs through her smile.
From behind them both, Akio begins laughing historically. He held his hand over his eyes, trying desperately to not make himself topple over.
"I forget how much alike you are to Sukuna. Or at least how much Sukuna made you to his liking." He smiles.
"You realise how annoying it is to constantly hear you reminisce about the past." She bites back.
"Don't you have anything else to say?" (Y/n) continues.
"If I did, you'd punch me." He pouts playfully.
(Y/n) rolls her eyes, pushing past Yemiko.
"As if that would even hurt you." (Y/n) continues to say, waiting for him at the front entrance.
"My feelings...It would hurt my feelings." He replies with a hand on his heart, his face in pain.
After seeing the disgusted look on (y/n)'s face, he lets out a loud laughs. He walks up beside her and rests against the door frame and grins.
"What do you plan to do when we get there? You believe I and the other curses can just waltz in there and just pluck your heart from the hardened soil?" He smiles with a smug look, intertained by her twisting face.
"It's almost night. The sorcerers guarding the area is limited to 7 or more first grade sorcerers." She looks out into the setting sun, frowning at a thought that entered her mind.
It's almost been two days since I've been missing. I know Seiichi will reverse the tails hidden inside me shortly. There's no point in leading him here. So instead...Please wait a little while long Seiichi. Wait until I arrive at the Training Facility.
"Oh? Heh heh. So what are you saying? You agree to take down these sorcerers?" Akio snickers, looking down at her.
"You kill them, then I'll personally reek havoc upon you." She glares back.
"I simply mean to knock them out." She continues.
She watches his lips tug into a grin, knowing he'd kill them nonetheless. He wasn't one for compassion, and the thought of her even saying 'to keep them alive' was a stupid thing to say.
Does he know the students are there though? Those students have special grade and first grade sorcerers with them, I'm sure they could keep him at bay while I devour my heart to finish him off.
(Y/n) sighs, as she casts her eyes to the ground.
I apologise in advance to the students who may get injured, or worse, die...but, I hate to admit, knowing the life I've lived in this era, but a sacrifice for the greater good for the future, is possibly one of the only ways to succeed... I am the only one who can seal Akio and... Seal Sukuna.
"I've always wondered what that little head of yours thinks about when it stares off into the distance." Akio smiles.
"Though your an easy person to read, trying to understand what your facial features mean is one of the most difficult things to do...I don't see how Sukuna does it." Akio walks out of the house and stretches high into the air.
(Y/n) watches him, thinking back to all the memories she's had forced into her, these past few days.
"...Sukuna once told me very early, when I first met him... What do I believe Mental Strength is." She steps out beside him.
Akio's eyes flicker for a moment as an old memory of his own returns to him.
"In response I said, I believe mental strength is knowing exactly what you want, and knowing how to achieve it... At first I believed it was a question without much meaning, but..." She inhales a deep breath before speaking again.
"I came to understand, that the question meant everything to Sukuna...Almost like it was his purpose."
Akio drops his smile, listening to her intently as she continued to speak.
"I know what I want, and know exactly how to get it; However, for the first time in all my history, I can't see beyond that." She sighs.
"So... does that make me weak? I know Sukuna would say yes, but you're his teacher, and I know he asked you the same thing. So... what now, do you believe Mental Strength is?"
Akio watches her for a time, understanding why she was asking such things so suddenly...But he knew very well what she was talking about.
"You ask me his question, that made him self-realise and transform into the most feared being in the world?" He glares.
"I've had his question repeat in my head for years. Before my reincarnation, and during. Each time my mind changes. So I can't give you a definite answer, but everyone is weak, because everyone has different beliefs." Akio's tone shallows, as the topic arose. He was serious about the matter and took no joke in it.
"That...Woman, knew more then us both, yet chose not to share her beliefs, even on her death bed."
Does he speak of...Lady Inari?
"Sukuna knew this, and he too couldn't understand why she gave him this strength. So he grew to believe that he was destined to rid the world of weakness. Killing all he opposed to be weak" He says.
(Y/n) couldn't help but slip a small laugh through her nose.
"To Sukuna, that's everyone." She brings a hand to her mouth, shaking her shoulders with laughter.
"I guess, yet he respected most who came into contact with you... deeming them weak, but yet found admiration in their beliefs." Akio continued.
"I believe, that his notion on this Mentally Strong question he keeps asking, changed when getting to know you... And when he realised this, was when he realised his feelings." He says finally, turning towards her.
With wide eyes, she gapes at him, astounded by this sudden confession.
So this is what Lady Inari meant all that time before. I was unconscious at the time, but I remember feint words talking about the subject.
"Oh... So that's why." She drops her head, staring at the grassy field.
Sukuna never truly confessed his feelings to her, or what they meant to him. So hearing this for the first time was a shock to her ears.
She smiles faintly, glad she now had some memories of her time in the past. It was somewhat refreshing to be on the same page as everyone that she knew in the past, but the ick feeling that had been eating at her this entire time, never wavered.
"I want to say thank you for telling me...But, I know you only said these things to get under my skin in the future." She frowns, glaring up at him.
Akio smiles innocently, his eyes squinting. He claps his hands together and tilts to the side.
"You're right on the bullseye there, heh!" He laughs.
"Anyhow, don't you think it's time to get that heart? I don't exactly want to storm in their without a plan, bu-ut, desperate times, come desperate measures." He brings (y/n) close to his body grinning at her warmth.
"Will you stop that. Just transport us before night fall." She grunts, pushing away from his grip.
"Hmph. I guess the others will have to take a little longer to get their, but no matter." He smiles
"Yemiko, you'll take care of that, right?" He turns to the woman standing by the door.
She jumps at his voice and bows.
"O-of course my lord. I'll be right on it." She hurries back into the house, drawing symbols all over the walls.
"Don't worry about her, she's just sending reinforcements." Akio says.
"Now, let us be on our merry way." Akio snaps his fingers, transporting the two of them in an instant.
Like a rumble in the earth, (y/n) collapses to the bare ground before the Training Facility, and almost instantly loud sirens go off, warning the sorcerers of a Curse intrusion.
The louder the siren, the more threatening the curses Cursed Energy is, and right now, the sirens were at max volume.
Authors note
- apologies for the late chapter. I've been working on this new story :)
-I think everyone will like it when it's released, hehe!