"Three months... IS SUCH A LONG DAMN TIME!" you shouted, throwing most of your belongings into the luggage bag.

You sighed after putting a good amount of clothing and your immediate belongings into the luggage, closing the zipper shut as you prepared to leave.

"Gojo-sensei is gonna kill me once he comes back from his mission abroad..." you muttered under your breath before putting on your glasses and preparing to leave.

Three months... If you calculated correctly, that's about a month before the Kyoto Goodwill event. At the very least, you'd still be able to attend your first exchange. But that time you'll have to spend with the clan, alone, without the people you were familiar with.

Where were they anyway? You at least wanted to bid your farewell before being gone for three months. They might still be in class, probably were already informed that you were suspended.

Principal Yaga already informed you almost immediately after you returned to campus that you were to be suspended because of hitting the Clan Head. He did say he wouldn't get pleased if I hit him again. It was a fair move to do so despite the warning, but an unfair consequence came with that decision. Nonetheless, you didn't regret hitting him before having to go under his filthy rule.

If you get back on campus instead of immediately heading out like what Principal Yaga instructed, would you get in trouble again? Worst case scenario, your suspension might be extended long enough to be excluded from the Goodwill Event. You were looking forward to the exchange event, therefore you wouldn't want to risk it.

You just had to bear with it. Three months would be nothing if you made it worth your while. You never know, maybe staying at the clan estate won't be as bad as you thought it to be.

So finally you decided. You were to head immediately back to the apartment where everything started.

_____________________

You arrived in front of the apartment you lived in throughout most of your life. Gojo had taken you here once you turned six. And to be completely honest, even you didn't know the exact reason. All you could understand was that your mother handed you for Gojo to take on your birthday, and you willingly went without a clue.

You were told you would live there alone, but you didn't mind during that time. It wasn't like you weren't already lonely in your mother's house. Yes, she was there, but you barely ever interacted. It was like you coexisted with her and her daughter, only seeing each other during meals.

It was lonely, but you didn't exactly mind. That loneliness changed a little though when Gojo brought you to the apartment. Though you were alone most of the time, Gojo was sure to bring Megumi and Tsumiki at least once a week, which gave you company more than staying with your mother every day did.

But you couldn't exactly call the apartment home. It lacked something, a lot of things, that made it difficult to call home. But this was the closest you were given until you entered Jujutsu high.

You entered the apartment, admiring how everything was exactly how you left it when you left. You went inside your room, then after tossing your luggage on the floor, you threw yourself on your bed and stared thoughtlessly on the ceiling.

That's right, you were joining the clan. Only now was it starting to sink in. Heiji Hitomi said tomorrow. Did that mean he'd pick you up?

Before you knew it, your thinking has brought you to sleep.

_____________________

You woke up the next day to a loud and harsh banging heard from the front door.

Your heart dropped, your instincts making you rise abruptly while rubbing your eyes. You ran towards the door, opening it to see someone familiar.

"Tsk, didn't father tell you you were supposed to be picked up at seven in the morning? I've been knocking for quite a while now and you don't even look prepared." You looked up at Haruto Hitomi, accidentally looking at him directly since you forgot to wear glasses in your rush towards the door.

"Ah, I'm sorry. Wait for a while.." You closed the door at him, running to get changed and prepare to leave. After trying your best to dress and prepare as fast as you can, you went back outside, greeting a very irritated Haruto.

"I'm sorry for being late. I wasn't informed about any set schedule in the first place." You bowed a little at him in respect. He let out an annoyed sigh.

"Well, whatever. Let's just go." And with that, you tagged behind him and started what seemed like an endless trip.

First, you entered a cab and traveled to a bullet train station. Then, a very long and silent ride started. He didn't like talking, and you gave no effort to spark any sort of conversation since he seemed to dislike your presence and it resonated throughout his entirety. You might just get attacked with comebacks every time you opened your mouth.

You thought you understood why he acted this way though. After all, from the way his father spoke to you, it sounded like you were the only one he planned on naming head. And for Haruto, this meant being disregarded as a successor of his own father.

You did have one question you wanted to ask though. "Uhm..." You started to speak, catching his attention and making him look towards you with alert hazel eyes. "What is it?" he said, his voice venomously lacey with a little disgust.

"Where exactly is the clan estate?" He took in a breath just as you asked the question, making it seem like it took all his patience just to speak to you. "Kyoto." he didn't say anything any further, making it his final word towards you throughout the whole train ride.

____________________

After being guided out of the train, you took another cab that led you to a more rural part of Kyoto, a little similar to Jujutsu High.

And once the cab came to a halt, you followed Haruto's lead and followed where he was headed, dragging your luggage bag with you.

You halted once he did, standing beside him in front of a mossy-stone wall.

"I'm feeling a little lazy today, so you just open it for us." He said, yawning as we continued to stand in front of a blank stone wall.

"Er... There's not exactly a door..." You say the obvious, making him groan in annoyance.

"Sometimes, you should try using your brain. And eyes."

Eyes huh. Eyes...

"Oooooh... I see." You said, lifting your glasses and focusing on the wall right in front of you.

It split open after a few seconds of you awkwardly staring at the wall, making Haruto nod in response before entering the estate.

"If you don't have cursed eyes, how do you enter?" you asked him. If you remembered correctly, only you and the head clan, Heiji Hitomi, were wielders of cursed sight within the Hitomi Clan.

"We cast a spell that's exclusively taught to clan members only. We change it once a week or whenever we find it necessary. A little risky, but we have guards at the front of the house as well so safety's not really that much of a worry." He pointed at the guards before the entrance of the estate, standing in front of the arch that led to a pathway inside the house.

To your surprise, he answered politely without any hint of annoyance this time. Was he perhaps just really moody?

You entered the house, passing through people wearing formal kimonos, fans in front of their faces covering their mouths as they whispered amongst themselves. Haruto just guided you, his face passive and blank.

He slid a tatami door open and entered the room, waiting for you to follow. You came to a halt in front of Heiji Hitomi, who was seated on the floor, in the center of the room.

After taking a seat in front of Heiji and beside Haruto, Haruto bowed a little in place. You looked at him with a little frown on your face, before he shoved your head down to bow with him.

"Rule 1: Respect." He muttered before letting go of your head and straightening his back up again.

"Looks like the two of you are getting along well," Heiji said, sarcasm hinted in his voice while the two of us just looked at him with a blank expression.

"Let's get down to business, shall we? First, Haruto will show [y/n] to the maid and give her a room to stay in while her suspension is ongoing."

Haruto eyed you from the side with the smallest frown on his face, while you merely closed your eyes in anger while biting your lip in frustration at the mention of your suspension.

"Second, once [y/n] has settled, she will immediately sign her contract with the clan. And third, Haruto will be in charge of training [y/n]. He will be given full authority to schedule your day and tell you what to do, as long as it concerns training you and your curse technique."

_____________________

After the brief amount of time in front of the head, Haruto, as instructed by his father, sent you to a maid. The maid gave you a brief tour around the estate before finally giving you a room. It bothered you a little how a lot of people, presumably clan members themselves, were almost following you as if watching your every move.

They were probably gossiping among themselves about clan shenanigans, maybe about how you shouldn't be the assigned successor to their clan, or maybe how Haruto failed to be both a son and successor to the clan. it was honestly a little disheartening, whichever gossip they were talking about.

But this only made you question Haruto. He would be receiving do much hate about not being the successor, and you expected him to be against the idea of you just walking into their clan and taking what should be his. When you recalled, he too wanted you to enter the clan and claimed to make sure that you certainly will now that his father was the head clan, and now that you were studying. But for what?

_______________________

After settling in the room they let you borrow, you looked around the house in search of the training garden that Haruto assign as a meeting spot. They were not wasting any time and immediately wanted to start training you and your technique.

Once you finally found it, you saw Haruto standing right in the middle, already waiting for your arrival.

"Took you long enough."

The afternoon sun was hot, making the exposed part of your skin a little red from the heat, but thankfully, a relatively huge part of this training ground was covered by the shade of the trees.

"Sorry," you muttered a response.

He observed you from head to toe before letting out a tired sigh.

"This is like getting a level one character while already having level thirties in your team..." He said silently, but it did not go unheard by your ears. "What can you do?" he asked.

"Uh... I use a bow... and I have cursed eyes...?" you answered unsurely. He sighed again.

"Use it. Your eyes, I mean."

You looked at him reluctantly before bringing your glasses up and staring at him.

To your surprise, he wasn't affected. He brought a hand up to his chin while staring at your eyes, continuing to observe. You were shocked since you've never encountered anyone in your life that was able to resist your cursed sight.

You once tried it on Gojo, and even he was affected. But since he was so powerful, the cursed energy he emitted made it a little difficult to hold him in, and his natural speed was also difficult to control under your sight. Still, he was affected by your sight, and it slowed him down just a little, enough for you to land a single punch on him. Achievement unlocked, to say the least.

"You're not affected?" You asked, eyes widening and frowning in confusion.

"No, I'm not." He said with a small smirk, probably feeling a sense of achievement from seeing your shocked face. But his small smirk drowned shortly after.

"It's nothing so special though. Even you could probably learn how. Of course, I'm required to teach you." He explained. You brought down your glasses and listened to him as h explained more.

"Your eyes are weak. Father can control how much cursed energy he emits from his sight. Usually, he settles for a strength level similar to yours right now on average. But when he gets serious enough, he can make his sigh boost accordingly to whoever his opponent is. You on the other hand can't control it yet or even pass the average curse you put into your sight. Also, I think you're very slow." He finished explaining.

"Slow in what way?" You asked politely, looking at him with a serious face.

"Physically. Because of the ability of the cursed sight to make other being's movements slow, cursed sigh users, and the Hitomi clan in general, usually practice heightened speed. It becomes a great advantage when you can both slow down movements and be excellently fast at the same time. You, on the other hand, are only of average speed, therefore slow."

You were grateful he's going through all his way to explain in detail what you lack. it was really helpful that a Hitomi himself was teaching you about techniques, since Gojo, although he trained you enough to make you capable, doesn't go in detail enough for you to understand what you should really be doing.

"You understand? So in your training under me, we'll be enhancing the power of your sight, as well as your speed. Ah, I can't train you in terms of archery since I'm a polearm user, but we can focus on that later. I might know someone who could help you in that matter later on. Hm... do you perhaps know how to wield a different weapon?"

"Uh, I was briefly taught how to use a naginata when Maki trained me. I'm not good at it though." You answered honestly, earning another sigh from him.

"Maki Zenin? Mhm, as you know she's skilled in weaponry. She has my respect. Shame she doesn't have cursed energy." To your surprise, he didn't look down on Maki. Was it because he related? But given his initial personality when you first met him in Tokyo, he didn't sound like someone who would openly respect someone's strength.

He caught your expression of surprise, making him let out a huff of laughter. "Unlike most of all clan members in this society, I actually acknowledge and respect people when I think they deserve respect."

"Anyway, that's all. I'll plan a routine today, so we start tomorrow. Please do wake up early in the morning." he announced before turning his back to leave.

"Wait!" He looked at you with a raised brow.

"What is it?" he replied with a frown.

"Can I ask you something?"

"Ask away I guess."

"Did you know? That truth was, the head clan wasn't against taking me in, since I was an outsider, but because there was a contract?"

He paused before answering.

"I was only informed recently as well. I still don't understand why my father lied to me. Well, it's not like it matters whatever the reason is. They probably just settled with that reason so that my pride won't get hurt as the supposed successor of the clan." He let out an empty chuckle.

"And yet, you're willingly training me. And you even agreed it would be the best for the clan to take me in. But that means you won't become head. Why?"

He sighed, closing his eyes before opening them to answer you.

"Why? If you happen to eavesdrop on my conversation with Hikari that day, then you would know that I wanted to take you in for the betterment of the clan. If father and all our other ancestors believed that only people with cursed sight can inherit the throne, then so be it. As long as the clan would thrive with that decision, I couldn't ask for more. It would be great if I was head, but sucks to be me, I guess. I at the very least, did my duty as the son of the head, as a member of the clan, and as a jujutsu sorcerer."

You looked at him with shining, wide brown eyes. It's not every day you meet a clan member whose priority is order and duty rather than power.

"Haruto-senpai... Since when were you this nice?"

"What's with the sudden respect? Did you think I was a bad person? Most people say I'm pretty nice, you know." He replied a pout on his face was evident.

"I never thought I'd meet a clan member with such pure intentions... You really have passion for serving the clan. When I become clan leader, can I make you the head then?" You asked.

"Father wouldn't be happy if he happens to hear that. And, I refuse. If you make me a clan member, people will only look at me as someone pitied to become head. I want to be respected, even if that means not being the head of the Hitomi clan."

"But what if I really think you'd be a better leader?"

He paused and thought about it for a moment.

"Oh shut up. See you tomorrow." And with that, he walked away from the garden, off to a different part of the estate.

Maybe joining the clan wasn't as bad as you expected it to be.

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a/n: these recent chapters i wrote are experiencing inumaki drought but ok :*) you guys were a little spoiled during the first few anyway... sorry if there are any grammatical errors, i was half awake when i proof read this. also im sorry for uploading off schedule T_T i just wanted to take a short break last week