wasteland, baby! [fushiguro megumi]

26: traitor

august 2007

northern outskirts of yokohama

third person pov

"oi suguru! i think there's someone here!" jujutsu high third year student, gojo satoru, hollered over the crackling fire that raged across the peak of the mountain in northern yokohama.

the strongest duo, gojo satoru and geto suguru were dispatched immediately after the windows had detected a heightened anomaly of cursed energy, following a fire that broke out in the middle of the woods a mere two hours after dusk.

the duo had barely any information to hold expectations for this impromptu mission, only to be greeted with a menacing sea of flames along with the endless dump of charred bodies when they arrived, not to mention the suffocating pulse of immense cursed energy that clogged the air.

since when was there civilization here? or even the possibility of a whole jujutsu clan that we were unaware of?

it was a miracle that they had even found someone barely breathing in this mess, not to mention a child.

a young girl, whose head had snapped towards the direction of the two teenagers running to her, trembling tiny feet backing her up to a blazed tree as her glowing crimson irises wavered in the dark. her shoulders tensed, her bloodstained palms quivering closely by her chest, the despair in her eyes threatening to escalate into tears.

taking a quick glance at her, the duo could not fathom the hell that this little four, maybe five year old had to go through tonight. the distraught on her face more than evident, the strange wavering aura that hovered above her riddled them clueless, the seemingly intense gaze from those scarlet orbs bearing into their souls. this conundrum of a survivor wouldn't be an easy code to crack, along with the widespread massacre that took the lives of maybe hundreds or possibly thousands of people.

who are these people?

as soon as the white haired shaman had halted just inches away from her, the girl felt her back bury itself into the burning tree behind her while her body engulfed in a disarray of fiery butterflies.

"all that cursed energy that we've been sensing, that's all her? this ... massacre, was she responsible?" geto placed a wary hand onto gojo's shoulder to peel him back slightly, seeing as to how the child before them could very well be capable of blowing them up too if his suspicions were right.

"shikigami ... using flames as a medium. and what's with this cursed energy? i've never felt anything like that before. and apparently it looks like she's fireproof too." gojo had almost let his mind wander too far before snapping his focus back to the mysterious rarity in front of him. "you may be right, suguru. but i don't think it's as simple as it seems. best if we bring her back with us so we can find out more. she may be an asset to the jujutsu society after all, our trump card against the higher ups."

"what are you thinking-" geto could barely decipher his best friend's thoughts, his mind completely wrapped around how his senses were telling him that she's a perfect target for his cursed technique too – curse manipulation – but he was cut off too soon as gojo was crouched before the girl with two fingers pointing to her forehead.

"you got a name kiddo? where are your parents? what happened here?"

his questions had fallen on deaf ears, when the flaming circle of butterflies dissipated suddenly as the girl's body slumped forward to his, causing him to throw his hands in the air at her sudden response.

"you knocked her out?!"

"no i didn't! i mean i was going to, but the kid just passed out!"

"jeez ... let's just take her back to the school first, i doubt we'll find anyone else in this ... whatever this is." geto glanced around, uncomfortably adjusting his man bun in the process.