Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Still writing this first Chapter, like writing in Ao3 editor so it'll be finished by the end of today but this first one will come in bits in pieces across October 1st :D

9th November, 1997.

A week after the last incident matching the description of a string of murders flagged by windows for being suspected to be done via Jujutsu Sorcery. The residual Cursed Energy of an assumed exorcised Cursed Spirit (responsible for the death of two Grade-2's and one Semi-Grade-1 Sorcerer) was found alongside that of a previously unknown Curse User at the Takada Residence located...

Due to these recent events, the Curse Spirit's Status has been updated to 'ACTIVE' and unless it remains inactive for the standard five year period (ending: 9th Nov. 02), the update of the Curse's status back to 'EXORCISED' has been postponed.

In light of it's described abilities by the two survivors of the attack, it has been promoted from Semi-Grade-1 to Grade-1 and granted official title "MIMIC CURSED SPIRIT" which all future and past documents will now be filed under.

Said two Survivors described the Curse User who fought against this Curse as 'Tall, Female and likely Foreign', this information and the details described by the witnesses about their Cursed Technique have been filed under 'Curse User .97 Case: 642.

A sample of the Blood left behind by the Curse User has been taken and the Residuals Recorded, Stored via talisman and Transported to Jujutsu Headquarters store room's "Residual Cursed Energy Archive," to be used as reference to identify them or their Residuals in case of repeated acts of Criminal Sorcery in the future.

...

"Gyokuken," from beneath the feet of the young child, no older than seven or eight, rose a white canine that reached his chest or an adults upper thigh in height; his two hands held in a hand sign of a dogs head as it burst from his shadow, forming from liquid shade into its solid form. It held a a red triangle on it's forehead, the points thick circles connected by thin lines. 

This marking seeming more like a brand on it's forehead than anything naturally occurring, none of it's fluffy white fur coming from the area and instead the tattoo had the feeling of hardened skin when touched.

It's twin, Gyokuken Black held an identical symbol (the sign of it's 'treasure', whatever that meant) on it's own head, both of them had two of the three points above each of their eyes, but the third point faced down on the white dog and up on the black.

Sending the beast a meaningful glance, he got a serious look out of the corner of it's eyes, it's ears stook up straight and head bowed low as it began to growl. It would seem that he'd found his mark.

And he'd come prepared.

Wearing a short sleaved black shirt and the least restrictive black sweat pants he could find, he also wore elbow and knee pads meant for a myriad of sports. It was what he wore whenever he tried to tame one of his Shikigami, the process of accessing even the most basic of the Ten Shadow's techniques Shikigami was life threatening if he took it lightly, so this basic protection was mandatory.

Yet that wasn't the limit of what he'd prepared. Considering all that he'd found over this week of training to build up to this, what he was facing was somewhat intelligent, so he'd prepared an act of deception in his clothing.

Several leather pouches he'd made from scraps leant to him by a tailors near his foster parents house, strapped onto him by harnesses he'd made from old belts. They held the little medical supplies he'd managed to acquire and cobble together and a few weapons that a child could get their hands on. He'd be fighting, should this lead to combat, with these weapons exclusively and with these straps so present on his person, his opponent wouldn't think he'd have an inventory he could access easily thanks to his technique.

Once it thought him defenceless and out of weapons, it'd close the distance, and then he'd capitalize on that fallacy to kill it quickly with the weapons stored in his shadow, trickery, that was the corner stone of Sorcery.

It was a well thought out strategy and one that he could do without, no plan survives first contact with the enemy afterall and it was only one of the little tricks he'd prepared to kill his target. He didn't need it to win, but any path to victory without risk was worth venturing.

And wasn't that something, the Divine Dog he'd summoned falling back to liquid and falling to the depth of his shadow now that it's purpose of confirming that he'd found the right place was complete (one he couldn't do himself thanks to an ability that thing possessed), to think that he would be putting himself into harms way like this... it wasn't exactly something he'd do lightly or unprepared, but it was also something that he couldn't refrain from doing. Not after what he'd seen the week before.

His routine was rather simple, he'd train in the morning, go to school, train at school, go home and train again at home. While his training couldn't exactly fit that much physical conditioning given that he wasn't exactly old enough for that yet, it could take the form of brain storming his next subjugation ritual or practising the use of his Cursed Energy - both keeping stable output no matter the emotion he was feeling or the speed in which he could enhance a part of his body.

(While it had been a long time since he'd read the 'source material' he could still remember the basics of reinforcement that had been sprinkled throughout the story of Jujutsu Kaisen and interpret into how to actually use the preternatural powers he now found himself with in this second life -it still felt unreal-. Not an easy feat, given that the words on a page where much different than the actual feeling, but he would say that he had the basics down.)

Not that he had a way to confirm if he could actually control his Cursed Energy Output or the Flow of said Energy without actually focusing his senses and concentrating, which couldn't afford to do in the middle of combat.

Though from the few fights he'd already had to tame the few Shikigami he has, it seemed he was doing fine.

All of that to say, that his senses for Cursed Energy, while he assumed wasn't extraordinary among the likes of Grade-2's, was pretty good.

So on that day, when on his normal route home, he felt a spike of Cursed Energy from the suburban house he'd been walking past, he couldn't help himself. It was a good day when someone attacked by a curse died a good death, afterall, and he couldn't articulate an excuse as to why he could condemn someone he didn't know to fait worse than death.

(Was that a good enough reason? Was it not? At the end of the day he couldn't think of a reason not to help and despite of the feeling of fear settling deep in his gut, in that moment what mattered more was that there was something that hurt others not that far from him -was he pretending to be some kind of altruist? he knew he wasn't, but his legs moved along before he could question himself, his decision on the matter made)

The walk from the curb to the wide open front door was nerve wracking, yet he still found himself striding through the eerily silent house to the room emanating Cursed Energy like a torrent.

He tried to convince himself that what he was feeling, that sense of dread at the wave of Energy coming from the end of the long -long- hallway was thanks to a tragedy not caused by a Curse. Perhaps some bad news had a family in grief and he'd broken in with no reason, 'what an idiot!' he'd been thinking.

He'd been half heartedly coming up with excuses he'd give to the home owner as he lightly trod down that hall way when he first caught the odour wafting from the door second to his right and, at that moment where he stilled and his own Cursed Energy spiked to about half his max output -alerting what was in the house, he'd later note- was when he heard a window break from that room.

All sense of subtlety lost, he'd rushed the final trek and burst into the living room, adorned with frugal decorations for a birthday and which was drowning in blood.

Now, he wasn't sick when he saw this, even though he did go light headed; that experience had been reserved for the time he'd Subjugated Gamma, the toad Shikigami had been large and, after he'd managed to trap it in the basement of his house during the latter part of it's renovation to help hide any damage done by it's fight, had took the Divine Dog's and him a little while to hack to pieces (Shikigami's, curiously enough, bled red and not purple, stinking like human blood too). So when he gazed on the blood bath in the living room, three dead, two adult and a child, he managed to hold back from retching.

More importantly, the far window had been broken, he'd ran -the bottom of his school shoes caking in blood and that disgusting scent of iron and raw meat filling his lungs- to it to check on what caused it not ten seconds ago.

On the other side, rushing down the side path next to the house, was the form of a curse. It was black and blue like bruised flesh and it move on four long claw like limps on it's torso, it's legs consisting of a single long stinger that was so short that it'd only reach anything it's grabbed in it's 'arms'. It's movement was like an insect and it quickly absconded to the road outside before he, as short as he was, could leap out the window and follow.

Chapter Text

"Gamma" from the shadows beneath his feet, a form began to emerge, forming from the surface and sitting snuggly two paces in front of him. Overall it was round and otherwise could be described as bulbous.