Younger sister

Kenjaku was rather drained after the C-section. While Jin Itadori went to pay the bill, she forced herself to use Reverse Cursed Technique several times. After the treatment, her body did indeed feel much better.

Looking at the tiny bundle curled up beside her, Kenjaku found herself resting her hand on the baby's fragile neck. When she came to her senses, she tried to pull her hand back, trembling slightly.

Even after all these years, that memory remained the darkest moment of his life. Thinking of it still left his heart pounding with fear.

"What are you doing?"

A rather cold voice rang out.

Kenjaku turned her head on the hospital bed just in time to see Uraume jump through the ward's open window.

"This is the sixth floor. It isn't even completely dark yet."

Kenjaku tried to hold her tongue, but in the end, she couldn't help pointing it out.

There was a perfectly good door, yet he insisted on jumping through the window. Was he afraid people wouldn't notice there was something abnormal about him? The hospital had plenty of surveillance cameras.

"You said you were giving birth. I waited in the laboratory for ages. If anything happened to Lord Sukuna's vessel...!"

Rather than answering Kenjaku's question, Uraume furrowed his delicate brows and began spewing venom.

Uraume had never had a good temper. His relationship with Kenjaku was only reasonably tolerable because they shared a common goal.

If anything went wrong with something as important as the birth of Lord Sukuna's vessel, he would never let Kenjaku off.

With a sweep of his monk's robes, Uraume approached the bed, where two cribs stood side by side.

"You're truly useless. You couldn't even notice an extra baby..."

Uraume bent down, first giving the infant with fine pink hair a thorough examination. Only after confirming that he was healthy did he relax. When he saw the other infant, however, the unfinished taunt caught in his throat.

"Th-this is..."

That child had not a trace of cursed energy, along with that inexplicable, terrifying presence. Uraume knew it all too well.

"Has... has he come back?"

His voice trembled slightly.

He gently picked the child up. Perhaps the baby had recognized someone familiar, because the sleeping infant opened his eyes a fraction. Their vivid blue nearly melted Uraume's heart.

"I don't know."

Kenjaku turned her head away, her emotions in turmoil.

He still couldn't figure out how this child had ended up in his belly, though Nanika's bizarre ability made it somewhat less surprising.

"I..."

Uraume wanted to say more, but the sound of the door opening interrupted him.

Jin Itadori had arranged a private VIP room for Kenjaku, so there were no other patients there.

After happily paying his wife's hospital bill, Jin Itadori had gone home to fetch the nourishing soup Wasuke Itadori had specially prepared. He hadn't expected to find a stranger in his wife's room.

"Who are you?"

Jin Itadori moved warily to the bedside and placed the insulated container on the nightstand. His expression changed when he saw the child in Uraume's arms, and he reached out to snatch the baby back. But Uraume stepped back before he could move, leaving Jin Itadori grasping at thin air.

"Jin, this is... my younger cousin, Uraume."

Kenjaku introduced him with a faint, mischievous smile.

"Oh... your little sister? Hello, I'm Kaori's husband, Jin Itadori."

At Kenjaku's introduction, Jin Itadori's displeasure instantly turned to warmth.

He and Kaori had met in college, and he had met her relatives before their marriage. Yet after she returned from the dead, those relatives had all passed away under mysterious circumstances.

He couldn't even share the joy of his wife's delivery with her family. Jin Itadori had been feeling sad for Kaori, only to unexpectedly meet one of her relatives here. How touching!

Whatever Jin Itadori had imagined, the moment the words "little sister" left his mouth, Uraume shot daggers at Kenjaku.

If looks could take physical form, Kenjaku's body would already have been pierced through.

Thoroughly amused, Kenjaku half closed her eyes and said slowly, "Jin, I feel much better now. I think I can be discharged and recover at home."

"Absolutely not! Who gets discharged right after a C-section?"

Naturally, Jin Itadori refused to agree to her discharge.

A woman who had undergone a routine C-section needed to stay in the hospital for at least three days. Kaori was so frail. How could she leave on the very same day? It wasn't as though the Itadori family couldn't afford it.

"I'm feeling much better now."

Kenjaku rolled over and got straight out of bed. The sheer force of her movements frightened Jin Itadori into letting out a piercing shriek.

He pushed his wife right back onto the bed and called a nurse over.

Kaori had only just undergone surgery today. The anesthesia should barely have worn off. If she kept making such big movements, she'd need emergency treatment!

After hearing from Jin Itadori what Kaori Itadori had done, the nurse held her in place and began examining her.

"Oh... Mrs. Itadori, you're recovering incredibly quickly."

The nurse stared in astonishment at the faint scar on Kaori Itadori's abdomen. Had they not performed the surgery themselves that very day, she would have suspected the patient had already spent months recovering.

"Can I be discharged now?"

Kenjaku's mouth twitched before she produced a fake smile.

"Y-yes..."

The nurse began questioning everything she knew.

Seeing this, Jin Itadori stopped trying to restrain his wife. The three of them gathered up the two children to go home. Before they could leave, several attending physicians stopped Kenjaku, hoping she would let them write an SCI paper about her. Kenjaku refused them without mercy.

Uraume held the black-haired infant the entire time, never letting go. He ruthlessly ignored the pink-haired Yuji Itadori.

Lord Sukuna had yet to undergo incarnation, so that child was merely someone he needed to keep an eye on. For now, he mattered far less than Alluka.

Since Kenjaku adamantly refused to breastfeed, Jin Itadori eagerly hurried off to prepare some formula.

While he was gone, Kenjaku said softly, "I'll only stay for three days to make sure the children are healthy, then leave."

Kenjaku had thought it through carefully. Newborns were fragile, and he had little experience raising children. If one accidentally died, wouldn't he have given birth for nothing? He couldn't accept that outcome.

"How can you do that? You trust that idiot?"

Uraume meant Jin Itadori. In his eyes, the husband Kenjaku had chosen didn't look very intelligent at all. Could such a fool really raise the children?

"He won't live that long."

Kenjaku smiled faintly.

Compared with Jin Itadori, he was more worried about the Alluka he had given birth to.

If that child and the thing inside her had no memories, then all was well. He could use them to carry out his plans. But what if they had been born with their memories intact? Although he hadn't personally acted back then, he'd still been implicated. What would he do if the child wanted revenge?

Trying to kill Alluka again in front of Uraume would be inappropriate. As things stood, he absolutely could not remain in the same room as that child.

"Then you're leaving the children with that old man? I don't trust him." Uraume knitted his brows.

Wasuke Itadori had always been wary of Kaori Itadori, and this newly appeared "little sister" also fell within the scope of his suspicions.

The thought of an old man looking after two babies was an outcome Uraume refused to accept.

"Then you raise them. I won't."

Kenjaku couldn't help rolling his eyes.

He still had plenty to do. He needed to observe the Gojo Clan's Six Eyes, and in a few years, Tengen would merge with the star plasma vessel again. There was no way he would stay home raising children.

"..."

At Kenjaku's suggestion, Uraume looked at the child in his arms, visibly tempted.

Seeing a willing nanny practically deliver himself to the door, Kenjaku slipped away without a care.

Left behind, Uraume dutifully worked as an unpaid nanny for several days. What he hadn't expected was to hear the neighbors whispering while he was out buying groceries.

"Have you heard? That Itadori fellow is having an affair with his wife's little sister. His wife was so furious she died."

Uraume: ?