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Yuuji wasn’t born a fighter, or maybe he was. He didn’t think so. His grandpa pushed him to be more than an average student. Yuuji didn’t like mentioning it, but he felt like his life was some sort of… limbo. An in between. He was too much of a curse to be human and too much of a human to be a curse. Both and neither. It was confusing, but life had always been like this to the teen.
He had just taken control back from Sukuna and his head hurt again. It’d been doing that since he ate that stupid finger- since he died and kept fighting. How much death did it take to repay his joining with Sukuna? It made his brain spin with uncertainty.
The scent of smoke and burning bodies filled his nose. It smelt putrid. Like how Sukuna’s fingers tasted. Shit and vomit and charred meat. It wasn’t a curse though. It was fire. All of what was once Shibuya was on fire. Sukuna had killed them. Yuuji had killed them because he hadn’t held him back.
“I’m nothing more than a-“ he gasped, taking in a lungful of smoky air, “murderer!”
Yuuji fell to his knees and curled up in a fetal position. He didn’t even hear a curse walk up as he sobbed. Yuuji didn’t even see the portal open until he was in it- until he crash landed in a Gotham City dumpster.
“Shit… where the hell am I..“ he coughed and scrambled out of the dumpster. His head pounded more than ever. A nasty knot was forming on his forehead. Yuuji felt light headed. His vision soon went dark and he blacked out.
Nights in Gotham are freezing. It’s an added level of uncertainty to the already dangerous city. He woke up when it got cold and crashed in some long abandoned building until sunrise.
“I’m an idiot…” Yuuji sighed, rubbing his pounding head. His phone was broken and covered in dumpster-juices. Hell, he reeked of rotting garbage and dried up blood- his own?
Gotham isn’t the best place to wake up in. Most ‘waking up in Gotham’ is really just being mugged. Most street kids don’t wake up after they close their heavy eyes.
When it was morning, he pulled his dirty red hood on and walked around the city. It was like he was patrolling it, noting the street names and the addresses. It would’ve been fun if Fushiguro were there.
Yuuji walked around most parts of the city. The teen picked up stray newspapers and read up on current events. That was, until, he bumped into someone. The guy looked like Fushiguro, but taller and angrier. He also had this… weird few streaks of white in his hair, though he didn’t look like he was old enough to go grey.
“Watch where you’re going,” the gruff-voiced man snapped as he looked at Yuuji. His green eyes seemed to soften a little as he saw just how miserable the poor kid looked.
“I’m so sorry!” The apology slipped from his lips quickly. It still hurt to talk. “I’ll uh… pay more attention next time.”
The man reached out and Yuuji flinched, expecting a slap or something. The man’s scarred and calloused hand held his shoulder snugly. “The fuck happened to you? Your cheek’s torn open and your face is all fucked up. That’s going to get infected, you moron.”
Yuuji sighed. He knew the man was right. “I got in a fight.” Technically the reply was right. He did get in a fight, just not one with a human.
The next thing he knew, he was being hauled into a hospital by the scarred man, who later identified himself as ‘Jason’. Yuuji, of course, replied with his own name, ‘Itadori.’