Cursed - Perspective

Lightning. 

Thunder.

Lightning. 

Thunder. 

Lighting. 

Crash. 

The man’s father’s  body lays motionless in front of him. A bullet lodged into his head. A gun in his hand. 

Blood. 

Lightning. 

Thunder. 

Creak. 

The door opens, a hand roughly grabs his hand as he stares at the motionless body. 

Blood. 

Lightning. 

Thunder. 

The image warps,

The same man lies on the floor. 

But he isn’t the same. 

He did not have a tanto sticking out of his abdomen. 

No one enters the house to take him away. 

He stares and stares and finally leaves on his own accord. His chest brimmed with the same bitterness he had felt that day. 

____________________________

Nightmares have been weird lately. 

Kakashi muses as he blinks awake on the ground. He had fallen out of the bed. He blinks as he realises that he never used to move from his spot while sleeping before coming here. 

He wonders what exactly was different about this place.

The nightmares had also taken a weird turn ever since his meltdown yesterday. Sure sometimes he has a weird nightmare, but this was the second one that felt so..real.

Like it had happened before, like he had seen it but he knows, he remembers that that was not the way things went. 

As though these memories were his but at the same time were not. 

He wonders what new trick his mind wanted to play and whether it would be interesting or downright disastrous. Like last time.

Knowing his luck it was probably the latter.

 He sits up and stretches, letting his muscles loosen and come back to life. He glances up at the clock and notices with much relief that it was merely eight in the morning and not late in the afternoon like yesterday. 

He pushes himself onto his feet and wiggles his toes to stretch them. He then grimaces at the pull that the muscle behind his neck gives. He seriously needs to stop falling out of his bed. The bed was soft and comfy, the floor was not. Furthermore, he was not actually growing any younger now was he.

He arches his back and sighs when he hears a small ‘pop’ mixed with ‘krrk’ sound. That felt good. 

He eyes his room, feeling something new, something amiss, and notices the small piece of paper under a plastic toy mochi that did not belong to him. The paper was slightly wrinkled in the edges and had something written on it. The blue ink of a pen was distinct and visible against the white-ish cream of the paper. 

Out of curiosity he picks the paper up. In it was a smooth scrawl saying ‘Thanks for the food.” And a tiny doodle of some sort of animal that could be anything between a rat, cat or dog. The writing was in English and the scrawl was lazy but with some sort of elegance. Quite unlike the chicken scrawl he’s picked up. 

He smiles and tucks the message away in his bag along with his ring and brooch. The writing was perhaps beautiful enough to be kept safe and hidden. 

He first ceremoniously empties his stomach into the toilet bowl through his hind door. Once he was done, he brushed his teeth clean with the brush he had been provided with. He grabs the brush and chuckles as he remembers the fact that he had not brushed his teeth the previous morning. He had been far too focused on other things that he had forgotten the basic things he started the day with.

 The brush he has been provided with was no special. It was an odd green brush with red swirl which surged something within him that was both foreign and nostalgic. The brush felt familiar but never has he ever seen such a weird brush before. He rinses his mouth clean and gargles as well after spitting out the toothpaste in his mouth. He places the brush and toothpaste into their original positions neatly and steps out to arrange an outfit for himself before showering. He selects one of his faded grey shirts and decides to wear the same black pants for the third day in a row. He would perhaps wash it tomorrow if something falls on it. 

He then undresses and re-enters the bathroom to shower. He uses the same bar soap and scrubs himself clean. He lets the water flow into his hair and stands under the falling droplets for a few moments to enjoy the pleasure and the feeling of peace it offered him. 

After a few moments he shuts off the shower and steps out. He towels himself dry and dresses himself in his clothes. 

Once he was dressed , he stepped out of his room and moved to the kitchen where he found his roommate brewing coffee. 

“Morning.”his Housemate hums, turning around and handing over a cup of coffee,

“Morning..”Kakashi greets as well, eyeing the cup warily as he accepts the harbinger of diabetes,

“Your cup has less sugar..You don’t have to look at it like it’s going to kill you,”

Kakashi raises a brow, surprise and amused,”That’s rather considerate of you,”

The Alpha shrugs, “I used to have a friend like you, all emo and cloudy and with a terrible sense of - Hey, you cut your hair,” The Alpha suddenly redirects,

“That I did,” Kakashi nods, quite surprised the Alpha had even bothered to notice the change, 

“It suits you,”Gojo says, his smile for once was quite genuine.

“Thank you.” Kakashi responds with a nod, and decides to redirect the topic away from him,”Tell me more about this friend of yours,”

The man blinks before shrugging again, “There’s not much to say, actually. I don’t even know where he is.” He lets out a mirthless chuckle before adding, “What a bastard, just disappearing without a single word to his friends,”

Kakashi hums, “Sometimes..I guess..it’s just meant to be that way.”

His housemate simply gazes at him for a few moments without any verbal response and then returns his gaze back to his own sugar sludge and sips it. That reminded Kakashi of his own drink. He was sceptical but it would be rude to simply brush off the coffee without even trying it. Tentatively, Kakashi sips his drink as well and finds that it has little to no sugar. He smiles, the coffee was....passable. 

A silence envelopes them due to them having nothing to talk about . A silence that was quite comfortable and a silence that was broken by an observation the Alpha decided to voice out loud.

“Isn’t this the fourth time you’re wearing this shirt this week?”

Kakashi raises a brow as he glances back up at the Alpha. 

“I’m not sure?…. I didn’t know I had to keep an account on what I wear everyday.”

“ So you don’t have clothes.” The Alpha says, voice sure and conclusive, 

“I have plenty-“Kakashi tries to argue only to be interrupted,

“Why didn’t you take any of mine?”

“Why would I - And you’re a few inches taller than me-“

“So they don’t fit you.”The Alpha hums, nodding to himself, “Well then,” he brings his hands together and announces, “Let go shopping!” 

One other thing Kakashi hates as much as socialising with people is shopping. He has only gone dress shopping a few handful of times with Yugao and a few other Omegas, all of them had left him completely tired and burnt out,

“Is that necessary-“

“Yes! I’m calling Ijichi-kun to take us there! Quickly drink up the drink I made and come along!”

Kakashi accepts defeat. It was way too early in the morning to fight and win against this insane man who also happens to be his housemate and if his curse ever activates again - his employer and boss.

Kakashi simply chugs down his sweet milk coffee and complies with what the Alpha had announced. 

He puts on his sandals and a pair of worn out jeans. 

This was perhaps also a wrong decision on his part. 

“Those Sandals..are they all you have?”

“Yes?” Kakashi says, glancing down at his feet, familiar black battered sandals was the sight he saw. Not that he minds that, the sandals had stayed strong for more than two years now, and that shows its strength and quality. He was happy to be the owner of the sandals,

“Well, those are no good. Let’s grab a few shoes on the way as well.” Gojo says, more to himself than to Kakashi. Kakashi has already given himself up to the fates so he doesn’t argue or comment and merely shrugs in defeat. 

“Oh, Ijichi-kun’s here, come along Kakashi.”

There he goes, “Again, huh..”Kakashi whispers as he hears the Alpha use his name instead of ‘omega’ or just pronouns such as ‘you’. It felt odd to hear it from his captor but it didn’t creep him out like that time.

“What was that?” The Alpha asks a frown tugging at the delicately crafted features of his face,

“Nothing,”Kakashi dismisses immediately,

“Oh, come on now, I’m curious!” The Alpha says, behaving more like a child or perhaps a cat as he bumps Kakashi’s shoulder with his own by leaning sideways, 

“It’s nothing important-“

“Well I want to know,”The Alpha wraps his arm around Kakashi’s shoulder and stares at him intently, 

Kakashi stares back for a few moments into azure blue eyes before accepting defeat with a long suffering sigh through his nose,

Kakashi ducks, effectively removing himself from the Alpha’s hold and moves to the door. He opens the door and answers before stepping, 

“You said my name. You’ve been saying it for two days now. I couldn’t help but wonder if you have hit your head and now have a concussion.”

With that he steps outside. Once he does, as if on cue, a bark of genuine, unadulterated laughter is heard through the door that remains slightly ajar. The laugh courses through his ears and spreads warmth across his chest, A feeling he has felt a handful of times in his life, a feeling he could easily recognise, 

Pride, mixed with a small dose of joy, 

He snorts and starts his way down the stairs, knowing full well the Alpha would catch up to him soon enough without having to look back or call for him. 

________________________

Ijichi stood in front of the car, back ramrod straight as he stood waiting for them. A sleek black tablet was placed safely under the crook of his elbow. He stood watching a few birds that were circling close to the apartment,

The birds were small and flew so fast that he couldn’t define the bird’s appearance. All he could see was the bird’s silhouette, which only helped him notice that the bird’s tail was split into two. Then perhaps it was the ‘Drongo’. 

The Drongo is a small bird that is mainly found in tropical regions of Asia, they are barely thirty centimetres long and are known for their agile and athletic flight. 

Ijichi follows the bird’s silhouette with his eyes and watches as the bird manoeuvres itself with great grace and agility as it flies about. The bird was perhaps after an insect or perhaps it was flying merely due to boredom. But still, it’s graceful flight was a feast to his eyes, 

“Yo,Ijichi-san,” A cool baritone voice forces him to tear his eyes away from the flying Drongos. 

Kakashi stood next to him, looking up at the flying birds as well, 

“Fan of the Drongo?”

“I- yes.” Ijichi found it odd that the Omega even spoke to him. The other was rather quiet. He seemed to prefer silence rather than speaking much, it must be rather hard for him to live with Gojo-senpai. 

 Ijichi still doesn't know why senpai would let him stay with him. The higher ups had never specified as such. Ijichi has never seen any sorcerer about grade 1 to let their prisoner stay with them. It was true that Karachi’s curse was odd. Ijichi could not even see any trace of it right now other than a small cluster at his navel if Ijichi looked closely. However, Ijichi remembers the way the cluster had unraveled and had wrapped the man up in its energy. He remembers the way Kakshi seemed to lose all sense of direction. He remembers the way it had easily blocked off a command from an Alpha.

But still, no sorcerer would keep someone who was a flight risk this close to them. Normally, one would simply hand the person over to the higher ups or place them in any of their schools. It’d be safer and would avoid the risk of harming other people or civilians. 

 Perhaps senpai had found something interesting in him that he decided to keep him close. Or perhaps, Senpai simply didn’t trust the higher ups to treat an Omega, with incredible power and potential, with care and respect.

Kakashi hums after a moment, drawing Ijichi’s attention back to the man, 

“It certainly does say something about you,”Kakashi says, eyes curving into crescent to perhaps indicate a smile. His lips however do not spread as much, 

 The man looked young, Ijichi thinks as he gazes at the man. He hadn’t worn his mask today. The face was open and free for everyone to see. Ijichi had been far too captivated by the birds to watch the Omega. Kakashi had a strong, sturdy build which was unusual, given his secondary gender as an Omega. His face, however, looked beautiful in a way that one could not define as the beauty of an Omega. If Kakashi said that he was an Alpha or Beta, anyone would agree. He was tall and was able to capture attention without meaning to do so but not in the way Omegas do.

So different that maybe Senpai will be able to trick the higher ups into thinking Kakashi-san was a beta or an Omega. He would be better off that way.

Omegas are at the bottom of the ladder in their current society. An Omega in the Jujutsu society was even more rare. Omegas were not built to be physically strong and this caused many deaths of Omegas which led to a massive decline in strong Omega sorcerers. But this was not only because of their differences biologically, Ijichi knew that much. In Jujutsu’s history, there have been many strong Omega sorcerers whose names have been woven into history. These names have been given little importance but it is proof that Omegas could fight. They could surpass quite a few Alphas and betas. Then it was obvious that the fault lay within their management. 

The higher ups continue to look down upon Omegas as mere fodder for curses and to form relations with strong families. 

Why does Ijichi know this as a mere low grade Beta manager? 

He knows because he is weak. He has been on the receiving end of jokes and scorn. (“You’re just as good on the field as a frail Omega, it'd be better if you just drop dead like one as well. ”)

 He knows because he has seen Omega being ill treated, being taught by a different set of teachers so that they won’t become stronger. Has seen them die. 

He-

“Ijichi-kun!” Gojo-senpai’s voice greets,”Let’s go!”

No, a simple Beta manager like him shouldn’t ponder over such thoughts. He must simply live his life. He doesn’t have the power or strength to face such a cruel curse. A curse that was not the crude manifestation of cursed energy. A curse that was created carefully and with much calculation. 

Kakashi wordlessly enters the car’s backseat. Senpai does the same. Ijichi merely straightens his back, fixes his glasses, enters his seat and starts the car’s engine.

___________________________________________

Kakashi stares out of his window at the dancing streets bustling with people. The sun shone above them brilliantly in great heat, causing people to sweat and their clothes to stick to them. The people seated within cars didn’t face such a fate under the sun and sat quite comfortably in their air conditioned boxes. 

Kakashi glances at the Alpha who sat next to him. The man was sucking on a lollipop while staring out of the window, head in his palm, elbow resting on arm rest. His feet were spread out, lanky legs taking up a lot more space than he needed. His free hand rested on its corresponding thigh. His square sunglasses sat on his nose, allowing just some of his azure blue eyes to peek out. 

The window having a sun blocker certainly must help in reducing the other’s eyes. Kakashi still does not know the power this man’s eyes held, however he knew that they held some power so great that people should fear it. 

Kakashi leans his head back and continues to stare at the Alpha, wishing to decipher this man. This man held many many secrets. Very few had been let slip and those only created more questions. More questions filled his head whenever he saw the man and few answers would come with the questions. Kakashi knew that he couldn’t ask those questions. He didn’t have the right or freedom to move beyond the lines the Alpha had consciously or unconsciously drawn around himself. Kakashi could and would only ask them when those lines were erased in just a few corners. Corners which were large enough for Kakashi to enter. Large enough for Kakashi to simply ask. However, such a possibility was not something he could imagine happening in this life. As  he could see that the man was still suffering. 

“Take a picture, it will last longer.” Gojo says, breaking his spiral of thoughts, 

Kakashi chuckles and sighs, “I would but unfortunately, I don’t own a phone or camera to do so,” 

Gojo glances at him, blinks, and stares for a moment before his lips curled back into an amused grin, perfect teeth glinting in the dimness of the car, 

Kakashi raises a brow, his lips tugging at a smile that he fought to suppress. The Alpha snorts and tosses the chewed up paper stick into a paper bag. Kakashi was about to look out of the window again but the other decided to continue the conversation with another topic, 

“You know, you have a rather good looking face.” The Gojo says, dipping his head forward, as though to inspect his face more closely,

“Thank..you?” Kakashi mutters, slightly bothered by the sudden closeness the other had decided to establish without any prior warning,

“No.. I mean..you don’t look pretty like most Omega..You don’t look soft like them, actually. “

“And you didn’t notice this during our first meeting?” Kakashi says, raising a brow, 

“You had a mask on and maybe the long hair also helped.”The man shrugs,

“Maybe the haircut helped cause this change, then?”

“Or maybe it just brought out something you were hiding”

Kakashi shrugs, “Maybe.”

“It’s not just the face that stands out actually,”The Alpha mutters, more to himself than Kakashi, but Kakashi decides to entertain the statement,

“And why is that so?”

“Didn’t you notice as well, Ijichi-kun?”

Ijichi doesn’t respond immediately , as though forming a proper answer, 

“Yes. “ Is all the man says, which was rather disappointing considering the amount of time he took to answer the question. 

The Alpha hums and looks away to stare out of the window again and the conversation dies there.

Kakashi cannot help but roll his eyes and sigh. For what purpose did he move so close to Kakashi only to retreat to the farthest corner of his own world where only few could truly reach him. 

 Who those few were, was a mystery to Kakashi. 

The car soon rolls into the parking lot of a shopping mall after a few minutes of silence. The car comes to a stop at one of the slots and parks itself there.The Alpha steps out of the car and so does Kakashi. 

Gojo glances at him from across the car and grins, all teeth and gums, 

“Ready to get a whole new wardrobe, Kakashi?”

Kakashi sighs, well perhaps he should have thought twice before making deals with a sketchy guy with a dubious explanation of his job. Now all he can do is follow the man and accept his fate of being forced to go through a stressful day of shopping for clothes. 

_____________________________________

The mall was obviously an extremely expensive place to visit. 

Kakashi walks down the hallways of the room and finds himself amazed by the amount of items on display. Each item could easily , not just bankrupt him, but also put him in a debt trap considering the fact that he only had the tiny bundle inside his bag. 

So unless the Alpha decides to buy him the clothes the Alpha had declared previously, Kakashi would probably just make a run for it or maybe he could jump out the window. He was currently on the first floor of the shopping mall, they were probably going to go to a higher floor soon. Normally, he could land without much injury as long as they don’t go higher than the fourth or third floor. However, it also depends on the width of each floor. 

Kakashi glances at the glass windows and doors. Considering their height, he would probably die if he jumped out of the third floor. Second floor would either break most of his bones or paralyse him if he landed wrong. Maybe there will be a trash can next to -

“I can hear you thinking” The Alpha groans, “Silence bores me, Kakashi.” 

On many occasions, Kakashi has wondered whether the man was a child or an adult. Sometimes, the lines are truly blurred. Perhaps the title man-child would suit him. He had the body of a 21 year old and the tantrums of a two year old. 

“And what should I do about that?” Kakashi responds after a moment, 

“Drive it away,” Gojo responds casually, 

“How?” 

“By talking, genius.” The Alpha rolls his eyes,

“Well, what do you want to talk about?”

“Nothing in particular.”

“Wow, Gojo-kun. That gives me such insight to build on. How will we ever end the conversation if we begin” 

The Alpha lets out a snort, “Who would have ever guessed you were this funny,”

“Perhaps, you never truly noticed.”

They take a right turn and enter the shop whose doors open upon sensing their arrival. 

The glass door closes shut once they enter. 

Kakashi gazes around the place with curiosity. This was the first time he has visited a shopping mall as large as this. It sort of made him feel like he had been living under a rock, which admittedly, was true. 

A man wearing a blue-green shirt with the company logo immediately walks up to the Alpha and spoke in whispers with him. The Alpha after a few moments gestures to Kakashi and the man turns to Kakashi with a bright smile, which dulls upon seeing him. 

Kakashi could not blame him. Kakashi looked like a street rat in comparison to Gojo and Ijichi. Which was also true because he was not exactly rich and was living off their cash..like a rat. 

Wow, this day has helped reach higher levels of self-depreciation. He’ll never forget this shopping complex. 

The man puts on his best fake, dull smile and asks Kakashi to follow him with the voice of a perfect salesman. Kakashi follows him without a second thought. The Alpha and Ijichi followed them. 

They arrive at the mens section and after a few quick questions about Kakashi’s measurements, the man leaves to find him a few suitable clothes. The man reappears like a ghost next Kakashi and dumps the clothes into his arms, 

“Please try it on,”The salesman said with a dying smile as he gestured to the changing room in the right corner with his hand. 

Kakashi wanted to end this voyage just as much as the salesman who was currently moaning inside that he got a poor customer. So, to end their suffering as quickly as possible, he clutched the lump close to his chest and scurried off to the changing room. He enters into the one which was free and relatively neat and closes the door shut. He was immediately attacked by his own image from all three sides when he turned around and had to stop himself from letting out an undignified shriek. 

His..dead, droopy look definitely seemed uncannily similar to that of a rat. He sighs and dumps all clothes onto a chair and sorts through them. There was a green jacket..a few comfy pants as well..a shirt…a blue black turtleneck..a grey turtleneck..a pair of black jeans..a white shirt. Not too bad. He presses his fingers along the fabric of the shirt and marvels at how soft it felt. 

He tries each one of them and finds that he actually likes all of them. They all fit him well and were of much better quality than his usual clothing. 

He puts on the blue black turtleneck last and finds himself wishing for a darker one.. He shakes his head, he shouldn’t think he will get whatever he wants..the Alpha was being generous enough by providing him with new clothes. 

He removes the turtleneck and puts his old shirt on again. He then piles the clothing into his arms as neatly as he possibly could and opens the door to return back to his benefactors. 

The Alpha frowns as he approaches them with the bundle in his hand which confuses Kakashi, why was the man-child unhappy now?

“Did you not like any of them?” The Alpha asks, once Kakashi was within earshot, 

Kakashi blinks before shaking his head, “No, actually. I liked all of them.” He answers, 

The Alpha brightens immediately, quite pleased with the answer Kakashi had given him. 

“Hmm, but these aren’t enough.” The Alpha decides, “ You,” He addresses the employee, “Bring more similar clothes,”

“Actually, if possible- “ Kakashi said without much thought before stopping himself, “Nevermind.”

The Alpha frowns at him, gaze calculative as he watches him,

“Did you have something in mind? Something you wanted?”

“No-“

“Don’t lie to me, Omega.”The Alpha hissed under his breath, the words a bare whisper and yet they carried incredible weight and power. Power which would compel any street rat or squirrel or insect or any other creature to say the truth. One of those creatures being Kakashi himself, 

“Yes.”Kakashi answers after a moment of consideration,

“What did you want?”Gojo asks, 

“A turtle neck which is darker than the blue-black one I received previously,” Kakashi grumbles,

“Okay.” Gojo says, voice somewhat gentle, “You heard the guy, “ He barks at the salesman, “ Get him a darker version of this,”

The salesman scurried off to attend to what the Alpha had demanded. Kakashi could not help but let the tips of his lips tip up in a small smile as he watched and realised that the Alpha had listened.

Perhaps the Alpha did have a heart. Well, the Alpha was human so- 

“Let’s get takeout after this.” Gojo says, coming closer, souring Kakashi’s mood significantly by mentioning ‘takeout.’

“No. I’ll cook.”

“You’ll be tired-“

“No.”

“Oh, come on-“

“No.”

(They did not get takeout. )