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Yuui was four when he first found out about the world of curses, and well, Jujutsu.
Yuuji was four, when his mother said that she made paintings known as the “Death Paintings”. This changed something for Yuuji. Too bad she left before this became a huge problem.
He was hungry.
But not for food, for something else.
After the Dead Paintings, Yuuji lost weight because food didn't go down his throat, not because he didn't like it, but because he couldn't even get it down his throat before puking.
It changed him forever.
He'd stop talking much, and often space out. When given any task, he would complete it, but his eyes would look lost, as if his mind was on a different planet. Eye contact became difficult for him, and sometimes, his speech would get slurred. He no longer had shine in his eyes.
He was stronger, faster and more athletically advanced than kids his age, but his weight was still alarming.
And then, that faithful day.
The day Yuuji realized what exactly he'd been hungry for.
He'd been sitting on the swing, staring out into the lush green of his preschool playground during recess, when he spotted something from the corner of his eye.
A very peculiar creature.
It radiated aura.
Any normal kid would be frightened if such a terrifying lizard-cockroach-lion monstrosity was within their range of eyesight.
But Yuuji?
He could only imagine how delicious it would taste.
…
He could still taste the flesh of that creature in his mouth and feel it down his oesophagus.
It was disgusting, but at the same time, delicious.
It had stopped his hunger for a while.
…Pause
It. Had. Stopped. His. Hunger.
That's what he had to eat to stop the hunger…?
Then, it's not a problem.
He always found them nearby whenever something bad was happening to his classmates.
Though, this wasn't always a good thing.
He'd become moodier than usual, most of the time, preferring to stay alone, his eyes lost even more color.
Something had to be done. Or someone.
Enter, Itadori Wasuke.
Yuuji’s good ol’ Gramps.
Once when Wasuke had taken Yuuji to the park, Yuuji had found one, a very small, disgusting creature.
He'd eaten it.
Wasuke found him with a horrified look on his face.
He then gave Yuuji a talisman. A necklace with a pendant.
As long as wore it, curses, as Grandpa called them, steered away from Yuuji. It was like a. Invisible shield protecting him. The main thing to worry about was his hunger, and it did, sort of help. He didn't have the wretched feeling of wanting to eat curses whenever he saw them, but he did have a bottomless hole in his stomach which needed to be filled, however since the need to eat curses was gone, Yuuji didn't feast on curses anymore.
Things went well, Yuuji was now six, living with his Gramps, and even started talking a bit more.
Then—
Things took a turn.
Yuuji was in preschool, he'd been zoning out, like he usually had since he was four, and then he heard footsteps approaching him.
He looked up to see his preschool teacher, she looked at him with some strange expression, a mix of sympathy and guilt, possibly grief too.
She asked him to follow her and he did, she brought him to an ambulance, which took him to a hospital.
He then found out what happened.
Gramps was laying on the bed, unmoving, his eyes closed.
Yuuji had lost him.
Yuuji had lost his grandfather.
They told him that it was due to a heart attack.
A normal child would have felt devastated, probably cried till their eyes couldn't form tears anymore.
Yuuji wasn't normal, he just stared at his grandfather's lifeless corpse as numbness took over.
And now, Yuuj was all alone. He was now officially a person with no relatives or guardian. He was placed into the system, an orphanage.
Yuuji almost never spoke. His eyes lost all the progress of gaining color.
A few kids tried to pick on him, but they were never satisfied as he never paid attention to them, when attempting to hit him, they were mouses in the eyes of a tiger. One was knocked out, the other had a bloody nose, the rest fled before any of them could be hurt. Yuuji was left alone after that, not that he minded, he couldn’t care less.
Though since his grandfather wasn't here…
What's stopping him from consuming his primary diet…?
Yuuji found one, outside his orphanage, he tried to grab it, but it ran away from him, upon sensing him.
Usually it never did that.
Oh wait, he's wearing the talisman.
He removed it and kept it aside, immediately feeling the dread of wanting to snatch that curse and suiff it down his throat. He approached the curse again and grabbed it, tearing its flesh like a starved tiger who hadn't eaten for days .
It wasn't enough.
He needed More.
For the next few days, he hovered around the orphanage, trying to find as many curses as possible, to quench his hunger. Once the day ended, Yuuji wore the talisman back so that he could sleep without the need to eat gnawing and eating him from the inside. Sometimes he would even rip the flesh of his hands just to reduce the pain. It resulted in some nasty scars.
After a week or two, he became impatient.
He needed, more, more, more, More, More, More, MORE, MORE—
He left that orphanage, those stupid staff didn't give a shit about him anyway, they'd be glad he was gone. If they ever noticed, that is.
Yuuji started wondering around, he snuck in a train and landed in Tokyo, he ignored the way many people took a second glance at him whenever he crossed the streets, it was probably because of the fact that he was a child walking down the streets looking like he was fighting for his life, or the dirty mop of pink hair growing on his head, pink hair was one of the least common hair colors, many would think about how irresponsible his parents would have been to allow a kid to get their hair dyed, if only they knew that his hair color was real, and passed down to him biologically, and also the fact that his parents are pretty much six feet under the ground.
Tokyo was better than Sendai, because there were more curses, these ones put up a fight, but they weren't really that bad. Some of them were a bit too difficult, Yuuji almost dies to some spider-fish thingamajig with a human face if Yuuji hadn't remembered that he had a talisman in his pocket and protected himself in the last minute
But some curses had genuinely filled that empty pit in his stomach that he didn't need to eat a curse until the next day, he could cry of relief if he wasn't so moody as an after effect of consuming the damn thing.
So in conclusion, Yuuji had a very screwed childhood from the start, he doubts anything could really surprise him more.
Gojo Satoru doubts anything had surprised him more.
Sure he deals with Grade one and Special Grade curses and they do sometimes take him off guard, but he had never thought that a six year old (Six. Year. Old. Satoru’s head repeats) would be following a Grade four curse like following one would follow a dog.
See, even though he can deal with high grade curses on his own, despite the Higher-Ups genuinely hating that his ass even exists, they cannot afford to lose him, and because of that, he sometimes goes on missions with his best friend slash rival slash boyfriend (Technically, though they've never had the conversation, Satoru is at least 98% sure that they like like each other, hopefully. ), Geto Suguru, like this one.
They'd easily won against the curse, being the strongest duo and all. So then, they walked back to the city, because the white headed abomination of a man found a stall that sold a different variety of macaroons and he wanted to try it.
So here they were, walking through the city, Suguru and Satoru walking side by side, occasionally bickering to spite the other off.
When Satoru had noticed a Grade Four curse to his left, they both silently decided to take this one out, just in case.
With they didn't account for, was a freaking child walking close behind the curse.
Satoru's Six Eyes picked up a lot of things that were off, as if Satoru himself couldn't pick up the fact that this child was off to begin with.
The child had a cursed object around his neck. Satoru realized it was a talisman, supposedly keeping the curse away from the child. It was strong too, considering that a Grade, fucking, four, didn't mind the child trailing behind him. Second, this child had cursed energy and was able to see the curse, and the cursed energy… Was quite a lot for a child, around six..? And Satoru felt a bit of pity when he sensed a very familiar type of cursed energy edging off the child. It was similar to his dear Suguru.
“Suguru dear,” Satoru started, “I'm afraid that I have bad news to bear about that kid” he continued,
“Satoru, that child literally had bad news written over him,” Suguru responded back, shooting a questioning glance towards Satoru’s head.
And right indeed was Suguru. The child was nothing Satoru had ever seen before. Satoru has seen a lot of shitshows in his life as a very, very important member of the Gojo clan.
But there is simply no way a child who hasn't even reached double digits can look this… Empty.
The child's hair is pink. Which is quite surprising considering that Satoru has never heard of any clans or sorcerer families with pink hair being a dominant gene, no less. The child's hair is messy and long, covering his forehead and only allowing a bit of the eyes to be able to be seen, dirty too, must be an orphan. Normal people can see how the dirt made the pink hair look dull and dark, but Satoru can see the true pink hair nestled on the child’s head, it was a bright pink, and it would definitely have stranded out if he went to a normal school. Satoru sympathizes with that as almost everyone who sees him cannot believe the offensive, blinding color of his hair as well.
But the hair is not the problem, it's his eyes.
The child's eyes are devoid of life. It feels like the child has to black holes on his head instead. And those eyes. Those pitch black holes showed years of darkness, as if there was nothing to hold onto. Leading to an expression on his face that should never be on a child no less.
“The child has similar cursed energy to you,” Satoru says simply, with his hands in his pockets, “Curse-like ”
Satoru can practically hear the grimace coming from his left as those words exited his mouth. Oh deary, Suguru will definitely be having a word or two with this child, it was already inevitable, since the child looked like that to begin with, and also that Satoru himself wanted to exchange words with the kid.
Before Suguru could say anything else Satoru jumped in, “You take care of the curse, Suguru, I'll talk to the child,”
Suguru gave him a glance that said “Are you insane” and Satoru waved him off, “Just deal with it, I know what I'm doing, relax.”
Suguru held his gaze for about two seconds, before leaving with an exasperated sigh.
Suguru was right to feel so skeptical about Satoru, and he agreed with that, he didn't even like kids after all. But for some reason, this child…
The curse had gone into a random alleyway which Suguru followed into and Satoru stood in front of the kid.
The kid didn't even look up, expecting Satoru to move aside, well good luck! Satoru’s not budging.
After a second or two, the kid realized that Satoru was not going to move and decided to look up, some hair fell off his face at the upturn of gravity and Satoru could see the kid's eyes more clearly. More devoid than when looking from afar.
Satoru dropped down, to have the kid at eye level so that he didn't have to crank his neck up, or that Satoru didn't have to crank his neck down.
“Hi there!~” Satoru said cheerfully, “You are?”
The child did not respond. He just looked at Satoru with those empty eyes. After a while Satoru got the idea that the child was unwilling to speak. He decided to continue.
“My name's Gojo, Gojo Satoru, you could call me Satoru-san, yeah?” Satoru didn't wait for a response, knowing he wouldn't get one, “You were able to see that creature” He pointed down the alleyway, “Not everybody can do that, but usually people run away because it looks scary, could you tell me why you're following it?” He asked,
The child looked at his pointed finger, then back at him, probably studying him. Satoru has genuinely no idea what could go on in this kid's mind.
“Hungry” The child drawled, and Satoru stilled,
Hungry. This child was hungry. But he was following a curse. That means. This child was hungry, for a curse.
“You've eaten curses before?” Satoru ask, just to be sure. And the child nodded,
He has absolutely no idea how the hell a child would somehow find a diet in curses. He doesn't even have an idea how.
Oh-kay, this child is definitely coming back with them to Jujutsu High.
“Satoru,” says the oh-so familiar voice of his beloved, both Satoru and the child turn and find Suguru approaching them, well, the kid really.
“Hi there,” Suguru says, dropping down next to Satoru to face the child, “Can I know your name?” He asks, in an incredibly soft tone Satoru has heard Suguru speak in only towards his sister,
The child looked at Suguru for a long time, then he blinked twice as if he just processed the request,
“N-No strangers” The kid said, his voice rash and hoarse. He hasn't spoken in a long time.
“Right, we are strangers to you right now, but if you want, we can become your friends, is that okay?” Suguru asked, again, in that oh so sweet and gentle, caressing tone.
“F-friends…?” The child asked, Oh-kay, this child is somehow doing things to Satoru’s heart.
“Yup!~” Satoru responded, “Have you had friends before?" The child pauses, and then shakes his head,
“Then we'll be your first, I'm Geto, Suguru Geto, call me Suguru” Suguru said, offering the child a small smile,
“Ita… Dori..” The child mumbled, “Itadori… Yuuji”
“So we call you Yuuji-kun then?” Satoru asked, the child- no, Yuuji nodded,
Then Satoru scooped up Yuuji in his arms, and stood, startling both Yuuji and Suguru.
Yuuji took a few seconds to recover, which Satoru graciously took to realize how light Yuuji was, then he wrapped his legs around Satoru’s waist.
“Now, Yuuji-kun, you told me that you were hungry for the curse, yes?” Earning a nod from Yuuji and a “What” from his one and only next to him. Satoru shushed Suguru before turning his attention back to the child in his arms, who just so happened to rub his eyes at the moment and Satoru had to mentally note how adorable Yuuji looked.
“Is your family nearby, Yuuji-kun?” Yuuji shook his head,
“Is your family not alive?" Yuuji's eyes darkened,
Ah, Satoru's mouth folded into a thin line.
“Well, then, Yuuji-kun, can we be your family?” Suguru asked in that gentle voice.
…
Wait a minute, what the hell—
Satoru looked at Suguru in shock, mirroring the pink boy's reaction in his arms.
Suguru gave him a look that said “Duh, what did you think?” and if Satoru was being honest, that was also in his mind, just he didn’t expect Suguru to say it so quickly, nevertheless saying it out loud.
“Suguru’s right, Yuuji-kun!” Satoru said cheerfully, recovering immediately, looking at the boy in his arms, who was still having the first expression change since Satoru and Suguru found him, “You’ll be sooo lonely, plus, we’re lonely too, and, we can help you with your hunger!”
The pink haired boy twisted his neck to look at Satoru, “R-really..?” His voice was quite, fragile, as if this was a dream. But his face, oh his round chubby cheeks and his adorable eyes, even if they were empty, right now, it felt like the light was being brought back. God, Satoru was going to die of cuteness, and he hasn’t even bought any outfits for little Yuuji-kun!
“Yes, really, we can promise you that,” Suguru smiled gently, “In fact, we can make a pinky promise for you, have you heard of them?”
A pinky promise sounded so childish, because of course they're going to help Yuuji. Satoru already planned to get Yuuji into a settlement somewhere near Jujutsu High, knowing that he can’t really keep Yuuji in the dorms, he didn’t want to leave Yuuji though. Maybe he can practice extra on warping so that he can perfect, so that transporting Yuuji will become easier than Suguru’s rainbow dragon!
The baby (C’mon, he’s so small compared to them!) in question, nodded as he looked at the extended pinky finger with wide eyes, before slowly and carefully wrapping his own.
His ity bity finger compared to Suguru’s felt like a mouse and an elephant. It was ridiculous, and then
Suguru and Satoru both noticed the scars and rashes on the little hands.
Both of them exchanged glances, it seemed like they had a lot to do.
Satoru started walking, with Yuuji in his arms and Suguru beside him, all while talking cheerfully about a “New Palace” in which Yuuji was going to live in.
Shoko was going to kill them. Yaga might as well try to die and Satoru could already hear the exasperated sigh that Nanami was going to give whenever he felt second-hand embarrassment for his Senpais.
That was fine, as long as Yuuji was safe. Safe with them.
Suguru looked at the child. Yuuji definitely needed a proper, long bath, needed to get checked up by Shoko for his hunger (Once she stops scolding them, Suguru has a feeling it wont take long considering that Yuuji is adorable and could and would win her heart). He’d need new clothes and toys, maybe, most of all though, since he’s already introduced to the Jujutsu world, why not have both him and Satoru train him?
That’s a nice thought, the strongest duo, having an even stronger kid.
Huh, he’s already attached, no doubt Satoru is as well.
They haven’t even properly got together and now they have a kid.
Suguru wonders how many more surprises the universe has for him.