TO LOVE A MONSTER ❪ jujutsu kaisen ❫

xxiv: the night parade ❪ the breaking of shackles ❫

TOKYO JUJUTSU HIGH, ISOLATION ROOM, 22ND DECEMBER 2016.

The day of the Night Parade dawns faster than she expects. Kaori cracks her eyes open and immediately knows that the parade has begun from the way energy ripples across Japan, cursed and dangerous. She sits in her prison and stares up at the ceiling, wondering if her friends are missing her. She regrets not writing out letters to her friends, hoping that her rushed words to Gojo are successfully conveyed. A familiar energy in her stirs and No Face's voice floods through her ears.

"He is here," it hisses, sounding repulsed and Kaori lurches forward.

"Who?" she doesn't expect a reply but her demon indulges her for once.

"The Curse Eater," Geto. What is Geto doing here? He's supposed to be at the death battle he promised the other sorcerers, not at the emptied out school. No, not empty. Ice fills her veins, plunging through her if she's drowning in a lake.

"Yuuta," she breathes out, voice wracked with horror and No Face hums.

"Yes. That Romeo of yours has caught quite the attention, especially with that Curse of his. I suppose Curse Eater intends on killing him and taking the Curse for his own," its voice is apathetic as if it's not talking about the death of a boy Kaori loves. Bile rises in her throat, threatening to spill past her lips at the thought of what Geto will do to Yuuta and it takes an uneasy amount of effort to choke out the words running through her mind. 

"Why are you telling me this? What do you want?"

"What do I want? Well I want to live my dear. Your decision to stay here and get executed is folly. As if these fools have the right to execute the Devourer of Souls," it sneers, pridefully referring to itself as the name Fujiwara hunted down all those years ago. It manifests itself as a small figure only the tiniest bit taller than Kaori, black tendrils forming arms and curling around Kaori's face in a sweet grip. Its teeth are bone white even though blood lingers at the edge of its mouth, reminding the girl of just how much of a monster the creature is. "It is disgusting that you continue to cower before these men again and again and for what? To be sentenced to death when all you've done is follow orders like a brave soldier. What right do they have over you? Their prestige, made from their own blood soaked hands and the manipulation of the chess board they call the Jujutsu society?" No Face's voice rings high and low, the vowels hissed and the constants exaggerated as it berates Kaori.

"You don't know if I'm deserving of having my own rights,"

"No? Did the Strongest not give you a chance? Did he not let you around those students of his? Did those students not trust you? You are deserving of a chance Fujiwara Kaori, especially since all the atrocities you have committed have been out of fear and loyalty to a man who tried to control your power," Kaori listens to the monster's words with glazed eyes.

"You're right," she stands up slowly, ignoring the drag of the chains against the ground. "I deserve another chance and I'll rip it from the Higher Ups like I ripped apart all the people they ordered me to kill," she looks at No Face and the smile on its mouth, pleased at being able to manipulate Kaori into amusing it once again. "What do you want?"

"Use my power," it coaxes. "Use my power, little Juliet and I'll help you save your Romeo," it's a risky deal she's making, knowing of the endless power running the Curse. Using the source of power she's knitted against the back of her heart, refusing to use it and letting it amass over the years, can cause destruction that is undoable. Yet, not a single part of her balks at the thought of the chaos, not anymore. 

"Khaos," she refers to it by the name for the first time in her life. "Devourer of souls, come to purge and take your claim," there's a slight hitch in her breath when she sees the vapid smirk that crosses against the creature's face before it curls around her and breaks the cursed energy binding shackles.