三一

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SOLITUDE

Yachiru trudged her way through the barren landscape of Jigoku; sand easily creeping its way into her sandals. It was an uncomfortable feeling, and she found herself intermittently taking them off to shake out the gathering haul. From what she knew, Jigoku comprised of four layers. The top layer, where she was, and the final layer; where the most cruel and rotten of cursed spirits resided. Yachiru first had to locate a specific spirit on the top layer, in order to find out more about the tantō.

Yet, it was much easier said than done. She was beginning to grow impatient. There was nothing to see for miles, except for the odd rotting tree every so often. It felt as though she was going in circles, and the task seemed truly indefinite.

Yachiru sighed, she was growing tired.

She wasn't worn out from travelling — no, she was tired of waiting. Life was currently filled with such uncertainty; she could not see an end to this entire ordeal. It had been around two weeks since Gojo was sealed, yet it felt like forever. She thought she would be used to it, but nothing could rid her soul of the crushing weight that was doubt.

Doubt that told her it was over, that the situation had gotten too out of hand to expect any sort of happy ending. Yes, there would be major losses. There was little anyone could do to prevent this; sacrifices would have to be made to achieve the higher goal.

It wasn't fair, she would say. Why had they been put in this situation? Her fingers would occasionally curl into fists in anger. She wondered what this type of emotion was called, rage and sadness combined.

Yachiru was possessed by anguish. She was suffering, yet there was no one to relieve her of such feelings. No, she was the adult in this situation; one of the only remaining adults that those kids could rely on for help.

But she needed someone too. She had gone through just as much, for a moment, she wanted to give up.

The unpredictable nature of the situation left her not knowing what might happen next, something that left her with great discomfort.

She wondered for a moment if she was being punished. It seemed like everything around her started to crumble when she had entered the land of the living, and while she knew it wasn't her fault, she couldn't help but experience a guilty conscience.

'Stop feeling sorry for yourself. You're driving me insane.' Izanami bit, not wanting to deal with such a pathetic attitude.

"Whatever. Didn't you say Ema-ō would be around here?" She asked, becoming impatient with the old spirit. Izanami had told her a while back that the overseer of Jigoku, Ema-ō, would be roaming around on the first layer. She would have to first consult with him on the whereabouts of the tantō before continuing.

'He has to present himself to you. This is usually where curses come to be judged, so naturally he is quite busy.'

"Okay well he needs to HURRY UP!" She yelled the latter part of her sentence, listening as her voice began to echo out into the vast distance.

"This place is so depressing."

"Depressing? I wonder why...(?)" An unfamiliar voice came from behind her, making the hairs on the back of her neck stand to attention.

How did he get so close without her noticing?

She whipped her body round in a delayed response, facing who she could only assume to be the very man she was looking for.

Her heart thumped in her ears, her widened eyes begging her to close them at the man before her. His appearance alone made her blood run cold; he was about twenty times the size of her, his body covered from head to toe in red imperial armour. What made him even scarier, was the fact that he could move without making the slightest of noise.

But she could kill him if she needed to, right?

'No, no you can't kill him. Stupid.'

In any other situation, Yachiru would gladly tell her to shut up. She gulped down, looking up at the intimidating spirit.

"My name is Yachiru. I am a Shinigami." She introduced herself, not wanting to risk offending him by cutting straight to the point.

After a few moments of silence, Ema-ō responded, "I see, it is not often Shinigami venture down here."

His voice was not what she expected, and provoked a complete reversal in her attitude.

She teared up. Her mouth curled into an uncontrollable grin, her laughter threatening to burst out at any moments notice. She turned away, biting down on her tongue in a desperate attempt to relieve herself.

"Haha yeah... I'm looking for something important. Would you be able to point me in the right direction perhaps?" Yachiru scratched the back of her neck, dreading his eventual response. She wasn't sure if she would be able to take it.

"It depends on what it is." His voice returned once again. It was shrill yet gleeful. It sounded like he was a very large baby who could speak in full sentences.

Her cheeks inflated with laughs that risked explosion at any moment, and she once again bit her tongue.

"I am in search of a cursed object. It is the tantō knife that has the ability to destroy any barrier or seal." She pulled herself together, bowing her head slightly.

"And why is it that you are in search of such an item?"

"To save the life of a human who has been sealed within the prison realm."

He chuckled gruffly, "I will tell you the location of the tool, but it seems you are obtusely unaware it's nature."

"Could you explain?"

"It is called Taberu-ha, and using it comes at a cost. Taberu-ha rapidly eats away at the spiritual energy of the person wielding it."

"That is fine. I accept the risks. Please tell me where to find it." She needed to remove herself from this conversation as soon as possible, she was reaching her limit.

"The tantō is sealed inside of a specific tree on the third level. You will need to first pass through the second level — where the least harmful, non-intelligent cursed spirits reside. There is an old red maple tree to the far east from where you will fall, if you are dedicated; walk until you find the tree. Once you reach it, open a door to the third level and head south-west, there will be an identical red maple tree. A word of warning, the third level contains grades one and two cursed spirits." He explained well enough.

"Thank you, how do I get down?" She chirped, turning away slightly to hide her growing smirk.

"The same way you got here."

Yachiru felt dumb for even asking — surely it was quite obvious. She gave Ema-ō her sincere thanks before slicing the ground and jumping down.

Landing on the first tree in her line of fall was very convenient — or so she thought. as she balanced on the tip of a branch, it was apparent to her that this place was covered by a thick fog.

Before anything, she collapsed laughing. She fell all the way into the undergrowth and rolled around on the floor for two minutes, unable to stop herself from reliving that hilarious experience only moments ago.

It was the first time she had laughed in weeks. A much needed piece of comic relief.

She would once again pull herself together, climbing back up to the tree line and remembering Ema-ō's words.

"North East." She looked out in that direction, lowering herself down into the tree and jumping from branch to branch.

Minutes seemed to turn into hours as she continued to run along the undergrowth. She made her way back to the tree top again, squinting in the direction of the North East to see if she could see even a spell of colour yet.

She knitted her eyebrows together in frustration — just how long would she need to keep running to reach this tree? Knowing the endless size of Jikogu made her unconfident, yet she continued on.

Oh-so suddenly, her ears pricked up.

She could sense something odd in the air, but as she whipped her head around to see what might be behind her — the thick fog only served to obscure her vision.

After another hour of running, Yachiru was certain she was being followed. There was a consistent level of cursed energy that lingered no more than one hundred and fifty metres behind her, and she was considering when might be the right time to confront her stalker.

'It seems Kenjaku really does have everything figured out. He's even predicted the moves of the Shinigami woman.' The spirit thought to itself, maintaining their distance as they slowly watched Yachiru walk towards the distinctive tree.

"Isn't it pretty, Izanami?" Yachiru asked rhetorically, knowing Izanami would most likely enjoy the view offered by the weeping red tree. As she stuck her sword into the ground to rip it open, Izanami spoke back to her.

'Confront them once you reach the third layer. It's risky, but I'd like to see for myself how they're passing through each layer.' As far as the pair knew, they had first began being followed midway through their journey on the second level. Hours had passed since then, and not once had this spirit approached them.

Yachiru nodded, jumping through the void and into the third layer.

It was very different. The first and second layers had two major discrepancies; this layer was void of all fog, and there were certainly more cursed and vengeful spirits roaming around in this section. There was also a similarity, between the two layers.

Both obscured vision to quite a debilitating extent; this layer was extremely dark, with only a small amount of warm light emanating from the ground.

The sudden change in temperature — from cold to hot — prompted Yachiru to free her arms and torso the first layer of her Shinigami uniform. Being a Shinigami who primarily uses fire based techniques meant that she was used to the heat, and perhaps this would come to play in her favour. Yachiru began moving once again, wanting to get a safe distance away from her current position so she could catch a glimpse of the person following her.

She wondered who it might be, she was certain she recognised the cursed energy from somewhere. Although, she had a feeling it was not someone she knew particularly well; she had gotten good at being able to tell apart distinctive types of spirit pressure. This puzzled her even further, and eventually her mind lead her to a rather convincing theory.

Her movements came to a halt once she reached the shadowed tree-line, waiting for her apprehender to make an appearance. Soon enough, she watched as a figure stepped through what appeared to be a portal. Both herself and Izanami were puzzled; it was impossible for curses to willingly enter and leave Jigoku.

Or maybe that's just what they thought.

Her eyes squinted in skepticism at what was taking place before her, trying their hardest to make out the appearance of the spirit amongst the dark — but they were too far away, and it was too dark. The light coming from the floor was too dim for her to make out anything other than their general shape; she would have to wait for them to come closer.

She waited, watching them as they looked around. If they were following her — could they perhaps know of her motives? She supposed it didn't really matter, it's not like they'd be able to disturb her plans.

Right?

A/N:Next few chapters will be out quickly because I don't want to bore anyone by excluding the main cast of JJK.

I've already predicted what will happen to Gojo and if it happens (i hope it does sorry guyz) then let's just say it will be very *beneficial* for this story...

Thanks for sticking around guys ^_^