Chapter Text
The second he turned into a child, he nope-d the fuck out of there.
Or as fast as he could without seeming suspicious for a person with seemingly no connections. (Verde had at one point made some neat phones so they could contact each other without being tracked.)
His mission as a Jujutsu sorcerer had been to take out any cursed spirits in Italy, as there'd been an increase that had only recently been caught (and he guess he knew why they were so secretive! The mafia!!). The thing was though was that he needed to build a person.
Because he was kind of born to be a sorcerer. Well, he was born into a clan. But also they sucked, so he did a big 'fuck you' and changed his name and dyed his hair. With piercings attached because why not go with the rebellious look? That meant however that he'd never been to school before. Well, normal school. He didn't know how normal people acted.
While they were recognized by the government, it was a better idea for him to get hands-on experience as his new identity for the next few years or so. Because Italy had been quiet about a lot of things that he needed to find an in somehow. But it also meant that he had a lot of freedom (realizing that he was a Cloud made a lot of things make more sense in hindsight), so he proceeded to join the circus, while secretly investigating around the dark places.
It was when he'd caught the attention of Checkerface that he probably should've ran, but he, admittedly, hadn't actually gotten anywhere.
That was when he'd found out about flames. Another whole secret society! (Years later, he would wonder how Geto-san would've treated it. His whole reason against 'monkeys' was because his friends were dying for what seemed like no reason. To suffer without cause, and that made him angry. But flame society was enriched in blood and sins. Would he hate them too?)
And surprise surprise, he could stand next to those considered the strongest. (Almost. With no actual knowledge whatsoever about the mafia, it made him a civilian. He wanted to laugh.)
He'd never reported it to the elders. For one, omertà, but also... He kind of didn't want to. Skull hadn't actually known anyone who really liked the elders, but what could you do? Besides, what he was here for was about the cursed spirits.
But considering dying will flames came from a regret upon or near death, and that people could be cursed by their regret, it made a lot of sense on why cursed spirits lingered here. Yet hidden deep in the shadows, not to be seen.
(In another world, they could've all been Jujutsu sorcerers. Competent ones too. He was curious about it. But the thing was, neither side had heard of each other, and that meant perhaps it simply wasn't possible to be able to have both. So how was he different? Maybe his desire for freedom, for independence had been so strong that it went against what was possible. Or perhaps fate was a thing, and he was simply destined to have cloud flames.)
During his time in the group, the chosen seven or whatever (look, he couldn't be bothered to remember the name!), he'd been careful to hide his skill. While his cursed energy worked well with his cloud flames (funnily enough, turns out his flames could multiply his cursed energy. ..Perhaps one day he could do enough to possibly rival Satoru-kouhai's, but it wasn't like he did anything intensive enough that it truly required that much, although it could possibly be able to do something with reversed cursed energy? And maybe his ability to use both stemmed from the fact that his amount of cursed energy was lower then a usual sorcerer's, and that was why it was so odd he ended up with a cursed technique regardless.), and it wasn't like he was being restricted from showing it to everyone (it wasn't like anyone would know if he told), but he at first absolutely detested everything to do with the mafia.
Being called the weakest and various other insults, while it chafed at him, was worth it. The last thing he wanted was to give the mafia news about a power source coming from humans. That'd only open up avenues for human experimentation. Even more so then usual.
But his sacrifices ended up for naught because he'd ended up cursed. Into a toddler! He couldn't even ride his motorcycle!
And for once his patience had snapped. The pacifier might as well have been a chain keeping him linked to the mafia world.
So he'd ended his mission (well, he was allowed to use his own judgement on whether or not his mission was over) early and jumped ship back to Japan. It wasn't like any of the other arcobaleno were willing to stick around either after what happened. After the betrayal.
Skull had grumpily informed the elders about the curse, and they'd done some research, inevitably coming up with stuff like..
"You haven't actually turned into a toddler. Think of it as your body having basically shortened your adult form down to handle the strain of the pacifier. You've noticed that you still have your strength, yes? Your cursed energy hasn't lessened, although using too much as your body is now might overwhelm it, and it's likely you could still use your cursed technique too."
And also, "Well we don't know. We've never encountered something like this before."
He still wasn't gonna tell them about flames, sure was unlucky he'd stumbled into some curse user right, whose technique casted an unknown on him and his party?
Haha..
Unluckily, he'd stumbled onto a certain someone while walking on the school grounds.
"Eh? Who's that? Wait, I know that purple hair!! And those piercings! Oh, the mighty Skull-sama!" Satoru-kouhai cheerfully teased.
He resignedly turned his head.
"You look so cute like that! Hey, hey, can you call me oniichan?"
"No!"
Next thing he knew, he was being cradled in the teen's arms. How humiliating...
"Pleasee? You're just so itty bitty!"
"Shut up! Are you recording me!?"
Satoru-kouhai cooed. "I can't help it! Ahh, Suguru needs to see this!"
"Noo! Satoru-kouhai, he'd laugh. He wouldn't even try to hide it!"
"Shouldn't that be senpai? I'm so much older then you now!"
"No you're not!"
"Then oniichan? Pretty pleasee?"
"Stop taking pictures!"
"This is it, I swear. You just look so adorable all puffed up like that, like an angry little chickling."
"Liar!"
"I won't let you go. I'm not afraid to keep you here from whatever mission you were on. You were gone for soo long!"
"Don't you mean kidnap me!? ..Am I a hostage now!?"
"Don't be silly. If oniichan is so bad then what's wrong with calling me your senpai?"
Because it really grates on other people's pride to be acknowledging their junior as someone with more experience. Or someone with higher authority.
Skull huffed. "Fine, Satoru-senpai."
"Yay! You think I could get permission to become your sensei when I inevitably - as much as I loathe so - become one?"
"Don't push it."
"Hai."
"Now lemme go!"