Six Months Later
Life went on as it did.
No. Wait. That was not true anymore.
There was a wall, Hitomi thought. A wall between her and the strongest duo. They still talked, they were close and still trained together; but even then there was a wall in between them. Gojo trained harder and harder even though he was already the strongest and went on more missions alone. Geto was going on more solo missions too and swallowing too many curses. The events that had transpired all those months ago had caused an increase in cursed activity everywhere.
There were always missions to go to. Missions upon missions upon missions. But not with her friends. It was just here, or maybe her juniors sometimes, but usually just her.
Curses. Curses. And more curses.
Missions. Missions. And more missions.
Never a moment to rest. Never a moment to breathe. Just exorcizing curses all the damn time.
Hitomi wanted to sleep. She wanted a break. She wanted to be alone. But she also wanted her friends. Shoko was getting busy too, as more and more people got injured and more and more cursed corpses came in. She desperately missed Gojo and Geto, more than she probably should.
She stumbled down the hallway, walking towards the open courtyard at the school that was her hiding place. No one came to it because of its isolated location and that is what she preferred. Only Gojo and Geto came here and neither of them were gonna be there today. More missions to go on.
Outside, the sun was setting, casting orange and reddish hues across the sky. Hitomi stepped off the wooden pathway and onto the rocky and grassy area of the courtyard. She sat down in a comfortable spot and pulled out the oranges she had brought on her way back from her mission. As she peeled the first orange, Hitomi called out to Izuki, 'Izuki, are you there?'
Immediately, she could feel the presence of her second soul. 'For you, I am always here.'
It was nice to have Izuki with her. It was a comforting reminder that in the end, while she was technically alone, she was not actually alone. Knowing Izuki was like knowing a kind older brother. Izuki was quiet, but she could still feel his presence. She was not alone.
And yet...she felt alone.
She chewed on the orange piece harshly, the juice exploding inside her mouth. The orange was sweet, slightly tangy and...well, it was citrus-y. Mindlessly, she kept on chewing on the orange pieces till she was already finished with the first one. When she went to grab the second one, she bristled.
Hitomi felt the two familiar cursed energies enveloping her and the surroundings. Their power was always a dead giveaway to their presence. At least to her. Then again, she knew them both pretty well and knew how to identify their cursed energies.
"Want some oranges?" Hitomi asked as she peeled the second orange. "They're sweet."
"I wouldn't mind that," Gojo grabbed some pieces as he sat down. Geto took some too, as he sat on her other side. Neither of them said a thing, eating the oranges Hitomi was peeling in complete silence.
Quiet silences like this were a rare commodity nowadays. Even though she felt it was a little too quiet, Hitomi mentally made a vow not to say a thing and instead, focused on peeling the oranges.
She took a chance to glance to her left only to find Geto looking at her. Ignoring how hot her cheeks felt, she motioned for him to come closer. He leaned down, his long hair brushing her cheek. With a soft whisper, she asked, "Are these good? I hope these help with your taste in someway."
Geto looked at her thoughtfully. "They do, a little bit." He placed a hand on her thigh, gently giving it a squeeze. "Thank you for this."
For one long moment, Hitomi's cheeks felt like they were burning. "You're welcome."
"Hey!" Gojo suddenly said, sending a playful glare towards Hitomi. "Stop whispering, you two! Otherwise I'm going to finish this whole thing."
He held an orange close to his mouth, almost ready to bite down on it. Hitomi looked at Geto and he looked back at her, both of them shaking their heads at the same time.
If there was one thing that would never change, it would be Gojo and his untimely interruptions.
(Hitomi would have to keep on bringing oranges if things would be like this)
Some weeks later
Hitomi yawned as she stretched her arms. Today's mission had stretched on for far too long and by the time she had gotten back to Jujutsu High, the clock had already struck midnight. She was ready to fall asleep any second. But first, she had to meet with Gojo. If he was still actually awake. And Geto too, if he was back from his mission.
"I hope they haven't fallen asleep yet," Hitomi muttered to herself, walking down the dimly lit hallway towards the boys' part of the dorm.
In front of Gojo's door, she raised an arm to knock. But then she realised that the door was slightly ajar. She gently pushed it open and stepped inside. It was dark inside, except for the moonlight coming in from the windows on the other side of the bed.
Hitomi blinked when she realised there wasn't just one person in the room. There were two. Lying on the other edge of the bed, away from the door, was Geto. Almost stuck to him, but facing the door was Gojo. Both were dressed in their uniform and both appeared to be fast asleep.
She set down her backpack somewhere on the floor and slowly tiptoed towards the bed. On getting closer, she realised there was some empty space on the bed, as though they had been expecting someone. Expecting her. Had they been talking, waiting for her to come back and then fallen asleep? Had their tiredness finally overwhelmed them that they passed out before midnight? Usually, none of them were asleep by this time, considering their messed up schedules. It was a good thing then, the strongest duo were asleep.
Let them catch on their rest, Hitomi thought to herself. They deserve it.
She took a step back and turned, ready to leave. But before she could take another step, a hand grabbed her wrist.
Hitomi froze, her heart pounding in her chest. She turned back only to realise that Gojo had woken up. Even in the darkness, his blue eyes shone brightly.
"You're back," His voice was a light hoarse whisper, sending tingles through her body.
Ignoring the feeling, Hitomi nodded. "Yeah. Just came back. Sorry, didn't mean to wake you up." Geto thankfully, was a deep sleeper so he hadn't been woken up by her.
"You're not leaving, are you?" Gojo murmured, staring at her with half-lidded eyes.
Ah. Fuck me. "You want me to stay?"
"Yeah. Get in," Gojo moved a little, covering the empty space on the bed and creating some more space for her.
Hitomi froze. Swallowing her nerves, and without her trembling hands, she somehow managed to get into bed. Next to Gojo.
He let out the softest, most adorable of yawns before he put an arm over her. "Good night."
And he was asleep.
Holy fuck. What in the name of hell was happening? This...this was very strange behaviour on Gojo's part. Her too, for agreeing to this.
Gojo had always been clingy. He was always putting an arm around her shoulder, holding her hands, dragging her to places and she'd never thought much of it because he did the same thing to Geto. But this? This felt so different. And judging by the way her heart was acting, it knew this too.
Hitomi shook the thoughts out of her head. There would be time to think on this tomorrow. She closed her eyes, letting sleep take over her.
As it turns out, writing a master's thesis takes too much of your time. And considering it's my final semester, it's been a little bit crazy. I cannot believe that time passed by so quickly already and I'm already at the tail-end of my degree. Hopefully, once I am done with my thesis, I'll have more time to invest into writing once again.
The main reason that I wanted to update this fic first is well....I am not happy with how things are going in the JJK manga right now. No spoilers from me, but it's been disappointing me for a while now. It's a really sucky feeling to be honest, and I only hope things can get better (gege akutami, when I see you its on sight.)
I had a whole other version of this chapter written, but then I saw the orange peel theory on Tiktok and changed it into this hehe.
I hope you enjoyed this little filler chapter. Comments and votes are always appreciated <33