𝑯𝑶𝑼𝑺𝑬 𝑶𝑭 𝑺𝑶𝑹𝑹𝑶𝑾⇢ Gojo Satoru

𝐂𝐇𝐀𝐏𝐓𝐄𝐑 𝐗𝐈𝐈 - 𝐅𝐎𝐔𝐋 𝐋𝐀𝐃𝐘 𝐅𝐎𝐑𝐓𝐔𝐍𝐄

THERE WAS BLOOD ON THE FLOOR, blood on the steps. Red. Crimson. Gore. It was everywhere. Mikazuki dropped her sword, the sound of gold clattering against the compact cement as she stumbled over a severed arm. The sorceress toppled over, hands breaking her fall. Her fingers sank in the blood, the pieces of torn skin and melted flesh pressed against her palms. Mikazuki gagged, the smell so pungent it was all she could think about. She had killed all of them – all thirty-seven of them.

Kinzoku Mikazuki snapped her eyes open, heart beating loudly in her chest as the dream melted away, the remnants of the nightmare quickly disappearing as reality set in. Niko was still asleep, her expression completely calm as she laid on the hospital bed. Her legs were propped up and dangling from a metallic contraption, pins and needles placed around her knees while the rest was covered in a cast.

It had already been six days since the accident, yet Mikazuki hadn't left her sister's bedside. Shoko came in every couple of hours to check in on her patient and replace the saline drip still attached to her IV. As Mikazuki's friend, she was a godsend, but as a doctor? She was the most overbearing professional the sorceress had ever laid eyes on. It was better this way, she guessed. Shoko was one of the only people Mikazuki trusted with her sister's life and, although Ieiri hadn't asked any questions, the Kinzoku heiress could still see the hesitation in her gaze when she brought Niko in on the ambulance.

Mikazuki rubbed her hands against her face as she straightened her back. She'd been sleeping by her sister's bedside for a while now, but her bad leg was only protesting now. The sorceress bit the inside of her cheek, stretching her left leg in an attempt to relieve some of the pain. Niko stirred, her golden eyes fluttering open as a soft smile played on her lips. Gods, she loved her so much.

"Oh, you're awake." Niko mumbled, her voice raspy from drugs and sleep.

"Yeah." Mikazuki answered quietly while she rubbed her sister's arm, the touch of her fingers against the bare skin finally snapping her back to reality. "I was just going to get some coffee, check in with Mai and the kids. Do you want something?"

Niko shook her head, still sleepy and loopy from the high dosage of pain meds. Although it had been a last-minute deal, Mikazuki had still managed to pick up the kids from school, dropping them off at Niko's neighbour house. It wasn't an easy task to do, especially when she was nothing but a stranger to her own kids, but both Ren and Toshinori were polite enough to remain well-behaved until they reached Mai's door.

Niko's neighbour was an old widower who watched the twins on the weekends, and after Mikazuki spun some story about a home invasion, she was more than welcome to extend their stay. Toshinori hadn't seem to mind, walking into the old woman's house like it was his own. Ren, on the other hand, hesitated at the door, her uncertain nature and big golden eyes reminding Mikazuki of Suguru. Out of the two, she was the one who resembled him the most. It wasn't just her eyes, but the way she walked and talked.

Leaving them at Mai's house was as hard as leaving them with Niko ten years ago. Meeting her children for the first time and then giving them away for the second time hurt nearly as much as when she woke up in a pool of her own blood at the steps of the Kansai factory.

"Just water is fine." Niko mumbled, craning her neck to check the clock hanging from the wall. She frowned, propping herself on the pillow. "Have you been here all night? Last night, too?"

Mikazuki didn't answer, opting for a non-comital noise as she stepped across the room and pulled out a plastic cup which she placed under the water dispenser. Although Shoko didn't work full-time at this hospital, she was still a fellow and after pulling some strings, she'd managed to get them into one of the VIP rooms on the upper floor. Mikazuki turned around, handing the water cup to her sister as she held a half empty paper cup that reeked of black coffee.

"I don't mind staying with you. Besides, it's not like I have something better to do." Mikazuki shrugged, taking a sip from the cold coffee and wincing at the disgusting hospital concoction.

Niko hesitated, her gaze flickering across the room. Mikazuki was beautiful, but she was jaded. Her clothes were rumpled form spending two whole nights sleeping at her sister's bedside, her curly grey hair pulled into a messy bun while her skin was blotchy and dry. Niko sighed, picking up the cup and taking a long sip of fresh water.

"You should be home. Or working." The eldest Kinzoku spoke quietly yet with a decisive tone. "I'm sure you have plenty to do as a special-grade sorceress, if I remember correctly. Not that I ever got promoted."

There was no resentment nor hatred in her tone, yet the heiress was still able to read between the lines. Kinzoku Niko was eighteen – the same age as Mikazuki had been – when she was exiled by The Magistrate. Unlike her sister, though, Niko had only been a first-grade sorceress before she was cast out and cut off by the Clan and everyone else. She'd done it for love and didn't regret her choice any more than Mikazuki regrated hers. But sometimes, when the night was quiet and the kids were asleep, she couldn't help but wonder what would have been of her had she never taken that step.

Would she be the favourite, like Keisuke had once been? Or would she be the one caged behind golden bars like Mikazuki?

After Katsuro's death, Niko became the firstborn. The Kinzoku Clan was supposed to be hers, yet she rejected it from the start. The eldest Kinzoku wasn't built for that kind of life, she'd known it from the moment she watched her twin brother die in front of her eyes, and she knew it now, too. This was not the life she was meant to lead.

"That place isn't home." Mikazuki cut in, her tone harsh and cold before her expression softened slightly. "As for the other thing... we both know you would have made an amazing special-grade sorceress. I, for one, would have loved seeing you kick Satoru's ass."

Niko smiled.

"You liar." She accused, cheeks turning red as another thought crossed her mind. "Do you love him, still?" She asked, the question hanging in the air for a second.

Mikazuki huffed out a laugh, burying her hands into the pockets of her black jeans before she turned to stare at Niko. The sorceress had known about her sister's infatuation long before it became her downfall. As sisters, even through the isolation encouraged by the clan, they had been inseparable. They told each other everything and, as Mikazuki's love for Satoru grew, so did Niko's disdain for the same man.

He's going to hurt you, one day. Niko had told her before she left for good. I know. Mikazuki had answered, ready to bear the weight of it nonetheless.

"I'm not sure I ever did."