"So that is all I have been told."
She had another meeting with the elders. Another meeting where they would try and coerce Hitomi into revealing the locations of her family's cursed weapon vaults. Yaga knew about those, given that he was the only person her father trusted enough to reveal the secret of the vaults.
Unlike the three prominent clans, all of whose weapons were locked up at Tokyo Jujutsu High, the Ayasaki clan's weapons, far greater in number than all of the clans combined, were scattered all over the country, sealed away and buried deep. As the current head of the clan (only because of her father's incapacitation), Hitomi knew of all the locations, knew of all the strengths that these weapons carried. They could not just be handed over to the elders, who would only use them for their own benefit.
"When am I supposed to meet with them?" Hitomi asked, as she crossed her arms.
"When you come back from your mission in the Tanzawa mountains," Yaga replied. "If you wish, I can join you in the meeting."
"No need, sensei," She waved him off. "I'll handle them." She was being respectful in the presence of Yaga, but mentally she was cursing the elders. "Thanks for the offer though. I'm not going to worry about them too much."
"Alright," Yaga replied. Gently patting Hitomi's shoulder, he spoke, "Be careful on your mission."
"Always," Hitomi answered. She bowed her head respectfully before leaving his office.
'Are you going to bully the elders again?' Izuki asked, as she walked down the hallway towards the exit of the building. 'Like the last meeting? Because if you are, please let me know. I wanna see this drama.'
'Who knows what I'll do, but I'll make it entertaining for you,' Hitomi replied mentally. 'I love screwing with the elders, knowing that they can't do anything to me. They won't do anything to me.'
'This is why I like you,' Izuki sounded amused. 'Take no shit from the bastards who control this world.'
'Of course not. I'll never listen to them or do shit for them, not till hell freezes over.'
'Or much better, when curses stop existing. So, essentially never.'
'This is why I like you. You know me well.'
'Well, time to fuck with the elders, then.'
'Yup,' Hitomi stretched her arms, grinning to herself. The elders thought they could control her, just because she was one of the last people alive from a clan that had lost its glory. They always thought they could get her to listen, just because she was the temporary head of her family. Well, they were wrong and she was going to show them.
***
"I am, but, the temporary head. How am I to know the locations of these cursed tool vaults?"
Few people in this world were daring enough to challenge the elders head-on. Few people in this world wouldn't be intimidated by the way the elders were currently glaring. Hitomi was proud to be a part of this few. She didn't hold an ounce of respect for these old men, trying to control her. So, she kept a bemused smirk on her face and pretended to be oblivious about it.
"I mean," She continued with a half-smile. "I would love to know the locations of these vaults myself, but I haven't been told anything because I am not the actual head of the clan."
That was a lie. She knew. She had always known where the vaults were.
"My father could tell you, but unfortunately, the guy's cursed and he recently had some surgery on his vocal cords, so he won't be talking for a while," Hitomi said. "You could always ask him, but you know he has an attitude and an ego that stretches as high as a mountain." 'Like all of you.'
"You don't know?" The elder, Gakuganji, and the principal of the Kyoto branch of Jujutsu High spoke out. He headed this council and he was an annoying bastard. That was that. "You don't know the location of the sword called Kusanagi? That is a dangerous weapon, Ayase Hitomi. It should not be kept with a broken clan."
The other elders muttered their agreements. Ignoring the stab of anger she felt, Hitomi gave him a fake, apologetic smile. "I wish I knew where it was, Gakuganji-sama. But I don't. If I come across the location, I'll be sure to let you know."
Mentally, she was cursing all of the elders. 'Fuck you all. As if I'll ever tell you pieces of shit where the weapons are kept. I will never fucking allow them to get into your dirty hands.'
*
In her anger after the meeting, Hitomi had nearly forgotten she had a mission report to file. Irritated, pissed off and just a little bit hungry, she sat down to write the report in an empty classroom. Izuki continued to give her mental reports, helping her fill in parts of the incident that were a little fuzzy in her memory. In situations like these, she was really grateful for the existence of Izuki inside her soul. There was no noise, no annoying white-haired brats getting on her nerves; just the perfect amount of quiet and peace.
But, unknowingly, she had spoken too soon.
The next second, the door to the classroom flew open and in walked, the one person she really did not want to see.
"Look who's back!" Gojo's voice was loud and piercing. As Geto walked in behind him, he offered her an apologetic look. Even if Geto attempted, he could never control the white haired brat. "How was the mission? Good? Bad? Did you fail?"
"The mission was a success," Hitomi answered curtly, sending him a glare as he sat down on the desk next to hers. Geto followed, sitting on her other side. "The meeting with the elders was not."
Gojo's face showed his disgust. "Uggh. You had to meet with those guys. Unlucky you."
"I know right?!" Hitomi continued to work on the report as she talked. "They're so fucking annoying."
"Annoying little shits, I'd say." Gojo nodded in agreement. There were a few things they agreed on, really few, but an immense hatred for the elders was right at the top of that list.
"I don't get it. Why do you hate the elders this much?" Geto asked, curiosity lacing his voice. It was understandable; he was a new entrant to this world, having been recruited just a few years ago, due to his very high cursed energy. He wouldn't know much about the clans, nor the elders, nor how they had such a rigid control over this society. They were just stinky old men with deep pockets, who refused to change.
"They suck," Hitomi and Gojo said in unison.
"Trust me, you're lucky you don't belong to some clan, or some rich family or have some ancient weapon with you," She added. "Though I guess being a special grade sorcerer is troublesome in itself. The elders really only care about their money and their power."
"Why do we have to talk about those fools?" Gojo groaned as he sprawled himself across his chair. "Talk about something more interesting, please. Like me."
"Oh please," Hitomi scoffed, as she continued to work on her report. "Geto's more interesting than you."
"Don't drag me into this," Geto spoke, suddenly looking regretful that he was even here. In some ways, Hitomi pitied him for always getting stuck in between her and Gojo's petty arguments, but then again, Geto was similar to Gojo in a way. Though he was more of a secretly chaotic, but outwardly responsible person.
"Why are you two here anyway?" Hitomi barely looked up from her report. She just wanted to finish it soon, so that she could fall on her bed and forget all about the damn meeting that was still looming in her mind. "Don't you have something better to do? Not you, Geto. You can stay."
"I'm bored and you're easy to make fun of..." Gojo poked her arm as a mischievous grin covered his face.
"Go back to hell, demon," Hitomi answered. Just this last bit and it would be over. Woohoo.
"That's a new one," Geto remarked thoughtfully. "Haven't heard that one before."
"I've got a lot more. Wanna hear?" She smirked cheekily, sharing a look with him. "They're pretty creative, if I do say so myself."
"Sure, why not?"
Ignoring Gojo's protests, Hitomi and Geto carried on their conversations. Like a child, Gojo started pulling on her chair, trying to knock her off balance. But you really can't do that to someone who can control gravity itself. As she started talking about her list of insults, Geto laughed and Gojo huffed and protested.
At that moment, they were normal. Just normal teenagers having fun and playing around with each other. Normal teenagers not born in a world that demanded everything from them.
But moments of normalcy were, are and will always be hard to come by. The trio wasn't really clear about it yet.
So I first posted this story exactly an year ago on my birthday (1st September 2021) and now that its 1st September 2022, I thought there's not better to celebrate a year of this fic and a year of Hitomi and Gojo taking over my heart by posting a fun little update. (Ahead of the angst that is about to come 🤭🤭)
Writing Hitomi's banter with Gojo is so much fun and I hope you all find it fun reading it as well. And updates should be more frequent soon since I have a lot of chapters prewritten for this.
Till then, I hope you all enjoyed reading. Comments and votes are really appreciated <33