𝑯𝑶𝑼𝑺𝑬 𝑶𝑭 𝑺𝑶𝑹𝑹𝑶𝑾⇢ Gojo Satoru

𝐂𝐇𝐀𝐏𝐓𝐄𝐑 𝐗𝐗𝐗𝐈𝐗 - 𝐍𝐄𝐕𝐄𝐑/𝐍𝐎𝐖𝐇𝐄𝐑𝐄

THE TWO SORCERERS STOOD LIKE THAT FOR A WHILE, the amicable silence drowned out by the constant dripping of the leaky bathroom faucet. Satoru was calm, arms crossed in front of his chest while he leaned against the ugly tiled wall. Mikazuki, on the other hand, hadn't moved at all, still sitting atop the edge of the tub, legs drawn close to her chest while the clearly small towel struggled to cover her completely. The sorceress was oddly quiet, head in the clouds as she contemplated the events of that same day. Or was it week? Somehow, it was hard to pinpoint exactly how long they'd been hunting the creature. It felt like an eternity ago since they first stepped off that train.

Mikazuki wasn't convinced, but time in this place seemed to flow differently. Sometimes, everything was a blur and time moved as fast as a bullet train. Other times, like now, everything was slow, and the Kinzoku felt herself floating in a haze, the world moving in slow motion around her. It was almost like a cage, a very delicate and intricately built prison for the both of them.

Mikazuki hung her head low, chewing on her bottom lip as she remembered just how much she used to hate this. Time was her prison long before today. For ten years, she'd been on hold, frozen in time waiting for the right moment to awaken. Before that, she was trapped in an entirely different yet still oddly familiar prison, this time confined in the quiet pauses of an engagement she knew would never come into fruition. Satoru shuffled lightly, the noise of the movement catching the sorceress' attention as she raised her head to look at him.

"The Beldam..." She began, a slight shake in her otherwise calm voice. "What did it show you? What did you see?"

The Kinzoku asked it softly, half expecting Satoru wouldn't answer. The sorceress had no idea what the Gojo heir had seen, but considering what she'd been forced to witness, she couldn't imagine it being any better. There was a sort of sorrow in Satoru's gaze, a heaviness that hadn't been there before. It unnerved her, a sense of uneasiness settling over her as she watched him.

The sorcerer straightened himself, suddenly uncomfortable as he smoothed down his shirt in an attempt to quiet the voice inside of his head. The man hadn't forgotten any of it; The Beldam, posing as an over-eager Mikazuki. He hadn't forgotten his stunt in the shower either, although he might have been better off not thinking about it at all considering the object of his desire was currently sitting naked in front of him. What an odd day.

"Nothing." He said quickly, words tumbling out of his mouth before he caught himself. "Everything. Just... a lot of stuff. Things, you know?" His eyes flittered down to her chest for a fraction of a second. It was obscured under the shadow of the towel, but even without activating his Six Eyes, he could still make out the outline of her breasts. "I'd rather not talk about it." Satoru forced himself to look away, burying his hands deep into his pockets in an attempt to cool the sudden warmth spreading through his body. "What about you? What did you see?"

Mikazuki's expression didn't change, and yet, Satoru was still able to sense the quiet shadow that obscured her eyes. The woman licked her lips, suddenly feeling small and exposed. She tugged on the edges of the towel, but instead of covering herself more, it slipped down her shoulder, exposing part of her clavicle. Gojo swallowed past the lump in his throat as he willed his mind to go blank. It was such a small slip, a part of her he'd seen plenty of times, but something about the intimacy of this moment made it feel like more. More intense. More meaningful.

The sorceress' golden eyes flickered to the floor, gaze scanning the neatly arranged tiles while she picked on the skin around her fingers. Satoru felt the need to stop her, to reach out and take her hands in his. Still, with whatever little sense he had left in him, he stifled the thoughts, balling his hands into fists instead.

"I saw myself." The Kinzoku confessed, her tone cold as ice even with the emotion swimming in her golden eyes. "That day, at the factory."

The abandoned Kansai lighting factory. The day that changed everything for her, the day that derailed her history into a world of pain and sorrow. Satoru straightened himself, all of the lust draining from him as a sense of guilt washed over him instead. Unlike Mikazuki, whose memory of that day was burned into her retina, Gojo didn't remember much of it.

To him, at the time, it had been just another day. At least, before everything went spiralling down. Before he was forced to watch the woman he was promised to being dragged away in chains. Satoru's memory of it was fuzzy, like the edges of it could slowly disappear. He remembered heeding her call, he remembered hearing her pleading through their bond. And then, when he showed up... he remembered the stench, the disembodied corpses laid over the concrete steps and watching her stumble out of the factory, covered in blood from head to toe.

What was he supposed to think? That she was innocent?

"I'm sorry." He said anyway, that guilt-ridden feeling spreading through him like poison. "I should have never– " Satoru stopped himself, a conflicted look crossing his face. "I should have helped you when you needed it." He settled on instead, the words still tasting like a bitter lie.

Gojo had been there, both at the factory and at the trial and every step in between. He had every opportunity to help her – all of them did – and yet, when it mattered the most, none of them were there. No, that's a lie. Satoru reminded himself. Suguru fought until the end. Until the very bitter end.

That day was engraved into his mind. The day he stood on the meadow, the heart of his best friend in his hand while Suguru laid on the ground in a pool of his own blood. Suguru was dying, and yet, he still looked up at him, a smile on his face as he muttered about her.

Ten fucking years and the last thing on his mind had been Kinzoku Mikazuki.