raven raised her head, slowly placing down her pen, she was in the office when she got the call, catching up on past papers she missed last check. gojo was off on a mission and had been for almost 2 days now. she was grateful, finally gave her some time to herself.
she lifted her phone and answered it.
"hello, raven speaking!" she hummed.
"raven! sorry to bother you, but we need you're help" the voice on the other end came through
"you're first years are dealing with the special grade curse at the Eishuu detention centre" the voice pauses, raven hums. "only megumi and Nobara have come out"
"what?!" raven stands up, already ready to head over. "where is itadori!"
"he hasn't come out, Nobara is awfully injured, were sending her for healing as we speak"
"yes, please do that, i will be there soon!" raven hangs up the phone, slipping out the back and towards the detention centre, the thoughts ran wild in her head as she ran, leaping over buildings twice the speed a normal person would run, she was nothing more than a spec.
when she gets to the centre her brows furrow, itadori and megumi are stood face to face on the ground, yet it isn't itadori, tattoos cover his body and he looks angry, staring directly towards megumi.
raven wastes no time, megumi was face to face with the king of curses, she jumps down, leaving a cloud of smoke where she lands, the eyes of the pair turn to her and sukana laughs. but her eyes widen as the tattoos fade from his body and itadori comes back.
a small hint of a smile on his face, he mumbles something to megumi before raven gets any closer
The markings on Itadori's face disappeared. Itadori had possession of his own body again.
"That's why I never once regretted saving you." megumi whispered.
Itadori gave him a sad, yet relieved smile.
"I see. You really are smart Fushiguro. You've put more thought into this than I have. I think your convictions are a proper one, but I don't think mine are wrong, either." Blood now flowed freely from his chest. "Oh. Sorry, I'm almost done for. Guess I won't have to worry about you, Kugisaki, or raven and Gojo-sensei"
"live a long life" mutters from his lips before his body collapses, raven rushed over to his side, her knees hitting the ground harshly, her hands pressed down on the large hole in his chest, in an attempt to stop the bleeding. her eyes darted around for his heart.
"his heart, where is his heart!"
she couldnt hear of feel the beating of it, itadori was dead. megumi kneeled down beside her as the rain pelted down, raven looked towards megumi his eyes glazed with tears, she cups his cheek and pulls him into her side.
"oh megumi, I'm so sorry" she whispers, running her hands through his hair. "I'm so sorry"
the pair just leaning over itadori's body, raven wraps megumi closer to her, his small sobs shattering her heart.
she takes a deep breath and taps the side of his head, knocking him out for the time being. he collapses into her arms and she cant help but frown. reaching down for her phone she calls gojo.
---------------
Yuji's body was kept cover under the blankets of the morgue. raven cant bring people back from the dead, she can heal them to an extent, but not bring them back, especially when they dont have the main source of life in there chest.
she stares at the blanket, her eye bags deeper and darker than they were previously.
"If you encounter it, your choices are to either run or die." Ijichi's voice broke raven from her trance, her and Gojo were sitting on one of the empty beds of the room, shoulders slumped as they gazed at there student's dead body.
"It was intentional" gojo spoke and raven closed her eyes. Gojo having explained it all to her last night.
Ijichi looked shocked, "Huh? What do you mean?"
"There was a special-grade. Sending first-years to rescue five who may or may not be alive should be out of the question." gojo speaks up. "Besides, with Yuji...we were the ones who forced the issue and got his execution indefinitely suspended." gojo motioned to raven.
"Some higher-ups who didn't like that took advantage of our absence, and the special-grade to tactfully dispose of him." He said, looking down at his feet while the other man paled, having only realized that now.
"If the other two had also died, it'd be more harassment for us and two birds with one stone for them."
"No, but...No one expected it to become a special-grade by the time the dispatch was issued." Ijichi tried to reason.
"Searching for someone to blame is just a pain." raven said, clenching her fists so tightly in anger it drew blood from her palms, "Maybe I should just...kill all of the higher-ups." ravens eyes glossed over with tears of rage and gojo places a hand on her own to calm her down, even though he was having the same thoughts.
The door flew open on that moment as Shoko stepped in.
"Breath raven, i dont want to have to clean up you're messes again" Shoko told her friend as she came to a stop in front of itadori. raven hummed and watched as she walked.
Ijichi bowing at her in respect. "It's good to see you, leiri-san!"
"Looks to me..." The woman turned to Gojo and raven, playing with a strand of her hair, "like you've taken quite a liking to him."
"he's a good kid" raven hums, gojo nods his head. "reminds me of us" she adds, shoko frowns for a second.
"Don't torment lichi too much." Shoko berated the pair playfully, changing the subject, "He's got it rough, stuck between us and the higher-ups."
"I don't care about a man's hardships." gojo huffs.
"That so?" shoko rolled her eyes, turning to take off the cover from Yuji's body. "So this is...Sukuna's vessel, huh?"
raven stared at the pale face of itadori, even his hair looking dull, she stood up and walked to shoko.
"I can take him apart as I please, right?" she asks, looking at raven who stares at the boy, slowly nodding her head.
-----------
Somewhere in the school, Yuji's two classmates were sitting on a few stair, both of them silent and slumped,
"Live a long life?" Nobara asked bitterly, "Doesn't mean much when you go and die yourself."
"Is this your first time having a partner die?" The girl asked Megumi, who closed his eyes with a small sigh, "First time for one my age."
"You seem to be taking it well, considering" Nobara said.
"Same to you." he dryly responds.
"Of course. I only knew him for about two weeks. I'm not some simple woman who breaks down bawling when a guy I barely know dies." She said, sighing quietly making Megumi glance at her for a second, seeing how despite what she just said, her lips were wobbling as she tried to hold in her tears.
"what about the teachers, they seemed really upset, i passed raven and gojo, raven looked ill and gojo was silent for once" Nobara sighed, remerging this morning when her teachers walked past, seeing ravens dark eye bags and colourless eyes and gojo, he had no smile on his face, at all.
"raven blames herself a lot of the time" megumi sighs, knowing the woman for most of his life, he learnt a lot about her. the fact that she always carry's her mask with her, either in her bag or on her belt, her favourite season was autumn because she likes looking at the leaves changing colours.
he knows that even though she acts like she doesn't like gojo, she would do anything for him. he knows that she really likes cats but has never owned one, he knows that in her left pocket she carry's sugar pills. he knows that she has a soft spot for kids, even though she never plans on having her own, and that she's afraid of cramped spaces and spiders. he knows that she has previously struggled with alcohol abuse but worked hard and recovered.
she was like a mother to him, from a young age she would always look out for him, even if she was on her death bed she would look out for him.
"she blames herself for not getting there sooner, not saving itadori"
-----------
raven sits back and watches as shoko and gojo walk around itadori, gojo hums and walks towards raven, leaning against the bed she was sat on, she huffs and runs her fingers through his hair. he hums and takes her hand, gently squeezing it.
a soft moment between the two who are usually at each others necks.
"hey you two, stop flirting, I'm about to get started" shoko pulled there attention away as she slips on her gloves. "are you just going to sit and watch?" she flicks her glove, oblivious to itadori who had literally risen from the dead behind her, furrowing her brows at her friends sudden shocked expressions.
"Wow, I'm naked." itadori huffs looking down at himself.
"Mr. Gojo, he's alive..." Ijichi stutters,
"Shut up, Ijichi!" gojo responds.
"I'm kinda disappointed" shoko mumbles pulling her mask from her face. raven walks over to itadori, rubbing away her tears as she chuckles and passes him his clothes, he goes to wrap her in a hug but she jumps back.
"get dressed first!"
his face flushes and he takes his clothes. "welcome back!" gojo smiles, gently patting ravens shoulder as he walks past her.
"good to be back!" itadori smiles at gojo, the pair clapping there hands together like children. ravens face has a hint of a smile as she shakes her head.
-------------
"I have to amend the report." shoko sighs as her, raven and gojo walk through the patio of the school.
"no leave them as-is" gojo responds, shoko turns her head slighting to look at gojo confused.
"we need time to give itadori the basic training necessary before he's targeted again, sorry shoko, but could you leave him as dead on the records?" he hums looking at the woman.
"Then are you going to hide Itadori forever?" shoko asks the two that had been planning for the past 10 minutes.
"no" gojo hums. "I'll let him return before the exchange program."
"why?" shoko asks.
"the reason is simple" gojo smiles "no ones allowed to take the events of youth away from young people" he hums. "no one"
shoko hums and nods her head, turning off to where she needs to go, gojo and raven wave goodbye and continue to walk forward, gojo laced his fingers into ravens and she looked at him. "what?" she hums.
"will you help me teach itadori?" he hums, his lip pouting.
"gojo, we still have a class to teach, and anyway, I'm not a teacher for your class anymore, there talking about moving me onto the second years"
gojo tenses. "what"
"yeah, they messaged me this morning, apparently they think i will make a good second year teacher"
gojo huffs and shakes his head. "please" he pleads, tugging gently on ravens arms. "itadori really likes you, all the kids do, and so do i" he hums, pulling raven closer, she groans and rolls her eyes, flicking Gojo's forehead. he smiles and cups ravens cheeks.
"thank you, thank you, thank you "she try's to pull out of his grip as he shakes her head squeezing her cheeks together to puff out her slightly chapped lips.
he finally lets her go and she stumbles back, a small smile curving at her lips, "dont make me regret this gojo!"
----------
"You're a head above the rest when it comes to close combat, Yuji. So what you need to learn right now is how to control your cursed energy, as well as the bare minimum of jujutsu knowledge." gojo spoke to itadori who cheerfully smiled towards him. it was kinda creepy.
"what's wrong?" raven hums, looking at the boy.
"Oh, I just thought that you're the best people to train me, so I'm happy." he smiles, his face falling abit.
"I'm weak, and couldn't save anyone. Not only that, I nearly killed Fushiguro. I'm too ashamed to meet them." itadori pauses, look at raven and gojo "I want to be stronger. Teach me how to become the strongest."
gojo pauses, facing itadori, raven sighs and gojo smiles, his ego boosting like 5 times in size. "you've got a keen eye" gojo hummed.
"sensei, you're the one who called yourself the strongest" itadori looks at gojo then at raven who muffles a laugh with her hand. gojo sends a pout her way and she just looks at him shrugging her shoulders like she hadnt done anything wrong.
"alright" gojo claps his hands, changing the subject. "take a look at those drink cans over there"
attention is drawn to the cans and one pops and crushes onto the table where the others twists on its self, spraying orange pop all over the table.
"wow!" itadori hums.
"I used cursed energy on this can and cursed technique on this one." gojo points at the different cans
"i see" itadori hums, placing his hand on his chin. "i dont understand"
"ah!" gojo hums. "
"think of cursed energy as electricity and cursed technique as appliances. Electricity by itself is hard to use, right?" gojo hums, itadori nods "That's why we run electricity through appliances for a variety of uses. I used my pure curse energy on the first can. And I channelled cursed energy into a cursed technique to activate it and twist the second can."
"So that means I'm going to learn a lot of cool techniques!" itadori smiles.
"no, you cant use curse" raven shakes her head, pushing herself from the wall.
"what?"
"cursed techniques are engraved on a sorceress body when they are born" raven speaks "80% of a Jujutsu Sorcerer's strength comes from their innate talent."
itadori just starts swaying.
"are you okay" gojo asks watching as the kid falls to the ground as if he was a piece of paper in the wind
"I just thought I could have skills like thunder, fire, or power bomb"
raven muffles her laugh and gojo glances at her.
"this is lame" itadori mumbles on the ground. "I wanted to use Spirit Gun, Bankai,Rasengan, or Dodonpa..."
raven glances at gojo and shakes her head as itadori rolls around on the ground. they know that one days, sukanas techniques will be engraved into his body, but its best not to tell him that just yet.
"lets put aside what you cant do" raven hums walking over and pulling itadori to his feet. "we can help develop other strengths" she dusts his shoulder from the dirt off the ground
"I'm scared of people like you bulldozing through with basics!" gojo shakes his head.
"what?" itadori perks up.
"as i said earlier. you have an impressive talent for physical combat." gojo hums.
"but I'm already good at it!"
raven and gojo give him a look, a slight head tilt.
"at the time, i mastered the trick without knowing" itadori refers back to the detention centre when he lost his hand.
"well then." gojo paused. "hit here" he motions to his hand. "i bet you cant do it"
"dont blame me if you get hurt" itadori twirled his arm around. clenching his fist and moving forward to punch gojo, the sound of the slap was pitiful.
"there wasnt any cursed energy behind that" gojo deadpans.
"why?!" itadori grumbles pulling his hand back.
"The source of cursed energy is negative emotions. when you said that 'time', you were full of anger and fear right?" raven asks.
"so you have to constantly be flipping out to used cursed energy" itadori placed his hands on his chin and hummed, looking deep in thought. raven hums and looks to gojo for help.
"now that you mention it, Fushiguro always abit snappy" itadori nods his head.
"not like that" gojo butted in. "everyone's trained to produce cursed energy, using the faintest sparks of emotion" gojo hummed.
"when you're too emotional, you should avoid wasting cursed energy" gojo turns to raven. "unless you are raven, she goes rabid when she gets angry" gojo teases earning a punch in the gut from the woman.
"there are many ways to learn" raven hums, glancing at gojo who smirks still clasping at his stomach in pain, "ill let you do one that's really tiring" he hums, slowly standing back up.
"what is it?" itadori smiles,
"watching movies!" gojo pulls out a collection of DVD's and itadori's face slumps, he was ready to fight or do something cool, not watching tv. raven walks over to set it all up as gojo reveals the twist, pushing the doll into itadori's hands.
"its a cursed corpse, made by the principal" gojo passes it over.
itadori looks at it, flipping it around. raven shakes her head and steps away from the tv, loading up the first film.
"i dont understand the point of it" itadori pauses.
"If that doesn't receive a constant flow of cursed energy," raven starts talking, watching as the bear springs to life and knocks itadori's face, sending him backwards. "it will wake up and attack you" she chuckles watching as he hits the ground
"try and sit through an entire movie, without waking the doll, or hurting yourself" gojo chuckles. "it will help you maintain he constant flow of cursed energy, regardless of what you're feeling"
raven watches as itadori fights with the bear, while talking to gojo about the movies, she winces when the bear spins and smashes against itadori again, he yells and throws the bear onto the floor.
"you have to keep the flow stable" raven hums, itadori looks at her and frowns in frustration. she just shrugs and looks away.
-----------
raven was sat on the table, legs tucked under her chin as she slept, gojo stood beside her, his eyes darting between her and itadori watching the films. when the bear spins around and knocks him from the sofa, spilling his drink he starts yelling, waking raven from her small nap. she grumbles and listens to the pair arguing
a small vibration from her phone makes her frown, showing gojo the message he grumbles.
"we have something to do, so keep working hard" gojo hums as raven slips off the table, rubbing the sleep from her eyes.
"can i really grown stronger with this?" itadori looks at the pair. gojo just smiles and turns away, taking a few steps before stopping, he turns to itadori.
"have you talked to sukuna while you were dead?"
"talk?" itadori asks.
"offer any conditions or contracts to heal you?" raven asks.
"yes" itadori pauses. "i think he said something"
"is that so" gojo stiffens abit.
"but i cant rember what we spoke about" itadori mumbles.
"i see" gojo hums, raven glances at him and then to itadori with a small huff.
gojo leads raven out and once the door was shut she turns to him. "you wondering whether sukuna is up to something?"
"he is cunning, he wouldn't just do all that, without wanting something in return" gojo shakes his head and raven frowns, he notices and nudged her arm. "but I'm probably over thinking it, come on, weve got a meeting to go to"
she eyes him suspiciously, what wasnt he telling her.