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A child’s demanding cry flooded the entire living room, drawing all attention to itself. A black-haired woman, whose hair reached her shoulder blades when let down, rushed to the crib. The baby lying inside was waving her little hands, hidden behind layers of clothing, and crying piteously, demanding her mother's attention.
— What happened, Yuka? You just ate — she addressed her two-month-old daughter, taking her into her arms and pressing her close — Or do you just want to be held? —
Her exhausted face tried to force a smile. The girl's mother did her best not to show her daughter her pain, continuing to envelop her in love and smiling at her even with tears in her eyes. Even though the baby was too small to understand anything, children felt perfectly well when something was wrong with their parents.
Kissing her on her tiny nose and stroking her black hair—thick for a two-month-old—she began to soothe her daughter.
— Shh, shh, mommy’s here. You don’t want your brother to start crying too, do you? —
— I’ll go to the bedroom, I’ll calm her down there before Tsurugi catches on — the black-haired woman said with a downcast gaze, addressing no longer her daughter, but the elderly couple sitting together on the sofa.
The man stood up slightly and approached her. Half of his hair was already gray, and the skin on his face was folding into wrinkles.
— Mifuyu, go lie down yourself afterwards, we’ll take Yuka once she falls asleep. You need rest — he said with pauses between his phrases, worried about her condition.
Caring for her and treating her as if she were his own daughter, he gently placed his hand on her shoulder. The man understood that of everyone here—she was hurting the most. For while he worried for his son and knew he would definitely find him, she, at the same time, worried for her husband, for the man she loves. And for their children. A newborn daughter and a one-year-old son. Feeling the fear that they might be left without a father. And feeling her own helplessness, because, being an ordinary person, she could do nothing to help in the search for her own husband, leaving her hopes to the people from that world she first learned about when she started dating him. She was dear to him, and so he didn't want to lie to her and told her right away. About how dangerous his life was and about who he was. The heir to a great clan in the Jujutsu World.
— Everything will be fine, we will find him, I promise. And like we said, we will be by your side all this time. You are the one our son loves and also the mother of our grandchildren. You’ve been like our own daughter since the very beginning — he spoke through the pain. He, like everyone present, was tormented by a lingering uncertainty about the fate of his child, his only child, with the woman he loves madly. Madly desired and serving as proof of their love. Raising him, they surrounded him with all the love and care they had within them. All that they didn't have, but he had, and his children should have. Squeezing her shoulder, he added — He misses you already, the children too. I know it, we know how much he loves you. I remember his eyes well on the day he told us he wanted to marry you —
— Thank you, — clinging to the little one in her arms, she said with tears in her eyes — Thank you so much —
— No, it is we who thank you, — the man uttered in response, as it was visible how he tried to maintain hope and not fall into despair. — thank you for loving him and, of course, for them — his gaze fell on the child, who was listening intently to the conversation as if she understood everything.
— Yuka, don't be naughty now, you have to be good like your mommy and daddy. Okay? Grandma and I will take you later and we’ll all play together. — he said, leaning lower to the child and smiling at her with eyes that, though tired, were just as large as the girl’s own, before Mifuyu left with her for the bedroom.
The sound of the door closing behind them echoed through the room, leaving a restless silence in its wake.
The man hurried back to the sofa to the woman who looked to be his age. Her gray hair was tied in a low ponytail, and her face, besides wrinkles, was covered in scars, clearly obtained not at this age, but long ago, in her youth. Just like the man's scar, running along his entire forehead in a straight line.
He did what he had done a countless number of times. He drew her to him and hugged her tightly, so that his sweater began to soak up the bitter tears of this woman. The tears of the love of his life, his wife and the mother of his child. Over so many years of life together, starting back in high school, they had managed to go through a lot. Deaths of loved ones, the forced rethinking of many things and values, confessions of love, a wedding, living together, planning, the birth and upbringing of a child, his growing up, his wedding, and grandchildren. They went through all of this together. But no one expected that the most terrible thing was saved for later, for old age, exactly when they should have been rejoicing at the birth of their second granddaughter. Their son had vanished without a trace. His wife and children were left alone. And they, despite their age, but being the strongest Sorcerers who had survived Sukuna—only now knew true horror, exerting all their efforts and realizing that even they were useless here. And it wasn't just a son who vanished, but like his parents, a Special Grade Sorcerer. This knowledge made them fall into even greater despair. Because he couldn't just vanish like that, knowing his family was left alone, and knowing just how much they love him. Their beloved and, once upon a time, long-awaited son.
— Maki, darling, — already with tears in his eyes, he whispers into the top of her head — you know that everything will be fine, it must be —
The man tried very hard. He tried to hold on for her, for Mifuyu, for the children, and without stopping, he searched for him every damn day, using all the power he had as the head of the Gojo clan to find anything that could help.
— Two months, Yuta. It's been two fucking months already, where is our child. Where is my Iori — she said, choking on the tears of a mother who had lost her child — What will happen to Mifuyu, the children? What will happen to us, Yuta? Our beloved Iori…. — she forced out of herself.
Her head ached madly from daily tears, and her body slumped weakly in her husband's arms while he clung to her tighter, shaking from quiet sobs. The man tried to avoid thoughts about what his wife had said. Not now, it was still too early.
Maki struggled to open her eyes when she felt someone tugging at her pant leg and whimpering from below.
Standing before them was their one-year-old grandson. A boy with dark hair and an eternally stoic face. A Zenin child through and through. They had agreed on this when they first saw him, their first grandson, on the very first day of his life, already with furrowed brows. Just a minute ago, with a face as stoic and serious as that of a one-year-old could be, he was huffing over the assembly of a tower of blocks on a mat nearby. Although his facial expression said otherwise, he was a very kind and sensitive child toward those who surrounded him. Thinking like an adult, he always felt what the adults felt. Therefore, every time he saw his mother crying, he would drop his toys and stick to her leg until she took him in her arms. Now, with worry in his gaze, he looked at his grandmother and grandfather, tugging at her pant leg and whimpering in a childish way, when you don't yet know how to talk.
— Tsurugi, you want to come to us, don't you? What a smart boy you are — Yuta said, smiling through tears, as he settled his grandson on his lap. Continuing to press Maki to him with one arm, he leaned in and kissed her temple, then rested his head against hers.
Maki couldn't watch how Yuta treated their grandson. She couldn't look at the child's face, nor at her husband's face. It was too painful.
— Tsurugi, my boy, come to grandma — she reached out her trembling hands to the child — Grandpa and I love you so much —
When the child was in her arms, she pressed closer to Yuta.
— Yuta, I can't do this. I can't look at his face, — she began, choking on tears — I can't watch you talk to him with a smile. Just like with him…. —
Yuta felt the same — Me too, Maki. Even his behavior…. — no longer able to hold back the breakdown, he agreed — He is so much like him. I just…. our little son —
Hearing this and seeing his tears, inhuman sobs began to break from Maki. She pressed the child tighter to her and burst into tears. As bitterly as never before in her life.
— Iori. Our Iori. Yuta, I just won't survive this…. Do you remember how small he still was when he was in your arms… I just won't be able to go on living like this, I won't be able to — she was breaking from the pain as she said this.
******
— Wow, and who is this we have in daddy's arms? — Maki said, stepping close to Yuta, who was tenderly holding their child.
With his tiny fingers, the baby tightly gripped Yuta’s T-shirt, trying to press closer to him and feel as much of his parent's warmth as possible.
He hid his chubby baby face in his daddy’s neck, but when he heard the familiar, gentle voice of his mommy, he began to rapidly try to turn his still-weak neck toward her. Yuta helped him, carefully supporting his seven-month-old son.
— Hello baby — Maki said with tenderness from the love for her child, smiling — Did you miss mommy? Huh? Mommy missed you very much — She began to kiss her son’s little face, which was a copy of her husband's. The lips, the cheeks, the forehead.
— And I missed daddy very much too — she stood on her tiptoes and began to kiss Yuta, and he responded in kind, while their son Iori watched his parents intently with his huge eyes, just like his father's.
Though externally Iori was a complete copy of Yuta, taking his face, hair, and a couple of traits from his character, it didn't change the fact that when he really needed something, he turned into his mother—piercing with his gaze and whimpering, he would demandingly reach out his little hands.
— Well, what happened, Iori? Mommy and daddy have to love each other too, just like they love you, right? — Maki said with a slight laugh in her voice, returning to the child again.
— It seems he really did miss mommy. Right? You’re our sweetest, smartest boy, aren't you? — Yuta finally spoke and, in rhythm with his adoration, kissed his son.
In response to his parents' affection, he only stretched out his short little arms to his mother, trying to reach her and grab her long hair. And realizing that nothing was working, he began to whimper demandingly until he got what he wanted and felt the maternal warmth and her scent around him. During this time, Yuta, with his now-free hands, enveloped the two of them in an embrace, leaving space for Iori between him and Maki.
— Don't you think that every day his eyes get bigger and bigger — she said, feeling her husband's touch as he tucked a stray strand of hair behind her ear.
As if the mother's embrace wasn't enough for the child, he reached out with his hands to her face and continued to study it intently with those same huge eyes.
— Truly… He’s just like you, Yuta — she whispered with tears of happiness in her eyes.
*****
Nine years after the disappearance of their son, Okkotsu Maki, having never found out what happened to him, dies prematurely of a broken heart. Right in the arms of her husband, Okkotsu Yuta. Telling him that he was the most important person in her life and thanking him for everything, she asked him to linger and not rush after her. For the sake of the grandchildren, for the sake of Mifuyu, and for the sake of their son. Their dear Iori. Before Okkotsu Maki took her last breath and closed her eyes forever, she looked at her husband's face and the photograph of her son one last time.
Okkotsu Yuta kept his promise, dying exactly one year later. And just like her, never finding out what happened to their son. Their dear Iori.