LADY AOKI || JUJUTSU KAISEN

三

"HELP ME!"

A cry rang out in the stillness of the air, the sound absorbed by the impenetrable forest. He scrambled backwards, his back pressed into the coarse bark of a tree, fingers scrabbling for a hold in the slick moss.

The curse, a mottled brown mass of teeth and rotting flesh, warbled happily as it grabbed hold of the rope and slowly reeled him closer. It was playing with its food.

"HELP!!" He cried in vain, tears streaking his face as he clawed at the roots, the grass, anything that could buy him a second longer for the seemingly impossible chance that someone might come to his aid.

"So young...." The monster giggled, long jagged nails encrusted with mould reached for the tender flesh of its victim's leg. "Young child....foolish child..."

Here, no one would hear you if you cried for help, and even if by chance someone did hear you, they would not come flying to your rescue, for this was a place people came to die.

A shiver ran down his spine as he fought and kicked for his life, his mind a frenzy of fear as the curse unhinged its massive jaw filled with serrated canines, enough to tear him to shreds in a single, famished bite.

"HELP!!" He screamed once more, gagging upon the curse's hot breath. "PLEASE! I DON'T WANT TO DIE!"

As if on cue, a sickening explosion of flesh tearing, blood spurting, and curse screaming resonated from all around. A young woman materialized behind the curse, bladed war fans coated in gore as she slashed the curse's head clean off in a single blow. 

She stood out in this space, dressed in a simple white hakama with long sleeves, her hair flowing free about her shoulders and a malicious gleam in her eyes. The curse screeched as it died, its body collapsing to the forest floor in a stinking heap. She quickly placed her hands upon the curse's flesh, murmuring a couple incomprehensible words as it faded into the ground, its life force hungrily absorbed by the earth. 

The boy had stopped crying by now, shaky from fear and relief as he stared at his saviour, but a choked sob escaping his mouth when he realized what she was.

What he believed was a jujutsu sorceress had revealed itself to be something far more dangerous.

It had the figure of a teenaged girl, with bloodless white skin and poisonous eyes. Jagged bone jutted in shards from its elbows and behind its ears, forming pairs of gristly white horns, black streaks tore down its thin face, giving the impression that it was weeping and when it reached for his outstretched leg he noticed the skin of its forearms were black.

"etsah hguone htiw evom ton did I ,seigolopa yM. derujni era uoY." 

The cursed spirit's voice was eerie and unsettling, resonating from all around without a particular origin. She spoke in an unrecognizable language, and yet as she gently held out her hand he somehow understood her intentions.

"You are injured." She said. "My apologies, I did not move with enough haste."

"I-it's okay." He stammered, slowly stretched out his leg to reveal the deep gash from the curse's nails. The girl ran two fingers over the wound, she furrowed her eyebrows and seemed to struggle for a moment until a lightning bolt of heat rippled through her body. Slowly his wound began to heal, muscles and tendons growing new cells and linking together like puzzle pieces as the skin knit back into its former smoothness. 

"You wished to live." Her real voice was soft as swan down, and quiet as though she were whispering loving words to a sleeping infant. "And yet you're here, the place where people come to die."

"I-I'm sorry." He whispered, curling into a ball on the tree root. "My friends dared me to go off the path, I didn't want to go but they threatened to tell the others how much of a coward I am."

"And you prefer being devoured by a curse than going home a living coward?"

The boy sighed in defeat. "No. I guess I just got used to letting them push me around. But I'm sure they also didn't think this would've happened. My friends—"

"Severed the rope that would have guided you home, I saw them. They were attempting to kill you." She was angry, a quiet rage pulsed from her body as she stood and retrieved her bloodied weapons, wiped them off in some moss, and extended a hand to help him up.

"Come. There are more than curses dwelling here, it is unsafe, and disrespectful, to linger."

He hesitated for a moment before taking her hand, her skin was surprisingly warm and human-like. Together, they began to their walk out of the forest, her gliding graceful and lithe as a panther and him stumbling repeatedly over tangled roots and stray rock. Her presence was soothing and seemingly powerful enough to ward off lesser spirits and evils. Or perhaps it was because she is the evil, and those who would rather live, would hide from her sight.

"What is your name?" She asked.

"Hiro." He said. "I'm from the village at the base of the mountain."

"Hiro." She repeated, tasting the name on her tongue. "Do you know what they say to people who come to this place? Hiro?"

"No?"

"Look back to find the path that leads you home. Look forward to follow your desires, whatever they may be. Look down to see footsteps of those who have passed, but never look up."

No wonder. Her tone sent a chilled shiver down Hiro's spine as he determinedly focussed his gaze in front of him and walked, the memory of the dead woman still fresh in his mind. Gradually, the trees began to thin and the ground levelled out to reveal a wide trail strewn with trampled mulch and grass. Hiro hopped onto the path and sighed gratefully, turning to bow deeply to the spirit who saved his life.  

"I will not spare you a second time." Her tone was almost scolding as she tucked her hands into the folds of her hakama. 

She didn't show it, but something about Hiro unsettled her, he was no regular boy. Cursed energy coursed through his veins, brimming with the familiar aura of power found in a human who had learned to harness it. Her fingers brushed against the hardness of a blade.

"Do you have a name?" He asked curiously to her passive expression.

"All curses have names." 

Her fingers closed around a small handle hidden in her sleeves, her thumb brushed over the sharp edge. She moved with lightning quick reflexes, drawing the knife out and sending it hurling to the side where it buried itself between a woman's eyes, her crossbow clattered into a bush as she crumpled the ground. 

All around, the trees became alive with movement as men and women stepped out of hiding, smirks on their faces and weapons in their hands as they surrounded her from all sides. Anzu could recognize them now, and in fact she had seen a couple before, picking off lesser curses for game, but never had these bounty hunters ventured this far until now. Hiro snatched up the fallen woman's weapon and brushed it off casually.

"So, why don't you tell us?" The young jujutsu sorcerer sneered, rattling a pouch full of bolts.

"Anzu." She said without fear. "Lady of Aokigahara."