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honney-pies · 8 months

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Ma Cherie ❤︎

What Once Was

Pairing: Inuokku/f!oc

Length: 9.3k

Summary: Sometimes reminiscing the past can hurt, but sometimes it’s for the better.

A/n: omg hey guys, sorry for taking so long. I had a lot to deal with these past two week, so I’m a little behind. This chapter focuses heavily on kanae and the relationships she has with those around her. This isn’t totally proofread and my desk top has been glitching a lot lately, so please let me know and I will fix it!

Ma Cherie master list

─── ⋆⋅ December 2017 ⋅⋆ ──

Kanae’s standing outside the classrooms, watching as her breath fills the air. She hadn't noticed that everyone had already started to leave until Inumaki tapped her on the shoulder. She snaps out of it and sees that Yuuta was also waiting for her. Kanae smiled at the two, noticing how their hands brushed against each other. The three of them had been toeing the line between friends and lovers for some time now, so it was quite adorable watching Yuuta start to figure out that the couple liked him quite a bit. As all the first years were walking away from class, goofing around and acting like kids, Yuuta stops and looks at the sky. Everyone else stops and looks at him, asking him what's wrong.

“Uh, well… I just had a bad premonition,” he responded.

“You’re imagining things.”

“Yep, imagining things.”

“Okaka.” Kanae laughs softly at everyone’s comment. She looks at Yuuta and grabs his wrist before hurrying up to catch the others.

“Huh? Guys wait!” She feels a nudge from Inumaki and she looks over at her boyfriend who tilts his head and smiles at her, she smiles back.

“Well, your ability to sense curse energy sucks, you know,” Panda starts.

“Figures it be dulled, with a curse like Rika constantly around you,” Maki finishes. As they all continued to joke around and make their way off campus Kanae could see a little white blob in the sky. A bird, she realizes. A really big bird. Kanae felt her phone buzz and pulled it out.

‘Incoming call from weezer🧿🧿’

“That's unusual.” Kanae looks up from her phone to see what Panda was talking about to see that the bird has landed in front of them.

“Yuuta’s intuition was correct.” Kanae quickly answers the phone call to alert her brother that there was a bird heading for them, even though she knew chances are he already sensed it. As the bird landed, another figure fell to the side. Kanae could make out formal clothing, a Gojo-kesa, and a lot of black hair, but that’s not what made her freeze. That bloodflow, she thought, I know it.

“You’re… not staff,” Maki observed as she pulled out her spear. She sees a person she hasn’t seen in a very long time, her beloved brother.

“Sugu-nii,” she whispers into her phone, already forgotten in her hand. Suguru looks around for a second before staring right at her and smiling.

“Yo, Kanae-chan! It’s been a long time.” Tears started to form in her eyes, she didn’t know what to do. Her chest began to tighten as a wave of emotions came over her, she feels overwhelmed and she just wants to go to sleep.

“Sugu-nii, what are you doing here,” she asks. Although she didn’t know if she wanted to know the reason why.

“You’ve grown a lot, well I guess that’s to be expected. How are your studies going?” He eyes the phone in her hand and frowns slightly. She felt the blood rushing to her ears and couldn’t move. Suguru appears in front of Yuuta in an instant and she can’t help but feel slightly jealous of how quickly he moved his attention to someone that wasn’t her. Someone with more power, she thinks.

“Nice to meet you, Okkotsu-kun. I’m Geto Suguru.”

“O-oh hi, nice to meet you,” Yuuta replied.

“You possess a truly wonderful power, I see. I believe that great power ought to be used towards great ends.” Kanae felt her frustration bubble beneath her skin, like a wildfire with no one around to stop it. The Suguru she knew believed that the strong must protect the weak, that shamans exist to protect non-shaman.

“Have you ever questioned the current state of the world? This world where jujutsu shamans act in secret in order to protect the order of commonplace society. You see, there’s this established paradox,” he started as he let go of Yuuta’s hands and began to move more freely, “saying that the strong must protect the weak,” he continued.

Kanae could feel her blood begin to flood through her ears, slowly drowning out the utter bullshit he was spewing. She saw Suguru wrap his arm around Yuuta, but at this point she didn’t care to listen. She was so unbelievably tired. Tired of listening to his tangent that is so different to the lectures he used to give her growing up.

“-we would like you to help us kill all non-shamans and create a world with only jujutsu shamans.” And in a split second, the pedestal she held her dear brother crumbled underneath his very feet. The others saw how upset she was getting and were also starting to get riled up. You see, Kanae has known that Suguru was not the same, but it’s different seeing and hearing it. She has heard for years about how he was a traitor, murderer, cult leader, but she could always deny it in her mind. How could someone who taught her right and wrong end up being so very… wrong? She poured hours of her life into reading the files the school has made of him. Spent hours outside his temple hoping to get the courage to see him, to ask why. She’s spent years trying to prove to herself that her brother never changed, but she’s finally seeing what everyone has been saying. She’s seeing all the things she’s ignored and she has this revelation that maybe, maybe she didn’t know her brother as well as she thought she had.

Above all else, she’s infuriated at how someone who hurt not only hundreds of innocent people, but her family, herself, her dad, waltz back into her home as if he never left it in the first place. As if he never left her.

“Could you stop preaching your crazy beliefs to my students?” With the voice of her brother, the one that stayed in her life, she felt her anger bury itself further under the surface, where she could manage it better. Suguru’s mouth pressed into a thin line before turning itself into a smile, but not the one he used to give Satoru, a fake up filled with nothing.

“Satoru! Long time no see!”

“First of all, get away from those kids, Suguru.” She looked at Satoru and saw how tense his face was. She could only imagine the amount of heartbreak he must be feeling. The man still had a hard time eating fried chicken after all this time, let alone even speaking of KFC.

‘Guess we’re going to eat a bunch of sweets tonight’.

“I had heard this year’s first-years were all outstanding students. Now I understand. It was all your doing. A special-grade cursed human, a cursed corpse mutation, the descendant of the cursed speech users, our beloved sister, and the zen’in clan failure.” Kanae clenched her jaw and moved herself to be more in Suguru’s eyesight blocking Maki, her best friend. She could feel Maki pull her behind her as she juts her spear forward towards Suguru. The look on his face makes her want to vomit, he looks absolutely appalled by Maki.

“Watch what you do, because I don’t need any monkey like you in my world,” his eyes slid over to Kanae, “how unfortunate that you’ve chosen their side, Kanae-chan.”

“Monkey,” he called her, he called Maki a monkey. Tears that had been welling up in her eyes were finally threatening to fall, not from sadness, but from the unabated anger making its way to her heart. Yuuta made eye contact with her before pushing Suguru’s arm off.

“I’m sorry. I don’t really understand what you’re talking about, but… I can’t help anyone who insults my friends!” Suguru lets out a sigh before he begins to speak once more.

“My apologies. It wasn’t my intention to upset you.” She felt a hand on her shoulder shortly before she appeared in between Yuuta and Suguru. ‘Toru-nii’.

“Then what exactly did you come for?” Even with the bandages covering Satoru’s eyes, she knew that the soulmates were making perfect eye contact.

“To declare war,” he responded. Kanae felt her jaw tense and she gently nudged Satoru after feeling his hand tighten against her. Suguru turned away from Satoru and looked at the others.

“Everyone gathered here, open your ears and listen closely! On the coming December 24th, when the sun sets, we shall conduct the Night Parade of a Hundred Demons. It will take place in the crucible of curses, Shinjuku, Tokyo, and the holy land of jujutsu, Kyoto,” He announces.

“We will unleash a thousand curses upon each place, and of course their command will be to ‘massacre’. If you wish to avoid a scene straight out of hell, come and stop it with all your might. Let us freely curse each other!”

The smile on Suguru’s face unnerves Kanae slightly and she has the sudden realization that maybe, just maybe, she genuinely doesn’t know him anymore. The blonde girl behind Suguru lets out a screech that quickly wipes his malice laced smile into a softer one.

“Geto-sama! The store’s gonna close!” Her whining was giving Kanae a huge headache.

“It’s already that late? I’m sorry, Satoru, Kanae-chan. My girls just insist on going to get crepes from Takeshita street,” he began, “so I’ll be taking my leave.”

My girls, so he really did replace me.

When she looked up, Suguru set a hand on her head, though there was a slight delay. Satoru had activated his Infinity on her when he had grabbed her, only releasing it when knowing Suguru wouldn’t hurt her.

“See you soon, imōto.” He removes his hand and all she can think is how much she’s missed him. The two of them watch for a second time as he leaves and this time it stings just that little bit more. She looks at the group and then at Satoru, and takes a deep breath.

“Maki,” she says, “can we make some cookies?” Maki, who knew the other girl like the back of her hand, simply nodded, knowing she needed the distraction while their teacher and the rest of her family would undoubtedly be busy with meetings.

“Gojo-san, we need to go.” Satoru looked down at the girl, his little girl, and gave her shoulder one more reassuring squeeze before letting go.

“I’ll swing by later tonight, okay,” he whispers before taking his leave and giving the others a nod and going back to campus.

As they walked back she could feel everyone's eyes on her, it made her skin crawl. It was as if it was on fire and it made her so incredibly uncomfortable, but she told them that she would talk about her feelings when she was ready. And they respected her wishes just like she’s done to them many times before.

─── ⋆⋅ August 2017 ⋅⋆ ──

It was the first time in a while since Kanae had been sent to live at the Technical College. After Satoru graduated, he officially adopted Kanae. It was a day filled with happy tears, hugs, and an obscene amount of sweets. They had moved into an apartment and her family quickly grew from there.

Nine years later she’s back at the school and moving into a dorm with the promise of learning and finally earning money. It was about two weeks before classes were supposed to start, but she wanted to get back into the swing of things, help Inumaki move into his dorm and maybe make another friend. There was one person she had yet to meet and she wanted to at least be acquaintances with the other girl before classes started. One perk of your ‘bro-dad’ being your teacher, you find out about stuff before you’re meant to.

Kanae had already met and was friends with two of her classmates, Panda and Inumaki. Although the latter is her boyfriend and future spouse, so she supposed it didn’t really count. She had heard that the other girl was from the Zen’in clan and was unable to see curses. She hoped the two would be friends since they came from similar filial situations.

As she was moving that last of her things into her new room, or rather Satoru’s old room, she spotted someone moving into a room not too far down. She finished setting her things down and made her way over to the room before noticing the door was ajar. She knocked and smiled when the girl turned around.

“Hi, I’m Kanae! I’m your classmate, I believe.” The other girl did a once over before walking a little closer.

“Maki, you are.” Kanae looked up at Maki and smiled another bright smile.

“I like your hair! Do you need any help setting things up? I’m nearly finished, so I can lend a hand if you would like.” Maki looked down at the girl and noticed a couple scars on her body, a deep, jagged one on her collarbone.

“I can manage,” she replied. Kanae nodded her head before saying her goodbye’s before heading back to her room.

“Oh, I almost forgot! Let me know if you would like to explore the campus later.” Maki turned back around and nodded.

“You’ve already taken a look around?” She smiled and nodded.

“Something like that.”

————————————————————————————————————

Maki did in fact take her up on that offer and the two spent the next couple of weeks getting to know one another and becoming friends. They made a couple references to their families and although Kanae already knew of her ties, she would never want to pressure someone into opening up before they were ready.

The four first years quickly became friends and it felt as if they had known each other for years. Well for three of them that was the case. Maki would later learn that Kanae and Inumaki were in an arranged marriage, and were quite happy about it, along with Panda and Kanae knowing each other from their childhood. They were the only children around each other on campus and a friendship blossomed from there.

Maki and Kanae would later become best friends and share about their pasts. The day Maki found out about Kanae’s last name, she knew she could trust her with her’s. The pair became two peas in a pod and spent quite a large amount of time together, forming a sister-like bond. After one job together the two got matching beads to make bracelets with.

“They’re kind of like my favorite thing ever. Although if you don’t wear jewelry we can find a different way to match!”

A little over a month after meeting, Kanae had confessed that she wasn’t that skilled when it came to using weapons to fight without using her cursed technique. She was taught hand-to-hand, but had refused to learn how to handle a blade herself after some instances in her early childhood. Maki had been the one to teach her, and quite frankly who else would you want?

In the late nights beneath the blanket of stars, it was difficult for Kanae to ignore her trauma and all the emotions that consumed her mind. She kept up her more carefree, level headed demeanor during the day with ease, but when there was nothing else to occupy her it became overwhelming. Due to this the four would spend many nights together under the gentle glow of the moon, just talking and messing around. Just acting their age.

Later in the year Yuuta would show up and Kanae would be forced to see her brother take his last breath, but that’s for later. This is now.

─── ⋆⋅ December 2017 ⋅⋆ ──

When they finally made it back to the dorm everyone agreed that they needed to take a five minute break before they started moving again.

Kanae went to the showers alone since Maki was going to set her spear back in its case. As she walked she imagined all the time Suguru had walked these halls, had placed his feet in the same places as hers. After he defected she had spent a lot of nights with Shoko due to Satoru being a complete wreck, he would cry and he never liked crying infront of her.

“I’m supposed to be the one comforting you when you cry, not the other way around.”

He had been so depressed after, albeit he still is, but when the memories were still at the front of his mind, when the wounds hadn’t yet faded to scars, he would lay in Suguru’s bed and let his body be wracked with sobs. It was a heartbreaking thing to hear and most nights, or early mornings rather, she would sneak into Suguru’s room and curl against her brother. He would squeeze her tight and not let her leave until the last second. As if he was scared she would leave too.

While her mind was distracted, her feet had carried her back to Suguru’s room. She hesitated to open the door, but when she did it was covered in a thick layer of dust. No one has been here for years. Well, maybe Satoru since he could use his infinity, but she couldn't be sure

“Only for a minute, Kanae, you still have things you need to do, a shower to take, and acne to scrub away.” Unfortunately it was not a minute, not even five, when she looked at her phone she noticed it had been closer to two hours. When she rose from his bed her body hurt and there was an outline of her body on the sheets. Her head ached from the tears she shed, yet her eyes still burn with the anticipation for those to come.

She eventually made her way to the showers and could see how red her eyes were and how swollen her face was. She thought she looked similar to a weird looking squirrel.

________

After her shower she set her things down back in her room and made her way to the kitchen where her friends were there waiting. They made no comments about her eyes and no comments about her face. Set on top of the counter were all the ingredients for baking cookies.

─── ⋆⋅ October 2017 ⋅⋆ ──

It was the day of the exchange event and Yuuta was looking a little nervous. More like queasy if anything.

“ ‘Kkotsu, you feeling okay?”

“Kamo-san! How are we supposed to fight other students?”

“Kanae, ‘kkotsu!”

“Sorry, sorry! Kanae-san, a-are you not nervous?” Kanae patted him on the back and smiled.

“You’ll do great, ‘kkotsu! I mean you have a target on your back, but it’s nothing to worry about. Maki and I ‘ll make sure you don’t die! Right, Maki?”

“Don’t drag me into this, Kanae.”

“I’m going to die!” She sighed and shook her head.

“Ah, sorry, wrong choice of words. You’re not going to die, however you might get a little injured. Although everyone does.”

“I’ve accepted death.”

“My god, you’re dramatic.” She quickly glanced down at Yuuta to see if he heard her, he had and looked… well pathetic.

But like a good pathetic. No, Kanae, don’t think that. That’s gross.

Kanae looked over at Maki and motioned for her to come over. Maki saw this and turned around, so she didn’t see them. Kanae’s eye began to twitch ever so slightly.

“Maki!” The girl groaned, but turned around and made her way over and looked at him.

“You’re not going to die, stop exaggerating. You’ll be fine. Now get up and don’t embarrass us.” Yuuta looked up at the girl and shrunk back.

“I’d get up and listen, Maki doesn’t like repeating things,” Kanae whispered before grabbing his arm and hauling him up before Maki got too frustrated. The two girls were wearing their matching bracelets today, although they weren’t the most neatly made things, it showed that they were a pair. Maki had hers underneath the sleeves of her uniform while Kanae had

hers, and the many others she’s made/collected, where everyone can see.

Maki didn’t like wearing jewelry since it made a lot of noise and could get in the way while she fought, but for Kanae she’d wear one. Kanae looked over and saw the Kyoto school began to show up, so she brushed off any dirt on Yuuta and smiled at him.

“You’re going to be just fine. Toge, tell him he’ll be fine.” Inumaki rested his hand on Yuuta’s shoulder and gave him a thumbs up. Panda watched this interaction and had a slight blush on his cheeks. He made his way over to Kanae and bent down to talk to her.

“Kanae, are you seeing this?”

“Seeing what?”

“Are you okay?”

“Panda, is everything alright?”

“Inumaki is flirting!”

“Huh?”

“He’s flirting with Yuuta!” She looked at the two and shook her head.

“He’s not flirting, but it’s fine Panda!” Panda looked down at the girl before feeling her head to see if she was being delusional due to being sick. Kanae let him be, but not before sending him a questioning glance.

“Panda… you know I wouldn’t mind if he was flirting, right?” Panda placed another hand (paw?) on Kanae’s head. She sighed and gently moved his hands away.

“Panda, I don’t mind if Toge likes ‘kkotsu. I think he’s kind of cute actually.” Panda looked at the girl, confusion written all over his face. After a couple seconds she could practically see the gears turning in his head.

“Oh… so you both like him?” She shook her head.

“I don’t like like him right now. If anything it’s a small crush, but I think Toge does. Though who could blame him, he’s really adorable.” Panda watched as the couple both looked at Yuuta and noticed how they both had a light blush on their faces.

‘Humans are… weird.’

“It’s not weird, Panda.” The said corpse looks at her in astonishment.

“You can read minds?” She laughed and shook her head.

“No, I can’t, just a guess.” Panda hummed and nodded his head rapidly.

“Kanae, Panda let’s go!” The two made eye contact and giggled.

“I’ll tell you about it later,” she whispered before making their way over.

“Coming my lovelies!” Maki raised a brow and had a small smile on her face.

“You’re hyper today,” she noted. Kanae smiled at her.

“I’m always hyper.” Inumaki looked at her and bumped shoulders with her and grabbed her hand. When they finally reached the meeting place, she saw Noritoshi and some of her happiness began to subside. In its place came many variations of emotions. When it comes to siblings there’s typically a sense of attachment, however she hasn’t spent time with her brother in quite a while. Yet there’s still that underlying feeling where she knows that he may not be able to think for himself just yet, he’d still protect her if need be.

“Akane-san, nice to see you.” Kanae’s hand clenched around Inumaki’s as she plastered on a smile. And there he went, bringing up a past and its memories along with it. A past that had no business being brought up. However she couldn’t blame him the same way she might her father.

“Kanae, Nori. I guess in our time apart you’ve forgotten.” His mouth set into a thin line before trying to speak once again, but Maki beat him to the punch.

“Play nice for now and remind him up close and personal later.” The girl let out a small laugh into her free hand and looked over at her brother.

“Only if you have my back.”

“I always do.” The girls made eye contact and smiled. Kanae’s big and bright while Maki’s was more subtle. Platonic soulmates are always the best kind of friendships to have.

As she looked at her older brother she remembered meeting one day in the middle of the brutal summer heat and smiled to herself.

‘He’s so different, yet so similar all the same.’

─── ⋆⋅ June 2005 ⋅⋆ ──

The sun was burning her skin, but she didn’t mind. As long as she didn’t have to see her family. Satoru and Akane were at a meeting for all the shaman clans and he had told her that she should come too.

Now you see, Kanae is a well respected shaman-in-training when she’s older, loved by many, but when Akane was not. Akane was a nuisance and forgotten by most.

A burden

A useless child.

A waste of male, Kamo blood and inherited cursed technique.

Shortly before Satoru began school, the young girl had begun to show signs of a cursed technique, over time it became aware that it was an inherited one. In the Kamo clan women used to be worshiped. Women were seen as gods, as holy entities that were meant to lead rather than be leashed. Unfortunately foreign ideology slowly began to seep its way into the everyday lives of the people and enforced their ideals upon them.

For many in the shaman world, or any world for that matter, women are treated as second class citizens if they’re lucky enough to be seen as human at all. In the shaman world women are meant to breed more shaman children, and then their children will breed more, and the cycle continues. Kanae was blessed with a powerful cursed technique, blood manipulation. It garnered a lot of attention. Many believed that it should have gone to a male member of the family, someone who would become an heir. Though she didn’t know why anyone was complaining, Noritoshi was born powerful and most ‘importantly’ a male.

Akane didn’t like attending these meetings, but Satoru told her that she had more than earned her place to be here and she was willing to follow him anywhere.

“You’re Akane, correct?” The small girl turned and saw another young boy, a little older than herself. Her eyes widened at him, he’s gotta be the heir for Father.

“Hi. You’re Noshitori,” she asked. His borrows furrowed and a slight frown tugged at his lips.

“Noritoshi.”

“Oh, sorry.” He huffed and moved his head to face her more.The young girl thought his eyes were closed.

“How old are you?”

“ ‘m four!” She showed him a bright smile and he didn’t need to open his eyes any more than they already are to know that there might be a few teeth missing from it.

“Why are you here? Father couldn’t have asked you to come.” She shook her head before remembering he couldn’t see her.

“Oh no, he didn’t. ‘Ru asked me to come.” His brows furrowed again and tilted his head to the side.

“Who,” he asked.

“‘Ru!” The boy looked even more confused.

“Gojo Sa‘ru!” His eyebrows raised and Akane thought they might fly off his forehead.

“Gojo Satoru?” He clearly didn’t believe her, but with the way she kept on nodding her head it was difficult not to. The two stood next to each other and had a one sided conversation because even though she was four and it was sometimes difficult to understand her, she never stopped talking. She went on about some kids in her class and how she was learning her letters and numbers, but she couldn’t read quite yet. She made it a point to describe everything was seeing, so Noritoshi could ‘see’ it too. He didn’t have the heart to tell her that he can actually see and that his eyes just look closed. While he was looking at her as she talked, he noticed the similarities in their features such as their eyes and nose, along with their hair. Her eyes were gray, albeit a darker shade, and her hair was black like his.

Once the meeting was over and everyone began walking out, Satoru quickly made his way to the children and ruffled the girls hair.

“Akane! You’re so lucky you don’t have to go to these things, they’re so boring. Maybe if you went inside with me next time it would be more fun!”

“‘ ‘Ru! My hair!” He laughed in return and turned his head to look at the boy.

“Who’re you?”

“Kamo No-”

“He’s m’ brother Nori,” Akane interrupted. She stood up from where she sat on the ground and said her goodbyes to the boy, wanting to leave before the rest of her family showed up.

“See you later, Nori! It was nice meeting you!” He nodded and a small smile threatened to make an appearance, but before it could his father spoke and called him away, back to the estate where his mother no longer was.

─── ⋆⋅ October 2017 ⋅⋆ ───

When the exchange event came to its conclusion, Kanae hadn’t been as amazing as she had hoped. She didn’t make it to the final round of the one-on-one fights, and she made many mistakes in the group battle. She wished she could have done more, fought more.

She got too ahead of herself and nearly passed out from blood loss. Yuuta had to carry her around for that last part of the group battle, which she was still incredibly embarrassed about. However he assured her many times he didn’t mind it. She had gotten an earful from Yaga and Satoru, Maki had smacked her in the back of the head, Shoko had looked at her endlessly, but kept her thoughts to herself (not before staring at her in a way that made her feel even more embarrassed than she already was), and somehow Nanami even found out and sent her a wall of text telling her not to act that recklessly again. Inumaki had signed so fast she could barely keep up, and she felt awful for making him worry that much. He had sat next to her until Shoko allowed her to leave.

“Try not to pull a stunt like that again, Kanae. Too much paperwork.” Kanae smiled softly, knowing that she was trying to show her concern without outrightly stating it.

“I’ll try not to, Sho-nee.” Shoko nodded and shooed her away the second she got a text from Utahime.

When they went outside, Kanae felt her phone buzz in her pocket

‘Incoming call from shadow wannabe’

“Oh, ‘gumi wh-”

“What did you do?” Kanae paused for a moment. What did I do?

“... huh?” she heard a long sigh on the other end

“Gojo sent me a text saying you wouldn’t be able to get me from school and you’ve never been late, let alone not there.”

“Aw, are you worried about me?” She smiled.

“Nee-san.” She laughed at the huff he let out.

“Ah, well I needed to see Shoko. During the event, I pushed myself pretty hard and so I had to stay in the office for a while. But I’m better now!” She looked at Inumaki and tapped her wrist. He then showed her the time.

‘Thanks,’ she mouthed.

“It’s pretty late, please tell me you didn’t just get home?”

“...No.” Kanae let out a sigh.

“Were you bullying kids again?”

“It’s not bullying if they start it, plus you’re the one who told me that bullying works.” She rolled her eyes.

“I said that ‘cause you’d pour ranch, ranch, all over your fries and then wipe your fingers on your shirt. It was gross, and now you don’t use your shirt as a napkin. Bullying is effective in some cases, like when it comes to siblings. I don’t think you need to get nearly expelled from another school. ” Inumaki was laughing quietly next to her as the two continued walking to their respective dorms. Megumi mumbled something under his breath that Kanae didn’t catch, though she could take a wild guess at what it was.

“Are you okay?”

“I’ll be fine, ‘gumi. Nothing I haven’t done before. You had a test today right? How was it?”

“It was fine, I guess. Boring, Nakamura-san tried to cheat off me again. If she wasn’t obnoxious I would’ve let her be, but she’s never returned my mechanical pencil and she even uses it right in front of me! So of course I tell the teacher after the test. She tried to get her little brother to beat me up. Her little brother.” Kanae laughed softly, voicing her frustrations and agreeing that maybe harassing children was okay in the instance. She had been watching Inumaki fiddle with her fingers as they waited outside the dorms for the call to be done. After a while, she looked around and noticed that Noritoshi was waiting for her on a bench just outside the dorms.

“Hey, ‘gumi, I gotta go, but I’ll call you back later okay?” He stopped his tangent about how he couldn’t wait to be done with middle school.

“Can you facetime me later so I can see the ‘hottie’ you’ve been talking about lately?”

“Which one?”

“Black hair guy.”

“Oh, Okkotsu. No, he’s asleep in the infirmary right now, but we’ll call you back okay? We’ll introduce you to him soon.”

“Hi, Inumaki-san. Bye, Inumaki-san.” Kanae chuckled before hanging up.

“Toge, you head back first. I’ll be there in a sec.” He nodded, but not before giving her hand a squeeze. Kanae made her way over to her brother and sat down next to him.

“What you did today was reckless.” She groaned.

“Not you too, I literally just sat down!” He looked over at her, the tiniest traces of a smile on his lips.

“Yes, me too.” Kanae sighed and leaned against the back of the bench.

“It’s nothing either of us haven’t done before. I don’t know why everyone is acting as if there won’t be days where I’ll be put in a worse situation.” He sighed and looked at her.

“We all know that being a shaman comes with its occupational hazards, but that doesn’t change how -how idiotic you were acting. You were actively drawing blood out of your body and trying to control it with no medium to ease that burden. That’s dangerous! I know that we all will have to put our lives on the line a million times over for this job, but that doesn’t mean one should seek out death. There is a difference between risking death to win and being willing to die.” She peeked over at him and saw the furrowed brows, his worry lines creased.

“You sound like my dad.”

“Well Gojo-san is right.” She looks at him with wide eyes before bursting at the seams, letting out a loud laugh.

“I wasn’t talking about Toru-nii, to be specific, I meant in general.” He glanced towards her and frowned.

“He adopted you, did he not?”

“He did.” He nodded his head before looking back over.

“Is he- is he nice?” Kanae looked at him before smiling.

“He’s the best dad I could’ve asked for.” Noritoshi looked down at the ground, a smile fully formed on his lips.

“That’s good.” She glanced at him a couple times before she began to fidget, picking at her nail beds.

“I… I’m sorry for making you worry. I’ll be more careful in the future.” She moved her body to face his. She hesitantly wrapped her arms around him. He froze for a second before wrapping his arms around her.

“I’m sorry for not being there for you, for not being a better older brother, Kanae.” She felt her emotions bubble their way to the surface.

“I forgive you, it’s not like I was the best sister either. Thank you for being here for me now.” They sat like that for a while, not moving.

That night they opened their hearts for the other. After years of competing against each other, it was weird, but it was for the better. The two would still get into arguments about their… family, but now they were no longer alone in the Kamo clan. In the future they would slowly grow a bond and finally become the siblings they have longed to be for one another. But that’s the future. Tonight was the first step into becoming a family, towards healing.

─── ⋆⋅ December 2017 ⋅⋆ ───

The sound of laughter filled the air as everyone was somewhere in the kitchen baking. It was a mess, but they would deal with it when the time came. Satoru was watching in the doorway, watching as children got to be children. He had planned on consoling Kanae throughout the night, but can see that she’s distracted for now, so he went home to bother Megumi. He’ll cancel classes tomorrow and spoil everyone, like an amazing teacher would.

“Kanae-san, where did you learn how to make cookies?” She was sitting on the counter as Inumaki was putting the cookies into the oven for a couple minutes longer. Maki and Panda were trying to stealthy eat the leftover batter even though she said not to since there were raw eggs in it, and Yuuta was standing to the side of her, very close.

“Su-” she took a deep breath before continuing, “ My brothers taught me how to make them. Any time I had a bad day, we would spend hours in here making cookies, brownies, cake. Anything sweet really, Toru loves sweets.” He kept on twisting the ring on his finger, his connection with Rika. He then looked at her and moved closer so that his stomach was touching her knee.

“Do you mean Geto?” She hums and nods. He was watching every little twitch she made, making sure she was okay and that he wasn't overstepping. The two continued to talk about everything, anything, and nothing as they waited for the cookies to be done. Inumaki eventually made his way over and stood shoulder to shoulder, well more like shoulder to arm, with Yuuta, effectively corralling Kanae. She has a soft blush on her cheeks the more and more they move closer. She went to look around the room to see if the other two could save her from embarrassing herself, but they weren’t there.

How convenient.

“You know… since I call you by your first name, you should start calling me by mine.” There was a light blush on his cheeks as he said this.

“Yuuta… are you flirting with me?” That blush traveled to his ears. A slight nod of his head. Kanae leans in just a touch closer, though the blush she sported alo grew. She felt her blood rush to her head as Inumaki draw shapes on her thighs.

“We’ll always be here for you. We will try our hardest to make sure Geto doesn’t hurt you.” She looks him dead in the eye and her face goes slack.

“Yuuta, Sugu-nii hurt me a long time ago. I- I appreciate the thought I really do, but I’d rather he hurt me than hurt anyone else. Actually, I’ve never told you about him, have I?” Yuuta shook his head. They all sank against the wall and onto the floor.

“Well, I first met him when I was four.”

─── ⋆⋅ September 2005 ⋅⋆ ───

It was a couple weeks since school started and the three first years had yet to actually become the friends they will be to one another in the future. Suguru and Satoru weren’t best friends quite yet, and Shoko hadn’t scammed her way to a medical degree either. They had yet to go through the horrific tragedy that was Riko Amanai’s and Haibara Yu’s death, Suguru had yet to adapt the ideology of wiping out all non-shamans. The future has yet to happen, but unfortunately it is inevitable.

Satoru had been extra hyper that day, ready to get school over with faster than normal. He was getting on everyone’s nerves and Yaga had given up correcting him earlier within the day. When classes finally finished Yaga had pulled Satoru to the side and told him he needed to talk to him before Satoru could leave.

Suguru had been on his way to his dorm room to finish his homework when he saw a small girl walking up the steps with a small bag wearing a formal, and quite beautiful, kimono. Suguru walked over to the girl and squatted down in front of her.

“Hi, I’m Geto. What’s your name?”

“Hi, I’m Akane.” The young girl did a deep bow and nearly fell over. She quickly raised herself, blushing from embarrassment.

“Are you a firs’ year?” He raised a brow, wondering who this girl was, but nodded his head regardless.

“Do you need help? Did you get lost?” She shook her head, but Suguru still took her bag, holding it for her. She thanked him before asking if he knew where ‘Ru’ was. He was confused, seeing as he didn’t know a ‘Ru’, but told her he’d help her find him. It wasn’t long before it became apparent the girl knew more about the campus than he did. As they were turning the corner she heard a frantic ‘Akane’.

“ ‘Ru!” Akane smiled widely before taking off in the opposite direction. Suguru followed after her, however only needing to walk to keep up with her. When he saw Satoru making his way over to the girl, it finally clicked who ‘ru’ was. Satoru. He felt a little foolish for not catching on sooner, but watched as Akane launched herself into his arms, gripping for dear life.

“Akane, I've told you not to wander off like that when I’m s’posed to meet you somewhere.” She tilted her head down and mumbled a small sorry. Satoru sighed before saying he’s sorry for taking so long.

“Ah, sorry Gojo, it's my fault she wasn’t at the front. I was helping her look for you.” Satoru finally looked up from the girl, directing his eyes to his fellow classmate.

“How annoying,” was all he said before getting up, while still holding the girl, and walking off. Suguru quickly followed when he remembered he still had the child’s bag. As he followed he saw Akane making silly faces at him and giggling. Suguru found it quite amusing, even more so when Satoru saw the exchanges the two were having. Satoru scoffed when he saw the young girl smile at his classmate.

“Are you jealous that she’s giving me attention, Gojo?” Satoru turned around with a disgusted look on his face.

“Who would ever be jealous of you? You have weird bangs and an awful hairline.” Suguru pulled a face as if he’s sucked on a lemon and kicked his shin.

“My hairline is not awful and my bangs are fine. You shouldn’t even be saying anything about my hair when your hair looks the way it does!” Satoru and Suguru were invading each other's personal space, faces an inch or two apart.

“What about my hair, Geto?” Akane watched from her place in Satoru’s arms and laughed loudly. Both of them backed up and looked at the girl.

“You like each other!”

“... Huh?”

“Sensei says that if a boy picks on you it means he likes you. You pick on each other, so you like each other.” Oh how observant and blunt children can be. Both boys complained and made comments about how ‘wrong’ she was, but we as the readers (and those with common sense) know they’re just stupid.

“Wait… Gojo, how do you know Akane? Is she from your clan?” Satoru looked him dead in the eye and with no hesitation responded.

“She’s my sister, you idiot. Ya know for someone who claims to be as smart as you are, you’re pretty stupid. How’d you think I knew her? Did you think I had a kid at eleven, that I kidnapped her and she has Stockholm syndrome?” Suguru looked to the side, letting out a nervous laugh.

“Oh my god you did, didn’t you?” Satoru shoved him before walking off with the girl, failing to remember her bag again.However, that may have been on purpose so a certain boy would be in his dorm later that night.

When they finally got far enough Akane reached up and wrapped her arms around his neck.

“You called me your sister! Does this make you m’ brother?” Satoru looked at the girl, a laugh falling through his lips.

“I’ve always been your brother, since the day I met you.”

That day Kanae gained a brother and discovered she had one all along. That day Kanae opened her heart to another person without meaning to. In the future he will walk off with a part of not only hers, but her brother’s as well. When that day arrives, her brother will be there to comfort her, to remind her that he’ll always be there. When that day arrives, Kanae will learn that sometimes ‘soulmates’ doesn’t mean forever.

─── ⋆⋅ December 2017 ⋅⋆ ───

Kanae felt the tears make their way down her cheeks, she felt Yuuta hold her in his arms as Inumaki got up to take the cookies out of the oven. She felt safe, loved, and appreciated. When Inumaki came back, he brought a plate of cookies with him.

‘Do you want to go to your room, or one of ours?’

“ Mine, please.” Her voice was soft, almost like she was whispering. The three of them picked up their things and made their way to Kanae’s room. Yuuta had only seen her room in passing, never actually stepping inside. It felt taboo in a way, he’d never been in a girls room before. Though the way the couple held his hands, guiding him in, there is no way in hell he would walk away.

Stepping into the room, he saw that her room was cluttered, not messy, but covered with items. He saw that there was barely any actual room to be seen. There was something covering nearly every inch. What caught his eye were the polaroids taking up a good chunk of her wall. Some were faded, discolored at the edges, while others were more recent. There were so many different people in the photos, but some were consistent. In an older one, he saw two boys holding Kanae at the beach. The boys held hands and one of them was giving the older one a kiss. He could see how bright everyone's smiles were. Upon closer inspection, he noticed that the boys looked familiar. Yuuta’s eyes widened as he turned around.

“Kanae, is that sensei?” She looked over and nodded her head.

“The boy next to him is Sugu-nii. They used to take me on trips with them all the time.” He saw the dates on the bottom of the pictures span across years. Small sticky notes to the side stuck close to the photos. Unlike the photos, he could tell that these weren’t old, they were relatively new.

‘7/9/07 - last family trip to the beach’

‘4/12/07 - yu and ken-nii took me to the movies’

‘6/21/05 - first playdate with Nori’

‘5/17/05 - first playdate with Toge’

‘10/6/05 - last day with mother’

Yuuta watched silently as Kanae stood next to him, a vacant expression on her face, while she stared at them.

“What do you see when you look at these, Yuuta?” He looked confused at first before taking a closer look. What caught his eye was the way Geto seemed to go from a smiling, happy person to a cold, husk of a human. He also saw Gojo go from a carefree person to someone who bore a smile that didn’t reach his eyes. He saw Shoko’s eyebags grow darker, he saw Nanami grow more distant, he saw Kanae having a harder time smiling. He could see how much it pains her to stare at the people that are no longer in her life.

“You… you’re hurting all the time, aren’t you?” She looks at him, her eyes dulled just slightly.

“I’ve seen the more brilliant shamans come in and out of these dorms. I’ve seen them pursue successful careers, I’ve seen them die while attending here. I’ve seen so many people who feel the same as Suguru, I’ve felt the same as him. After he left I still held hope that he wouldn’t stay gone. That he would come back. I would leave voicemail after voicemail, asking him when he’d be home, that we’d welcome him with open arms. I think Toru-nii still would, to be honest. He could never move on after he left. I keep these photos as a reminder, to remember the people I have lost, to remember those who didn't get a chance to grow old like I have.” He sees Inumaki reach out and hold her. He holds her against his chest, trying to offer any comfort he can. Yuuta looks at Inumaki, silently asking him if it truly was okay for him to be seeing this, for him to comfort her.

Inumaki reaches his hand out, an invitation for him, Yuuta hesitantly grabs his hand. Inumaki pulls him towards them and this time Yuuta doesn’t hesitate. He wraps his arms around the people he cares deeply about. He holds them for the rest of the night, taking his place in their hearts and solidifying his place in their lives.

─── ⋆⋅ September 2007 ⋅⋆ ──

The day started fairly bland if anything. The sun was slightly hidden by the clouds, it wasn’t too hot or too cold, Kanae hadn’t slept in and she made sure to carefully make her way from her brothers tangled limbs and tiptoed out of Suguru’s room before leaving.

She went to school and no one said anything mean, she got a good score on her spelling test and she wasn’t late home. Suguru had told her before Kanae left for school that he would take her out for ice cream if she had done a good job. He had said that he would be there waiting for Kanae at the school gates.

He wasn’t.

The six year old had thought that maybe he was busy, or that he lost track of time, although three missed calls later she decided to go home. Satoru had gotten her a phone after what happened the year before with the older kids bullying her so she could get help if she needed it.

Throughout the walk back to the school, she had hoped that he would be there to greet her.

He wasn’t.

She had sat in the kitchen, waiting for him to pop up and fulfill his promise of ice cream.

He hadn’t.

She had sat on his bed doing her homework, hoping he was busy with a mission or out with Satoru.

He wasn’t.

She had been wandering the halls, looking for him, when she heard her older brother yelling. It was then she thought that maybe he had died. That he wouldn’t be coming back.

He hadn’t died.

She watched as Satoru screamed and screamed, hoping for an explanation.

She wouldn't get one for a long time.

She saw her brother a couple days later sitting on the steps of the school, eyes red, face swollen, as he explained to her simply.

“Sugu-nii won’t be coming home, Kanae.”

“Did he die?”

“...no, not physically.”

She had waited for Suguru anyway, waiting for him to come back and make Satoru feel better.

He never came.

One day after school she walked and walked to see if she could find Suguru herself.

She did.

“Sugu-nii? Is that you?” she watched as he turned around, surprised to see her there. He had been talking to an older man with a faint mustache on his upper lip and spiky hair.

“Kanae, what are you doing all the way over here? It’s not safe. Where’s Satoru?” She looked at him. She saw that his eye bags were gone, that the slump in his shoulders was no longer there, that he was gaining weight again. She also noticed that his hair was no longer in the tight bun he usually wore.

“ ‘re you feeling better?” His eyes widened a small fraction and smiled.

“ I am. Where is Satoru?” She looked to the side quickly for looking back at him.

“He’s not here. I don’t think he’d notice right now.” He frowned slightly before kneeling down in front of the girl.

“I’m sure he will, Kanae. He’s just moping about. Satoru will be back to normal soon.” She shook her head.

“ It’s like you died, Sugu-nii. I don’t like it at all. Are you coming home soon?” He looked at the girl, thinking of what to say next.

“Kanae, I’m not coming back.” Kanae’s brows furrowed before looking back at Suguru.

“What d'ya mean you’re not coming back? You have to, so we can be a family again!” He let out a heavy sigh. How do you tell the person who you view as a little sister, who you know if you stayed with you’d view her as your daughter, that you’re leaving and have no intentions of coming back? Suguru didn’t want to hurt her anymore than he already has or will, but he knew he couldn’t let her continue to hope that one day things will go back to normal. Even if he did, he would be executed for his actions. He reached for his wrist, taking off his bracelet, and handed it to the girl.

“Here, Kanae, so you can remember me. Satoru has a matching one, you’ll be his only family now, so you need to take care of him. Okay?” She looked at him confused.

“But you’re family too.” He opened his mouth then quickly closed it again. Suguru looked at the sky before looking back at her.

“I hope you’ll forgive me one day, or at least try to, but I’ve found a new family. One who understands me, who won’t judge me.” The small girl looked confused. All this time she had thought that they were a family, a happy family. Kanae thought that the love they had for one another would be invincible. Tears welled up in her eyes that she tried to fight back.

“But I love you, isn’t that enough?” Suguru was at a loss for words. He had been the one to preach to the girl that love can save people, that respect can save people. How could he face her after everything he’s said?

“I will always love you, you and Satoru, but I can’t stay in that place anymore. I was in pain and now I’m not,” he rose from where he was and pulled the girl into one more hug, “when you’re older, you can come find me, but for now you need to stay with your family.”

Kanae hadn’t understood it at the time, but she did get older. As she grew up, she poured over the files of her brother, trying to understand why he did what he did. She sat at the steps of the cult for hours at a time, trying to get a glimpse of him. She even tried to go in, but Kanae could never open the door.

As she grew older, she began to understand where Suguru was coming from, but that didn’t mean she agreed with it. She continued to deny her brother's actions, still clinging onto the hope he would be there when she woke up.

He wasn’t.

_______

-omg guys I’m so funny!!1! I was not originally planning on making this have so much angst, but i changed my mind later lol. The next chapter, ‘bona fide’ will be the final fight in jjk0 and bringing us to season one of jjk, which should be released 9/23. The next chapter after that, ‘purple lilac blooms’ will be a 5+1 fic which should be released 9/30. Thank you so much for reading and I hope you liked it!

#honney-pies #jujutsu kaisen #jjk #ma cherie #inumaki toge #okkotsu yuuta #inumaki x oc #yuuta x oc #inuokko #inumaki x okkotsu #inumaki x oc x yuuta

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