-

Tamaki opened his eyes and at an instant, recognizes the roof above him. He looks at his left and sees his alarm clock with Suki resting right next to it.

'Was it all a dream?'

He got up immediately to look for clues but suddenly, a howl slips out of his mouth when he feels a surging pain coursing through his pain and everywhere down to his hips.

He looks down and gasped at the sight of bandages wrapped around his abdomen. He was allowed enough for his rescuers to catch curiosity and entered the room.

There were three people right in front of him. A sturdy man in shades with a woman beside him. She looked like a doctor, and had brown hair and purple eyeshadow under her eyelids.

Then there was...

"D-Dad?"

"Oh Tamaki.." His eyebrows drop its intensity and his whole body was trembling over the sight of his son conscious and back to his senses. He rushed towards his side and the girl to the other.

But he didn't let him get near him. Tamaki literally pushed him away the moment he came up to him and tried to put a hand over his.

"S-Son?"

"No, you don't get to be the worried parent after leaving for me all alone for many days! What kind of father does something like that?!"

"Tamaki, I-"

"What, you're sorry? Well sorry ain't going to cut it, you jerk. You keep making fucking excuses and never tell me what's going on." He looks at the doctor and the other strange man.

"And you, who the heck are you guys?"

The man in the shades looks shocked and turns to Haru.

"You mean you never told him?" He asked and the man sighs at his friend.

"No, I thought it would be the best. I didn't want my own son worrying for me."

"Shit." This was going to be a long story then.

"Allow me to introduce myself, Tamaki. The names Yaga, Principal Yaga for those who go to Jujutsu high."

"And I'm Ieri Shoko." The doctor waves with a small smile. "Your father called us over for help when he found you in that alley. What were you thinking? You do know that place is plagued with curses, right?"

'How the heck was I supposed to know?' He mumbled internally but then he gasped once more. Jujutsu High.

As in the school Maki left to attend to. After Shoko heals him, he launches up from the bed looking at Yaga closely.

"J-Jujutsu high? So does Maki attend?"

"You know the Zenin girl?" He asked out loud and then looked at his friend. "I thought you said you didn't tell him about the Jujutsu world or anything in general."

"I didn't, but the girl and him, well, they met."

"She's my friend!" Tamaki exclaims. "She left many days ago and is she okay? How is she doing?" He did not care about his injuries anymore.

"Well.." The man scratches his beard. "The girl is capable and strong without the use of curse energy. Our teacher, Gojo Satoru has been training her and I would say she's doing fairly well."

He slumps back to his bed with a smile on his face.

"Heh, she's really doing it." He says with a proud expression. "That's just like her. Maki, she's the best!"

"Yes, well, I ought to let your dad explain his side of the story. But I have a proposition for you, Tamaki."

"What is it?" He asked and turns to look at him, his full attention towards him.

"We didn't get to see that fight you had last night but I must say, I'm impressed. You obliterated a curse spirit almost reaching to a special grade. All in one blow. That's something most novice sorcerers can do...

But then again, you are the son of the swift sorcerer."

"Swift Sorcerer?" He then laughs at the title. He looks at his dad and points at him,

"What kind of name is that? Pleaseee tell me you didn't come up with it."

His father scoffs,

"Ha, like I'd ever. It's what the Zenin family called me in all my days of training their kind."

"Ugh, can't believe you hang out with those people. Don't you know they disowned Maki and treat her like crap? All because she doesn't have curse energy. That's cruel!"

"Even so, those are the ones I owe my life too." The man looks down to his feet and Tamaki looks at him, a bit surprised by the answer.

"Y-You mean, they raised you?"

"Yep, the Zenin clan took him in after rescuing him at a young age." Yaga continued for Hara. He then smiles and puts a hand on his shoulder.

"And then years later, me and your father, your mother were the first years trio! The best of friends."

Haru smirks,

"Heh, I miss those simpler times."

Yaga puts a thumbs up towards Tamaki with a grin,

"So I guess I'm your Uncle Yaga!"

He's amazed at first but then a frown appears, because all along his father kept a secret about it all. He wish he met Yaga before and everyone from Jujutsu high.

'Why did he have to keep these things from me?!'

"But as I was saying!" Yaga chimed. "I think you, Tamaki Hatsumi, would be perfect as a Jujutsu sorcerer."

"You really think so?" He exclaimed along. His heart jumped at the comment and it began to race when he realized he can see Maki again if he agrees to his terms.

"That won't happen." Yaga, Shoko and Tamaki turn their heads at Haru who watched with crossed arms. He had a serious face on,

"Tamaki, you won't become a sorcerer. I won't let you."

"What He raised his voice at his dad and was clearly upset by his decision. "I'm fifteen years old and I can do whatever I want."

"That's why I'm saying no. You're fifteen, Tamaki. A boy like should go to school, not risk their lives killing spirits."

"NO!" Tamaki shouts at his dad and the two friends nearby him were stunned. "You don't get to make that decision for me! Especially since you've been absent for a long time. you don't get to come back and pretend to do it for my own sake-"

"Tamaki Hatsumi, do you have any clue what I've been doing?!"

The boy rolls his eyes at him,

"Nothing noble, that's for sure. All you've been doing is drinking around and going around with that girlfriend of yours, who by the way, never has a name cause you never tell me who she is!"

The man sighs and looks at Yaga and Shoko.

"Can I please have a moment with my son?" The two nod and walk outside to the hallway.

"Girl? I didn't know Hatsumi was seeing someone." Shoko whispered as they walked down the stairs. Yaga simply scoffed.

"Seeing, dating. Honestly, I don't know what it is. Mei Mei said it's just a fling but who knows honestly."

--

"Son, I need to explain right from the beginning."

"You better." Tamaki narrows his eyes, leaning against the bed.

"Tamaki, you know your mother's parents but you never got meet mine.

Well, they weren't good people."

Haru Hatsumi can imagine himself as a five year old, waiting out in the rain as he parents drank and insert drugs into their veins in the living room couch. He begged them as a young boy to stop, but they pushed him outside.

They left him in the cold, all alone.

The rain became more erratic and so young Haru decided to look for shelter elsewhere. He went out to the public streets and went somewhere he shouldn't have gone.

But yet, he was so happy he did. Cause when a curse spirit found him late at night, a Zenin on duty saved him in the nick of time. Oga Zenin, a much younger version turned to see the young boy on the floor, whimpering and crying about the spirit.

"You can see it?" The main member of the Zenin clan asked, tilting his head at the boy before sheathing his sword to the side. The boy gulps and the man bends down to look at the boy.

"You have many bruises, boy."

"They're not from the spirit.." He softly says.. "My mama and papa gave them to me last night."

Oga felt chills down to his spine and without a second thought, he scooped the boy in his arms. The boy did not relent.

"You're special, aren't you?" Oga asked, noting the way he perceived the spirits and then, there's this curse energy looming in his body. He can feel it.

The rest was history. Haru was taken under wing by few of the Zenin members, in hope to raise him to be a prominent member. He became a prodigy and was learning so fast compared to anyone else.

But when it was the time to change his surname, he stopped it.

He went on his knees in front of Oga who took care of him for years.

"I don't deserve it, sir."

"Oh? And why's that?"

"I still need to perfect my skills. And also, ever since you saved me that day from that bad life, all I ever want to do is repay you to the day you day. So please, let me become a retainer of some sort and serve the Zenin family instead."

The man rises from his seat, pulling Haru up from his feet.

"Very well. You will be an honorable retainer to us, Haru Hatsumi."

---

"So you were just his lap dog then?" Tamaki asked and Haru sighs so tiredly.

"Tamaki, he saved me. He gave me a life full of comfort and health, I didn't deserve to live in that druggie house with your grandparents."

"I mean..you have a point." He still shakes his head over it. He despised the Zenin clan and he can't believe his dad works for them.

"Well, what about mom? How'd you meet her?" He asked him. "Since the whole detectives background is all a lie."

"Your mother was a talented sorcerer. I fell in love with her in my first year and she was my everything, but then..."

His hands began to shake and his eyes turned sorrowful, a memory flashed before his eyes. A memory where his wife, his lover screamed and cried out his name before she was extinguished with powerful flames.

The one eye spirit grinning and laughing as she screams in pain and Haru can only watch so helplessly, crying for her before she was no more.

"S-She was killed by a special grade spirit. When we dropped you off to her parents house, it's because we got a late call that a spirit was creating havoc somewhere near...

Haru's tears began to form. He chokes,

"I-I-I couldn't save her!" He looks down once more. "I was so fuckin weak and I had to see all of that!"

It traumatized him after that, so much so he felt he could not care for his own son. He felt worthless before his own son called him that.

"Tamaki, I know I said it so many times but I'm sorry! I'm sorry I wasn't true to you and I lied several times! But I never lied that I did it to protect YOU!" He exclaims, rambling like a mad man as Tamaki watches shocked.

He grabs a chunk of his hair, breathing out heavily.

"I felt I could not face you. To tell you the truth, but also that's also why I don't want you to become a sorcerer."

Tamaki gently smiles to his dad as he sobs to his lap. His hand reaches for him.

"Hey.." He calls out and his dad looks at him with tears and snot in his nose.

"It's not your fault, it never was. But dad, we only had each other and i just wish you spoke to me more. Even if you felt guilty, I would have never judged you."

"Really?" He asked.

"Yes, of course. Dad, I love you, you know.." His father gasped out of happiness, rubbing the tears away. He tried to be tough but damn, the emotions got to him.

"But dad, I get to make that decision. As much as you're afraid, you have to let me go. I want to become a sorcerer."

"Why?" His dad asked. "At least give me a good reason."

He sighs and almost lets out a grin,

"Because I really hate school and honestly, if I'm going to make some change it'll be there."

He then continues,

"But also, regardless what you think of her,

I need to see her again. I need to see Maki."

He sighed at that,

"Why do you like her so much?"

"I don't just like her, dad. I...love her."

His dad nearly gagged when he heard his son said that. He cringed at how instantly fawned he was with Maki Zenin.

"Son, you don't know what love really is."

"No, I do." He affirms, thinking of the times they had together. He looks at his dad, so serious.

"And I'm going to prove it to you, because you're going to train me as a sorcerer. Give it all you got towards me."

An eyebrow arches at that,

"Can you really handle it?"

"Yes." He says so confidently. He doesn't stutter and shoots back a determined look.

"Son, you know it takes years for someone to perfect themselves a sorcerer right? But under my training, three weeks of pain will occur but the results will be worth it. That is, if you're up to the task."

"Hell yeah, I am. Where do we start?" He asked and Suki jumps on his lap, ready for their mission.

"Ah Suki, still obedient as ever-" Haru smiles at the cat who simply blinks at him. The Shikigami of Haru had always been strange. She never wanted to leave or vanish in thin air until she was ordered to come out. She always followed Haru as a kid and yearned to be at his side.

The truth is, Haru witnessed Tamaki's power at a young age. At the age of three, the boy was sleeping and him and his wife watched him sleep peacefully.

But suddenly, blue aura appears around his body and shoots out a strange shape transfiguring into something.

Into Suki.

Tamaki was able to conjure shikigamis in his sleep, but the truth us, he was indecisive and never knew who'd be his loyal pet until Suki was created.

"Very well then.." Haru finally gives in. He gets up on his chair,

"Meet me over at Kyoto tomorrow morning. There we will train."

"Kyoto? Um, shouldn't we go to the one at Tokyo?"

Also, that's where Maki is at.

"Soon, son. Please, be patient. I know you want to see her but Kyoto school has the best underground training facility compared to the other school. It's a state of the art dome that allows you to stay isolated for those three weeks, forcing you to become stronger. It's brutal but hey, you asked for it."

Tamaki pouts,

"Fine, I'll meet you there. Just send me the directions."

The next morning,

Tamaki woke up with an ambition visage and went to brush his teeth and fixed up his hair and face. He looks at his closet and pulls a hanger with a giant bag covering specific uniform within it.

He unzips the bag and it reveals jujutsu uniform. All navy blue, close to black. He put the jacket on that went above his waist but his waist line was covered still by the white button down shirt underneath. He had pants that matched it all.

He took a deep breath before bringing his two swords across the hip. Suki jumped on his shoulder and the two took off.

He gives one final look at the house before heading to his destination.

His father was waiting for him at the underground dome and even though, he gave directions, he was lost. The Kyoto campus was grand and what's worse, he could not find anyone around.

Well, almost that is, until-

"Hey cutie, you lost?"

He nearly shrieked from the sudden voice behind him and he turns to look at the girl looking over him with a flirtatious smile. The short hair girl cocks her head, looking at him.

"So, you lost?" She asked once more.

He looked at her for a brief second, a bit distracted by her face and similar features.

'Okay, she looks wayyy too familiar.'

"I-uhm." He coughs to clear his throat. "Well, yeah, kinda. I'm looking for the underground dome." He points at the map of the Kyoto campus and she comes close, looking at it.

"Oh yeah! That's definitely where the administration building is at. It's in one of those rooms and it leads it downstairs."