𝑬𝑴𝑷𝑰𝑹𝑬 𝑶𝑭 𝑮𝑶𝑳𝑫 ⇢ Gojo Satoru

𝐂𝐇𝐀𝐏𝐓𝐄𝐑 𝐕𝐈 - 𝐃𝐎𝐔𝐁𝐋𝐄-𝐄𝐃𝐆𝐄𝐃 𝐒𝐖𝐎𝐑𝐃 / 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐑𝐎𝐀𝐃 𝐓𝐎 𝐇𝐄𝐋𝐋

THE RIDE BACK HOME WAS SPENT IN COMPLETE SILENCE, Hide sitting in the backseat while the Window acted as her designated driver. Thankfully, the drive did not take long. Both the school and the Kinzoku estate were located in Hokkaido, meaning that the matriarch didn't need to do any excessive travelling between the two.

The Kinzoku clan owned many properties around Japan, if not around the world itself. Most of them were palaces, castles and other grandiose buildings with no real purpose other than being used as headquarters for other Jujutsu sorcerers under The Magistrate's orders.

Their main property – the one where they currently lived in – was known as the Kinzoku Estate. It was a traditional Japanese village, hidden somewhere deep within the wild forests of the Hokkaido Prefecture in Northern Japan.

The Kinzoku were the closest thing the Jujutsu society had to royalty, and they were often treated as such. They were the natural enemy of curses. If cursed spirits were born of negative human emotions; despair, hatred, rage, then the Kinzoku clan had been born of the positive ones; love, hope, faith.

The thing is, even the road to hell is paved with good intentions.

"No." Kinzoku Hide protested, her voice firm, unwavering.

Asahi took a deep breath, hand lingering over his wife's shoulder, as if debating whether touching her at the moment was a wise course of action. It really wasn't, but Asahi had never been good at comforting her, even after forty blissful years of marriage. It was as if he barely knew her at all.

"Darling–" He tried, already feeling the impatient stares of the clan elders on his back, waiting for him to reign in his wife, like she was something to be tamed instead of something to be let free.

"No." She interrupted him again, unaware of the hate-filled gazes that landed her way. "I will not have that chid come back here."

Asahi sighed, his golden eyes carefully watching his wife. Hide remained seated at the table, arms crossed in front of her chest, her purple kimono contrasting nicely against the ornate golden décor of the room and the black attire of their guests. The woman had changed as soon as she'd made it into the house; casual clothes were not for her, especially the suits she was forced to wear.

She'd always been different than him, which is why he had agreed to marry her in the first place. Hide was wild, opinionated, she wasn't afraid to speak her mind and always made sure she was heard; she had already spent too many years in the shadows, pretending to be something she was not, an unenviable position in Asahi's opinion.

"There must be something else we can do, alternatives we could explore." She pleaded, now addressing the elders at the other end of the gold-coated table.

Asahi grabbed her hand, squeezing gently before letting go and sharing a quick look with the clan elders. He too wished there was something else they could do, someone else they could call, but there wasn't.

One of the elders rose from his seat, his body was frail, hair turned white by the ages and skin discoloured by the sun. His eyes were still gold, like those of every member of the Kinzoku clan, but they lacked the fierceness that often came with them.

"As one of the founding clans of the Jujutsu society, we cannot allow ourselves to remain without an heir for long." He proclaimed, not bothering to look at his peers, already knowing they agreed with him, as they should. "Our abilities must be passed down, our bloodline must endure. Asahi-sama might be the current King of Sorcerers, but his position will likely be challenged considering the circumstances."

Hide sprung up from her seat, body facing the elderly Kinzoku with something akin to fury in her eyes. She truly was a Kinzoku, in everything but blood, but a Kinzoku nonetheless. Asahi wanted to take her, right then and there, but he stopped himself, the urge still lingering in his body. There was something wild in the way she stood, he could almost glimpse the gold surrounding her despite the fact that was not an ability she possessed.