Chapter Text
“Ugh, I’ll need to revise the reports.” Shoko said, disappointment still stark on her face.
“No, leave it as is.” At Shoko’s questioning noise Satoru turned towards her slightly, head tilting. “I want to give Yuuji time to gain the power necessary before he’s targeted again. Sorry for the trouble, Shoko, but could you leave Yuuji listed as dead on the records?”
Shoko’s eyes cut to the side, eyebrows lifting. “So you plan to keep Itadori hidden away completely?”
“No, not completely. And,” He added when he saw her brow crease in confusion. “I need all the suppressants, omega grade, that you can spare.”
Her steps faltered; it was only a half pause, shoulders lifting and back straightening before she regained her usual stride, barely noticeable. But Satoru saw it, smiled wanly as the furrow deepened. The dots were connected in her head and, if the press of her mouth into a thin bloodless line was to be judged, she didn’t like the picture they were making. Fair; it was his plan and he didn’t like it much himself. It was...a terrible thing.
“Itadori is a beta.” She said finally, carefully.
“He’s unpresented.” He corrected because that, really, made all the difference. Left to his own devices Yuuji would be a beta, coming from a family line of only betas and not testing positive for the Alpha or Omega gene as a child, according to the medical files Satoru had helped himself to when looking into Yuuji. But as of yet not fully matured, still far enough away from presentation to have only the soft, fresh scent of childhood about him but close enough that he could slip into adulthood at any time.
There wouldn’t be much to it, bets didn’t change the way alphas and omegas did. His scent was mature, he would grow a little, but for the most part if Yuuji was allowed to present beta he would remain exactly as he was.
“You want to Alter him. Does he know?” Shoko asked, voice bland and eyes narrowed; he said nothing. “...There are laws against that.”
“Only if I get caught.”
Alter was a more delicate term than the usual Turning or Bitching that was thrown around but there was very little delicacy in the act of changing an unpresented beta, at the cusp of adulthood when their body and energy was most in flux and receptive to change, into an omega. It was a brute force process, requiring high doses of alpha hormones and semen, extreme scent bombing, mental and emotional reworking, and isolation; it was a steady breaking down and remaking of a person who hadn’t yet settled into who they were. It wasn’t a nice thing to do to a person, even if they consented and went on with full knowledge of what was about to happen to them.
It was worse, not to mention illegal, to do without consent.
Once upon a time there had only been cruel ways to do it, kidnapping and gangrape the usual method, but now it could be a little nicer. Omega suppressants were basically concentrated alpha hormone, to trick an omegas body into thinking they were mated and pregnant, and thus had no need of a heat. The suppressants could be repurposed for Altering, if someone could get their hands on the quantity needed. If that part could be managed then a single alpha could handle the rest, as opposed to needing as many as a dozen like the less kind methods called for.
“You’ll need to claim him, a full bond.” Shoko murmured, eyes darting around. She pressed fingers to her mouth, down turned in thought at the corners. “How much time?”
“He’ll make his comeback in time for the exchange event.” It was a tight timeline, and that was without factoring in the actual training he intended for Yuuji to do, but it was doable. He wouldn’t allow it to be anything but, when he was taking so much from Yuuji to make it happen.
Satoru had done worse but this was going to rank high on the unforgivable acts list but not as high as failing to do everything he could to keep Yuuji alive would. This was something he could live with (and use) and if done right he could even make sure Yuuji was happy at the same time as securing him a level of protection afforded only to bonded omegas. A claim wouldn’t stop the old assholes who wanted Sukuna’s vessel dead completely, but knowing that Satoru, as Yuuji’s alpha, had full rights to challenge and kill anyone who hurt his mate would give them pause. Knowing Yuuji would be sharing his abilities and energy through the bond would be another layer of implied protection, something that would make any sorcerer think very carefully about what they thought they could do.
There was also that the backlash of a sudden death in one half of a bonded pair could kill the other half, but Satoru was sure there were some who would see taking both of them out in one stroke as a feature, not a bug.
“Two days, to sort through my stock and get what you need, but I can give you some near expired vials now..” Shoko declared finally, attention snapping back over to him. “It would be easier if you gave yourself more time.”
“No, it has to be in time for the exchange.” He shook his head. “No one should be allowed to take the events of youth from young people.”
Her answering laugh was a startled, short, and bitter bark.
--
There was nothing noble or good about dumping a week's dose of suppressant fluid into a sport's drink and following it up with a handful of cum wrung from his body with not nearly as much guilt as there probably should have been. He washed his hands quickly, shook up the bottle, and, eyeing the cloudy blue liquid, headed out to collect Yuuji from the morgue.
The other vials he had, his entire stash for now and hopefully enough to get through until Shoko finished her inventory, clinked together softly in his pocket. A vial every few hours, with as much alpha seed as could be taken in, would jump start the turning process. A gradual start, slowly increasing dosages with time, was the more accepted process but time constraints being what they were, hard and fast was the only option. Six weeks, give or take, was not enough time to train, seduce, and turn a beta for most people.
Satoru wasn't 'most people' by any stretch, but he could still acknowledge he was against the clock. No time to take it easy or second guess himself.
Yet, as he was greeted by a beaming, bouncing Yuuji his grip on the bottle faltered. Maybe, he thought as he held out the bottle in offering, he should just tell Yuuji his plan. He'd already agreed to so much, barely hesitated even when he knew it would all end in his death one way or another, maybe this would just as easy. Or, maybe, it was kinder to not make him choose.