Chapter Text
Maki tapped the eraser of her pencil against her desk. Class wasn’t even halfway over and she was already bored to tears. Her eyelids grew heavy as Kusakabe droned on and on against a backdrop of rain spattering the windows. Before she even realized it, she’d dozed off.
The sharp crack of thunder jolted her awake, the room shaking as though an earthquake were happening. She slumped back down again, ready to resume her nap when she heard a soft whimper from behind her.
Turning her head, she noticed Yuta sitting a few desks back. He was staring out the window unblinking, body trembling like a chihuahua. She’d nearly forgotten that fool was deathly afraid of thunder. All the cursed spirits in the world and this guy was more afraid of a weather phenomenon. She rolled her eyes and turned forwards.
But then, there was a different sound.
A horrible snap and a crunch drew the attention of everyone in the room, cutting off Kusakabe’s droning lecture mid-sentence. Maki whirled around once again, this time Yuta was no longer staring out the window, but instead he had his head down and eyes screwed shut, forehead drenched in sweat. His right arm gripped the side of the desk hard enough that his knuckles were white and tendons protruding. His left, however, was extended and gripping the front end of the desk. And in that moment Maki realized where the snapping sound had come from, Yuta’s left arm was roughly twice the length of his right and was bent at an unnatural angle.
“Okkotsu…?” She breathed.
He didn’t answer, not with words anyways. Instead, he moaned, voice sounding frayed and slightly too deep. Another snap rang out, and to Maki’s revulsion, she could see the bones of Yuta’s right arm shifting and rearranging beneath his skin. His fingernails were much longer now and much, much sharper. They dug deep gouges into the wooden desk as he tightened his grip.
Yuta howled in pain - Maki had never heard him make such an awful sound. He toppled out of his chair and onto the floor, landing on his hands and knees, head hung low. It was like a car crash - she couldn’t look away, nor could she react at all. Instead she felt rooted to the spot as if by some spell.
“Okkotsu, what the hell are you doing?” Kusakabe barked, walking angrily towards the trembling heap that was Yuta. Anything he intended to say after that, however, went unsaid as he was stopped dead in his tracks upon seeing his student.
Yuta vomited a small amount of blood as his spine seemed to lengthen with a sickening crack. Bones broke and recombined into new forms, sinew and tendons stretched to their limits. Flesh ruptured open, revealing viscera and bright red muscle fibres beneath, only to quickly knit back together. His uniform tore open in areas where his body was no longer the correct proportions of a human, exposing wiry, black fur sprouting all over his skin. The toes of his sneakers were suddenly pierced by massive claws that scored the wooden floor as he dug his feet into the ground, trying to push himself forward.
He screamed again - it started out as his voice, but slowly the pitch dropped and the sound became more ragged. His face slowly elongated, and when he opened his jaws, Maki could see additional razor-sharp teeth forcing their way through his gums while thick globs of blood-tinged drool dripped from his mouth and splattered the floor. As his eyes frantically darted around the room they began to appear cloudy, as if diseased and riddled with cataracts.
Kusakabe frantically gestured to the rest of the students. “Run! Get away!”
“But-“ Maki began, but she was interrupted by another scream from Yuta. This time it was sharp and breathy, and most certainly not human. She really wished she had a weapon right now.
She followed Panda and Toge out the door of the classroom, casting a final glance over her shoulder. Kusakabe was standing above Yuta and was poised to strike, holding a chair out like an old-fashioned lion tamer. Yuta was considerably larger than usual now, and was clawing at his head frantically. He stopped briefly and Maki was able to see his face - what greeted her was not Yuta, but a mockery of a wolf.
Thunder shook the building once again, and the lights went out, plunging them all into darkness. The only thing that could be heard were the grunts and howls of a wild animal.
Yuji crept through the darkened hallways, straining his ears for any more unusual sounds. It was mostly quiet now, save for the occasional rumble of thunder and the thrumming of rain battering the roof. He shone his phone’s weak flashlight around nervously, half expecting something to jump out of the shadows and grab him. He was unsure what he’d do if he found Yuta, if what he found could still be called Yuta.
More and more frequently he’d found his mind wandering to Yuta, though typically for a different reason than today. When Yuta had grabbed his hand while they were out for a walk was really the first time he’d felt it. The strange feeling that bubbled up from his stomach through his chest and up into his flushed cheeks. It happened again whenever Yuta had him pinned during sparring matches. And again when he’d “fallen asleep” on Yuta’s shoulder, only to feel him sniff his hair (which was admittedly unusual, but Yuji didn’t mind).
Unfortunately, his thoughts about Yuta today centered around the fact he was probably going to kill and eat him if they crossed paths, and how Yuji could potentially stop that from happening. If only there was a way to sedate or somehow incapacitate an inugami. Sukuna said they can’t be fixed but that’d never stop Yuji from trying. He had to try. He still had things he wanted to tell him, and things he wanted to (hopefully) do with him.
He rounded a corner, and then another. Surely he should’ve run into someone by now. But then he heard a sound, distant taps from down the hall. He fumbled with his phone to turn off the flashlight so that whatever it was wouldn’t be able to see him immediately. Then again, maybe an inugami can see in the dark? Yuji certainly hoped not.
The taps sounded like when a dog walks on tile. The click, click, click of their nails. Yuji decided to duck into a classroom and wait for whatever it was to pass by. It could very well just be another student, or at least that’s what Yuji told himself. Nobody sounded like that when they walked, it had to be the inugami - no - Yuta.
Yuji waited, hand covering his mouth, as the tapping got closer and closer. His heart pounded in his ears like a jackhammer. Then abruptly, the clicks stopped. Was Yuta just standing there waiting for him? Yuji waited for a few minutes, counting the ticking from the classroom’s clock. Eventually, he peered out into the hallway again. It was dark, as he expected, but he couldn’t make out any strange shapes from the meager light that actually was coming through. The coast was clear. He exhaled in relief.
The disquieting atmosphere in the hallway bordered on palpable - Yuji was almost grateful for the sounds of rain and distant thunder breaking up the oppressive silence. He slunk out of the classroom and continued to pick his way through the hallway, inspecting every shadowy nook and cranny, wincing at every tiny squeak and squeal of the floorboards.
Try as he might, however, there was an odd sensation he couldn’t shake. Perhaps it was something about the crepuscularity of the building without electricity combined with the lack of any living soul, or perhaps it was something else entirely. Whatever the cause, Yuji could not ignore the way the growing sense of foreboding writhed and hissed in his stomach.
Something wet landed on his shoulder. He swiped it away, it was just a drop of water. The roof must be in dire need of repairs. He continued onwards, not giving it much thought. It was only when another drop landed in front of him did he consider it strange. If the roof was leaking, surely it wouldn’t be leaking in the entire hallway, right? And why only directly above him?
Knowing it was likely futile, Yuji angled his phone’s flashlight upwards to try and inspect the ceiling. What he saw was not a growing stain of water damage, but rather it was a massive, black wolf. It was crouched on a rafter beam above like some kind of snarling hunky punk plucked straight from the roof of a medieval chapel. Yuji could see its eyes, two specks of white from beneath the mop of stringy black hair upon its head, with tattered pieces of black and white cloth adorning its shoulders and hips. In an instant, he realized this was indeed Yuta. Through bared teeth, globules of drool dripped down to the floor below. His claws bore into the rafter beam as his tail swished lazily.
Yuji ran, dropping his phone in panic. He ran through hallway after hallway, classroom after classroom. He dared to glance behind him, only to wish he hadn’t. Yuta was following at a casual pace, dimly lit by the meager light of the windows. His movements along the rafters were strange, much too fluid for a regular animal. It was as if his skin was filled with gel instead of muscle and bone, giving his gait an almost slithering quality.
With a bang Yuji crashed through the set of double doors that led to the dining room. He scrambled to the side and dove beneath a table with all the graceless desperation of a bug caught under a cup. A chair went skittering across the floor as he kicked it aside, its legs scraping loudly across the floor. He felt like his heart had stopped - the sound was deafening.
Once he was underneath the table, he drew his knees to his chest and clamped his hand over his mouth. Each breath sounded cacophonous against the backdrop of silence, and his heart hammered so hard he was certain it could be heard from the other side of the room. Surely Yuta could hear it. Even from the hallway Yuta could definitely hear it.
After what felt like a lifetime of waiting, Yuji heard it. Footsteps…No, claws tapping against wood. Then the doors swung open again. Yuji couldn’t visibly see what had entered, but he knew it was Yuta. He peeked through a gap between chairs - Yuta was so much larger now that all he could see were his four legs silhouetted against the large dining hall windows as he lurched forward. He looked less like a human that had become an animal and more like an animal forced into the proportions of a human.
Yuta wandered seemingly aimlessly around the dining hall for a bit, as if he was on a leisurely stroll. Every so often he’d lower his head and sniff the ground before continuing on. It looked like he was searching for him, but Yuji knew better. Wolves had a great sense of smell, and inugami probably did too. Yuta could probably smell the sweat on his skin, he could probably hear his frantic pulse from a continent away. So why wasn’t he just attacking and getting it over with?
Yuta slowly inspected each table, getting closer to Yuji’s hiding spot one by one. Yuji watched his head dip down and he stuck his muzzle under another table - if he turned his head to the right just a little bit he would see Yuji crouching there. He held his breath, waiting for the inevitable, but instead Yuta simply withdrew his head and moved on. With a gurgling hiss, he swung his tail hard into a chair and sent it clattering across the floor.
Yuji realized he needed to move - he was a sitting duck. He had to at least try to escape. He waited until Yuta’s back was turned, then he slowly, carefully, pushed a chair aside.
It made the tiniest of scraping sounds.
The sound was so small, but to Yuji it may as well have been a cannon firing. He was going to die. Yuta’s ears angled in his direction and Yuji prepared to feel teeth and claws shred him to pieces. His head turned slightly, but then he seemed to lose interest and return to the table he’d been sniffing. Yuji was baffled, but tremendously relieved.
Carefully, Yuji squeezed out from under the table. He went at an agonizingly slow place, placing each hand and knee down as quietly as possible, though his brain screamed at him to run.
Once free, he tiptoed towards another table slightly further away. He fished the packet of salt out of his jacket pocket and gripped it tightly. The plan was to sneak from table to table until he got to the doors, but if Yuta finally did decide to attack, he’d fling the salt at him. Hopefully that would give him an opportunity to get away. He almost laughed at the absurdity of the situation. A tiny packet of salt against a giant beast. Thoughts and prayers versus a supernatural killing machine. Hopefully his death would be quick.
Thunder rumbled and lightning tore through the darkness, illuminating the dining hall with a harsh, white flash. Yuji ducked beneath another table, one that Yuta had already checked. He curled himself into a ball as if he could fold into himself and disappear.
Then the tapping of claws returned, signaling Yuta was on the move once again. Yuji watched his paws walk past the table, followed by his long tail dragging along the ground. Another inhuman noise tore from Yuta’s chest, a strange chuffing sound that pierced the silence. It was so uncanny it made Yuji’s skin crawl and the hair on the back of his neck stand up. If Yuji didn’t know any better he would’ve thought it almost had the cadence of laughter - laughter like something trying and failing to imitate a human laugh.
But then again, this was not a mindless animal, this was Yuta.
Yuji’s blood ran cold as he realized the reason he hadn’t attacked him yet - he was toying with him, the same way a cat plays with a mouse before eating it. He gripped the salt packet so tightly his hand began to hurt and he slowly backed away. He’d have to make a run for it.
Suddenly, Yuji accidentally brushed against a chair, its metal legs scraping loudly against the floor. Yuta’s head snapped in Yuji’s direction and for a moment they locked eyes, deep gold on milky white. In one smooth and robotic movement, Yuta’s jaw opened and his tongue unfurled. Though wolves lacked the facial muscles to emote the same way humans do, Yuji could’ve sworn it looked like some kind of abhorrent, gaping grin that split his head in two.
And that was how he began to crawl towards Yuji, jaw hanging open much too wide, slithering forward on all fours with his abnormally long limbs at awkward angles. Lightning flickered again, creating a strobe-like effect in the dining hall. The rapid flickering of light made Yuta’s movements look choppy and unnatural, like an old stop-motion animated film.
Yuji scrambled backwards, pushing chairs aside until he felt his back hit a wall. “Senpai, please!” He begged, knowing it was probably futile. “Okkotsu-senpai!”
Yuta didn’t listen, he continued to crawl closer like a marionette puppeted by a child. His eyes seemed to glow in the dark, two white pinpricks in a mass of inky darkness.
“Senpai…Yuta!”
Yuta faltered, a flicker of something crossing those glassy eyes, but it was enough time for Yuji to fling the purifying salt into his face. He shrieked in pain and reared back onto his hind legs, frantically clawing at his face with his front paws.
The doors to the dining hall swung open once again. Though it was still too dark to make out many details, Yuji immediately recognized the cursed energy signatures of both Gojo and Nanami. He heard Gojo mutter something and make a strange movement, then there was a flash of light and Yuta’s howling abruptly stopped.
Yuji slumped down against the wall, limbs suddenly feeling like jelly. “Sensei…” he whispered breathlessly. He stared at Yuta, who was now in a heap on the floor barely an arm’s length away.
The lights overhead flickered to life once again, bathing the room a fluorescent white and causing Yuji to squint.
“What timing!” Gojo exclaimed with a smile.
Nanami shot him a disapproving glare before turning to Yuji. “Itadori-kun, are you alright?”
“I’m f-fine.” Yuji mumbled. His eyes fell upon Yuta’s crumpled form. He was slowly changing - fur vanishing, limbs returning to their normal length. “Is he…?”
“He’s only unconscious. Nanamin here had read about a talisman that can stun inugami!” Gojo wrapped an arm around Nanami’s shoulder and gave him a little shake. “All that time in the library finally being put to good use, huh?”
Nanami shrugged his arm off. “We followed the screeching sounds.”
Yuji shakily climbed to his feet. Yuta was nearly completely human again, and his clothes were torn to shreds. Yuji removed his uniform jacket and draped it over him in an attempt to preserve some of his dignity. He couldn’t take his eyes off Yuta, mere moments ago he had been a hair’s breadth away from tearing Yuji apart limb from limb, but now he looked so…vulnerable. Yuji’s chest ached.
Gojo gave an affirmative nod. “Alright, let’s get him back to his room.”
Gojo slung Yuta over his shoulder and hauled him back to his dorm room while Nanami went to find Kusakabe. Yuji followed behind Gojo closely, eyes darting back and forth as if something might pop out of each door they passed. The threat was gone, but he still felt high strung from the adrenaline, which had only just begun to wear off.
“Itadori-kun,” Gojo said, shifting Yuta slightly on his shoulder. “Nobody outside of the school can find out about this. Not even the Kyoto students.”
“How come?” Yuji had a feeling he knew why, but he asked anyway.
Gojo smiled with dissonant serenity. “The higher-ups will have Yuta killed, and probably me too. And probably Nanamin since he helped me.”
A simple “Oh.” was all Yuji could muster.
They arrived at Yuta’s room and stepped inside the confined space. Yuji helped Gojo roll Yuta up in a blanket and plop him down on his bed. If he had more energy, he might’ve laughed at how Yuta looked like a giant burrito.
“Ah, almost forgot!” Gojo extracted an omamori from his pocket and handed it to Yuji. “This is a yaku-yoke omamori. Nanamin said it should help prevent him from transforming again so long as it’s nearby.”
He gave Yuji a pat on the back then headed for the door. “I’m gonna go check on the others, Kusakabe got scratched pretty badly.”
A pang of anxiety and guilt shot through Yuji. He’d forgotten Yuta was on the loose around people who didn’t know he was an inugami. “Is Kusakabe-sensei gonna be okay?”
“He’s fine, nothing Shoko can’t fix! You know, he said he was getting attacked, but then suddenly Yuta acted like something else caught his attention and he ran off.” Gojo rubbed his chin in thought. “I wonder if maybe that had something to do with you being nearby.”
Yuji turned his head back to the sleeping lump that was Yuta. Warmth spread through his chest and limbs despite the insanity that had just transpired that morning. “…Maybe.”
“Either way, just keep an eye on Yuta until he wakes up, okay?”
Yuji nodded and settled onto the floor beside Yuta’s bed. They’d certainly have a lot to talk about when he woke up.