Work Text:
One thing Utahime Iori disliked the most was work that imposed itself on day offs.
Perhaps it was the second most hated thing right after being around Satoru Gojo.
Despite respecting the hierarchy and her superior's decision to have the blue-eyes demon inform her that she was sent to assist him in retrieving a cursed object that had been plaguing some poor neighborhood for a while, she still found it absurd that it had to be a team work for such a simple job.
He could've done it by himself, he was the strongest after all.
He also was, unfortunately, the biggest pain that she had ever had the dishonor of meeting.
She mentally groaned to herself at the mere prospect of what awaited her, dragging her feet along the cold tiles of her bathroom as she fixed her bangs and secured her strands around her temples as she always did, her trusty white bow placed neatly in the back of her head.
At was barely six in the afternoon when Utahime had gotten dressed and found herself waiting by the agreed upon spot, a washed out street with peeled walls and rude drunken men. It didn’t really need an object in its entourage, she thought, as the mere ambiance of this place was enough to conjure at least two curses a day.
Given that it was winter time, the sun was already setting, in a quick paced, yet a steady manner. Washing the street in gold and orange hues that reflected on her eyes and made her shift her gaze to avoid direct contact with the blinding light.
The sorceress remained on her spot for a while, ignoring the odd glances that fell on her by locals who easily recognized her as the intruder she was. Some gazes were weary, others were curious, while the worst of them were the agressive ones, which she insisted on avoiding and focusing her attention on the wall in front of her instead until a familiar shift in the air reached her senses.
Utahime forced herself to keep her expression neutral as she turned towards the direction from which she sensed it and was met with his lean, tall figure almost strutting towards her. His hands tucked casually inside the pockets of his trousers and his smirk wide and cocky. His arrogance didn’t stop at his posture, he also had the audacity to wear glasses instead of his usual blindfold, as if disregarding the seriousness of the job, which pissed her off immensely.
"You’re late." Utahime commented, her finger pointing at the wrist of her second hand to mimic a handwatch and emphasize her point.
Satoru merely shrugged and offered a noncommittal sound, "you came early, were you so eager to see me?"
She scoffed in response, her tongue tingling to lay the most vile of insults his way, but she reminded herself that she is a professional and here for a job, not to argue restlessly with this idiot.
The same idiot who had been teasing her for years, always finding the best things to say to get her temper flaring.
It was incredible how intelligent he was to the point of being meticulous in pissing her off, but it was a shame that he ever found it necessary to waste those intellectual abilities on trivial matters such as so.
He was an idiot, that’s why. She always understood it as so, a genius who misuses their intelligence is a fool.
"Whatever, let’s just get done with this." She grumbled and turned her heels, walking deeper into the neighborhood as the shadows of the approaching nighttime cast over them and offer a hint of concealment that sorcerers usually favored.
She was pleased to sense him following her silently as they navigated the street, she also couldn’t help noticing that the further they walked the more distant the industrial lights were and the gloomier the atmosphere got, confirming that they were nearing their destination which laid few meters ahead.
The cursed object was meant to be inside an abandoned house that no one dared to approach -not even for shelter- because of the creepy incidents that occurred in it. Nothing too fatal, thankfully, but dangerous and supernatural enough to get them involved.
She eyed the building cautiously, making sure that no odd presence was within its walls, and was glad to notice none but that of the object itself. She glanced at her companion and spoke in a stern tone that she only used with him, "it seems like nothing too grave. I’ll cast a veil, we retrieve it and return it to the faculty and voila. Any questions?"
The man looked at her for a second too long before his face morphing into a ridiculous mocking grin, "Uh yeah, did your ass get fatter?"
"Asshole." She grunts and kicks his feet, surprised that his limitless actually allowed her to get to soil the expensive lather of his shoe, "yours is fat."
"So you’ve been ogling? Bad girl." He teases again, but this time she doesn’t really bother to engage with him anymore. Instead, she focuses on the business and lifts her hand upwards muttering the spell that activates the veil "Emerge from the darkness, blacker than darkness. Purify that which is impure."
Once Utahime utters the last word, a darker shade befalls on the sky above them, gradually covering their entourage and concealing them for the outside world and the away from the curious human eyes. She exchanged one look with Satoru and pushed herself inside the building. Determined to finish off the job as soon as possible.
The inside of the building was not so different from the outside, as wrecked and damaged, filled with trash and with graffiti in most of its walls. She didn’t waste time to focus on the architecture and privileged the mission, recognizing that the object was upstairs, she quickly took the stairs, excepting him to follow, which he did.
Getting upstairs and rounding the corridor, they finally got into the room where the cursed object was sitting, secure behind the locked door. She glanced at him, her hand reaching out for the knob.
"Are you feeling spooked?" He whispers, choosing the worst time to provoke her and get on her nerves. As that instant moment of anger got her to lose control of her energy for a moment and trigger the cursed spirit that embodied itself into the object.
It didn’t take more than two seconds for the door to fall open and cause them to be met with curse, an ugly, melting blood of flesh with sagging eyes that followed the mouvement of the spirit. It didn’t speak, but it screeched loud, forcing Utahime to slap her hands over her ears to conceal the unpleasant sound.
"God, what a pain." Grunted the sorceress in a hiss at the disagreeable cursed spirit before her.
"Aw, but you got to admit, it’s kinda funny looking." The man grinned in delight, as if witnessing a fireworks display. It was greatly infuriating that in comparison with Utahime's defensive stance, Satoru assumed a more relaxed position, leaning against the wall and watching the screeching monster with a silly smile before pointing at it, "wanna play smash or pass?"
"No."
"Boring." He huffs lazily, his blue eyes then soon shift to her, almost glowing in the dim hallway, "how about this; who ever exorcises it first gets free dinner? Steak."
"Stop playing." She huffed and jumped towards the curse, seeking to land a kick at it and hopefully end this early.
Before she could make contact with her target, she suddenly found herself back on an empty ground and curse held by the rear of its head by Satoru, who flashed her a teasing grin.
"You must really like steak huh?" He joked, his hand shaking the curse flimsily as if he was holding a piece of paper.
"I like getting the job done." She huffed, moving towards him.
"Tell you what," he began, moving the curse away from her reach and flashing her a wide grin that was all teeth that made her suspect for a second that it was just an excuse for him to show off his pearly whites, "give me a kiss and I’ll give you the curse."
The sorceress squirmed at his wild suggestion, her eyes subconsciously falling on his lips -which were ridiculously pink and moisturized, very in character for Satoru Gojo to not neglect any part of his body, but she also knew she wasn’t tempted to entertain his antics today and shook her head, "no way, that’s gross."
"I asked you for a kiss not a blowjob." He teased again, his grin growing into a chuckle when he noticed the disgusted expression on her face, "it was a joke."
"Gross. I'm definitely reporting you for this." She squirmed.
"Come on, you know it’s just a joke."
"Whatever, just exorcise it or let me do it."
The blue-eyed man pouted like brat and glanced back at the curse in his hand, he shook it a bit more and then decided it to take the honors and exorcise it himself. He squeezed his held on it and used some of his energy, and immediately the curse evaporated into thin air and the gloomy vibe that accompanied it lifted like smoke.
She huffs in disappointment that he got to do that but decides not to linger on it and aim for the object that brought the curse to life in the first place. She walked inside the room and her eyes immediately caught a glimpse of the cursed object that was tucked under the old bed, presumably hidden. She crouches and reaches underneath, extending her arms as far as she could to hold onto it and pull it out.
The cursed object was an old doll, with messy blonde curls that were soiled with dirty, made of plastic and misery that no one really knew what it had witnessed. She sighed and wiped the dust from the face of the doll and noticed the only intact blue eye that remained.
"It looks like you." She couldn’t help but to call, rising the doll his way.
"Well, I’m glad you thought of me." He replied, smiling once more as he leaned against the broken doorframe and looked down at her, "but I think it’s time we call it a night no?"
Unfortunately, Utahime's day off was wasted on work. But at least she managed to get the cursed objected that terrorized that poor neighborhood back into the faculty, it was secure and finally away from the public and that was fulfilling at least.
Yet she couldn’t shake the feeling of confusion as to why would such a weak curse require two professional sorcerers, she glanced at Satoru beside her, who insisted to "court the lady back to her place as it was getting late" in a an embarrassing show of chivalry that she only consented to just to stop seeing.
"Don’t you think that the spirit was too lacking in strength?" She asked the man beside her cautiously, but she soon regretted it as she recalled that he probably believes that all of them are weak.
He hummed and nodded in agreement, "why yes, because it’s a second grade assigned to Megumi."
She halted immediately and turned her head to his direction, only to be met with another infuriating grin on his face, "what?" She hisses.
"Yeah, I took it and decided to take you, for a date lowkey." He shrugged, as if he was sharing an obvious info.
She cringed in disgust as anger swarmed within her, her priceless day off was wasted on a mere second grade curse that was meant to be dealt with by a student?
And a "date"? This man was insane, she confirmed to herself once again and huffed. Deciding that there was no use in engaging in useless arguments with him, she decides to use the opposite direction, despite it making it take longer to get home, just to avoid his stupid face.
"See you in our next date Utahime!" She heard him call behind her like the idiot his was, his tone irritably cheerful, "you seem like the type of prude who only kisses on third date, so I’ll keep that in mind."
Asshole.