Things felt off at campus. There was a shift after that day. While I'd been away with Sukuna, Gojo and Geto had been assigned to protect the Star Plasma Vessel, Riko Amanai and bring her to Tengen to assimilate. When I returned, an intruder by the name of Toji Fushiguro who couldn't wield cursed energy snuck onto campus and stabbed Gojo the moment he'd dropped his infinity technique. After defeating Gojo he'd gone after Geto and killed the Star Plasma Vessel before I'd arrived. After the whole ordeal, Gojo and Geto seemed different. Gojo was almost manic to continue growing his technique and Geto was becoming a little withdrawn and jaded.

It felt like a turning point and I wasn't sure if it was a good one or not. I remembered the vision of Geto burning the village and grimaced. Was this what started it all? He hadn't told anyone else about Sukuna. I didn't know if that was a good or a bad thing. I didn't know if I wanted people to know about Sukuna or not.

"Ryoko?" Geto waved a hand in front of my face.

I jumped and looked around. I was standing in the practice field. I wasn't sure why I was standing in the practice field. I blinked a few times and turned to Geto. He looked tired and worn down and there was concern lingering in his gaze. I glanced down at myself. I was in my pajamas and it was chilly out this morning. "Good morning, Suguru."

"Good morning, why are you out here?" He asked softly.

"I don't know." I answered honestly. I'd dropped my mental barrier for a moment and got sucked into a horrific vision where the person whose consciousness I'd been pulled into was devoured by a curse. When I snapped out of it, I was here.

He glanced downward and frowned.

I followed his gaze. My feet were bare and currently scraped and bleeding. I must have walked here in a daze while my mind was trapped in the vision. It was dangerous letting my mental barrier slip. I had to be more careful.

"Let's get you to Shoko." He gently lifted me into his arms but made no move to leave. "I wanted to ask you about that day."

"You haven't told anyone about Sukuna." I said softly.

"I haven't."

"Why?"

"You've been a lot happier since you started disappearing." Geto smiled somberly. "And maybe my way of thinking wasn't correct, maybe I need to reconsider some things." His tone worried me. " I think you were already aware of that though." His somber smile shifted and nearly broke my heart, "you asked me once if I hated non-sorcerers."

I felt tears well in my eyes, this was it, this was the turning point, I could see it happening before me and was powerless to stop it. "Suguru...please...don't..."

"You asked what would make me want to kill them." He said distantly. "Satoru asked me if we should kill those at the Star Religious group when we went back for Riko Amanai's body. I can't stop thinking about that moment, about those fools applauding as Satoru carried her corpse out of the hall, smiling and laughing, completely enraptured in their lunacy."

I reached up and placed a cold trembling hand to his cheek, "don't...I can't bear to see you and Satoru fight...you're best friends...please...Suguru." A single tear slipped from my hold.

His eyes widened at this as he worked out what I was saying, what I'd possibly seen before smiling another heartbreaking smile, "forget I said anything."

"I can't."

"It's cold. Let's get you to Shoko." He carried me in the direction of Shoko's lab. "You've become more capable, I bet even Satoru would accept you now. I saw you in the Tombs of the Star, how'd you start the fire?"

"Pyrokinesis." I said softly.

"Perk of being a medium?" Geto asked.

I nodded. "Sukuna taught me."

"Just try not to make any pacts with him." Geto stopped outside of Shoko's lab.

I blanched.

"Ryoko?" He frowned.

"What?" I averted my gaze.

"Have you made any pacts with him?"

"..."

"Ryoko?" I could feel him staring at me intently.

"Maybe." I huffed.

"What?!" Geto almost dropped me in his panic.

I let out a yelp and threw my arms around him to keep from hitting the floor. Before he could interrogate me further, the door to the lab opened and Shoko stepped out a cigarette poised between her lips as she'd been ready to step out for a smoke break. She paused as she spotted us.

"What are you two doing?" She pondered.

"Ryoko is once again a danger to herself." Geto sighed in exasperation before carrying me past Shoko and setting me down atop one of the exam tables. He quickly took his leave.

Shoko watched him go with a frown before turning to me with a gentle smile, "you okay?"

"Yeah. I was sleepwalking." I lied and stretched out my bloody feet.

"I'll patch you up in just a sec." She gently pat me on the head, "I thought you were sleeping at the other place, how did this happen?" She pondered as she got to work cleaning the wounds before using her reverse curse technique.

"I dropped my mental barrier for a second." I bowed my head, she'd caught my lie.

"You don't have to lie to me, you know. I'm on your side, Ryoko." Shoko smiled.

"Sorry."

"It's okay. Are you and Suguru fighting?" She pondered.

"No...he's just worried about me." I sighed.

"Should he be?" She asked.

I considered it. I'd bound my soul to Sukuna for all eternity but it didn't feel wrong or dangerous. I'd had my reservations at first when I'd made the pact but I truly felt Sukuna didn't have any bad intentions at least regarding me and our pact. "I don't think so." I looked at my cousin with a smile, "I can take care of myself better now."

Shoko gently pat me on the head, "I know you can." She patched me up quickly, "you should get changed, I believe you and Satoru are going on a mission together."

I blanched at this. "You and Suguru aren't joining us?"

She shook her head, "sorry, I don't get to leave here much anymore."

No! This was the absolute worst!

I made it back to the dorms to find Gojo waiting in the common area. He frowned upon seeing me in my pajamas entering the dorm building. Luckily he said nothing and just continued to wait while I ran to my room to change before returning to the common area in a long black skirt and a white button up top with our school's buttons on the cuffs.

"Ready?" Gojo asked with a sigh.

I nodded and followed after him in silence.

We made it to an awaiting car and the assistant manager accompanying us explained our mission. There was a high level cursed object being protected by a high level curse. They needed someone of a high enough level to exorcise the curse and someone like me who could take care of the cursed object. I wished I'd been paired up with Geto instead.

The story of the manor we were heading to was a dark one. A foreign doctor resided there with his family. He ran a 'free clinic' out of one of the guest houses on the property for people from the city and the surrounding rural areas to attend. A lot of people seemed to go missing after these clinics but for a very long time no one suspected the charismatic doctor until his wife also went missing. The authorities investigated and found out the doctor was conducting surgical experiments on the property and had drugged and kidnapped hundreds of people over the years at the clinics to experiment on them until they died. His wife found out what he was doing and tried to stop him. He killed her too.

Now the house was condemned but people went there as a test of courage only to go missing. Sometimes they'd turn up somewhere dead with their organs surgically removed, more often than not they were never seen again. They believed the cursed object was an old suturing needle. The cursed spirit that protected the cursed item was large as a house, it could grow tentacles of any shape or size and direct them as needed to capture its victims.

Sukuna was being oddly quiet, though I could still sense his presence. I thought he'd try to stop me from telling Geto about our pact.

We arrived just outside of the city, at a sprawling manor that looked as if it had been abandoned for ages. Gojo waited for me to catch up as we headed toward the sprawling manor while our driver put up a veil.

"The surgeries were performed in the basement of the main house but the clinic where they were all abducted was a guest house, which should we check first?" I asked Gojo nervously.

"You take the guest house, I'll take the main house." He moved for the door.

"Shouldn't we stick together?" I asked nervously. "What if they're separated and you run into the cursed object and I run into the cursed spirit?" That would be the worst case scenario. Even with Gojo's infinity, if he touched a curse object or got within its activation range that didn't mean he'd be safe.

"If we're together I have to worry about you falling into traps and slowing me down. It'll be quicker if we separate. I'll handle the cursed spirit and come save you afterwards." He shrugged. His tone was so nonchalant it wounded me.

I bowed my head and turned to head towards the guest house. I paused. I wasn't weak anymore. I was a powerful medium. I could do things most jujutsu sorcerers couldn't even dream of. I could move shit with my mind, set shit on fire, hear thoughts, see the future, teleport, and probably so much more. Mediums never got to explore their full potential due to their shorter lifespans, but I'd already beat that too. I could explore my full potential with Sukuna's help.

"No." I said quietly and turned back to face Gojo.

He looked slightly taken aback. "No?"

"No. We're assigned to this mission together and we'll work together, neither one of us is in charge regardless of your rank being higher than mine." I spoke a little louder, gaining confidence as I stood up to Gojo.

Gojo arched a pale brow in response to my out of character defiance to his orders. "Fine. Don't expect me to save you when you immediately fall in a trap, I'm taking care of the special grade first." He kicked open the front doors and motioned me inside.

I stepped forward in a huff, "I'm not going to immediately fall in a tra-AH!" My feet didn't hit solid ground when I stepped inside, I stepped onto something squishy and a horrid black tentacle encircled me. It wrenched me through the floor before releasing me to fall. I plummeted with a shriek falling for what felt like several stories before I slammed into something solid.

All the air whooshed from my lungs. I lay gasping and wheezing for air in darkness. I rolled over onto all fours and coughed up a small amount of blood. The fall must have done some internal damage.

"I'm never living that down." I groaned. "That asshole is going to hold it over my head for the rest of our lives."

Shakily I got to my feet. It was pitch black but I could somehow see faint outlines of the walls. It looked like I was in a tunnel. I don't remember there being a tunnel in the blueprints we'd seen in the car. I closed my eyes and concentrated as I held my hand out in front of me. Fire sparked in the palm of my hand creating a warm glow so I could see my surroundings better.

A shiver rolled down my spine. The ceiling of the tunnel looked like a network of spines, human and animal. More bones lined the walls at random. This definitely wasn't in the blueprints. I turned to look behind me and saw a solid wall. I had one direction I could go. I started walking, every time I'd look back at the wall it was right behind me, herding me in a single direction.

"Sukuna?" I asked shakily as I headed further down the tunnel.

What is it, little medium?

"Just checking." I breathed a sigh of relief. He'd been quiet all day, I could feel his presence but it had been a little unsettling not hearing any of his commentary. "You'll save me if something scary jumps out, right?"

You're capable of handling it.

"What if I'm not?!" I squealed in terror as the ground began to tremble beneath my feet.

Then I'll save you.

"O-okay." I relaxed a little.

Something black and snakelike slithered towards me, hovering just at the edge of the glow of light from my flames. I screamed and leapt backwards, slamming into the wall that was somehow always behind me. The snakelike thing kept its distance, waiting for the light to fade before it struck.

A vision of Gojo lying bloody and unconscious on the floor of the abandoned manor flashed across my mind's eye. What happened?!

"Shit." I ran down the tunnel, the snakelike thing kept its distance and matched my pace as I ran.

The tunnel opened up just ahead, an exit! I burst out of the tunnel with a cheer only to scream in terror as I realized it opened into a massive circular chamber and the entire floor was a large mouth with rows upon rows of circular jagged teeth. There were hundreds more black snakelike things staying outside the ring of light and I realized with horror they weren't snakes, they were tentacles waiting to drag me into the massive mouth.

You got this.

Sukuna said with confidence.

"I DON'T GOT THIS!" I screamed as hundreds of tentacles dove at me.

Two tentacles wrapped around my ankles and I shrieked as I was wrenched toward the massive mouth filled with rows upon rows of razor sharp teeth. I lost my grip on the flames in my hand and everything went black. All I could hear were the writhing tentacles, the whirring teeth and a low rumbling growl from the massive cursed spirit.

FOCUS!

Sukuna's voice snarled in my mind.

That was absolutely one thing I could not do right now. My mental barrier slipped and I was overwhelmed with a cacophony of voices and visions one after the other, a constant stream of emotions, sensations, voices and experiences. I managed to focus on all the painful ones and cast my hand out toward the curse flooding its mind with the endless cacophony.

The curse let out a horrendous wail and the tentacles keeping me suspended loosened their grip as the curse was overcome. I fell with a shriek plummeting towards the toothy maw.

Strong arms encircled me as I got my mental barrier back in place. Fire flared in the air around us, illuminating Sukuna as he appeared in his less scary form to rescue me. He held me gently in his arms and glowered down at the still reeling cursed spirit.

"I was going to let you handle it but I don't like when others touch what's mine." Sukuna growled and the cursed spirit let out an agonizing bellow as it was suddenly sliced to ribbons.

My breath hitched in my throat as I stared into Sukuna's intense crimson eyes. He didn't even look at it to kill it, he'd held my gaze the whole time. My heart was racing. I couldn't seem to catch my breath.

The domain I'd been pulled into shifted and faded away. I glanced around, the room was dark but there was some moonlight filtering in through the windows. This was the basement from the blueprints, which meant the room I'd seen Gojo in was at the top of the stairs. Moonlight? We left in the morning. How long had we been here?

I was still in Sukuna's arms, he didn't disappear with the domain like the last time. The pain I'd felt from my landing faded away to nothing. Did he heal me? Another vision of Gojo's unconscious and bloody body flitted across my mind, a spectral humanoid woman hovered over him, a wicked looking blade in hand. I had to hurry!

Sensing I was about to make a run for it, Sukuna's grip on me tightened. "A word of warning, little medium."

I paused and looked up at him warily.

"Remember what that cursed razor did to you?" He asked.

I nodded.

"This will be worse."

A shiver rolled down my spine. "Will I die?"

"If I don't save you in time, yes." Sukuna gently set me on my feet. "Be quick."

"You too." I smiled and turned to run for the stairs leading up to the main floor.

I sprinted up the stairs and cast my hands outward blasting the barred basement door open in a hurry. The stairs opened up into a ballroom type room filled with old gurneys all pushed along the sides of the wall. Gojo lay in the center of the room, blood soaking his head and streaming from his abdomen. The spectral humanoid woman leaned over him with a wicked looking surgical blade in hand.

Her body was wrapped heavily in bandages and she had oily black hair that hung in greasy tendrils around her body. Her attire was foreign, old and covered in mold. She had sickly looking yellow nails that were elongated and filed to points.

"Satoru!" I focused on Gojo and his body slid across the floor away from the specter, landing at my feet.

The spectral woman let out a shriek of rage. She was just a residual from the cursed object, but where was the cursed object? Did Gojo touch it? I knelt beside him and searched his hands and pockets. There was nothing on him. Was it proximity based? I felt a pull to the chandelier and glanced upward. Dangling from a bloody line tied to the chandelier was a tarnished suturing needle. Gojo had been standing directly under it when the curse grabbed him. Now that he was out of its range he should be able to heal himself. The spectral woman stayed in place glowering at me.

"It's alright, I'll hear your story." I stepped forward.

"Ryoko?" Gojo coughed behind me.

I stepped beneath the chandelier and reached up to touch the suturing needle.

I woke in darkness, bound to a cold metal table. There were voices around me, muffled. One was pleading, begging someone to stop, the other was cold and angry. In the distance there were muffled moans and cries of pain. I fought against my restraints, what happened? I was just at the clinic seeing the kind doctor. I remembered his young wife asking if I wanted tea and then I felt so sleepy.

The blindfold was ripped away from my eyes and I was blinded by light. A hooded lantern hung from the ceiling focused directly on me like a spotlight. It was blinding. I winced and looked away. My vision took a moment to adjust. I was in a basement, there were dozens upon dozens of metal tables with other people restrained. Most bloody and unconscious, some awake and screaming but their voices muffled through gags.

I looked to the left and saw the kind doctor, his eyes filled with terror and worry, he was currently pleading with his young wife as she prepped a tray with surgical supplies.

"Shut up!" The young wife snarled. "You're the one who said I can't become the best without practice, right father?"

"At least give them something for the pain." The doctor pleaded.

"That will interfere with my results." The young woman looked at me coldly. "Let's begin shall we." She sliced through my abdomen with a clean and practiced slash. The pain was blinding.

I let out a scream but it was muffled through the gag.

I lived through hundreds of anesthesia free surgeries, died hundreds of times from the patients who didn't survive the experiments. The crazy woman had practiced on innocent people to perfect her skills so she could surpass her father/husband. The female specter with the greasy hair shrieked at me and lunged as I fell out of the stream of visions.

Several ghostly hands shot out and caught her by the wrist halting her from reaching me. All of her victims were finally free from the cursed object. I took a shaky step back as she was swarmed by all of her victims and torn to shreds. Blood soaked my entire body. I glanced down to see my chest cavity sliced open exposing the bones and organs beneath. That probably wasn't good. Blood poured from the wound splashing to the floor at my feet.

"RYOKO!" Gojo's voice mirrored another that was louder and deeper and enveloped me. Sukuna said my name.

"I'll be okay, Satoru." I fell toward the floor.

Strong arms encircled me, catching me before I could hit the floor. "Come to me, now." Sukuna's voice sent a shiver down my spine.

I struggled to maintain consciousness long enough to focus on Sukuna so I could get to his domain before I died.

"Ryoko!" Gojo was running toward me. His eyes growing wide as Sukuna must have flashed into view for a moment before we both vanished and I fell into darkness.