The amount of pain Gege's putting Megumi through in the manga; the boy is fatherless x2, dog-less (RIP white doggy 🥺), Nobara-less, possibly Yuji-less in the later future, and now he's about to be sisterless 💀 and in my fic, he's also bitchless too LMAO. Reggie really wasn't playing when he cursed him to be a clown 😭

SHISUI AND SUKUNA WERE IN luck: the Uchiumi Estate was in an uproar by the time they stepped in; apparently the news about the second bearer of the Six Eyes had spread and finally reached them because that was all anyone could talk about.

It was 'Junichiro this' and 'Junichiro that', and no one hardly batted an eye when the two friends walked in and they were perfectly fine with that. Shisui was glad that everyone was too distracted to scold her about punching her father while Sukuna was relieved that nobody was glancing at his way because the secondary mouth on his stomach was still leaving him a bit self-conscious.

"You can use Ryu-nii's bathing room," Shisui murmured to him, already leading him to the hallway. "He never minds. You know where it is, right?"

Sukuna grunted in response, his feet already taking him to his destination. Shisui went differently, heading towards her own private bathing room.

The water was already steaming hot when she walked in. After stripping off her dirty clothes, she took a nice dip into the pool of water and sighed in relief. Hours of spending time in the forest and even sleeping there made her feel downright filthy so she was glad to finally get a chance to get the muck off of her.

When she got to her hair, she couldn't help but take more time in cleaning it. Her mind drifted off to her previous conversation with Junichiro.

His hand reached out to take a few wet strands of her blue hair and her breath hitched.

"You know," he began thoughtfully. "I never really understood why women keep their hair so long*, but... it's actually quite beautiful on you."

The memory faded away and dumbstruck giggles escaped her lips. Honestly, how could a man be so perfect?

Oh but if only he knew how hard it was to deal with long hair... she thought miserably.

After her bath, she dried herself off and got dressed before returning to her bedroom to try and deal with her hair. Despite Junichiro's compliments, managing her hair was the hardest part of her day. Because of its length it took forever to dry and even longer to get rid of its tangles.

The door to her room slid open.

"Oh good, you're dressed," Sukuna said after stepping in and sliding the door closed behind him. He was dressed in one of her brother's yukatas, the piece of clothing barely fitting him thanks to his more bulkier form.

"Help me with my hair, please?" She pleaded with him, her fingers all wrapped up in at least a hundred strands of blue locks.

He groaned but sat down behind her. "Your hair is so stupid," he muttered as he tried to detangle the knots as carefully as he could without accidentally slicing a chunk of her hair off with his claws (luckily, he had years of experience of having to help her with her hair).

"Your hair is stupid," she grumbled back.

He rolled his eyes at the childish comeback. Unlike a majority of the men here, he liked to keep his hair short. It was more efficient for fighting curses after all. "Seriously, why don't you just cut your hair?"

She made a whiny noise from the back of her throat. "Jun said it looks nicer when it's long."

Somehow, he managed to roll his eyes even harder at that response. "So what? You clearly don't like having to deal with long hair."

"Well yes but..." she struggled to find the words to say. "I can't just cut it off!"

"Yes, you can."

"No, I can't! Noble women are expected to keep their hair long, you know?" She told him. "It's important to keep it long—it's the most crucial feature of a woman's beauty!"

He wouldn't get it since he was a man, but women had strict beauty standards to follow. She hadn't been kidding when she said that hair was the most crucial feature of a woman's physical beauty—if it was long and glossy, then she would be considered beautiful. The longer the hair, the more beautiful the woman was.

The amount of times she had to dump rice water, camellia oil, and sanekazura extract on her hair to keep it shiny and silky was enough to show how serious the affair was. As a child, she used to have servants help her with it, but she preferred to have Sukuna help her instead since she enjoyed his company a lot more.

(Though she didn't like to talk about the time he accidentally cut off a chunk of her hair with his claws. They were only nine when it happened and she hadn't stopped bemoaning about it since then.)

"That's the dumbest thing I've ever heard," Sukuna said bluntly. "Men don't care about women's hair length, that's ridiculous!"

"Oh? Then what do they care about then?" She asked curiously, unable to see the mischievous grin crawling over his face.

"These," he emphasized, his hands attacking her from behind to cup at her breasts.

The reaction was immediate.

"YOU PERVERT!" She roared, batting his hands away and whirling around to face him.

She threw her hairbrush at his laughing face, hitting him straight on the forehead but she didn't stop there. Sukuna cackled, hurrying behind her table as she sent a bunch of pillows flying in his direction.

"I should strangle you with my hair!" She threatened, chasing him around the table.

"It's the truth though!" He snickered. "I'm a man so of course I would know! A woman's breasts are the first thing we notice, why do you think your father chose such big-breasted women to be his wives?"

"Stop speaking about my mothers!" She shrieked, finally reaching him and pummeling his face with her pillow. She tackled him next, sending them both tumbling down with her straddling him. She didn't stop smacking him. "Say you're sorry!"

"Pfft—alright, alright!" He laughed, trying to block the angry swings of her pillow. "I apologize for offending you and your mothers. Does that suffice?"

"...Sure."

"Good, now get off of me, you pig," he snorted.

She swatted him with the pillow one last time for that rude comment before huffing and crawling off of him.

"I am serious about what I said though," he commented, sitting up.

She frowned. "About the breasts thing?"

"No—well, yes, that's also true, but I was talking about hair length being a 'beauty standard' as dumb." He clarified. "You should really stop caring about what others think. If you want to cut your hair a little shorter, then do it. Do what you want and stop letting societal standards hold you back."

Easier for him to say, he didn't have to worry about upholding a family name for the sake of propriety. Plus, he was always the more daring and rebellious one between them.

As stubborn and spoiled as she was, she knew she had a limit to how she could behave; she could never really be free. There were always high expectations of her, she couldn't always go around speaking her mind and doing whatever she wished. That was something she could only do around Sukuna because he never expected her to act like anything but herself. But when she was back home, back under the stifling and oppressive gaze of her family, she had to revert back to demure compliancy, back to being the proper daughter of the Uchiumi Clan.

She stared down at the long blue hair in her hands. After sixteen years of growing it out (aside from that one time when she was nine), it had long since reached the ground. She knew it was only going to get even harder to maintain from now on and she wasn't really looking forward to future hair-care days.

...But if she cut it, she knew her family wouldn't react so happily—or at least her father wouldn't.

Oh what the hell, she finally decided. I already punched him, might as well cut my hair too.

"Kuna-chan?" She said.

"What?"

"Can you... um..." She shyly glanced up to make eye-contact with him. "Can you help me cut my hair?"

He stared at her in mild surprise, the upper corners of his lips looking like they were about to lift up into a genuine smile. But he must've changed his mind a split second later because she was suddenly flashed with an evil grin.

"I'll cut your hair up to your ears," he grinned wickedly.

She smacked his arm with a hairbrush. "Don't you dare! Just cut it a few inches below my shoulders and no shorter!"

"So demanding," he teased. "Alright, turn around and hold still. I'll use my technique to chop it off."

She let out a terrified squeak. "Wait, what? W-won't you cut off my head on accident?"

"Of course not," he scoffed. "I have perfect control of my own abilities, Shisui. I wouldn't allow such an accident to happen. Now look forward and stay still."

He maneuvered her around so her whole body would be facing away from him. She could feel him gathering all of her hair so it would settle neatly on her back. Then she felt the length of his hand rest horizontally on her back, just a few inches below her shoulders.

"Is this length okay?" He asked her, just to make sure.

"Yes," she replied.

"Alright, now... stay still..." He murmured. She held her breath and a second passed; she heard a hushed swish sound followed by the feeling of a heavy weight dropping from her head.

She hesitated to speak up. "Did... did you do it?"

"It's done," he answered simply.

She brought her hair forward to stare down at it, marveling at the short blue strands that barely reached down her chest.

"Whoa..." She whispered, eyes wide with amazement. "It's so... so short!"

"That's what happens when you get a haircut, Shisui," Sukuna rolled his eyes, sarcasm just dripping from his tone. "Your hair gets shorter. Fascinating, I know, but—"

The door to her room opened and a blue-haired figure stepped in, carrying a large platter of food that consisted mostly of meat.

"Shisui, why did you ask someone to bring over such a large quantity of food to your room? I doubt you can eat this all by yourself—oh..." Ryujin awkwardly stopped when he caught sight of his sister's pink haired friend.

Sukuna and Shisui awkwardly glanced at each other.

Ryujin cleared his throat. "Hello, Sukuna-san. I wasn't aware that you would be coming over... and staying in my sister's room... again."

Sukuna flashed him a snarky grin. "Ryujin," he drawled in acknowledgement.

"I'll just set this on the table," Ryujin murmured, walking there only to freeze up when he finally caught sight of the pile of blue hair on the floor as well as Shisui's now much shorter hair.

Said girl stiffened. "I-I didn't like having long hair so I asked Sukuna to cut it," she stammered. She left out the part that her friend had been the one who initially suggested that she cut it, not wanting to bring him any trouble.

Ryujin continued to stare. Shisui's anxiety grew worse and she started to stutter out another explanation until he gave her a soft smile.

"You look lovely, Shisui," he complimented her genuinely, before glancing over at Sukuna. The younger man managed to catch the look of appreciation in his blue eyes.

Shisui finally relaxed and shot her brother a grateful smile as he set the tray of food in front of them.

"I'll be taking my leave now," Ryujin said. "Please you two... behave."

"Of course we will," Sukuna replied, but Ryujin knew them far too well.

He shot the pair another strict look before walking out of the room at last.

"So..." Sukuna trailed off, picking up a lamb leg. "Why did you send food here? Aren't we going to see your lover boy soon?"

"We are, but surely you didn't think we'd go meet him on an empty stomach?" She raised a brow. "Especially since you're the one with a bottomless appetite? Come on, eat up!"

She knew him so well. Eagerly, Sukuna dug in. The tray was full of a wide assortment of cooked meat and while he preferred raw with the blood still on it, he happily settled with this.

(As open as he was with Shisui, the one thing he wanted to keep a secret from her was his weird affinity for raw meat and blood. He didn't know why, but he felt that there was something more to it, something that would actually scare her off and he didn't want to risk it.)

Shisui scooted around the table until she was sitting next to him. With a mouth full of berries, she ungracefully ordered, "Open up your kimono."

He shot her a smirk. "I'm flattered but—"

She rolled her eyes and threw a berry at his face. He caught it in his mouth.

"Open it up, I wanna try and feed your other mouth," she grinned. "Aren't you technically eating for two?"

He glowered at her. "Stop making it sound like I'm pregnant, you idiot. It doesn't work that way."

"You don't even know how it works," she pointed out.

She was absolutely right but he wasn't going to admit it. "No."

"Aww, please?" She whined.

"No."

"Come on, Kuna-chan, please? Pleeeaaseee?"

"Ugh, if I say 'yes' will you finally shut up?"

She lit up. "Of course!"

"I don't believe you, but fine." With a heavy sigh, he opened up his kimono to reveal the weird mouth that grew on his stomach. He wasn't worried about anyone stepping in and catching it; he knew he would react quickly enough to cover up.

They both looked down at the secondary mouth, Shisui's face turning into childlike wonder and Sukuna's looking more aggravated about what she had planned.

With a grin, she plucked up a slice of meat from the platter and held it out in front of its lips.

"Here you go, sweetie, here you go!" She cooed at it as if it was some sort of puppy. "It's munch-munch time~!"

Sukuna looked at her in disgust. "Seriously?"

She ignored him and gasped excitedly. "Look, Kuna-chan! It's eating it! Good boy! What a good boy!"

Sukuna pinched the bridge of his nose. He couldn't even bear to look down at it, he was just too embarrassed. And annoyed. Definitely annoyed.

"We should name it," she suggested.

"Absolutely not." He deadpanned. "It's literally just a mouth that grew out of my stomach. It doesn't need a name."

"Fine," she pouted. "I'll just refer to it as your tummy-mouth then."

"I can't believe I'm saying this, but can we hurry and meet up with lover boy already?" He practically begged.

"Great idea!" She beamed, already jumping up on her feet and tugging him up. "Let's go! Oh, Kuna-chan, I can't wait until you meet him! You'll love him!"

Sukuna was certain he wouldn't.

(And he was absolutely right.)

━━━━━━･❪ 💧 ❫ ･━━━━━━

When they finally reached the river, Sukuna spotted the tall white haired man wearing an elaborate looking kimono waiting for them on the other side of the river. There was a fancy looking white cloth tied around his eyes, preventing his Six Eyes to be seen.

"Shisui!" He called out to her cheerfully and then, to her surprise, began walking on water to reach them.

Shisui's jaw dropped in amazement, but Sukuna wasn't too impressed. He knew the Gojo clan's prized techniques allowed him to do that so he wasn't surprised to witness it happen.

Junichiro was now on their side of the river. "This must be your friend you told me so much abou—" He froze. "Y-your hair..."

"Oh, I had it cut short," she laughed airily. The faces of her family members when they saw her recent haircut was still fresh in her mind.

He looked bewildered. "But—but your long hair was—"

"—Bothersome and hard to manage," Sukuna cut him off. "So I cut it shorter for her. She likes it this way and that's all that matters, right?"

His tone was purposely challenging, just daring him to say otherwise. Five seconds into the conversation and he already hated the man.

Junichiro smiled, but to Sukuna, it seemed painfully forced. "Of course," he said. "You look beautiful as ever, Shisui."

After that, the conversation finally began. Junichiro led it and he seemed determined to ignore Sukuna's existence and focus his attention solely on the blue haired woman.

I hate him, Sukuna thought.

His first impression of the new head of the Gojo Clan? He was a catastrophe waiting to happen. Shisui, who continuously fawned over him on the way to the river, seemed to only see his good looks and nothing else. Junichiro was somewhat okay-looking, but his personality was where the problem laid.

The man was far too childish despite the fact that he had over ten years on Sukuna and Shisui. He also radiated with blissful ignorance. A sort of ignorance he recognized in Shisui back when she was seven and still a sheltered child of the Uchiumi Clan (though that was thankfully an ignorance she had mostly grown out of).

It was clear to him that his overly sheltered background had stunted his development; he truly didn't know how to behave like a grown man. Or like a proper human being in general.

But as childish and foolish as the man seemed to be, Sukuna could sense the power radiating from him. His cursed energy was vast and almost never-ending. He could sense it wrap around Shisui's body like a snake while simultaneously trying to push his away—as if he was an unwanted presence he didn't want around.

"Sukuna!" He tuned back in when he heard his name being called out.

"It's Ryomen," he said coldly to the white haired man. He didn't want this man calling him by his first name.

"Right," Junichiro smiled tightly. "Shisui was just telling me about how strong you are. She's not wrong, I could sense your cursed energy all the way from here before you reached me—it's not as large as mine, of course. But I'm curious; tell me, has your cursed energy always felt this malicious?"

"Malicious?" He repeated, red eyes narrowed.

"What do you mean by that?" Shisui spoke up next, stepping away from Junichiro to stand beside her friend. She shot the man with her own look of displeasure. "I hope you're just kidding around, Jun. My friend is the least malicious person I know and I don't like what you're implying."

Sukuna felt something pleasurable roll down his spine at hearing her defend him. He felt even better when he saw the arrogant expression on Junichiro's face falter; he obviously wasn't expecting her to side with him.

"It wasn't my intention to insult him or imply anything bad," he quickly backtracked. "Ah, I was just startled by how... dark his cursed energy seemed. Especially since he currently has his technique out..." He trailed off, his gaze going down to Sukuna's hands.

The claws. Of fucking course.

"These aren't exactly something I can put away," he muttered.

Junichiro's lips curled. "Oh? So you don't have proper control over your technique yet? Perhaps I can help," he offered with faux generosity.

"No thank you," he said through gritted teeth.

He let out a playful hum, an innocent smile dancing on his lips that Sukuna just wanted to smack away. "We've been here for a while now. How about we go venture out to your village? I've never seen it before."

Shisui shot a wary glance at Sukuna's way. She knew how much he detested going out to the village; he always avoided it as much as he could.

"Er, maybe we can go to your village instead!" She suggested.

He pouted. "Oh? But I'm already here on your side. What's wrong with seeing your village?" He asked, but then something seemed to click in his mind. He slyly turned to the pinkette. "Does Ryomen-san not like going there?"

Alarm bells were immediately ringing in his head. How did he know that? Either the man just figured it out that quickly or... or he already knew and was likely taunting him with that information.

But how would he know? Sukuna knew he expressed his dislike of the villagers to Sukuna and Sumiko, but that was it. He had no idea how Junichiro would've known about it unless he was actually there, secretly listening in.

"Fine," he bit out, sounding a little more venomous than he wanted to show. "Let's go take a visit to our stupid village."

The second they stepped into the village square, Sukuna instantly wanted to leave. Not that he would ever give Junichiro the satisfaction of storming out.

Already there were stares full of animosity directed to him, but their distrustful glares soon faded away when they caught sight of the white haired man joining him. They had grown used to seeing Shisui tagging alongside him, but Junichiro was something new for them to stare at.

Those who knew of the jujutsu community immediately knew who the man was while those who didn't simply gawked at him for his pretty features. It all made Sukuna huff in annoyance. He couldn't see anything special about the white haired brat.

"Oh my," Junichiro murmured lowly so only he could hear. "It seems like the villagers don't like you, do they? They seem wary of you, I wonder why?"

Sukuna's eye twitched. He glanced over at Shisui who stood at Junichiro's other side, but she was practically drooling at the nikogori stand and was too distracted to hear of the exchange.

Suddenly everyone in the village was full of smiles and a welcoming nature. Sukuna bit back a bitter scoff. They hardly treated him with the same warmth—even when he had Shisui at his side, but the second this celestial looking stranger walked in with them, he was suddenly 'just another villager of theirs', 'one of their own'. How infuriating. How fake.

"Let's have nikogori," Shisui suggested, already dragging both men to the food stall.

"Do you like nikogori, Shisui-chan? How cute!" The older man cooed.

Sukuna didn't really know what was so cute about liking what was essentially fish bone jelly, but he rolled his eyes anyways. Junichiro was trying so hard to get on Shisui's good side. It was actually nauseating to watch.

He quickly took a seat on Shisui's right side—the side he always sat on. Sukuna inwardly smirked at the rage in Junichiro's eyes before he plopped down on Shisui's left.

The conversation began and in Sukuna's opinion, they seemed to talk for hours and hours. It was agonizing, but he seemed to be the only one who thought of it that way. The stall owners, a family of three, seemed to eat up every word Junichiro was saying and Shisui—to his annoyance—wasn't any different.

Of course, Sukuna had no place in the conversation. Junichiro made sure of it by never even glancing at him once, but Shisui would try her best to include him in the conversation and while he appreciated the sentiment, he didn't really want to discuss Junichiro's 'greatest achievements'.

What a braggart.

(What sort of achievements would a sheltered man such as him have when he couldn't even leave his house until now anyways? Counting up to a million? Being able to use chopsticks on both hands? Gardening?)

Either way, he didn't contribute much aside from eye-rolls and quiet scoffs. After what felt like two hours of sitting in the same place (and his butt beginning to ache from staying still from so much), Sukuna resorted to sulking. He had one elbow resting against the counter, one cheek placed against his knuckles, and his lips forming a pout as he watched his only friend grow more and more enamored by the other man.

There's practically hearts in her eyes, he noticed. What does she like about him anyways? He looks like a twig and he's so pale...! His personality's such a mess too. She can't seriously be attracted to that, could she? She must have had horrible standards if she actually was. I bet he doesn't even pay any taxes.

By now the whole village seemed to be obsessed with the man and was now crowding around them in the food stall. Sukuna just wanted this whole thing to end.

While Junichiro was busy announcing that he would give sake to everyone (paid by him of course), Sukuna leaned over to Shisui and muttered, "Can we leave already? His voice is grating on my nerves."

She let out a giggle, "Awww, come on, S'kuna, les stayyyy."

Sukuna stared at her, jaw dropping. Her face was flushed and her eyes seemed to waver every which way as if she was seeing double of him. He couldn't believe what he was seeing.

"Are you drunk?" He hissed. That was when he saw the cup of sake in her hand. When did she even take a sip of alcohol?! He glared over at Junichiro's laughing face, knowing that he must have had something to do with it.

He got her drunk! He thought angrily.

Swiftly, he got up on his feet and helped her out of her chair.

"That's it, we're leaving. I can't believe you were stupid enough to accept a drink from some random man you hardly even know!" He scolded, trying to maneuver them around the drunken crowd.

Junichiro stepped in his way. "Hey, hey! Where are you guys going?"

"She's drunk, I'm taking her home," he said flatly before stepping around him and dragging Shisui around.

Junichiro seemed to perk up at that. "Ah, I can—"

"—No." He rejected the offer immediately, already knowing what he was about to say.

Junichiro stepped in front of them again. At this point, Shisui was beginning to lean into Sukuna, giggling into his kimono and poking him in the stomach in hopes to stir up his 'tummy-stomach' as she so affectionately called it. Sukuna promptly ignored her.

He narrowed his eyes at the Gojo heir. "Move."

"So stingy," he pouted playfully. "You've been so rude to me since this morning! Come on, Kuna-chan, won't you give me a chance?"

"I don't trust you," Sukuna said seriously, glaring at him.

His grin widened. "Eh? I'm hurt. Shisui's so sweet, I wonder how such a nice woman managed to befriend someone like you! Why don't you trust me?"

Because he knew something was off about this, about him. The mysterious deaths of the previous Gojo patriarch and matriarch, the fact that Junichiro approached Shisui on the one day she just so happened to be alone in the river, and how he knew that he hated venturing off to the village...

"That's none of your business," Sukuna glowered.

"Someone sounds jealous," he cooed.

Sukuna froze, the word echoing in his head. Jealous? No, that wasn't it. He shook his head in denial and glared at the simpering man.

"Just do me a favor and stay away from us." He replied, shoving past him with Shisui in tow.

"And if I don't?" Junichiro challenged.

Sukuna stopped to glance over his shoulder. Something about Junichiro's expression made his stomach drop. The white haired man looked amused, smug even. It was the face of a man who had all the privilege in the world, a man who knew he could do whatever he wanted and no one would be able to stop him.

It reminded him too much of Suiten and a few of his sons, but Junichiro took it to a whole other level. He was the new head of the Gojo Clan, a clan that had the highest amount of power in the jujutsu society—the whole world even.

It was then Sukuna realized how much power Junichiro really held over him.

When he didn't answer right away, Junichiro's face twisted. His amused grin was replaced by a nasty, malicious smile, and Sukuna felt like he was seeing his true face at last. His pale hand reached up to lift up a corner of the white blindfold, his gleaming blue eyes boring into Sukuna's red ones.

"Just kidding!" He laughed before flashing him an angelic smile. "Sorry for getting in the way so much. You're free to go. Please do make sure to take Shisui-chan home safely, okay?"

"...Right," Sukuna said slowly, not really knowing what to feel.

Junichiro waved goodbye at them. Sukuna finally turned away and led Shisui home.

━━━━━━･❪ 💧 ❫ ･━━━━━━

That night, Junichiro paced around the floor of his castle. His day—which had been going so well with Shisui—was easily ruined thanks to Sukuna's presence. He had watched the pair in secret for a while now and he knew that the pink haired man could be rather abrasive and brash, but interacting with him was a whole other story. The man was a brat!

He and Shisui were having such a grand time talking to each other but Sukuna just had to get in the way with his sour attitude! He was like a dark cloud ruining what should've been a perfectly sunny day.

He was an unwanted presence in Junichiro's life. And what did Junichiro do whenever he was faced with an unwanted presence? He got rid of them, just like what he had done to his mother and father.

...But this was going to be a different case. Sukuna wasn't like his mother or father. He was a sorcerer, a rather powerful one at that. He hadn't been kidding when he said that Sukuna's cursed energy felt malicious. It was downright evil; it made him feel like he was sinking in a dark ocean full of underwater predators ready to feast on him.

And that wasn't all. Sukuna's power felt... caged, almost. As if he hadn't quite reached his full potential quite yet—or maybe something was holding him back. That alone was even more terrifying. Sukuna's presence already seemed too much to handle, but now there was a chance his powers could grow even bigger. Beyond the levels Junichiro could reach—and that wasn't a thought he liked to ponder on or admit out loud.

What a monster, he shuddered. No wonder everyone's so wary of him when his presence feels like that! Is he even human?

Nevertheless, he wanted to get rid of him, but fighting him would have to be a last resort. He just couldn't risk it.

The sound of footsteps made him stop his pacing. He whirled around, spying a familiar old man walking towards him.

"Kei!" He exclaimed, disgruntled. "You old fool, I've been looking everywhere for you! And what are you wearing?"

Kei—the Gojo clan's advisor—was wearing his usual pristine kimono, but what caught his attention was the new headwear he had on. A black cloth cap that was stiff enough to stick out in a point. It was an eboshi hat**, something commonly worn by noblemen like Kei himself, but the old man usually never bothered with head accessories.

Oh well. Junichiro didn't mind. At least the bottom part covered most of his forehead so he wouldn't have to see his ugly wrinkles and dark spots.

"This is something my granddaughter gifted me with, my lord," Kei explained after bowing in greeting. "I apologize for arriving so late."

Junichiro waved a dismissive hand. "I don't care about that anymore. I need help."

"Oh?" He straightened up.

"Ryomen no Sukuna. I hate him and I want him gone," he said, getting straight to the point.

"I'm afraid I've never heard of this man, my lord."

"He's nothing but a peasant," he snapped. "And he's in my damn way. He's the closest friend of Uchiumi no Shisui—the woman who I wish to marry. He's in the way and I want him gone!"

Kei calmly watched as he complained, even stomping his foot like a child. Usually he would begin to tremble at the prospect of being around one of his temper tantrums, but there wasn't an ounce of fear in his withered eyes.

Junichiro turned to him, eyes narrowed. "You know, you would be shitting your pants by now."

"I've simply gotten used to your behavior, my lord," Kei replied smoothly before redirecting the conversation. "As for this problem of yours, is there any reason why you can't just... kill him?"

The younger man stiffened, something Kei caught on to. "I don't want to bother dirtying my hands with his filthy blood," he managed to spit out.

But Kei remained unconvinced, his eyes plastered onto Junichiro as if he was a bug he was trying to analyze.

The suspicion rose in Junichiro's mind once more. Kei seemed far too calm, not at all like his previously skittish and wary self. But he didn't know what to think; he looked like Kei, he sounded like Kei, and even his cursed energy signature was the same. All signs pointed to him being the Gojo clan's advisor, but Junichiro couldn't help but feel as if something was still off.

"I see," Kei nodded in understanding. "I don't have an idea in mind quite yet, so please give me some time to think of something, my lord."

"What are you planning to do?" He asked curiously.

"First, I shall look into his background. You said his name was Ryomen no Sukuna, correct? If he was truly a peasant, he wouldn't have a family name," he pointed out wisely. "This means that he comes from a wealthy clan. I'll look into it, find out anything about the Ryomen clan and see if there's any information I could find about Sukuna. Then, I will relay the information to you."

"Alright..." Junichiro nodded slowly, an excited smile beginning to crawl over his face. "That's a great idea...!"

Perhaps he could find some dirt on him. If he truly did come from a wealthy clan, then surely there had to be some sort of explanation as to why he was now a peasant, right?

He couldn't wait to find out more about Sukuna.

And use it all against him. 

— author's note —

* In the Heian Era, having long hair was a beauty trend for women so they tried to keep it as long as possible. They took this very seriously too and even designed their kimonos so there would be a long trail of cloth at the end that would drag behind them in order for their hair to not touch the ground. However, this was only for aristocratic women. Only commoner women cut their hair. That's why it's such a big deal for Shisui to cut her hair. 

** This is an eboshi hat: