Lavender and Vanilla {Itafushi}

Part Two: Out of Sight, Out of Mind

Yuji's POV

The summer sun beat down on me as I jogged out onto the field, grinning brightly at the sight of everyone already there, awaiting my arrival. With a small towel draped over her shoulder, Maki took a momentary sip from her water bottle before glaring at me.

"You're late, Itadori. We just finished our warm ups.."

I looked around, seeing Kugisaki already sat on one of the benches, trying to catch her breath. Toge and Yuta were sat in the grass together, Toge holding down Yuta's sneakers to help ground him while he did his sit ups. Occasionally, Yuta would sit up further and quickly lean in to steal a kiss from his boyfriend, before lying back down once again, keeping up a steady pace with it.

Wait.. Where's Fushiguro?

"Is Fushiguro here?" I finally spoke up, earning a reply from Panda, who I somehow hadn't noticed was there.

"Nope, we assumed he was with you."

"I haven't seen him at all this morning, to tell you the truth." I rubbed the back of my neck anxiously, looking back over my shoulder from where I came from. "Should I go try and find him? He's never usually late to work outs like this.."

I looked around at the rest of them, no one saying a word as I suddenly felt a hand on my shoulder. "He's fine, don't worry." Turning around, I now faced Gojo, wearing his sunglasses as he usually did during practice.   I could see why, with how hot it must get under that blindfold..

"Where is he?" I asked, maybe a little too eagerly. Gojo laughed, patting my head. "He's just in his room resting right now.. He's been overworking himself lately, and it's just worn him out, you know?"

Somehow, I could tell Gojo wasn't telling us the full story. Megumi always pushed himself to succeed, whether at his best or his worst, he never gave up. It wasn't like him to just randomly decide he didn't feel like going to practice.

So with an ill concealed feeling of worry, I pressed further on the subject.

"Can I go check in on him?"

Gojo paused a moment, parting his lips to speak, but nothing came out. What was his deal? Was he hiding something from us..? From me?

"I think you should just let him rest, Yuji.. He's probably asleep right now." There was hesitation in his voice, I knew he was lying.

"I'm going to go make sure he's ok." I shook my head, turning around and running off in the direction of our rooms. I knew it probably would've been best to listen to to Gojo, but I couldn't help but worry.

I soon stood outside his door, about to knock before I heard something.

I furrowed my brows, gently pressing my ear to the door.

Was he.. Crying?

"Fushiguro?" I finally spoke up. The crying abruptly stopped.

"I-Itadori, what the hell are you doing here? Shouldn't you be at the field right now?" His voice wavered. I knew it. I knew something was wrong.. I'm glad I trusted my intuition for once.

"Yeah, but I just came to check up on you.. Can I come in?"

"N-No!" He desperately shouted, before pausing, "I-I mean.. I'd prefer if you didn't. I really need to just be alone right now."

I slowly nodded, "Is there.. anything I can do to help..?"

"Well, you can start by leaving me the fuck alone like I just told you." His tone got angrier as he spoke.

My body wouldn't move, I was filled with indecision. My mind told me to do as Fushiguro asked and just give him space, but my heart told me that wasn't a good idea, that something bad might happen if I left.

Never had I ever seen, or heard of Fushiguro crying. He was like a brick wall, impassable, seclusive about his emotions, it had gotten to the point where he showed almost no emotion at all besides anger.

Whether it was something he did subconsciously, or something he had taught himself to do in order to avoid being seen as weak, I wasn't sure. Maybe it was both.

Reluctantly, I began walking away, looking over my shoulder at his door with a frown.

What happened? Why was he so upset? Why was Gojo so dismissive about it? I had so many unanswered questions..

Did it have something to do with what he said to me the other day?

Maybe it really was none of my business, but Fushiguro was my best friend, dare say my crush even.. I cared about him deeply, and I wanted to help him in any way that I could! But I couldn't help him if I had no idea what was wrong..

Returning back out to the field, I couldn't get my mind off of it. So when workouts finally ended, I approached Maki, who was talking with a giggly Nobara, the two of them packing up the training equipment and about to start heading back together. They weren't 'official', but it was clear as day that the two of them liked one another. I honestly shipped it.

I tapped her shoulder, frowning. "Hey, Maki.. Can I talk to you for a minute?"

The cursed tool user arched a brow at me, hand placed on her hip as she studied the look on my face. It took a moment before she seemed to notice that I was genuinely upset about something. She sighed and looked back over at Nobara, who had her bag slung over her shoulder.

"Hey, go on ahead. I'll catch up with you in a few."

Nobara nodded before giving me a quick side-glance. "Of course." She simply replied, beginning to head in the direction of the dorms.

"Ok, what is it that's got you all worked up?" She grumbled, gesturing towards my expression of unease.

"I'm worried about Fushiguro.. He's not acting like himself.. I feel like he's hiding something." I sighed, rubbing the back of my neck.

"And? How on earth does that have anything to do with me? You're closer to him than I am- Than any of us are, really. Besides Gojo, of course. So I assumed you would've been able to sort this out with him yourself." She crossed her arms over her chest now, clearly uninterested in the topic at hand.

"Well, you've known him a lot longer than I have. I thought you might have some insight on what his deal is.. Cause right now, he seem to want to speak to me.." I murmured, looking to the ground now.

She let out a sigh, "Then maybe it's a sign you should take note to. If he doesn't want to talk to you, then maybe you shouldn't be bothering him. If something was really wrong, I'm sure he'd come forth to speak about it."

I looked back up at her, furrowing my brows. "Really? I highly doubt that.. He never talks about his feelings."

"Yeah, because he thinks it makes him look cool and edgy."  She rolled her eyes, adjusting her glasses now, "Listen, I don't know what else to tell you. If he doesn't want to talk to you about his problems, then maybe you should stay out of it. Obviously he doesn't feel comfortable or trust you enough to tell you about it."

Ouch.

I lowered my head as she continued speaking.

"Please just stop trying to get me involved in things like this. I have a relationship I'd like to work on with Nobara.. I can't sit around wasting my time on hopeless situations like these."

"Hopeless?" I reiterated, "What's that supposed to mean?"

"Figure it out yourself, Yuji." And with that, she turned around and began walking away. I began walking with her, hoping she would change her mind.

"Maki, please! I need your-"

"No, you don't need my help, you just want my help. Those are two different things."

I stopped in my tracks, idling there for a moment as I watched her walk off, turning a corner and disappearing out of my line of vision.

Everyone else had already left as well, leaving me standing just outside the field on my own.

What the hell am I supposed to do now?