CELESTIAL FLOWERS ( s. gojo )

BEGINNING

PROLOGUE.
- w i n t e r.
"where children are born into a world of rot and ruin."

GOJO SATORU IS SEVENTEEN YEARS OLD. Yet it doesn't feel like he's seventeen at all. It doesn't feel like he's fitting in the cookie cutter characteristics expected of a boy his age. The ones obsessed with love and making fools out of themselves. No, Gojo is different; he's a cut, no, an entire infinity above the rest. He's the honored one, a chosen one. Even the gods could be struck down by the sheer magnificence of his abilities.

Gojo is seventeen, but he doesn't feel like he's seventeen at all. Sure, he has the time to loiter the streets of Tokyo like typical teens, worship idols here and there, have the occasional flirting with strangers that he'll probably erase from his mind the next day, but it's different. It's way way different. Like a budding rose in the middle of an entire field of daisies. Vibrant, romantic and blood red.

Gojo Satoru is seventeen, but he doesn't feel the lightness and cheeriness of seventeen at all. Occasional sugary sweets and treats are savored by his tongue, the delicious scent of wagashi and other desserts that waft past the stalls and bakeries of Tokyo, but on the days when he's feeling absent and vacant, the coppery stench of blood fills the air and he's tasting metal. Gojo is seventeen and yet there's already so much blood on his hands. So much blood that he could probably drown it. (Or maybe he has already drowned? Oh honored one, when will you choke on the weight of your sins? When will you join the bed of bones you've made from bodies you've bled?)

Gojo Satoru is seventeen. And run-of-the-mill seventeen year olds would play pranks with their bestfriends and gush over the latest volume of some popular Jump manga, pick fights on the internet and trade shitty memes at the wee hours of dawn. Gojo is seventeen and those moments he used to take for granted have all been blown away by the winds of time. Now his bestfriend is gone. Gojo Satoru is seventeen; he's powerful and beautiful and chosen. He's confident and strong and rich and yet...

Gojo Satoru is seventeen. He's alone. The strong are alone. It's a fact that has sunk to depths of his brain and took root, clawing desperately at the trenches of his mind until the thought evades every part of him like a plague. Those who are strong will die alone, they will trek a solitary path and die on a lone grave that's surrounded by nothingness. Gojo Satoru is seventeen when he realizes he's alone. It's no longer him and Suguru. It's just... him. The singular figure of strength that casts fear on the enemy of sorcerers.

Gojo Satoru is seventeen and he is...

▪ ▪ ▪

"I'm Gojo Satoru," he introduces himself as he looks down on the small frame of the girl in front of him. "Although you probably already know that."

The girl eyes him from head to toe and he's struck by an emotion of annoyance. Who was this little twerp that wasn't impressed by the sheer magnitude of his star blessed presence? He hopes that this isn't the one he's supposed to be guarding. Shouko had informed him that the girl was like a distant descendant of Amaterasu. Super important. Not as important as him, but blood that held weight in their world.

"You're not Erisu, are you?"

She nods. She looks up at him with her grey eyes and Gojo feels a sense of victory over the fact that he's looking down on her. "I am Erisu-sama's attendant."

Attendant. The word rung a bell. He'd manage to remember some sort of detail over the reports he was required to read. Nakano Erisu had an attendant that was also tasked with guarding her. Gojo had turned it over his head, the role of this girl with her short frame that only reached his shoulders. He smirked. "So you're the human shield, huh, twerp?"

"My name is Koyama Kazuko," she says. Her tone is sharp, the glare she's shooting him even moreso. Her eyes look hollow, he thinks, like she's a corpse walking the earth. "Please don't refer to me as twerp."

▪ ▪ ▪

KOYAMA KAZUKO IS SIXTEEN YEARS OLD. She looks the part, yes, with her short stature and blue black hair tied into a tight braid that barely reaches her waist. Yet Kazuko doesn't feel like she's sixteen at all. "Funny that you're complaining about being called a twerp rather than a human shield." She stares at him. She should be enraged and true there is that spark of annoyance from earlier that has transformed into a blaze of hatred, but she manages to maintain her composure. She is a sixteen year old girl, but she will not act like one.

Koyama Kazuko is sixteen. A teenager. But she's never really felt like one for the entirety of her teenage years. When people her age are supposed to worry about tests and grades, her primary concern is the life of a single human being. A life that is not hers, but one she treasures nonetheless. She crumples her fists. Gojo notes the slight tremble in them (maybe this girl wasn't as brave as she thought she was, a mere child who was not ready for the burden that was set on her small shoulders). "I will fulfill my duty."

Koyama Kazuko is sixteen. Now that Gojo is looking, actually looking rather than seeing her as some speck of dust, he notes the small grey bags under her eyes. Girls her age are supposed to bury themselves on some paperback of a novel they love or thick textbooks that cram as much information as possible. Grey bags are normal for students who have tests and homeworks piling on their shoulders. But instead of those trivial things there are responsibilities a child shouldn't need to bear.

Koyama Kazuko is sixteen. He can read her like an open book. Those bags underneath her eyelids, the uneasiness and anxiety that flashes once in a while in her hollow eyes. Trembles running across every inch of her body, cracks forming under pressure like she's a porcelain figure just waiting to shatter. They're so close in age, but when Gojo can attain so many things, when power and glory are at his fingertips, this girl looks like she cannot even attain something akin to a breathing space. (Are you a girl? Or are you a tool?)

Koyama Kazuko is sixteen. A pitiful child, Gojo thinks. What a loathsome burden to force into the hands of someone so weak. It's interesting to note how so much can spill from a visage ridden with cracks and fissures. But that's all it is. A mild interest brought about by his boredom. He doesn't care. So what of those burdens? What if she shatters underneath all that pressure? Gojo Satoru will not spare a shred of sentiment. He is a boy chosen by the gods and what are mere tools to chosen ones? "What a horrible set of chains you have," is all he says and he leaves her there.

Koyama Kazuko is sixteen and she is...

COMING SOON.

n o t e s.
i. jump or shonen jump is a popular magazine for shonen manga. some popular titles that belong to jump are naruto, one piece, bnha, haikyuu!!, kny, bleach, etc.
ii. wagashi are traditional japaneae confectionery. they're really fancy and you pair it with green tea.
iii. also, i'm lowkey excited for this hahahah. i love jujutsu kaisen and i was really happy when the news came out that it was gonna get an anime. lowkey hoping for chainsawman next hahahah. i hope you guys enjoy. this isn't prewritten like most of my fics so don't expect regular updates