"No ones there.." Mayumi thought as she circled the building, making her way closer with each round in order to see clearly
Unfortunately for her, what she was met with was the sight of a man, a tall and freakishly built man wearing a granny's jumper and a devilish smirk
They made eye contact
He was gone
"Huh?" Was all she managed to get out before she and Nue crashed through a building, the winged beast disappearing as Mayumi picked off some broken glass from her arm, looking ahead to see that same man walking towards her
One blink and he was closer
Another blink he was gone
"Behind me!" She thought, managing to take her sword out in time and cut the man's hands
But he was quicker, moving out of the way and throwing her out of the five-story building, Mayumi using nue to land safely
"How the hell did he get down here so quickly?!" She thought as the man raced at her, Mayumi managing to hold her own and block some of his attacks, although she knew her arms would be bruised and beaten after this
"He's like maki, he has zero cursed energy.." She thought as she used rabbit escape to cause a rift between them, hightailing it out of there and behind a nearby building only to hear footsteps behind her
"I don't even know you!!" She yelled, her toads grabbing onto the man's legs in an attempt to slow him down only for him to destroy two of the Shikigami with his bare hands
"If he has no cursed energy.. my domain won't even work on this monster!" She thought, jumping over some rubble only for the man to appear in front of her, slowly walking around as if he were a lion circling their cornered prey
He grabbed a fucking sign and chucked it at her
"Hell no!" She screamed, grabbing the sign and using it as a shield to run towards the man, whacking him over the head with it
He didn't even flinch
There was a very, very noticeable dent in the stop sign yet he was the same as ever
"I did not sign up for this" Mayumi thought as she held her sword up "Screech nue!" She yelled, her sword doubling in size but her attacks were futile, the mystery man managing to dodge almost all of them without a problem, Mayumi dipped into the shadows and appeared behind him, grabbing onto his neck in an attempt to strangle him only for him to grab her arm and throw her forwards
"She just used shadows to travel.." Toji thought as he stared at the girl, waiting for her to get up
Mayumi did just that, standing up with a worried yet determined look in her eyes as she brought her sword up, a deer behind her seemingly healing her wounds as she waited for the now, wide-eyed stranger's next attack
"And why would I want the girl?" Naobito spoke
"She has potential too, and even if you marry her off as long as you take good care of her and make sure she lives a good life, it'll be better than anything I can provide." Toji stated
How could he do this to them? Was it due to his own selfishness? No, they would be better off in the zenin clan
"Papa you're home!" A three year old Mayumi smiled, running to try and reach Tojis arm, the man usually allowing her to dangle on it
"Mayumi shouldn't you be in bed?" He smiled
"She wanted to wait for you" Megumi huffed clearly tired
"Hiss, great serpent!" Mayumi yelled, her sword elongated, taking on a whip like form that allowed it to move like a snake, cutting through some of the signs, toji ducking and jumping to avoid its whip as he continued to stare at the girl
"Wow, she seems to be a daddy's girl" His wife giggled as a two month old Mayumi rested her head on Tojis chest
"You think so?" He smiled
"Yes! She never sleeps when I carry her but as soon as you're home, poof! She's the calmest baby in the world" the dark haired woman snickered, patting megumis back to allow him to burp
"Maybe it's because she knows I named her" Toji grinned, feeling a genuine sense of happiness with his new little family, his home
P
A small grunt from the baby followed by a foul smell made him scrunch his nose
"Okay Yumi time to change you" He sighed, his wife laughing hysterically causing a sleepy megumi to wake up
"Please take care of Megumi and Mayumi"
"Hey kid" Toji spoke, catching a panting Mayumi off guard
"Huh?"
"What's your name?"
"Mayumi...zen-fushiguro" She blinked
"Raised by the zenins huh? Or is it fushiguro?" He said in a tone that could almost sound sad
"you...you look just like her.." He muttered Mayumi staring at him with a confused look as the whites in his eyes became prominent
"It's Fushiguro. What's it to you if I'm a zenin or not?" She questioned, backing away, that statement causing the white in his eyes to revert back to the dark colour they were before
"I'm sorry then" he murmured, taking a step back which caused her to raise her weapon, only for him to be gone, out of the alleyway and into the streets
He was gone, just like eleven years ago
Mayumi wasn't about to stand there and wait for him to change his mind after somehow deciding to let her live
She was out
She had no fight left in her after that weird shenanigan until
"Mayumi Zenin!"
"You're here too?" She huffed, looking at Osore who wore a huge grin on his face, the curse taking out his own weapon
She may not have been as fast as whoever that monster was before, but that didn't mean she wasn't fast, within seconds she'd managed to take off the curses arm, a very minor setback for the curse whos spikes on his mask began to elongate, Mayumi moving out of the way intime to doge them yet finding her arm caught in them
"Shit.." She muttered, summoning madoka deer in order to use reversed cursed technique whilst imbuing her sword with great serpent
Did she have enought cursed energy to open a domain expansion?
Not with how continuously she'd been using madoka
She'd just have to cut through this curse peice by piece
Meanwhile
The fight with Dagon had been..something for naoshi
His father had lost an arm, he himself was bleeding form the head and had broken a few bones, he was sure of that
And the return of Toji Fushiguro only served as a bitter reminder of his clan's failures
And as Jogos hand reached to touched his torso, he believed he had no regrets
2006
"Heard you sold your kids over to the clan" Naoshi spoke as he and toji stood outside a cafe
Naoshi had always been the most compassionate to any of the zenin outcasts and was the only cousin toji stayed in contact with, not the snot nosed brat named naoya that followed him around
"Yeah, I did" Toji muttered, looking straight ahead
"Does it ever get better? Not being able to see your kids?" He questioned "losing the woman you love?"
Always trust that toji will bring up sore topics without hesitation
"No, it doesn't" Naoshi answered truthfully "am I really the younger cousin?" He scoffed, wondering why his older cousin was asking for advice
"Beats me" Toji shrugged, a bittersweet smile on his face
"Hey naoshi, think you could do a favour for me?"
"Depends"
"If and When my daughter joins the zenin clan, please, look out for her" Toji spoke, placing his hands in his pocket and walking off
That was their last conversation
And honestly, naoshi had no intention of honouring that request, yet once he saw Mayumi she reminded him of the daughter he'd lost
She was like a younger sister that he didn't want to be brought down by this cruel world, that's why he looked out for her
That's why he didn't try and push for her promotion, he didn't want her fighting higher graded curses
That's right..
"Mayumi!" he spoke as he managed to avoid jogos attack, barely
His left arm was charred
"Another fast one.." Jogo muttered, intending to do what he did to naobito on naoshi only for the zenin to jump behind him, avoiding the mini volcano-like fire shooters he'd set around him
"I won't allow Mayumi, to suffer alone" he concluded, about to activate his technique when a stupidly heavy cursed presence was felt
"Sukuna!" jogo said with wide eyes, blitzing out of there and leaving three burnt zenins and Nanami
"Father.." Naoshi muttered, standing over thecarred body of Naobito as he held onto his arm
Unsurprisingly he didn't feel any particular emotion at the sight
However, he was quick to grab maki and Nanami, intending to take them to shoko
"Mr zenin" Nanami spoke as Naoshi grabbed him, the zenin being surprised by his ability to talk and move
"Leave me here and focus on maki, I'll be alright"
"Hm" Naoshi nodded, heaving his cousin over his shoulder
"Hurts..mai.." Maki mumbled
"Maki it's naoshi, please concerve your strength, I believe your heavenly restricted body is what allowed you to survive that attack"
"Naoshi?.." she murmured, followed by a bloody cough
In other circumstances he would've frowned out of disdain for getting his cloth dirty but he only had two things on his mind
Take maki to Shoko
Go and find Mayumi
"Ieri!" he called out
"Naoshi Zenin?" shoko began before she noticed Maki on his back and his arm
"What happened to you two??"
"Dont worry about me, just please focus in Mali for the time being. She's in critical condition"
"Sure but what about your arm??"
"Ill be fine. Just focus in maki"
"I would've done the same thing again.." He muttered as he walked across the now empty streets of Shibuya half burnt
***
Reference for the next chapter
Osores true form (similar to how Mahito reached his pure form) :