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“That idiot! Where did he run off to?!”
Megumi glanced at his redhead companion, who appeared to be nearly exploding as they ran towards the path scattered with the residuals of Yuuji’s cursed energy.
They were supposed to work together. They were supposed to avoid splitting apart, considering the cursed spirit was a strong Grade 1.
But here they were, searching for their friend who thought it was a good idea to chase it by himself, claiming that he could handle the injured curse and that they should focus on resting instead.
They were pretty battered, especially Megumi, who faced the brunt of the curse’s most offensive attack at one point. But he wasn't very keen on Yuuji deviating from their original plan. It also didn't help that Yuuji wasn't sleeping well the past few days, always walking around or watching movies alone in the dead of the night. Naturally, his perception wasn't at its peak lately.
Thanks to Megumi’s cursed technique, it wasn’t difficult to pinpoint Yuuji’s location with the help of Kuro.
However…
“What the actual fuck?” Nobara echoed his exact thought.
On the ground laid a heap of Yuuji's uniform, pants, and shoes.
“Did something happen that caused him to go full nude?”
He gave her an unimpressed look.
“What?”
Megumi just sighed. But looking at the pile again, he noticed a wave of strange cursed energy encompassing it. It wasn’t only that, but Kuro was also acting peculiarly. Instead of standing on guard, the shadow dog sniffed about Yuuji’s clothes. “There’s something weird about this.”
Slowly, he stalked near the pile of clothes, Nobara peering over his shoulder despite her initial disgust. Upon closer, he noticed the clothes were, in reality, housing something inside.
Something breathing.
Alarmed, he carefully lifted the red hoodie and the Jujutsu Tech uniform, finally revealing what was inside the heap all along.
The truth was a silly little surprise, like a silly little tiger cub sleeping without a care in the world.
“ITADORI?!”
The door to the infirmary burst open to reveal one Satoru Gojo, who showed up surprisingly fast for a chronically loitering teacher.
“Where is—” The man cut himself short when he saw the little bundle of energy on the infirmary table—a pink tiger cub with black stripes and whiskers, two golden eyes and matching scars underneath them roaring cutely at his appearance.
He wasted no time zooming past his two students, knocking off Nobara in the way, who shrieked, calling him names and threw one of her nails at him just for it to hit Infinity. While Megumi pretended not to exist, Shoko just watched the whole thing amusedly.
“Oh, my precious little student! What in the world happened to you?” Gojo lamented as he picked up the cat-sized animal and turned it around. He cupped the little tiger’s face and stroked his ears, checking him like a doting mother. The tiger cub welcomed his gestures all the same.
“You’re going to give him nausea. I, for one, haven’t had the misfortune to witness a tiger cub vomit, so please stop that.” Shoko asked, regardless of knowing it was a pointless endeavour.
“But he’s so cute!” The teacher scratched his tiger-turned-student's chin, who began purring contently. Gojo gasped, “And he purrs too! Who’s a good boy? Who’s a good boy?” He squished their faces together despite the whiskers prickling at his skin. “Yes, you are! Yes, you are!”
In return, the tiger cub let out the cutest sound in the world, “GAO!”
“Awwwyourechochweeeeeet!!!”
“Ugh, this is irritating,” Nobara commented with blatant disgust in both tone and expression. “He’s treating him like he’s a dog.”
“Itadori is acting like one, though,” Megumi reasoned, but he too contorted his face in distaste.
“When Ijichi told me Itadori-kun turned into an animal, I honestly expected a dog,” Shoko voiced her thoughts suddenly.
“Yeah, right!” the redhead concurred. “Why did he become a tiger of all things?”
“That’s because his surname can be read as 'tiger cane'.”
The girl sent an arched brow Megumi's way. “And how did you know that, huh?”
“I’m Japanese.”
“Touché.”
“Gao.”
Only then did Shoko realise she had to do her job. She addressed her reckless friend, who was still squeezing his student as if he were a mochi, not a mini version of a dangerous predator. “Satoru, this isn’t a petting zoo. Tell us what’s going on with Itadori, especially his soul and cursed energy composition.”
The white-haired man pouted at her but still complied and placed his student down. He removed his blindfold and let Six Eyes do the work. Once he did the analysing, which only took about five seconds if you were to excise his dramatic prolonging hum, he leaned back to face the rest of them.
“There’s nothing wrong with Yuuji’s soul and the same goes for Sukuna. It’s hilarious that he still can keep a leash on him in this state. He does have this foreign cursed energy surrounding his person—which I assume belongs to the curse you guys fought—but other than that, he’s completely normal for a tiger. The cursed energy hold is weakening minutely.”
“How long until it fully disappears?”
“I’ll give it about a day or less.”
“That’s good,” Shoko remarked before sliding on her chair to give Gojo some reports. “Itadori is physically healthy too, and Fushiguro confirmed the cursed spirit responsible for this is dead. I’m certain he’ll return to normal after the cursed energy fully dissipates from his body. Despite his inability to communicate, the kid is friendly but he’s still a baby; He cannot fend for himself or fight curses, so he has to stay inside the school for now.”
“Yeah,” Gojo said, patting the head of the animal, who was clueless as to what was happening around; He was just happy to be there. “The ancient fossils will come after him the moment they get wind about this.”
The doctor hummed and turned to the students. “Hence, we must keep this a secret and within the school. I trust you two will take good care of your friend.”
Megumi and Nobara nodded firmly but the latter had more to add, “I’m not going to clean him up so Fushiguro can deal with that.”
The boy merely grunted, too tired to argue with her and he was already familiar with taking care of animals. Surely his cordial friend shouldn’t be that different from a dog.
“That’s settled then!” Gojo clapped his hands. “Oh, wait. I’m missing one thing! You two gather your seniors in the lounge, I’ll be back in a minute.”
In the blink of an eye, the man disappeared along with the tiger cub, leaving the students speechless.
At their disgruntled looks, Shoko merely chuckled. “He probably went to meet Yaga. You guys go ahead first.” With that, she kicked them out.
In her whole life as a Jujutsu sorcerer, Shoko hadn’t seen a case like this. Needless to say, she was a little intrigued to see what sort of chaos a small creature would bring about.
“For real?”
The second years stared at the first years in disbelief upon hearing what happened to their pinkette junior. “He was cursed into a tiger cub?”
“Is he okay?” Yuuta was worried whether their junior turned feral due to the change in anatomy.
“No, he’s all right and healthy. Friendly too,” Megumi alleviated his senpai’s distress. “He’s just a tiger cub… for now.”
“Where is he then?” Panda asked, obviously excited to see a fellow animal.
“Shake!” Toge agreed.
Nobara let out an exasperated rasp. “That mophead told us to wait here before kidnapping him.”
Maki pursed her lips in disgust. “As expected of that shitty sensei.”
“Did someone just call for the most handsome and beloved sensei in the world?”
“Ugh.”
The students reluctantly turned in the direction of that boisterous voice. What they didn’t expect was a pink tiger cradled in his arms with a red scarf around its neck.
In a second, all of them crowded their teacher, the sight akin to a bunch of ducklings surrounding the mother duck.
Rika suddenly manifested above Yuuta to coo at the tiger cub, who made grabby paws at her. “So cute! Can we keep him, Yuuta?”
“No, Rika-chan. He’s his own person, not a pet.”
At her lover’s gentle reprimand, Rika could only stutter tentatively before refraining from claiming the cub for herself.
“He’s so tiny…” Maki mused with a hand propping her chin.
“Tsuna…”
“Although they’re shorter in size, his claws look sharper than mine,” Panda concluded when Yuuji’s paws reached after him curiously.
“Now, now,” the teacher activated his Infinity for a moment, earning some glares from his students. “Let’s be patient. You’re going to overwhelm him!”
“Says the guy that almost suffocated Itadori to death earlier!” Nobara almost screamed.
Ignoring his friend’s outburst, Megumi pried, “So the scarf is why you took him away for a minute?”
The teacher just chuckled and nodded unduly. “Correct! I told Yaga about Yuuji’s special condition and made him sew our little tiger something to distinguish him, hitting two birds with one stone!” He sounded very proud of it as he held the cub up high as if he was doing a Lion King impression.
“You’re talking as if there is another tiger in this school,” Maki rebutted.
“Wait, Maki-san, that scarf has something on it,” Nobara was luckily able to wrestle the tiger, who was still jubilant as ever, from the grasp of their teacher. Upon finding a small trinket attached to the scarf, Nobara couldn’t help scowling at her teacher. “Seriously?”
“Oh, it’s Gojo-sensei’s face. That’s adorable,” Yuuta chuckled whilst everyone else let out a collective sigh.
The ever-theatrical teacher cried and hid behind the white-clad sorcerer. “Yuuta is the only kindest person here! I’m sure Yuuji appreciates the scarf!”
“Don’t mind him,” Maki grumbled. “So, what do we do with him?” She gestured at Yuuji in Nobara’s arms.
“He’s too energetic,” Nobara complained but still kept the cub to herself. “We have to keep him entertained somehow.”
“We’re free for now, so I guess we can play with him?” Panda suggested.
“Takana.”
The rice-ball-ingredients linguist pulled a yellow yarn ball out of his pants pocket.
“Toge is so thoughtful!” Yuuta cheered.
“Do you always carry one with you?” Nobara eyed him suspiciously.
The short senior merely shrugged his shoulders. “Konbu.”
“Gao!”
Their attention was quickly swayed by the tiger cub, who made grabby gestures at the yarn ball. Some of them couldn’t help but squeal at the sight, Gojo being the loudest of the bunch.
“Senpai, try throwing it,” Megumi finally spoke up after so long. The animal lover also couldn’t conceal his interest.
The senior nodded and flung the yarn ball just outside the lounge. On cue, the tiger cub jumped out of Nobara’s clutch to pounce on the yarn ball, fiddling with it and almost tangling himself with the yarn.
“He really behaves like a kitten,” the bespectacled girl observed keenly. She wasn’t a big fan of felines but this particular one was interesting to watch.
Their teacher pushed past the crowd to take pictures of the cub from every single angle like a soccer mom. “God, he is so cute~~~!” He made small sounds to grab the tiger’s attention. “Yuuji! Yuuji! Look at the camera here!”
“Overexcited adults are so creepy,” Nobara said.
“Well, you can’t blame him.” For once Megumi didn't mind his teacher’s antics, because he also covertly took pictures while lowering his phone out of view.
The students and their teacher (“Aren't you busy around this time?” “I'm just taking a break to spend quality time with my students!”) spent the rest of the afternoon with their tiger cub friend, either playing catch in the field or taking turns petting him. The cub didn’t shy away from their touch, more than happy to comply just like the real Yuuji. It was akin to interacting with a bouncy toddler. Their peace wasn’t for long though…
“Brother!”
Some flinched at the sound but couldn’t do anything to stop the newcomer from manhandling their feline friend. The tiger cub was lifted for the nth time that day, golden pupils widening in shock.
“My brother!” Aoi started crying all of a sudden. “As expected of my brother! Of course, you’re a tiger. This reminds me of the variety show where Takada-chan went to a tiger zoo but you’re cuter than all those tiger cubs!” He cried, hugging his best friend to his chest.
“Gao?”
The cub only tilted its head but didn’t seem all that displeased. Just confused. Should one look closer, a question mark would appear right above the cub.
“Who the heck did invite the gorilla?” Nobara shrieked because she had enough of people lunging after her friend. She wanted to pet him too even though she wouldn’t say that out loud.
“Takana.” The white-haired senior raised his hand, indifferently.
“What do you expect from a troll?” Panda told his frustrated junior.
“Don’t get mad at him. You lot always separate my brother from me!” The muscly teenager admonished. “Don’t mind them, my brother. Here, I brought you a lot of pork jerky! Eat up, brother.”
“Gao!”
At the sight of the said jerky, the tiger’s round ears perked up. He was quick to munch on them hungrily.
Looking at the scenery, Megumi couldn’t keep down his regret. “I should’ve bought some too..” he muttered morosely.
Then, out of nowhere—
“WHO IS HIS BROTHER?!”
“Holy shit!”
“What the—”
“Gao?”
“I’M YUUJI’S REAL BROTHER!”
Another unexpected visitor popped out of nowhere, marching after the cub and successfully seizing hold of his sibling after a moment of struggle.
“Let me guess,” Megumi started, side-eying the lamppost clone to his right. “You’re the one that told him about Itadori.”
“Ding! Ding! Megumi is exceptionally precise today.” Gojo guffawed obnoxiously despite the chaos unfolding in front of them over the title of Yuuji’s brother. An equally obnoxious ringtone started blasting then. “That's my cue to leave. Have fun~! Ciao!” His laughter still echoed after his disappearance.
“He left as if he hadn’t just instigated a drama,” Nobara said, unimpressed.
“Tsunamayo.”
“Don’t act like you’re any different!”
“I brought better jerky for my brother!” The 150-year-old hissed at the teenager.
“You were late for a so-called blood brother!” Aoi Todo wasn’t going to give up his brother that easily. Otherwise he would be unworthy to be called as his best friend.
“I was late because these were of utmost quality!” Choso’s hostile behaviour was dropped in a tick when he knelt to the tiger cub. He softly coxed the confused cub. “Here you go, brother. These are much more delicious.”
The tiger cub was a bit afraid after their scuffle but it couldn’t resist the temptation of good food. Surprisingly, everyone including Aoi waited patiently for it to finish them.
“Gao!” It roared as if announcing it was done eating.
“My brother is adorable!” It was Choso’s turn to sob at the cuteness of his sibling.
“Of course, he’s cute. He’s my brother.”
“Excuse you! He’s my brother!”
“I know him longer than you!”
“I’m his blood, you buffoon!”
The fight resumed once again much to everyone’s exhaustion. Therefore, not a single person there noticed the tiger cub sneaking away (because plot!).
The tiger cub ventured quite a distance from the Jujutsu Tech. To say he was overwhelmed by the attention would be an understatement. But he also spent a lot of time running around and playing with the big humans who smelled friendly.
It went without saying that he became worn out as he slowed down in his gait. The Jujutsu Tech was situated in the mountains far away from the bustling city of Tokyo, so no one should be around.
“So the little birdie was right…”
Yuuji’s tiger senses picked up on the unfamiliar voice but familiar scent, so he stopped to search for its source.
He let out a mewl of surprise when he was suddenly hoisted up, but the touch was even more tender than that of the spiky-haired human and the pale human. The person held him at eye-level, so the cub had to settle his front paws on their shoulder.
“Look at you!” they cooed at him. “Got yourself cursed, huh? Always so clumsy.”
Not comprehending them, the tiger tilted its head sideways. The human followed his movement.
“Very clueless, aren’t you? Yet you still keep Sukuna in check,” they chuckled. “That’s my kid.”
Gold eyes crossed to follow the finger that bopped his nose, then squinted when the same hand was brought to pat his head.
“You don’t look that different from when you were a baby.” The person heaved a longing sigh while wearing a small smile. “It brings back a lot of memories.”
“Gao?”
“Curious?” Their eyebrows lifted in surprise before they laughed heartily, unable to hide their mirth. “I’ll tell you someday.” They turned to stare into the evening sky behind them. “I sense one of your sorcerer friends approaching. I’m afraid this is the end of our conversation.”
He let out a roar of protest at being put on the ground. “Gao!” Their arms were warmer than the cold grass blades.
The human only shot him a smile and patted his head. Before walking away, they turned to say one last thing. “Goodbye, for now, Tora. You have my best wishes.”
“Gao…?”
The tiger cub gazed at the back of the familiar stranger. He wanted to follow them but the more he trudged forward, the more he yawned. Soon his legs too came to a halt.
The asphalt road suddenly seemed…nicer… to sleep on...
The King of Curses stirred at the disturbance in his innate domain. At first, he was intrigued to see what the brat had gotten himself into this time, but soon he got bored after watching him prancing about his friends in an even weaker form, so Sukuna went back to his usual hibernating.
He lazily opened his eyes to peer at the tiger cub curled up in the middle of the red water. That was out of the ordinary. His vessel never showed up in his innate domain before. He called out to the brat, but the imprudent whelp slept like a rock. Huffing a humourless grunt, Sukuna left his throne and appeared before the new form of his vessel.
Crossing his arms, he loomed ominously over the brat but the puny thing was yet to notice his presence. He kicked the brat—lightly to avoid tiger hairs on his precious kimono—but was bewildered by the squishy skin at the impact.
He begrudgingly picked up the wimp by the scruff of his neck to evaluate him face-to-face, the red scarf unexpectedly strong. But the brat remained asleep.
“He’s nothing special,” he noted, taking in the tiger cub and its new anatomy. “I don’t get why the other fools made a big deal out of him.”
He did acknowledge the brat for suppressing him despite being regressed to such a pitiful state. Not that he would praise him for it; Not that he would take over a pathetic animal anyway.
But what was really intriguing was his soft and squishable flesh. In his Heian days, he had come across and slayed several beasts including enormous and savage tigers but this was his first time touching a tiger's spawn, something used to be a human at that.
“He’s like a plush…” the king thought out loud as he inspected the cub’s paws and belly. “Heh, like the one in his room.”
Right then, the tiger cub jolted awake, eyes dilating at the person holding him rather unkindly. With a roar as ferocious as a cub could muster, he struggled to escape his grasp but the hold on his scarf was too powerful to negate. Therefore all the cub could afford was a few scratches at his assailant but nothing a little RCT couldn’t heal.
Sukuna clicked his tongue at the insolence. “You gao for others but growl at me? How unbecoming.”
“ROAR!”
“Stop that,” the ancient sorcerer reprimanded as he moved the cub away from his face. “You’re going to get your saliva on me.”
As if understanding what he had just said, the cub doubled the amount of growling.
”That’s enough.”
With one chop at the head, Sukuna knocked his lights out. He didn’t expect it to work on an animal.
Staring at the cub that had fallen limp in his arms, Sukuna heaved a deep sigh as if dealing with the brat had taken half of his lifespan.
“You’re only tolerable when you’re quiet, brat.”
If Sukuna were to use the cub as his pillow in his domain full of prickly ox skulls, no one would be aware of it, not even the cub himself.
The sorcerers were in disarray when they discovered the little tiger cub was nowhere in sight. The second years were abruptly called for missions, leaving only the first years and brothers to look for the missing cub all over the campus, but their efforts bore no fruit. Fortunately, before they could begin their search outside the school, a reliable man appeared with the perfect timing. It was none other than Nanami Kento with a sleeping cub in the cradle of his arms.
“Nanami-san!” Megumi was the first to notice the Grade 1 sorcerer with Yuuji at the entrance of the Jujutsu Tech and quickly brought him to where the others were gathered.
“How did you find him?” Nobara asked upon seeing them.
“So, I was right,” Nanami nodded to himself, speaking in a matter-of-fact tone. “I found this tiger cub in the middle of the road a few kilometres away from the campus—thankfully, no car was around. I don’t remember any tiger living around these parts. I also don’t recall tigers having pink fur. I saw its resemblance to Itadori-kun and brought him here right away. How did he turn into this in the first place?”
Nobara sighed, but there was a ghost of a smile on her face at having found their friend at last. “It’s a long story.”
Thus, they gave an account of what happened over the day to Nanami, who listened attentively—grim features softening over the course. The man still cursed under his breath at their teacher for his negligence towards his students (he could already hear the other man's laughter in the back of his head).
“Please be careful next time,” Nanami advised the youngsters solemnly. “This includes him, as well,” he gestured at the cub dozing on his half-brother’s lap, not aware that he was also being criticised. “I know this isn’t the case, but his condition could've become permanent for all we know. It’s best to exercise caution during missions.”
Megumi and Nobara could only nod apologetically with faint mumbles of sorries.
“Even if he becomes a tiger permanently, I’ll still love my brother,” Todo added unhelpfully.
Frowning at the top-knotted teen, Choso possessively shielded the cub with his long sleeves. “I'll love him even more! Unconditionally!”
Nanami shook his head. “In any case, I think you should leave Itadori-kun in his room. He doesn’t look like he’s going to wake up any time soon.”
“He did play around a lot, probably tired himself out,” Nobara noted.
“The day is almost over too,” the shadow-user agreed with his friend and stood up. “I’ll get him to the dorm.”
After dealing with yet another brothers squabble, Megumi was finally able to carry his feline friend to the room next to his own. Kneeling, he placed the cub gently on the bed and made sure to cover him in blankets so that he wouldn’t panic at his nakedness when he eventually woke up back to normal.
The raven-haired teen left the room only after leaving a tiny wish.
“Sleep well, Itadori.”
The following day...
“Did I do anything… embarrassing when I was a cub?”
“Do you really want to know, Itadori?”
“'Can’t say I’m not curious…”
“Well, you especially loved my cuddles, Yuuji-kun.”
“Huh? I do like them normally so—”
“You practically begged me for belly rubs, hahaha!”
“What—?!”
“You roared adorably, little brother. I even recorded it.”
“OKAY, THAT’S ENOUGH!”