Hate was not an emotion Hitomi liked to tap into. It was among the many negative emotions that led to the formation and creation of the curses.

But each time she took a step into her father's hospital room, all she could feel was pure, burning rage. Once upon a time, she had loved her father. Once upon a time. Now, she thought he deserved to be cursed. It served him right, for forcing Izuki's soul on a seven year old girl.

The hospital room was small, filled with loud beeping machines. Her father lay awake on his bed, reading the newspaper his nurses had brought him. His dark hair was completely littered with grey, his eyes almost unfocused as he scanned through the paper. Whatever curse he was afflicted with was making him age faster, because as Hitomi looked at him, he appeared to be twenty years older than he actually was.

'Izuki, come,' Hitomi silently reached out to the depths of her soul. 'You wanted to stay out, right?'

'Oh, bless your heart,' Izuki spoke in her mind. He sounded relieved and maybe even a little gleeful. 'I was getting really bored just being stuck inside. Oh wait! Can I greet your father? I want to make fun of him.'

'Go on,' Hitomi just motioned towards the hospital bed from where she was sitting. 'Do what you want. You have my full blessing.'

She could feel Izuki nearly glowing with happiness. She raised her right hand and rolled up the sleeve of her white shirt. Circular, red markings started to appear on her skin and a scarlet colored mist arose from those markings.

'Hello, Ayasaki,' Izuki greeted with amusement, his voice echoing from the mist. 'Having fun reading the newspaper, I see.'

"It's Ayase Akihito," Her father answered, closing the newspaper and staring at the scarlet mist surrounding Hitomi's arm. "Don't call me by the old name."

'Well, someone's offended,' Izuki spoke with glee. 'Learn to take a joke, dear old Akihito. And besides, even if you don't go by that name, you still belong to the clan.'

"You do not joke," Akihito said, just as he stared at Hitomi. "But I'm guessing you've learnt to be lighthearted from my daughter."

'Yeah...you were a truly boring soul to stay in. I like your daughter more.'

"Only a boring old soul would force a seven year old girl to take on the power of an ancient, god-like sorcerer, am I right?" Hitomi spoke sarcastically. "Dear old father should feel blessed I'm not using Izuki on him."

'Yeah, at least Hitomi has a bigger soul than you, Akihito. And we are more compatible,' Izuki spoke, as the scarlet mist glowed bright. 'And Hitomi has a cursed technique which is ten times stronger than yours.'

"The girls in the family always tended to be more powerful," Akihito spoke, staring into Hitomi's magenta eyes. Once his eyes had been of the same color, but when the curse had struck his body, the color had turned to a grey, even duller than the ceiling of her dorm room.

Hitomi stared right back, letting her fury and hatred for him remain in her eyes. "Yeah, of course the girls turn out to be powerful, because the men are stupid enough to hand over the power of a god like sorcerer to a seven year old. Izuki, back inside. Now."

'As you say,' The scarlet mist slowly faded away, as did the red markings. Once again, he had gone back into the depths of Hitomi's soul, leaving her and her father alone in the hospital room.

Silence reigned for a while. Then, Hitomi decided to break it, deciding to taunt Akihito. "Say father, do you think I should give the elders the location of the vault with Kusanagi? I am, after all, being pestered by them to reveal the locations of our cursed tool vaults."

At the name of the ancient Katana, Akihito immediately tensed up. Speaking with a furious tone, he said, "Do not even joke about that. That weapon is not to be given to those old fools. They do not have the power to wield it. And the Ayasaki cursed tool vaults belong to our family. They cannot be handed over to anybody."

"I know that," Hitomi answered with a casual smile. Oh, it was fun riling him up. "But, you know, I don't really care about the weapons. I don't need swords and sticks to fight. And I can choose to reveal the locations of the vaults, because I am the head of our dead clan. So..." She shrugged and kept on smiling. "I am joking about the weapons though. Those weapons are mine and will always be mine."

"Do you really think this is something to joke about, Hitomi?" Akihito looked mildly irritated. No, scratch that. He looked and sounded very irritated. "Stop acting like an immature brat."

A flash of anger shot through her. "I'm not immature, you piece of shit that I have to call my father. At least feel lucky that I come to visit. You don't have anyone else in the world because you are a stupid man who dumped a heavy burden on an innocent seven year old."

Hitomi released a deep breath, trying to calm herself down. "Anyways, I enjoyed this fun little visit," sarcasm dripped from her tongue. "But I'm gonna leave. I have much better things to do with my time. See you for the next visit."

Akihito didn't say a word as she left. Not that she expected him to and neither did she care. Her father's words had long stopped mattering to her.

Hitomi stretched her arms as she wandered down the hallway of the hospital, smiling at a nurse she walked past. Time to get back to work.

Hitomi walked into the building with a smile. Today was a training session and she was looking forward to fighting against Gojo. It would be the perfect way to release her pent up frustrations after the hospital visit. She rolled up her shirt sleeves as she walked down the hallway made of wood and old stones. Unlike the others, Hitomi did not have a fully black uniform. The black jacket that came with it was kept in her wardrobe. She liked to fight free and her white shirt, black skirt and knee length socks were perfect for that. Paired with faded blue sneakers, her uniform was the most good looking. At least, that is what she told herself.

Stretching her arms one last time, she paused in front of a worn-down door. It was a special room, designed for people to unleash the full power of their techniques, with certain limitations. The perfect space for her to use her technique to throw things at Gojo. Ah, the perks of being able to manipulate gravity with her cursed energy.

But as Hitomi opened the door, all her excitement disappeared instantly. The training room was empty. Empty except for the long brown haired figure, sitting on the floor.

Shoko looked up, hearing the door open. "Hey, you're back." Noticing how Hitomi was scanning the room, she added, "If you're looking for the trouble twins, they got sent on a mission right after you left. Where did you go by the way?"

"To see my father," Hitomi answered. She walked over to her friend and sat next to her. Besides Yaga, Shoko was the only one who knew that her father had been cursed and confined to the hospital.

"Well, sounds like fun," Shoko said with a mild hint of sarcasm.

"Not as fun as you think," Hitomi replied, almost pouting a little. "I came here hoping to throw things at Gojo, but that's not gonna happen now."

"You could train with me," Shoko offered, with a half smile. "I haven't healed any broken fingers. I wanna practice that."

"Oh, you want me to break my fingers," Hitomi looked at her, also smiling. The girls shared a morbid friendship, but it was oddly fun to talk like this and to train with Shoko. Though, they rarely trained together, given that she healed and Hitomi destroyed. "I have a better idea. Let's ask Yaga to lend us some of the captured curses and I'll exorcise them, and you heal any injuries I have."

"Do I get to see some ass-kicking?" Shoko raised her eyebrows.

"Hell yeah you do. I'll give you a show."

Hitomi smirked as she got up, offering Shoko her hand. She grabbed it and pulled herself up. Shoko was smirking too. "You and I are so much better than those two."

"We have more fun."

"And we're prettier than them."

"Oh yes, we are."

With arms intertwined, the girls left the room. One ready to destroy and one ready to heal.

*

Tired and panting, Hitomi collapsed in the courtyard.

After much persuasion and convincing, she and Shoko had managed to get Yaga to lend them three grade 2 cursed spirits. They were powerful curses, but nothing compared to Hitomi's strength. As power flowed through her veins and gravity danced at her fingertips, she punched and kicked and struck those curses, making a show of things for Shoko. But fighting against these curses had left her utterly tired.

Hitomi covered her face with a sore hand, trying to shield it from the rays of the setting sun. Judging by how both her hands were throbbing, she was sure they were bleeding. She probably should be getting up, but the hard ground felt a lot more comfortable.

"That was good," Shoko clapped loudly. She walked over to where Hitomi was lying and sat next to her. "You did great. As always. And you broke your hands."

"And I broke my hands," Hitomi huffed out. "All for you and your incredible technique."

"I know," Shoko replied, smiling lightly.

As she let out another pant, Hitomi said, "God, if people heard how we both talk with each other, especially about our training, they definitely think we're crazy."

Shoko grasped both her hands and activated her cursed reversal technique. "What's that saying? The best people are all a little crazy?"

"Probably. I don't know."

"Well, forget the crazy part and look at the other thing."

"The best people?"

"That's what we are."

As Shoko finished speaking, her cursed reversal technique also did its work. Hitomi raised both her hands in the air. They appeared a little red, but otherwise she could not feel a thing. That was the miracle of the cursed reversal technique. And that was the reason why Shoko was an extremely valuable person to the Jujutsu world. She was one of the few that could heal others with her cursed reversal technique. Hitomi could do it herself, but her cursed reversal only ever healed basic scratches and nothing else. Shoko was powerful in her own way.

"Hey, before I forget," Hitomi started to speak, but found herself interrupted as a very loud and annoying voice echoed through the courtyard.

"Oi! What are you two doing?"

"Oh good god," Hitomi groaned as she got up and sat in a cross legged position. Now, that was a good change of position, making it more easy to not see stupid Gojo's face. Shoko snickered at her reactions, but remained seated next to her.

Hitomi resisted the urge to roll her eyes, as Gojo practically bounded up to them. Geto followed behind and meeting her eyes, gave a small wave.

"You two are back soon," Shoko said as she got up from the ground. "How was the mission?"

"Too easy," Gojo answered, smirking. His sunglasses lightly slid down his nose, revealing his bright, cerulean blue eyes. (Once or twice, or maybe more, Hitomi had found herself admiring them...though this was not something she would ever admit.) "It barely took any effort."

Hitomi furtively glanced at Geto, who looked right back at her and lightly nodded his head. Gojo tended to over simplify things when it came to fighting curses, but seeing Geto's nod, this mission was probably too easy.

"What were you two doing?" Geto asked as he reached out his hand to Hitomi, who grabbed it and got up.

Brushing the dust off her skirt, she answered. "We were doing a little training of our own, though truth be told, I was looking forward to levitating and throwing things at you, Gojo."

"Oh, you think you could actually hit me?" He asked, his voice taunting and eyes glittering with amusement.

"I don't think I could hit you. I know I could," Hitomi replied, grinning. "Anyways, I was going to ask Shoko to join me for a movie night in my dorm. If you wanna join, feel free."

"Ooh, what are we gonna watch?" Shoko asked.

"I got a bunch of DVDs, so..."

"I call first choice!" Gojo raised his arm in the air.

The other three simultaneously groaned. They have had many movie nights before, but each damn time Gojo picked something, it ended up being pure trash. Or if he picked out something he had already seen and the others hadn't, he ended up spoiling the movie for the rest of them.

"You're not calling first choice," Geto said firmly. "It's my turn to pick a movie."

"No, it's my turn," Gojo replied, sticking out his tongue.

"Actually, it's my turn," Shoko deadpanned. "You boys already had your turn the last time."

"Who's on popcorn duty though?" Hitomi suddenly asked. Three...two...one...and a friendly argument started once more.

She shook her head slightly as they started walking. 'Just a typical day for this quartet.'

It's Hitomi's birthday on 1st January, so I thought I'd drop an update in honour of that. Hitomi has ended up becoming one of my favourite OCs to write about and I am having so much fun adding little details to her backstory. This chapter tells you a little bit more about Izuki, her father and some old family vaults 👀 I hope they left you even a little bit intrigued. 

One of my favourite parts about writing this chapter was getting to write the banter and the dynamic between Hitomi and Shoko, both of them are slightly unhinged and like to do weird shit and I am just loving writing them so far. And of course, I had to end with a scene of our fav quartet. I love writing this dynamic too and I am so excited to share more of it in the future.

Till then, I hope you enjoyed this chapter. Let me know your thoughts in the comments <3 <3