I watched her stand, her left hand clutching my hoodie and her right attempting to break my own. She righted herself, finding her footing.
I watched with the smallest bit of disappointment as she tried to put my hoodie back on.
But the keyword in that sentence was "tried" because apparently Heian Era sorcerers can't work modern clothes. I watched her struggle with the holes, ending with her head in the sleeve. I could help her, but knowing her, she might take that as an insult.
She pulled the hoodie back over her head with a frustrated huff, glaring at me. Her hair frizzed slightly from the motion, and admittedly, she looked adorable, frustrated at my hoodie.
I raised an eyebrow, amused, and she glared harder. I smirked, knowing she wanted help, but resolute in making her ask.
She grumbled under her breath, but I couldn't quite make it out. "Would you—" She swallowed like the words took a physical effort, "Would you please help. Me." She growled out, and I smiled fully. Was that so hard?
I stepped closer and gently grabbed the hoodie from her grasp. "Put your arms up like so," I said, and raised my hands to the sky. She did so, still glaring into my eyes, and I drank in her form one final time.
I put the hoodie over her, pulling it down, before helping to feed both her arms through the hoodie. It came down fully, her arms still raised, and her head popped through.
She was still glaring right into my eyes, and an embarrassed redness lightly dusted her cheeks at her own incompetence. "What are you looking at, Giant?"
Her words made me notice the height difference between us. She was tall, but the top of her head only came to about my chin. "You," I responded plainly, watching her eyes widen for what felt like the 100th time today.
I followed up before she had a chance to rebuke my statement, "Are you okay to move? Our fight might have brought some unwanted attention." I asked even though I could sense no one in the immediate area.
Her surprise gave way to annoyance at my doubting of her abilities, "Please, this has hardly been—" She stumbled forward, and I moved to catch her before her gaze pinned me, agitated by my apparent pity, "—my toughest fight, of course I can move." She spat, steadfastly refusing aid.
"Ooookay," I said, my disbelief evident, but I decided not to call out her flagrant lie. We started back to the city's center, walking in companionable silence for a minute before I assumed Uro got bored with it.
"So," she started her voice noticeably less confident than before, "This group—faction, whatever you call it… who all is part of it." I sweat dropped.
"Uhh, at the moment…" I paused, seemingly counting in my head, "…only you and me." She stopped dead, nearly face-planting.
She turned to me, disbelief written on her face, "…come again?"
I sweat dropped harder, "…yeah, you were kinda my test run?" I answered, but it sounded more like a question. That wasn't helped by the fact that I started to scratch the back of my head out of nervousness.
She cursed quietly under her breath before sighing, "Let me guess, you want me to help you recruit?"
'…uhh no I'm making this up as I go, but sure that works.' I thought to myself before responding, "…in a manner of speaking." I replied cryptically. I would decide what I wanted her help with after she was done teaching me.
"What I really need from you is a crash course," I continued, watching as her face blanked at the term, 'And she doesn't know what that is… christ I have my work cut out for me.'
"I need a refresher on some of the… finer aspects of Jujutsu." Her face twisted in abject disgust. "What?" I asked, confused, about what she found so revolting.
She took a deep breath to calm herself, "Let me get this straight, you—" She said, looking me dead in the eyes and pointing at me, "—just beat me, breaking my domain in a way I have never even heard of, and you want me to what? Teach you?"
Well, when you put it like that…
"Yeah, pretty much," I said, turning away from her and resuming walking, "I got no clue how to do any anti-domain technique aside from Resonance Cascade. And don't even get me started on a domain of my own or RCT." I threw my hands up in a "What can you do?" gesture.
"So I need a rundown of the fundamentals and how I even start to realize my own domain expansion," I said, turning back to look at her and walking backwards.
She blinked at me once, then twice, closed her eyes, and let out a resigned sigh. "…fine." It was my turn to stop and blink at her, 'What?'
She noticed my lost gaze, getting slightly annoyed once more, "What I'll teach you isn't that what you wanted?"
"Yeah?" I said, confused. I had thought it would have been harder to get her to teach me. I was fully prepared to trade future knowledge for that, but who was I to look a gift horse in the mouth?
She flicked the hair that was still caught in the oversized hoodie out and over her shoulder, appearing distinctly prideful, "Why do you look so surprised? As captain of my former squad, it was naturally my duty to train the weaker members until they weren't totally useless."
I blinked. I hadn't thought of it that way. "Then would you be okay with starting right now?" I asked impatiently.
I watched her stiffen, sweat breaking on the side of her face, "…I think it would be better to wait until I can demonstrate the techniques." Ahh, right, she was almost out of cursed energy.
"I'll hold you to that," I said and smiled, turning back around to walk side by side with her. We were silent for a moment, the silence slightly awkward. "So…" I started my brain rushing to think of something to ask, "What's it like?"
"What's it like?" She asked in turn.
"Wearing the sky," I asked, because I was genuinely curious about what wearing literal space felt like. She huffed and put on an annoyed mask, but the slight uptilt in her lip gave away her amusement.
"It's like nothing else, you feel completely bare, yet surrounded. Free even though you're confined." She said, staring into the distant sky, reminiscing, and I hummed, urging her on.
But her gaze quickly turned contemplative, and she looked down, shoving her hands in the hoodie's pocket. "…It's really cold." She added under her breath, sounding uncomfortable.
Our pleasant talk and trot was rudely interrupted by a swarm of curses, each with just a little more cursed energy than Uro currently had.
There were maybe 50 of them total, and each was disgustingly unique in its own way.
'Did they get drawn to the fight?' I looked to Uro. While she would never admit it in her current, incredibly weakened state, they posed a threat to her.
As I suspected, her hands were clenched into shaking fists, but her face only showed excitement. 'Yup, tsundere through and through…'
"Hey, I broke her from her thoughts, and she turned to look at me, "Try to keep up, yeah?" Then I was off, having already Aerostepped towards the swarm of incoming curses.
I felt her cursed energy rush to catch up, but with her technique exhausted, the two of us were in different leagues entirely.
I smiled softly because even when fighting alongside Todo and Yuji, I had never had this much fun.
'She's a real piece of work, but man, is she fun.'
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.
The curses were weak.
Or maybe we were just strong. In the end, the result was the same, a decimated road flooding with curse blood.
I watched Uro stomp a curse's head into the pavement, its exoskeleton crushed, and she clicked her tongue in annoyance. I noticed a curse jumping from the top of a nearby building and went to warn her, but–
She turned, having already sensed it, and tapped it with her palm.
Space shattered, and the weak curse was turned into a purple smear on the side of a building. Oh, her technique was back. That was nice, it was a very comfortable hoodie, so I couldn't wait to–
I took another look at Uro, more specifically, the pristine condition of the hoodie without a single drop of curse blood on it. I looked down at the purple blood evaporating off my own shirt. Then, back as she put her hands in the oversized hoodie pockets and turned back to me.
I stared at her expectantly, and she blinked, "What?" she asked, confused.
I sighed and looked to the sky, 'That seals it,' I closed my eyes in mourning, 'I'm never getting that hoodie back.'
"Nothing," I said and turned my focus back on her, "You know I never asked before, but how many points do you have?"
"10," she stated matter-of-factly, but there was a note of pride in her voice. "Why do you ask?"
"Because we need to get to a hundred as fast as possible," I said, adding rules to the game was my top priority aside from getting stronger.
"Well, how many do you have?" She asked snarkily, putting a hand on her hip and shifting her weight.
My grin turned smug, "15," her eye twitched, and my smile widened.
She clicked her tongue, "What rule do you want to add?" she asked, having already deduced the reason I wanted 100 points.
"I want to be able to move between colonies. You know, fight and recruit some of the other special grades in the colonies." I answered, my only real plan was to learn Jujutsu and get stronger, so I'm gonna debate Kogane to try and make a rule to have others teach me when I beat them.
But no guarantee that would work, so I told her my backup, which Yorozu did in canon.
Though that did bring up an interesting point, without the rule to exchange points, it would be smarter to funnel all of our points to one person. I glanced at Uro again and scoffed. If I even proposed that idea, she would instantly lose all respect for me as a sorcerer.
A better idea crossed my mind, "Say Uro?" she hummed and turned to look down the road. I guessed that she was scanning for another sorcerer to kill to close the gap. "You wanna race."
She stopped, head turning to me, and the annoyance melted from her face, making way to a full-faced, shark-like grin. "...What are the terms?"
"First to a hundred points, no non-sorcerers, winner gets one favor, no questions asked." Her grin turned cheshire, before her grin faltered, seemingly thinking of something.
"...and if I asked to leave?" She asked quietly, and I blinked.
"It'd be a waste of a favor, but it's your choice, I guess," she stared at me, "Look, I think you're damn strong and fun, and I'd hate to make the faction without you, but I'm not here to trap you. You're free to leave at anytime."
She stared at me moment longer before her grin returned full force, "Good, because if you said some dumbshit about fighting for me, I think I might just kill you." I ignored the fact that I almost killed her like 20 minutes ago.
"Uh-huh, whatever you say," I said, entirely unconvinced at her display of faux confidence, "So you in?"
"Of course," She said, like she was recounting the weather, "I hope you know that when I beat you, I'm taking ownership of the faction."
I snorted, "Yeah, right." The faction was mine, but what to call it… a thought for another time. "You can have the faction when you can beat me in a fight."
She made a noise, and a barely perceptible redness dotted her cheeks in embarrassment, "You got lucky, the next time won't be nearly as favorable for you."
I decided not to indulge her delusions, instead charging my legs with cursed energy, "Your technique is back right?" I asked, changing the topic suddenly and without warning.
"...yeah?" she responded, the redness vanishing.
"Then–" space started to crack under my feet, "START!" I exploded off the ground, hearing her surprised squawk at my acceleration.
"Hey, WAIT THAT'S NOT FAIR!" She screamed at me, and I looked back just in time to see her grip the sky and fly towards me.
"YOU'RE THE ONE WHO WANTS THE FACTION," I screamed down at her over the raging wind on my back, "SHOW SOME INITIATIVE, WOULD YOU?!" I Aerostepped again, and despite the yelling and accusations, the same grin split both of our faces.
And we flew together, the race was on.
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3rd Person POV (Ryo) 20 minutes ago
A man could be seen lying on the top of a building staring into the sky with a blank expression, his arm lazily stretched behind his head like a pillow. He was wearing a jacket with a fur collar, and no shirt underneath. A lit cigarette hung loosely from the corner of his lips, cherry smoke wafting from the end.
Ryo Ishigori was a man who died with but one regret, that his life lacked the sweet aftertaste of dessert.
So when he felt two sorcerers, undoubtedly special grades, start to fight, he had to hold himself back from making a beeline for them.
But he decided it was better to wait, let the two fight it out, then fight the winner. He smiled from his lying position, totally assured in his master plan.
His eyebrows raised when he felt a barrier form around the fight, 'A domain expansion?' he thought, and grinned even more assured of his oncoming dessert. He stood, combing his pompadour into perfect shape, getting ready to third-party the fight.
That was until he felt it, the domain break.
But that wasn't what caught him off guard, no, it was the downright massive cursed energy that erupted from the other party when the domain broke. It completely dwarfed the other's cursed energy signature.
'Now that–' He took a drag from his cigarette smoke filling his lungs with smoke, and he blew it out, savoring the aftertaste, '–feels like dessert.'
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3rd Person POV (Dhruv) 20 minutes ago
A decrepit, thin old man sat cross-legged, wide bulging eyes staring at nothing in particular. But the man was far from blind, with his Shikigami and cursed energy sensing, he was the furthest thing from it. This was the oldest man in history. At over 2500 years old and having already reincarnated before accepting Kenjaku's offer, Dhruv Lakdawalla was a special-grade sorcerer.
Even now, his giant mole-rat Shikigami were patrolling around him, and tiny shikigami killed everything within their patrol path.
The current era disappointed him, actually. He'd have thought they would have made more progress after all this time, 'But I guess after all this time, my strength still proves to be a constant,' he thought smugly.
That was until he felt a massive surge of vibrating, cursed energy. It far exceeded anything he felt in his first, second, or current incarnations. It was on the other side of the city, and the distance alone was concerning.
The signature vanished, the cursed energy dissipating into the surroundings, but something told him the signature was far from dead.
He decided to be cautious and sent a few Shikigami to scope out the area.
A swarm of 15 giant mole-rat shikigami descended on the colony, trampling buildings in their wake.
Whatever that signature was, it would fall to him just as all of Japan once did.
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3rd Person POV (Kurourushi) 20 minutes ago
The giant black curse felt a shockwave of vibrating cursed energy, and it paused its feeding on a group of 5 civilians, blood dripping from its mandibles.
CLICK
CLICK
CLICK
Its mandibles clacked together in nervousness, "BiG. FiGHt." Its voice came out distorted and wrong.
It felt like two pressures, but one was big, so very big. "FeEEEeDD", its distorted voice rang out again. But it was smart, smarter than that.
"WaaAAiIT. FOr fIGhT." It skittered closer, "ThEn FEEEEED!" Its distorted voice rang out, and a swarm of cockroaches dashed out in a wave of pure darkness.
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A/N:
Aaaaand done, wow, that was way harder than writing a fight scene. I hope you don't mind the shift in tone from fight to this, but I needed a break from constantly writing fight sequences. This is my first time writing romance, so let me know how you liked it and if there is anything I can do to improve. Also, sorry for the slightly shorter chapter, next one should be longer.
Thank you for reading. Have a great night.
W