The Maverick's Prince

Ch. 22 - Finding the Magic

A few days passed since your runaway incident. Things had become too quiet for comfort, but that didn't mean you weren't thankful for being able to enjoy a few days of normal married life. The comfort of Suguru's love melted to the deepest part of your bones. It was changing you as a person, you could feel it with every fiber of your being. Whether good or bad, you weren't the same person that you were a few months ago -- a simple, adventurous baker's daughter.

The primary difference from before Sukuna's appearance was that Satoru hadn't left. As long as Sukuna was out there and a close threat, Suguru and Satoru had to stay close together as the two strongest sorcerers. There is strength in groups, or at least that's what they'd tell each other.

"Are you absolutely sure I don't have any sort of ability?" You sadly asked for what was likely the millionth time in the past few days. The two of you were sat at one end of the long dining table having dinner. Despite your consistent pestering about jujutsu, Suguru didn't look a bit tired of your inquiries.

"It's something you're born with and if you have any ability it would have manifested when you were a child," Suguru explained...for the millionth time. "At least that's how it's always been in the history we as a species have known about jujutsu."

"But that doesn't mean things can't be different!" You whined. "Just because 'that's how it's always been' doesn't mean that I can't find it later in life. What if I'm an outlier?!"

Suguru's face twitched just a bit as he tried to hold back a facial expression of disappointment, disappointment in the sense that what you were talking about was incredibly unlikely and he hated that there was something he couldn't fix for you. But it was too late, you had already predicted the face he was going to make and pouted back in your dining chair.

You sat in silence for just a moment to contemplate your next moves. Your stomach began to churn with anxious nausea. Once you made up your mind, you stood quickly and began striding away from your half-finished meal.

"Where are you off to?" Suguru asked with no hostility in his voice whatsoever. Nothing you did, even with your attitude, could make him angry or annoyed.

"I'm going to practice," you said vaguely as you headed toward the exit.

Despite your confidence and attitude in leaving, in the back of your mind you couldn't help but remember that time was limited. Suguru and Satoru seemed so hesitantly confident in their abilities to stop Sukuna, but you were completely at a loss. Something within you was telling you to prepare for the end. You tried your best to ignore it.

You saddled up your horse, grabbed your bow and quiver, and headed out onto the archery field. One thing you loved taking advantage of while living at a castle was the large fields and servants to help set up the targets for you.
Back in the "old" days, it was just Kento running after you and fixing your targets in a field just outside of town. You wondered how he was doing...

You enjoyed a brief afternoon of mounted archery, hitting some bullseyes and missing others. Archery on the ground was already a challenge; on horseback was another level. It was skill you were proud of; you were the only one from your village with such an ability despite it being imperfect. In a sense, you felt lucky to escape that village seeing as there was no way you wanted to inherit your father's bakery. Being queen, however, was an entirely different story. You weren't sure if you wanted these duties either. In the present moment, all you wanted was peace.

You gave your horse a break, letting them relax by the water trough as you simply aimed at a few targets on foot. Your mind wandered with the depressing thought of being unable to help. At first, the idea of not being able to use jujutsu made you feel jealous. But at this point you felt anger and helplessness.

"It's just negative emotions," you mumbled to yourself after a big sigh. You let your arms relax from their aiming position as you looked toward the ground in thought. "There's gotta' be a way," you said a bit louder and closed your eyes tight.

You tried to think of negative emotions, negative events even - anything in an attempt to make yourself either burn with rage or melt into a puddle of tears.
You manually searched your brain for certain memories associated with negativity when suddenly his face flashed through your mind. His sinister smile and laugh filling your ears with the memory of his threats. That burning sensation began to throb around your neck as if your body had never forgotten the feeling of his fingers wrapped around your arteries. The power that surged through your body as he branded you was something that could never be forgotten...

"That's it!" You jolted yourself out of your negative meditation.

Confidence was the new feeling that surged through your body as you aimed your bow toward a distant target. You took in a deep breath, eyes closed, and began to meditate on what you had felt earlier: that burning sensation along with deep-set fear; those feelings you felt when Sukuna was near.
With your meditation, you felt as that feeling began to surge stronger than you had ever felt it before. You pulled back your arrow as tight as it would go, and just as it was released your eyes snapped open to find it soaring toward the target with a strange, flaming blue aura around it.

The arrow buried itself deep into the center of the target, to the point where only the feathers were exposed. The blue aura cooled from the arrow but not before you noticed the trajectory line left behind. This has to be it, you thought. 

You prepared another arrow and took aim, this time keeping your eyes open and following the same meditative procedure as before.
As you gleefully predicted, the arrow lit up once again. The difference this time was the trajectory line. It was displayed in front of you without the arrow leaving your bow. The line itself led from your arrow all the way toward the upper part of the target, just missing center. It appeared to be made of the same bluish hue that surrounded your arrow - almost as if a fairy had flown ahead and left behind blue fairy dust.
You blinked hard to make sure what you were seeing was true. It remained once you cleared your vision. You took a deep breath and reminded yourself how Kento experienced his technique. You're not crazy, you calmed yourself.

You released your arrow and as it glided through the air, somehow seemingly at a bit of a slower speed than usual, it followed the exact trajectory painted in your vision. Just as the arrow was about to miss the center of the target, in an attempt of experimentation, you pointed your finger straight ahead just like your arrows and slightly moved it toward the center of the target.
You tried your best to contain your excitement as the hazy blue trajectory line moved with the guidance of your finger, the arrow directly hitting the target while under your control.

"S-S..." your body wracked with awe and excitement stood frozen as the biggest grin grew on your face. "Suguru!" You screeched and dropped your bow, sprinting straight back to the castle to share your exciting news.