Chapter Text
Before they died trying to save the world, Okkotsu Yuuta and Itadori Yuuji, alpha and omega, mated despite protests and prohibitions from the upper echelons, after all any child that came from the Ryoumen Sukuna's Cursed Vessel impregnated by the seed of the holder of the Special Grade Cursed Spirit Orimoto Rikka would be an extremely powerful Jujutsu Sorcerer when they grow up, perhaps even surpassing Gojo Satoru and eventually getting out of their control.
The elders were understandably terrified with that possibility.
And then, nearly ten months later and hidden in a Zenin Clan estate under the iron control of Zenin Megumi and his cousin-sister Zenin Maki, Itadori Yuuji gives birth to two babies, a boy and a girl, whose levels of Cursed Energy could be felt from Tokyo to Osaka.
Those children needed to be killed, before they could grow in their powers and develop their Innate Cursed Techniques or inherit any of their parent's powers.
The assassins just didn't count on Orimoto Rikka coming out of a newborn Okkotsu Rikko and the corrosive miasma of Ryoumen Sukuna's cursed energy impregnating Okkotsu Junpei, much less with Itadori Yuuji's older brother, the half Curse Kamo Chousou, being present in the house where the omega and the children had been hidden in safety.
Okkotsu Yuuta's later fury over the elders, particularly those of the Zenin – who betrayed Megumi and Maki – and Kamo Clan – who were ashamed of Chousou's existence and only wished to destroy the heirs of a powerful emerging Clan –, was apocalyptic.
But then, five years after the fifth birthday of the Okkotsu twins, not even the combined forces of Ryoumen Sukuna's Cursed Vessel and of the holder of the Special Grade Cursed Spirit Orimoto Rikka were able to hold back the wave of Special Grade Curses led by Kenjaku into Getou Suguru's body.
Itadori Yuuji and Okkotsu Yuuta, the last stand since Zenin Megumi's death after the exorcism of the Curses known as Mahito and Hanami, fell after seven days of nearly non-stop fighting against the army of Special Grade Curses that Kenjaku unleashed on western Japan.
Chousou immediately disappeared with the Okkotsu pups.
And months later, when hope was practically non-existent and Chousou's priority – Chousou, who loved his young brother more than anything in the world, Chousou, who was dying due to injuries after fighting Kenjaku himself to prevent the destruction of a convoy of civilian survivors fleeing the now-called Miyagi Disaster – was the survival of his nephews, and therefore, the Curse born from a Living Cursed Womb resolved to save the children rather than the world.
That selfish decision is what changes everything.
Okkotsu Yuuta was on a hunting mission in Cambodia when it happened. One moment he was fighting a Sorcerer gone rogue, and the next he was running for the life of a child while yelling at Rikka to take care of the opponent and his Fourth Degree Curses.
The child was falling from the sky, a shooting star of Cursed Energy that was as or more powerful than Yuuta and Rikka's energy. By a miracle, Yuuta manages to reach the child in time to prevent the little one from hitting the ground, which would be a disaster as Yuuta wasn't sure his Reverse Cursed Technique would work on someone whose Cursed Energy was practically at the level of Gojo-sensei in a calm day.
"Nice catch, Yuuta!" Rikka shouts, blood dripping from her teeth and claws. Yuuta just smiles apoplegically at his friend's bloody, childish glee. "I did it too!"
"I see, Rikka-chan. Good job." The boy replies, adjusting his grip on the unconscious child and going back to his Curse. "Come on, the others will take care of the body; we need to take the child to the camping."
"Un! Will they be okay?"
"They have a Cursed Energy that is as powerful as ours, Rikka-chan. They're probably just tired." Explains the Sorcerer, his alphan instincts making Yuuta sniff the puppy to memorize its infant scent of sweet milk and cotton – the child would have this almost generic smell until them turned twelve, which is the standard age for their second gender to change their hormones and define them as being an alpha, a beta, or an omega. Yuuta sniffing out the pup's current scent is just his inner alpha assuring himself that the child is indeed a pup and not another introduced alpha trying to infiltrate Yuuta's territory, as the alpha doesn't have an omega to claim and scent the child as theirs, and Rikka had become a Cursed Spirit before she could introduce herself, being trapped in a suspended state between being a pup and a young adult of one of the three castes. "They haven't introduced themselves yet, so I think I can keep them with us in our tent until I know what to do with them, Rikka-chan."
"So I can take care of them and play with them when they wake up, Yuuta? Can I?" Yuuta smiled against the child's pink-black hair – it was always nice to see Rikka being herself despite her current condition.
"We'll see, Rikka-chan. First we have to have Shima-san examine them in case I missed something." Not that Yuuta thinks he's missed anything - his nose was better than expected from a young alpha like him thanks to his Cursed Energy, so if the pup was really hurt, Yuuta would have smelled it. "Oh. I think they're waking up."
A small cold nose nudged the side of Yuuta's neck, sniffing the pheromone gland, and Yuuta allowed nuances of his scent of hot metal, damp earth and rusty blood to come out. The pup let out a half-moan half-sob noise before pressing his face into Yuuta's skin, little baby whimpers coming from his throat, something that broke the alpha's heart a little, which caused the alpha's protective instinct to purr back at the cub, something deep and throaty that made Yuuta's chest flutter with the rumble. "Shhh. It's okay. You'll be fine. I will take care of you, I promise. Nothing's going to hurt you, okay?"
"Papa." Says the pup, squeezing his arms around Yuuta's neck, voice soft, damp and shaky with something that makes Yuuta uncomfortable and his alphan lizard brain flattered at the same time. "Papa."
"I..." How would he tell the boy he wasn't his sire? Of course, the boy could have started a traumatic imprinting with him, but Yuuta was barely eighteen and – no thanks to Gojo-sensei – despite being a half-functional young alpha adult, Yuuta could barely take care of himself and Rikka on a calm day. Asking him to take care of a baby without any help from at least one omega friend – like Inumaki – was a little too much to ask even for someone self sufficient like Yuuta. And he still didn't know why the boy was falling from the sky. "It's okay, cub. I am here. Your... Papa is here."
The poor little pup whimpered even more, his scent turning a little caustic with anguish, so much so that Yuuta began to purr again, the rumble of his chest – to his immense relief – calming the puppy successfully, so much so that it elicits a soft purr from the baby, something that makes Yuuta's alphan lizard back brain practically melt and surrender to the inevitable traumatic imprinting – which would likely make it impossible for Yuuta to stay away from the child, as – at that moment – he didn't have a fixed territory or an omega to take care of things while he dealt with the possible outside threat.
Sometimes pack instinct was a bitch.
Yuuta needs to find out how he's going to take care of the baby, and he'll need to get back to Japan as fast as he can, before the boy's Cursed Energy attracts more Curses.
He adjusts the puppy in his arms and continues walking to the camp.
They were going to die, and it would all be Yuuji's fault.
At first, they just had to investigate the juvie, evacuate anyone who was still alive, and possibly exorcise some Grades Three and Four, but then, after Ichiji-san extends the Curtain over the building's grounds, a Domain Expansion opened in the main building at the same time as a Cursed Womb containing a Special Grade Curse appeared in the sky.
This was no longer a simple quest for apprentice Sorcerers. And they couldn't ask Gojo-sensei for backup because he was out of the country, the guys from the second year weren't any better than them against a Curse of that Grade – except maybe for Panda-senpai, but that was a big maybe –, and the only third year who could be trusted around Yuuji while also being able to deal with the Curse by himself, was also on a mission outside the country.
Then they would have to turn around to end it, because Ichiji-san couldn't bring down the Curtain without releasing the Curses inside the juvie on the civilians outside the gate and Yuuji couldn't could leave any of the inmates behind if there were any alive, even more so since he promised the mother of a Tadashi that he would bring her son back to her, if only to give him a final rest that wasn't inside the stomach of a Special Grade.
Damn old councilmen. Bunch of useless cowards, all of them.
Kugisaki prepares her nails and hammer, Fushiguro sends his White Divine Dog ahead, and Yuuji closes the rear so the three aren't caught off guard.
Even so, they are separated from each other early on because the Cursed Womb Domain Expansion is a veritable labyrinth. Luckily, Yuuji and Fushiguro manage to find each other again — coincidentally, finding Tadashi's corpse —, but if they hadn't started arguing like idiots about whether or not to take the body with them while they searched for Kugisaki, maybe...
The White Divine Dog was destroyed. The Curse was born, and it was strong.
Fushiguro was going to die and it would be Yuuji's fault.
Before Yuuji can pull out his Cursed Weapon and yell at Fushiguro to run while he serves as a distraction - even if it goes against Megumi's instincts as an Alpha - and before Fushiguro could summon another of his Shadows, reality cracks.
Curse and Sorcerers freeze in place, because that was a powerful Cursed Energy, a Cursed Energy at the level of the Six-Eyed wielder's Energy. And the source – as they soon discover – is a child.
It's a girl, no more than ten years old – a cub, cub in danger, protect protect protect – so tiny she barely reaches Yuuji's hip. Her hair is pink with black roots like Yuuji's, and her eyes are blue as the twilight sky. She blinks, confused, and looks between Megumi and the startled Curse before noticing Yuuji – who suddenly has an armful of distressed and crying puppy.
Yuuji's Omegan instincts scream.
Danger. His puppy was in danger.
Unacceptable.
If anyone were ever to ask, Ryoumen Sukuna would say that the only thing he had a slight fear of and wary respect for was an angry Omegan parent protecting their offspring. And at the moment, Sukuna's Cursed Vessel was a fully presented omega holding a frightened cub.
Sukuna doesn't even try to stop the omega from using his Cursed Energy, not least because there's something about the baby's Cursed Energy that makes the hairs on the back of Sukuna's neck stand on end with the feeling of wrong.
And with that, Sukuna sits on his bone throne and watches.
Megumi has never seen Itadori so pissed off. Sure, he'd heard of Omegas getting fierce to protect their children, but this was the first time he'd seen the thing live and in color. And damn if Itadori wasn't scary.
Eyes with slit pupils fixed on the Special Grade Curse, Sukuna's Marks appearing on his skin even though the Curse King's eyes didn't open, and viciously sharp teeth bared in an audible growl, Yuuji was the image of an Omega going feral over his child. If the Curse even contracted, Yuuji would attack and most likely win, if Megumi took into account Yuuji's Cursed Energy levels steadily rising.
"Behind me, Fushiguro. Now." growls Itadori, and Megumi obeys because he doesn't want to be next on Itadori's angry Omega shit list. Then he slowly moves in and gets behind the omega. "Good alpha." he says, his dark and hostile tone making Megumi shiver and the Alpha inside him wanting to show his neck to submit to the Omega leader of the pack. "Domain Expansion!"
Yuuji doesn't make any gestures, he just orders, and his and Sukuna's mixed Cursed Energy obeys.
Megumi has never felt so afraid in his life.
"Malevolence Shrine."
And then it's all screams and darkness.
Later, when it's all over and they can finally go out and tear down that damn thousand times cursed Curtain, they can't separate Yuuji from the girl - when Ichiji-san tried to touch her to get her off Yuuji's lap and hand her over to Social Services outside the reform school gate, the poor man nearly had his fingers ripped off by Yuuji's still-sharp teeth. Since then, the omega had barricaded himself inside the car, child on his lap, and only allowed Nobara – as the Beta of their little pack – and Megumi – as a Platonic Alpha – approached him and the sleeping puppy on his chest, who rumbled with a soothing purr that put even Nobara and Megumi into a half-asleep state – which could also be because of Yuuji's mild scent of matcha, cocoa and warm honey, so obviously Omegan it almost made Ichiji wonder how the hell he'd mistaken the boy for an Alpha.
It doesn't take long for Yaga to find out what happened and contact Gojo, who returns to the school grounds with a twitch of his Limitless.
The fury of Japan's strongest Alpha is apocalyptic.
The council elders just barely piss themselves when Gojo Satoru enters their meeting chambers with a flash of his Cursed Technique, Alphan fangs exposed as he growls why wasn't he summoned for that mission? Why are the first-year students — his pups, even if they are all fully presented to their respective castes — were sent on a mission that was clearly out of their league? Did they already know about the situation at the juvie when they sent them? And how dare they threaten his omega cub!
It's by a hair that Satoru doesn't kill them all.
Once he's made his opinion and stance on the matter perfectly clear, he spins on his Limitless' heels to reemerge in the freshman dorm, sniffing the air in search of his cute and certainly traumatized beyond belief students.
He finds them barricaded and squeezed into the bathtub of Kugisaki's bathroom, by far the most defensible place in the dorm. Yuuji is sitting across from Megumi with the child on his lap while Nobara squeezes herself between Megumi's legs, taking care that her feet don't keep nudging the girl, who is strangely familiar to Satoru even though he has never seen her in his life.
"Are you okay?" Satoru asks, without entering the bathroom, as Yuuji was clearly still close to an episode of Omegan ferocity. "Did any of you go to see Shouko?"
"Yuuji took care of us, sensei." Nobara says, shifting a little to a more comfortable position in the cramped space. "By a dubious miracle, we came out in one piece, even though we were a little scratched."
"That is great. And our little visitor? Can you introduce us, Yuuji?" asks Satoru, his Six Eyes having to narrow a bit because the girl's Cursed Energy aura was bright enough to make someone with Satoru's gifts tear up. Yuuji just pokes the girl's head with his nose, clearly with instincts still too raw to be verbal about it. "My name is Gojo Satoru, but you can call me Satoru! And you?"
"My name is Rikko!" Says the girl, peeking at Satoru through a fringe of thick, pink hair much like the hair of Satoru's omega student. "Okkotsu Rikko! Call me Rikko!"
"Okkotsu, did you say? Do you happen to know an Okkotsu Yuuta, Rikko-chan?" Man, if that was what Satoru was thinking it was, if the old farts found out about Yuuta's little sister – something even Satoru didn't know about – it was going to be a problem.
"Un! He's my papa!" He is her what. "Ju-kun looks a lot like our papa!"
"And who is Ju-kun?"
"My little twin brother!" she exclaims, pulling away from Yuuji's chest a little and finally letting Satoru see her baby face properly. She had birthmarks under both eyes, identical to the Sukuna's eye marks on Yuuji's face. Gojo was starting to come up with a theory, and it was sounding conspiratorial even to him. "Uncle Chousou says I'm just like mama!"
"And who is your mama?" Heck, Satoru was very into 'Aliens at Area 51' conspiracy theories, but this was getting a little too much even for him.
"He!" And with that she purrs like a motorcycle engine and shoves her face back into Yuuji's neck, rubbing her nose against the omega glands as she murmurs happily. "Mama!"
Megumi blinks, Nobara drops her jaw and Satoru stands completely frozen in the doorway, a plastic smile still on his face.
"Anything to declare, Yuuji?" asks Satoru, because what the hell.
"Uh... I've never met any Okkotsu Yuuta in my life...?"
Uh. Now...
That was something.