When The Wind Meets The Stars

When the Wind Meets the Stars✮⋆˙

Pairing: Shinazugawa Sanemi x Tsugo Asami F!oc

Fandom: Demon Slayer/Kimetsu no Yaiba

Summary: The dance between them continued.

Teaser twoજ⁀➴

Word count: 800

Hi, sorry for the wait, but you might need to wait a little longer! Half way through writing I realized that I didn't really like the original idea all that much, so I decided to save it for a rainy day and write another one. The previous teaser still works with this though. Thank you for your patience and I hope you like it! As always...there is a self insert version on my blog and ao3!!

Our lives began to be intertwined by one encounter. We met one day at the Ubayashiki Estate, it was cold and you only wore your uniform and haori. I was practically freezing to death. You called me a hamster, I called you a piece of shit on a stick. Kanae had only been gone for a minute or two and we were already at each other's throats. But there was also a level of comfort. That wouldn't be out of the ordinary for us though, in fact it was expected after some time. It became commonplace, a dance between the two of us.

“Kanae-san, why are we here today? I thought we were going to see your friend,” A light voice that practically floated through the air made its way to Sanemi’s ears. Two Days ago he had gotten a letter from Kanae saying that she had someone she thought he would get along with. “She’s quite adorable, really,” She had written, and who was Sanemi to say no to the most kind hearted person he had ever met.

He walked closer to them and finally saw the girls. Kanae saw him first and waved, followed by a sweet smile that would melt even the thickest of snow. The other girl turned around and he had to agree with Kanae, she was quite adorable. She had soft features. Dark hair with red, rosy cheeks, a cute nose. ‘Really quite adorable’. What did catch him off guard was her uniform. Even though the girl was nearly drowning in blankets, and hantons her uniform was still noticeable. He couldn’t help but stare at the star shaped cut out in the middle of her chest. He saw no skin though, only bandages. He looked in her eyes and only saw what could only be described as small suns. They had an unnatural brightness that was slightly unsettling at first glance. He knew that she was pretty, her beauty rivaled Kanae’s in his mind and he knew he shouldn’t say something stupid-

“You look like a hamster.”-but nothing ever really went the way he wanted it to. He saw those small suns turn into the flames of hell in a matter of seconds.

“You look li-” Kanae patted the girl on the back and shook her head, yet she still kept her smile on her face. Sanemi knew that he would do just about anything to keep seeing her smile. The Sun girl, he had begun calling her since he still didn't know her name, let out a sigh and never finished her statement. Kanae then looked at him and he had become captivated all over again.

“Shinazugawa-san, this is my friend Tsugo Asami.” Kanae then nudged the Sun gir- Tsugo. Tsugo then gave him a fairly stiff bow and looked him in the eye and gave him a smile, not the soft one he had seen her give Kanae-san, but one filled with mild annoyance. He could already tell he was going to get frustrated being around her. As long as he didn't spend any more time with her, he would be good.

“Shinazugawa-san I have to go meet with Oyakata-sama. Would you mind showing Asami around? I’m afraid I don’t have the time.” Of course he minded! Then she went and whipped out that gorgeous smile that put the very sun to shame. 

“Fine.”

She smiled at him once more before taking her leave.

“What’s with that look on your face? Do you have indigestion?” Sanemi whipped his head around and stared at the smaller girl and glared. 

“This is my normal face, you hamster!” Tsugo let out a small ‘hmm’ and frowned.

“I didn’t realize anyone could impersonate a piece of shit on a stick so well, although I hadn't met you before today. Tell me, do your eyes naturally look like an owl’s?” she turned and gave him a smile, again not a sweet one.

Her crow circled overhead as the two wandered the grounds. There wasn’t always shouting and insults, but a comfortable rhythm between the two. The awkward air dissipated to make way for borderline hate crime level comments. Though both claimed to take offense, neither took it to heart.

“Tsugo-san, Oyakata-sama wishes to speak to you.” A white haired girl, roughly their age, came and greeted them. Asami looked at the white haired boy and smiled, a soft, sweet one, and thanked him for his company. Though there were quite a few colorful words sprinkled into the mix. 

“You were an annoying little hamster.” And just like that the pretty smile was gone and replaced with a punch to the shoulder. She walked with Amane into the estate and left Sanemi to stare as she left him. 

He knew he couldn’t wait to see her again. 

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A/N: omg it's done! I promise I'll release this in its entirety asap, though I still haven't decided if it's going to be a short story or a long one shot. Honestly it depends on how much gets written. Thank you for your patience!

Ma Cherie❤︎

sorry y’all, this fic officially on hiatus!! i’ve finally started my doctorate program and i’m losing my fucking mind

Pairing: Inumaki Toge/ F! Reader/ Okkotsu Yuuta

Summary: Kamo (Y/N) grew up within the protected grounds of Tokyo's Jujutsu Technical College. She's seen many brilliant, young shaman come and go, and she has experienced first hand the wrath of non-shaman and the curse that is love.

Content Warning: this work contains elements of major character death, temporary character death, canon typical violence, excessive bleeding, thoughts of helplessness/self loathing, toji, geto suguru, satosugu (no i will not let you escape them), younger siblings (OH MY GOD WHY ARE THEY SO ANNOYING????) please let me know if i've missed anything and i'll add it!

001: Teaser 002: Birthday Girl 003: Family Bonding 004: What once was 005: Bona Fide 006: Purple Lilac Blooms 007: Absence 008: phosphenes

When the Wind Meets the Stars ✮⋆˙

Pairing: Shinazugawa Sanemi x Tsugo Asami F! OC

Fandom: Demon Slayer/Kimetsu no Yaiba

Summary: One of the hardest things to live with is knowledge that if they could, they would keep living their lives with them instead of you.

Teaser.ᐟ

Word count: 210

This fic is the first one I’ve posted for KNY and I hope you enjoy it! As always; you can find this fic on AO3 and (obviously) tumblr, no where else. As of the posting that is. There is also a self-insert version you can find on this blog and/or on AO3. Have fun!!!

“You know if you just stopped pushing me away, we could actually be friends,” She said after letting out a heavy sigh.

“You know you’re a pain in my ass, right,” Sanemi said back, not even bothering to look at her. Asami couldn’t help but let out a chuckle, a small quiet one. 

“Nemi - can I call you Nemi?”

“No.”

“Nemi, that’s no way of talking to someone who’s helping you pick out flowers for Kan-“

“They’re not for her!”

“Sure they’re not.”

Asami couldn’t help but cry that night. She envied Kanae more than she wished she did. Even in death she held his heart more than he would ever let her know. Thoughts filled with anger and jealousy swam through her mind. 

 At the end of the night Asami knew she could never hate Kanae, she had been the one to introduce the two of them after all. More importantly she knew that her attachment to Sanemi had grown even stronger than she had previously thought. And despite her feelings, despite how often she tries to show him, she knew she wouldn’t mean the same to him, at least not for a long time, but that didn’t make her stop hurting. Not in the slightest. 

——————————————————————————————————

A/N: Yay we did it!! Thank you for reading and I hope you liked it! The divider was made by @cafekitsune! Their blog is full of really cute dividers and things of that nature. As a reminder, this is a teaser and I’m still working on the rest of the chapters. Please be patient!! Until next time, love you honney bears MUAH

Ma Cherie❤︎

Chapter iv: Bona Fide

Pairing: Inuokku/ F! OC

Summary: Sometimes it’s hard to bare the genuine, real parts of your soul, but the more you do, the easier it can be.

Content Warning: major character death, slight gore, ya girl really tried to be descriptive during a fight scene, use of blades, stabbing, ripping limbs off, etc., gay people, Kanae having sad thoughts about life and people who have died, no-no words, spoilers for jjk season two, and jjk0, lmk if I’ve missed anything and I’ll add it!

Length: 5.5k

A/n: so this chapter mainly evolves around kanae and the tail end of jjk 0. I know it’s a lot shorter than the previous chapter, but their wasn’t a lot left to write lol. I wanted to end it on a happier note cause i need some fluff after the leaks cause wtf gege???? How could you do this to me???? And finally seeing Gojo’s episode in Shibuya (I won’t go into detail cause it only came out two days ago, but you know the one) has devastated me to my core and has left me in shambles. Also it has come to my attention that I’ve been spelling Yuta’s name wrong this whole time so I’m sorry. 😭Anyway, please enjoy!

Ma Cherie master list

Bona Fide -genuine, real, to be in good faith

─── ⋆⋅ December 2017 ⋅⋆ ── 

When Kanae wakes up, she’s in a tangled mess of her lover, and future lover’s, limbs. She opened her eyes to see Satoru standing above her, bandages off as he smiles down at her. 

“C’mon, let’s get breakfast. Megumi-chan is waiting for us at the front,” he whispers. She reaches up and grasps his hand, but the boys’ arms are wrapped tightly around her. She huffs, but she still smiles.

“Gimme a sec, Toru-nii.” He looks down at the girl, a knowing smile on his lips before quietly leaving the room. Kanae continues to struggle as she tries to make her way out of the mess of bodies. However, neither boy lets her leave, their arms pulling her closer to their bodies. 

‘Shit, this is really nice.’

 “Toge, Yuta, I need to leave,” she whispers softly. Yuta grumbles before scooting closer to her. Kanae feels slightly annoyed at her family for making her leave such a cozy place, but she still knew Satoru wouldn’t have gotten her up if he didn’t need to be near her for his own peace of mind. 

When she finally made her way from her bed, she got to see Yuta and Inumaki tangle themselves together, she snapped a couple photos, some on her first phone where she held the people she cares about the most, on her current phone, and a polaroid. After Suguru left Kanae made it a point to take as many pictures as possible, in order to keep as many memories alive as possible.

‘ 12/20/17 - first sleepover together’  Kanae smiles softly as she wrote, before getting dressed and slipping out the door. She quickly made her way to the front of the school, spotting her little brother and her dad bickering.

“She doesn’t have two boyfriends, Gojo.”

“She does, Megumi, you need to get over it.” Megumi looks over and spots his older sister and begins walking over to her.

“Do you have two boyfriends, nee-san?” She shakes her head and laughs at Megumi’s victorious ‘ha.’

“No, but we’re slowly getting there.” Megumi whips his head around so fast, Kanae nearly got whiplash. 

“What?” She laughs again and reaches up and messes up his hair. He grumbles and swats at her hands. 

“How did you get two boyfriends before I even got one?” She smirks at the boy.

“I’m awesome, have an amazing personality, and I’m hot. Who wouldn’t want me, ‘gumi?” He groans and shoves her away. 

“Where do you want to go for breakfast, Megumi-chan?”  Megumi looks at Satoru and thinks before shrugging his shoulders. The three of them wander around before finding a small place to eat. It has been a couple weeks since they all went out and Megumi talks about the latest documentary he watched before getting up and going to the bathroom. Satoru uses this opportunity to turn to Kanae.

“I don’t want you in Tokyo.” Kanae looks up at him, confused. 

“Chances are Suguru will be in Tokyo, I don’t want you seeing him like that. I’ve already made arrangements for Utahime to watch over you in Kyoto.” Kanae watches her dad’s face closely and notices a slight twitch. 

“You’re… you’re gonna kill him, aren’t you?” Satoru looks up at the ceiling, letting out a heavy sigh. He reaches out and grabs her hand, holding it tightly. 

“I don’t have a choice anymore, Kanae. He’s… he’s hurt too many people, killed too many people. I’ve spent so many years waiting around for him to come back, but you and I both know he won’t. I don’t want you to see that.” Kanae frowns at him before kicking his shin to make him look at her.

“I have the right to see him. I have the right to say goodbye. No, I don’t want to see him die, but I at least want to be there to make sure he goes with the people he loves. I’ll go to Kyoto, but I’m going to be there to say bye. No one will take that away from me.” Satoru sighs loudly before nodding his head.

“Fine, but I still don’t think you should.” 

“I know, but I want to.” Megumi comes back to the booth and quickly notices the tense atmosphere. When he goes to question it, Kanae shakes her head.

“What do you want for your birthday ‘gumi?” He looks thoughtful for a moment before stating he wants more books. Kanae smiles and tells him she’ll make sure to get him some. 

“What do you want nee-san?” She ‘hmm’s before smiling brightly.

“Toru-nii to not give homework!” Satoru looks extremely offended at the very thoughtt.

“I never assign homework in general!” 

“Oh right, uh, well… I guess I don’t really know what I want.” Megumi groans in response. You see, Kanae has a lot of things she wants, but she chooses not to say what it is. It’s infuriating and it ends with Satoru closing down a mall and letting her run wild. Some may think that’s an unwise choice financially speaking, but it’s not as bad as when he let her get whatever she wanted from a book store. Now that was a taxing trip. 

Satoru makes sure to get them things on Christmas and on their birthdays and the two get spoiled endlessly, unfortunately some habits are a little tougher to break when it comes to asking for what you want or need. 

While the family began the walk back to school. Megumi was a little more talkative than normal, not that anyone was complaining. It was really nice to hear him be that free when it came to spending time with them, especially since he’s been extra quiet since Tsumiki was not an active member of the family for the time being.

When they were younger, Megumi had a harder time adjusting than Tsumiki. The two girls were close in age and got along rather easily. However, it took years for Megumi to open up and shortly before Tsumiki was cursed did he begin to call Kanae his older sister. 

─── ⋆⋅ March 2016 ⋅⋆ ─── 

Tsumiki and Kanae were both walking around their middle school to go bother, to check on Megumi. Before they could turn down the second year hall, some boys blocked the hall and began to get in their faces. 

“Wow look at this, some pretty girls came to say hello.”

“Wanna go out with me?” 

“I bet she’s a freak, the quiet ones always are.” The two girls have had to deal with these comments for years, but that didn’t mean they would tolerate it. 

“The fact you think you even have a chance with either of us makes me sick. Move.” The boys still didn’t budge.

“Oh~ I love them feisty! Keeps me interested.” Kanae then made her way in front of Tsumiki.

“I’m not asking, move.” One of them scoffed at her, rolling his eyes, “Or what?” Kanae went to shove her way past them, and maybe break their micropenis’, with Tsumiki, but before she could, the guy’s face was smashed into the wall with a very angry boy behind him. 

“Do you not have basic manners? When someone says no, or implies no, it means no. Go back to kindergarten if you’ve forgotten. And don’t you ever go near my sisters again, if you do I’ll tear you to shreds.” The three boys run off, clearly embarrassed, as one of their noses bled. 

“Aw, ‘gumi!” The dark haired boy turned around. 

“What?” Kanae and Tsumiki giggled quietly.

“Megumi, you called us your sisters.” The poor boy turned red, becoming uncharacteristically shy. He quickly turned around, making his way back to class to finish his after school necessities. 

“Ya hear that Tsumi? I’ve officially become an older sister!” Tsumiki smiled.

“He’s thought of you as his sister for a while now.” Kanae hummed.

“I know, he’s been acting like I am. It just feels different now that he’s actually said it.” The two continued their walk to Megumi’s classroom, Tsumiki listening as Kanae told her all the latest gossip. 

─── ⋆⋅ December 2017 ⋅⋆ ─── 

Kanae and Satoru had just dropped Megumi off at home and are now making their way back to the school when Kanae grabs Satoru’s hand with her own, swinging it gently.

“Hey dad?” Satoru’s hand twitches slightly by his side as he turns his head towards her, letting out a small hum in acknowledgment.

“You know that I’ve pretty much always thought of you as my dad right? ‘Gumi does too.” Satoru smiles softly at her, giving her hand a small squeeze.

“I know. I’ve always thought of you as my kid… Megumi-chan and Tsumiki-chan too, but you’ll always be my first.” Kanae smiles widely before pulling Satoru into a hug. He chuckles and wraps his arms around her.

“Thank you for taking me in when you didn’t need to. When you get gross and old I’ll do the same for you.” Satoru gently shoves her away, gasping loudly. 

“How dare you? I’m never getting gross, I’ll be this hot forever!” The two laugh as they walk around in search of a good sweet shop, plans of returning long forgotten with the amazing, stunning, magnificent idea of eating junk food and gossiping. Although neither one really had anything to talk about, so they decided to make fun of the people walking by them when they pass a sunglasses shop. 

“No! You can’t come with me, that defeats the point of me getting anything! Wait, don't go yet, gimme your card first.” 

While Kanae walks around the shop she finds a nice pair of blackout sunglasses, rectangle purple frames she thinks would look good on Maki. As she made her way to the cashier, she notices an… interesting pair of sunglasses that she just knew she had to get.

‘If I don’t get them, the world just might end.’ Kanae grins so brightly as she walks out, Satoru just grabs the bags and doesn't try to peek at what was inside them. 

‘I’m such a great father.’ 

The two finally made the trek back to the school, deciding not to teleport in order to spend as much time together even though Kanae regretted that decision immensely about ten minutes into the walk. 

“Toru-nii, carry me,” she said, drawing out the ‘e’. 

“Nope.” Kanae groans loudly before pulling out her phone.

“Who’re you texting?” She positions her screen away from Satoru.

“No one.” Satoru then felt a buzz in his pocket.

‘Incoming call from Muscle Man’

“Ah, hel-”

“Satoru! Stop abusing the child! God Damn!” That was all that was said before Yaga promptly hung up. When Satoru looks over, Kanae’s trying her best to hold in her laughter before Satoru picks her up and begins to carry her. 

“I feel like I’m five again.” 

“You sure as hell don’t feel like it.” Kanae smacks him in the head. When Kanae and Satoru were younger, Satoru made a promise to himself that he wouldn’t use infinity when he was around her. Of course there are exceptions to this, like if they’re on a mission, or something like that. About fifteen minutes later Kanae got down and continues walking, although she nearly fell over when Satoru tried to jump on her back. 

“Satoru, no!”

“Satoru, yes!” 

Kanae, for a short period of time at least, felt as if she was a normal teenager. That’s something Satoru has always worked hard to do for all his kids, students and family alike. 

“It’s unforgivable to steal the youth away from kids.”

Kanae has always appreciated that about him. When they finally made it back, Nanami was waiting for them at the front of the school. The poor man had been sent to make sure Satoru attends more meetings. Kanae had been “trained” to start and prolong conversions for as long as possible if this were to happen.

“Hi, Nanamin! How are you today?” Nanami, who had only recently come back into Kanae’s life after years of trying to distance himself, has always had a sweet spot for the young girl. 

“I’m fine, how are you Kanae-kun?” Kanae then pointed at Satoru, who had somehow managed to carry an obscene amount of bags the whole way home.

“I went shopping and we found this really cute place for lunch. Are there more meetings you guys need to go to?” Nanami shook his head.

“Only Gojo-san. I’m done for the day.” Satoru groans before handing the bags to Nanami, telling him not to break anything. Satoru ruffles Kanae’s hair and drags his feet to the campus. 

“I hear you might be getting another boyfriend soon, the Okkotsu boy.” He watches as her cheeks turn a light shade of pink, letting him know that this was indeed the case. Kanae quickly turned on her heel and began speed walking to her dorm room. Nanami sighed and started to walk. He, the tall fucker he is, only had to speed up ever so slightly to keep up with her. 

“Kanae, how are you doing?” Nanami once again watches in the corner of her eyes as she deflates. Kanae looks up at the sky. Seeing Kanae act like this made him remember how much, how long, Satoru’s raised her. The two are incredibly similar when it comes to their mannerisms, attitude, and ideology, but none of these similarities make them any less their own person.

“Do… Do you think that things would be for the better if ‘bara didn’t die? I mean I know they would, but just how different? Would you be happy? Would Toru-nii and Sugu-nii be happy? Would I be happy? Don’t get me wrong, I am, but it’s different. Seeing him again, after so many years hurt. I can only imagine what it was like for others, for Toru.” Nanami knew where the girl was coming from. He had seen how Suguru broke when Haibara died. He had seen the way he broke himself. 

Haibara was Nanami’s first love, and he thinks he’ll be his last as well. He remembered the feeling of his heart breaking, the feeling of his limp body, becoming a lifeless one in his arms. After his death, Nanami refused to go on missions, finished his education, and left the shaman world. He remembers the solemn look on Kanae’s face, even at the age of eight she understood why the recent graduate needed to leave. The two didn’t keep in touch all that well, Nanami only picking her up from school on the rare occasion Satoru couldn’t. Not too long ago Nanami had joined the shaman world again, and Kanae had welcomed him with open arms just as she had when she found out of Haibara’s death. 

Nanami can only imagine how many people she’s offered her comfort to after the death of a loved one, and he feels guilty for making her go through it continuously even though he’s not the direct cause. 

When the two finally reach her room, they hear soft voices on the other side.

“Do you know when she’ll be back?” 

“I know, I know, but I still feel like she might need or want some hugs or something!” Nanami, again, watches Kanae smile softly. Before she could open the door, Nanami quietly set down the bags and wrapped his arms around the girl. He may not see her as a daughter, or a sister, but he still cares quite deeply for Kanae. 

“I’m sorry,” he whispers softly. She digs her hands into his blazer and lets out a shaky breath. 

“I’m sorry, too.” The two stay like that for a minute before separating. Nanami picks up the bags and Kanae opens the door to see the two boys wrapped up beneath her sheets, cuddling. She smiles brightly before flopping herself on the bed, stretching out. Nanami sets down the bags in the corner of her room.

“Thanks, Nanamin!” Nanami nods his head, gives the boys a once over, and closes the door behind him. He pulls out his phone, sending Satouru a text letting him know she’s safe in her room. 

Kanae feels a slight nudge on her hip and she looks up to see Inumaki casting a glance at Yuta. The poor boy’s face took on a bright shade of pink. Kanae smiles before crawling up to the top of her bed, settling down behind him. 

“Aw, Yuta! Are you embarrassed?” The boy vehemently shakes his head before looking at her.

“Oh, are you shy?” He nods his head slowly. Kanae snuggles a little closer and wraps one arm around Yuta, playing with Inumaki’s fingers. 

“That was Nanami. He used to go to school here, I guess he was also my babysitter.” Yuta lets out a soft ‘oh’. 

“Are you both not shy,” he prods gently. Inumaki shakes his head, before resting it on Yuta’s shoulder. 

“No, we’re not. You could say the two of us are used to people constantly barging in. Toru-nii and ‘gumi still do it all the time. It’s super annoying when we’re watching a movie or something.” Yuta nods his head, resting it gently atop Inumaki’s. 

The three spent the rest of the night like that, cuddling and enjoying one another’s company until the sun came up and they could no longer ignore the impending events that would forever change the world as they knew it. 

—————————-

December 24, 2017 - the Night Parade of a Hundred Demons - the death of Geto Suguru

Kanae wakes that day with no one beside her, leaving her bed feeling empty and cold. She spent the night agonizing over every little thing, preparing herself for the loss of shaman that would be bound to come later in the day. 

When it came time to go to Kyoto, Kanae said her goodbye’s to everyone, not knowing if she would see them when morning came. Satoru accompanied her all the way to Kyoto, not wanting her to be lonely. The two spend the car ride in relative silence, not knowing what to say to make the other feel better. 

Ijichi comes to a halt after some time, signaling that they have arrived. Satoru got out of the car first, opening the door for Kanae. Stepping out, she could see most of the Kyoto school waiting on the other side, slightly unnerving her, but she ignored it. As she surveys the crowd, Kanae sees plenty of familiar faces, all somber, looking at the both of them with pity. Very few people in the shaman world didn’t know of the tragic story of their small family. Utahime was the first person who stepped forward, greeting the girl. The rest begin to follow shortly. 

After the teachers had a small discussion to the side, far enough out of earshot, Satoru decides it’s time to take his leave. Kanae gives him a small hug before he goes.

“You’ll come get me right?” 

“I promised, didn’t I? Be safe.”

“You too.” Noritoshi rests a small, light touch on her shoulder as she watches as his car becomes nothing more than a speck on the horizon. Kanae sighs softly before smiles brightly, a fake one that doesn’t reach her eyes, not by a long shot, and begins to make her way to the school. 

“All right, let's get this shit show over with.”

————————————-

The students were in charge of clearing out the curses as much as possible and containing them to their designated area, which resulted in them being in the semi front lines. Foolish, I know, but unfortunately Gege is a sadist. 

Noritoshi has never seen Kanae fight a curse before, and he’s frankly a little frightened by his little sister. She has a malice dripping grin on her face, several cuts bleeding profusely, and a rusty kitchen knife defying the laws of physics. 

He watches as she accidentally drops the knife while a curse runs towards her, mumbling a small ‘fuck,’ before twisting her body so her right side’s facing it. He watches in fascination and mild disgust when she moves efficiently, shoving her right foot near its feet, jamming her right side into its chest area, grabbing its limb, and rips the limb from its body. Kanae then quickly maneuvers her body to shove the limb down its mouth with so much force, the back of the head is left with a gaping hole. 

“Now that’s a pretty extreme take on fisting, if I do say so myself.” Noritoshi doesn’t know how she can continue to make jokes at a time like this, much less where the energy comes from, but if he has to guess he’d say it was from Satoru. Kanae rushes over to her knife and picks it up, but not before another hoard of curses charge towards her. 

She makes quick work of them, jumping up and landing on a curse. Kanae uses that moment of confusion to dig her knife into one’s face and drag it out the side of its face. She uses the curse as a stepping stone to make her way onto the back of the next one. Kanae takes her left hand to jam the knife in the right side of its neck, yanking it through the left. The next one gets a little too close for comfort, right when Noritoshi was going to shoot an arrow, he sees the knife leave her hand and quickly shoot itself through the chest of the curse. The knife was covered in blood, Kanae’s and curses alike. It continues in its conquest to protect its wielder while Kanae grabs the head of another and forces it clean off of the rest of its body. However, she doesn’t drop the head, she swings her arm to backhand the curse coming up from behind. The curse doesn’t go flying, but it does stagger a couple steps back, far enough away that Kanae grabs hold of her knife, ramming it in its legs. She drives the blade through the curse’s limbs. Her face has a little splatter of its blood. Kanae reaches up and wipes it away with her thumb. 

“Gross.”

He watches her closely, not quite able to shake the dread of something potentially happening to the girl. He watches as she moves precisely and lodges the blade into the creature's eye, killing it, before throwing the knife, which scares the daylights out of him when it whizzes right past his head, and into a curse getting too close to Nishimiya's broom. She makes a slight pulling motion with her hand, causing the weapon to return to her. 

He watches as she throws herself in front of Mai, effectively blocking an attack. He watches as she practically flies from curse to curse, annihilating everything in her way. Again, it terrifies him to see a usually collected and care free girl attack so gracefully and primal all at once. 

Kanae feels something grabbing at her leg and sees it’s a curse. Before she could even take the time to angle herself in a harmful manner, Miwa slices through the limb. Kanae smiles at the girl, voicing a breathless ‘thanks,’ before continuing to move. Noritoshi sighs softly and makes his way to his next target. 

Some time later when the battle is almost over, he sees a trail of carnage, Kanae at the front, leading the destruction. He knows she can hold her own, hell he’s seen it with his own eyes and Kanae is in the process of evaluation to become a grade one shaman after all, but he’s still surprised at how powerful she is when she doesn’t put herself unnecessarily in harm's way. Though he thinks that maybe that makes her even more powerful at times.

“You’re a force to be reckoned with, aren’t you?” Kanae looks over her shoulder, giving him a tired smile. 

“Red Velvet is having a Christmas special tonight, I’m not going to miss it.” Noritoshi groans as Todo makes a sound of approval. 

“Takada-chan is too.” Kanae nods her head.

“See, even the jackass gets it!” This time, Noritoshi isn’t the only one that groans.

————— 

When the battle finally reaches its conclusion, everyone is extremely tired and sits on a curb, trying to get any ounce of rest possible before they’re undoubtedly drawn into another fight. A small blue speck begins to grow in front of them, and they all quickly rise to their feet, prepared to fight once again. However, none other than Satoru Gojo appears. His bandages are around his neck. Satoru does a quick once over of all the students before looking at Kanae.

“C’mon, it’s time to say our goodbyes.” She bows slightly to the others, thanking them for their help, before joining her dad’s side, disappearing from view.

“Okay… is it just me, or does she kind of seem inhuman when she fights, like an animal? Also why are his eyes so bright?” The children let out a small laugh at Mai’s comment and begin the walk to the rest of the shaman. 

——————-

There’s a weird sense of deja vu when Kanae steps back into the school grounds. She sees a figure, fatally injured, making their way to them. Even with all the blood, Kanae can tell it’s her brother. He looks up at the two as he slides down the wall, not surprised by their arrival. 

“You’re late, Satoru.”  Without glancing at the man, Kanae knows he has a desolate expression, a pained smile gracing Sugurus face.

“To think you both would be the ones here at my end. Is my family safe?” Kanae’s heart hurts hearing those words, but her heart aches at the sight of her brother grasping an arm that is no longer there. 

“Every last one of them managed to escape. The ones in Kyoto were under your orders, too, right?” Suguru turns his head away from the two, resting his head against the cool bricks.

“Yeah,” his voice laced with pain, “Unlike you I’m a kind man.” Kanae huffs out a small laugh, tears forming on her waterline. Satoru stays motionless, no emotions on his face. 

“You sent those two assuming that O’d defeat them, didn’t you? To set Okkotsu off.” Kanae sends a questioning glance at Satoru, who wouldn’t take his eyes off of his lover. Even after all this time apart, Kanae knew of very few words to describe the two other than that. 

“I trusted you,” those simple words broke something in her. She’s seen first hand the love the two held, hold, for one another, “ Trusted that a man as principled as you wouldn’t kill off young shamans without a reason.” Another creeps its way up Suguru’s lips.

“Trust, huh? I didn’t think I still had any of that left.” He says it more to himself than anything. Suguru releases his shoulder for a second to throw a card at Satoru, but quickly grabs it once again. Kanae quickly glances at the card and sees Yuta’s name. 

“Was the elementary school your doing, too?” Kanae looks at Suguru, a smile still present. 

“Yeah.” 

“I can’t believe you,” Satoru whispers, “ Do you have any last words?” Kanae’s breath hitches and she quickly makes her way over to Suguru, sitting on his right side, placing a land on top of his. He looks at the hand, noticing a few familiar beads. 

“I see you’re wearing my old bracelet, it suits you.” Kanae’s lower lip wobbles, three words dancing on her tongue, but fear of what might happen prevents her from saying them. Suguru moves his head to look at Satoru. 

“No matter what anyone says, I hate those monkeys,” his grip tightening on his arm, or lack thereof, “But I never held any hatred for those in Jujutsu High. I just couldn’t wear a heartfelt smile in this world.”  Satoru takes a few steps forward, squatting down in front of them.

“Suguru,” the said man rolls his head to look at his other half, no energy in his movements anymore, “we’ll meet again.” Suguru’s eyes widen before he lets out a soft laugh, his soft laugh. 

“At least hit me with some curses at my end.” Kanae’s tears freely stream down her face, but she still keeps her mouth closed.  She whispers a barely audible, ‘I love you, Sugu-nii’ and gives him a hug, which he returns, before standing up and taking her place at Satoru’s side. She closes her eyes, not wanting to see his death, and hears the sound of flesh tearing. No heartbeat coming from his body. She makes a fist in Satoru’s jacket, scared that if she were to open her eyes, he would not be there. Satoru places a hand on her head, bringing his little girl into a hug. Kanae couldn’t breathe without sobs racking her body. She feels his hand on her arms, along a tear in her uniform where she had gotten hurt, warmth spreading across her body. He guides her away from Suguru’s body. 

Rubble surrounding a body, slowly decaying, blood gushing everywhere, staining everything it touches, a last desperate plea of I love you,’ life fading from a brother, but this time, they’re not going to come back like before. 

Or will he?

When Kanae finally has the strength to open her eyes, Satoru still keeps an arm around her shoulders. No words are exchanged between the two, but none are needed. She rubs her eyes until they’re raw. The dad and daughter make their way to the others, seeing Rika turn into her human form. An adorable little girl, really. 

Satoru removes his arm from Kanae and claps, Kanae, not knowing what was going on, just claps along with him. 

“Congratulations! You managed to break the curse.” The four first years look confused.

“Who are you?” Kanae chuckles softly, Satoru deadpans.

“Your good looking teacher, Gojo Satoru. I thought the theory Yuta came up with sounded Interesting, so I requested an investigation into their families. The investigation of Rita’s was finished quite a long time ago, but Yuta’s was full of holes at best. So then it came to light. You’re the descendant of Sugawara Michizane! That makes us super, super, super distant relatives!” Kanae gasps, amazed, and laughs at Satoru’s pose.

“Woah, no way!” Yuta looks confused. 

“Uh, who?” Satoru is now dancing.

“One of Japan’s three great apparitions!” Satoru is still dancing. “He’s a super big shot shaman.” Kanae slightly jabs her elbow into Satoru’s ribs. 

“You were right, Yuta. Rika didn’t place a curse on you. You placed a curse on Rika. Now the one who placed the curse has canceled the bond. So long as the one who was cursed doesn’t seek any penalty, it’s fully broken now. Of course, that much is obvious after seeing her in that form.” Yuta falls to the ground, tears flowing onto the cracked cement beneath him. Kanae, while wanting to comfort the boy, stays in place, knowing how overwhelming it can be to have people surround you when you need space to breathe. 

“It was all my fault, wasn’t it? I turned you into that form, I hurt all those people, and I nearly caused everyone to die when Geto came after me!” Kanae feels Satoru tense at her side, she does too. Even after all this time it still catches her off guard when people mention her brother and speak of him like that. Even if they’re mostly correct. Yuta’s hands dig themselves into his hair.

“It’s all… It’s all my…” Kanae watches as Rika makes her way in front of Yuta. She hugs him tightly. “Yuta, thank you… for giving me more time and letting me stay by your side. These past six years, I’ve been happier than I ever was while alive.” Yuta continues to cry, only looking up when Rika lets go and stands up. She backs away from him.

“Bye-bye. Take care. And don’t come over here too soon, okay?” Everyone watches as she fades away, officially beginning to rest.

“Woah… I didn’t know death could be that sparkly or…bubbly,” Kanae whispers. Satoru snorts quietly. 

——————

Everyone’s standing at the school entrance, waiting for Yuta to show up. 

“Did you really call Rika’s death bubbly?” Kanae sighed exasperatingly.

“She literally turned into bubbles, like that one witch from the wizard of oz! How else do I describe it? There was glitter in the air.” Inumaki chuckles, holding Kanae’s hand. The two girls continue their small argument, even though everyone knows Maki laughed when hearing the comment. 

In the distance, they could see Yuta and Satoru walking over to them.

“Come on, Yuta! How long are you gonna keep us waiting? Let’s go!” Yuta makes his way over, standing shoulder to shoulder with Kanae.

———

A new chapter of their lives would begin that day. Kanae would struggle with the loss of her brother and all the emotions that come with it. Yuta would struggle with accepting the love he deserves, but the three of them would learn together. Inumaki, Kanae, and Yuta would slowly start dating and live happily ever after. Well… at least until the entirety of the Shibuya arc gets animated because your darling author doesn’t want to spoil anyone before then, seeing as she deeply regrets reading the manga after seeing season one of the show. 

—————

Thank you so much for reading! The next chapter, ‘purple Lilac blooms,’ will be a 5+1 fic. It should be posted next Saturday 9/30. As always, there is a self insert on my blog and this can be found on ao3. See you later, honney bears!

-honney

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!

Ma Cherie will be posted September 15th

omg hey guys, so this week was like the worst thing ever, but it's fine. I'm currently at war with this high schooler since he decided to run a red light directly into the side of my car <3

anyway, because of this i haven't been able to apply that much time on writing. luckily i should be done this friday and it going to be a relatively long chapter. right now i'm about a quarter of the way done and i've written 6.8k which is a lot more than anything i've previously done, but because of this i am posting a teaser for the chapter underneath this! i hope you enjoy, muah!!!!

OH - side note - i also spent time rewriting parts of 'birthday girl' to help it make a little more sense!!!

teaser of chapter three: what once was

pairing: inuokku/f! oc

length: 1.02k

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 edgelord supreme’

“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’re practically never late.”

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

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

“Ah, um, 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 who showed her the time.

“It’s pretty late, did you 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.” Inumaki was laughing quietly next to her as the two continued walking to their respective dorms.

“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.” 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 this one girl who wouldn’t stop trying to cheat and said okay.

“Can you facetime so I can see the ‘hottie’ you were talking about earlier?”

“Which one?”

“Black hair guy.”

“Oh, Okkotsu. No, he’s 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.” He looked over at her, the tiniest traces of a smile on his lips.

“Yes, me too.”

“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 lifestyle, 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 seems and letting out a loud laugh.

“I wasn’t talking about Toru, 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 and not being a good 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 one another, letting each other in. 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.