Return

On the night of June 20, 2002, in Sendai, Japan.

Thunder rolled across the sky, dull rumbles sounding from deep within the clouds, one after another, as though something were awakening. Eerie purple lightning flickered through the clouds, staining the entire night sky an ominous hue. With each flash, it illuminated the forested mountains below.

A woman stood alone in the forest.

She stood straight, a black short-sleeved top outlining her trim figure, with a light jacket casually thrown over it and white trousers below. She stood out starkly against the gloomy wilderness. Wind swept through the trees, stirring the hem of her jacket and tousling the loose strands across her forehead.

A closer look revealed a thin line of stitches on her forehead, stretching from her hairline to the space between her brows, flickering in and out of sight under the lightning.

She lifted her head to gaze at the churning thunderclouds, the corners of her mouth rising slightly.

"How fitting."

Her voice was quiet, yet carried an inscrutable undertone, as though she were reflecting on something-or anticipating it.

She was Kaori Itadori.

Or rather, Kenjaku.

Over the years, he had gone to considerable trouble to find a body capable of housing Kashimo's soul. A vessel that was too weak could never withstand Kashimo's immense cursed energy.

He had traveled from place to place, screening one candidate after another before finally choosing the body before him: that of a curse user with a solid foundation and exceptional resilience. Just right.

Before him, a body sat propped against a tree trunk, eyes closed and face pale. The clothes were still arranged as they had been before their owner lost consciousness, shabby but presentable, as though someone had taken care to tidy them.

Kenjaku looked down at the body, his fingers gently stroking the cursed object he had kept with him all this time: Kashimo's index finger. Within it lay a soul that had slumbered for countless years, now finally awaiting its moment of awakening.

He crouched and straightened the body. His movements were hardly gentle, but they were careful enough.

Another bolt of purple lightning struck from the night sky, illuminating the thin line of stitches on his face and the fleeting amusement in his eyes.

"Sorry for the wait."

He spoke softly.

Then he pushed the finger into the man's mouth, helping him slowly swallow it.

The cursed object slid down his throat into his stomach, settling heavily in the deepest reaches of the vessel. After a brief silence, the transformation began.

First, purple markings spread like vines from the corners of his eyes to his temples, archaic and uncanny, like brands left by some ancient cursed technique. Then the gaunt body began to swell. Bones gave faint cracks, muscles reshaped themselves beneath his clothes, and his frame grew tall and straight at a speed visible to the naked eye.

His dull, ashen hair lost its lifeless shade and turned an almost otherworldly cyan, stirring gently in the mountain breeze. Color gradually returned to his pale face, and his shriveled skin regained its elasticity, as though time had rolled back decades over this body.

Boom-!

Thunder exploded overhead. Purple lightning split the clouds, lighting the entire forest as brightly as day.

At that instant, the man opened his eyes.

A pair of blue eyes.

That blue was deep and piercing, like thunderclouds that had gathered for four hundred years, weighing heavily on the heart with an innate, unvarnished pressure. He stared straight at the woman before him, his gaze calm, yet enough to make anyone instinctively want to step back.

The strongest of four hundred years ago.

A will to fight that had crossed time, space, and souls arrived in the modern age at that moment.

Kashimo rolled his neck, his joints giving several crisp cracks as he adjusted to his brand-new body. He slowly rose, his frame a little taller than before, and looked down at Kenjaku, who stood a head shorter than him.

He said nothing.

Wind swept between them, lifting fallen leaves from the ground. Purple lightning churned ceaselessly in the clouds behind him, stretching his shadow far into the distance.

Kenjaku lifted his head to meet those blue eyes, his lips slowly curving into a smile.

But the smile soon vanished from his face.

"Pfft-"

Kashimo stared at his face for three seconds, then the corner of his mouth suddenly twitched.

"Hahahahahahahaha!"

He burst out laughing, doubling over as his laughter echoed throughout the forest. It was unrestrained and brazen, without a trace of the dignity befitting the strongest. He looked for all the world like some street hooligan who had just witnessed the joke of a lifetime.

"Brain-" Still laughing, he raised a hand to point at Kenjaku's face, his fingers trembling. "Why are you... using a woman's body? Hahahahahahaha!"

He laughed so hard that tears spilled from the corners of his eyes, which he casually wiped onto the back of his hand. His face, covered in purple markings, twisted into an expression that practically begged to be punched, his blue eyes brimming with glee at Kenjaku's expense.

Even though he had known Kenjaku would use Kaori Itadori's body.

Knowing was one thing.

But the thought of Kenjaku wearing that face while Jin Itadori railed him left Kashimo utterly unable to keep it together.

"Just-just think about it-" Kashimo laughed so hard he could not straighten up, bracing one hand against the tree beside him as his shoulders shook. "When a man holds you and kisses you, does he know you've got a line of stitches across your head? Hahahahaha!"

His laughter burst through the trees, startling a flock of roosting birds into fluttering toward the churning thunderclouds in the night sky.

Kenjaku stood expressionless, the line of stitches on his forehead flickering beneath the purple light. The corner of his mouth twitched slightly before he regained his usual composure. With both hands in his jacket pockets, he coldly watched the strongest of four hundred years ago laugh like an idiot.

"Are you done laughing?"

His voice was impossibly calm, though a subtle flicker of displeasure crossed his eyes.

Kashimo laughed for another long while before finally catching his breath. He wiped the tears from the corners of his eyes with the back of his hand and took a deep breath, only just managing to bring his expression under control.

"All right, all right." He waved a hand, amusement still lingering on his face. "I'm done. I'm done."

Yet the corners of his mouth kept curling upward despite himself.

"I really don't have time to fool around with you." Kenjaku's tone regained its customary composure. Keeping his hands in his pockets, he turned his face slightly aside. "I'm using this body to create a vessel capable of housing Sukuna's soul."

He shot Kashimo a sidelong glance that all but said, Have you finished laughing yet?

"Ah-fine."

Kashimo drew out the word, finally wiping that infuriating grin off his face. He rolled his shoulders, adjusting to every inch of muscle in his new body.

He suddenly held out a hand to Kenjaku.

"Hmm?"

Kenjaku tilted his head, his gaze falling on Kashimo's open palm, and blinked innocently. An expression of guileless purity utterly at odds with his identity appeared on Kaori Itadori's face. Combined with the thin line of stitches across his forehead, it looked bizarre from any angle.

"The things I left in your care."

Kashimo enunciated every word. His voice was quiet, but his tone carried an unmistakable certainty: Don't play dumb with me.

At those words, Kenjaku's expression finally changed.

A rare flicker of awkwardness crossed his composed face. He pulled both index fingers from his pockets and held them before his chest, tapping their tips together. He fidgeted like a child whose parent was asking about unfinished homework, his gaze involuntarily drifting aside.

"Uh... well..."

He began hesitantly, speaking far more slowly than usual. His eyes wandered over the ground, then to a nearby tree, then to the thunderclouds overhead-anywhere but Kashimo's face.

Kashimo's hand remained outstretched, perfectly still.

He narrowed his blue eyes, the corners of his mouth turning down slightly as the amusement drained from his face bit by bit.

"Kenjaku."

His voice was terrifyingly calm.

"What did you do with my things?!"