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𝐅𝐀𝐓𝐄𝐃 — f. megumi, i. yuuji

─── Caught between a man with a hidden curse inside his body and another man carrying the heavy burden of his father's sins, your fate was sealed the second you crossed paths with them

tw. language, mention of injuries, curses, aged up! characters, mentions of pregnancy, violence, degrading language

masterlist | playlist

CHAPTER 1

“So, are you implying that she is a concubine’s child?”

The head of the Zen’in clan’s eyes narrowed when the insinuation of those words sunk in.

His son, Noaya, was strong in body but not in mind.

This child was lucky Noabito Zen’in was in a good mood to entertain his devices and stupid questions.

“No. A bastard branch. Not legitimate and with no real bloodline.” There was a glitter of interest in the old man’s eye. “Though, I’ve heard about her technique. A shadow domain that is all under her.”

His son flashed him a lazy smile, the corners of his sharp eyes crinkling. “So, should we be worried?”

“No. However…”

“However?”

The possibility made him curl his lip in distaste. The old man had seen a lot in his days, but the fact that this degenerate woman who claimed she was descended from his pure clan made his blood boil.

“If she finds someone from our clan to have a child with, then we may have a problem.”

Naoya snorted. “Like anyone would want to impregnate that whore. She has no claim and no true bloodline.”

Even though his words were true, Naobito covered his apprehension with a derisive scoff. “Rest assured, none of you would. I raised you all well enough.”

Naoya had the gall to laugh, the sound bouncing across the tatami floors and hollow walls. Anyone who was worth their salt could walk by and hear their conversations, but Naobito didn’t care.

What could they do? Stop him?

The clan leader’s eyes roved over the alcohol beverage he held in his grip and he drank deeply from it, smacking his lips. He was Zen'in Naobito, head of the Zen'in clan and one of the most powerful men in Jujutsu society. No one would dare go against his wishes, however immoral they may be.

He wiped his mouth with the back of his hand, grimly staring at the cracks between the wooden floors before he clicked his tongue at the thought.

“Only a true idiot would put his clan in danger by starting another clan.”

Megumi glanced at the hospital doors that barred a young woman away from the world. He had heard the rumors, but he refused to believe it was true until he saw it with his own eyes.

Firstly, there was no way someone could travel in the shadows just like that. Sure, as part of the Zen’in lineage, he could hide in those dark masses, but that was so far the extent of his capabilities.

He could never move from one end to the other. Especially not by using those shadows as a portal.

But, despite the differences in their techniques, he couldn’t deny that her innate abilities were too similar to his.

There was only ever one Ten-Shadow wielder in a generation.

Maki and Mai-san were living proof of his reassurances. There was no one else like him.

At least, that was what Megumi thought before that frail reality came crashing around him.

The stoic young man glanced at the hospital doors while Yuuji whispered something to Kugisaki; probably about him, since their eyes were locked on his hunched figure.

He had not yet taken a look at this elusive woman and he was growing impatient.

If it were any other sorcerer, Megumi wouldn’t even give two hoots about who they were and what they could do. He wouldn’t care if anyone else besides his friends were injured or if they were knocking on death's door. It may sound cruel, but that was the nature of the Jujutsu world; you were either the one inflicting damage or the one suffering from it.

Phantom pain eclipsed his chest and he was reminded of the injuries he had suffered during the last mission Gojo had sent them on. Some random Grade 2 curse that could spit out fire. Megumi still had some bandages left from that altercation, and he wished he could fire Gojo-sensei for not giving him a proper brief before he left for the mission.

However, he could admit it was a shame his mentor wasn’t here. He would know what to say to address the lingering tension between the small group.

“Damn, I wish Gojo-Sensei were here to tell a bad joke or something,” Yuuji commented. “Probably something to do with Nanamin’s shoes.”

Megumi suppressed a sigh.

Okay, maybe it was for the best that the silver-haired man wasn’t here.

“Oi, stop frowning,” Kugisaki commented, walking in front of him, her skirt swishing around her knees as if it followed the currents of her agitation. “You’re making me wish I bought you that moisturiser so you don’t develop premature wrinkles.”

Megumi rolled his eyes and settled back against the hard plastic chair. “So? I’m reacting the only way I know how.”

She scoffed. “I’m not saying you should have a full on panic attack right now, but seeing you stressed out is making me stressed out.”

“I’ll be more considerate next time,” he deadpanned.

Kugisaki was about to open her mouth and say something equally as witty when the doors to the hospital room opened.

“Guys,” Yuuji warned. All three of them snapped their gazes up to find Shoko stumbling out of the room, suppressing a yawn.

She blinked when she felt three pairs of eyes on her, but didn’t seem all that surprised to find them there. Her lips pursed into a thin line and she gestured at the room.

“She’s awake,” the Jujutsu High doctor said tersely, removing a packet of cigarettes from her coat pocket. “Though I would highly recommend you not to do anything that might scare her. With her current condition, if she slips away in a shadow portal, it’ll be lethal for her.”

Megumi nodded and walked ahead. He had to question this strange girl. It’s not every day that someone with the same type of abilities waltzes into the Jujutsu world. He had to be careful and weary.

He would start by asking who she was and what she was doing here.

Why did she drop out of the sky in the middle of a train station?

Where did she come from and why in didn't she have a last name?

There was no record of her that Shoko could come up with.

It seemed like this girl just… manifested one day.

If it wasn’t for Megumi butting in and telling Principal Yaga to have a few minutes with her, she would’ve found herself in the same position as Yuuji did when he first arrived at Jujutsu Tech—bound in the underground basement with protective talismans placed on every inch of her body and around her.

Megumi glanced at his pink-haired friend as they weaved through the halls.

It was bad enough to convince the higher-ups to spare the execution rite when Sukuna’s vessel was brought into the walls of Jujutsu Tech. And now…

It seemed like there was another possible threat of danger.

The young man sighed. They couldn’t be too careful, especially with the current wave of special grade curses popping up around Tokyo that were responding to Sukuna’s awakening like moths to a flame.

He pushed the door open and entered a small, sterile room.

The girl was bundled on the bed, swathed in blankets. Her chest was rising and falling slowly, and for all intents and purposes, it seemed like she was asleep.

Well, she was before Yuuji slammed the door close behind him loudly.

She startled, shifting from under the blankets. He could see a peek of her pale forehead from behind the blankets.

He cleared his throat, about to ask her what her name was, when Kugisaki sighed loudly.

“Okay, enough with this charade,” the brown-haired sorceress snapped. “Come out from under there or we will make you.”

Her threat seemed to shake the girl up and she dropped the blankets.

The first thing Megumi noticed were her eyes.

They were wide with fear, the pupils almost pinpricks with dark circles surrounding her flesh.

She was shivering and her gaze landed on Yuuji first, shifting to Kugisaki, and then finally to him. The moment her eyes met his, he felt a strange jolt in his chest. Megumi couldn’t stop the small gasp that escaped his lips, his brow furrowing.

She stopped shaking when she noticed him, her mouth dropping open into a small ‘o’.

For a long minute, no one said anything, the tension thickening and thickening until it was reaching its breaking point.

Yuuji noticed the change and glanced between the both of them and was the first one to cut through the pressure with a confused hum.

“Fushiguro?”

The girl mouthed his name, almost like she was trying to remember where she had seen him from.

Weirdly enough, Megumi was doing the same. He racked his brain, thinking of where he had seen this familiar stranger.

Kugisaki lifted a brow and glanced over at her other friend.

“Are they… are they alright?”

Her voice seemed to snap the other girl out of her trance and she dropped her gaze to the blanket.

Megumi gathered the questions he meant to ask, about to fire them away when she stopped his train of thought with a slight chuckle.

“It’s you,” she said, eyes wide and almost glowing with happiness. “They told me I would find you here but I didn’t expect it to be so soon.”

“Huh?” Yuuji’s confusion echoed his.

Kugisaki narrowed her eyes. “Found who?”

The girl lifted one finger to point at Megumi. “Him. The shadow wielder.”

Almost instinctively, Yuuji and Kugisaki gathered closer to his side. Megumi felt a prickle of panic, but he kept his stance.

He waited for her to continue with a cool gaze.

She shook her head. “I mean no harm.” To emphasise on her statement, she lifted her hands up in a show of surrender. “But, I'm glad I found you. I’ve been searching for you for my whole life.”

Her whole life? Those words made his head spin. Sure, he was a valuable sorcerer, almost sold to his misogynistic clan by his deadbeat father. But, Megumi was sure, he wasn't that valuable to earn a stranger's admiration.

“Why would you want to find me?” His voice was low and dangerous.

She dropped her hands and lifted her tearful gaze towards him, shocking him once more.

“Because,” the young woman whispered. “You would be the one to help me restore the balance.”

The smile that lit her face up was bright and she was positively glowing. “Fushiguro-san, you are the one that will help me finally bring back honour to my family line.”

“Honour to her family line?” Yuuji replayed that strange girl’s last words. He screwed his face up into a look of concentration. “Are you both related?”

“No,” Megumi replied tersely, annoyed that Yuuji would even consider that fact. He looked nothing like this mad woman in front of him. “I’ve never met her before.”

“Eh,” Kugisaki quipped, hands on her hips. “If you didn’t, then why were you both staring at each other so intently?”

His two classmates reenacted the scene, much to his consternation.

Kugisaki widened her eyes, puckering her lips into a grotesque rendition of a gasp. “Fu-Fushiguro-san.”

Yuuji adopted his stoic air, brow furrowed. “Yes, girl-I-have-only-met-two-minutes-ago?”

“I have been waiting for you...for my whole life,” Kugisaki pressed the back of her hand to her forehead, mimicking a woman swooning. “You… you will help me bring honour back to my family.”

“I will,” Yuuji nodded, his serious expression cracking with a fit of giggles he held back. “I will help you in any way that you—”

“Shut up,” Megumi snarled and both of them blinked at his reaction. His cheeks were red, and all he wanted to do was crawl somewhere in a hole and just pass out. “I did not say that.”

“Oh yes, because what you said next was the stuff of literature, huh?” Kugisaki tested him, her brow arched. “Yuuji, tell me what he said.”

Yuuji adopted his serious air once more, his jaw clenched for an added effect. “Oh.”

Kugisaki burst into a fit of laughter. “All he could say was—pfftttt.”

“Oh,” Yuji repeated again and dissolved into laughter, joining her teasing.

Megumi inhaled deeply and walked away, ignoring their cries for him to come back. His friends didn’t follow after him and at least those idiots knew not to infringe on his peace anymore.

He was seconds away from summoning his Divine Dogs on their snickering asses.

The dorm hallways came into view and he slunk back into his room, collapsing onto his bed. Here, he could fully replay back what had happened. Despite Kugisaki and Yuuji’s teasing, their words stuck with him.

Bring honour back to her family line.

Are you both related?

No. Megumi would know if it was another Zen’in. Maki would want to meet her, but the fact that his family member felt like it was nothing to worry about spoke volumes to how he should treat this situation.

He should regard her words as nothing more than an injured woman’s mutterings. She did hit her head on the floor pretty hard when she appeared out of thin air.

It was just his luck that the three of them were patrolling the area when they sensed the use of cursed energy.

And it was just his luck that she decided to appear in an abandoned man’s bathroom and both him and Yuuji were forced to carry her out of there as they tried to avoid passers-by getting the wrong idea.

Megumi sighed loudly and slapped his hand down his face.

For once, he wished Gojo were back from his business trip so that he could speak to him. If there was anyone who could maintain his usual sense of madness in a world that was hurtling towards insanity, it would be his mentor.

Strangely, he needed Gojo’s instability right now. But, since he would rather eat his own foot than admit it, Megumi summoned one of his Divine Dogs who whined and nipped his earlobe affectionately when he didn’t open his eyes.

He dropped his hand from his face and sank his fingers into the thick black fur, staring into his curse’s eyes.

“Keep me company tonight?” he muttered to the Shikigami.

The dog bobbed its head and allowed him to bury his face in its chest.

Soon, Megumi was out like a light and the shadows of the day stretched out across his walls, spilling over his prone form as the darkness sucked out the last of the sun rays, pushing him deeper into unconsciousness.

It was him.

It was really him.

The pain that you felt when you fell from a three-storey building and right into a train station bathroom was nothing compared to the elation you felt in your chest.

Admittedly, you were sceptical when a source told you to head straight to Tokyo. It wasn’t as if this city held any significance for you.

You had called the countryside your home for the past few years and you were proud of it. It was a refuge away from the horrors of a city ran by ancient clans and bloodthirsty rulers who fought over power and killed each other’s newborn in their sleep.

Compared to the congested streets and constant loud noises, your humble one-room house tucked close to the hills with no neighbours for miles around you was a vision.

But, it was not all bad because you had done it.

You had found the infamous shadow wielder. The head of the Zen’in clan.

He was different compared to the stories of his predecessors.

He seemed more… human.

There was a sliver of compassion in him, and though he carried himself as a normal man, you knew from sight and the innate knowledge that he was anything but.

Megumi Fushiguro was your salvation.

He was your light in a tunnel bloodied from centuries of oppression and clan cleansing.

He would be the one to help you regain your family’s name and plant the roots of your wiped out clan as the father of your first child… but only if you played your cards right.

Your expression hardened. You had to play your cards right.

There was no doubt about it.

You could not let him slip out of your fingers now, not when you were this close to the end of the tunnel.

Days had passed and you last saw Megumi.

A tired Shoko had answered your question with a terse, “He’s on a mission,” and that was the only thing you knew.

The tense meeting you had with the three sorcerers and your impending conversation with Megumi made you restless, so it was no surprise that you found yourself wanting to slip out of the confines of these bare walls. You had no idea if it was possible—if there was a veil or barrier keeping you here, but you had to try.

There was a large enough shadow that spilled from the cabinet, and you quietly got up, sinking one foot into it and another until the cool portal wrapped around your neck, bringing you into its dark embrace. With the sensation of falling, you opened your eyes to pure darkness, the kind that no human eyes could adjust to.

If you could describe this void space between the world and the shadow realm, you would say it felt like being thrown into the depths of the ocean.

Any ordinary human would be crushed by the weight, but you were not like them. You belonged in the darkness and it belonged deep in you. The both of you were one.

The depths felt like moving through molasses, and you tried to sense for an opening, pushing your body towards that subtle siren call.

There it is.

There was an available portal. You felt it like the gentle tugging of a mother’s hand on yours, a current that wrapped around your body and deposited you back into the real world.

You gasped, falling onto the floor as light flooded behind your closed eyelids. It took you a moment to get your bearings right, and you pried your eyes open to find a homeless man staring at you, slack-jawed and face white.

“Ghost! Devil! Help!” He screamed and took off, running towards the end of the alleyway. You stood up on shaky legs and shivered. The shadow realm always left you disorientated and needing a few seconds to warm up.

There was a large building up ahead, and you realised you were in the middle of the city.

Well. You guessed you could kill time by doing some window shopping.

Strolling down the streets of Tokyo, you were well-aware that you stood out in nothing but a long sleeved shirt and a pair of jeans. It was far too cold for someone to dress this casually, but you were used to the chill.

There was a sale happening at one shop that caught your eye when you noticed a strange shape in the distance. It looked like a mix between a snake and a human that stood over 7 feet tall. But, its spiked tongue that dangled out and was too close to an unsuspecting older woman’s head made you stop short.

It was a curse.

You had never seen one this close before, but it was horrifying.

The curse leaned forward, ropes of saliva dripping down and landing on the pavement, dribbling around the older woman. The words came tumbling out of your mouth before you could stop it.

“Hey, you!”

The creature snapped its jaws back, its reptilian eyes narrowing when it saw you staring at it.

“I beg your pardon?” the older woman scoffed, apparently thinking you were calling out to her.

The curse curled its lip to reveal a set of pointy teeth and took off, slithering away. You noted with disgust that it had legs like a centipede, skittering and propelling its slimy body between unsuspecting humans.

“Sorry,” you rushed out to the older woman before chasing after it as fast as your sneakers could take you.

Dashing past bewildered faces, you muttered apologies, keeping your focus on the shiny scales of this wayward curse as you turned down a narrow alleyway, coming face to face with a horrendous sight.

The curse stood at the end of the lane, its hybrid face twisted in fury, the spiked end of its tail lashing back and forth in agitation. Its body was huge and easily spanned across the narrow walls, blocking your way towards the other end of the alley.

“You can see me, human?”

Its voice reverberated around the small space like nails on a chalkboard and you winced.

Wasting no time, you snapped your hands forward, and the shadows did your bidding. They melted off the walls, amassing at your feet, covering your knees and eventually your hands in cool licks like a mass of writhing snakes ready for your bidding.

If a curse could cry with surprise, this one did.

“Sorcerer!”

It didn't hesitate, hurtling towards you, and you flicked your wrist up, a dark tendril lashing out and catching the curse in its face. Spurts of purple liquid drenched you and you quickly twisted on your heel, pivoting around and arching the shadows around your hands to form a half-sickle that caught the curse in its belly as it flew overhead you.

There was a hissing sound and you barely had time to duck down before its tail came racing past your face, a spike catching on your cheek.

You tasted blood in your mouth and gasped as the pain flashed through you.

The curse gave you no respite, using its tail like the end of a spiked ball, trying to catch you in its sharp net. You dodged and feinted, avoiding the sharp spikes, rolling over and ducking down, the shadows following every roll of your body.

You lashed out with another shadow spike of your own, catching it in the neck this time, before slicing off three of its legs. The curse bellowed, nearly deafening you, and slunk back into the shadows.

That was one of its biggest mistakes.

It should’ve known that the shadows responded to you and only you.

Dark tendrils wrapped around its body, slithering and roping around its neck. You lifted your hand up, clenching it down into a fist, the power tremoring through your veins as the curse whimpered its last, its body disappearing in a puff of purple smoke.

The shadows melted off your body, retreating back to their original positions.

You sagged against the wall, touching your bleeding cheek. Eyes closed, you didn’t sense three more people at the end of the alley, their eyes locked on you.

“Whoa.”

You snapped your eyes open, a shadow on the other end of the alley responding to your sudden shock and wrapping around your hand that was raised in a defensive stance.

Yuuji, Kugisaki and Megumi were staring at you with wide eyes, varying expressions of shock splashed across their faces.

“D-did you just exorcise that curse?” Yuuji asked, brows shooting to his hairline.

You were sure you didn’t understand him. “U-um, what’s exorcising?”

The three of them shared a glance and it seemed as if they were having a silent conversation.

Their connection ended when Megumi was the first one to approach you, a hard look on his face. He backed you towards the end of the wall, leaning down close to you.

You opened your mouth to tell him to step back, when he snapped his hands together to form a strange shape with his fingers and suddenly, a black dog was staring at you, its fangs bared.

“Fushiguro!”

You lifted your hand back up to cover your face, but the dog didn’t attack. It caged you between its bigger body and the wall, sniffing your neck and then whining quietly, before trotting back to Megumi’s side. In front of your eyes, the huge dog melted into a shadow and disappeared.

Watching with bated breath, you met his impassive gaze.

“I was checking if she’s a curse user.”

You glance at Kugisaki and Yuuji who were gaping at him.

“I’m not a curse user,” you said in a small voice. “I… I don’t know what you mean.”

“Shadow whore.”

Another voice filled the alleyway, and your eyes widened when you realized it was coming from Yuuji’s cheek. A mouth twisted from the marking under his eye and was set into a sneer.

“You finally dared to show up, huh? Tired of hiding away. Don't you know that you belong to me—even in this life.”

You gaped as Yuuji slapped a hand to the mouth, hissing at it to go away.

“W-what the hell was that?!”

Megumi’s gaze melted from Yuuji and turned to you. His hard expression wavered and a look of confusion came over him.

The dark-haired young man ignored your question and shot you another one that made you stop short, your brain racing to come up with the proper answer.

The look on his face was nothing short of weary distrust.

“What the hell are you?”

a/n: stan megumi for clear skin. also feedback and rbs are super appreciated <33

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