DARK RED [ITADORI Y.]

―XLVI. GRIM REAPER

CHAPTER XLVI. OH, SO YOU'RE THE GRIM REAPER NOW? CAN I CALL YOU GRIMMY?

__________________________________

She could hear him before he walked into the room. He was whistling a rhythmic tune, and his heart was beating steadily. She could smell the odor from his cologne mixed with the scent of the curses he'd been exorcising throughout the day.

She heard him reach for the door, turning the handle before shoving it open. He walked inside, a grin already plastered on his lips. He knew she was there. The chuckle that resonated in the room told her that much.

He let the door slam shut behind him, the heavy metal latching with a click. He slid his hands into his pockets, turning on his heel in a fluid motion. He gave a half-bow, his lips still curled in a grin.

"I don't believe we've ever had the pleasure of speaking, have we, Eris?"

The woman hummed from the corner of the room. Her back was pressed to the wall, her left leg extended out in front of her, and the other bent with her foot planted firmly on the ground. Her arm rested over her knee, the other in her lap. A small smirk was over her lips, dark cerise eyes flicking to the blindfolded man.

"Gojo Satoru," She hummed. "No, we've never had the opportunity to speak with one another. But I've heard quite a bit about you."

"Y/n knows who she can turn to when she needs help," He straightened his back. "Or when she needs relief from you."

"I hardly agitate Y/n," She said, leaning her head back against the cold concrete wall. "I could do so much more to her, but that would be just cruel. The poor thing has enough to worry about."

"Yet, here you are, making things worse for her," He chuckled, lifting his head, and tipping his chin back. "You're bringing her to her death bed."

"Now, we both know I wouldn't dare let her perish to you weak sorcerers," She mused. "Millions would die before she would fall to one knee."

"What the hell is your obsession?" He asked, taking slow steps around the room. "Y/n's biological parents died when she was only a few months old. Her adoptive parents are a few rooms down, along with her boyfriend. What's your connection with her? Bad blood from a gazillion years ago?"

"How old do you think I am?" She chuckled. "I'm not obsessed with Y/n herself. I'm after her soul."

"Oh, so you're the grim reaper now?" He said, removing a hand from his pocket as he held it up. He pointed to her. "Can I call you Grimmy?"

"I'm not the grim reaper. Do you understand the nature of Y/n's cursed energy?"

"I know she's cursed," Gojo replied, letting his hand fall to his side. "By what or whom, or for what reason, I don't know. Enlighten me, why don't you."

"Her soul feeds off those of the dead. It captures them and absorbs them into her own, strengthening them, and dragging out her life span. If her mortal body were to die for good, her soul bounces to that of a newborn, and she overtakes that soul and live in that body. When Y/n was first attacked in that old house by that curse, she used one of the souls that didn't belong to her."

"So, she's basically got nine lives?" He asked, his steps coming to a pause. "That makes sense, considering the number of times she's gotten herself into a catastrophic position. But why? Why are you after her soul?"

"The original soul," She got to her feet in a swift, fluid motion. "Belongs to me. I protected that soul until it ended in my arms."

"I hate to break it to you," Gojo said, turning to face her. "But your Y/n is dead. She's not yours. She never was, and she'll never be. You'll never be able to take it from her."

"And what makes you think so, Gojo Satoru?" She purred, walking towards him.

Her hand pressed over his chest. She smirked at the small gap between her hand and the fabric of his uniform. She curled her arms around his neck, stepping onto the tips of her toes. She brought her face close to his, amused at the lack of emotion on his face.

"Don't tell me you think you'll be able to stop me?" She mused, quirking a brow.

"Fuck around—" He said, placing his hands on her hips, and shoving her away from him. "—and you'll find out why Sukuna hides inside of Itadori Yuuji instead of trying to kill everyone in his sight."

"I'll fuck around with you," She chuckled.

"Please don't say that to me while you're in the body of my student."

"Let's have a little test," She said, placing her hands on his hips. "I'd love to figure out which one of us is really the strongest."

"As much as I'd love to send you back to whatever depth of Hell you crawled out of, I don't have time to be playing petty games with you," He said, crossing his arms over his chest. "You're on a limited schedule here, Eris. If you don't want Y/n to be stripped of every last drop of her cursed energy and then executed, I suggest you switch with her now. I can only hold a curtain this strong up for so long."

"We both know you're capable of holding it for days," She scoffed. "You're just no fun at all."

"Clock's ticking, you old hag."

"Tch. So disrespectful."

He watched her arms drop to her sides. Her eyes rolled into the back of her head, and her body went limp. He flashed to her, his arm curling around her back, preventing her from dropping onto the floor. The black marks that had surfaced on her skin began to fade, vanishing away from her body. He slid his other arm under her legs, lifting her up. Her head rolled over his forearm, her hair slipping to dangle in the air.

The scenery around him changed within the blink of an eye. He turned away from the glass window, beginning his walk down the hall. The sound of his steps along the floor alerted the boy in the room a few feet away, making him rise to his feet. He entered the hall, his gaze falling onto the unconscious girl.

"Is she—"

"She's alright," Gojo replied, pausing in front of him. "She'll wake up with a bit of a headache, and a bit of nagging from the bitch in her head, but nothing she can't tune out with some ibuprofen."

Yuuji carefully took her from the older man, cradling the teenage girl in his arms. He adjusted her head so it rested against his chest rather than hang in the air to avoid a crick in her neck. He stepped back into the room, carrying her toward the couch in Gojo's office. He knelt down, laying her across the plush cushions, brushing her hair from under her back.

"How did she react?" He asked, moving to sit on the floor.

Gojo walked around his desk. "Cooperative, surprisingly. Eris doesn't have any intention of hurting Y/n. In fact, she's preventing her from dying."

"Why? I mean why is she so..."

"Obsessed?" Gojo hummed, plopping down in his chair. "She's got what she's been searching for right in her hands. There's no way in Hell she'll let her go again. She's gonna do everything in her power to get what she once had."

"She's coming after Sukuna next," Yuuji's lips formed into a frown. "Isn't she?"

"It's hilarious to imagine what a family of curses would be like," Gojo mused, leaning back in his chair, kicking his feet onto his desk. He crossed his hands behind his head.

"But it's too bad neither of them will live long enough to reunite."

[Chapter XLVI. End]
[Image does not belong to me]