Chapter Text
Satoru Gojo was no stranger to heartache. To guilt, to regret, to questions of “how did this happen? Why didn’t I stop this?” Such feelings were intrinsic to a jujutsu sorcerer, almost like you signed a binding contract with the universe when you first gained cursed energy.
You want power? Fine, but it will cost you.
As the strongest, Satoru supposed that made him destined for more hurt than most. But, nothing prepared him for the wave of rage that came with the news of Yuji Itadori’s death… nor the subsequent rush of relief when Yuji miraculously sat up behind Shoko and gave Ijichi a heart attack. Being Sukuna’s vessel came with many drawbacks, but at least it’d given his student this one perk.
“Yuji!” He called, walking over to the newly resurrected boy, “Welcome back.”
Yuji beamed, as if he hadn’t had his heart gouged out a minute prior. “I’m back!”
They high-fived, Satoru letting himself have this moment of happiness, before his mind started running through scenarios.
“Shoko, a word?”
His old friend turned from where she was handing Yuji a shirt, and nodded, following him outside.
“I’ll have to change my report,” Shoko was saying, looking mildly put-out that she didn’t get to dissect Sukuna’s vessel today.
“Leave it. At least for now.”
He’d have to hide Yuji, get him stronger lest the higher-ups made another attempt on his life. The boy barely knew what cursed energy was, let alone how to use it. He could tell that he had no innate technique of his own, but as he consumed more of Sukuna’s fingers, he’d soon be able to use Sukuna’s own technique.
He hated that he’d have to hide it from Megumi, especially after seeing how broken up he was after Yuji’s death.
“I don’t want to let him die!”
A smile pulled at Satoru’s lips. He supposed he’d just have to fulfill his student’s request for a little while longer, whether he knows it or not.
As he walked back into the morgue, he could hear Yuji saying that he couldn’t wait to see his classmates.
“No can do, Yuji. We’re gonna go somewhere for private lessons for the foreseeable future.”
He looked confused for a moment, before shrugging and smiling. “Okay, sensei! Where are we going?”
“To my house. Come along, my wife and I will be training you.”
“Sounds good!” Yuji stopped in the doorway. “Wait, sensei… you’re married?”
…
On the day of her graduation, the last thing Haruka thought would happen was a proposal. The cynical side of her that had come to expect disasters had been fully convinced of a curse outbreak or a curse user attack. Miraculously, neither happened and Haruka was just about to believe her notorious bad luck had turned around when Satoru Gojo walked up to her.
“Take a walk with me?” He had asked, and looking back on it, she didn’t think any other five words had ever changed her life so drastically. Not even when she was told that she wasn’t crazy, and what she saw was real when she was 6.
Her relationship with Gojo-sensei had always been amiable, but they weren’t what she’d call close.
If someone were to ask her opinion of him while she was his student, she would’ve said “He’s called the strongest for a reason.”
If they were to ask her the same thing, now as his wife, she would say, “The glamor of a person wears off when they leave their dirty clothes on the floor.”
They’d walked out of the courtyard, which was full of party-goers and well-wishers for the graduates. It was quite a large party for only four people, but she supposed it was to celebrate that they’d made it this long without dying. Akane was networking, getting her name in the minds of higher-ranked sorcerers in the chance that she’d be requested for missions. Ryuji was with the Zen’in members that showed up. Shiori was most likely finding somewhere a lot less crowded. And she was taking a walk with her now-ex sensei.
They’d stopped on the bridge, the moonlight making his hair nearly luminescent.
“What are your plans, now that you’ve graduated?”
She’d been asked that question many times that night, in many different ways.
What will you do?
Where will you go?
Why did you become a jujutsu sorcerer?
She hadn’t had any real answers for the first two; she wasn’t from a clan, so she didn’t have anyone behind her at the end of the day. She could only strike out on her own, and hope for the best. But Gojo knew that, so why was he asking her?
“I might see if Mei-san is hiring.”
Gojo had laughed in his definitely genuine, if not mildly condescending way. “Mei Mei doesn’t share profit, and you know that. Be serious, what are you going to do?”
He’d leaned back against the railing, looking at her in that uncanny way through his blindfold. She knew he couldn't actually see her, but she could feel his eyes on her just the same. She’d shrugged, turning her own gaze to the water beneath them.
She was graduating as a Grade 2, even though they both knew she was easily a Grade 1, with the potential to become a Special-Grade 1. But, teachers couldn’t recommend promotions, and she had no one in her corner.
“I guess I should be out there networking with Akane-chan, huh? That’s the only way I’m going to get anywhere in this world, isn’t it, Gojo-sensei?”
“I’m not your sensei anymore, Haruka,” His smile was easy, the visage of someone with the best lots in life, “And perhaps not the only way…”
She’d raised a pink eyebrow at him, “Oh? And what would you suggest I do?”
“Marry me.”
Haruka had choked on air, launching into a coughing fit. She’d reeled away when she felt Gojo reach out to pat her back. “Excuse me?!”
“Don’t be so dramatic,” He’d huffed, like he hadn’t thought his proposal would be met with anything other than an enthusiastic YES!
“It’s not dramatic to question a man who proposes out of nowhere!” She’d blushed pinker than her hair, “Where is this coming from?!”
Just as she’d been able to tell when his eyes were on her, she could tell when he was actively looking anywhere but her. She’d sworn she could see a blush on his own cheeks.
“Even though I hate how this world works… It would give you the support of the Gojo clan; give you political power that you wouldn’t get on your own.”
It was true, she had no political power alone as she was. However, she didn’t know why he was concerned with that. Yes, he’d been a good sensei to her the past four years, but she hadn’t thought their relationship would ever go past these walls. She’d thought in a few years he’d be a little anecdote in her life.
I was taught by Satoru Gojo. Yes, the Satoru Gojo.
She sure as hell hadn’t thought he’d propose to her. She really wasn’t sure when she’d given him the impression that she was power-hungry enough for a political marriage either. Even if she did, she had to ask…
“What do you get out of this?” She’d narrowed her eyes at him, trying to read his impossible face.
To anyone that briefly interacted with him, Satoru Gojo would seem like a pretty expressive, open person. And he was certainly quick to smile, a person didn’t have to constantly frown to be closed off. He always had an air of playful indifference, like nothing bothered him because nothing could touch him. He was the best, and he knew it.
A boot doesn’t care about the ants it crushes.
“I get the family elders to stop nagging me about a wife,” He shrugged and mimicked the voice of an old woman, “‘You’re 27 years old, Satoru-kun, you need to settle down.’”
“And what made you think of me?” She’d known plenty of unmarried female jujutsu sorcerers, including his former classmate Shoko Ieiri. “Did everyone else reject you?”
“You wound me, Haruka-chan,” He’d held a hand to his chest, faking a pain that his Limitless would never let him feel. “You’re the first person I’ve asked.”
“Why?”
Gojo had let out a sigh, and he reached up to his blindfold, pulling it down to pool around his neck.
Haruka had only seen his eyes a handful of times in her time as a student, and every time it had taken her breath away for a moment. Crystalline blue, framed by long white lashes. They were mesmerizing, and not for the first time, she’d wondered what the world looked like to him.
“You’re strong, Haruka Kanzaki, but I can give you power. If you stand by my side, we could turn this world upside down.”
And damn it, she wanted to so badly. She wanted to make it better for the next group of girls without a sorcerer family, or like Maki Zen’in who emancipated herself from her clan and was starting school next month. She wanted the power to make sure no other girl would have to go through a political marriage for power to a man much worse than Satoru Gojo. And there he was offering it to her, not quite on bended knee.
So she took him up on it, and a year later, here she was. Haruka Gojo, Special-Grade 1 sorcerer. After her marriage, her promotion was a quick thing, and she always had job requests. Being the wife of the strongest sorcerer meant that people were always trying to get into her good graces, in the hopes that it would get them into his.
Satoru always laughs when she gets accosted at parties, with different higher-ups trying to get her to convince him to back whatever move they’re trying to make. None of them know that she has no real influence on his decisions. Satoru will do whatever he wants, regardless of what anyone suggests.
Case in point: their marriage.
Satoru said it looked like the clan elders were “going to piss themselves” when he told them who his bride was. An “unconnected, unrecognized little girl” who was “more likely to hurt the clan than help it.” He told them that was exactly his plan.
“I’m home!”
Haruka’s head snapped up at her husband’s voice. She scrambled up, and nearly collided with him when he rounded the corner. She grabbed his face with her hands and kissed him hard.
Their marriage stopped being political after Christmas. After Geto.
“Satoru, I’m so sorry about Itadori. Is Megumi all right? Are you all right?”
One of his large hands had settled on her back, nearly spanning its width. His other hand was holding a bag at his side.
“Megumi is okay, and I’m fine.” His grin turned sly, “I should probably tell you that we have a guest before you kiss me like that again.”
Haruka went pinker than her hair. “You might’ve led with that.”
“You didn’t really give me a chance.”
Haruka pulled away and poked her head around her husband’s side.
“Forgive me. Welcome to ourrr… Satoru, what am I looking at?”
“Ah, the perks of being a vessel to the King of Curses.” He turned around, slinging an arm over her shoulder. “Yuji, this is my wife, Haruka. Darling, this is Yuji Itadori, we’ll be housing and training him for the next few weeks.”
Satoru pulled a snoring cursed doll out from his bag.
“So, who’s up for some movies?”