Cough
Suguru sighed as he leaned against the wall, not an inch of his body was saved from the aching. It hurts, everything hurts, even breathing hurts, he must've broken a rib or two. And to think it's still not done.
Ingesting a cursed spirit two levels above him is easy, but above that, there will be a penalty. Hence, he couldn't afford to ingest the cursed spirits he fought. Like his prediction, there's more than one Cursed Spirits inside this temple.
Upon entering the temple, he encountered a group of Grade 1 Yakubyo Gami, it is a class of evil spirits that spread infectious diseases and misfortune. Fighting them off was a pain, as they kept messing up with his health and luck. Truly a pain, but what came next was even worse. It was a pair of Special Grade 1 - demonic Tanuki and Kitsune. They are the evil ones of their kind, they are well known for being rejected, forcing them to be evil. And they grew stronger as they stayed on that side. Suguru spent a large amount of time fighting off these two, their superb ability in jujutsu, transforming abilities, and cunning and full of trickery personalities forced Suguru to the edge. He nearly died, though thankfully he managed to exorcise the two. He took a rest after that, more like he fainted after exorcising the two. He used the Reverse curse technique to heal himself as he proceeded and fought the Special Grades.
He's currently outside the temple, at the back of the temple to be exact - resting his numbed body. In front of him is a castle, and by the looks of it, he can already guess how powerful the being inside is. He needs to ingest the cursed spirits and have them aid him once he fights the one inside the castle.
Suguru took a deep breath before using the reverse cursed technique once more, breathing in relief soon after. Staring at the blue and sky, and glancing at his tattered clothes and messed up body, Suguru was unsure of the amount of time he spent inside the temple. He broke his phone, he forgot to store it inside the Inventory Curse and unfortunately broke it during one of the fights. A day might have already passed, or two, doesn't matter, surely when he went back, Satoru would still be away. That's good, Suguru has yet to fully remove the guilt in his heart. Ever since he came back, he has been living in a world of anxiety and guilt, he wishes to change things and give himself a bit of relief.
"Ah shit" Suguru murmured as he stared blankly at the Kijin sitting in a throne-like chair at the end of the room. Truly my worst day in life, Suguru wished he could die right now.
His enemy is an oni so powerful and so violent that he is considered both a demon (ki) and god (jin), he has yet to fight this cursed spirit, but from the appearance, Suguru could already identify him as a figure from the legends. Seriously why would those monkeys fear shitty beings like this? it's giving nothing but inconvenience to sorcerers like him. Suguru leaned sideways and started stretching his body, things would start getting super messy.
[A/N: as you've noticed, I've been skipping most of the fighting scenes as I am not good at it and I don't want to disappoint myself, and well, my dear readers. Let's just let it be, okay? *insert begging tone*]
Suguru's dead eyes stared dumbly at the panting giant who tried to swing its sword at him but failed. He is - for some reason, he can't use reverse cursed technique, to be specific, he can't seem to conjure cursed energy at all. He couldn't understand why, he failed to find any reason behind this at all. All he knew it that he needed to kill that bastard, no, exorcise him, but with his tiny amount of cursed energy, he was unsure if he could do it. Maybe if I rest for a while, I'll be able to recover at least enough amount of cursed energy. Suguru then fainted once again, the number of times he fainted in that place could now not be counted with two hands, and for some reason, it pisses him off.
When Suguru woke up, he could use cursed energy again, and this time, he managed to exorcise the defenseless and weakened Oni before him. Before he could ingest the cursed energy, Suguru felt a strange cursed energy coming from the throne seat. Suguru decided to put the orb in his pocket and will just ingest it later. He quickly used the reverse cursed technique and healed himself before cautiously approaching the throne seat. He had enough of the shitty surprises today.
Sure enough, there is another surprise hidden for him. The throne seat is a door to an underground room, and that underground room is covered in talismans, protective talismans, and barriers. Inside is filled with cursed items, some are harmful - not all are harmful. At the end of the room were 5 of Sukuna's fingers, all wrapped in talisman.
No wonder 5 of his fingers were never found, it was hidden here. He noticed it already long before. The temple and this castle had some sort of barrier that stopped the cursed spirits inside from getting out, and the barrier was more than a millennium old. The barrier must have been created during Sukuna's time, and possibly, the one who stored Sukuna's fingers here and the rest of the cursed items is the one that made the barrier. The problem is, what he should do to these items? He will surely need to take them away now, especially when the cursed spirit that was supposed to protect these has been exorcised by him........................he'll just store them inside the inventory curse for the time being. The talismans too, seem to be in good condition.
"Woah, you look like shit" Shoko couldn't help but comment as she observed the condition Suguru had when he came back. He was sneaking back to his room, and it was in the middle of the night so he wasn't expecting anyone to see him, only to be caught by Shoko.
"Don't tease me please" Suguru groaned as he listened to Shoko's snickers.
"Don't worry, I won't tease you much, just to let you know, Satoru is sleeping in your room, he's been doing it ever since your one-week-long mission turned into two months. He started looking for you in the third week, and he didn't manage to find you"
"Wait, how long was I gone?" Shoko's words alarmed Suguru greatly.
"Hm? More than a month, wait, you weren't aware? what kind of shit hole did you get yourself into?"
Suguru sneaked into his room, grabbed a couple of clothes, and went into the bathroom for a quick bath. After clothing himself, Suguru couldn't help but sigh in relief, he never felt as refreshed as right now. Exiting the bathroom, Suguru came to the sight he had been ignoring since earlier. A Gojo Satoru sleeping peacefully sprawled in his (Sugu) bed.
He sighed as he fixed Satoru's position, giving himself enough space to squeeze himself in, however, his actions seemed to have awakened Satoru despite being careful.
"Sugu?" Satoru asked in a hoarse voice as he sat up groggily.
"It's me, did I wake you up?" Suguru sighed as he rubbed Satoru's hair - still as smooth as ever.
"When did you arrive?" Satoru stretched out his arms and engulfed Suguru in a hug, resting his head on Suguru's chest.
"Just now, did you miss me?" Satoru chuckled as he stared at Satoru's sleepy face.
"hmmm," Satoru merely nodded in answer, too sleepy to even say anything, causing Suguru to shake his head in helplessness. He carefully pushed Satoru, wanting the albino to lay in bed and continue his sleep, but Satoru was too stubborn and wouldn't let Suguru free from his clutch. Suguru had no choice but to sleep that night with Satoru in his arms. And for some reason, this sleep was free from nightmares that usually visit him. Maybe because of the albino cat beside him.
Satoru blinked more than twice, even pinched his cheeks, to make sure that the sight that welcomed his morning was not part of his dream.
So it wasn't a dream last night, Sugu did come back.
Suguru woke up from his sleep due to the heated gaze directed at him, and sure enough, it was coming from Satoru.
"Morning, Toru" might be because he just woke up, or maybe he had dried his throat from the lack of water, but Suguru's voice came out hoarse than expected, causing Satoru to nearly blush. Usually, Satoru would squeal and tease Suguru's voice for its 'manliness' but for some reason, he couldn't seem to formulate a single word and merely stared at the black-haired man in a daze.
"Satoru?" Suguru turned to his side and properly faced Satoru, even touching Satoru's cheek and see if the male was awake.
"...where have you been? I've been looking for you" After his brain processed the reality before him, Satoru's heart failed to stop the anxiety and distress from showing. This caused Suguru to nearly panic, as this might be Suguru's first time witnessing Satoru showing such strong emotions.
"Satoru, Toru, I'm here okay? The mission might have delayed me more than a bit but I'm here. We're the strongest right? I'll always come back to you alive, so you should do the same" Suguru hugged Satoru tightly, causing the albino male to sigh in comfort.
A moment of silence ensued - it was a comfortable silence that both males enjoyed as they stuck to each other's bodies in bed for comfort and relief. They might be a student, but their life are always in great danger, especially when being sent on a mission, alone at that, which is why being able to enjoy such moments is a blessing they selfishly wish to never lose, ever in their life.
"Right, we have to babysit Panda, it's my punishment for forgetting the curtain 'again', but you're also at fault so you need to help me" Satoru pouted and glared at Suguru, causing the latter to give out a wry smile.
"Yes yes, I'll do anything you want me to do"
"Hmp, you better be"
September 2007
A year passed by - Shoko could now seamlessly heal any injury as long as the person's life is not a step away from death, she'll have a hard time by then. Suguru successfully obtained thousands of curse spirits, the weakest being a grade 2 curse spirit, and the strongest, being a special grade. Currently, most of his special grades are unregistered, and he's not planning to register any sooner. As for Satoru, he definitely - no, he immensely grew, much stronger than the report given to the higher-ups and even to their teacher. Suguru, Satoru, and Shoko decided to keep it off as a secret. While Suguru's secrets, he keeps it to himself, he knows he can trust his two friends, and even his juniors, however, he surely can't trust those peering eyes and eavesdropping ears.
"Go panda, throw it at that bastard, remember, he stole your candy~" Shoko whispered at the kid Panda while snickering at the scowling Albino. Suguru couldn't help but pat Panda's back in comfort, the kid is surely being used.
Currently, they're helping Satoru train his Infinity. And with the eraser and pen thrown, sure enough, the pen was blocked inches off Satoru's skin while the eraser hit him with no effort.
"Was there a glitch?" Shoko questioned the oddity as in her knowledge the infinity blocks everything.
"There's no such thing, I merely created an automated system within the infinity which will help it block anything varying the danger it possesses.
"Wow, unbelievable, you're brain will get fried Satoru" Shoko snickered.
"I told you my brain will not get fried!" Satoru pointed at Shoko in blame and huffed indignantly. Accusations. False Accusations.
"Toru, Sensei texted me, saying I should return Panda" Suguru whispered as he gestured at the sleeping Panda which he lulled successfully.
"Ah, okay! Come back as fast as you can" Satoru halted at ruffling Shoko's hair and gave Suguru a thumbs up before going back to what he was doing.
Suguru could only shake his head and proceed to the destined location.
Suguru gently laid the sleeping Panda into its bed before quietly leaving its room. Turning around, he was met with a serious-looking Yaga. He seriously should deal with his resting bitch face.
"I can hear your thoughts loud and clear" Yaga countered as he could guess what the young man was thinking based on the look on his face.
"Creep" Suguru shrugged as he sat opposite his Sensei.
"What do you need me for?" Suguru finally decided to continue the 'serious business' which he could only discuss with Yaga whenever he was alone, as long as Satoru was miles away from him.
"Another secret mission - it's the higher-ups this time" Yaga handed Satoru 5 files with different labels.
"What do they want this time?" Suguru sighed as he started skimming through the files, his frown getting deeper as time went by.
"Initially, they want you and Satoru to handle these, however, from our previous conversations, I'm sure you'd prefer to go alone. Are you two in a fight?" Yaga raised a brow as he peered at Suguru's figure.
"No such thing, I merely wish to grow as strong as that idiot. I'm not gifted like him, I could only use experience to catch up" Suguru shook his hand to dismiss Yaga's rampant thoughts.
"Whatever, I'm too old for your, youngsters, problems. Will you do it?" Yaga shook his head, seemed like not only Satoru would give him a headache as usual.
"And here I thought the question would be - Can you do it?" Suguru smirked, proud of his achievements.
"I knew you better than you expected" Yaga mirrored the smirk.
"Another solo mission?" Satoru frowned as he stared at Suguru's figure. This year, Suguru has been going on more solo missions than him, and for Satoru, it's an anomaly.
"Why?" Why only you? Aren't we partners? - was what Gojo Satoru would like to ask but hesitated to do so.
"Not sure, the higher-ups requested it" Suguru shrugged before stealing the mochi resting in Satoru's mouth.
"Where?" Shoko questioned as she ignored the blatant show of gayness in front of her.
"Abroad" Suguru answered while giving the blushing Satoru his signature closed eyes smile.
"Abroad?!/Hah?!"