A hundred lives for the life of one (is this the end?) | JJK

CHAPTER TWO | ONIMARU NUKUMI

Yuuji is two-years-old and barely babbling comprehensible Japanese when Jin and Kaori disappear. Well, when Jin disappears and Kaori's body is discovered by Nukumi. The anguish she felt seeing the corpse of her mother was overwhelming, quickly overcome by anger and rage as her wish for a happy family was taken from her hands. Wasuke, when he had come to visit and watch her and Yuuji for a little while, had pulled her from shaking Kaori's corpse. He, surprisingly, comforted her as her mother was taken by the ambulance. And, when it was clear Jin was missing, he helped settle everything in the house, packing necessities and sentimental items before bringing her and Yuuji to his apartment.

There was no funeral for Kaori, the woman who had no family beside her children, husband, and father-in-law. Instead, she was cremated, most of her ashes contained in an urn while the remnants were put in a necklace Wasuke bought for Nukumi. Her life rapidly shifted, by then. She grieved, in her own way, for the loss of Kaori and began taking a more active role in the care of Yuuji. When her grandfather was busy working, she was taking care of him after the breeze that was primary school.

Nukumi re-learned how to cook under the steady supervision of her grandfather. She drew baths and bathed Yuuji, changed his diapers, and brushed his teeth. She helped potty train him and almost cried when he called her nee-san. Eventually, though, Wasuke noted how she was lacking in the friend department and encouraged her to leave taking care of Yuuji to him, and him alone. Leading to a bitterness in Nukumi as she was forced to start making friends with brats that didn't even know how to talk properly, let alone keep an intellectual conversation.

More often than not, when she wasn't watching over Yuuji or suffering through the boring matter that was school, she wandered the neighborhood and practiced her innate technique. Without a guiding hand, she had no clue how to proceed. Usually, this led to her summoning her Shikigami (using the sharp end of her pen to draw blood) and "bonding" with them, so to speak. Kuroboshi comforted her often, rubbing against her thigh as any cat would. Running her hands through his fur gave pins and needles, a staticy feeling running up her arm. Despite the feeling being odd, it was comforting. Hakuchou, on the other hand, rarely ever allowed Nukumi to touch her glittering feathers. The reason was made apparent when she managed to brush a hand over the feathers and felt a burning sensation. While it left no mark, it set her nerves aflame with pain. This never discouraged Nukumi from touching the osprey. In fact, it only seemed to give her more motivation to touch the bird. If only to allow the bird to feel physical affection. It also helped Nukumi's sensitive nerves to be accustomed to pain.

It's during one of these wandering trips she comes across a curse bigger than any she's seen before. Taller than her and reaching the first story of the abandoned apartment blocks. It's as grotesque as any curse, a mustard yellow in color with long, spindly legs. Their singular eye lands on Nukumi, instantly salivating.

With no hesitation, knowing keenly that this area of the neighborhood had been uninhabited for years before she and Yuuji moved in with Wasuke, she unclips her pen from her pocket. Her black hair sways in the wind as she runs the sharp end of the pen against the skin of her bicep, joining the many scrapes her body sports from experimenting and roughhousing with the other kids in primary.

The curse begins screeching, a warbled thing that made her head ache. With that battle cry, it charges. She dips her fingers into her blood, drawing a line down her arm. "Devour the light, Kuroboshi."

From her blood, Kuroboshi forms, slithering into form with bared teeth. She wastes no time to continue her call. "Blind, Hakuchou."

The osprey, unlike the panther, bursts from her blood in a flash of light. She's louder in the way she cries a piercing thing, flapping her wings aggressively.