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Yuji was partially getting used to Tokyo, more or so just where everything is and how to get there. He was getting used to routes but after dying and staying in an entire basement with little to no outdoors, he had lost some of his progress. Luckily enough, Fushiguro and Kugisaki were there to help him a bit, usually just dragging him to places or giving him a place to navigate and help if he needed help. When dragged, he would remember certain spots to help him identify where he was. Fushiguro would try and make him remember street names instead, but it always confused Yuji where to look and purposely remember each and every street name. It was made worse when a few had similar kanji and confused even more. Kugisaki would berate him for this and would make him hold her bags as ‘punishment’, though Yuji already knew it was because she was lazy. He always carried her bags anyway; it wasn’t new and will never be.
This day, the three of them decided to visit a large popular cafe Kugisaki wanted to go too. It isn’t new for her, or any of them, to drag the others to somewhere they wanted to go too, whether they wanted to or not. The cafe was packed, a huge line with tables filled up. Luckily enough, it wasn’t hot, so they decided to wait in line to see if it was good enough. In the middle of the line, Kugisaki excused herself from the group, saying something along the lines that she needed to pick something up from a place she ordered from. He wasn’t sure if she was trying to get out from dying of boredom or actually needing to get something. Either way she left in a hurry, leaving Fushiguro and him to wait.
So here he was, standing in line, Fushiguro on his phone while Yuji himself spaced out on different ways to beat a bear. To be fair he’s already thought about this in middle school, but now having cursed energy, he wonders if he can use cursed energy against the bear, in self-defense of course. Is cursed energy enough to handle bears? He wouldn’t kill the bear as he knew it was most likely to protect its land or children, but only to man handle it and scare it away. If he has to kill it then well, that would be horrible, and a bit bloody. He already knew how to wash blood off of clothes thanks to Ieiri-sensei, which in hindsight is a bit weird.. Then again sorcerers do go through bloody horrible missions so—
Yuji’s gut twisted, knotting itself horribly. His lungs shortened, tightening in chest as he could feel his senses heightened. A child pointing out a dessert they wanted to their parents, two adults chatting about one of their divorces, the clang of the bell, the tiles of the floor when people walk on it. He could see clearly where people are and how they’re going to move, when they're going to move. He couldn’t feel his body, as if it wasn’t there or as if he was on a cloud, floating in the air. He hated it. He hated every single thing about it.
Yuji had already felt this way before, all the way back in his childhood but that wasn’t the time right now. Usually when getting this feeling, he knew something he hated was going to happen, whether it was bad or just horrible. He listed people on the top of his head, that was the first thing he always done. Fushiguro was next to him, on his phone and safe. Nothing screamed at him to protect Fushiguro at that moment, so was it Gojo-sensei? No, Gojo-sensei is able to protect himself and others. There was also no screaming to his name.
What about Kugisaki?
That name set off screaming, his gut knotted more, making his body feel even lighter and bumping into Fushiguro. Yuji didn’t hear what he said at that moment, only going through his mind on where that shop was and how to get there. Once he got the route down, his legs moved on his own and he was already halfway there. He almost stayed low to the ground, weaving past people or even pushing them out of the way. He didn’t care or think at that moment, just wanting to get to where Kugisaki was.
Was she safe? Did she get hurt— Was she about to get hurt? If so, can you stop it? Will he be able to stop it? He needs to get there faster; he needs to be able to make sure she’s safe. What if someone is trying to hurt her? Trying to kill her? If so then he’ll make sure they’ll be eating out of a feeding tube, riding in a wheelchair with an oxygen mask on for the rest of their life.
He rounds the corner, and his eyes catch her. Same hair, same height, same clothes she wore today, along with a large bag in her hand. She was talking to somebody, an older slightly balding man that wore some wrinkling suit. By his demeanor, he was yelling at her. Why? Why was he yelling at her? Did she do something to upset him or did he just to be a jerk and she put him in his place and now he's mad? Either way, the gut feeling hasn’t gone away so he needed to make sure she’s safe. He started fast walking towards them, eyes focused on both of them, watching the older man's movements to know if he’s going to do something.
A bit more closer now and he could hear some of their conversion, his hearing now blurring the massive chatter around him.
“—old man, I’m not interested in that! I ain’t no–”
“Oh, come now, you have the perfect build for it! You can have money from it, and not even one person will know your face.” The older man slurred, putting one of his hands up a bit as if giving out something. The gesture made Yuji tense, now watching the man’s movement closer. He had to hold the feeling of wanting to punch him, not sure if it’s the right time to get violent.
“And what about my dignity? My pride? And what if someone knows it's me huh?! I’m not gonna ruin my image of me because of your filthy shit, you damn pervert!” Kugisaki shouted, bringing a few eyes to them. This seemed to make the man upset even more, now squinting his eyes to look like a glare in some way at her.
“I was only trying to offer something special to a girl like you, but now I could see you're a complete bitch. I should’ve gone to another girl; she definitely had a better build then you do. I just felt pity since you seem lonely.” The man gritted through his teeth, the out hand now in a fist. It didn’t look like he was about to punch her, but Yuji made haste towards them, already hating what he was hearing.
“As if I need pity from you, you freak. Look in a mirror, pig.” That was the last thing she had said to him, before the man’s face got all red, scowling at Kugisaki before raising his hand.
Yuji couldn’t register whether the man was about to slap or punch Kugisaki but all he saw after a split second was the ground. His muscles tense, his hearing blurred and vision still clear. He looked up, positioning himself in front of Kugisaki, legs slightly apart, feet light and hands in fists. He was ready in case something else happened, another attack or anything. The older man now laid on the ground, a foot away from them, a line of some blood splattered on the ground, most likely from the guy's face. Yuji couldn’t tell if it was from their nose or mouth. His body tensed once more, eyes trained on the man when seeing him move, trying to get up but obviously failing.
“Itadori?”
Wait, was Kugisaki hurt? He didn’t check, and he wasn’t there for the full thing. What if he hurt her somehow?
Yuji turned to face Kugisaki, making her flinch. Her eyes were wide, mouth open and frozen in her place. Her face wasn’t bruised or bleeding, along with her neck. Her hair was like before, so he definitely didn’t grab it, but did he try? What about her wrists though? Was she okay?
“Are you okay?" He asked, taking a step closer, still looking for any part of her that was even remotely damaged. If that man hurt her in any way, shape or form, he’ll have him in a hospital by the end of today, no amount of police force will be able to get that man off of it. Not even Gojo-sensei could get him off of that man. He won’t have his friends be hurt, not again, not like—
“I’m fine.”
“Are you sure?” Another step. What if she’s lying? What if he’s making her cover it up?
“Seriously I’m fine, okay? You don’t have to worry.” She put her hands up, looking at him with concern. The sleeves of her uniform slipped down a bit, showing her wrists. No bruises. Good.
He was still feeling a bit tense, but that feeling had gone down, so he eased himself a bit. It seemed like Kugisaki noticed but still looked concerned and even worried.
“Uh.. Let's - uh - go elsewhere, alright?” Kugisaki gently grabbed onto his sleeve, pulling him away from a crowd that was already starting to form. Yuji allowed it, still on the fence about leaving the guy there for them to go and harass others but his adrenaline was already starting to calm down, so he stuck by Kugisaki. They both walked next to each other in silence, Yuji taking a few deep breaths and easing his muscles before he became relaxed.
“Uh, how did you exactly find me?” Kugisaki asked, glancing at him.
“You told us you were going to pick something up, so I found a route there to find you.” Yuji answered honestly, knowing that there was really nothing to hide and plus he couldn’t really lie for the life of him even if he wanted to. Either way, it was the truth.
“But why did you come and find me? Were you that bored or something?” There was her usually snarkiness but also a hidden undertone of genuine worry.
“I had a gut feeling that something was wrong.” It wasn't a lie, but by the way Kugisaki raised her brow, did she think it was a lie?
“How though? Like, you could’ve got a bad feeling about anything, and you immediately think of me?” Kugisaki squinted her eyes at Yuji, looking to see if there was a hint of lying in him.
“Kind of? Usually when I get those types of gut feelings, I go through a list of people to see what my gut feeling says about them.” Yuji shrugged, knowing this one was the truth. He had no intention to lie, no matter how silly the truth was. Kugisaki could only stare at him, eyebrows scrunched together just to see if there was a hint of guilty sweat on him.
“..And it said to go to me?” She was skeptical.
“Yeah? Fushiguro was next to me, so he was fine, Gojo-sensei wasn’t there so I thought of you and my gut feeling said it was you.” Simple. It was and has always been that simple. This, however, seemed to confuse Kugisaki.
“How? Did it like, talk or something? And how did it even know it was me? Maybe it was Fushiguro or someone else not in that list— Hold on, have you dealt with this before?”
Yuji sweat dropped at those questions but quirky gathered himself and answered them in the best way he could.
“Honestly, I’m too sure. All I could describe it is just a dread feeling in a way? Like, someone is going to do something, and I need to stop it.” Yuji rubbed the back of his neck, remembering old memories of when these occurrences would happen. “I think the feeling started when I was a kid? Don’t know what age, but I just remember having that feeling and running around the house to find what I needed to do.”
It was an old memory, one that was blurred and a few parts missing but he would still remember the feeling of dread and protectiveness when finding the thing that was making him stressed.
“I don’t remember exactly what was making me feel it, but I just remember trying to protect my grandpa from it.” Yuji chuckled, feeling himself smile a bit. The old man's gaze of shock turned to worry for his grandson since Yuji himself got hurt. He wasn’t sure if he cried or not, since Grandpa had always said that the injury was big but not enough to scar luckily.
“From what I can tell, it happens rarely so when it does happen, I just try and fix it as soon as possible.”
There was silence between them, Yuji thinking of the memory before hearing Kugisaki sigh.
“You really are stupid, aren’t you?”
Yuji could only look at Kugisaki before chuckling, “Of course I am.”