The Queen of Curses; A Jujutsu Kaisen AU

Blessed Shrine

That night As yuta slept in bed rika had little to do but ponder her own thoughts and feelings. She sat by his window and gazed out at the bright full moon.
"Full..." she whispered as her hand idly twirled her long brown hair around her finger. It was only then as she stared at the full moon she realized how good she felt. She felt full for once, as if somehow her death had chained her, but freed her. Rika wondered why she felt this way as her gaze fell to her own hand. She looked no different, at least she thought she didn't. Rika hopped off the ledge on yuta's window and walked over to the mirror. At first she couldn't see her reflection one bit. All she could see was an odd swirling black mass of stuff. She frowned and got closer to the mirror concentrating as hard as she could on a mental image of how she remembered herself.
Her cursed energy began to swirl in patters and circles until eventually it began to slowly form the outline of her former body. That's when she realized why she felt so complete, those blank gaps in her memory...they're not blank anymore. Rika froze as she stared at her own hand, then clenched it and grit her teeth. Fury filled her body as she first remembered how her mother tried to drown her while bathing together. Then her father trying to strangle her, and her grandmother finally succeeding in murdering her.
Rika wanted to scream, how dare they, how dare anything or anyone try to rob her of her young life? She did not ask to be born, she did not ask to hold whatever it is she held inside of her. Then as she begins to grow and enjoy life, and truly feel the wind on her skin- her own family cursed her, and then tried to rip this life away from her. This beautiful life that she has grown to love and cherish.
'That's..not fair! They won't take this life from me! NOTHING will!!! Not until it is time for yuta and I to go together on OUR OWN TERMS!'  Rika screamed inside her own head as she unintentionally began to whip up a small wind storm in yuta's room. She was snapped out of her rage when she heard Yuta's voice.
"Rika Chan?" He mumbled sleepily as he observed her looking in the mirror. Instantly calming down, Rika began Tip toeing to him.  she gave him a big squeeze and kiss on the cheek.
"Ah! Yuta, I was just playing. Please go back to sleep, I'll still be right here when you wake up!" She chimes in a very soft whisper as she lays Yuta back down. Once his eyes were closed again and his breathing became slow and sleepy Rika sat criss cross on the floor in front of the mirror.
'This is no good!' She huffed to herself internally.
'It seems like I have an affect everything around me. if I get too emotional or concentrate too much...I'll bother Yuta..' the mere thought of bothering yuta made her chest hurt- somehow her emotions were a million times more intense in this new state of being. Tears rolled down her cheeks and she quickly shook her head, gathering herself.
'I have to control this new form perfectly if I'm going to be able to stay with yuta forever. Nothing will get in our way. I'll make sure of it.' Rika swore to herself, not knowing she was making a powerful unbreakable vow to herself. She relaxed her body and gazed calmly into the mirror putting herself in a deep meditative trance. She was going to control this newfound power of hers, While also unknowingly setting fate into motion.

As the sun rose, rika was stirred from her deep meditation by yuta's voice.
"Good morning, rika Chan." Yuta yawned out as he pulled himself out of bed, still trying to wake up. Rika smiled brightly quickly getting up from her cross cross position on the floor and hopping onto yuta's bed. In one swift motion she pulled open his curtains filling the room with daylight
"Good morning Yuta!" She chimed as she hopped off his bed and gave him a kiss on the cheek. She loved being able to see him right as he woke up, it felt so right that she could spend every minute with him and yuta certainly did not mind either. He loved rika with his entire soul, he was crushed when he thought she was gone forever. He didn't know what it was, but yuta felt like he'd lose his mind without her. He felt as though she was his other half, that they were destined to be together.
There was only one thing that bothered him. She was still in the outfit she had passed away in since she had been cremated in the traditional white burial shroud. It was a beautiful day out and yuta wanted to show his appreciation that rika was still around despite the horrid circumstances.
"Hey rika Chan, I noticed you're still in the clothes from that day...I'm not sure how this new...form works but I want to see you in something else." He smiled lightly and scratched the back of his head forcing the image of rika's mangled corpse from his mind. Rika had been so happy to be back with yuta she hadn't even realized she was in the same clothes that she had died in. Even After meditating all night on her new form she still only saw a solid black shadow in the mirror. She was content with the improvement from a formless smoky black mass of energy, but she still couldn't get a clear look at herself in the mirror.
"Ah, am I?" Rika tilted her head and linked her fingers together behind her back
"I wouldn't know, for some reason I can't see myself clearly in the mirror. All I see is a black silhouette of myself." She confessed as she walked over and sat on yuta's bed. Yuta had a puzzled look on his face, but then sighed. It did make sense that she wouldn't be able to see herself clearly in the mirror, she no longer had a physical body- she was merely a bundle of cursed energy. Yuta didn't know what cursed was yet, but he would soon. He wondered to himself how he could strengthen this earthy connection- not just the connection between him and rika but her and the earth itself. Suddenly it hit him
"I wonder if I strengthen your connection to the earth itself, then you'll be able to see yourself in the mirror! Hmmmm...What if I build you your own shrine?" Yuta exclaimed, very satisfied with his idea and ready to take on such a task. Rika smiled brightly and threw her arms around him.
"I'd love that!! You'd do that for me yuta?" She exclaimed happily as she rocked him back and forth in excitement. It felt so right, how did she not think of that before? Hopping up she turned her attention to yuta's closet. Without much thought she used cursed energy to open the closet door and picked out yuta's outfit for the day. A dark blue tshirt with an embroidered 'Y' on the breast pocket, and a pair of light colored shorts.
"Of course I'd do that for you!" Yuta exclaimed as he hopped out of bed and began his daily routine. As he did so, Rika took this time to give him some general privacy while she continued to stare at her form in the mirror. Maybe Yuta was on to something, her connection with him was perfectly solid- therefore he could see her and she could see him. But she did indeed lose her earthly form, and now she needed a new one.
Once he was up and ready he quickly went to his parents. The two were a very supportive pair with hidden connections to the jujitsu world- both his mother and father knew rika continued to hang around their son. Unable to see her though, they could sense her and hear Yuta talking to her. They didn't mind in the slightest, as their family had a history of involvement with the supernatural being distant relatives of Michizane Sugawara.
"Mom! Dad! I have an idea!" He explained as he bounded down the stairs while his mother cooked breakfast and his father sat at the table having coffee and reading the paper. Rika was very fond of Yuta's family and often left them sweet notes on the fridge in the morning. She bounded down the stairs with him but when he went to sit at the table and talk rika went to her favorite place at his house, their mother's large greenhouse conservatory in the backyard.
Rika went to her favorite flower, a blue spider lily specially cultivated by Yuta's mother. When she was alive she also cared for the lilly and continued to do so in this new form of hers.
"Oh good morning, dear!" His mother exclaimed as she set his plate down on the table for him.
"What's your idea, sport? Where's rika-Chan?" His father asked as yuta began to eat.
"She's in the greenhouse! Speaking of rika Chan and my idea- I want to build her a shrine! Can we do that?" Yuta asked as his mother and father looked to each other. They smiled and nodded their heads.
"That's a good idea, yuta. We should do her spirit the honors, since her family essentially disappeared off the face of the earth. I'll make some calls today in the office and find a spot and get everything ready. There's only one condition; you have to design the shrine yourself." His father assured him and yuta nodded happily. With that yuta spent the rest of the day with rika picking out different decorations, shrine goods, and other things. In total it took the shrine 3 months to be built based off of rika's wants communicated through Yuta. The shrine didn't look like a traditional shrine, it looked more like a small shed with one main room for all of rika's things and new offerings for her to have in this new form.
Once it was all finished yuta was finally allowed to step on the grounds and show rika her new earthly connection. Showing rika inside, her steps got heavier and more human, her form seemed to solidify more. Along with fruit, candy, incense, silver jewelry and hair ornaments, shoes, and an entirely new wardrobe of clothing hung up on the walls. It all hit home once yuta showed her to the center of her shrine where a large mirror was covered with a purple cloth.
"Ready to see if it worked rika-Chan?" He smiled brightly gripping the cloth about to tear it off. Rika's chest was surging with cursed energy as she held back many happy overwhelming emotions. The overjoyous energy of the two soul mates present in the small shrine was swirling and building, consecrating the grounds in its own way.
"I'm ready, yuta." She assured him, standing firmly in front of the mirror fighting off hidden anxiety that perhaps she would still look dark and silhouetted. With that, yuta pulls the cloth off the mirror allowing it to shine in the light of the large windows. Rika hadn't even realized she had squeezed her eyes shut at the last second until she heard yuta's questioning words if she sees herself. Slowly rika opened her eyes and there in the mirror she was herself. Her true self. Though slightly glowy and not quite opaque yet, she saw every feature clear as day. Her emotions swelled in her chest as she came closer to the mirror. Tears prickled her eyes as she looked at her normal appearance in the mirror,  she then noticed she was in a new dress. It was a pretty pink dress with frills on the bottom and an embroidered dark pink hem. It was the dress that had first entered the shrine's threshold, but if rika concentrated hard enough she could switch outfits at will.
After spending some time quality time with yuta at the shrine, yuta's parents came to the shrine to see if they could also see rika. Emotions swelled over as they slid open the door to see the little girl they were so fond of, who was robbed of her life too early, returned to a seemingly human form. She looked so innocent standing there in front of the mirror. They wondered how anybody could treat her as badly as she had been treated before. They had brought some more fresh food and set up a small picnic area in the shrine so they could eat with rika.
Once her portions of food were placed on her shrine she was able to grab them off the shrine and actually feel them and put them in her mouth and taste the fruits. Elated at being able to taste again, enjoy company, feel loved and cared for rika began to cry as well and thank them profusely, promising to forever protect their bloodline for as long as she possibly could with whatever power she had. As they sat there in that little hut with rika and their son, yuta's parents felt blessed their life was not only so fruitful but also extraordinary. From then on, rika's shrine was known as the family's blessed heart as her connection to this planet, and this family were cemented. Deep down everybody made an agreement, they knew this would be a long learning process and it wasn't always going to be easy- but they were always going to try, and never give up on Rika.

From there the learning process began- If things were not actively offered to her new form, she could not interact with more organic objects like food, or clothing without tremendous effort and affecting other things she wouldn't mean to affect. One time she tried snagging a tasty looking apple from the farmers market while following during grocery shopping and it literally burst beneath her touch. Luckily it happened so fast she was the only one to notice what went down. To anyone else it would look like it just disappeared without a trace when in all reality rika had accidentally atomized it. Rika needed precise control over these powers if she was going to be successful in forcing the future she wants for her and yuta into existence out of sheer will and love. It was while she was learning to control all of these new powers that she slipped up one day, and yuta was never able to look at her the same.