Synopsis: As the only daughter to the leader of the Kamo Clan, you were trained and protected to one day bring your father honor through your marriage to the heir of the Gojo Clan. However, your husband ended up being something that your family never prepared you for. As you come to navigate a new world of politics between the clans, your husband convinces you that there is nothing wrong with honoring yourself too.
Warnings and Content: fem! reader, fluff, themes of forced/arranged marriage, hints of mental abuse, mentions of sex, mentions of menstrual cycle
Author's Note: As promised, the official start of my next Gojo series! Just for context, this is an AU of the JJK canon events (no KFC breakup, and as of now, no mention of Megumi). It is also inspired a little bit by my other Gojo series Someone. Other things I want to flag is that I do plan for there to be nsfw content in this series, as well as themes of physical and mental abuse. As of now, I am unsure how long this series will be. Updates will depend on my availability to write.
People would say that if there was one thing that Gojo Satoru was not, it would be committed. Not in all ways, however. Satoru was very committed to his sorcery, to the protection of ordinary people and the balance of the their world and the jujutsu one. It was relationships that he struggled with. Yes, he had always had an authority problem, both growing up and even now, so his relationships with jujutsu elders and other clan leaders were never good to begin with, especially when he became a clan leader himself and took up the title as “The World’s Strongest Sorcerer”. However, his friends? He cared deeply for them, but he could never show them that, lest he risk the possibility of them getting hurt for that same reason. Lovers? Absolutely not. They would last a week at best, hence why his friends would say he had commitment issues.
But, what many people did not know was that Satoru was betrothed to be married, and if there was one thing that he could say that he was committed to, it was that.
And not just because he knew that the responsibility of upholding the Gojo Clan’s honor and survival was on his shoulders, but also for a reason that no one could have predicted.
The first time Satoru had seen his future bride, they were both young, too young to understand why each of their parents were sitting across from one another, or why the most important members of the Kamo Clan were staring him down when he was barely even five years old. But when his parents asked to see you, that’s when everything changed.
You were carried into the room by a caregiver and left in between the two families like you were some kind of meal. A veil-like mask covered the front of your face from the nose down, but Satoru could tell you were roughly his age. Your wide eyes looked about. First at your caregiver, who stepped out of the room with a bow, then to your parents, who didn’t even seem to notice you, then to his parents, and then finally to him, the only other child in the room.
Gojo Satoru didn’t know it at the time, but it was at that moment that he had fallen in love with you. That same day, it was agreed upon that the two of you would wed when he was 25 and shortly after you turned 24. That seemed like such a long time, but… Satoru decided that maybe he would try to speak to you when he saw you next.
Unfortunately, that wasn’t possible. Both of your families kept each of you on a tight leash, and neither were inclined to meet with one another just because the Gojo heir wanted to see his bride. They were rival clans after all, with a long history of vendettas and alliances.
However, just because Satoru saw you once didn’t mean that he stopped thinking of you. Even as a pre-teen, he sounded out your name in his head, sometimes aloud when he was alone. Kamo (Y/N). It was one of the few things he knew about you, other than what your eyes looked like. He knew that those eyes had likely changed over the years since the first time he saw you, but that didn’t mean he couldn’t think about them. About you.
There were a few other things Satoru knew about you. You were the only daughter of Arao Kamo, the Kamo Clan head. Not only that, you were his youngest child and had three older brothers, all of whom Satoru had never met before. He would take in what his parents would tell him about you, though it wasn’t much; only that you had a different cursed technique from the blood manipulation that ran strong in the Kamo line, and that you were naturally beautiful for your age.
But Satoru wanted to know more. He wanted to know what your interests were and if they were similar to his. He wanted to know more about your cursed technique and what kind of training you had received. He knew that you would receive some kinds of etiquette and liberal arts education, as was normal for daughters of the clans to do, but did you like any of those things? What foods do you like? How have you grown?
What did the rest of your face look like? That was the question that replayed constantly in his head after Satoru was notified that him and his parents were to meet with your family again to make some further updates to the arrangement. Maybe this would be his chance for him to finally speak with you, to get to know you.
But it was just the same as before. There was no caregiver to bring you in this time though, and no other Kamo representatives other than your mother and father, whom you sat beside.
Satoru remembered staring at you the whole time, taking you in. His parents didn’t lie. You were beautiful and he hadn’t even seen all of you, and you also carried yourself maturely for a young girl. Your eyes had changed, of course, more grown but still just as wide and lively as he remembered. Your face was no longer obscured by a mask. Instead, you held a delicate fan that matched the kimono you wore, covering your face as you listened intently while your parents spoke, but never speaking yourself.
You didn't look in his direction even once.
The meeting had concluded before he knew it had begun. His parents had needed confirmation of your fertility, since they were to be among the first to be notified when you started your cycle. However, in an offer that was a bit unexpected, your father had requested that the marriage date be moved up five years, to which his parents agreed. That part made Satoru ecstatic. Instead of waiting 12 years, he now would only have to wait seven.
With that, you bowed and departed behind your parents, swift and silent. Satoru tried not to look like he was running as he tried to catch another glimpse at you when his parents excused him, but when he peered out the nearest window that overlooked the front lawn where you had arrived, you were already gone.
And so, Satoru would go another seven years. Another seven years of thinking of you, dreaming of you, wondering what you looked like behind your fan and cosmetics. He had hoped to see you enrolled in the same class as him at Jujutsu Tech, though he knew for a fact that you most likely would not be. Your parents, more so your father, he realized, protected and sheltered you more than ever after that second meeting. He had expected you not to show up to that first day of school, but when that first day was over and you actually didn’t, a small part of his heart still sank.
Satoru did take some females to bed during the next seven years you spent apart, mostly out of curiosity as to what sex felt like, but also by persuasion of his friends. However, his friends would get confused as to why he would never allow those girls to stay the next morning, or why he would insist on wearing a condom even when they gave him permission to finish inside. He would give the excuse (thought it really was the truth) that he actually wasn’t that interested, or that he also wanted to protect against STDs (the latter was a great insult that had women storming out on him, to his relief). In reality, he wanted his first real time, his first enjoyable time, to be with you. Even if he was allowed to take on any amounts of lovers he wanted both in marriage and out of it, he felt guilty knowing that you had to save yourself for him. So, in a way, he was saving himself for you too.
As the years came closer and closer, he began to think of you more and tried to subtly gather more information on you, to little avail. He knew that this pining and longing could be considered childish, but he didn’t care. Was it wrong to want to come to love, to already be in love, with the person he was to spend the rest of his life and create a family with? Satoru certainly didn’t think so.
However, that didn’t mean he was without restraint. After his parents had passed and the mantle of the Gojo Clan leader was given to him, he didn’t try or demand to see you. After all, the two of you could still be considered strangers. Hell that is what you were, he had to remind himself. He figured it would be best to keep you with your family and not disturb your current life, especially since you would be seeing your family less once you came to live with him (but also because he didn’t want you to see him as some obsessed maniac). He decided he would be patient and wait, which would make your first real meeting with him all the more sweeter.
Those seven years passed by too fast, he realized as he stood in the center of a magnificent shrine in what could have been the most spectacular and slightly uncomfortable outfit he had ever worn. Your family surrounded him on almost all sides as they awaited your arrival at sunset. Your parents and your brothers with their wives sat off to Satoru's right, and he could feel their eyes on him the entire hour that he stood there in a calm panic. After what seemed like an eternity, your headpiece peaked slowly over the hill as you ascended the path to the shrine. He held his breath.
He noticed your eyes again first.
They were downcast, melancholy, almost near lifeless. Not anywhere the lively pools of color he remembered and saw so often in his dreams. Your blank expression was such a contrast to the splendor of your being. Indeed, he thought that he was being pledged to a goddess, the way your updone hair and headpiece played in the golden sunlight, the way the whites, golds, and reds of your wedding kimono and wraps made you look like a princess, and the way your face, your whole face, looked like it had been extracted from a star.
To put simply, you were the most gorgeous woman he had ever seen.
Finally, you found your place beside him, your hands clasped in the folds of your long sleeves. It took you standing this close for Satoru to realize how much smaller you were than him, though he quickly discerned how much your face and demeanor had shaped into womanhood since he last saw you. He would catch glimpses of you when he could throughout the ceremony, taking in more of your features that you had laid out for him. The curves of your face, the shade and suppleness of your skin, delicateness of your hands... His heart was beating so rapidly, hoping that you would look back at him at least once.
But you never did, even when you presented one another with ceremonial wine, or when you took his arm to leave the shrine for the reception dinner that was filled to the brim with Kamo Clan members and other officials. As soon as you both entered that reception, your fan was over your face. You didn’t say a word to him the whole time, so he never said anything to you.
A cold sweat had laid itself over Satoru as you said goodbye to your family members. It wasn’t the type of goodbye that he would expect a family to give to their only daughter. There was no affection, no emotion shown, as if leaving your family was merely another ceremony. And then you turned back to him, eyes still looking down of course, and got into his car without a word.
Satoru could tell that something was wrong and off about you. Sure, you had carried yourself gracefully throughout the entire evening. Every movement you had made between walking and eating and sitting was done to absolute perfection. Maybe it was those monotone movements that should have been his first sign. No, it wasn’t that. It had to have been your eyes. Why were they always so bleak? Why did you never look up at him or make eye contact with him or speak to him? What had happened to you since the last time he saw you?
At least your fan wasn’t up. That he could be thankful for. Satoru sighed. He couldn’t help but feel like the happiest day of his life, the one where he finally got to be with the girl he had loved for 15 years, was the saddest day of your own. He wanted to ask about it so bad, now that he had you alone, but he didn’t. He would just look at you every so often as you watched the Tokyo scenery pass by through the car window. Maybe this was your way of taking everything in, and he didn’t want to disrupt that. He trusted that you would talk when you were ready.
You remained silent as the car stopped and he walked you up the stairs to the front door of his home estate, one of the many under the Gojo name. Your new home. In a perfect world, in what he had imagined previously, you would have been smiling and excited as he picked you up to walk you through the doorway. In that world, you would have hugged and kissed him as he twirled you around and around in your own private celebration.
The door closing behind him brought him back to reality. You now stood in the center of his grand foyer, eyeing the dark polished wood and rich splendor of your new dwelling place. The space was only illuminated by shaded lamps and a dim glass chandelier above the grand staircase. A new couch, your couch, was against one wall, one of many of your belongings that had been moved in a week ago. Satoru decided to sit on that couch while you stood in the center of the room, looking down, not moving.
Satoru couldn’t take this anymore. It was like you treated the floor like it was the most interesting thing in the world. As if he, your new husband, wasn’t sitting ten feet away from you. He even considered the possibility of you being deaf or mute for a moment. No, he didn’t know what to do, other than speak to you. But what to say? Are you feeling okay? Are you happy? Sad? Were your clothes uncomfortable? How come you didn’t speak or look at him? At anyone? Was it something you were afraid of? Were you afraid of…
thinking about geto 🤭. nsfw under the cut so minors dni.
tw: dom bf geto, gn reader, virgin/sub reader, voyeurism, masturbation, mentions of porn, mentions of spit, cum eating, etc.
you didn't know how you got into this situation. what was supposed to be just a day in with your boyfriend, suguru geto, turned into him straddling your body as you laid on his bed, watching as he stroked his cock right in front of you.
you were a virgin. he knew this, so lately, the two of you had been working you up to get more comfortable with sex instead of rushing into it all at once, which you appreciated. this is one of the ways he decided to do it.
you've watched solo male porn before, but with how embarrassed you were right now, it was almost like you've never seen another man’s cock in your life. but you couldn't look away.
it was no secret that suguru's looks were heavenly; practically the peak male specimen, with that type of soft yet masculine male beauty that could make anyone swoon. but this version of him in front of you was so raw and visceral, and in the best way possible: the faint afternoon sunlight highlighting his sculpted body and the sheen of sweat that covered it, his hair half pulled back and messy, bare chest heaving, muscles flexing with each movement, and voice groaning so deliciously it made your own voice come out every so often as you watched.
he smiled a little as you watched his hand intently. earlier, he had you spit into his hand for lubricant, and since then, you had been focused on his ministrations, only breaking your concentration to look up at him with lidded eyes. it made him proud, being the only one that can make you like this. this little show was more for you then it was for him, after all.
you bit your lip as you watched him pump his cock in his pretty hands, taking note of how he squeezed upwards towards the tip and swiped his thumb to spread the pre-cum that leaked out. he looked so thick. you knew that if you tried to put your hand around it, your fingers wouldn't even be able to wrap all the way around. fuck.
he chuckled at your flushed face, how wide your pupils were with lust and desire. so perfect, and all for him. he used his other hand to reach down and caress the side of your face, tracing down your jaw, your neck and collarbone, your chest, before placing a hand over your heart and staring deep into your eyes. he let out a strained, low moan that set your insides on fire, and that's when you realized. he wasn't just getting of through his hand...
he was getting off to the sight of you in front of him, and you were fully clothed. it was then you noticed how much of an effect you had on him.
his noises increased, praises of i love you and so pretty leaving his lips as he shot his cum into his hand, some of it staining his underwear and sweatpants that were pulled down. a whine left your own throat at the sight, and then again when he gave you that look while holding up his cum-covered hand in front of you.
your embarrassment only grew when he held that hand in front of your lips, his eyebrows raising a little in a silent request. you stared down at it, taking in the off-white color, how thick yet sticky it was as it created little strings between his fingers. did he want you to-
suguru half expected you to turn your head, refuse him in some way thinking that it might have been too much for you. however, he felt his cock harden again when you took hold of his wrist and brought his hand to your lips.
your tongue lapped around his long fingers, humming at the taste of saltiness and something distinctly him. suguru started moving two of his fingers in and out of your mouth, your gorgeous eyes staring back up at him as he swore.
"fuck, sweetness. didn't think you'd have it in you... so good 'f me... don't suppose i'm turning you into a little slut now, do you? i don't think you mind, though..."
Synopsis: As the only daughter to the leader of the Kamo Clan, you were trained and protected to one day bring your father honor through your marriage to the heir of the Gojo Clan. However, your husband ended up being something that your family never prepared you for. As you come to navigate a new world of politics between the clans, your husband convinces you that there is nothing wrong with honoring yourself too.
Warnings and Content: fem! reader and slightly ooc! (?) gojo (ig; i feel like i didn't write him as in character as i wanted), cursing, allusions to and anxiety about marriage consummation, themes of traumatized and anxiety-ridden reader, themes of forced/arranged marriage
Author's Note: Fuck me in the ass, it took me wayyy too long to get this out to y'all I'M SOOOO SORRY GUYS I DIED AND NOW I AM REBORN BACK AND SEXIER THAN EVER! Anyway, I'm at least happy to finally get this out for you guys because you guys gave me so much love for the prologue (mwah mwah). If you have yet to read the prologue, pleaseee do so! Provides some good context to the premise of the story. I'm going to flag once more that there will be themes of nsfw and physical/mental abuse down the line!
He spoke. You masked your surprise easily. Did you look afraid? What made him suspect that? How do you answer?
Respond clearly. "No, Gojo-sama. Apologies if I seem at all startled in any way. I am taking in my new surroundings," you replied with a slight incline of your head towards him.
Satoru's eyebrows raised a little. It was the first time he had ever heard your voice. As he suspected, it was graceful and beautiful, but still so sad. And what was with the honorifics? He waited a second for you to say something else, but nothing came. "Do you like it? The house that is." Satoru figured the only way to get anything out of you was to ask himself.
He asked you a question. Respond clearly. Tell him what he wishes."Yes, your home is beautiful Gojo-sama. I'm very fortunate to be living here as your wife." Your words sounded exactly the same, clipped and poised to perfection like the small smile you had on your face. Your skin was cold despite the amount of fabric that covered it, but you refused to shiver. You refused to tremble despite the fear you were feeling. Yes, you had trained and prepared yourself for this. You would be fine.
Satoru only cocked his head and crossed his legs, observing you like a painting from where he sat on the couch. "Thank you." His voice conveyed his usual charisma, but the look he was giving you did not. He sighed as you only bowed your head again and said nothing. He could tell you were afraid, you just didn't wish to admit it. Was it stubbornness or nervousness that had you standing like that before him, looking both strong and weak at the same time?
After a few moments, he spoke again, this time with a little more calmness and reassurance. "I don't bite, y'know." Not a word left your lips at that. You didn't even move. It was like he had a statue standing in a wedding dress in the middle of his foyer. Not a statue, a corpse, with unfeeling, empty eyes. Maybe you weren't happy with the current situation. "Did you like the reception? I'm sure you had input in the planning."
Take this chance to show your worth. "I planned the entire reception, Gojo-sama. I hope it was to your liking." You clasped your hands even tighter as you waited for his reaction.
Satoru raised his eyebrows. "Oh, wow. I'm sorry then, I'm sure you liked it because you put it all together. Well, uh, I definitely enjoyed it, and I'm sure everyone else did too. You did a great job. Uh, thank you," Satoru chuckled. He meant every word. Planning an event of that nature must have been a daunting task and you had done it all on your own. You must be pretty independent.
"Of course, Gojo-sama. It was my duty," you replied with another bow. The fear in your gut subsided at his words. It seemed he could be won over by acts of service.
Duty. That's when it clicked in Satoru's head. You saw this as 100% a duty. Well, it wasn't like he didn't see this arrangement as a duty too, but it had always been more than that to him. It was both a duty and an enjoyment. At least, that's what he hoped it would be for the both of you.
He said nothing for a few moments. You didn't move. He could tell by the uncomfortable silence that the household staff was probably listening from somewhere nearby. Perhaps that also made you uneasy. "Let's head somewhere more private," Satoru murmured, and stood from the couch.
Private? A chill ran down your spine that worsened when he made his way over to you. Were you both going to-
You remained silent as he took your arm gently and led you up the steps of the grand staircase. He moved slowly, watching and searching you for any indication of emotion or feeling, but you gave him none. He cleared his throat before speaking once more. "That outfit seems uncomfortable. I'm surprised you've been able to wear it all day."
Your mind was running circles around his words, but you didn't show it. Is he going to offer to take it off me? Why is he being so gentle with me? Where is he leading me? A bridal chamber? A bedroom? "It is not uncomfortable, just a little heavy," you responded, forcing yourself to keep your voice even. "The tailors did a fabulous job with it."
Satoru hummed and muttered his agreement. He would take this as slow as possible. He knew that the first thing he would have to do was make you comfortable. "I see. If you would like, you may change out of it, and I can take you on a tour of the rest of the estate. Or, you can sleep if you're tired."
This seems like a test, you thought. Which option would he prefer? "I can change and join you on a tour of the home," you responded. "If that is what you wish of me."
Not exactly the answer he was looking for, but an answer nonetheless. "Alright. I'll show you your bedroom. It's apart of my rooms of the estate. I hope that's alright," he said as he guided you towards a set of double doors down the hall.
Satoru stepped before you to open the doors himself, a few staff members walking out past. You assumed that they were finishing their cleaning for the night. You could tell a few of them looked at you as they passed, though you never looked up to meet their gaze.
You could tell these were Gojo's chambers, as they were decorated somewhat differently from the rest of the house. While the entire house had a more contemporary feel to it, his part of the estate added western styles to it: gray and white furnishing, an upstairs that led to an open second floor balcony overlooking the first floor living room space, comfortable carpeting, and a woodsy, homey scent. There was a dining area and billiards further to the right to entertain guests. Truly a home within a home.
Satoru led you up the stairs, watching as you looked over the second floor railing into the living room. When you reached the top, he gestured to the first door on the left. "This is my bedroom here, in case you ever need to find me," he said as he moved you two forward. "And this one is yours." He opened the next door over.
Satoru let you step into the room first. "I wasn't sure what you would prefer in terms of the color of the room and everything, so I had a few of my staff design it for me. Do you like it?" he asked, a slight guilt to his tone. He felt bad that he knew almost nothing about you. He didn't even know where to start when he began planning to incorporate you into his home, but he figured an inviting bedroom would be a start.
"Yes, very much so" you replied. The room was bigger than your one at the Kamo estate. The furniture was made of oak wood, with the room itself having accents in white and various shades of purple. The canopy bed was plush and had silk sheets. Most of your attention was drawn towards the bookshelf in one corner, which already had some of your books as well as many new ones. The closed curtains, which had little butterflies sown on them, had moonlight escaping into the room. The wall to the right had another door, which you assumed led to the bathroom and closet. "Thank you for arranging this for me, Gojo-sama."
You moved your gaze down as you turned to face him. "Of course," he chirped.
Silence once more.
He sighed audibly. "You're gonna hurt your neck if you keep looking down like that, pretty girl. Especially with that monstrosity on your head," he said softly as he approached you. You stilled, jumping a bit as Satoru reached his hands forward to grasp the top of the headpiece. "Shh, I'm not gonna hurt you, okay? Just taking it off for you," he murmured when he saw you tense up. He removed the headpiece gently, letting your hair fall. He resisted the urge to touch the soft locks upon seeing them unbound, and instead opted for setting the headpiece on a side table. "There. Feels a lot better, doesn't it?"
"Yes. Thank you, Gojo-sama." You still didn't look at him. After a pause you asked, "May I go change now?"
Why did you ask for permission? "Sure," he answered, a little confused as he watched you retreat into the bathroom. He stood awkwardly in the room as he heard you shuffle around behind the door. He sighed and leaned against the bed. What was it that had you so... uptight? Why wouldn't you relax?
Meanwhile, you made yourself busy undressing and slipping out of the heavy fabrics of your wedding garb in the bathroom, hanging up the piece and choosing a simple, flowing dress to change into. You looked into the mirror once more, and paused.
You had forgotten about the white lace lingerie your handmaidens had forced you into while dressing you this morning. A provoking technique, they had called it. It was beautiful, the entire ensemble having been comprised of silk and lace with little flowers adorning it, but you felt incredibly uncomfortable now that you saw yourself with it on. You felt more like a prized ham, wrapped up and ready to be eaten. And that is my responsibility tonight-
Your thoughts were broken by the sound of movement coming from the room. Right. He's still out there. You thought back to how he had taken off your headpiece. You couldn't help but be frightened for a moment, but then the way he removed it had been... gentle, as all his other actions toward you had been.
You were used to men like him: large, imposing sorcerers, with big egos and even bigger amounts of cursed energy. However, when any of those men came close to you, maybe even to just put a hand on your shoulder, their touch was also gentle, but not in the way Satoru was. They were gentle and domineering. Satoru had been both gentle and considerate.
But what he had called you...
It still felt like he was trying to get something out of you. And you didn't like it.
You slipped on the dress over the lingerie, letting the soft velvet material warm you as the skirt ended at your ankles. You had always liked this evening dress.
Satoru's head shot up when he heard the door click open. You stepped back into the room, ready to be led. Your apparel took him aback at first. He had expected you to choose something comfortable, a t-shirt and leggings at least, but you still came out dressed like you were going somewhere. You looked beautiful though, and he supposed it was nice to see you in something that wasn't clan-styled regalia (didn't matter that he was still wearing his outfit from today).
Satoru said nothing as you took his arm and let him lead you into the estate. Although he didn't look directly at you, he observed your movements. Beautifully robotic was the way he could best describe it. But why?
Then it dawned on him. The wedding had been ceremonial, so your actions there he could ignore, but everything after... it was like you were still in the ceremony, even in this moment. He saw it firsthand when you said your goodbyes to your family. You would be seeing them so much less now that you were married, yet neither of your parents nor siblings hugged you or expressed any emotion when sending you off.
Then finally with himself. You never looked at him. You complimented him at every opportunity. You asked for permission to go get dressed.
He could never get you to relax. To be comfortable. It was like you were being monitored by some invisible camera that he couldn't see and that you feared.
Duty. 100% a duty.
He looked down at you once more as you walked down the hallway, eyes trained ahead. Yes, those eyes had been his first sign, he realized. For what once held liveliness and curiosity in youth had been replaced with a senseless, dull husk of what he remembered.
Something had happened in those seven years since he last saw you. He felt sorry for you.
He felt sorry because he felt like this was somehow his fault.
But that wasn't going to stop him from trying to be the best he could to you.
An hour later, Satoru had shown you about half of the estate, everything between recreational rooms, kitchens, dining rooms, and his own personal office. Yet, as he talked, you seemed disinterested, elsewhere.
The both of you were on the first floor, walking down a hallway with floor to ceiling windows on the left wall.
"There's not much left to show you, or at least anything that's interesting anyway. If there's anywhere else you'd like to..." Satoru's voice trailed off when he looked at you again, staring out of the windows as you passed.
There. You looked out the windows toward the estate garden, your eyes wide, glittering, and curious. He opened his mouth and then closed it. You looked like a little girl staring at a new doll in a toy store. Finally, something that he could read from you that you refused to hide. Wonder and interest.
Satoru stopped walking when the two of you reached a set of glass doors that led outside. "Do you want to see the garden?" he asked, almost chuckling when you nodded eagerly. "Let's go then." He opened one of the doors to let you through, watching you with amusement. You still kept your face neutral, hands folded over your chest as you stepped out into the open air before walking, practically running, over to the vast flower beds and trees across the lawn.
He just stared as you bursted with this sudden childlike excitement. So you can be won over somehow. Satoru laughed under his breath, a small smirk on his face as he went to join you. You started by walking between bushes, running your hands along any part of the plants as you could. He never would have guessed that you were interested in plants, but now that he thought about it, it made sense. He could see you being the type of girl that's interested in feminine things. Things like dresses, books, and maybe even chocolate desserts. Things like flowers.
You were kneeling next to a bush of blue hydrangeas as he approached. He thought you looked perfect like this, the moonlight playing off of your hair, skin, and dress while you ran your fingers along petals. However, when you realized he was getting closer, you quickly got up and returned to how you were in the foyer: standing straight, hands clasped, and head bowed. It stopped Satoru in his tracks, but also made him understand a little more of how you worked.
You must see a husband, him, as an authority figure that you have to please. Satoru didn't know why. Maybe your family pushed you to be a good wife, but now you're just taking it too far. You must be able to relax when you're comfortable, or when you're alone. That had to be it. Right now, you seem to view this place as comforting, so he had to be the same.
And if he seemed to make you feel uncomfortable, he would leave you alone.
But first, he had to try to get through to you.
"Do you like gardens?" Satoru asked, even though the answer was really fucking obvious.
"Yes, Gojo-sama," you replied. "I like flowers and plants. They are a great enjoyment of mine. Your garden is the most magnificent I have ever seen."
It was the best Satoru had ever seen too, but at this point, he couldn't tell if you were lying to him just to make him happy. He took a step closer and huffed a little. "Y'know... you don't have to call me that. I mean, I'm your husband, not the emperor," he chuckled, though he was dead serious. Laughing through it was the only way to show that he wasn't mad at you. "Why do you like flowers? Or these ones in particular?" He gestured to the bush that you had been admiring.
If you were nervous or scared, you didn't show it. You seemed to be pondering for a moment as you looked at the bush. "I... don't know. Flowers have interested me since I was a child. I used to keep up a garden at home."
A garden that you'll never get to take care of again, he realized. "Well, if you want or... if you need something to do, I can have someone show you where we keep our gardening supplies. You can do as much or as little as you like of course."
Your eyes lit up at the request. "That would be lovely, Gojo-" He could tell you were about to add the "-sama" at the end, but stopped yourself. He still smiled at the way that you seemed to beam in the current setting.
"What other things do you like? Do you have any hobbies?" Satoru asked, watching as you continued to run your hands along the plant.
"I like music," you stated.
"Really? You play any instruments?" He proceeded to raise his eyebrows as you listed a slew of different types that you knew how to play, though you added that piano was your favorite. "What else?"
"I like... cooking, and cats, and," you settled one of the hydrangeas in your hand, "the color blue."
Satoru hummed in response. He felt like he was getting somewhere. "Really? Well in that case, I guess I should've had your room be that color."
"Purple is still just as nice," you replied with a small smile. It was brief, but he could tell it was genuine. It took his breath away. It was almost embarrassing, this effect you were having on him.
"Yeah, I guess." Satoru dared to move a step closer to you. He could see you tense, and decided this was as far as he would get. Maybe now was the time to get some answers out of you. He watched your hand continue to rub the petals. "How do you feel about... all of this. Really."
"Your garden is dazzling-"
"No, I mean our... situation. Be honest with me," he said gently, but the way he worded it almost made it sound like he was pleading with you.
You paused before answering. Your hand stopped moving. "This marriage is just as important to me as it is to my father and the Kamo name. I will do right by him to ensure that it succeeds. And not just for him, but for you as well." Your tone was light and sophisticated, your voice sweet as can be, but it still felt fabricated. Rehearsed. Satoru wasn't buying it.
After a few moments, he decided to try something a little bold. "Look. I'm not your father, okay? And this isn't the Kamo estate. You don't have to be so... restrictive around me. I know this is, like, your first time ever talking to me, but I'm not some authoritarian." He almost regretted the words when he saw your guilty face. "But of course, that also means I'm not going to control the way you act. You can do whatever you want, say whatever you want. It's all fine by me." Silence again. "(Y/N)?"
You seemed... confused. Satoru spoke again. "Are you feeling alright? All I'm saying is I want you to be comfortable here. If that means... not interacting with me as much, then I get that."
Still nothing.
Satoru sighed. Maybe he needed to take a different approach. Maybe he just needed to leave you alone for a while. "If there is... anything else you want to see, I can show you. Otherwise, I'm going to go to bed. You can stay out here as long as you want..." he said softly. He began to turn away from you, listening for your movements as he started to walk inside. You only walked from your spot and moved further into the garden.
The halls echoed with the sound of his footsteps. That went... much differently than expected.
He thought back to fantasies he used have of what this night would look like: learning more about you, showing you around the estate, laughing with you until both of your stomachs went numb.
Kissing you for the first time in that garden, and, if you wanted it, carrying you back to his room in seconds.
But as he thought more about it, Satoru realized just how unlikely those scenarios would have been, especially with the current situation. He speculated that your behavior was a combination of your familial expectations, anxiety, and the fact that you were meeting him for the first time. Not to mention, he knew he wasn't the most approachable-looking person in the world.
This was going to take some time. He would let you get used to the house first, get used to seeing him and the other staff around. Then eventually, you might begin to open up to him once you felt safe.
Some time ended up being much longer than what Satoru thought you would need. It had been a week since you last spoke, and you made no effort to approach him.
He did get some semblance of a routine you kept. You were definitely a busy body, always up and ready with a full breakfast waiting for him on the dining room table before he was up (although, since he had the following two weeks after the wedding off, he was sleeping in later than normal). By the time he was finished eating and getting ready for his day, you had gone halfway through your daily routine, which included cleaning and managing the state of almost every room in the whole building. Once that was finished, you prepared lunch, taking your portion out to the garden to eat. The rest of the day you used for your own recreation, usually something along the lines of taking walks, reading, or taking care of different parts of the garden. Of course, you still had time set aside to make him dinner before you stayed in your room for the rest of the night.
Just noticing the things you do throughout the day was a source of admiration from him alone. Satoru knew that the kind of work he did would be considered maddening and dangerous, yet he accomplished everything with ease. He couldn't help but think of you in the same light. You completed the same tasks everyday without fail or signs of fatigue (gods know he could barely clean a fucking toilet without gagging). He noticed that the meals you cooked were not just chosen randomly, but instead were meant to be perfectly balanced in terms of nutrition while still complimenting every bite he took. In other words, fucking delicious. Satoru knew he wasn't a bad cook either, but you made five star meals like it was no one's business.
He would see you often around the house, your skirts or dresses flowing as you flitted about. He could tell you favored modest clothing, usually in either knee to floor-length dresses, or blouses with skirts of the same length. Your makeup was simple, your hair always done up and clean.
Whenever he was close enough to you or entered a room you were in, you always bowed politely and addressed him, never saying more than was needed, before returning to whatever it was you were working on. Satoru knew if he asked, you would sit down and have a conversation with him or eat with him, but he wasn't going to push it. He wanted to be sure it was something you were okay with.
Yet hours and days dragged with almost no change. What was meant to be your two week honeymoon break passed, and Satoru had to return to his missions. Somehow you had already known what time he gets up to eat, and, just like almost any other day, there was a breakfast waiting for him.
No sign of the person who cooked it, though.
Satoru decided he couldn't take this anymore, the awkwardness and silence. No, he was going to find you and asked if you wanted to eat this breakfast with him.
Luckily, he found you in the kitchen putting away dishes you had just finished washing. "Good morning, (Y/N)," he said, trying to sound as polite as he could without frightening you.
You must have been lost in thought, because you jumped when he said your name and turned towards him.
Head bowed. Eyes down. Hands folded.
He was tired of it.
"Good morning, Gojo," you replied. "I hope you had a restful evening last night."
"I did..." he said. "I was just... wondering if you wanted to eat that delicious-looking breakfast you made with me. You're allowed to say no, of course." He felt stupid having to add that last bit.
"Apologies, Gojo, but I already took my breakfast this morning, but I sincerely appreciate your offer." He felt his stomach drop inside him a little. "Is there anything else I can get for you?"
"No, it's fine. I'll be home later tonight." He tried to keep his tone from sounding disappointed. He couldn't be mad at you for eating before he asked you. However, Satoru wanted to end the conversation positively, with something not so... stale. He turned to walk to the door, looking once more over his shoulder at where you still stood. He opened his mouth once, closed it, and then opened it again. "You look gorgeous today, by the way."
That surprised you. Not the words necessarily, nor the fact that these weren't your best clothes, but the way he said it. Like he meant it. It stirred something in you. You decided to look up at him, but he was already gone.
A while later, Satoru was dressed and ready to go, his car parked just outside with the AC blasting. He walked down the grand staircase... with you waiting for him at the bottom.
You were waiting for him. He paused in front of you once he reached the bottom of the steps. You had assumed your usually stance, but... he could tell you wanted to say something.
"I... realized that I never asked what you would like me to make for dinner for when you return..." you said as if you were just realizing that you were standing here, and you needed to make up an excuse.
It tugged at his heartstrings a bit. You had never asked if he had a preference for dinner, so... this was you trying to approach him to start a conversation. "Well, whatever you want to make is fine. You're such an amazing cook. I would never not eat anything you make," Satoru exclaimed with a small smile before leaning in a bit as if telling you a secret. "But, if I must request something, I reallyyy like mochi desserts," he whispered before pulling away. "But you didn't hear it from me."
Your small smile and barely noticeable laugh made his heart explode. Pride swelled in his chest. So you have a sense of humor in some regard...
He smiled and walked past you to the door, walking through before-
"Gojo," you called from across the room. Satoru turned at the sound of you calling his name.
"Have... have a nice day today..." you said, giving him a small bow.
His eyes widened in surprise before he flashed you a grin. "You too, pretty girl." And just like that, he left, the door shutting behind him.
Satoru was trying to do his best not to holler in excitement on the other side of the door. You went out of your way to meet him at the front door and ask what he wanted for dinner and told him to have a good day? He felt like a middle school girl. A stupid smile plastered itself on his face as he walked to his car.
The next few weeks went just the same: him waking up to breakfast that you sometimes stopped by to eat a few bites of, you saying goodbye and asking what he wanted for dinner at the door, and him coming home to that meal in the evening, which you occasionally ate with him also.
Satoru felt pretty spoiled if he was being honest. He never liked those mysogynistic views on gender roles, especially when it came to the roles of a husband and wife, but he was now understanding the appeal. He had assured you a few times that you didn't need to have something home cooked and ready for him each time he came home, and that he was just as fine with takeout, but that never stopped you. He knew it was serious, if not a little concerning, when he asked for a three-tiered Danish cake for dessert as a joke and you had made two because you, in your words, got bored and had the time. He didn't even know he owned the cooking supplies needed to do that. Nevertheless, to say he ate most of that within a few days would be an understatement.
As time grew, Satoru had been able to observe you more closely. There were the normal things, like the type of books you liked to read (mostly poetry), what time you liked to take your walks (sometime between 3:00 and 6:00pm), and what days you went to the grocery store and farmers market (Wednesdays, if he's correct) despite household staff insisting to him to tell you to stop because it was technically their job. He could never find himself to do so.
Then there were a few... less fortunate things. You still don't look up at him, for starters, and your voice still retained that proper, unnatural tone. Besides the times where you say goodbye to him in the mornings, you always observe and never speak unless he speaks to you. You have a cell phone, but you almost never use it, so he assumed you probably have no friends that you contact, or even family that wanted to contact you for that matter. Lastly, among a few more things, you always try to sneak an ice pack from the fridge some nights when you think he can't see it in your hand as you walk back to your room with it. He never knew what it was for, until he saw it on your neck while you read in the library, something he had to peak through the doors to see.
You get neck pains because of the subservient posture you forced yourself to have around him, and Satoru started to think just how far back this training you had been given goes. He knew that you couldn't get neck pains from bowing if you've only been doing it for a month.
One day, he brought the situation up to Yaga as they watched some student sorcerers training out on the grounds. "You really don't know the kind of backwards training the Kamos put their girls through?" Yaga asked, fixing a stitch on one of his jujustu dolls. "I thought you knew what you were getting into, especially since you're in one of the clans yourself."
"Well, I'm starting to see it," Satoru says with a wince. "I just don't know how to get her to... relax, I guess. Act normal, y'know?"
"Do you think she even knows how?" Yaga mused. Satoru went still. "The Kamos are traditionalistic; their customs span all the way back to the Golden Age of Jujustu as a way to preserve the glory of that time period. This includes how they train their... females."
Satoru furrowed his brow. "What do you mean?"
"Well, I don't know much," Yaga said, a piece of the string in his mouth as he adjusted a stitch. "The kinds of things like how to please a husband, how to raise kids, how to behave around authority figures, which includes men. Weird stuff like that. And if (Y/N) is Arao Kamo's only daughter that was betrothed to marry the Six-Eyes wielding Gojo clan head, you can expect her to be well educated in that regard."
Satoru sighs. He felt stupid for not looking into that, for chalking it up to some kind of anxious defense when it was much more than that. "I'm a real fucking idiot."
"Yeah, well, while that may be true, there's not much you can do but give it time. With the kind of stuff she was brainwashed to believe, the least you can do is give her some patience," Yaga said, finishing up his patch.
"True, but that'll take forever," Satoru groans, looking out at the young sorcerers sparring. "She won't do anything unless I tell her to. She doesn't know what it's like to just... have some sort of free will."
"Then maybe show her what's like to have one," Yaga says with a groan, settling back into the bench they were sitting on.
There was a pause before Satoru chuckled. "This is the one time you've actually given me advice that I considered listening to."
"Good. You should, otherwise I'll send you on another mission from this weekend," Yaga grumbled.
That next day, Satoru planned on asking you about something when he saw you before he left.
"Hey, pretty girl," he quipped with a smile as he walked down the stairs, enjoying the slight blush that formed on your cheeks, something he had noticed the past few times he called you that.
"Good morn-" your gentle words were cut off by a sudden cough and a sniffle that caught his attention. He stepped in front of you.
"Hey, are you alright? Is your throat okay?" he asked, his usual teasing tone replaced with one of concern.
You seemed to pause for a moment before speaking. "I'm alright. Something caught in my throat is-" You coughed again, this time more aggressively as you turned to cover it.
Satoru's brow furrowed. He gently pulled your chin so you could face him again. He felt your forehead with the back of his hand. "You're burning up, (Y/N). You probably have a fever."
"I can assure you, Gojo, I feel-" You gasped as you were suddenly lifted into his arms, his hands resting underneath your back and knees as he walked you back up the stairs. He smiled a little when he felt you throw your arms around his neck.
"Please don't lie to me, (Y/N). How long have you been feeling like this?" Satoru asked calmly as he carried you to your room. You looked down at the floor.
A pause. "About the past two days." Satoru sighed.
He opened the door to your room and set you down on the bed. "Hold tight, okay? I'm just going to go grab some things..." He left and returned a few minutes later with an ice pack wrapped in a towel, some medicine, and a glass of water.
Setting the items down on your bedside table, Satoru started by ripping two pills out of their packaging and handing them to you with the water. "Why have you been walking about like normal when you've been feeling this way for the past two days?"
You took a moment to take the pills before answering. "I am well enough to complete my usual routine, so I saw no need for rest. I had the staff prepare your meals to make sure you did not catch my illness," you replied weakly, trying not to cough.
Satoru shook his head. "But we have people hired here to do those tasks anyway. You still need to take care of yourself." Your brow furrowed.
"But I'm still-"
"Don''t fight me on this," Satoru butted in. You lowered your head, eyes despondent. "I don't mean to say I don't appreciate what you do every single day. Really, I really appreciate it. But I don't want you doing anything when you're clearly feeling like shit."
"My apologies-"
"Don't apologize. Please." Satoru's mouth tightened when he saw the ashamed look on your face, the way your shoulders caved slightly. He spoke again, this time more smoothly. "I'll call Yaga to cancel my appointments for today. Just let me take care of you... and don't feel bad about it. Okay?"
Satoru didn't care that he was almost begging with you, but he needed you to understand that that's all he really wanted right now. To take care of and cater to you for a change instead of you constantly doing so for him.
"But, you might get sick too..." His chest tightened a little at the guilt you displayed, your tone of voice, the slight whine in it.
"That's fine. Just means I don't have to go to work longer," Satoru chuckled, moving to sit on the edge of the bed next to your legs. "But don't think that's the only reason I'm here with you now, of course."
Your lips moved into a small, downturned smile as you huffed a laugh. You weren't even smiling in full, yet he thought it was the most beautiful thing in the world.
A sharp, painful sounding cough from you broke the silence. Satoru handed you the water again, propping another pillow behind your head. Once you finished, he took the water from you and handed you a woolen blanket that you had resting on the end of your bed. "I'll get some lozenges for your throat and some tissues. For now, just rest for me, okay? I'll come back to check on you, but if you need anything just yell. I'll be in my room," he said as he adjusted the ice pack onto your forehead.
"Okay," you whispered. You looked almost... stunned. Like you never expected this. It made Satoru sadder than he would like to admit.
After a few seconds, he stood, turned off the lights, and shut the door quietly. He walked away right before the sound of your soft cries reached the door.
Satoru looked after you for the next two days, making sure you took medications and got proper rest. Even when you were well enough to get back on your feet, he still made your meals and brought you ice packs and popsicles at night for your throat.
He apologized the first few times he served you food, scratching the back of his head and laughing. Sure, his grilled cheese and tomato soup wasn't bad, but it was embarrassing compared to your culinary genius. You never replied, looking back at him with a perplexed expression.
Satoru noticed this, and he had his suspicions as to why you may be confused. Because you had been living with him for the past month and a half, he was able to easily discern what your looks meant, or at least, what he thought they meant. Your confusion was not necessarily because of actual confusion, but rather, because you weren't used to gestures like this. It was a little disheartening, of course, but slowly, you began to accept them with a small smile and nod of your head. It put him at ease to see you that way.
Now was the third day Satoru stayed home to be with you, and because you seemed to be doing much better, he knew this would probably be the last day he would have to do so. Thus so, he wanted to make the most of it.
It was early afternoon when Satory began to approach your room. You had taken to sleeping in while being sick, and if there was one thing he had definitely learned from this time with you, it's that you could sleep when you weren't waking yourself up at a certain time. He found it cute, and somewhat surprising.
He snuck into your room as you slept, gently placing the reason he came in on your bedside table: a vase, with those blue hydrangeas in it. And just as he was about to walk out, you called his name.
Satoru stilled and turned slowly. You were staring at the flowers on the bedside with a haphazard, exhausted look on your face. God, and just when he thought this moment couldn't get any more precious...
"Fuck, sorry, I didn't mean to wake you up. Goddamn, and I had it all planned out too! Having you wake up to flowers, I was just gonna get cracking on some blueberry pancakes and everything-"
"Oh... are we celebrating something?" you asked, looking between your hands and the flowers.
"No, 's just because. Unless there's something you want to celebrate? Happy your-fever-decreased-from-103-to-101 day?" he chuckled. "Anyway, I'm going to attempt to make pancakes even though I'm ass at it. Hope you're okay with Frosted Flakes as a fall-back option." Satoru turned towards the door again. This woman has him adding blueberries to his pancakes-
"Satoru...?"
He paused, stopped, buffered, restarted. Did you just call him Satoru? His brain was running laps around the replayed sound of your voice in his head as he turned. He was elated, estatic, down-right jolly, one might say.
And then all that was thrown out the window he faced you completely, and you were looking right at him.
Head up. Eyes bright. Smile... paragon.
"Thank you... for taking care of me."
Satoru knew you weren't just talking about this past three days. He felt like a five year old boy laying his eyes on you again for the first time as he, the ever so confident, swaggering, and teasing Gojo Satoru, flushed. "Yeah, no, it's no biggie, you deserve it cause you do so much and you're my wife so I kind of have to and-" he bumped into the door behind him, "fuck, you know what? I'm just gonna shut up and go... pancakes... haha, yeah..."
This poor man Satoru turned the corner and facepalmed, shutting your door behind him while your small laughs could be heard from the other side of the door. Running a hand through his hair, he tried his best to compose himself while he walked away, but then your face flashed in his mind again, and it was like he had a buzz that reached from his brain down to his whole body. He was smitten.
Once he reached the kitchen, soft music playing from his phone, he searched up that pancake recipe. While he began to get out ingredients, there was a knock as someone entered through the doors that led to the rest of the estate. One of the household staff.
"Sir, there's a guest at the front door," the woman stated.
"Who?" Satoru asked as he leaned over the counter while scrolling through the recipe.
Author's Note: Hello lovelies! I've returned with my first headcanon post. I hope y'all enjoy it! If you haven't watched any of the character's respective movies you definitely should if you get the chance! I apologize again for falling off the face of the earth (again). I'm on a break from my studies, so I have more time to write. If y'all have any asks or want me to continue any of my other stories, you know where to find me :)
Word Count: ~1.6k
gojo: naveen
y'all saw this coming.
like it was probably your first or second guess let's be real.
gojo has lots of expectations put upon him that he would rather not adhere to/just wants to be able to do his own thing.
the personality lines up pretty well. he's a cocky lil shit sometimes but he genuinely cares.
okay but SPECIFICALLY getting into though
think about this. naveen was only ever a prince to everyone around him. lottie only would've wanted him because he's a prince. dr. facilier only wanted to trick him because of his influence as a prince. even tiana's judgement at first was biased because he's a spoiled rich guy.
however, when he's not seen as a prince, he's able to have fun and relax. he discovers more about himself, and we sympathize. tiana falls in love with him when they're fucking frogs for gods sake, so she falls in love with naveen and not prince naveen.
i think we can all agree that if gojo were to have a long-time partner, it would be someone that sees past him as being the strongest sorcerer. someone he could cut out a separate life with. so it was upon this that i based my decision.
also lowkey, the scene where naveen set up a little date for tiana and was going to propose to her is gojo-coded to me and idk why. i could see him getting flustered and all that cute shit before trying to propose.
geto: kristoff
i'll admit this one didn't hit me at first, but i slowly found myself thinking this makes sense.
let's think about this right?
like sassy, hardworking man doing what he got to do to survive? right, right?
but he has a soft spot for those he cares about ofc, his found family and gojo sven.
also both are estranged from most of society both by circumstance and choice.
bet then idk just something about the scene where he immediately sees that anna might be in danger and he just rushes his ass over and across a frozen fucking lake.
idk
like it could be said for any of the characters listed, but i think that geto wouldn't admit or want to realizes that he cares that much for you until you're put into danger like that.
which sounds bad buuut at the end of the day when you're finally safe and the two of you are together he doesn't want to hesitate to show his affection for you.
both of them are just chef's kiss.
lmk if you agree.
toji: flynn rider
i know i keep saying here me out but HERE ME OUT-
there's just something about a hot criminal yk.
anyways, i was never thinking of this all along, but when i made this connection it sort of surprised me.
like, he would never approach your relationship romantically at first. there would only be something in it for the both of you before he realized he was royally fucked aka falling in love with you.
i feel like the only difference is just toji's over grumpiness but isn't flynn's cynicism almost similar?
furthermore, i think they both became the way they were because of the way society set them up to be with their born circumstances. but with the right person, they're willing to begin to go against that and what they had thought previously about themselves.
idk maybe i'm making a reach with this one.
just let him be loved.
nanami: shang
no brainer in my opinion.
both these bitches are GETTING DOWN TO BUSINESS.
but i def think the whole thing playing out between duty and heart would be an interesting dynamic for Nanami's character.
especially when talking about the SECOND MULAN MOVIE WHICH EVERYONE IS SLEEPING ON.
like i'm immediately thinking about the scene in the second movie where everyone thinks shang is dead and then boom he hops out all hot on a horse looking all disheveled and shit
then that got me thinking about season 2 nanami y'all know what im talking aboutttt.
plus having someone to challenge him but also introduce him to new concepts and ideas?? we all know he need dat.
anyways i love hot hardworking men.
yuta: aladdin
idc what anyone says this is the MOST accurate one.
both these dudes was in the TRENCHES when we first meet them, doing what they could with given circumstances.
but when it comes to getting what they want? setting out a goal and achieving it, whether that be to be with the girl he wants or save jujustu fucking society? yes ma'am he'll make sure it gets done. (even if they need a little help sometimes but that's besides the point-)
anyway, i think just the way he would treat you compared to how aladdin treats jasmine would be so similar idk. that sort of boyish shyness that he can get around you while still being able to impress everyone around him with his skillz.
brotha just wants to impress you doh.
he would do anyyyything for you.
choso: tarzan
barking for both of them i swear-
anyways, whole thing i was going after with this was the whole two worlds, one family thing yk? i feel like there are a lot of similarities with both tarzan's and choso's characters for it to make sense?
like he's been caught up in the curse world for so long, that when it comes to you, he needed/wanted to delve more into his human side.
he wants to know your interests, things that are important to you. bonus points if you were to be a jujustu sorcerer because you're supposed to be studying/exorcising curses.
choso really has to make a choice between you and his goals as a curse.
ofc, he's gonna choose you.
also, if we wanna get into to details. the scene where tarzan looks at jane? YOU KNOW WHICH ONE I'M TALKING ABOUT!!
yeah.
sigh anyways.
this one might've gotten a little too literal but i like it.
sukuna: adam (da beast)
okay.
yes the immediate connection was that they're both always angry i will admit.
but let's sit down and tinker with this mmm k?
everyone around both of them fear them. they were both cursed for the great power that they held.
now let's sit and imagine that we replaced him and you into belle and adam's situation? you cannot tell me that shit wouldn't pan out in a similar fashion.
i can irl that attraction to sukuna would not come immediately, but over time. learning about his past and him learning what's important to you, all of these things would contribute to your relationship.
but how could you love someone so terrible? so vile? someone who lived their life tormenting others?
now they said that to belle too.
but people, even monsters, can change under the right circumstances.
anyway, that got really serious.
but on a side note y'all were definitely having stupid arguments starting out just like in beauty and the beast.
and imagine if for whatever reason you saved his life.
oh brother he would never want to admit it.
of course, he would later be thankful for it.
belle and adam are probably my favorite disney couple also, so i liked diving into this.
itadori: hercules
THESE BABIES.
off the bat let's look at the similarities shall we?
both freakishly strong. both determined with a goal/called destiny from a long lost family. both new to the hero game and went through intensive training. both had cool mentors. both sweethearts.
but omg the way that hercules is so DOWN BAD AND IN LOVE with meg ugh. itadori is the same with you when you both meet fr.
and obv they are both extremely awkward but it's really endearing. aww.
but omg they would go BLOW FOR BLOW with any bitch that dare mess with y'all. whether it be some random ass man on the street or sukuna or a curse, itadori can FIGHT.
and we've seen the same thing in the hercules movie too ofc.
i think personality wise they are both similar matches which is why i made almost an instant connection between these two.
but they're also afraid of a lot of things too. they want to complete their goals but don't want anyone around them to die as a product of that. i feel that itadori's mind would think about that constantly with you, similar to how it happens with hercules in the movie and trying to save meg's life.
anywho
megumi: robert
okay now.
if you're thinking to yourself
who's robert
i need you to go get a disney plus subscription or on some random pirating website
and WATCH ENCHANTED
ONE OF THE MOST UNDERRATED DISNEY MOVIES EVER
and then come back to me and agree with me :)
now obviously it's kinda hard to compare like 15 y/o megumi to a fully grown, single father/divorce lawyer, but i feel like what that story represents in that relationship is sooo good.
megumi's had a very practical/cynical view on life since he was a child, as his circumstances forced him to. he does what he does to take care of his sister and still wants to look after her even after gojo comes around.
robert is someone who's also very practical and takes those views into everything to make sure he's making the right decisions for himself and his daughter. when his daughter asks for a storybook, he gives her a book on successful women. when asked why he hasn't proposed to a woman he's been dating for 5 years, he just wants to be sure in case anything falls apart.
but then you/giselle come along and completely break those realist mentalities, almost instantly. you don't encourage him to let go of what's important but rather view what's important through a happier/more positive lense. through those lenses, he falls for you, even when he never planned to.
like megumi's been through so much, but someone that could rework all of that and get him to relax would be the best thing for him imo.
anyway probably a weird one to end off on but yeah.
how many of y'all agree with me or are there any other ideas y'all had? 🥺
Synopsis: As the only daughter to the leader of the Kamo Clan, you were trained and protected to one day bring your father honor through your marriage to the heir of the Gojo Clan. However, your husband ended up being something that your family never prepared you for. As you come to navigate a new world of politics between the clans, your husband convinces you that there is nothing wrong with honoring yourself too. MDNI WITH THIS CHAPTER.
Warnings and Content: fem! reader, slightly ooc! (?) gojo (i feel like i'm not writing him as well as i thought i was lol) , mostly fluff with a hint of angst, smut/male masturbation (gojo fantasizes about fucking the reader, body worshipping, marking, fingrering, fem receiving! oral, taking reader’s virginity in mating press, etc.), mentions/anxieties of marriage consummation, themes of arranged/forced marriage/familial expectations, cursing, themes of mentally abused/anxious reader
Author's Note: Chapter 2 woo woo! Had a lot of fun writing this one. Please keep in mind that there is smut in the chapter so minors dni! I will add that reader's father in this series, along with other family members, are not canon and are created for the purpose of the story, as well as the beliefs/dramatization of the Kamo clan. If you have yet to read the prologue or chapter one, please do so!
Satoru folded his arms as he stood before your father, waiting for him to say something. Instead, the man held Satoru's gaze while sitting on the foyer's couch, not breaking it even when one of the household staff set a cup of steaming tea on the table before him and left.
Arao Kamo was a gruff man, and stupidly proud. His clan was the largest of the three major jujustu clans. Where Satoru and now you were the only Gojo members, the Kamos had dozens interwoven into their bloodline, and Arao oversaw them all with an iron fist. Just as Yaga had said, this was a family rooted in deep tradition, and Arao upheld it just as the other Kamos had done for centuries. Though he was past his prime as a sorcerer, wrinkles dotting his once handsome face just like the gray in his hair, he was widely respected across the jujustu community.
Satoru couldn't give two shits.
"Where is my daughter?" your father asked lowly, clearly tired of waiting. Waiting for you, Satoru realized.
"She's sleeping. She had a pretty bad fever this week, so I'm making her prioritize her rest. I was just about to make her breakfast when you arrived, actually," Satoru replied with equal calm, cocking his head and giving him a smirk. "Though, I'm assuming you're not here for breakfast."
"I came to see (Y/N)," your father grumbled, now taking the tea into his hands. "I messaged her this morning notifying her I would be here, but it seems she didn't see it. That girl can be so insolent sometimes..."
That set Satoru off a bit. No wonder you were always so focused on pleasing him if you had to cater to this prick. "Well, forgive me, sir, but like I said, she's asleep, so she wouldn't have been able to read your texts. Maybe next time give her a further notice. And, contrary to your definitely valued opinion, I find your daughter quite charming and very polite. But hey, what do I know, she's only been living with me for a month and a half," Satoru shrugged, firing at him with his usual attitude. He was peeved to even refer to this man as his father-in-law, so he avoided the thought as much as he could.
Satoru almost snickered when he saw a vein fire off in the Kamo leader's head as he gripped the ceramic cup so hard it almost cracked. What was even more fun was knowing that the man couldn't even tell Satoru to watch his tone. They were equal in position, but Satoru greatly outweighed him in power, even if your father was a retired special-grade.
Your father only released a breath, trying to calm himself before saying, "Right. Well then, since she's preoccupied, I'm sure you wouldn't mind telling me that you both have consummated your marriage?"
Satoru tried and failed to hide the disgust on his face. Why would he need to know that? You being his daughter or no, he had no right to know what went on in your marital bed. Satoru decided in that moment that he wanted your father out of this house before he made him leave. "Oh, yeah, definitely. Don't know why that's any of your business, but of course we have," Satoru lied, though the smug grin on his face made it look like he was telling the truth.
"Well then, I congratulate you both," your father said, now standing. "I expect good news in the coming weeks. I suppose I'll be taking my leave now."
"Oh, please do," Satoru replied wittily, moving a little too quickly to open the front door for him. "I need to get back to breakfast before my poor dear wife starves."
Arao gave Satoru a sneer before walking out the door. "Oh, and the lawn care guy should be outside if you need help getting down the stairs!" Satoru shouted as he watch the man leave, closing the door and laughing to himself.
He stood at the door for a moment, sighing and running a hand through his hair, all while trying to ponder the reason why your father felt the need to show up in the first place. Suddenly, Satoru felt a little guilty for not trying to move up the marriage date himself, now getting a more vivid image of what you probably had to deal with.
Speaking of you, he needed to get back to cooking. He turned to walk back up the stairs, but you were already standing at the top, looking down at him. He smiled at the sight of you, your usual silk robe covering your nightgown as you folded your hands in front of you. It seemed like you had just washed up, too. Satoru jogged up the steps to greet you.
"Satoru-" you started, a small pout on your face.
"Don't worry, (Y/N), I took care of it," Satoru interrupted, putting his hands on your shoulders to usher you back to the kitchen. "By the way, your father is a lovely individual."
"I know it was him you were talking to. I just saw his texts and rushed down to greet him, but you got there before me," you explained. "I was listening to your conversation, but I should have showed my face. Forgive me?"
"That's perfectly okay. You have nothing to be sorry for. You don't have to talk to him if you don't want to," Satoru reconciled. "To be honest, I was already ticked that he just invited himself over."
"Well, he is my father. He should be able to see me when he wants to," you replied. Satoru looked at you and furrowed his brow as the two of you walked through the doors and towards the kitchen.
"(Y/N), that shouldn't mean anything. You're his daughter, sure, but you're also an adult and someone that's capable of making their own decisions, so you have a right to refuse him, especially in the state that you're in. Not to mention, you should be in bed," Satoru argued. Did you really stop resting to go downstairs and see him? How much of a hold did this man still have on you?
"But as your wife and the matron of the house, I should be the first to greet guests-"
Satoru only snickered and shook his head. "(Y/N), just because that was something your father taught you doesn't mean you have to do that. You realize how ridiculous that statement sounds?"
He suddenly regretted his words when you gave him a worried look. "But, that's my responsibility-"
“But it doesn’t have to be!” Satoru interjected before you could say anymore. He sighed before continuing. “Look, I didn’t mean to raise my voice. What I mean is that… you’re recovering from an illness, and we both know you need rest. So, since something like this came up and because I’m the one taking care of you, I went to go answer the door because you’re still in bed. I was happy to do it, (Y/N)…”
After a few seconds, he added, “I understand what you think, and please don’t take this like I’m trying mansplain something to you or what not… but the whole husband-wife relationship dynamic that I think you have in mind… it’s not… healthy, so to speak. At least, I don’t think it is. You don't always have to break yourself down trying to handle so many things. The same goes for me too. So we help each other, right? You don’t even have to think of it in a married way either. Just see it like I’m doing you a favor, yeah?”
"Still... he won't be happy with me," you murmured as the two of you walked the rest of the way to the kitchen in silence. The ingredients still sat on the counter, the batter ready but unused. Satoru decided to get started on that right away while you watched from the entryway.
Your silence was indication of your contemplation, as if pondering his words against memories, pitting them against one another in your head.
"Satoru?"
"Mhm?"
"Why did you lie...?" The stove reached a crescendo of sizzles as Satoru poured the batter onto the pan, his back turned to you.
"Because he has no right knowing about private stuff like that," he replied, his shoulders moving slightly under his t-shirt as he fiddled the batter with the spatula. "And because I knew he would be furious with you. I knew he would find a way to blame it on you... as if it was your fault that I decided not to force myself on you because you were obviously nervous and scared and we had practically just met. I would never do something like that unless you wanted me to."
"But I do."
"Do you? Or do you want to because you know it's what your family expects of you?"
A beat. "I don't know."
Satoru moved the done pancakes onto a paper plate and poured more batter on the pan. "(Y/N), what do you want us to be?"
"You're my husband-"
"No, just... putting all that aside for a minute. Disregard what I want, what your family wants, what jujustu society wants... what do you want us to be, as two human beings?"
You didn't answer his question. In fact, you didn't say anything until he had used up all of the batter and made a semi-okay stack of blueberry pancakes for the both of you. Maybe you have never been asked something like this before. After all, your whole life you were told to be dedicated to your father and your family name, and then eventually to him. Your opinions thus didn't ever matter in any situation, so no one probably bothered asking. Did you even know then what it was like to want something? To want to have a goal or a sense of identity that was truly your own?
It wasn't until he opened the silverware drawer to grab forks that you spoke up.
"A friend. I want us to be friends."
Satoru smiled, shutting the drawer before handing you your plate. "You got it, pretty girl."
"So what do you like to do for fun?" Satoru asked, observing you as he sat backwards on one of the many chairs of the library.
"Read," you replied, eyes still stationed on the book in front of you.
"Yeah. I gathered," Satoru grumbled. Whatever you were reading, you seemed really immersed, pages in your face and curled up all nice and comfy on the couch. He reached forward, barely able to put the tip of his finger on the top of the cover to pull it down a little and look at you. "What else?"
"Have we not had this discussion before?" You moved the book back up, a placid expression on your face.
"Yeah, but there's a difference between hobbies and things you do for fun..."
"Okay then. I do my hobbies for fun."
Satoru sighed. "So you're telling me you've never like... gone to the movies? An amusement park? Maybe a club or something?"
He barely saw you shake your head as you said, "Aside from going to see a movie once or twice, I've never done any of those. There are more ways to spend my time that do not involve spending money or wearing indecent clothing around indecent people."
Satoru chuckled at your response. You did seem like the type of person to frown upon things like parties and alcohol. "Hmph. Now that has me thinking... what is the most rebellious thing you've ever done as a teenager?"
You set your book down at his question, gently marking the page as you hummed. "I was able to procure a romance novel when I was 16..." you murmured.
Satoru only raised an eyebrow, shifting in his seat. "And? What did you do with it?"
"I read it of course," you replied matter-of-factly.
"That's... it? What, was it like hardcore porn or something?"
"Goodness no! It was... just a romance novel..." You picked up your book again, clearly flustered.
Satoru huffed a laugh, moving his chair around to sit on it normally to look at you as you read. "Well then, what was so bad about it?"
"Well, the fact that it was a romance novel," you shrugged.
That made Satoru pause for a moment, considering what your words were implying. "So... you weren't allowed to read romance novels? That seems kinda harsh... Is that why you read so much non-fiction type stuff?"
"To begin, I do read fiction, just not a lot of fiction prose. And secondly, yes, I was not allowed to," you explained. "My father believed reading stories of that nature would give me fanciful ideas to go out and try to experience romance and tamper my chastity before my marriage."
That stunned Satoru to silence for a moment. "Wow. Not gonna lie, your dad's a dick."
Your brow furrowed as you looked at him from over your book. "Satoru, that's rude."
"What? He's not in the room with us. And besides, it's not like you were shooting heroin up your arm and getting pregnant at 16 because you read a romance book," he argued, crossing his arms over his jacket. "What was it even about anyway?"
You sighed, setting down your book again. "I don't really remember. Something like... a girl running away from her kingdom to escape marriage, and she somehow ends up falling for the man she was supposed to marry anyway." You leaned back against the couch, setting your book on the table nearby. "I never read it again. I was too afraid someone would find it and tell my father."
"What was the book called?"
"I don't... I don't remember," you muttered, looking down in your lap.
"Did you like it?"
You only shook my head with a smile. "You ask a lot of questions, Satoru."
He only smirked and raised his arms up in a 'guilty as charged' motion. "Well, forgive me for just trying to know more about something that you obviously enjoyed. But seriously? Your dad wouldn't let you read something like that?"
"N-no..." Your eyes wandered before landing on the clock on the other side of the room, standing when you realized what time it was. "I should start on lunch-"
"Ah, ah, ah," Satoru ticked, standing up to stop you. "We're going out for lunch."
"We are?" you asked, looking up at him confused. "Did I forget?"
"Nope, I just decided," Satoru chirped, now putting a hand on the small of your back as he led you out of the library. "We're gonna go shopping, and then we're going out to lunch."
"But we have food here... and what do we need to shop for?" you inquired, a puzzled look on your face. "I had just run to the market this past weekend..."
"Well, dontcha think it's kinda odd that we're married yet we haven't really gone out to do something fun together? I think it'll be nice. And you can't shop for books and return with an empty stomach," he replied, patting his own stomach for emphasis. "You can get any romance book you desire, all on me. It doesn't even have to be a romance book, either! I can tell you've been reading those same poetry collections over and over so you must want some new ones..."
You not saying anything in response was a clear indicator of your hesitation, making Satoru look at you for a moment. You were biting the inside of your cheek, eyes trained down, second guessing. "Hey, if you don't want to, we won't go," he said, voice softening. "We can make lunch here and find something else to do later, if that's what you'd rather do..."
"I... I'm just..." you started.
"What's on your mind, pretty girl?"
You looked sheepishly off to the side, now stopping in the center of the private living room in both you and Satoru's shared part of the estate. "It's just... my father visited here less than a week ago trying to see me, and I didn't even greet him. And now... now what you're proposing is... something he most definitely wouldn't...uhm..."
Admittedly, the first thing Satoru felt was frustration. How much of your life did your father dictate before he married you? Too much, Satoru knew now. Too much to the point where you're thinking of his approval long after you were grown and married. Too much to the point where your father could have demanded an answer to the same question he asked Satoru a few days ago, and you would've answered him truthfully despite the fact that you knew you would suffer. What more could this man want from you besides your total devotion?
However, that frustration melted to empathy and heartache when looking at your face. Now, because of your consideration of rejecting his offer, you looked guilty. He felt the urge to reach out and hug you; to hold your head to his chest and tell you it was okay, and that he understood; to let you know that he didn't take any offense to what your concerns were or what you were feeling. After all...
He can't blame you for knowing any different.
"(Y/N), I understand that you may feel that way but... I'll tell you the same thing that I told you before: I'm not your father. I don't plan on being like him, either. You can do whatever you want when you're here. So, if you want to stay here and not go get anything, that's fine. But, I want you to know that I would be very happy to take you to go get a few books and some food, and I think you'll be too. It's your decision."
You swallowed, picking at the skin of your fingers, likely a nervous habit. Your eyes darted to a few different spots: the carpet, his socks, the wooden wall, the window. You tried to calm your breaths, your chest rising and falling, rising and falling...
"Maybe... maybe one new thing on my bookshelf... wouldn't hurt?"
One new book turned into two, two into three, and three into ten. Of course, Satoru got a few for himself too. He wasn't a big reader, but he figured he'd try a few to keep him occupied when traveling.
Traveling was part of the reason he took you out today. You both already knew that he had been assigned an upcoming mission for a while now, one that was going to keep him away for about a week. He wanted to do something for you before he left, and he couldn't have thought of anything more perfect.
After your shopping, the two of you went to a little café tucked between the stores of a nearby shopping center. You both talked for roughly two hours, enjoying baked sandwiches and coffee and muffins. It was the first time he had ever seen you talk so openly with him, like he was having a conversation with any of his other friends or colleagues. But it was so... different at the same time? You had this grace to the way you spoke, which he had already noticed, but what was new was your cute mannerisms: the way your eyes looked upward when you tried to think of something, or the way you smiled nervously when you suddenly forgot what the two of you had been talking about...
And if that wasn't icing on the cake, there was what he was now referring to in his head as The Miracle. A little blonde girl, no more than five, had been running around the café with her other sister, friend, whoever, for most of the time the two of you had been there. However, amidst trying to run away from the other girl she was playing with, the little blonde had run into the chair you were sitting in, causing her to fall over. Satoru choked on a laugh while you just bent over in your seat to help the girl up.
However, when you helped the girl to her feet, a hand on her little wrist, the kid just stared at you, starstruck. When you asked if she was alright, the girl only answered with a dazed, You look like a princess.
And what he witnessed was the best part of his day. You laughed. Loudly. Eyes crinkled as your cheeks expanded from a wide smile. You thanked the little girl, told her she looked like one too, before the kid ran back over to her parents.
He had laughed too, of course. Usually kids give him weird stares, but seeing it happen to someone else was funny for a change. Satoru couldn't have agreed more with the kid, though. You did look like a princess, even if you were wearing just a typical floral dress, and he had the fight the urge to rub it in the kid's face. She's my princess that I get to see everyday because she's my wife, so eat it.
That laugh was a broken record in his head the entire drive home, replaying over and over. It was so... unlike you, in a sense. You were so timid, yet your laugh had come out loud and roaring up from the pit of your stomach like a long awaited eruption. What he wouldn't give to hear that again...
And that's what led him to your bedroom. The two of you just got back 30 minutes ago and he was craving your presence again already. He stood in your already open doorway, leaning against it with his sunglasses slung low on his nose as he watched you put your new books on your bookshelf. You even rearranged some of the ones already on there to make a different section for your three new romance novels.
You seemed content, fulfilled. Satoru considered that a mission accomplished.
He spoke up when you were done. "Tired of me yet, or do you want to find something else to do?"
You turned to face him from where you were sitting on the floor before standing and straightening out the skirt of your dress. There was something... extremely attractive about your modesty, your adorable and considerate manners. He knew they must have been drilled into you since childhood, but the way you did it- the little bounce when you stood, the slight shift of your weight from one foot to another, your wide eyes looking at him- that was all you. He loved it.
"Uhm... if you don't mind me asking, Satoru..." you began, one of your hands picking at your fingers- a nervous habit, he now knew. "Why did we go out today... or why did you take me out? I don't think I did anything to... necessarily deserve this-"
"Let me stop you right there," he interrupted, a small chuckle as he took his glasses off and placed them on the collar of his button-up shirt. "You don't need to do anything to deserve something like this. I just wanted to hang out, have fun, take your mind off of things that might be worrying you. After all, you're the one that said you wanted to be friends, am I right?"
"Yes, but... I didn't know that that would entail shopping sprees..." you replied, a mix of bashfulness and thankfulness crossing your features.
"Well, it does when you're friends with me. And don't forget, my money's all yours anyway, so really then you don't even need me to take you out to splurge. If you end up hating me enough, you could buy your own house on the other side of the world and never see my face again," he shrugged, smirking a little.
That smirk grew when your face changed from bashful to worried. "Why would I do that? And... and how do I have access to any of that?" you exclaimed.
Satoru stepped off the doorway, making his way over to you. "Well, you're legally my wife, so my money is also yours. And as for hating me, while I will do everything in my power from getting you to do so, I know I can be a lot for people to try and handle. So if you end up disliking me, that's totally understandable."
You only looked up at him anxiously. "I think it would be rather crude of me to dislike you after everything you've done for me..."
"I guess you're right, but you're still allowed to from time to time. I'd rather you express yourself than cover it up," Satoru replied with a smile, crossing his arms over his chest. "So then, based off of that logic, how do you feel about your father?"
You opened your mouth, but then shut it, looking away. "I can understand why you feel loyalty to him and your family, but from what I can gather, he treated you terribly. And while I don't clearly know everything, I can tell. Really, I can. Were you happy to let him... indoctrinate you like that?" he asked, eyes soothing into something more comforting.
"I..." you started, as if trying to find the words. Then your breaths rose and fell slightly faster, your bottom lip began quivering. Satoru's eyebrows raised as he took note of what was going to happen-
His arms shot forward to steady you as your body seemed to cave in a little, a small no cracking from your throat before the tears started. His heart broke to pieces.
"Hey, hey, hey... shh, I'm sorry. I shouldn't have asked you something like that without warning you..." he whispered, ushering you to sit on the bed while he stood in front of you. "Hey, talk to me. You can talk to me..." Satoru raised his hands, one placing itself on your shoulder, the other wiping the tears that trickled down your face.
Through your sobs and shaky breaths you were able to get out, "Scared... I was always... so scared and frightened by... by the thought of what... w-what he would do... if... if I... but I had no choice-"
"Yeah... and you shouldn't have to feel that way around your own father. What he was teaching you, and how he treated you, was wrong," he consoled, brushing more tears and stray strands of hair away from your face. Snot began to drip from your nose. "Shit, uh... here."
You grimaced as he held up his forearm for you to blow into his sleeve. You just pouted and shook your head.
Satoru chuckled lowly. "C'mon, it's fine. I can take it off and wash it later. Unless, you want me to take it off now?" he added with a wink and wiggled eyebrows shot in your direction.
That only caused your face to redden a little, giving him a sniffle as you moved you head forward and used his shirt as a tissue. "Don't be afraid to blow. I got another sleeve too," he quipped, smiling weakly when you eventually did as he adjusted more of your hair behind your ear.
"(Y/N)..." Satoru moved to sit next to you on the bed. "I'm not going to make you tell me everything about yourself. What you want to share is up to you. But, I'll promise that you'll never have to be afraid of me... okay?"
You nodded once, your breaths staggering as you forced yourself to get calm.
"And... can you look at me please?" he whispered, gently cupping one side of your face to turn your attention to him. "You can come to me for anything. Even when I'm not here, you have my number."
You only sighed. "I'm sorry..."
"Sorry? For what?" Satoru retracted his hand from your face.
"For... for that. For feeling like you... for having to... coddle me like this," you muttered. "It's... deeply unfair to you..."
"It's really not..." he tittered. For a moment, he considered telling you just how much he had been wanting, waiting for a moment like this so he could show how much he cared for you. He wanted to tell you that he would rip his whole shirt to scraps for you to blow your nose in to prove it. "Emotions... aren't meant to be something transactional between people. Trust me, I know. If you want me to go to you for something, I gladly will, but right now it's not about me..."
"Are you sure?" you voice cracked, brows furrowing.
"Sure that's it not about me? Well, perhaps not everything can be. But I guess it's okay to give away my spotlight once in a while," he sighed with his usual sarcasm, causing you to giggle a little.
"I meant... are you sure that... that you'd be okay if I... talked to you about... anything?" you questioned again, trying to find your words.
"Absolutely, 's what I'm here for," Satoru assured. "And each time I'll remind you that you're a wonderful, talented, kind, and good-looking individual," he added, giving a little boop on the tip of your nose before continuing with a flare in his voice. "And that-" that I love you "-that, well, I think everything is going to turn out just fine. After all, I'm the strongest sorcerer alive. I can handle anything you throw at me."
You smiled softly, looking down in your lap, your eyes caught between melancholy and meditative. "I suppose you're right about that..."
"Oh, I know, pretty girl. A little therapy session is nothing compared to a special grade curse," he sniggered. "But that doesn't mean I take it more lightly."
You only hummed in response. Satoru just continued to look at you as you stared forward into the carpet, probably thinking about something to say. Even after you had just finished crying, you looked so lovely. Hell, he could never catch you at a time when you weren't that. Or maybe he just saw you that way no matter what.
When you looked back to him, he prepared himself to listen. Instead, all you said was, "Have you packed a bag for your mission?"
He just laughed. "Yeah, I should probably get on that..."
"I'll... probably just get ready for bed early, then," you stammered. "And... uhm..." You turned to him, breathing in as you brought an arm close to his side, making a motion as if you were going to wrap it around him, before ultimately deciding to rest it on his elbow. "Thank you..."
Satoru gave you a knowing smile. He could tell what you were about to do, but chose to not say anything about it. What was important was that he at least noticed. "Anytime..." With that, he opted to leave you alone while he returned to his room.
He could see you were trying. He knew you were, and he knew it was hard. Your whole life, you had been terrified of messing anything up. Hearing you say that set off something deep in him.
As he packed, he realized he had been stupid, so idiotically fucking stupid. He had the power this whole time, for years, to take you to be with him earlier, yet he never acted on it. And those years that he had figured it was best to keep his distance from out of fear of what you would think of him were years you had spent in literal fear of your father and family. Even if he technically would have had to strike an agreement with your father for an earlier marriage date and there was no guarantee that he would agree to it, he could have at least tried.
Someday, Satoru knew he would have to apologize for it.
Satoru got up to leave at 4:00am for his morning flight to Osaka. Once his bags were securely in the trunk, he got in the backseat as his driver took off.
He immediately noticed the container already in the middle seat, a sticky-note on it with your perfect cursive written in blue pen:
Couldn't fall asleep last night, so I made these for you.
- (Y/N)
Satoru grinned, lifting off the cover to be greeted by the smell of fresh, mouthwatering butter cookies. As expected, they tasted just as good too.
He took out his phone, taking a quick selfie with one of the cookies in his mouth, and sending it you with his thanks.
For good measure, he also sent you Suguru's number, saying that if your father came back or if you needed anything that he couldn't get there right away for, you could call Suguru and he would be able to stop over. You texted him back in the middle of his flight, glad that he liked the cookies and letting him know you would call Suguru if the need arises.
A few hours later, you sent him a picture of yourself smiling in the garden, hand marking a page in one of your new romance novels as you sat on your usual bench between the cherry trees.
This mission was by far the hardest he had ever had, and not because of the curses themselves.
Normally, Satoru would repeat the same thing throughout a mission week: wake up, go investigate the site of a supposed curse, find it easily, beat it with no sweat, spend the rest of his day sightseeing and buying food to splurge on back at his hotel suite, and then pass out.
However, this was the first mission he had ever spent away from you, which made the seven days ahead feel like a year. As much as he wanted to to finish all the curses off and go home, he knew that he had to take it easy and let his cursed energy replenish each day for a possible worst case scenario. Not to mention, the longer he was out, the more he was likely to get paid extra if it made it seem like he was actually trying.
Needless to say, Satoru did text you a few times throughout the day to check on you, seeing what you were up to and how you were entertaining yourself. You both would occasionally send photos back and forth. Satoru would send you a selfie of himself with a thumbs up and a defeated curse, and you would reply with whatever you were doing at the moment.
Because of your photo exchanges, he now had a small album in his phone titled Wifey (^ω^). His favorite so far was actually a video you sent of yourself playing the grand piano in one of the few estate galleries. He would play it over and over before bed, not to listen to the Debussy piece (thought you did a marvelous job playing it), but to watch you as your fingers floated across the keys with a pleasant, satisfied smile on your face.
He was imagining that face now as he was laying in bed, waiting for exhaustion to overtake him. He wished he could reach into his phone screen, brush the curve of your lips with his fingertips, trace along your eyelashes with his thumbs, and place kiss after kiss on your forehead until he got that smile of yours to come out.
Better yet, Satoru wished you were right here next to him.
He wished he could pull you close to him. He already knew your body would fit perfectly against his. Your head would rest against the crook of his shoulder as he wrapped his arms around your waist. He wouldn't leave any inch of your face untouched by kisses, especially those delicate lips, the same lips he had to try his best not to stare at when you spoke, but would catch sneaky glimpses of...
They always looked so soft, and he knew they would feel that way against his own. He thought about what it would be like to kiss you for the first time, how shy and nervous you would be, but that is what would make it so much more enjoyable. He would guide you through it, one hand tangled gently in your hair while the other squeezed your waist closer to him.
And the two of you would lay there, the only sounds being the ones you exchanged between one another and the slight rustling of the sheets. Maybe if he got far enough, he would test the waters a little, barely teasing your lips with his tongue as his hands would start roaming against the silky fabric of that lavender nightgown he thought and a little too often, and then-
Satoru groaned, now staring up at the ceiling. He ran his hands over his face once, twice. He tried to think of anyone or anything else...
Nope. His cock was still hard in his boxers.
"Fuck," he seethed, pulling down his waistband. He was painfully hard. And all because he thought about kissing you-
He immediately drew his hands away, letting the waistband go with a snap. No, he shouldn't. He shouldn't. Even if you were married to him, he told you he would be your friend. Nothing more, nothing less... unless you wanted to.
And frankly, Satoru couldn't even tell if you wanted him, not that he would demand or expect you to, of course. He never wanted to come off as the guy that felt they deserved your affections just because he was nice to you. He just... wanted to express his love and attraction as platonically as possible.
Even if that meant going through the rest of your lives remaining this way: living in the same house, sharing the same income, spoiling one another, going to each other for anything and everything and providing a shoulder to cry on...
God, the lines felt blurry, even if they were straightforward: married by status, friends by relationship. He'll keep it that way, and he'd never beat his dick to any of his friends.
Granted... he's never been attracted to any of his friends the way he's been attracted to you. He's never been attracted to anyone the way he's attracted to you.
To him, you were so much more than a body, a hookup for whenever he wanted to get laid and that he could discard when he was finished. He didn't want a friends-with-benefits situation either. He wanted all of you.
Satoru turned over with a sigh, burying his face in the pillow as he cursed himself and his stupidly horny brain, which was something he usually didn't mind. But when it's now starting to think about you in this context...
The reason it probably felt so wrong was because you were so innocent. Hell, you blushed and shied away from the prospect of him with just his shirt off. And he understood what the jujustu community expected, what you expected: for the two of you to produce an heir. But he couldn't care less. To hell with the Gojo bloodline if it meant he was going to have to defile you to appease someone else.
But then again, there's no saying that you didn't want him either...
Fuck. And it's not like he couldn't see the effect he had on you. The way you would smile and flush nervously whenever he teased you, whenever he called you pretty girl. He loved calling you that, almost as much as he liked calling you by your name. (Y/N).
"Fuck... (Y/N)." Satoru turned over and reached his hand into his boxers. He was caving, but just for tonight. Just for tonight, to get the edge off.
He raised his hand briefly to spit in it before bringing his hand back down and hissing at the amount of pre that was already leaking. With a shaky groan, he wrapped his palm around the tip and dragged down slowly.
What if this was your hand instead of his. You would be so shy, at least, maybe at first, before you got comfortable. He would coax you through it, telling you how good you were doing and praising you from how good your perfect hands felt. He'd show you everything. Where he was sensitive, what movements and actions felt the best...
Oh, but what about you.
If you were any other girl, he would have taken your outfits as you trying to entice him with your gorgeous curves. He would've fell for it, dragged you to his room, and ripped those cute dresses and tights to shreds in order to admire those curves properly before he fucked your brains out.
But he could never do that to you, not unless that's what you wanted. He was prepared to do anything for you, of course, but with what he felt for you, what he yearned to do was to make love to you.
He wanted to make love to you gently, slowly, show you exactly what he was feeling in the most physical way possible. He needed to protect you, make sure nothing would ever hurt you or cause you any discomfort.
He would get all that tempting skin of yours on display for him and put his lips all over it, worshipping you, listening to all those cute noises you would make. He'd run his tongue over your breasts, sucking on them and marking them as his own, before moving down and down-
His hands would push your succulent thighs up to your chest to give him a full view of your sweet cunt, just before he ate you like the tasty little dessert you were. He'd prep you with his mouth and fingers, make you cream a few times to get you all pliant for him-
And that's when he would descend on you, working you through the pain with sensual words and even more sensual touches. He'd get you to take as much as you could, as much as you wanted, because he would be all yours. You would finally belong to each other.
He would be assured of that with each moan and whimper he drew from your throat as he worked you to orgasm, crying out his name over and over- Satoru, Satoru, Satoru- until...
Satoru spilled his cum into his hand with a low mewl of your name. His breaths slowed, one after the other, as the haze of his orgasm, the hardest orgasm he'd had in a while, faded to a quiet thrum in his veins.
He shouldn't have done that. If you had found out about this, he knew you'd probably be disgusted with him.
Or just maybe... maybe you'd feel the same. Somehow.
image taken from @ lovevivianne on pinterest; borders created by @anitalenia
Synopsis: As the only daughter to the leader of the Kamo Clan, you were trained and protected to one day bring your father honor through your marriage to the heir of the Gojo Clan. However, your husband ended up being something that your family never prepared you for. As you come to navigate a new world of politics between the clans, your husband convinces you that there is nothing wrong with honoring yourself too.
Warnings and Content: fem! reader, slightly ooc! (?) gojo, mostly fluff with a smidge of tension, cat :), small signs of past mental and physical abuse, violence, death, guns, knives, bit of blood, explosion caused by gojo’s technique, mentions of bruising and choking, brief threats, bits of trauma after an attack, healing myself a little after season 2, sharing a bed, gojo teasing, brief argument, reader says something about her not caring if she dies but doesn’t mean it, cursing, gojo has scars, cuddles and secret kisses :)
Author's Note: Hello everyone. This chapter has been a long time coming, and I apologize that I fell off the face of the earth. More of that will be explained later. However, I want to thank those that did message me and have been enjoying this story so far, but we know how life can get. I had a great time writing this during what little time I had, and it's also a little longer than my usual chapters. So, without further ado, here's chapter 3 !! Remember to catch up on The Color Blue if you haven't done so before reading !! For those of you who I may have forgotten to add in the taglist or would like to be added, comment below!
Word Count: ~8.8k
Apparently, even The Strongest got the jitters. Satoru didn't think it was possible, yet here he was, his leg bouncing as he sat in the back seat of the car as it pulled up to the long, winding driveway of the estate.
He would admit to himself that he was counting down the days, and then even the hours, until he got to see you again. It felt ridiculous at this point, the quickening heartbeat knowing you were getting closer by the second, the smile he tried to hide whenever you crossed his mind.
And the... other thoughts he had of you over his trip as well. He had those a little more than he was willing to admit in your absence.
The driver pulled up to the front entrance and Satoru retrieved his duffel bag, slinging it over his shoulder. He went up the steps, opened the door...
He frowned when you weren't on the other side. He thought that maybe you would greet him in the foyer. Oh well, just meant he would have to go looking for you. Satoru started with your kitchen, then the living room... maybe inside your bedroom?
He opened your door, calling your name. Immediately, as if startled, you jumped up from your bed, hands behind your back, the book in your lap clattering to the floor. Satoru's eyebrows raised at your sudden movement.
"W-welcome home, Satoru! How was your flight back?" you exclaimed. Something must be-
"Mmrreow..."
A cat's soft purr sounded in the air.
"Whatcha got there?"
"A book...?"
Satoru chuckled and smirked, his arms now resting at his sides. "I don't think that was a book..."
Your face scrunched up as your arms moved from behind your back. "Please don't be upset..."
You revealed a small ragdoll cat, probably only a few months old, it's singular eye scanning before it landed on Satoru. Satoru gasped and, like a child being presented with a new toy, threw his duffel bag aside and took the cat into his arms.
You've never heard a grown man squeal. That being said, your worried face softened into a grin.
"When did you get this little cutie?" Satoru laughed, turning the cat over in one arm to pet her little stomach.
"W-well... you told me before you left that... your money is my money, and I've always wanted a cat. I made sure I did my research, though! I bought her from a shelter, and made sure to get her the required vaccinations-"
"Does she have a name?" he exclaimed, handing the cat to you.
"I named her Sugar... if you don't like it, we can-"
"Sugar! Awww, that's the perfect name!!" he cooed, petting Sugar under her chin, her right and only eye squinting as she purred. "She already likes me too..."
Sugar moved out of your arms to lay on your bed as you strode to reach for a book on your dresser. A book for taking care of kittens, he realized. "You don't have to worry about taking care of her. I have her food ready for the next few months, the best kind I could find for her breed and age, and I already have her litter set up in the laundry room. I'm keeping her toys in my room as well," you explained, already paging through the book to support your points.
Satoru looked at you from where he started to kneel at the foot of your bed, getting up close and personal with the new feline friend. He admired your sudden commitment, but... "You don't want my help?" Satoru questioned, cocking his head.
"Well, I figured since I'm the one who bought her, I should take care of her. I don't want to inconvenience you," you answered, clasping your hands with the book in front of you.
"It's not really that much of an inconvenience. The only reason I never got one before was because I felt bad that I was almost never home. But now that you're here, it makes it a lot easier. It's not like you got a dog," he reasoned, now standing to full height while petting across the fur of Sugar's back. "If you really want to take full responsibility, that's fine, but I don't mind helping. I just can't promise I can or will want to change the litter."
You let out a small laugh. "I'm okay with that then..."
After a few moments of silence, you picked up your gaze from the floor, a soft smile on your face and a question on your tongue, only to see Satoru looking at you already.
You opened your mouth to speak, but nothing came out. He had such sweet eyes, like blue cotton candy, and the way he looked at you with them was even sweeter. A small blush warmed your cheeks as you averted your eyes. What were you going to say again?
"Something wrong, pretty girl?"
"W-what? Oh, no, I was just... going to ask how your trip was?"
Satoru shrugged. "Meh, nothing out of the usual. Just a few grade ones here and there, but finding a special grade was a little interesting. I took care of that one too. Oh, and there was this one store-"
Satoru ended up ranting about all of the new stores and restaurants he tried out for an hour, even if you did remember some of these places from your short, daily phone calls. He even paused to retrieve something from his bag at one point: a delicate antique comb with pearls in the handle. A gift, as well as something that reminded him of you.
You took it from him to arrange in your jewelry box. You found it quite absurd that Satoru was telling you more about his leisure time that he spent in Kyoto rather than the curses he fought. You couldn't tell if he was just trying to spare you the gruesome details, or he if really didn't feel like it was that important to talk about. Perhaps to him, these curses were like stones on his path to be kicked or flies he shooed away from his face, barely worth mentioning. At least, that's what it seemed like to you.
It scared you a bit.
"(Y/N)?" Your thoughts broke as he said your name, one of his hands resting on Sugar as he sat by her and the other resting on his knee while he looked at you. "You good?"
"Hm? Oh, yes, I'm fine..."
"Really? You don't seem like it..." Satoru expressed, now rising from your bed to walk over to you. Since he had left, you had forgotten how much taller he was than you. "Is everything okay? I never got to ask how you were here without me..."
Your face shifted as he said that. "May I confess something?"
His eyebrows raised. "Yes, go ahead."
You held the book in your hands close to your chest. "When... when I first started to live here, I found your presence... unwanted and... a bit frightening. I got more accustomed to it and... as we became friends it had become normal. But when you left for this mission, I didn't realize how used to it I had gotten. So much so that... sometimes, when I found myself eating or going about the house or cleaning our living spaces, I would suddenly feel... I felt-"
"Is this your way of saying you missed me?" Satoru interrupted, a smug grin reaching the handsome planes of his face.
Your face flushed. "W-well, yes! But, what I was trying to get to is that-"
"I can't believe it. (Y/N) actually likes me! Maybe she won't move across the world from me after all, haha!!" Satoru gasped sarcastically before pumping his fist in triumph, to which you huffed. Satoru snickered, ruffling your hair. "Heeey, it's okay. You can admit that you missed your darling, awesome husband."
"Not just my husband. My friend," you returned, a grateful smile gracing your features. He mirrored that same smile, his hands on his hips. After a beat too long, you sauntered past him back to Sugar, who was now curled on your bed. "That being said, I think we should celebrate your return."
"Celebrate?" Satoru's eyes followed you as you walked, subtly taking the shape of your waist as you moved and shoving the ensuing thoughts deep down.
"Yes, as both a welcoming party for Sugar and for your return home," you replied, taking the slumbering kitten in your arms. "Also, mostly because I haven't had anyone to cook for this past week."
Satoru picked up his duffel bag and followed you out the door towards the stairs. "Surely that isn't the only reason you missed me?" he laughed.
"Well, nothing else is coming to mind," you joked right back, turning to him. Satoru looked back at you wide-eyed, an opened mouth grin forming on his face. Did you just... go along with one of his sarcastic gags? Telling by the little hidden smile you were giving him, you were.
This was new.
Satoru just huffed and shrugged, taking a step past you to open his bedroom door. "I think I'm rubbing off on you, pretty girl. Maybe I should've stayed away longer..."
You tried to hide your flush by avoiding eye contact, the sudden drop in octave in his voice causing you to go warm. He saw it anyway. Almost expected it at this point, given how predictable your reactions were. He stepped through his bedroom doorway, duffel bag on his shoulder once more, the epitome of smug satisfactory on his face.
Until you gripped his hand, looking up at him with eyes that could bring him to his knees. "I'm glad your home, Satoru."
It was the first time that you had ever initiated such contact. You knew it of course, and so did he. He clung to that unspoken fact, that knowing bit of trust and maybe something a bit more, as he engulfed your hand in his, giving it a small, warm squeeze.
"Me too..."
The two of you decided on a savory curry recipe for dinner. Nothing too fancy, but still delicious. Satoru chose to use the time as a way to try and test out that new found humor of yours, smiling to himself when he would get you to laugh or reply back with something witty. He'd been waiting to see this kind of side of you for a while, one that you had originally kept reserved, or maybe didn't even know that you had at all.
While eating, Satoru asked what you had been up to when he was away. "I was keeping up with my usual tasks. Nothing too special..." you said, looking down at your plate as you spooned some of the curry.
Satoru stared at you as you did, a small frown on his face. "So you didn't get out at all or do anything?" He also wanted to question why you couldn't seem to look at him right now, but he pushed the thought aside.
You shook your head, taking a bite. "Other than running errands or picking out Sugar, no."
"Well, maybe we should-"
Satoru paused.
You looked up at his sudden silence. "Satoru?"
He shushed you immediately, causing you to bite your tongue. He stared ahead, as if peering right through the wall ahead of him. He was peering right through the wall, using his Six Eyes. You could tell by the feint bits of cursed energy seeping into the room.
Then slowly, ever so slowly, Satoru peeled himself from his seat, his expression suddenly hard. The staff had gone home for the day already, Sugar was sleeping under your feet... What could he possibly be going to check?
"Stay here," he murmured, his voice low. His tone sent a shiver of fear down your spine, not just because of its command, but for whatever the reason could be to change his demeanor so suddenly.
"Satoru, what is it-" you began, your voice hushed and brow furrowed.
"Stay here," he growled, his head snapping in your direction as you barely rose from your seat. You complied, inching back down. "I'll be right back."
And with that, he moved, keeping a brisk pace as he opened the door that led to the rest of the estate, and shut it behind him. Worry began to coil in your gut, the thought of what could be so wrong that Satoru would have to just get up and leave. A few seconds passed, then a minute, more minutes...
You couldn't take it. You had to know something. Even if Satoru instructed you to stay put... as long as you didn't leave your shared part of the house, it would be okay, right?
You rose from your chair slowly, the wood scraping against the floor as you padded over to the door at a snail's pace, an anticipatory feeling curling in your gut. Fear, something you knew almost all too well. It didn't help that your inner thoughts at the moment were your father's voice, laying out possible consequences and outcomes-
And yet, you grabbed the handle and swung the wide oak door open. Nothing but the dark hall and the stairwell beyond it greeted you.
"Satoru?" You thought that maybe he was playing a thoughtless prank, trying to scare you all for nothing. You almost expected him to pop out from behind you for a moment. No response.
You sighed, turning to shut the door, just before Sugar slipped past you, running. Of course, after her nap her boundless energy would push her towards the one place you didn't want her to be. You lunged forward to grab her, but the kitten only ran further away, as if daring you to catch her in some sort of game. If Satoru saw her, he would know that you must have opened the door at some point!
"Sugar!" you called, running down the hall after her.
"Who wants to tell me how you found my home? First to speak up dies last."
None of the thirty armed men standing in the garden said anything, sticking to aiming their useless guns. Satoru stood before them, arms crossed, the only thing between them and the house. And you.
"Okay, how about an easier question. Who hired you and how did you get past the wards?"
Wards had been placed all around the estate centuries ago when it was first built. No one had ever gotten past them. Until now.
It was almost embarrassing, too. None of these fuckers had any cursed energy, yet he had sensed them creeping through the treeline during dinner. He would've paid it no mind, since the barrier created by the wards should have stopped them. But they had walked right on through, and the barrier probably tickled them with a shock at best. He'd have to check their integrity later. But for now...
"Do I have to treat you like my students and pick on one of you?" Satoru snickered, a hand on his hip. This was a waste of time. The sooner he could get past the easy part, the sooner he could continue dinner with you and figure out who had sent these idiots so he could pay them a surprise visit. He didn't appreciate unexpected guests, especially while in the company of his wife.
Satoru sighed. "Okay then, you." Satoru pointed to one of the men on his left, and the man's arm twisted and exploded in blood and bone, causing him to let out a blood curdling scream. The men replied with open fire, to which Satoru easily blocked with his infinity.
Some of them refrained for a moment, realizing that this was no ordinary target, and that he was no ordinary man. The men stopped firing altogether, bewildered, and watched as the bullets clattered to the soft grass in front of him as he dropped his infinity.
"Should I ask one more time?" Satoru seethed lowly, stalking towards the group. A few of the sensible ones backed away a few steps. One man began to shake.
Satoru turned his head in that man's direction, watching him. The man cried out, and fired off his automatic rifle in a fit of terror, the bullets catching some of his team. The others began to fire with reckless abandon.
Satoru began to take care of them quickly, trying not to waste too much energy as he moved between each target. Move, apprehend, strike, kill, repeat. Move, apprehend, strike, kill, repeat. Each bit of blood he poured only hit the infinity barrier he kept up and blew off like rain on a windshield. But he needed to keep one alive-
There. One was running back through the trees; a coward then, someone likely to confess. He made quick work of the rest, before running after the escaping man not too far into the surrounding forest.
Satoru caught him by his shoulder, ripped his gun away, and flung him to the ground, putting his shoe to the man's chest. "Talk."
"I-I don't know-"
"Then know. Or you'll end up just like the rest."
"But I can't. I won't. He won't let me remember-"
Satoru's head inclined. "Who?"
The man beneath him let out a shaky breath, pointing back towards the house. A knife was thrown from that direction into the man's neck. Satoru's eyes widened, looking back and-
Someone was dragging you through the back garden doors. They had cursed energy.
Satoru teleported back in a heartbeat, right behind the person, bared hands going to wrap around their neck-
But they reacted too quickly. The person, a woman, whirled you in front of herself, holding you up by your neck as a shield. Your choking made Satoru see red.
"Not so fast, Limitless," she purred. "Step back, or I snap her neck."
It would be so easy to snap hers instead, but he didn't know her technique. He didn't know what she could do to you. He complied reluctantly, and the woman set you down and let you breathe before gently resting a jagged dagger against your throat.
The woman was clearly a cursed user of some kind. Tall, form fitting, her muscular body contrasting the elegance of her red kimono and feminine face. She flashed him a saccharine smile. Whoever she was, Satoru didn't recognize her.
"So nice to finally meet you," the woman careened. "Your wife and I have already gotten acquainted." She pressed the knife closer towards the soft expanse of your neck, the sharp edge tickling your skin. You winced.
"Satoru-"
"It's okay, (Y/N)," he breathed out. But it wasn't okay. He had been a damn fool, telling you stay in the house, unprotected. No, he was a fool for following that last attacker into the forest. He was only there to draw him out, so this woman could slip in undetected. "Why didn't you stay in put-"
"That was my doing, actually," the woman smiled, raising her other hand from your nape. Satoru tensed, but instead Sugar appeared from beside her. The woman moved her hand in a circular motion, and Sugar mimicked it, spinning at the same speed of her hand before walking off. "A little party trick. Mrs. Gojo seems rather fond of the animal, so I figured she would rush to protect it when it "decided" to run off." And lured you to the garden just so she could pluck you out.
So, mind control. That was her technique. Satoru huffed. "I will admit, I haven't seen that one before. But what do you want?"
The woman shrugged. "Why don't you guess?"
Satoru's eyes narrowed, trying not to let his slight panic get to him as he saw tears begin to slip down your face. She would pay for that. "Well, lots of people have their reasons. There's always a price for my head, so it could be that, but you seem pretty smart. You know you can't kill me," the woman grinned, "so you went for her. And now I have to... give you something, I presume?"
"Perhaps." The woman began thrumming her fingers on your collarbone. "It is something that you have. Try thinking a little harder."
Satoru crossed his arms, making a show of trying to come up with an answer. "Well, I do have a lot of money, but with your talents you don't seem to need to get it from me. I have valuable information on a vast variety of top secret jujustu subject matters, but really, you don't have to go through me to get those, and, even if you did, I really don't remember anything important, I mean, c'mon look at me. Sooo... other than that I would assume you're trying tooooo get my attention? In which case then, oh, I'm flattered and you seem like a nice gal, but I'm a married man so... what do you want?"
"I want her, dumbass," the woman growled, clearly upset by Satoru's rambling. She pressed the knife point underneath your chin, your chest heaving as you groaned. "Do you know what people would do for Death Immunity? What anyone would-"
"Oh, well, you could've just said so," Satoru grumbled. "Anyway, she-"
A thousand blades lunged at light speed from the trees, all aimed for him, which he deflected without a thought. He turned his head to look at them once they had clattered against the concrete, the knives identical to the one the woman was holding against you. "Geez, did you do that? Where were you keeping all those?" He put a hand to his head, trying to peer into the direction they came from.
The woman's demeanor went from peeved to panic when her surprised attack failed, clutching you tighter in her grasp, her grip beginning to bruise along your collarbone.
"Well, as I was saying," Satoru continued, turning back to the assailant. His eyes briefly took in the woman's nails digging into your skin, his voice rumbling a shade darker. "She's already mine, so I'm afraid you've come here for no fucking reason, other than to get killed. So, without further ado-"
Satoru raised his arm with killer quickness, a blue flash from his hand near blinding you as he aimed and released it into the woman's face. Before the blast could fully take, he pulled you to his chest, turning and shielding you both with his infinity as the woman's head was detonated so fast that her vocal cords were incinerated before she could scream.
You let out a painful sob as he pulled you to his chest firmly, hunching over you with an arm around your waist and the other around your shoulders. Only when he felt the implosion recede and heard the woman's body thump to the ground did he stand fully and let you turn around. "Are you hurt-"
Your first reaction was to look behind him to where the woman's corpse was still smoking, or what was left of it. "No, no, don't look," he murmured, forcing your head back into his chest. You were a mess, breath heaving, sobs racking your throat, eyes puffy and still crying fat tears.
" 'M sorry! 'M so sorry-" you choked.
"Don't apologize, you're okay now. I've got you. You're safe," Satoru whispered, trying to ground you, rocking you side to side as he cupped your face firmly, bringing his forehead to yours. His hands were warm, so unlike that woman's. Thumbs wiping your tears, he stroked your cheek as if it was the only thing able to pull you back to reality. "You're safe. I've got you."
The investigation at the Gojo estate started within an hour of the attack and was still ongoing the next morning. Members of Jujustu High's Tokyo staff came to help with investigation and cleanup. After they debriefed you, Satoru asked Suguru if the two of you could crash at his apartment for a while, just until he was sure that the location of this estate and the others under the Gojo name were secure. Suguru agreed, leaving with you in tow so you could get some rest and to make sure you were well protected.
Now, those involved in the investigation met in the estate dining room. The chandelier light played off the ancient mahogany walls, overshadowed by the streams of golden sunlight bleeding through the skinny, arching windows and glinting against the many colored alcohol bottles sitting on the flight of shelves against the opposite wall.
Nobody reached for a glass though.
The first one to speak was Ijichi, having entered the room minutes after everyone else. "We have identified the female curse user," he said, passing off a matching folder to each person sitting at the table. "Her name was Kawate Kiko, a curse user who has been hired by many crime organizations and other private buyers for her skills, both in hunting humans and curses."
"And her cursed technique was mind control?" Yaga began.
"No."
All the heads turned to Satoru, sitting cross legged, eyes unreadable behind his glasses. He had switched out his t-shirt and sweats from earlier to his official uniform. "It wasn't mind control. She was able to manipulate knives telepathically at rapid speeds, at numbers probably close to 100."
Shoko set down the file. "Do we have any clue who may have hired her and these men? Or what their motive may have been? Perhaps she hired them to help her."
Yaga grumbled. "Well, if someone didn't blow her face off-"
"Sorry that I didn't give a fuck. Not when she was holding a knife to my wife's throat," Satoru said lowly and firmly. The room went quiet before he sighed and spoke again. "Things don't add up. The men, we know, were all ex-convicts and low lives of local Tokyo crime rigs, with little to no connection to one another or any part of the jujustu world. They would have had no reason to suddenly band together for a hunt like this, especially with someone of Kawate's caliber. Secondly, the man that I hunted down in the forest said he didn't know why he was there and that someone, a he, was preventing him from remembering. Not she. And with 30 non-curse users getting through the estate ward barrier with guns and armor they had no money to possess... there had to have been someone else here tonight with those assets and that technique. Someone with enough caliber to hire someone like Kawate to play along with them. Someone behind the scenes of everything."
"But I thought they were after (Y/N). Why the hell would the other guy not show himself after Kawate was killed?" Kusakabe grumbled.
"Cowardice? Maybe realizing that the entire operation was an impossible job and decided to flee?" Shoko proposed.
Yaga leaned back in his chair. "What doesn't make sense is that someone must have had access to these wards or known how to manipulate them. No one else has access, right?"
Satoru shook his head. "I'm the only person alive that should know how to work mine, but that doesn't mean someone somehow could have been taking the time to study them and learned to break them. But that would also require an insane amount of energy, not to mention the knowledge behind such ancient artifacts."
"But who would try that when they know you could detect them from miles away?" Kusakabe countered.
"I wasn't home this past week, and (Y/N) can't detect them," Satoru pointed. "They must have done it then."
"Do you know who was here, then?" Yaga questioned.
"(Y/N) never mentioned visitors. I could always ask her to see," Satoru replied. "Anyways, tell my students they have the next week off. Little impromptu study week. I'm going to find the clowns that started this," Satoru groaned, stretching as he pushed back his chair. "You guys can handle the rest here, yeah? I'm pooped."
"But this is your house-" Yaga protested, but didn't continue as Satoru meandered out the door.
Suguru let him in to his complex at 9:26am, riding up the elevator and walking down the hall to his place.
Satoru always envied Suguru whenever he walked into this apartment, that he had a place to be truly his. Well, as much as Mimiko and Nanako, his adoptive daughters, would let him, with their free range on the decorating. Suguru had saved the two of them with Satoru's help from a village that meant to imprison and abuse them. Shortly after, Suguru had bought this place with what money he had amassed over the years, a home for him and the girls, one where they could heal and form a sense of new identity, Suguru included. And for him, that meant taking the two seven year olds under his wing.
Suguru said something about how had he had been going over the reports that Ijichi had dropped off before he arrived, and while Satoru was happy to catch him up, he just wanted to talk to you, see how you were holding up.
"I think she's still sleeping," Suguru informed, probably sensing his unease. "She didn't end up going to bed until early this morning. She wanted to go take a walk, but I convinced her tea would be better. That was at 4am, and I haven't heard her since."
Satoru thanked Suguru, and walked down the narrow hallway to the guest bedroom, one that he had grown accustomed to staying in when the estate felt too big and he felt too lonely. He pried open the door softly, peering through the crack to see your form under the blankets, and stepped inside. He made quiet work of changing out of his uniform, picking out a pair of pajama pants you had folded and neatly packed into his duffel bag before you left, and sat on the edge of the bed opposite of you, the bed creaking under his weight.
He observed how you were curled into a fetal position, your arms wrapped around a pillow (that he instantly grew envious of), and while the sight would have made him smile, he could see the other things too. Your hair looked unkempt and limp, you were still wearing the same clothes, and he couldn't smell your usual vanilla and lavender bath oil, meaning you probably didn't shower. Besides the wanting to take a walk, Suguru never mentioned you wanting to cook or read or maybe even clean, activities that Satoru had known you to do when restless or stressed. You probably only passed out from pure exhaustion.
He hated he couldn't have been here sooner. Hated that he told you to stay inside. Hated he didn't just deal with the problem as soon as possible before they could draw you out like that. Hated that he had just come home and now you both have these other problems to deal with.
He was going to have ask you more questions when you got up too, but for now... he needed sleep. Badly. Didn't even care how much he needed a shower right now or that he was about to sleep next to you in the same bed for the first time.
Satoru got under the blanket, the bed just big enough for there to be about a foot of room between the two of you. He turned on his side and stared at your back, wanting to close that distance so desperately, to pull you right into his chest, into his arms, and to feel your warmth and your breathing against him to remind him that he was next to you, and that you were safe. To feel your hair against his face and neck, your skin underneath his fingertips.
Instead he just stared. And then slept.
When Satoru awoke again, the sun was already setting. As soon as he arose to look for you, Suguru's girls were already dragging him down towards the living room floor to stick butterfly clips and extensions into his hair. It wasn't until he was able to turn in the direction of the kitchen that he saw you stirring something over the stove as Suguru stood next to you, a drink in his hand as he spoke softly. To his surprise, you replied to each thing he said with equal calmness.
Shortly after the two of you had married, Satoru did want to introduce Suguru to you, but after seeing how you reacted to being around just him, he didn't want to put you into a situation you might be uncomfortable with. However, it seems now that maybe Satoru didn't have to worry. You two appeared to have similar personalities anyway. He's surprised he didn't think of that to begin with.
Even as the girls stepped around him from where he sat, Satoru could barely make out the bruises from where Kawate had gripped you whenever you turned to face Suguru, who seemed to have gotten you onto the topic of whatever dinner you were making. Good. Getting your mind off the past 24 hours will help you to better process everything later, when Satoru would inevitably have to ask more questions.
It was odd. Normally, you would let him know you were having visitors coming over the second you knew. Unless since he was gone you decided to not tell him, or maybe they came over unexpectedly? Whoever they were, they would only be able to study the wards from the inside, so anyone who would have visited the estate is a potential suspect. His staff had all been questioned that morning and ruled out as well, so it had to have been anyone you had contact with from outside the estate wards.
And what was Death Immunity-
Satoru's thoughts were interrupted by the girls shoving a handheld mirror in his face for him to look at his new hairdo, the white tuffs of his hair being littered with colorful bits like confetti frosting. "Wow, you two, I'm gorgeous! What's next? My nails? My face?" Satoru exclaimed, touching up his hair and making faces that made the girls squeal in fits of giggles.
"How about dinner?" Suguru chimed in, arms crossed as he stood before the three of them with a smile. In the background, you were busy pouring whatever was in the pot into bowls for the five of you, adding ice cubes into the girls' portions.
Satoru stood, letting Nanako and Mimiko drag him into a chair between the two of theirs as you and Suguru sat across from them. Suguru helped you carry the bowls filled with a veggie and beef stew to the table with glasses of water to drink. The spirited conversation of the children kept the table from going completely silent, which Satoru was thankful for, but he kept his eyes on you throughout most of the meal, watching as you smiled sometimes and nodded but never really gave much input into anything. He knew you were still trying to work through everything that happened. In fact, given your reaction, maybe last night was the closest you've ever actually been to death. The jujustu community had become so desensitized to it that even he forgot to check in on how the view of a smoking corpse or the feeling of a blade to your skin may have affected you.
Soon enough the two of you were beginning to hand wash the dishes, Satoru giving Suguru a thankful nod as he guided Mimiko and Nanako to their rooms when they tried to pull Satoru back to their makeshift salon. You and him fell quickly into a rhythm, with you washing something before handing him it to dry, the light over the dining table behind both of you providing enough visibility.
"Geto is a nice man. Those girls seem to appreciate him as well," you murmured, taking Satoru a little by surprise. He didn't expect you to speak up.
"Yeah, he's a good guy," Satoru replied. "A great sorcerer too as much as he is a dad. I'm lucky he's my best friend."
You hummed and smiled to yourself. "That's good."
After a moment, Satoru snickered, "So, you think he's attractive?"
You furrowed your brow, holding the newly washed dish away from him as you turned your face in his direction. "Satoru, that's not funny."
"You're not denying iiiitt~" he sang, smiling wider and pointing at you with the towel.
"No, I don't think that. Why would you say that?" you muttered sharply, handing him the bowl you had in hand before reaching for the soap to scrub the pot.
"Well, you two seemed to be chatting it up over here while you were making dinner," he teased, laughing to himself. He didn't even know why he was asking these things. He knew teasing you was normal, but why about this? Why now? Of course he wanted to take your mind off of things but-
"He was talking to me about you, Satoru," you replied, a slightly hardened look on your face. "I don't want you to think that-"
"Think what? That you might have feelings for someone? Shh, it's okay, I won't tell," he whispered with a laugh. You were talking about him? "Really, (Y/N), your secret-"
"Satoru, why are you asking me this?" you interrupted, handing him the last pot. "Why are you..." You shook your head before continuing, opting to walk to the bedroom you two were sharing.
"Wait, (Y/N)-" Satoru set the pot into the sink with the towel, his large steps quickly catching up with you as the two of you stepped through the doorway. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to upset you."
"I know," you murmured, gently sitting on the bed. "I know you're just... trying to take my mind off of things, which I appreciate. But-"
"Yeah, I shouldn't have done it like that, I know. That was a kinda dick way to do it," Satoru said, scratching that back of his head.
You grit your teeth, folding your hands in your lap. "It's okay... I understand." After a pause you added. "I've been worried for Sugar this whole time."
"She's okay. We just want to be sure she's safe before we can have custody of her again. And don't worry, Shoko has cats of her own. She knows how to treat them good." Satoru made sure it was Shoko that got to examine Sugar and not someone that would cut her open and dissect her like some common animal. You nodded along to his words, staring at the wall ahead.
"I... the other sorcerers at Jujustu Tech. They wanted me to ask some things... if that's okay. If not we can wait till later-" he began. Maybe be shouldn't bring this up now.
"Didn't they already ask me questions?" you muttered.
"Yes, but..." Satoru kneeled in front of you were you sat, taking your hands in his. You almost had to stop yourself from letting out a laugh at the butterfly clips still in his hair. "(Y/N), it's imperative that you answer me honestly when I ask this."
Your eyes met his, your eyes narrowing in confusion. "Ask what? What more is there to ask?"
"Was there anyone that visited you during the time I was gone? Anyone that normally would not be at the house?"
Your mouth opened to speak, the answer clearly on the tip of your tongue. "W... why? Do you think they did this? How? Was it not somehow that woman that you-"
"I don't know, (Y/N), but what I do know is that if there was anyone you would have known about being on our property that is otherwise not welcome, they may have had a hand in destabilizing our wards, and I want us to be safe so we can return." Satoru squeezed your hands once more. "Was there anyone?"
You bit the inside of your cheek. Once. Twice. You sighed. "My brother, Keisuke."
Your brother? "Why did he come?"
You shook your head. "No, Satoru, he would never do anything like this-"
"(Y/N), I'm not saying he did but I need to start somewhere so that I can ensure that you and our home is safe. You understand, right?" Why were you so defensive suddenly? What did your brother do there?
"It wasn't his fault. There was no way he would have had any involvement! He wouldn't want to-"
Satoru stood. "You were almost kidnapped! You could have died-"
"And so what if I did!"
A beat.
"What."
Your hands clasped over your mouth. You looked like you were about to apologize. Satoru kneeled slowly.
"(Y/N)."
Your fists clenched. You were probably holding back tears.
"(Y/N). Don't you ever, ever, say something like that about yourself."
"I'm sorry-"
"Don't apologize," he hushed, now moving to sit beside you, an arm around your shoulders. "Just... you don't have to."
The two of you paused for minutes, not saying a word. He suddenly began to feel guilty, both for his teasing and for pressing you for details when the attack barely happened 24 hours ago. Hell, you could have died not too long ago, and now he was treating you like this. "We can talk about this later," Satoru murmured. "It was wrong of me to bring it up."
"No... it's alright," you whispered, hands coming to fold in your lap. "I'm sorry for arguing with you and... for my outburst."
"Don't sweat it."
"Is this what's its like to have an argument? And to then forgive immediately after?"
"Yeeeep." He added a little pop at the end.
"It feels wrong. But civil. But... wrong."
"Well, that's because most arguments just feel wrong. I like to think of them as passionate conversations, albeit sometimes with more hurtful comments or name calling." Satoru stood and started walking to the bathroom.
"But we didn't call each other names..." you murmured.
"We can right now if you want stinkybutt," he replied, turning to lean against the doorway while crossing his arms. He nodded in your direction.
"Okay then... uhm... asswipe."
"Woah, bringing out the big guns I see." Satoru placed a hand to his chest as if hurt, a playful grin on his face. "I didn't even know you knew how to curse, old lady!"
You dropped your mouth in a playful shock. "Well, I'm just imitating the best potty mouth I know, pompous bitch!"
He snickered before firing back. "You little asshole!"
"Bastard!"
"Fucker!"
"Dick!"
"Motherfucker!"
"Dick for brains!"
"Pretty girl..."
Your next insult halted in your throat, his little purr of those two words forcing a red shade to your cheeks. Before you could react, he spun into the bathroom and shut the door, locking it with a click.
"H-hey, that wasn't fair!" you protested, getting up from where you sat on the bed.
"What?! Can't talk right now I'm taking a shit!" he yelled back, the shower turning on immediately afterward. You just shook your head, smiling as you sighed. You changed into your nightgown, figuring you might as well lay down and wait until he was done so you could brush your teeth.
Was it really only a few minutes ago that the two of us were fighting? The conversation shifted so quickly. Did he do that on purpose? While almost any argument you had ever had ended quickly, it was almost never forgotten nor forgiven. Its reminders sometimes stayed on your body for days at a time. Either way, you were grateful. He was so good at distracting you from things, even things like near death experiences.
Distractions. Was this what this was? You still went to bed feeling lonely each night, but the next day he made you forget that you ever did. Maybe that was all you needed, all that anyone ever needed. To go to bed lonely, wake up, interact, forget, and then remember. You spent so much of your days alone before all of this. Does this mean you've become something normal? Perhaps. But was it still normal to feel incomplete?
You were so busy contemplating and staring at the wall that you didn't notice Satoru beginning to sit on the other side of the bed beside you, hair free of butterfly clips. Your thoughts broke when you heard the bed creak, making you turn over to face him.
His shirtless body was backlit from the brightness of his phone screen as he sat on the edge of the mattress. As he scrolled, you quickly noticed the faint scars that were littered across the impressive expanse of his back. Were they from trainings, or from actual battles? Either way, you were surprised that he had any at all because of his technique. You assumed this whole time that his skin would be completely unblemished from any kind of visible injury. Not that you're thinking much about his skin...
Your thoughts were broken again when he plugged his phone into the charger on the nightstand and turned it off. Despite your panic, you didn't move from how you were laying.
Satoru didn't seem to mind. He stretched his arms above his head, shoulders and biceps flexing, as he turned and got underneath the covers. He snickered when he found you already looking at him. "See something you like?" Satoru muttered deeply, smirking and wiggling his eyebrows for effect.
He didn't need a light to be on to be able to see the color on your cheeks, but he chuckled as you tried to turn away all flustered. "Hey now, I'm just joking. I'm sorry." Satoru placed a hand to your shoulder, motioning for you to face him again. The skin of your shoulder was surprisingly cold, but that didn't take away from its silken feel. You shrugged, biting the inside of your cheek as you murmured an apology.
You'd never shared a bed with anyone in your life. It was odd, but with Satoru, you didn't feel too uncomfortable luckily. You've heard horror stories about other women sharing beds with their husbands. The snoring, the problems with space, being too hot or too cold, too many blankets and pillows or too little, the types of mattresses they preferred, etc. While you did share a bed with him last night, there was no telling if he had any of those issues since you were already asleep when he came to bed.
However, you did remember how he looked when he was still asleep after you woke up. It was... too peaceful of a look for a man that had just killed for you less than 24 hours before.
He had killed for you. And now you were sharing a bed with him.
Killed. Well, you knew way before marrying him that he had done such before. Why does this suddenly change your perception of him?
Yet despite that, you assumed he was a sound sleeper, which you could be thankful for even though you probably will not have to share a bed with him much in the future. It's quite interesting that an attack is what led to you both doing so for the first time. You'd like to wonder what would have had to happen for you to see him asleep like that without the current contexts.
Before long, you were realizing it was going to be very hard for you to fall asleep. You tried counting your breaths to focus on doing so, something that would usually have you out in no time.
You counted up to 256 before deciding to give up.
Your head turned to where Satoru was laying with his back to you, his breaths steady. Once again, your eyes caught the scars of his back that barely peaked over what the blanket covered.
You let out a heavy breath.
"Satoru."
"Mmmm?" He's awake.
"How did you get the scars on your back?"
"Oh y'know," a yawn, "mostly sparring and whatnot. Maybe a curse here or there."
"Oh."
"Oh?"
You paused a little. "I thought... your technique prevented others from being able to touch you. I thought that..."
"That I was indestructible?" He chuckled, his voice low.
You shifted a little. "I'm sorry, I-"
"No, it's fine. You don't have to apologize for asking." After a moment, Satoru added, "As you probably... have noticed, it's important for me to be able to defend myself without my technique to aid me, to prepare for any worse case scenario. Lot of these are curtesy of Suguru being too rough on me, heh. But... I was never always a full expert when it came to my technique, contrary to what most people believe. I had to become an expert. These just show part of the path to doing it."
You hummed in response.
"But don't worry, they don't call me The Strongest for nothing. I'm fully capable of protecting-" Satoru paused when he felt your fingers brush his shoulder.
Just before he could register it, you quickly moved them away, withdrawing your hand beneath the covers. "I'm sorry, that was inappropriate."
"No," he murmured, shifting himself to face you now, his head propped up by a hand as he reached to grab your hand and place it right over his heart. For a brief moment, he thought of yesterday when you had grabbed his hand, but now, he was going to take further advantage of your touch. You stared at where his palm held your fingers against the expanse of his chest, his skin warm and dare you say inviting.
"(Y/N)," he whispered, your open gaze locking onto his sincere one, "just because my technique prevents others from touching me doesn't mean I don't like to be touched."
Your mouth slightly agape, you took in the planes of his handsome face illuminated by the rays of a streetlight coming in from the window, hitting the blinds and creating stripes against his face in the dark. One of those stripes hit his eyes, which you took in first, and made your way down, observing the clean slope of his nose, his shaped lips, down the curve of his neck, to your hand being pressed into his chest by his larger one, and back up.
The way Satoru looked at you then, he knew. He knew that you needed him, but not in some passionate or carnal way, but in a way that someone wants cream and sugar in their coffee, or a candle in their book nook on a rainy day. Something familiar, yet more. And even if he had just killed someone yesterday for you, to protect you, he was still the person that you found comfort in each day, that made you feel somewhat worth something more than a last name a potential asset.
"You look cold." The timbre of his voice could have probably warmed you from the inside out, but only for a moment.
"Yes, I think so."
"Then c'mere pretty girl."
Did Satoru expect last night to go the way it did? Definitely not. But when he felt you take the little extra initiative to barely touch his back, he knew he had to make it go that way.
He didn't anticipate or really want anything more than just the cuddling. It didn't take long for you to warm up and fall asleep, listening to the sound of his heart. He was surprised that you didn't ask why it was beating so fast, let alone fall asleep as swiftly as you did while having to hear it.
But he was right, your body did fit perfectly against his. Your head had rested against him sweetly, cushioned by that spot between his chest and shoulder. His arms had wrapped around you, his hands finding purchase on your back and waist. The position of his chin on your head gave him perfect access to kiss your forehead if he wanted to, but he didn't want to push the boundaries too far.
Okay, maybe he ended up giving you two anyway. He tried to hold out and lasted probably about 30 minutes. He just couldn't help it! Not to mention, you smelled so good-
He was half tempted to give you another one right now as you two lay here the next morning, with you still blissfully unconscious. On the nightstand behind you two, your phone began to buzz with a call. Whoever was trying to get you awake right now could go to hell. He didn't want this moment to end.
However, even after the person had called you another time, and then proceeded to leave four more texts, Satoru figured he would see what the fuss was about.
He strained to reach behind him, careful not to disturb your slumber, as he grabbed your phone from the nightstand. Turning it on, he smiled at the already established lock screen of Sugar before noticing the messages.
Keisuke Kamo
Hey, glad to hear you're alright. Just heard about the attack last night.
Keisuke Kamo
I know I had just visited recently, but we need to talk. In person, preferably.
Keisuke Kamo
Just call me back when you can so we can set something up. Please bring Gojo Satoru with you too.
Keisuke Kamo
Please (Y/N). This is serious...
Turns out Satoru wouldn't be able to enjoy your brief solace for much longer.
Synopsis: Satoru became something to you during your school years together at Jujutsu Tech, which were ended abruptly when you were casted out from your clan and left the jujutsu world. When Satoru finds you again after years apart, you find out that you were something to him too. Maybe you still are.
Warnings/Content: fem!reader, season 2 spoilers, violence, brief depictions of blood and nudity, language, death/murder, conspiracy, allusions to toxic households/anxiety/physical abuse, some arranging marriage things, toji giving more teenagers trauma
Author's Note: This has been sitting in my drafts for a while, and I'm glad it could get it to y'all! This chapter focuses much more on the reader than anything, and it's overall more angsty, but I promise the good stuff is coming soon! The Kamo family and any of its mentioned characters/members in this story are made up and dramatized for the point of this series, and are not canon. Make sure to read the prologue and chapter one before this one, if you haven't. Also, I wanted to thank all of those who have supported my Color Blue series, and that the next chapter is in my drafts! <33
Walking up the steps to Jujutsu Tech had to be one of your least favorite activities, but the five of you pushed forward. You were almost home free. Once you reached the inside of the jujutsu barrier, the mission would be complete.
Memories from that morning flooded your mind. Satoru had still been awake when you got up from the couch after a somewhat peaceful rest. How did you sleep? His voice had been gravely and quiet, completely exhausted.
Good, you had yawned as you stretched, making your first task to go and find him some caffeine. What you didn't say was that you actually had been awake for an hour before you decided to move. You had felt him caressing the ends of your hair, running his knuckle along your cheek while he assumed you were still unconscious.
You can't get any more obvious than that, (y/n). Riko's words rang through your head.
"Satoru." You stopped and turned to where he was walking up the steps behind you. Upon hearing his name, Satoru grinned and trotted up until he was on the same steps as you so you both could continue together. He didn't seem to care that he left his conversation with Suguru.
"Something up?" he chirped.
"No it's... I needed to ask you about something, actually." Your focus was on the steps below you as you ascended them, hands behind your back as you took up a leisurely pace. A few seconds passed as you considered your next words.
"Well? I'm waitiiiiing," Satoru sang. That caffeine had definitely helped.
Are you sureeee...?
"You know what, I think I'll tell you when once we finish the mission," you stated haughtily, shrugging as a way to playfully brush off the issue. Now probably wasn't the time anyway. It might be better to ask once the stress of this mission was past all of you. Satoru turned back to chat with Suguru.
Finally, you reached the top of the steps. "Good job everyone. We're inside Jujutsu High's barrier now," Suguru commended with a smile. You patted Riko's back as she hunched over from the exertion of the trek. "Satoru, (y/n), you both really worked hard this time."
You returned a small, awkward smile.
Satoru just scowled. "I never wanna get stuck babysitting a brat again."
When you turned to Satoru with a remark on the end of your tongue, there was a blade protruding from his chest.
You hesitated, eyes wide. Impossible. You're inside the barrier! Geto sent a curse careening for Satoru's attacker, causing him to remove the blade and jump back. The curse gobbled the mercenary in one bite, but you knew that would only prolong his attacks. You ran to Satoru's side, pressing a hand to his chest and back where the blade had entered to heal him.
However, Satoru pushed you away gently, explaining how he used his technique to keep the blow from being fatal. "Don't waste your energy. I'll take this guy, you three get her to Tengen-sama."
You almost protested, but you knew your role in this mission was to keep Riko alive, which meant you had to stay with her the whole time. With Suguru protecting the three of you, you would be safe. "Be careful, Satoru. Let's go!" Suguru shouted. Riko and Kuroi ran to his side as they started to sprint.
"Satoru..." There was something seriously wrong. Why was Satoru attacked instead of Riko? Hadn't her bounty been lifted also? This man must have some kind of technique to allow Satoru to not be able to sense him, or, even worse, he might not have cursed energy at all. But if that were true, how had he been able to see past the barrier?
"Seriously, (y/n), I'll be alright. Protect Riko," he said with surprising calmness. His assurance gave you confidence. He's the strongest. He would be fine. You turned to catch up with Suguru and the girls, and hoped you weren't making a mistake.
The shrieking of the old elevator filled your ears as the four of you descended deep into the earth. Suguru made sure that no cursed energy residuals were left, especially once you reached a chosen entrance of the Tombs of the Star Corridor. That bastard would be lucky if he even found one of the entrances.
Once your group reached the bottom, the four of you stepped out and peered into the darkness of the corridor beyond. Riko seemed to look forward towards what she believed to be her final steps as herself. "This is as far as I go, Riko-sama," Kuroi stated with a bow. Riko ran to her and hugged her tightly, tears filling their eyes.
"I'll stay with Kuroi," you declared. Riko whipped her head to you. "Suguru will keep you safe," you assured her, taking a few steps in their direction, "we'll remain to guard this entrance." You pulled Riko into a deep embrace, her tears soaking the sleeve of your uniform. "Thank you, Riko..." you whispered, not specifying what for. You held her head as tears threatened to fall from your own eyes. In the span of three days, this girl managed to become a dear friend to you, like Shoko.
You glanced over Riko's shoulder and made eye contact with Suguru. You hoped he could see past the despondency in your eyes to know you were pleading with him. You, Satoru, and Suguru had discussed the terms of Riko's assimilation in private. She didn't have to assimilate if she didn't wish to. You trusted Suguru to convey that to Riko before it was too late.
You and Riko broke apart, sniffling and wiping tears. "Tell Gojo I said thank you, (y/n)," she whispered. You could see the hidden message behind her words, the happiness she wished for you to pursue. You would. For her, you would.
You watched as the two started a leisurely pace ahead. It was more a speed that someone might take on an evening stroll instead of to the end of their existence with a ruthless murderer on the hunt nearby, yet you stared from behind in awe at Riko's silent bravery. Soon enough, her and Suguru were out of sight as their footsteps faded within the passing minutes. You and Kuroi stood there in silence.
"You raised Riko well, Kuroi," you whispered, pausing for a moment. "I know you said her parents passed in an accident, but, if you don't mind me asking, how did her parents die?" Accident was a vague term.
"A car wreck," Kuroi responded. "A head on collision. They were crushed in the front seat while she was sitting in the back."
"Ah... and how old was she?"
"Six."
You went silent. What was special about six years old anyway? Was that the age that all gifted girls lost their parents?
"(y/n), do you think that... if I always knew that Riko would one day depart from me, from the world... was I wrong to teach her... to allow her to become attached to the world?" Kuroi's words left the silence as slowly as they had entered.
"Do you mean because Riko would one day assimilate that she should have never learned to love the people around her?"
"Yes well, I mean, she could still appreciate things but... this world was never meant to be hers, yet I treated it like it was. Was I wrong to do that?"
"No. Absolutely not," you challenged. "The world was hers. The world is still hers because you raised her to believe it. Now, we just need to see what she'll do with it." You paused before explaining. "Riko doesn't have to assimilate if she doesn't want to. She can live a life. If you had not raised her the way you did, she would never consider that option available to her. Satoru and Suguru are prepared to protect her, if necessary. We can make the world hers again."
Kuroi's head snapped in your direction. "So you mean... she can come back?"
"Yes, thanks to you, I have no doubt she will come back. All we have to do is wait." You smiled softly.
Kuroi gasped and beamed. "Thank you, (y-"
Blood protruded from Kuroi's stomach where three bullets had entered from behind. You screamed, rushing to where she fell, before two bullets lodged themselves into each of your calves. The pain spiraled throughout your body as you fell forward.
You gritted your teeth as you tried to raise yourself, but a foot cracked down on both of your shoulders, the bones crunching. "Ah, sorry, can't make it too easy for you to heal yourself." The man who had attacked Satoru stepped off your shoulder to kneel in front of you. "You should heal from it naturally though if you put your technique to work. I would finish you myself, but I don't need the Kamos coming after me for killing their pet dog." He stood and began to walk away.
How was he here? Where was...
Where was Satoru?
"I am not... a dog!" you gritted out between your teeth. This man... you had heard of him before. Sorcerer killer, your adoptive father had called him. The bastard of the Zen'in. The man turned, intrigued, and stalked back towards where you lay, your blood pooling and mixing with Kuroi's, who was slowly losing life by the second. Heal her. You needed to heal her, but with your significant injuries, you only had enough energy to heal yourself before you could even think of getting to Kuroi.
The man grabbed you by your hair and lifted your body up with one hand, bringing you eye level to him. You cried out at the blinding pain, unable to even try and fight him with your broken shoulders. He scrutinized your expression like he was looking at mold on food. The man scoffed, spitting at your face as he said "You look like one. You look like your father."
Your father?
How did he-
Your tormentor only let out a strained laugh. "Seriously? You never figured it out? I can tell by the stupid fucking look on your face." You squinted, confused. "Your parents were the easiest job I had ever got. One of them wasn't even a sorcerer and the other couldn't even use proper cursed energy. It was almost stupid, how pathetically they went down for the amount they were worth. And for what? Just so the Kamos could get their hands on you?" A smirk before he added, "Come to think of it, your dad was making that face right before I slit his fucking throat." You saw red, and tried to kick him in his abdomen despite the pain in your legs. Before you could, you were discarded to the floor, next to Kuroi's now dead body. The man continued on towards where Suguru and Riko were now.
Your screams echoed out towards the hall, pleading and calling out for your friends to run, to warn them of the oncoming slaughter, but to no avail. The tunnel stretched on for miles. Your voice would become nothing with the immense distance, and it would take too long for you to heal yourself.
How did he sneak up on you two so quickly? Would Suguru be able to stop him? You hoped he would. You prayed he would. Suguru was second only to Satoru.
Your fingers danced across the piano keys, playing a melody that you forced yourself to become familiar with over the past few weeks. Chopin's Fantasy in F Minor. You had just started to move into more of Chopin's works during your daily practices after your adoptive father asked if you could prepare one of them for him when you returned home after graduation. Something to look forward to, he had said.
You moved through the piece with grace, keeping your posture, arms raised at the perfect angle as you played. You remembered how your mother had instilled playing posture in you when she gave you your first piano lesson at four years old. You had sat on her lap before her keyboard, giggling as she adjusted your hands and put them over her own as she played. Your father, your real father, had sat on the couch and laughed, adding snarky comments here and there.
You look like your father.
Your thoughts faltered only for a moment, but your hands remained active. You just needed to finish the piece perfectly before calling your practice for the day. The grand piano echoed down one of the hallways of Jujustu Tech. The Kamos had made a request to move a piano into an unused classroom to act as your practice room during your time as a student, to which the school agreed.
I don't need the Kamos coming after me for killing their pet dog.
Your parents were the easiest job I ever got.
It was almost stupid, how pathetically they went down for the amount they were worth.
Toji Zen'in had killed your parents. You knew that now. But if the Kamos had ordered your parents death, what did they have to gain?
Your dreams ran rampant with images of your parents, nightmares, watching as Toji Zen'in slit your father's throat. Sometimes it wasn't his throat he was slitting, but your own.
Sometimes it wasn't Zen'in holding the knife, but your adoptive father.
No. The Kamos would never. Never.
One of your fingers slipped and ruined the cord you were playing. You huffed and forced yourself to start from that cord again.
You never figured it out?
Just so the Kamos could get their hands on you?
Dog. Dog. Dog.
The piece finished before you realized you were done. You sat there, fingers resting on the keys. Your eyes just stared at the notes in front of you, no more than dark blots and symbols on a white canvas.
This world was never meant to be hers.
The world is still hers because you raised her to believe it.
What was your world anymore? Riko and Kuroi were dead now, killed by Toji a little over a year ago. Suguru was beaten within an inch of his life. And Satoru-
The sliding door opened with a smack, revealing Satoru's peeved face. "You finished ten minutes ago. Why are you still sitting here?"
He was waiting outside? "Sorry, just writing down some notes to myself," you lied as you closed your music and left it to rest on its stand. He never questioned the fact that you didn't even have a pencil. "Is something wrong?" This was the first time that he had ever come near your practice room. You're surprised he even remembered where it was.
"No? Just grabbing you for dinner. Suguru and Shoko are waiting," Satoru stated as he began to walk away from the room with you not far behind. "We're going to that one place I recommended. I came to get you cause I knew you wouldn't answer your phone while you were practicing... didn't want to cut too close to when we planned on leaving."
You sighed. Of course he would "ask" if you wanted to tag along without giving you much of a choice. Your eyes glued themselves onto the back of his neck up to his temple as he walked. The scar that used to peak out from under his shirt collar was long gone, but you pretended it was still there. You could still see it. The spot where Zen'in had stabbed him.
Miraculously, he had finally grasped his reversal technique within his dying moments, saving his own life before he killed Zen'in himself.
It should have been you. You should have been the one to kill him, not that you would have survived anyway. You supposed that if you died fighting the man that killed your parents, you would die with a smile on your face. Maybe if Satoru had known that you wanted it, if you hadn't been in hospice while Satoru had landed the killing blow, he would have let you.
Satoru still didn't know that Toji had killed your parents. No one did. You couldn't find it in yourself to reveal the truth that had changed everything for you to anyone.
You didn't even have a plan for when you graduate, what you would do once you moved back home...
When that scar used to linger on Satoru's skin, he would only smile and thank you whenever he caught you looking at it. Even if it was his outrageous amount of cursed energy that saved him, he gives you the credit for saving his life. Satoru reasoned that if you had not given him lessons in reversal energy, then he wouldn't be standing before you today. You never saw it that way. With his growth, he was bound to learn it at some point anyway.
And Satoru's abilities didn't stop there. He was close to mastering every Six Eyes and Limitless technique known to his clan. He had surpassed Suguru and the rest of the sorcery community months ago. Some were already calling him the strongest sorcerer of the modern age.
Sure. Only you had seen the scars that made you think otherwise. Satoru had asked you to heal them off his skin around 6 months ago. Your heart had panged with each inch of the scar he exposed to you, with the largest one having reached all the way from his neck down to his pelvic bone. There were more the had littered his legs, spots were his tendons had been ripped it two. The last one had been on the skin of his temple, hidden under soft white hair, where a blade had entered his head and straight into his brain.
It was after you had finished healing those scars that you told yourself to never pursue him. Not just because you thought of yourself beneath him, but because only a god could have survived those attacks. The world seemed to bow to him and him alone. It scared you. He was still the same boy you had fallen in love with but... ever since Riko's death, he had become something... else.
As you exited the building, you found Shoko and Suguru outside. You noticed Suguru's eyes watching you as you walked down the steps to meet them.
Satoru hadn't been the only one to change that day. While he seemed to move forward at break neck speed, Suguru, to you, seemed lost. Stuck in place, almost as if his consciousness and feelings were consistently stagnant. You couldn't tell what it was, and you hoped Satoru would notice soon. If anyone could tell what was wrong with Suguru, it was him.
"We ready?" Shoko spoke up, taking her cigarette out of her mouth and snuffing it under her boot. Suguru stood.
"Yeah, let's hurry so we can stop for dessert on the way back," Satoru encouraged. The four of you began to walk towards the school entrance.
Satoru leaned down briefly to whisper a "thank you" in your ear. You only shook your head and continued walking.
You had envisioned graduation as something celebratory, as an event that would ring in your memory as your next step into jujutsu sorcery. Instead, it felt hollow, at least on the inside, like something was missing.
Something was missing, no matter how much the three of you tried to ignore it.
Three, not four.
Satoru tried to play it off the best, as if Suguru's betrayal of him and jujutsu society hadn't devastated him both emotionally and mentally. If anything, Suguru had come closer to killing Satoru that day than Toji had the year prior.
But for the three of you, that was normal now. Right after your graduation and small celebration in Shoko's new apartment, Satoru left on a mission that would keep him away for a week. Shoko went back to her job, one that she was now getting paid for as an employee working within the Tokyo headquarters as a jujutsu physican and mortician. However, you returned back home to your family estate.
You didn't want to go back, didn't want to stomach seeing their faces now that your eyes had been opened. You even considered begging Satoru to take you on the mission with him, even if you wouldn't get paid for it. However, you knew he needed the distraction, the space.
As your adoptive father embraced you, you felt like fainting. He could tell something was wrong, but said nothing.
Your only hope was to wait for a mission assignment. You hadn't been assigned missions for a while in the weeks leading up to graduation. It worried you a bit, but you thought that maybe you were going to be given a position similar to Shoko soon, either by her side or in Kyoto. Kyoto would be great. The further from here, the better. For now, all you could do was wait.
To anyone within the Kamo household, it seemed like you had never changed. Your demeanor returned to how it had been when you lived there: indifferent, graceful, and silent.
No, you had changed, and because of that, you could now see how far these walls pressed in on you where you failed to notice them before. You were no longer as obedient and pliant as you once been. Three years as Gojo Satoru's best friend had changed that, for sure. You had forgotten how much of your life you couldn't dictate, all the way from your finances to the kind of clothing you were allowed to wear. Now, these walls felt like confinement, like a hawk in a delicate white bird cage.
You took up a routine similar to the one you used to keep before living at Jujustu Tech. Training in the mornings, piano in the afternoon, entertaining family and guests in the evening. Some days you would meet up with Shoko, and some nights she would graciously offer for you to sleep at her place. She could see how the Kamo house was affecting you, but you both knew you could never stay.
In the days that followed, you would make occasional visits to Jujustu Tech with your adoptive father and other Kamo members. It was here that you would see Satoru in passing, talking with Shoko or Yaga. He somehow seemed to stand straighter, taller, You knew it was for show, but more show than usual. However, when Satoru looked at you... it was different, to say the least, almost like he felt sorry, but when you were able to catch him alone, it was like nothing had changed. It was relief.
"You ever think about moving out of that hell hole?" Satoru mused, chomping down on some frozen dessert he bought earlier. "I certainly would if it meant I didn't have to wear that shit all the time." He gestured to your traditional-Japanese wear.
"It's because this is considered a visit on business. As if I didn't live here for three years..." you groaned, adjusting your collar. "I just have to get used to it again, the routines and the clothes and whatnot."
Satoru hummed. "Y'know... you could always move in with me. My place has like, a gazillion open rooms, and it's quiet. Plus, we can continue our Mario Kart tournaments whenever we want."
You perked up at the offer, but shook your head. "I would, but, I don't think my father would approve of me living in the Gojo household with the unmarried sole Gojo member..."
"What do you mean?" he snickered. "Wait, don't tell me. Is your father trying to set you up for marriage?"
"It's been... discussed."
"Well, whoever he is, must suck to be him." You just hit the remainder of his food out of his hand. "Fuck, okay! Did you really have to do that?" No answer. "Okay, okay, I kinda deserved it. But... why would your dad marry you off? You're not Kamo by blood, so..."
"I dunno, I've been kinda asking myself the same thing. Maybe something to do with the last name and possible advantageous bullshit I don't understand. I've been... I haven't asked," you sighed, crossing you arms and looking out on the training grounds. The chill in the air breezed in through the open doorway, signaling winter's arrival. Only a few months ago, you had practiced your combat and sorcery skills on the very plot of land in front of you, hoping to raise your grade for higher missions or maybe become recognized to work with students here on the campus. You never thought that after graduating you would be so... stuck.
"Well, what if we got married?"
You paused. Did you really hear him correctly?
"It doesn't have to be weird or anything. Just to get you out there and have your dad stop nagging you on this stuff," Satoru shrugged, as if he were offering you a favor or giving you a suggestion. He was doing that, but... did he truly understand the magnitude of what he was saying?
"Are you out of your mind? Satoru, he would never agree to that!" you exclaimed.
"Yeesh, I didn't think you disliked me that much. Personally, I think I would make a wonderful husband," he nagged, a smug grin on his face.
You rolled your eyes and sighed. "My father sees you more as an enemy than a potential ally. He'd probably blow a fuse by just seeing us talking here." Your adoptive father wasn't really appreciative when he learned of the friendship between you and Satoru once you returned home. He even blamed some of your recent misdemeanors and slight attitude on Satoru as well.
"So what? Then would I just have to ask him myself?"
"Why are you so damn adamant on this," you muttered. "If anything, you'd just make the situation worse."
Satoru brushed that comment aside. "I'm adamant because you're my friend, a good friend and..."
You looked to him, quirking an eyebrow at his sudden tone change. "And what...?"
You stared at your plate of food in front of you, fully untouched. Your appetite felt absent, almost on and off, as it had been since your conversation with Satoru over a week ago.
Ever since that conversation, the thoughts of what your adoptive father actually had planned for your future weighed heavily on you. You began to think about how much your father could dictate between mission and job assignments in the jujustu community and how they could let those trickle down to you. And the only reason for why he would stop you from getting any...
Marriage. Definitely marriage. What other reason could there be?
But to who? And when? And why? With all of these questions, you began to realize that you would probably take Satoru over almost anyone as your husband, just because you knew who he was to begin with and because you got along with him. Your less admitted attraction for him was of the least of your reasons, too.
But then you remembered what the duties of any arranged marriage entailed, not just an alliance, but heirs-
Yeah, you didn't want to think about marriage period. You wondered why the Kamo Clan even needed an advantageous marriage right now anyways. Not to mention, why it had to be you instead of any of the many eligible Kamos. You didn't know exactly what you wanted, but you knew you didn't want to stay here, or anywhere where you felt-
"(Y/N)," your adoptive father murmured your name from across the table. He had requested to have dinner with just you today. Why, you had zero clue, but you tried to remain calm. "Are you unwell?"
"Apologies, Father... just, thinking..." you whispered, unable to look up at him. You found it hard to be in his presence already, let alone make eye contact with him as of recent.
Your adoptive father sighed, and then spoke, "You're thinking about why I asked to have dinner alone, and if this means what I'm about to tell you..."
Your heart skipped a slight beat, blood creeping through your veins with reluctant fear. "Yes..."
"Well then, I suppose I should ease your mind then..."
Your sense stilled with a sudden anticipation, as if every nerve in your body waited to watch.
"I have chosen a suitor for you. One I'm sure you'll be pleased with," he said, a proud yet firm thrill in his tone. For some reason, Satoru's face flashed in your thoughts, despite the the cold that now settled in your spine.
"I see..." Your shoulders caved a little, the news still hitting you as unexpectent, like some part of you still hoped that he was going to give you what you wanted: solitude and space to find your own purpose, to discover what you wanted your world to be...
"You are to marry into the Kamo bloodline, to Haruto."
Haruto. As in his youngest son. Your adoptive brother.
That was the final nail in your coffin. You would never be able to leave.
You didn't cry. You didn't move. You weren't even sure you were breathing.
Your adoptive father could sense your apparent shock, and allowed you to excuse yourself to your room to give yourself time to think. A small, hidden mercy.
He was waiting for you back in the dining room, going to be expecting an answer, or maybe even thanks.
Just so the Kamos could get their hands on you?
Dog. Dog. Dog. Dog-
You are to marry into the Kamo bloodline, to Haruto.
The last words your father said before you left the room sounded in your head the loudest: With your technique mixed with our blood, we can finally have techniques level to, if not above, the Gojos. Be merry, (Y/N). You will finally be one of us.
Everything made so much sense now.
He wanted you for your technique. You were never a Kamo, you were of no use to him except for this.
He killed your parents to get your technique.
He killed your parents. Ordered the hit so Toji could murder them to cover himself, and then steal you while he pretended to head an investigation.
To get you. To get your technique into the Kamo bloodline. To become a breeding mare to his son.
Your adoptive father killed your parents.
You bit back your scream, your anguish, your tears. A lifetime as a sorcerer had taught you how to channel that anger, that fear... and it taught you how to use it as well.
Your hand reached for the gilded knife that you always kept beneath your pillow. It had been a graduation gift from him.
Your breath hitched. Were you really going to do this? He took you in where you would have had no one, gave you shelter and security, trained you as a child and comforted you as well-
Satoru's body always seemed to move faster than his brain. Especially now.
Snow crunched beneath his boots as he strode, thick and packed from that morning's snow storm. The night remained clear, moonlight shining off the stone path to the Kamo household like watery gems.
If anything, the biting cold made he want to turn back, but he wouldn't stop, couldn't. He knew that he had to do something about your situation, not just for you, but for himself too.
Satoru knew the best course of action would be to strike this agreement as soon as he could, when your adoptive father would least expect it, to catch him off guard. He could do the convincing part later, even if his true reasonings didn't matter in this case.
But what should he say? He's never asked anyone's father if he can marry their daughter, let alone when that father is the leader of the Kamo Clan and when that daughter is also you, his friend, his... everything now, he realized. He had nothing left but you-
There was a body on the front steps.
Satoru rushed forward, quickly, almost too quickly, recognizing you-
You were bruised, bloody, completely stripped of your clothing, face down in the snow-
Shit. What did they do? How long have you been here?
Satoru immediately sensed the servants, no, Kamo members, by their cursed energy, walking towards the door. He needed to get you out of here, make sure you were alive-
Satoru practically tore his coat off, wrapping your body and taking you into his arms. When the sliding door opened, the only trace of you was your blood on the steps.
Synopsis: You are Nishinoya's older sister, the fearless, confident, and reliable manager... except when faced with your feelings with the team ace. As both of your high school years are going to be coming to a close, will one of you be able to say something about how you feel? Who will overcome their nerves first?
Warnings: reader has she/her pronouns, reader is described as being short because she's nishinoya's sister, language, karasuno being chaotic, season 4 spoilers, tooth-rotting fluff.
Author's Note: My old Asahi fic, as promised. This one is a bit longer and used to be on my old wattpad account some time ago. Asahi is one of my favorite hq characters, literally my baby. This one is pure fluff, and is a bit on the longer side. Also, this fic takes place during the events of season 4 so there are some spoilers in that sense, but nothing too major. Enjoy lovelies <3
They did it. In your two years of being a manager for the Karasuno boys volleyball team, you probably would have never thought that the boys would beat Shiratorizawa, much less make it to nationals. And yet, even as you stared out at the Tokyo sky on the way to the inn, even as Asahi landed that last spike to push them through to the 2nd round, you still felt that little voice whisper in your head in complete awe and disbelief.
They did it.
After the game, the Karasuno gang packed up and headed back for the inn. Most of them took a nap or stared tiredly out the window. They were all exhausted from the thrill of their first game, and they should be. They fought hard and restlessly. The boys showed everyone watching in the stands today that they didn’t come here on some fluke, they came here because they are going to win.
That’s right. The entire damn tournament.
Takeda shouted from the front, breaking you from your thoughts. “We’re here everyone!” Hinata immediately jumped up from his seat and barreled full speed toward the front. Kageyama chased after him not much longer (probably because Hinata woke him up when he started running). You chuckled at the duo and slowly got up from your own seat in the front. As everyone else piled off you began making your way toward the back. You kind of made it your own job to wake anyone up once you’ve reached the destination on road trips.
You spotted Tanaka and Yuu dozing a few seats back. You silently made your way over to them, and started to shake Tanaka.
“Tanakaaaa, wake uuuup,” you sang while shaking his shoulder. He lazily opened his eyes and let out a yawn. You then reached over to poke at Yuu’s back which was turned to you as he wrapped himself around his duffel bag. “Come on Yuu.” You didn’t have to try that hard with Yuu. After all, you woke him up for school every day.
As you leaned back, Tanaka stretched his arms above his head and asked, “(Y/N)? Are we here?” You gave him a nod and moved out of the way for him to get up. Yuu was glaring at you from behind his seat.
“What’s wrong Yuu?” you asked, smirking. “Mad cause I woke you up?”
“I was having a good dreaaammm,” he whines.
“Whatever, just get your lazy ass up and let's head inside,” Tanaka drawls as he slaps Yuu upside the head.
“My lazy ass?” Yuu retorts. Yuu grabbed his duffel bag, and then returned a smack upside Tanaka’s head as they walked toward the front of the bus. “You were sleeping too!” Here they go again…
“Boys!” you yelled at them. They stopped. “Just get off the bus!” The libero and the wing spiker left without saying another word.
You sighed while shaking your head. You considered this your own role as a manager sometimes. Kiyoko was more of the quiet one that did her job well, Yachi was the newbie still getting used to the reins, and you were the one that kept the boy’s attitudes in check (yes, even Daichi sometimes).
You still remember back when you were about halfway through your first year as a manager. You were a second-year at the time. There was a day when the boys were so rowdy that not even the old Coach Ukai could calm them down. You must had been on your period or something that day, because you got so mad at them. All of a sudden, you had started scolding them for their attitudes and lack of respect, telling them that they needed to represent Karasuno High School the right way. It scared the team a bit. Their tiny manager that was practically a foot shorter than them was putting them in line and they actually listened. And so, the role kinda stuck (though you try not to lash out like you did that day).
You smiled at the memory. You started your way towards the front until you heard a few light snores coming from a seat further back to your right. Huh, guess I missed one. You walked back to the seat, almost yelping in surprise at who you saw.
Asahi? The ace slept with his own duffel bag propped up against the window as he snuggled it like a pillow. Half his face was buried into the bag while the other half was still in a peaceful slumber. Little bits of his brown hair fell around his forehead and over his ears from his bun. One longer strand of hair fell out over his nose, and would lift up slightly whenever he let out a small snore. You wondered how he didn’t wake up from Yuu and Tanaka yelling as they got off. Daichi and Suga did say that Asahi sleeps like the dead, but you’ve never got to actually see that for yourself.
You felt heat crawl up your face and ears at the sight of him. Asahi’s face was usually always concentrated, scared, or smiling. But this was somehow different. Seeing him sleeping like that made you stop dead in your tracks and stop thinking rationally. What’s worse? He’s not even trying. Asahi’s expression, mixed with his messy hair and snores, was pulling you in like a magnet. You thought it was downright adorable.You wanted to sit by him, maybe get a little closer. Close enough that perhaps you could smell the scent off his jacket or…
Your blushing got worse. You liked to keep these thoughts under wraps, but when they did come up you couldn’t help but get flustered. Fortunately, sitting next to him was as far as you got.
Hesitantly, you reached over to grab and shake Asahi’s shoulder. “Asahi,” you whispered. He didn’t budge. God, you were so lucky that no one could see you doing this. Under normal circumstances, with everyone in here, you would have been redder than a Nekoma jersey. “Asahi,” you whispered a little louder this time, shaking his shoulder a bit more. When he stirred and sucked in a breath, you flinched and stood up so quickly that you thought your spine snapped. But sadly, it didn’t, and now here you are, watching as Asahi opened his eyes ever so slowly.
When he sits up and his eyes finally land on you, you glued your eyes to the seat you were just sitting on. “O-Oh, (y/n)! Are we here?” Asahi asks in a groggy voice while looking up at you and then out the window to see the inn.
“Y-yeah!” you answered, cursing your voice for going a little more high pitched than you planned. You forced yourself to look up at him and conceal your blush. “I woke you up…” Just as he rose, you started to walk to the front with Asahi now not that far behind you. You swore, even just feeling him walking behind you was setting off butterfly cannons in your stomach. So, you composed yourself and tried to just walk straight.
But, what if you stopped? What if you leaned back, felt the warmth of his broad chest against your head… who are you kidding, both you and him would have a heart attack if you ever tried something so bold. You couldn’t seem to place how these thoughts entered your head about someone so fragile like that...
Both of you got off the bus and walked side by side now toward the lobby. You were mentally smacking yourself for thinking such things with him so close by.
When you entered the lobby, you took a seat and forced yourself to stop and think about something else.
“I’m going to put my stuff upstairs, see ya (y/n)!” Asahi called to you, turning for the stairs. Man, you were so caught up in your own thoughts that you didn’t even talk to him! Just how awkward can you get-
“See ya for dinner!” you called from over his shoulder as he, much to your relief and dismay, disappeared upstairs.
You let out a small sigh as you watched him disappear. Of course, you’ve fallen for the Ace of Karasuno. You just couldn’t help it. Asahi is one of the greatest friends you have and probably the most caring and understanding person you’ve ever met. He interested you too, how someone that big and imposing could be so gentle. Not only that, you did think he was really attractive. You started feeling this way at the beginning of your second year, and it didn’t take long for everyone to catch on. Heck, even the current first years have noticed it (Tsukishima teases you about it so much you have to remind him to respect his fucking elders and their problems). Somehow Asahi hasn’t caught on, probably due to his usual softie mentality.
That’s probably for the best. Not wanting to screw up your friendship with Asahi is probably the reason you’ve never confessed anyway. Probably.
But you’re running out of time. After this tournament, you have a few more weeks before you both graduate and you go off to attend university. So maybe you’ll just enjoy the time that you have with him, even if you most likely won’t tell him in the end.
Asahi walked up to the boys room with his duffel bag, his mind a flurry of thoughts. Should I have stayed back with her? No, that would seem a little creepy… What do you mean creepy? She’s your friend! Shoot, I didn’t even tell her thank you for waking me up! Great going Asahi-
When Asahi entered the boys room, he was met with Kageyama being shoved into him, causing him to drop his bag.
“Ah! Sorry Asahi,” Kageyama apologized as Asahi bent down to pick it up.
“I-it’s fi-”
“Yeah Baka-yama! Say sorry!” Hinata shouted from across the room, sticking his tongue out at Kageyama.
“You’re the one that pushed me, dumbass!” Kageyama roared before storming back over to Hinata.
Asahi chuckled and made his way over to where Suga and Daichi were watching the pair fight from a safe distance.
“Hey, Asahi! Why’d you take so long to come up?” Daichi asked. He looked a little concerned, maybe even worried. Him and Suga really are just like his parents…
“O-oh no r-reason I-” he began. Asahi tried to avoid eye contact as his own voice began betraying him again. Eye contact was dangerous with these two sometimes, even if they were his friends. Both Suga and Daichi raised an eyebrow at him. “Um… I fell asleep on the bus a-and… (y/n) woke me up,” he muttered while getting quieter as he said your name.
“Aww, well isn’t that sweet!” Suga cooed with a teasing smirk. Asahi swore, whenever he brought you up when you weren't around, they were always quick to tease him. Maybe they are his parents…
Asahi felt a tiny blush begin to form on his cheeks as he stuttered “S-S-Suga, can we not talk about this right now…”
Daichi let out a disappointed sigh. “C’mon Asahi, you’ve basically had a crush on her since she became a manager. You gotta tell her already!”
“Tell who what?” asked Hinata who suddenly appeared beside Daichi. Asahi went stiff as a board, looking nowhere else than his shoes.
“Tell (y/n) that he likes her,” he heard Tsukishima say from beside Hinata. “What? Did you not know that he has feelings for her?”
“Wait, you mean… those kinda feelings?” Hinata’s voice got louder. It felt so loud that Asahi thought he was going to faint from the embarrassment.
Yamaguchi was quick to chime in with Tsukishima. “Well yeah! Hasn’t Tsukki told you this before?” How did they know?! Noya didn’t tell them… right?
As if on cue, Tanaka and Nishinoya also joined the conversation. “Yeah man! Who would’ve thought that Asahi would have a crush on such a hot girl like her, huh? What’d you think Noya?” Tanaka asked as he laughed along with the group.
“Asahi!” Noya yelled right into Asahi’s ear, scaring the living shit out of him. Almost the whole room went quiet. Noya pointed straight into Asahi’s face, causing his eyes to widen and look at his finger. Noya then began speaking as if he were talking of destiny, “Azumane Asahi, as Nishinoya (y/n)’s younger brother, and as her sole protector for life, I grant you permission for you to court her, and-”
“Oh please. Do you even know what the word “court” means when you say it like that?” Tsukishima snickered. Asahi’s body went cold with chills as his face flushed crimson. “You’re basically giving him permission to-”
“Would you guys shhhhhh!” Suga screamed at them before dropping his voice to a whisper. Oh thank God for Suga- “The girls room is right next door! They could’ve heard you for all you know! Have some respect…” Hinata squealed a ‘sorry’ and Tsukishima just walked away with a smirk. Noya gave Asahi a firm slap on the back. Everyone else that took part in the conversation left to do their own thing.
Suga put a gentle hand on Asahi’s shoulder, causing him to look into his eyes. “Look Asahi, whenever you’re around (y/n), I notice a slight change in you. You’re not super tense. You’re actually a lot more relaxed around her. You’re more confident and a lot more happy. She pushes you to do better unlike any one of us. You gotta tell her how you feel, and you have to do it soon, Asahi.”
“Yeah, and even if she doesn’t feel the same way, she isn’t the type of person to avoid you afterwards,” Daichi adds, giving him a reassuring smile.
Asahi blushed again before smiling at the ground. Is that really how he seems around you? Sure, some of what Suga said is true. He does feel a slightly bigger push when you’re the one to give pep talks before games, and it would be a lie to say that he wasn’t happier around you, but he thought everyone felt that way…
And the other things that Suga said? Asahi would just have to see for himself. Confess to you? Him, who has never been so in love with someone, and just happens to have no experience when it comes to that same department? He’s even surprised that words just came so naturally with you but confidence be damned! He never prepared himself for this!
Well, it is his third year after all… maybe he could learn a thing or two before ending high school. What does he have to lose?
“Y-Yeah...alright.”
There was a knock before the door opened. “Alright guys, meeting in the conference room in five. Dinner will be ready shortly after!” Coach Ukai yelled above the conversations. As soon as the team responded, one by one each boy began to leave the room. Daichi gave Asahi a small pat on the back before leaving with Suga. Soon, Asahi was the only person left in the room, and the only tension present was created within his thoughts.
You leaned your head back and closed your eyes as you let the steam and heat of the bath allow you to unwind. Kiyoko and Yachi had already climbed in with you. You sat to the right of Kiyoko and Yachi sat on her left.
“Rough day so far, (y/n)?” Kiyoko asked with her usual calming gaze. You could tell why almost all the boys were so into her. Seeing Yuu, Tanaka, and even boys from other teams try to hit on her was one of the funniest things to you. There was no denying that Kiyoko is pretty, and she always had this earthly calm about her that you just couldn’t put your finger on sometimes. Kiyoko has been your closest girl friend since you started as a manager, and now even Yachi was one too.
“Yeah,” you groaned. It may not seem like it to everyone else, but you had been stressed almost since you woke up this morning. First, there was the tension of the boys first game. Then, Kiyoko had to run back to grab Hinata’s bag that he left at the train station. The stress went away slightly after the boys won the first game, but the tension was still there now that they have to win the next one. To top it off, the boys just found out at their meeting that they would be going up against the team was ranked #2 to win nationals. Not to mention, their setter (according to Kageyama) was on the All Japan Youth team. If that didn’t make everyone’s anxiety for this tournament any worse, you didn’t know what did. You’re definitely going to make sure that the boys settle down to get enough sleep tonight.
Kiyoko and Yachi listened as you went on your rant about the day. But as you continued on, you let something slip out. “Not to mention, I woke up Asahi on the bus today. Asahi of all people! Then when we walked back I didn’t even say anything! I got so caught up in my own thoughts that I didn’t even realize how awkward I was being…”
You paused, realizing what you just said. Your hands flung up to conceal the blush now forming as you muttered something incoherent about not meaning to say that.
“Honestly (Y/N), I think it’s pretty funny how you react around someone like Asahi!” Yachi giggled. Kiyoko must have been pointing things like that out to her…
Kiyoko smiled at you. “She’s right, you know. It’s almost like you two switch personalities when you’re together.”
You turned your body to face them. “T-that’s not true!” you argued. The massive blush on your ears and face said otherwise. “I’m still the same person!”
The bathing room went suddenly quiet as if they were silently disagreeing with you. You turned to face forward again. It was if there was still another question that hung in the air that remained unspoken. “(Y/N)?” It was Yachi that spoke up.
“Yeah?” you asked somewhat hesitantly.
“You’re not...nervous to tell him you like him… are you?” Yachi asked. Your breath shuddered. There it was, that unspoken question. While it might seem normal for a person to be nervous to tell someone they liked them, much less to feel nervous about other things, ‘nervous’ was not a trait among the Nishinoya siblings. In fact, no one believed you and Yuu have ever felt nervous before. Despite Yuu’s personality being different from yours, it’s still centered around that shared trait between the both of you. The Nishinoya siblings were known on the team for being the fearless ones, Yuu in his playing ability and happy-go-lucky attitude, and you with your confident decision making and ability to push each player to do their best. It’s what made you two so reliable. You and your brother never got nervous… right? You guessed maybe that should only be said of Yuu now. After all, how can someone have no fear if they can’t confess to a silly little crush…
Maybe that’s the reason you’ve never confessed. This entire time, you thought the reason you never told Asahi how you felt was because you didn’t want to mess things up between the two of you.
I’ve been lying to myself this whole time, you thought. But, I shouldn’t lie to my friends about it…
After a few more minutes of silence, you spoke up. “Yeah. I am nervous.” Both of your friends looked to you. As you continued, your voice became lower and quieter as you sounded out your thoughts slowly. “This entire time I’ve been telling myself that maybe it was better this way because he probably wouldn’t return my feelings, but I guess I’ve been stalling.”
“That’s ok (y/n)! It’s perfectly normal for someone to get nervous over someone they like!” Yachi reassured you.
“She’s right,” said Kiyoko, putting a hand on your shoulder. “Try to be yourself around him. He’s actually a lot more confident around you than you think, so it should be like having a conversation with someone like Daichi or Suga. Just try to take those baby steps, ok? If you talk to him tonight, tell us how it went afterward.”
You smiled timidly at your two friends. “Okay, I will.”
While Kiyoko and Yachi were settling down into their own sleeping areas, you calmly went over and asked Daichi if he could settle down the boys a little. That was 30 minutes ago…
Oh well, you thought. Kiyoko and Yachi were asleep now, so you thought it would be fine. It had been a while since the team got to hang out as just a plain group of chaotic high school boys rather than a serious volleyball club. They’re on this trip to have some fun too.
But if they're not quiet by 10:00, you’re definitely making sure they actually fall asleep.
With a sigh, you turned off your phone and made your way across the dark room. Careful not to wake your friends, you tiptoed to your bag in the corner and fished out your favorite pajamas: an old yet suitable t-shirt and a fuzzy pair of light orange shorts.
After changing, you grabbed your small toiletry bag and walked out of the room. Across from the girl’s room was a small washroom that was shared among all three of the rooms. You were sure that no one would enter since all the boys were in their room and Ukai and Takeda went drinking again. The washroom was completed with two sinks surrounded by a wooden counter, and a public toilet further back in the room.
You set your stuff down on the sink closest to the door. As you started to brush your teeth, you questioned if you should stay up longer tonight than usual. You didn’t feel that tired yet, and you did hear that there is a balcony near the rooms.
You leaned over the sink to spit before faintly hearing the door open. You quickly spit out the excess toothpaste and wiped your mouth on your sleeve before looking to see who stood in the doorway.
“(y/n)?” Asahi stared back at you with his wide brown eyes. He had switched his tracksuit for a plain white t-shirt and a pair of grey sweats, which you assumed was his sleepwear. He had a small green bag under his arm. Was he washing up too?
“Oh, I’m sorry I thought no one would come in here,” you tried to laugh about it as you quickly started to pack up your toiletries. Damn, you’re just acting nervous around him again!
“No! You can stay, I’ll just come back later,” he smiled politely and turned to leave.
“Wait!” you called before you even realized what you were doing. Asahi turned to look over his shoulder, surprised. Baby steps rang in your head as you took a breath and said “There’s another sink if you want to use it…”
Asahi peered over your head. “Oh! Sure...” He walked past you to the other sink and you turned to your own bag. As you brought out a comb to run through your hair, Asahi started to run the water in his sink as he fished out his own toothbrush.
Almost on instinct, you started talking to yourself in your own head, even when you desperately wanted to talk to the boy next to you. Should I even say anything in the first place? No… baby steps (y/n)! Remember! Ok, what should I say? “So how do you think tomorrow will go?” No, the tension for tomorrow is already high enough. “Nice… weather? here? in? Tokyo…?” Goddammit why is this so hard-
You sighed through your nose and put your comb back. As you looked for the next thing you needed to find in your bag, your eyes slowly drifted to Asahi. He was looking at himself in the mirror as he ran a knuckle along his jaw and muttered something about needing to shave. You assumed he decided against it as he fished out a brush and a bottle of… detangler?
One part of Asahi was happy and glad that you were sharing the washroom with him. But, the majority of him was feeling like an anxious wreck. It was only three hours ago when Asahi had promised his friends that he would finally confess his feelings to you. And now you’re here with him, alone, and you haven’t spoken a word to each other. Maybe he should say something about it now, close the gap he so desperately wanted to reach. Was he ever going to get a good enough opportunity such as this (even if it was in a washroom…)?
As Asahi got out his brush and detangler, he decided that maybe he would just talk to you for now… yeah. But, what is there to talk about-
“Is that lavender detangler?”
He raised his eyebrows and turned to look at you. You looked first at the detangler in his hand, and then up at him with a quirked eyebrow and wide, expecting eyes. You held your face wash in one hand and a hair tie in the other. And those pajamas you were wearing… gosh you looked so cute.
“Oh… yeah. It’s kind of weird I guess,” Asahi chuckled and scratched the back of his neck.
“No, not at all,” you replied matter-of-fact. “I was actually kind of wondering why some parts of the gym smelled like lavender and I was trying to figure out who it was!” You laughed. It’s true, some corners of the gym started smelling oddly great (for a gym especially). When you asked Kiyoko and Yachi if they had bought new perfume, they both replied with no, and so you became suspicious.
When you turned away to wash your face, Asahi took out his bun and began his own nighttime routine. Your butterflies fucking exploded as you rubbed the face wash gently into your skin and listened to the soft spurts of his detangler.
For the rest of your time in the washroom, both you and Asahi held great conversation. Though the time was little, the detangler topic led to both of you complaining about your hair consistency, to what color you both would want dye your hair, to favorite colors, to favorite school subjects, and then finally to what you were talking about now, favorite parts about school.
“Well that’s easy. Being the manager for the team,” you replied nonchalantly.
“Really?” Asahi packed up the rest of his things in his little bag and turned to you. He left his hair down. You were leaning against the door, your own bag under your arm. Seeing him with his hair down is having you battle the flutter in your stomach as you try to get used to the new sight.
“Well yeah, but I guess I have to thank Yuu though after all. If he didn’t play volleyball I would probably be tripping over myself in a dance club or something!” You both laughed.
He was still laughing as you caught a glance of his face. You wanted to see his smile more. You wanted to hear him laugh more. You just wanted to keep talking to him. This is the first time you’ve been able to have a normal conversation with him without stumbling over your words and you did not want it to end this quickly. But at the same time, you probably shouldn’t keep him if he’s tired.
Asahi felt a little conflicted inside. It was clear that both of you were done washing up, but he still wanted to confess, but… well maybe now isn’t the time after all. It was still great to talk to you though.
You opened the door and walked past the doorway. “So um, are you going back to the room?”
“Well, I guess. But I probably won’t be able to sleep because of the noise. That’s the reason I came to wash up a little earlier.” Asahi responded. The moment was slipping away...
Maybe that’s one thing to thank the boys for. But is there some way to keep talking to him? He obviously doesn’t want to be by the rest of the team. Maybe you could save him from them for a couple of minutes. But where-
“Um… a-are you tired?” This was about to take a lot of courage from you…
“N-no…?” Asahi was a little confused by your question. What were you about to ask him?
“Do you wanna go hang out on the balcony for a bit?” You finally said it. A huge weight was lifted from your shoulders, but the even larger weight remained as you waited for his answer. You squeezed your hands behind your back and gulped. You prayed that he didn’t notice how nervous you were…
Asahi just stared at you for about 2 seconds, because 2 seconds was all his brain needed to overcompensate and overthink everything you just said. Did you say hang out on the balcony? As in like, with you? Alone? Together? No one else is there, right? Why? Just to keep you company? Because he said that he didn’t really want to be by the rest of the loud and obnoxious team? Did you really care enough about that to invite him on the balcony? Did you actually like talking to him?
You stood on the balcony, eagerly awaiting Asahi. You leaned over the railing as you took in the cold evening. The wind blew just enough to leave a slight shiver through your body and stir your hair. The lights and sounds of Tokyo filled your senses as you watched the bustling city from afar. You took a look up. The pollution of Tokyo meant you couldn’t see stars, but you imagined they were there. There wasn’t a single cloud in the sky, save for the occasional airplane flying to or from the city. You brought your gaze back down and stared forward in silent thought.
Asahi was grateful that you had arrived at the balcony first after you both left to put away your toiletries. He tried his best to get into the room to put his things away, grab his jacket, and be out of the room where the boys were now playing truth or dare. Noya caught him and tried to convince him to join in, but he politely refused and left without another word. He would have to explain himself later.
And now, there you were. You didn’t notice him behind you on the balcony. His gaze softened as he took a moment to admire you.
You were the only thing that immediately captured his attention, as always. Not the blinding lights of the city beyond, not the atmosphere around him, just you, with your back turned to him as you faced Toyko. Asahi’s breath hitched in his throat. It was in that moment that he realized that nothing else mattered. Not even breathing mattered. The lights weren’t as beautiful, the city wasn’t as loud, and the chill in the air wasn’t as prominent. Everything else seemed to dull and fade, leaving only you.
Why?
There was just something more captivating in the way your hair flowed in the wind that he seemed to forget that the wind was the reason your hair moved so fluently. The way you were standing and observing the view, almost as if you didn’t know that if everything else had eyes, then everything would be gazing and admiring you just like he did every day. The way your eyes were shining so perfectly ahead that the stars would become jealous and try to take that shine, but he would never let them because no matter how high and mighty the stars might be, no matter how many of them there were, you were so much more above them in his own eyes.
His thoughts were broken when your body jerked in a slight shiver. He realized that you had forgotten a coat because you were still wearing the same pajamas.
It was a lot windier than you thought it would be. You wrapped your arms around yourself and rubbed your bare arms. You were in such a hurry to put your things away that you didn’t have time to consider the weather.
You jumped when you felt a slight pressure on your shoulder, and then something laying across them. As you reached your hands up to feel what it was, you ran your fingers across the material of a jacket, and then heard the shuffling of someone next to you. Then you realized…
Asahi was here, and he gave you his jacket.
You turned to look at him. He was standing about a foot away from you to the right. He had his elbows propped against the balcony railing as he leaned against it. His shoulders caved slightly inward as he stared at the ground. His eyes were casted downward in a way that he almost looked ashamed, but if not, then just lost in thought. A slight tint splayed itself across his cheeks from the cold. The wind moved through his long brown hair like a dance and ruffled his white shirt against the muscle that laid beneath.
Your heart caught in your chest. Your breathing stopped as you clutched the jacket.
This was a new sight. He didn’t look scared. He wasn’t smiling. He wasn’t sleeping. He didn’t look exactly concentrated either.
He looked… ethereal.
His eyes caught yours and he stood a little straighter. “I-I… you looked cold… so… sorry if it’s weird...” His eyes casted off as he spoke. He’s adorable.
“N-no” you assured. “Not at all! Um, thank you...”
“You’re welcome... “ he smiled at you before looking down again. It was odd. It wasn’t like his body was anxious, more like just his eyes were. Could he… maybe? Unless he was just trying to be nice.
You looked down and held the jacket closer to you. Your blush was growing by the second. It may be a possibility. The jacket smelled like the lavender detangler and cedarwood. Not only that, it was warm. It smelled and felt like him, like your Asahi. Well, he wasn’t yours just yet.
Just yet.
Asahi didn’t even know why or how he managed to give you his jacket. He just felt a surge of feeling that had him act. He knew it was love, but at that moment, he never felt it so strongly. It was almost as if it were his instinct to want to make you feel happy and comfortable. Maybe he should act on that more.
Maybe he should act on that now.
You talked up first. “So, um…” you mumbled just loud enough to be audible. “How are you feeling… about tomorrow?” You instantly regretted the words as they left your mouth. You couldn’t think of another topic, so you just blurted the first thing that came to mind.
“Um… well, if I said I was feeling alright about it, I would obviously be lying,” he chuckled.
“Well, I think you’ll be alright once you get out there and kick ass like always,” you said, trying to ease his nerves. You sounded so sure of yourself. That was new, especially around Asahi.
“(y/n)...”
“Yeah?”
“Thank you for supporting me…” he faced you as he leaned against the railing, smiling at you, though he didn’t make eye contact. “It really means a lot…”
You gave him your best smile while clutching his jacket. “No need to thank us. We all have to push our ace so he can do his best!”
He blushed. Something popped into his head, and before he could stop himself, he said it out loud.
“No one pushes me to do my best as much as you, though.” He scared himself when he said it. He couldn’t even turn away. He just… looked at you. You were still so captivating. So much so that his anxiety and fears couldn’t even distract him now.
You blushed. Did he just say that? Did he… there was almost no doubt now. Your heart started to beat so loud that you couldn’t focus on your own thoughts. You could only focus on him.
You were looking at him with those beautiful eyes again. This was it. Now. He had to do it now.
“(y-y/n)...”
“Yeah…?” You turned to him.
He opened his mouth to speak, but nothing came out. He couldn’t stop staring at you.
So captivating.
There you stood, patiently waiting.
“Asahi, are you-”
“I love you, (y/n).” And that’s when the words began to tumble out. “I can’t believe I’m doing this… but it’s the truth. Ever since you became a manager for our team, I’ve never been able to get you out of my head and... and, I’m not sure how to feel about it. You’re just beautiful, and strong, and perfect… A-and I want to give you everything. I want to give you… more than everything really. But I’m just...I’m just…”
He kept his eyes closed the entire time, brows furrowed and hands glued to his sides as he spoke. Were you actually hearing this? The person you’ve loved for so long confessing that he loves you-
You felt this buzzing, warm feeling inside your heart. It spread like wildfire throughout your body, burning you and your senses down to the one source of the truth behind the flames which is that he. loves. you.
He squinted as he opened his eyes to look at you. You looked… confused. You just kept staring at him. He felt this cold shiver as his cheeks flushed in embarrassment. He clenched his fists. Here it was, you were about to reject him. Why did he even try-
“I love you too, Asahi.”
“What?”
“What?”
For a moment you two just stared at each other. You both couldn’t believe what you were hearing. Meanwhile, the same fire was spreading throughout Asahi. Burning down all insecurities, all negative thoughts. It was just that one fact.
You love him too.
And like fire, it spread throughout both of you quickly. Burning, destroying, until it bubbled over and-
That space between you ceased to exist as you stood on your tippy toes, grabbed him by the collar of his shirt, and kissed him. You didn’t know what you were doing, but you didn’t care. You’ve waited too long to tell him how you’ve felt and this kiss lifted the last weight from your consciousness. You didn’t have to pretend. You didn’t have to be nervous. You were free.
Asahi didn’t know how to feel at first. Was this actually happening? Were you… kissing him? Well, of course he knew that but he never thought it would happen.
He wasn’t kissing back. You opened your eyes and leaned back, separating you from his lips. Was that too far? “Ah, s-sorry I thought-”
You were cut off by him quickly swooping in and returning the kiss while leaning down to wrap his arms around your waist. You closed your eyes and kissed him back, wrapping your arms around his neck and tangling your hands in his long hair. His lips were warm and surprisingly soft. You giggled as the scruff from his stubble tickled you. His kiss was so gentle that it was as if he thought you were a porcelain doll, and that if he put too much of himself on you, that you would break. It was loving and sweet, and filled with as much care as he could give you.
When you both leaned back, he looked down at you. So small. So amazing.
So perfect.
Those were his words before he leaned again, pressing himself closer to you. Your back steadied itself against the railing as you continued kissing him. His hands travelled to cup your face, one hand resting itself against your soft skin and the other running itself through your hair. This kiss was just like the last but filled with more need and passion. The fire was growing. Here, nothing else mattered. The lights didn’t matter, the air, the city. Just you, with your lips on his.
When you leaned back again, he smiled as you kissed him on the nose. “Not as perfect as you,” you replied. You laughed as his face scrunched in confusion, and then when he realized what he had said out loud before he kissed you.
“So, uh, does this mean… W-well, only if you want to of course! But, ah, what I’m trying to say is-”
“Yes Asahi, I’ll be your girlfriend,” you said to him while rolling your eyes and smiling. It seemed that after your kiss, your confidence had returned. How could he kiss you like that but not be able to ask you out? He’s so awkward, and handsome, and yours.
Both of you chuckled, finally before leaning in again. Finally yours.
That’s when you heard the metallic door on the other side of the balcony open.
