Binding you!
Apparently your binding technique doesn't just bind cursed spirits.
Summary: After getting into a fight with your upperclassman Utahime, you get transferred to Tokyo. While binding animal cursed spirits, you manage to bind something else as well: a human heart!
Pairing: second-year!Gojo Satoru x second-year!reader
Tags/Content Warnings: reader has an Cursed Technique, romance, crushes, first love, making out, just fluffy all around, beach day, mentions of drowning, alternating POVs, Satoru is slightly touch-starved (and definitely takes advantage of it), reader could be seen as a hybrid at some points.
Word Count: 9.6k
A/n: not proofread, so if you find any mistakes, let me know.
The suitcase is rattling behind you when you walk through the gates of Jujutsu High Tokyo. It’s similar to Kyoto, in a way, you suppose. The tall Torii gates, the temples, the Japanese architect, but it’s still different.
The air here feels thicker, more… Tokyo. But you suppose you have to get used to that, since this is your new home now.
Looking around, you’re trying to find your way to the principal’s office. Yaga had sent a message before you left Kyoto that you’d have to swing by his office so he could get you ‘situated’ here. It was nice, in a way.
You feel the shadows behind you starting to stir a bit at the unfamiliar terrain. It isn’t anything physical by any means, just a presence only you can feel.
You almost chuckle at it. Kuro never did like moving much, but then again, he also didn't like your upperclassman very much, either. Always baring his fangs when he was near, growling in that deep, rumbling voice of his.
Utahime, for her part, only scoffed at him. He would rip her to shreds if you let him, but you wouldn’t tell her that.
Looking around, you’re trying to find any form of life. Maybe someone—an assistant or just a random student—could help you out, but you can’t see anyone nearby.
Sighing, you aimlessly wander around the massive school. After walking for a good five minutes, you finally see three—what you assume—students.
One has long black hair tied up in a bun with weird bangs, the other is a shorter female with a bob-cut, and the last, well you know who it is.
It isn’t like you know the guy personally, but everyone and their mothers know who Gojo Satoru is. The whispers about him travel far and wide. And it also seems like Utahime didn’t like him very much, which makes you wonder why.
The girl spots you first, cocking her brow when she scans you once. Leaning against the fence with a lollipop in her mouth, which she removes with a loud pop! “Are you lost?”
That makes Gojo and the other guy’s heads snap into your direction. They were arguing with each other, but they fall silent when they look at you.
“I was supposed to go to the principal’s office, but— well,” you clear your throat, averting your eyes slightly while the tips of your ears burn with the way the three are looking at you, “‘Dunno where it is.”
Gojo smiles, big and all teeth. His eyes crinkle slightly with it behind his glasses. Walking over to you with— what the fuck is that posture? No, like, seriously, why does he walk like that? You thought for the strongest sorcerer alive he would’ve had some posture training, but instead he looks like… like… god you can’t even describe it.
Your eyes flit to the other boy who’s also walking over. Surprise, surprise, he also walks like a fucking idiot. But he looks more like the Hunchback of Notre Dame, back hunched forward, hands in his pockets.
Does no one in Tokyo know how to walk normally? Maybe that’s why Utahime didn’t like Gojo, because of how ridiculous he looked when he walked.
“You’re the transfer, right?” he stops riiight in front of you, a step too close. You like your personal space. Kuro likes your personal space, too, but he would never confront someone over it. And then there’s Yumi, who doesn’t like it when people come too close to her.
A sudden hissing and rattling sound could be heard, shocking both boys. Their eyes quickly look at the ground to see if there’s a snake there, almost making you laugh.
“Yumi, behave,” you hiss down, looking at your bracelet. It’s pretty, well you certainly think so. It’s in the form of a snake, its head biting its own tail. Completely white with a few pink scales that span the entire bracelet.
The bracelet it rattling against your wrist, indicating that she still isn’t happy with this stranger in her space.
The three students now all look down at your arm, where the hissing just doesn’t stop. Eyes wide, and mouths slightly parted.
“What’s that,” the guy with the weird bangs is pointing at your bracelet. You quickly stroke your finger over the bracelet, trying to get Yumi to calm down. “A bracelet,” you explain, still not looking up.
“I mean, we get that, but why is it rattling,” the girl asks, a bit of fascination shining through her bored tone. That’s when you look up, straight at Gojo. His blue eyes are transfixed on your bracelet. He even pulled up his glasses, shoving them into his unruly white hair.
“He’s standing too close to her,” you nod your head at the white-head. That only makes him point at himself quizzically. He looks at the bracelet once more and takes a single step back.
The rattling immediately ceases, though there’s a faint hissing noise still in the air. And you just know she still isn’t completely satisfied, but this’ll do for now.
“Okaaayyy, so you got a bracelet that hisses and rattles at people when they come too close. That’s… unusual,” the guy with the black hair says—they kinda should introduce themselves with the way they walked up to you.
Gojo chuckles at that, making you look over at him. “‘S not just any bracelet, is it, transfer?” he cocks his head to the side, white wisps of hair trailing down his forehead. It reminds you of when Kuro was younger—just a small pup, cocking his head at you with those bright eyes of his.
Stop comparing Gojo to your wolf.
Narrowing your eyes at him, you hum slightly. “I guess not.”
The girl is looking between the two of you, sometimes looking down at the bracelet that is Yumi. “Well,” she says, popping the lollipop back into her mouth. “Whatever it is, just don’t let it bite me.”
You chuckle at that. “Yumi doesn’t bite people,” you snicker, because if it did, you would’ve let her bite Utahime. Just kidding! Maybe.
“So what does it do?” he guy with the bangs asks. Sighing you let go of the handle of your suitcase, looking down at Yumi slightly. You know she loves this part. You, however, like it a bit less, because it made some people in Kyoto uncomfortable.
You whisper something under your breath that Gojo can’t quite hear, and the bracelet rolls out. It forms itself into a beautiful whip-like blade. It curl in ways steel shouldn’t be able to, but then again, this isn’t quite steel.
The color-scheme stays the same. The handle is fully pink while the blade is white with some pink specks on it. It is beautiful. And it’s also rattling, again.
The blade trashes slightly, almost like a snake ‘wagging’ its tail. It makes the three take another step back.
“She won’t do anything I won’t let her do, don’t let the rattling fool you,” you casually say, as if you’re not holding an… snake? whip? blade? In your hand that’s not a big fan of the audience currently presented in front of it.
It is fascinating, though. Beautiful in the way dangerous things are.
Speaking of, Gojo can see something in the shadows behind you. It isn’t quite a shape, but there’s cursed energy coming from your shadow. It belongs to you, but it isn’t you.
It reminds him of Geto, of how his cursed energy swirls around, and when he uses one of his curses, it’s ‘linked’ to him, but it isn’t quite the same. So what do you have in your shadows?
Sighing the whip goes back into the bracelet shape, curling around your wrist once more. Grabbing your suitcase once more, your eyes look around.
“Soooo, now that I’ve shown you guys my snake— stop laughing, that wasn’t an innuendo,” you narrow your eyes at Gojo and Geto who are elbowing one another while snickering while you said that. “can anyone show me where the principal’s office is?”
The brown-haired girl sighs around her lollipop before walking ahead of you. She mutters a ‘boys’ under her breath while nodding her head to the side, her brown hair swaying with the motion slightly. “Well, 'c’mon then.”
With that she starts walking to what you presume is the principal’s office. Quickly catching up with her, your suitcase rattles against the stone ground.
She glances sideways at you, brown eyes assessing you slightly. “Name is Shoko, by the way. And the two dumbasses over there—” she jerks her head back to where the two boys are following you," “—are Geto and Gojo.”
Well, you knew who Gojo was, but it’s a good thing you now know the names of everyone here. Nodding your head you give her your name in return.
Eyeing you from the corner of her eyes, she’s looking at Yumi once more. “So, you have any other snake pets?”
You almost sigh through your nose. That’s a common thing people think, that they’re pets. Alive. They aren’t … well, only kuro is, in a way, alive. But you wouldn’t call him a pet either.
“None physical like this,” you hold your arm with the bracelet up slightly. It tinks! against your skin. The snake isn’t rattling or hissing any longer, despite Shoko walking quite close to you, which is progress. Yumi never stopped hissing at Utahime.
Shoko just hums, looking forward once more. She pulls out her phone and types something in it, not that you care, you just want to find your new room and unpack your bags.
It’s only a ten-minute walk, which consisted of mostly you and Shoko being quiet—you just looking around and Shoko typing away on her flip phone—while Gojo and Geto are doing god knows what. All you know is that they’re shoving one another and giggling like schoolgirls.
Shoko stops in front of one of the buildings, knocking on the shoji panel, she slides it open for you. The inside isn’t quite what you expected; It’s one, big room. Pillars spanning everywhere. It’s lit with candles, casting a low, orange light. It’s completely empty except for the low table at the far end of the room which is surrounded by… dolls?
Blinking once more, you look again. Yup, still dolls. Not those Barbie or bratz ones, no these are felted dolls that look more like plushies. Quite obviously hand-made, judging from the stitching and silly expressions on their faces.
There’s a big guy sitting at the table, broad shoulders hunched over what looks like a piece of fabric, needle and thread in hand. He looks up once the door opens.
“Ah, the transfer,” he starts, then his eyes slide to the three students beside you. “I see you already found your classmates.”
Wait, what? These three are in the same year as you?
Looking back at the three, they’re all grinning down at you. “Wait, snake girl over here is in the same year as us?” Gojo slings his arm around your shoulder, which was a bad idea, because Yumi immediately begins rattling once more.
He quickly retracts his hand from your shoulder, putting his hands up in a way that suggests he still doesn’t like the snake.
The principal hums, it’s a low, throaty thing. It reminds you of when the earth shakes and stones rattle. It’s quite a soothing sound, honestly. Something completely different from how Gakuganji walks around the school grounds.
“Well, I suppose you guys can show her the dorms, then. Welcome to Tokyo.” with that he goes back to sewing.
You keep standing there a bit awkwardly, not quite sure if you should bow to him—he can’t even see you anymore—or if you should just walk out.
You feel someone take your luggage from you, turning around you see Gojo hauling it over his shoulder with a grunt, and winks at you when you raise a brow. “Well then, c’mon, transfer. We’ll show you your new sleeping quarters.”
Shoko is already walking off with Geto, leaving you standing with Gojo who’s looking at you with a sparkle in his eyes you’ve not quite depicted yet.
You bow to the principal before turning on your heel and walk next to Gojo—taking two steps to the side when Yumi hisses again—who still has your suitcase swung over his shoulder. You’re not sure why he did that, but alas.
Once at the building, you note how similar it looks to the one back in Kyoto, sending a small pang through your chest. It’s silly, really. You don’t think anyone would miss you, always avoiding you in some ways because of your snake.
It had hurt, quite honestly. The way your two other classmates just didn’t interact with you because of your snake.
Kuro had told you how they’re ‘foolish humans if they can’t even stand a snake’ and for you to ‘dry your tears, human. They aren’t worth shedding over those low-lives’. Yeah, he had a way with words.
But still, this is unfamiliar ground. Looking over at Gojo who is already smiling at you while explaining where everything is, maybe it isn’t that bad after all.
Walking you back to your room, he opens the door with a flourish. “Tadaaaa,” he stretches his arm out into the empty room. There’s only a bed and a closet in there. That’s it. “This ‘s your room! Which is only two doors down from mine.”
Stepping into the room, you look around. Well, it definitely needs some decorations, plus a small bed for Kuro for when he decides to show up. But it’s large, larger than in Kyoto.
With a smile you thank Gojo, who grins back at you and turns to leave.
Sitting on the bed you sigh out. And from the hallway, you can hear Gojo call out to you: “Welcome to Tokyo, transfer.”
It’s been 3 months since you’ve transferred to Tokyo, and the time has been pleasant so far. You’ve been introduced to two of your underclassmen—Haibara and Nanami. Haibara was all gentle smiles and encouragement while Nanami was more serious, though he had his moments.
Of course you also got closer to your actual classmates. It came as a surprise to you, honestly. The fact that they went out of their way to include you in things made your heart do happy flips.
Never in a million years would you have thought you would be happy at school, especially considering how things went back in Kyoto. But here you are, laughing and spending time with friends.
At first you thought they were just doing it to be polite, letting you sit with them outside, asking you some general questions about your life, inviting you because you happened to be sitting in earshot. But it became clear quite quickly that they actually wanted you there.
Kuro had noted how happy you seemed when you got back to your room one day. He was laying on the little dog bed you had gotten him, though ‘little’ isn’t how you would explain the bed. It was quite frankly massive.
Kuro is a wolf, after all. His piercing silver eyes trained completely on the way you were smiling. He had merely huffed back then, but you swear you heard him grumble out a ‘finally’.
And now you’re sitting here, outside in the morning sun. Gojo is sitting next to you, Geto is somewhere further in the courtyard.
Yumi has finally stopped hissing at the white-haired boy whenever he came ‘too close’. He had noted it when he came to sit next to you one day, shoulder to shoulder, when he started explaining some dumb thing that happened when he was on his sugar rush (again).
In the middle of his story he fell silent, looking down at your bracelet that was suspiciously quiet. His grin had widened significantly and cooed asking if ‘someone finally warmed up to him’, his finger getting closer to the bracelet.
Of course, Yumi wouldn’t like to be touched, so she hissed again. Gojo quickly retracting his finger again with a quick ‘no touching, noted’.
Just like that day, he’s sitting next to you again, shoulder occasionally bumping into yours while he explained the dream he had—you’re not sure what he’s talking about, something about fries and a milkshake? Dunno, you have your head tilted back, soaking up the rays of sun that are starting to poke through the clouds.
Geto is on his way back when another set of footsteps joins. Cracking one eye open, you let your head fall to your shoulder to look who is approaching—the footsteps are too heavy to be Shoko’s, too deliberate to be Haibara’s and too slow to be Nanami’s—when you’re met with the principal.
Gojo doesn’t care, or if he does, he doesn’t let it show. He just continues with his story as if there isn’t a hunk of a principal standing in front of him, but then again, Gojo does tower over principal Yaga.
Yaga clears his throat once, a sure way for Gojo to shut up. When he doesn’t, you quickly swat his thigh with your hand. Wrong thing to do, apparently, because Gojo just grabs your hand, playing with your fingers slightly.
It’s something you’ve noticed him doing—clinging to whatever physical touch people gave him. He likes to drape himself over people, whether that be by slinging an arm around someone’s shoulder, or flopping his body sideways, head in someone’s lap; as long as he can touch someone, he doesn’t mind whatever it is.
Not everyone always likes it when he does things like that. Nanami and Shoko are quick to shrug him off. Haibara looooves it, most often hugging Gojo whenever he can (golden retriever energy vs Samoyed), Geto tolerates it most times and you—
Well, you suppose you don’t mind it as much. The first time he laid his head on your shoulder, looking up at you with a broad smile on his face and those dazzling blues, you felt your face flush. Gojo is handsome, after all.
That, unfortunately, isn’t something you could escape. The fact that Gojo Satoru not only is ‘The Strongest’ but apparently he also won the genetic lottery. Bleach-bone white hair, pearly whites that weren’t completely perfect—one of his canines sticks out slightly, and it honestly is an adorable sight—and those eyes.
Yeah. Gojo Satoru is beautiful, unfortunately. Because that also means he can get away with more shit. Pretty privileges or some shit like that. Like how he’s threading your fingers through his, swinging his arm slightly, yours swinging with it.
Yaga looks down at your connected hand before sighing and pinching the bridge of his nose. “There’s a mission, it’s in Okinawa. Wake Shoko and go there. All four of you.” with that, he turns around to walk away, before halting in his step slightly. “Oh, and bring some swimwear,” he calls out over his shoulder before disappearing.
Your brows furrow together. A mission where you need swimwear? That’s… unusual. Looking over at the boys, you see them exchanging a glance, before Geto stands up. “I’ll wake Shoko.”
That leaves you and Gojo, who’s standing up. Your arm awkwardly stretches up because he still hasn’t let go of your hand. Grinning down at you, he tilts his shades down a bit, revealing a sliver of those azure blues. “Well then, let’s go on this mission.”
The mission is… interesting. Yaga had given Shoko a quick debrief and a letter with the contents of the mission because she was ‘the least likely to lose it’—which, rude. Geto and Gojo you could understand, but he thought you wouldn’t be able to handle the mission debriefing?
Now here you are, standing in your bikini, on a beach. You furrow your brows, turning to look at Shoko who is laying down her towel. She’s sucking on a lollipop once again. Shades burrowed in her brown locks and eye-bags under her eyes.
“You’re sure this is what the mission said? And why do we have to be in our bikini’s?” you question her, your bracelet—Yumi—rattling slightly with the motion.
Gojo and Geto are already running along the beach, water guns in hand, drenching one another with the toy guns. Your brows furrow even further. How can they just… enjoy this when there is a mission to be completed?
Shoko’s tired brown eyes slide over to you. Going to lay down on the towel, she hums. “Mhmmm, said there was some… disturbance of the sea. People feeling all, down or whatever. There are four confirmed deaths in this part of the sea over the last two months.”
With that she closes her eyes and lets the sun soak her skin a bit. That’s it? That’s all it said on the mission debrief, surely not? No confirmed curse sightings? No brutal murders? Just the sea being, what, unruly?
Huffing you make your way to the sea, feet sinking into the warm sand, sun blistering down onto your skin. The air smells like salt and fries from a stand that’s further down the beach.
The sounds of waves crashing ashore and kids giggling a bit further down has you worried.
Normally someone would come with to lower a veil, let the public not see the things that can happen when there are curses, but apparently that’s not needed today?
You’re so, incredibly, confused.
Stepping forward, the cold seawater laps at your toes, making them curl slightly at the contrast of the warm rays that fall across your skin. A shiver runs up your spine, jerking your body slightly backward. The charms on your waistband clink! with the motion.
Gojo had pointed them out when you stepped out with them around your waist. Fingers hovering too close to your skin, and you’re not sure if it only stopped mere inches away because he’s holding back, or because he had infinity on, but it still made goosebumps appear on your skin.
“Ooohhh, what’re these?” he’d grinned down at you, looking over the charms of different animals. There were a few you’d taken with you: A bunny, a falcon, a python, a fish and a dolphin. You have a few more charms back home, but you didn’t wanna take all of them with you.
So you had chosen these five, plus Yumi, of course. She goes everywhere you go. It’s your way of exorcising curses after all. If you didn’t have Yumi with you, you’d be pretty much defenseless. You’re not great at hand to hand, so that wouldn’t do.
And now here you were, with your charms and Yumi. Kuro is looming somewhere that isn’t completely here on earth, nor in space. He’s on a different plane of reality, but you’re always aware of him. Aware of the way your shadow twitches slightly.
You’re so focused on the way the sea is lapping at your toes, that you don’t notice the 6’3 menace walking your way with a big mischievous grin.
“Heeyyy,” he breathes out in your ear, making you yelp before turning around to look at him. He has his arms behind his back, and that smile promises no good. Then you remember the fact that he was having a water gun fight with Geto mere seconds ago.
Raising your finger you point it straight at him. “You better not spray me with water, Gojo. It’s fucking cold, and I rather not get completely wet if it isn’t needed.”
Gojo’s grin only widens. “Don’t you worry your pretty head about that,” he almost purrs. “Just look at this!”
When he finally reveals what was behind his back, you almost scream while taking several steps back, further into the ocean, water lapping at your calves now. He has a gross sea cucumber in his hand. It flops around slightly.
You almost gag at the sight. Keeping your finger up, you take more steps backward while he keeps closing the distance with that infuriating grin of his.
“Stop coming closer, Gojo, I swear to god. I don’t care who you are to society, if that thing comes any closer to me, there won’t be a Gojo Satoru anymore.”
Gojo says nothing, just keeps closing the distance, the water almost reaching your waist now. It’s cold as hell, but you don’t care much about that right now. All you want is to get away from that gross thing. And the fact that he’s holding it? God, another shiver runs up your spine.
The water doesn’t do much to Gojo, with his looong legs he can still walk normally, while you have to wade through it. And then he leaps forward, arms outstretched with that gross thing still in his hands.
Screaming you run the other way, back to the beach. Hoping, like actually hoping, Geto would at least help you—you know Shoko wouldn’t, while she likes you as a friend, she wouldn’t be caught dead running after you to save you from a sea cucumber—but he’s only laughing his ass off looking at Gojo running after you.
And curse those long legs, because he gains traction much, much faster than you do. Panicking, you look around to see if you can go somewhere, anywhere, when you hear your charms clink and rattle against your waist.
Looking down, you’re reminded you have your dolphin charm and fish charm. The fish charm is a pretty light pink, the way Yumi is pink. The dolphin is almost purple, but also beautiful in its own way.
You want to kiss yourself for packing these charms with you, because that means you can at least get away from Gojo.
Dodging him, you run back into the sea. This time you don’t stop when you’re waist deep. No, you dive into the cold ocean. Brushing your fingers over the charms, you immediately feel the difference. Feel the way there are small slits at your ribs now, and the fact that you’re swimming way faster than you should be able to.
Looking over your shoulder, you see Gojo dive in after you, sea cucumber forgotten. He’s just wading his way to you right now. Swimming faster, you go deeper and deeper into the ocean.
Normally your lungs would’ve given out by now, having had to go back up for some air, but luckily you don’t need to do that right now. Unluckily for you, it seems like Gojo can somehow also hold his breath under water for a loooong time.
Is he… is he using Infinity to filter out oxygen molecules to keep chasing you? Well, he is smart. That’s something people don’t give him enough credit for, to be completely honest.
But that is a disadvantage to you right now. You want to shake him off. But you’re faster, by a mile, under water anyway. If you were on land, you’d be completely fucked right now.
The temperature down here is getting colder and colder, the sight getting more dark. And Gojo finally coughs, just once. Air bubbles floating up, before he furrows his brows and swims up to get some air.
You almost laugh, your hair swaying gently in the water down here. You’re not sure how far down you are right now, but it is quite some way. A small laugh escapes your lips, air bubbles also forming from your mouth, the same way they did Gojo’s.
And then you get violently dragged. Teeth clamping down your arm, dragging you up. Yelping you look over to your side to look what has hold of you, when you’re met with dark gray fur and piercing silver eyes.
Furrowing your brows, you kick your legs to resurface. It takes a while, but once your head is above water, you see Gojo a few meters away from you. He opens his mouth to ask you something, when Kuro’s snout breaches the water.
His head finally resurfacing as well. You loop your arms around his body, and he’s fucking heavy like this. A giant wolf isn’t quite something that belongs in the ocean.
Gojo paddles his way over to you. “You have a wolf as well?” he breathes out. When he sees you struggle a bit with holding the wolf above water alongside yourself, he slides one arm around you, another around the wolf.
The thing yips once before he finally stills in your hold. You don’t look at Gojo right now, though. Don’t focus on how warm and big his hand feels splayed across your waist. All you’re focused on is Kuro who sneezes. Once. Twice. Before finally looking over at you.
“Foolish human, did you not realise what was down there? You could’ve been chomped in half!” Kuro’s voice rumbles out of his chest. Gojo looks over with wide eyes, whispering under his breath: “Did it just speak or did i inhale too much sea water. Am I hallucinating this?”
The wolf gives him one, flat look that makes him shut up, still supporting your weight alongside his own and Kuro’s.
“What are you talking about, Kuro?” you ask, because you didn’t notice anything down there. If there was a fish down there that big to get ‘chomped in half’, as Kuro said, you surely would’ve noticed it?
He sighs out of his snout, a long, suffering sigh that makes it seem like he’s a thousand years old and a kid just asked him if sharks were real. “The turtle, young one. Surely you would’ve noticed the massive turtle on the bottom of the sea?”
You exchange a glance with Gojo, a silent ask if he saw it. He merely shakes his head at you, indicating that he didn’t notice anything.
“I didn’t see anything, Kuro. What turtle? Also what turtle would be big enough to chomp me in half?” you question the wet wolf. Your arms are starting to get tired, but you can’t just let Gojo bear all the weight of the massive wolf on his own.
“Just look down there and you’ll see it. Gosh, you’re lucky I’m watching over you, you would’ve died three times over already,” he huffs out, silver eyes narrowing at you. You only guiltily smile at him, because it is true.
Kuro has been your familiar ever since you were a small girl. He was merely a pup back then, but he was wise beyond his years. Fur as gray as smoke, which, coincidentally, was what his fur was made out of. Little wisps of smoke curling into the air. Silver eyes boring into you.
He taught you everything there was to know about your technique. How to bind things, how not to bind things, what binding things entailed. You name it, he taught it to you.
And he always looked over you, from a plane that wasn’t quite in this reality. It was strange. At first your mom thought you had made up a ‘friend’ the way kids do when they are young, but instead of a human friend you made up an animal friend.
Not that weird, kids had big imaginations after all. But she grew more and more concerned when she heard you talking to someone—or rather something—when you were supposed to be sleeping.
That something was Kuro. Not fake. Not quite real, either. He just was, or wasn’t. If he felt like it, he would crawl into bed with you, small paws curling under him while he laid his head across your lap while you slept.
Other times he was just watching you. Sometimes from the shadows, other times from a place that shouldn’t quite exist.
When you first enrolled into Jujutsu High Kyoto, someone said it was a Shikigami. Buuutttt… you’re still not quite sure if you could call Kuro a Shikigami, to be completely honest. Sure your Yumi could technically be called a Shikigami, but Kuro was just… Kuro.
You preferred to call him your familiar, as if you were a with rather than a sorcerer. Then again, non-sorcerers often mixed the terms sorcerer, witch and wizard together in one pot. Though they didn’t know of actual sorcerers living amongst them.
So Kuro was always watching you, keeping you safe in ways you never knew you needed. Just like today.
“Okay, well, go back. We’ll look to see if we can find this massive turtle you’re speaking of,” you clean some of Kuro’s fur with your thumb. He huffs before disappearing, going back to wherever he came from.
Gojo looks at you then. “Soooo, wanna explain whatever the hell that was?” he asks, still paddling in the water to keep himself upright.
Humming you look back into the sea, but can’t see a thing. “That’s Kuro, he’s part of my technique, I suppose. Looks out over me. I like to call him my familiar. He can speak. That’s the only cursed spirit—well, I’m not even sure if Kuro is a cursed spirit—that has an actual physical animal form. No Yumi doesn’t count. She’s a bracelet, and not a fully formed snake.”
You decide to answer every question he could come up with before voicing them. You’ve heard the questions a handful of times, and would rather explain everything at once than have to listen to him racking his brain over this.
You’re still looking into the sea, when you feel Gojo turn you right against him. You had honestly forgotten that his hand has been on your waist this entire time. Long fingers splayed out on your skin. Now his other hand joins, both hands holding your waist.
Putting your hands on his biceps, you finally look at him then. His hair is plastered flat against his forehead, the sun making the strands glint like spiderwebs. Those bright, blue eyes piercing yours, looking over you in disbelief.
“So you wanna tell me,” he starts, voice slightly breathy. “That you have your stupid snake—”
“Hey, she isn’t stupid!”
“—and those charms across your waist,” he thumbs one of them slightly, making you shiver, even though the water is quite warm, and if it wasn’t, Gojo’s body heat is more than enough to warm you up right now. “make you have gills.”
Right, you forgot that you hadn’t actually told anyone what the charms did. So when Gojo was chasing you, he could probably see the gills form on your ribs.
Swallowing you avert your gaze. This is all too much—the way he’s still thumbing those charms, his body pressed right against yours, and the way he’s looking at you with those eyes.
“I mean, I guess. It’s not just gills, but… yeah,” you swallow the last few words. And then Gojo laughs, big and boyish. Head thrown back, pearly whites on display, and his grip slightly tightens on your waist—probably unconsciously.
“God, I knew you were interesting, but not this interesting.” The way he says it throws you a bit, his voice is filled with… is that adoration? You’re not sure, all you know is he’s still looking at you like that, his chest still pressed against yours, and his thumb never once stopped making small circles on your skin.
He wishes he could stay in the moment like this, you pressed against him, holding onto him still. Looking at him with that cute, slightly confused expression. Your hair is wild against the crown of your head, wet and slightly drying in the sun.
He can feel the chain of the jewelry, can feel the charms press faintly into his abs, can feel the way your gills are still working just above his fingers. And you look damn pretty like this.
“We should-” you swallow. Try again, “we should probably look what Kuro was talking about,” you breathe out, still looking him in the eye.
He doesn’t want to. Wants to just stay like this for a little while longer. You pressed against him, letting him touch you the way you always do.
It’s something he started doing a lot after you joined the class. Sure he was always close with others, but never really this touchy feely, not on this extent, at least. There was the throwing his arm across one’s shoulder, but other than that he didn’t really do anything.
With you, however. God, you probably don’t even notice it—the way he always wants to hold you in some capacity. Like this morning, for example. The way he sits so close to you, you’re almost on his lap (it’s more like he’s almost on your lap, but alas).
His shoulder constantly bumping into yours. Thigh to thigh. Just close proximity that isn’t quite there with others. The way you let him hold your hand, or play with your fingers, makes him so incredibly happy.
Sure, it is true that he’s touch starved to a point where he treasures everything he can get from friends, but he truly milks it out with you. And somehow you never caught onto it.
But still, he nods his head. If you want to go down, then that’s what the two of you will do.
With his confirmation, you let go of his biceps, and it takes Gojo a second too long to let go of you. Your smooth, soft skin under the palms of his hand disappears in a flash.
He takes in a deeeepp breath and follows you down.
He can see it clearly now—the way your gills work, but also the fact that you’re so much faster than you should be. Gojo himself is fast, on land that is. Water does limit his movement quite a bit, but he’s still fast, of course.
But you’re fast in a way that isn’t ‘natural’, and it probably has something to do with that dolphin charm of yours—which is something he really should start asking some questions about. There are three more charms that you still haven’t used.
Once he stops focusing on you, however, he can see it. Cursed energy, right at the bottom of the sea. It isn’t like it’s a whole lot—probably a grade one—but it’s massive. Just like Kuro said.
It’s, in fact, the shape of a turtle. Big and ancient.
Gojo can see you brush one of your charms and say something by the way there are bubbles floating upward. Squinting forward, you suddenly look back at him, and point down at the floor of the ocean. Garbled speech reaches his ears.
“There’s something down there” you state, still pointing at the massive turtle down there. Is that what caused the big waves that killed those people, or was that just nature’s doing?
Well, whatever it is, it should probably get exorcised.
Making his hand sign, a small ball of blue forms on Gojo’s fingertips. Your eyes widen at the sight, and you quickly swim in front of him, waving your hands in a frantic manner while shaking your head.
“Just… if anything goes wrong you can exorcise it, ‘kay?” you cock your head to the side so cutely, he can’t help but agree with you. You smile at him when he lets go of his technique and instead focuses on his Infinity to filter out the oxygen molecules.
Swimming down further, you’re finally in range of the curse—a massive ancient turtle cursed spirit. Bingo. And what a beaut it is, its shell overgrown with coral, different colors everywhere. It reminds you of when you got Yumi back when you were a child.
She was soooo pretty in your eyes. A white snake with pink scales dotted across it, yeah, why should you be scared when it’s so beautiful. (You would’ve probably died if Kuro didn’t interfere, but alas.)
You chant a small incantation under your breath, bubbles floating up to the surface. The turtle trashes around, its head that was burrowed in the sand finally rises up. The way it moves makes the whole water trash, creating small waves.
Well, that isn’t good. You keep chanting, even though it reaches up, jaw open and ready to bite at you. And you just hope that if you can’t bind it, Gojo is fast enough to exorcise it.
It looks really, really bad from here. Gojo is looking at you chanting something while looking at the massive turtle that’s ready to fucking eat you. Not in a fun way, in a very you’re-going-to-die way. So he readies himself to fire a blue.
The turtle starts closing it’s mouth, and just before it ‘chomps you in half’ it disappears. Not exorcised, just… gone. As if it was never there to begin with.
And then you turn around to him, grin on your face and your palm open. On it lays a small, turtle shell charm, coral decorating the piece. You put the charm on the chain alongside the other charms.
The sight is, quite frankly, adorable.
So that’s how you get those charms, huh? A form of binding technique.
You never really explained how your technique worked to anyone, just used Yumi wherever needed an that was it. But looking at you now, he can see how your technique works.
It binds cursed spirits in the form of animals. Once bound they ‘drop’ little charms—and maybe jewelry, looking at the snake bracelet snug across your wrist—which can be used for abilities, such as your gills and the extra speed in the water.
It is then, that Gojo remembers that he’s still in the water, tens of meters down, not actively using infinity to get some oxygen in. His eyes widen when he finally realises his mistake. Swimming up would take some time.
You see him panicking, see the way air bubbles are starting to leave his nose, almost as if he’s desperately trying to keep his breath in. Swimming towards him, you put your hands on his face, turning it towards your own.
Looking up to the surface, you note how far away from it the two of you are. Looking back down at Gojo, your brows furrow. Sure you can breathe because of your gills, Gojo, however, isn’t looking too good.
Well, here goes nothing.
Angling his face down slightly, you close the gap. Your lips pressing against his, well you try to—but Gojo still has some of his Infinity running.
The moment your lips meet his—or well, they try to—his mind buffers. Wait, what is happening. One moment he’s looking at the surface, the next his head is getting angled down and you lean forward, closing the gap between the two of you.
He’s still running a thin layer of Infinity, to not completely drown, which he quickly turns off. Your soft lips meet his, and his brain malfunctions completely. That’s… that’s not how he expected this to go. He’s actively drowning and you’re kissing him?
Oh well, what a way to go out.
With that, he grabs your waist and pulls you closer to him, your knees knocking against his, some of your hair brushing his cheek, your chest once again pressed against his.
God, he could stay like this forever. Stay with you forever in this dark, cold place that’s the bottom of the ocean. And he wishes he would have gills, just to stay down here with you.
And then your tongue traces the seams of his lips, trying to coax them open, which he happily obliges with. Instead of your soft tongue clashing against his, you puff some air into his mouth, giving his lungs some oxygen they desperately needed.
Not that he focuses on that, though. His grip tightens, careful to not cover your gills. You need air as well, after all. What he does focus on is how your soft lips are still against his, your mouth still open, trying to give him oxygen.
It is quite romantic if you think about it. Some people saying they ‘steal the breath from their lungs’, and here you are, giving him your breath from your lungs, just to keep him from drowning.
But that’s not what he wants right now. All he can think about is how he wants to kiss you, again and again, until he’s out of breath, and even then, he wants to kiss you a bit more.
So his tongue invades your mouth, traces your teeth, touches your own tongue. It makes you gasp out into his mouth, bubbles of air leaving between the two of you, brushing against his skin before they make their way up to the surface—something the two of you should do as well.
But that’s not what happens. The two of you stay down here, tongues clashing, heads tilting while trying to keep the salty sea water out and the oxygen in.
Your arms go from his cheeks to his neck, circling them. Fingers finding his undercut. It’s even softer than normal, the sea making them float around rather than the unruly mess it truly is.
He gets lost in this, in the way you’re kissing him back. Sure you initiated it, but it was only to give him oxygen, not this. But he’s not about to complain.
There’s something soft and heavy grazing his cheek, but he thinks nothing of it. Your hair has been brushing against him the entire time, so that’s probably what it is.
His hands slip down to your back, tugging you even further against him. God it’s addicting, you’re addicting. The way you talk to your snake like she’s alive, even though she isn’t. The way you always try to look out for whoever is getting left behind.
And he can’t stop.
You’re so into the kiss, you don’t notice the change of scenery. Don’t notice that the sea isn’t cold against your skin anymore. Don’t notice the fact that you can hear things more clearly from here—the way the sea is crashing ashore, the faint chatter of other people on the beach, nor the way Geto and Shoko gasp.
What you do notice, is the way there’s sand under your knees. Wait, what? Sand under your knees? You were in the water, no anywhere near the bottom of the sea.
Disconnecting your mouth from Gojo’s, you open your eyes and look around. The sun temporarily blinds you. Lifting a hand to shield your eyes, you blink a few times, spots dancing in your vision.
Finally you see where you are: on shore, right in front of Geto and Shoko, who are looking at you and Gojo with wide eyes and open mouths.
Looking down, you finally realise the position you’re in: straddling Gojo, who is laying on his back in the ground. Your hair cascades down, making a small, makeshift curtain around the two of you. But what you notice most is the white ear hanging in your vision.
Gojo opens his eyes with a small whine punching from the back of his throat when you disconnect your lips from his. Your weight sits heavy—not actually heavy, more like he’s aware of your weight—across his lap.
The sand is pricking into his back, warm and sharp. A big contrast between the cold, salty sea water the two of you were in moments earlier.
Then he opens his eyes, and his mind buffers slightly. You’re above him, which makes sense, but what doesn’t is the giant white bunny ears that are flopped over your head.
You scramble back slightly, off Gojo’s lap and into the sand. Looking around, you fix your gaze back onto Gojo’s again.
“How did we even end up here?” you ask, voice fully confused, because you can swear you were in the sea moments ago.
Gojo sits up, knees bent slightly while he places his forearms over them. “I teleported us.”
You look at him then, gaze narrowing slightly. I teleported us. teleported us. teleported. The sentence doesn’t make sense in your head. He teleported the two of you? But why was he panicking when he could’ve just teleported back ashore before you kissed him?
“I- what?” you ask, brows furrowed. One of your—bunny—ears still flopped across your forehead, hindering your vision slightly.
“I teleported us,” he echoes, like that’s the most normal sentence ever. You look around again, to check once more. Maybe you did get absolutely chomped by the turtle and now you were hallucinating before bleeding out. That… would make sense. Maybe.
“Why didn’t you do that in the first place?” you ask. Gojo just smiles and rubs the back of his neck. “Weeellll,I may or may not have forgotten I could do that?” it’s more a question than a statement with the way his voice goes up at the end.
Your gaze narrows at him once more. “You forgot,” you begin slowly, as if tasting the words in your mouth. “That you could save yourself. That I didn’t have to give you oxygen to keep you from drowning.”
“Suuuure, that’s what you two were doing,” Geto drawls, still looking between the two of you with amusement glinting in his eye.
You can feel your skin start to flush slightly. Turning to face him, your scowl deepens a bit. “Wait, wait wait. Neither of you wondered where the hell we went?”
You must’ve been gone for… what, at least 20 minutes? Maybe even longer. The last time Shoko and Geto had seen you, both you and Gojo went into the sea, and thy haven’t seen the two of you since.
“Now don’t turn this on us,” Shoko begins, a small smirk on her face, “you two suddenly teleport here, Gojo’s tongue practically down your throat while you have bunny ears.”
Gojo, for his part, is only grinning. There isn’t even an hint of remorse or mortification on his face, no it looks like he’s proud. Proud that he teleported the two of you right in front of his friends—and, I guess, yours, too.
Kicking some sand his way you look away, white ears flopping with the motion. You don’t remember activating the charm, but it clearly happened some time you were… down in the ocean.
Gojo looks you over once—notes the way your skin is flushed slightly, probably from both the sun and a small blush, the way you’re avoiding his gaze, the white bunny ears on top of your head that just appeared out of nowhere.
Bunny ears.
“So, Usagi-chan, do you have a tail as well?” He cranes his head around to look behind you, to spot said tail. You turn further away from his shameless ogling, kicking yet another scoop of sand his way. “It’s just the ears.” you mutter.
And as if it wasn’t already bad enough, you can hear Shoko whisper to Geto. “How much you wanna bet they were just making out the entire time?”
Your ear twitches against your head, slightly tilting their way. Snapping your gaze towards her, you huff out of your nose. “We weren’t making out! Gojo was drowning and I was just giving him some oxygen.”
All three—yes even Gojo—cock their brows at your statement. And all Gojo can think about is how adorable you look like this. The white bunny ears twitching against your head, flopping against your hair that’s drying in the sun right now.
It almost makes him forget he did, in fact, have his tongue down your throat mere minutes ago. Almost. But of course he still thinks about it. Thinks about the way you didn’t even hesitate to give him oxygen, despite you being a fast swimmer—because of your enhanced abilities—and probably being able to just drag him up to the surface with you.
No, you had just placed your mouth on his like it was nothing, traced the seam of his lips with your tongue. Had kissed him back when he decided to properly kiss you.
God, how he wishes to kiss you again, and again, and again. Maybe he shouldn’t have teleported the two of you. But who knew that it would lead to this.
Crossing your arms over your chest you let yourself fall back into the sand. It’s everywhere already, what’s some more. (You’ll regret this decision later tonight, you already know it.)
“We got rid of the curse, by the way. No need to thank us for actually taking care of the mission,” you mutter, closing your eyes. The sun making it so you can only see red and orange. Maybe it’s for the better, because it makes you focus on something other than how it felt to have Gojo’s lips on yours.
You hear a faint rustling from your right side, the crinkle of papers. It’s quiet for a little while, before Shoko speaks up. “The mission report said nothing about a curse, actually. This was just supposed to be a day off.”
Opening your eyes, you look to the side where Shoko and Geto are sitting on their towels. Shoko extends the paper toward you. taking it from her hands, you skim over the details. There are only three sentences:
The mission is to relax. Have a day off in Okinawa, have fun, stop looking around for curses. And bring back some souvenirs.
Yaga
Your brows furrow when you look at it. Reread the sentences a few times. There… there was no mission? Like, at all? Were you the only one who thought there was a mission
(Though you certainly forgot about it when you were in the ocean, too occupied by a certain tall, white-haired, blue-eyed menace.)
So, what was the curse you just bound?
Looking over at Gojo, he’s already looking at you. You give him the papers, which he reads once and just chuckles to himself.
“Well, guess we just got rid of a grade one curse they didn’t even know was there to begin with,” he drawls out, shoving his shades back onto his nose, obstructing his blue eyes, but you can still feel his gaze on you—your ears in specific.
Rolling your eyes you let yourself fall backward once more. The grains of sand crunching slightly into your skin, heating it up.
Closing your eyes you just let the chaos wash over you. Listen to the way Gojo and Geto are arguing about nothing again, hear Shoko click click click away on her flip phone. Listen to other beach-goers a few hundred meters away.
It wasn’t a bad day, by any means, but it certainly was questionable.
Thirty minutes later you find yourself back in the sea, trying to wash sand not only out of your hair but also your ears.
You’d fallen asleep on the sand at one point and rolled over. Your bunny ears—still very much on your head—open and exposed got sand in them and it itches.
Trying to get it out, you submerge yourself once more. Hair floating gently around you as you scrub away at your ear. Luckily you can’t get an infection (you think) but you can feel everything, as if the ears are real.
You’re so busy with your ears, you don’t notice someone making their way to you. Only when the sun gets blocked slightly do you reemerge.
Standing in front of you is no other than Gojo Satoru. Of course he’s here.
“Geto and Shoko made their way to one of the beach restaurants, but you didn’t seem to hear us—despite those cute ears on your head that keep twitching every time something happens anywhere on this beach; so I came to get you.”
Food does sound good right now, judging from how low the sun is hanging, it’s somewhere around 9 already.
Nodding your head you go to walk past him, when Gojo reaches out and grabs your arm. Looking back at him quizzically, you stop walking. “You okay, Gojo?”
He clears his throat slightly, tips of his ears going pink just slightly, but it’s a stark contrast against the white of his hair, so you’re able to see it clearly.
“I- well, I mean I guess. It’s just…” he trails off. With a muttered ‘fuck it’ under his breath—which you can hear very clearly, ears twitching with the sound—he leans forward once more, his lips connecting with yours.
You still slightly, before absolutely melting into him. Mouths moving in sync. Gojo breathes out against your mouth, before pulling you in closer.
Once your lips finally disconnect from his, a small string of saliva hangs between the two of you.
Leaning his forehead against yours, he finally opens his eyes. “Go out with me?”
You laugh at him, a small, breathless thing. Nodding your head you peck his lips once more. “Yeah, okay. I’d like that.”
You came to this ‘mission’ with your friends, ready to take on whatever curses would get thrown at you. You’re leaving this day with a boyfriend, an extra charm, and questionable bunny ears that for some reason still haven’t disappeared.
(“Soooo,” Gojo eyes your white ears once more, sitting beside you with his arm snug across your back. “Do you have any idea when those are gonna disappear?”
Reaching for another fry, you just shrug your shoulders. “‘Dunno. Normally they disappear after thirty minutes, but they still haven’t.”
Gojo leans in closer, breath warm across the shell of your—human—ear, “Don’t worry, Usagi-chan. I quite like this look on you.”
You elbow him in the ribs with enough force to have him doubling over.)
©CursedKisss do not copy, steal, plagiarize, or feed my works into AI. I will send Mahito after you if you do.
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