pomegranate ink | y. okkotsu

xv

a/n: i finally figured out how this story is going to end!! i'm not sure how much longer it's going to be because ngl y/n and the rest of the second years are kind of irrelevant for most of season one 

"My father resents me for it," you said. It was the first thing you said to Gojo as you sat down together. He pulled out a napkin from the holder sitting in the middle of the cheap linoleum table and used it to wipe away the crumbs that still littered the surface. "For finding a way around that ultimatum he gave me."

To heal or to fight. According to your father and the rest of the higher ups, these were the only choices you had, and they were very much so mutually exclusive. You could do one or the other but not both, and the fact was that they were actually correct in saying this. On your own, you could not do it, could not have both, but you were no longer on your own. Not anymore.

"Is that so?" Gojo said, lips quirking up in amusement. "Well, I've always wondered how your poor mother married such a man. Isn't it something, that he has somehow fathered such a prodigy and yet hates her for the mere fact that she is out of his control? Ironic, really. You are exactly what the L/N clan has needed for so many years, and yet now that you are born, you are despised."

"I am a girl," you reminded Gojo. "I'm not exactly what they were hoping for in terms of an heir."

It was a little disquieting when he smiled with his teeth bared. If you did not know him in the way that you did, you'd consider it almost unnatural, even, but as the case was, it just seemed to you as if it were too wide. Too bright, too false. An emotion conveyed that he did not even mean.

"No, I'd wager you're a great deal better," he said, reaching out to pat you on the shoulder. "The girl who brought someone back to life and the youngest Grade 1 sorcerer in recent history; you've really proven yourself in the past year. I can say that at least I am proud of you, even if your family isn't."

"Thanks, I guess," you said, uncomfortable with the praise. "Anyways, my mother is proud of me, so that makes two of you. As for the rest of my family, I believe that they are unsure. They do not understand what it means for the clan, that I can do both — albeit at Tullia's expense."

The past few weeks, you and Tullia had been training intensely with Shoko Ieri, the only Reverse Cursed Technique user not associated with the L/N clan. It had been a slow process at first, trying to figure out how to push your limits without putting Tullia through the same torture that you had inadvertently subjected her to in the process of healing Toge.

You were not always successful. You could not count the amount of times you had had to stop Composition but were not fast enough, were not able to cut it off before she began to bleed again. But it was better now; though nosebleeds were an inevitable side effect, it was a compromise that all parties were somewhat satisfied with. According to her, she barely even felt them.

It was through such tireless practice that you discovered the way to use the contract to your advantage. By pushing the entire responsibility of the cursed energy supplication to Tullia, you were able to ensure that your body was naturally receptive to receiving the repercussions of the Reverse Cursed Technique. An exchange for an exchange, a burden for a burden, but a far more advantageous one than the earlier scenario, because you possessed the body of a L/N, uniquely designed to handle the pain of Composition, and Tullia had that rare cursed technique which meant her reserves were not dependent on her innate self but instead drew from outside sources and could approach infinity if she had sufficient access to poison.

"The healer and the empty glass," Gojo said, nodding in approval. "Who would've thought that things would turn out like this?"

"I suppose that's the case. Isn't it strange? I feel like I should be thanking Naoya. It's only because of his irresponsibility that Tullia and I could even form the contract in the first place," you said. Gojo choked on the pastry he had ordered.