Mirror Eyes & Bright Blue Skies | Jujutsu Kaisen

ⅪⅤ. Training Arc

[A/N: the art of Ikuko above is by me ^^]

It still felt strange, cold, where Ikuko's hands touched the knife. A tingling chill crept into her skin, from her fingertips, climbing up her wrist, up her arm, flooding her chest, and stealing her breath. From her chest, the cursed energy rushed to her head where it settled and pushed against her skull. Another headache.

That's alright, all I have to do is put it back...

So she furrowed her brow and concentrated on the weapon, willing for the cursed energy gathered in her head to flow back inside. The pain in her head pulsed, but nothing happened. Of course. She could feel the frustration bubbling in her throat, but she tightened her jaw and furrowed her brow, repurposing her frustration into curiosity.

She turned the knife around in her grasp, I can absorb it just fine now, but how do I put it back? It can't be that different, can it?

Three days. Ikuko had been at this for three whole days now. After she'd accidentally absorbed the cursed energy in Maki's weapon and after Gojo had gone to get it fixed before Maki could throttle him, the white-haired man had handed her this knife.

He'd said, "This little butter-knife here passively collects cursed energy, much like the regular person. I want you to try to figure out this whole absorption technique of yours on your own, so don't talk to me until you can 1) absorb its cursed energy at will, 2) put the cursed energy back at will, and 3) do both of the above without having a headache. Should be simple, right?"

Easy for him to say.

It hadn't taken her a day to manage the first task. She was a very kinesthetic learner, and so she'd simply recalled the feeling of the previous absorptions and applied a lot of persistence until she'd sapped the knife dry.

The second task, however, was proving beyond her.

How did Gojo know that she could even do this? What if it only worked one way? Ikuko sighed, shaking off the negative thoughts and resuming her brainstorming. Even if her faith in herself was lacking, she trusted the white-haired man enough to give it a few more tries.

Ikuko closed her eyes, evening out her breathing as she focused her senses back to the knife. It was quieter, now, and not nearly as "bright" with the dark, cursed energy as it had before. She hummed as she tried, yet again, to push the energy out of her head and back down through her arms into the knife. And yet again, nothing happened. The knife still pulsed faintly with cursed energy.

She sighed, opening her eyes and falling back onto her bed to stare up at the ceiling.

"I'm not allowed to talk to you? What if I need advice?"

"You don't give yourself enough credit, Iku-chan. Nor enough attention. You can do it, you just have to examine yourself more, believe in yourself more."

Examine myself more? Ikuko thought, Maybe I'm focusing too much on the knife...

She closed her eyes again, this time directing her senses inward.

As expected. her head was stuffed full of the icy flames, but now that she was actually looking, she was struck by a thought: why is it just in my head? She'd experienced it herself, how the cursed energy had traveled up her arms and in her chest. It could, apparently, travel anywhere else in her body, so why was it stagnating in her head?

...don't be scared, Baby Girl. It's all just in your head...

She winced. Wha-?

Her dad's arms were tight around her, giving her tiny limbs the strength to wipe her eyes, "It's only in my head," she echoed.