Three Years – Chapter One

Author’s Note: This collection of short fics transpires in the First Cut au, right after Gojo and Utahime get engaged and right before the Blood Maiden Arc. I was supposed to upload this as an interlude chapter in FC but decided that it would disrupt the flow of the story. The alternative was to post this as a standalone Gojohime fic, but it would be too out-of-context for non-FC readers. The compromise happened to be a good one, since Erika was more than happy to provide illustrations for this. We’re giving FC that Strange Company treatment. If we can provide an illustrated version of the Blood Maiden Arc, we will. Enjoy, and I hope this is a welcome reprieve from all the deaths in FC’s recent chapters.

Disclaimer: Characters are not mine.

Utahime barely slept. Between brief moments of slumber that felt like riptides tossing her deeper into the sea were long stretches of wakefulness. She’d lift her left hand in the dark, and the lights filtering in through the balcony blinds would catch on the diamond. It had taken staring at it for a while for her to notice the sapphire that sat enclosed at the center.

After Gojo had slipped the ring on her finger that evening, her left hand never felt the same again. At first, she worried that the numbing that spanned the length of her arm was a sign of a heart attack.

Had she overdone herself? Retrieving the tamed curses took its toll on her body, but she did not think it was so bad that her heart would give in, and on the night Gojo proposed to her too.

As they ripped each other’s clothes on their way to their bedroom, refusing to release each other from their kiss even when they bumped into every piece of furniture along the way, she wondered if she should go to the emergency room. Maybe this was serious. Her chest did hurt, but not in the way it did during a sprint or after suffering a blow from a curse.

Her heart hurt like it might burst, like the happiness of the moment had gathered too much momentum, and now it had morphed into crippling anxiety.

They had made slow, deliberate love that night, with Gojo on top of her, moving his hips slowly so she felt every thrust. His lips ghosted along her forehead, her cheek. When he turned her over, the band of her engagement ring winked at her in promise. This was how it would be for the rest of their lives. Petty arguments and boisterous laughter in the morning, and sweet, sweet love at night.

Hours later, while the sun had yet to rise and the world was only beginning to stir from its sleep, Utahime lay on the bed awake.

Love, yes. But also anxiety.

Gojo slept like a rock next to her; his hand clasped stubbornly on her right breast as though it were some catalyst to his rest.

She couldn’t get over the image of him crying when she said yes, of him having to tip his head back to hide the fact. More than his speech, it was his tears that moved her the most.

Slipping back under the covers, she turned on her side and rested her head on his chest. The dusting of white hair across his torso comforted her.

It also made her sneeze.

Gojo groaned and instinctively moved away from her. Through lidded eyes, he glanced down at his chest. “Is that snot or cum?”

“How the hell could that be cum?”

“Dunno. Were you groping me in your sleep? Don’t think I missed you touching me all over when you thought I was passed out.”

She straddled him and pressed a pillow over his face as hard as she could. “You’re the one who keeps doing that, you pervert!”

“Mama!”

“Lady Sayuri’s not here to save you!”

Gojo managed to tip his head back far enough to expose his mouth. “Help! My fiancé is killing me!”

The word caught her off guard. She pulled back her hands and held her breath.

Gojo removed the pillow with a huff. “What?” Smirking, he rubbed his palms across his torso in circles. “Still not over this naked glory? This is all yours from now to eternity.”

Utahime let herself fall to his side. This was the one good thing about Gojo’s perverseness. It cut her anxious thoughts short and ushered her back to stabler ground.

Gojo peppered her face with kisses. “Seriously, babe, is this too much? Should I put a shirt on?”

She pinched his nose until he screamed. “Stop talking about your body like it’ll make me see constellations and new galaxies!”

“Sure sounded like I sent you to heaven last night.”

Utahime lunged at him. Gojo jumped out of bed and dashed out of their room. They chased each other across the living room, displacing furniture and breaking a few trinkets in the process. Rugs lay in crumpled heaps against the ottoman. Books fell off the shelf. Throw pillows flew across the room, whizzing in the air with unnatural force.

Gojo dodged each one while making commentaries on her assault as though she were a pitcher in a critical baseball game.

She leapt from the armchair to the couch to tackle him. While she was still in the air, Gojo ripped the floor-length drapes from the rod and used it to catch her. She fell into the makeshift trap, stunned more because he had the gall to destroy her curtains than the fact that he was knotting the ends together like Furoshiki wrap.

With a maniacal laugh, he dragged her back to the bedroom. “I just caught a sexy, rabid dog!”

She clawed at the fabric and screamed his name. “You said you liked those curtains!”

“I hate them! I love you, but I’ve been looking for an excuse to remove those curtains for a long time.”

“Gojo, you asshole! I’m going to bite you when I get out of here!”

“I orgasmed the last time you bit me.”

“Stop making everything sexual, will you?” She kicked him from inside her cocoon, and he stopped.

A thud echoed in the room, followed by muffled whimpering. After squiggling some more, the knot on top came undone, and she burst out with the intention of punching him for real.

Except Gojo was already recoiled on the floor, folded over himself with his hands on his privates. Saliva dripped from the corners of his mouth to the brand-new rug she bought, and he let out prolonged groans reminiscent of a dying man.

Utahime moved the rug with her foot so his saliva pooled on the floor instead and considered herself avenged. She slipped on her robe, patted his head, and strutted to the kitchen to get the coffee started.

Gojo followed her shortly after, limping. He made a show of being in pain as he lowered himself to a chair. “I think I’m impotent now.”

“I highly doubt it,” Utahime said, tossing him a glare over her shoulder. She returned her attention to the sputtering coffee maker before he could catch her smiling. She would never tell him, but she had grown fond of his dramatics. “I can castrate you right now, and your horniness will grow back your balls before your RCT could.”

“Speaking of RCT, when will you visit Shoko? You promised to let her check you.”

“I’ll go next weekend.”

“Your schedule’s free tomorrow. Gakuganji won’t mind.”

Utahime poured two cups of coffee and placed one in front of him. Reflexively, she grabbed the sugar canister on the counter and passed it on to him. “It’s not that. We still haven’t discussed how we’ll break the news to everyone.”

Gojo froze halfway to dropping a sugar cube in his coffee. “Are you…?”

“Am I what?”

He made a round motion over his stomach.

She kicked him under the table, jolting him out of his sudden somberness. “I meant the engagement! What makes you think I’m pregnant?”

“Oh.” He shrugged and dropped more sugar cubes in his coffee. “I don’t expect our engagement to be news to anyone. Just flash your ring to their faces. Everybody knows we’re headed here anyway.”

“So that’s why you thought I was referring to pregnancy?”

“That would be news.” He lifted his cup to his lips and beamed at her.

Utahime regarded him for a couple of seconds. She didn’t expect him to bring babies into the conversation so soon. It struck her how the mention of it seemed to excite him.

“So, how do we tell them?” she asked. As much as she’d like to dissect his brain about the matter of babies, she didn’t think she could handle it right now. Just the weight of the ring supplied her with a steady stream of anxious thoughts. Babies could wait.

“Let them notice the ring. When they do, just act surprised. Or-” Raising his forefinger in the air as though a revolutionary idea had just hit him. “Let’s elope. Then you can flash them your engagement ring and your wedding ring.”

She reached across the table to pinch his earlobe. “Satoru Gojo, listen to me. We are going to do this like two mature adults. Is that clear?”

“But I want something to flash too.” He brandished his ringless hand to her, pouting.

“We can’t elope just because you want to flash them a wedding ring.”

“I’ve always wondered why men don’t get engagement rings.”

Utahime stirred her coffee slowly as she considered his sentiment. His frustration seemed genuine enough. “So, do you want one?”

He raised his eyebrows, startled. “You’re gonna get me one?”

“I mean, it’s not like there’s anything stopping us from getting matching rings.”

“Ah, you make me blush when you behave like my sugar mama.” He winked at her as he reached for more sugar cubes.

She swatted his hand away from the canister. His coffee was drowning in sugar as it was. “I was only asking because you sounded serious about it.”

“I’ll wait for a wedding ring, thanks. It gives me something to look forward to.” He snuck a sugar cube into her coffee. She was too slow to spare her drink. “Are you sure you don’t want to elope?”

“Am I sure that I don’t want to cause our families emotional turmoil? Yes.”

“Satoshi and Lady Sayuri will be ecstatic. It’s your family we have to worry about,” he said, then paused to consider this. “But like I said earlier, Master Iori is already expecting this. Kazuo too. They know we can’t be stopped. It’s just a matter of letting them know things are in motion.”

Utahime felt the blood rush to her cheeks. Things were in motion. Once they were married, she’d be the lady of the Gojo estate. She’d be the most influential woman in the Jujutsu scene.

Gojo took her left hand in his. “D’you notice the sapphire?”

Utahime gazed down at the ring as though seeing it for the first time. “Yeah. Is this an heirloom or…?”

“I thought of asking for Lady Sayuri’s engagement ring, but I know it means a lot to her. It’s the only thing she has left of her mother.”

“Oh.”

“Besides, new ring, new start.”

“I’m not complaining. I was just wondering about the design. Did you have this made?”

Gojo transferred his chair next to hers and held her hand between them. “The idea’s simple, really. You’re the sapphire, and I’m the diamond.”

She stared up at him, confused. “Huh?”

“Sapphires pertain to wisdom and good decisions. Blue sapphires, specifically, mean loyalty. Those are your best qualities, so I thought I’d encase it with diamond.” He swallowed hard and smiled at her. “It can also mean you’re the best decision I’ve ever made. Kinda cool, right?”

Utahime cleared her throat. She looked away. She had already cried once over this engagement. It would be too much to cry again. “To be honest, I thought the blue sapphire in the middle represented your Six Eyes, and that you’ll always be watching me.”

“That sounds like it came from a guilty conscience. Have you been thinking of other men?”

“What other men? You’ve scared all of them away.”

“Good.” He carried her over to his lap and held her tightly against him. “I’m a selfish man. I don’t share.”

Utahime laced her arms around his neck. The warmth of his breath on her collarbone made her shiver with pleasure. It was always the subtle things, the quiet, unintentional contact from him that made her melt. “Well, I’m a selfish woman too, understand? I better not catch you with another woman, or I’ll get her.”

He pulled his head back to peer at her. “I get away unscathed?”

She smiled sweetly at him. “Of course not, you idiot. I’ll use your corpse to beat her to death.”

Gojo shuddered. He returned her smile, but with bashful restraint. “I think I just got a glimpse of our marriage vows.”

She held his face, angling it towards hers so that she had a clear view of his eyes. They were the same shade as the sapphire. “For now, let’s skip to the part where you kiss the bride.”

Gojo adjusted her on his lap and placed his hands on either side of her face. “Yes, ma’am.”