Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

“What, have you done…Itadori?” Toji cautiously questioned, voice ever hiding his blunt disgust. He's never felt so repulsed by what one man could do to achieve something like that goal. His docked tail alert to the max extent. This man didn't care about breeding ethics for his own kind. morality was the color of onyx to Jin but it took so long to realize.

“I wanted a son. Nothing more, nor less.” He simply replied. The infant in Itadori's hands was a mutt, it was more of a mixed mutt than Toji himself, he wasn't supposed to be alive even if it was allowed due to being mixed animals with the same code. So why does one try to play God with another soul that should never exist? That Ti-liger should have been stopped at conception. He observed as their tail swayed, Jin's groomed striped ears twitched with joy- He had to swallow down the bile his stomach was begging to release.

 The child looked ordinary, locs were a soft rosey pink as its father, sound in its sleep, doesn't seem to have any visible disabilities that thwart him in life. That's not the issue for him. How will this child live life knowing he was never meant to live long? Would that fate of his mother due to her biological collapse not long back would also happen to him if not handled properly? He was the only sane person witness to protocols cracking- crumbling from a sole birth.

 Law was too slow, ethics watchful shards were blindfolded. Why would a tiger breed with a liger knowing how fundamentally different they were? This mingling was not just a bio anomaly- it was a significant breach of natural order. Both knew, one didn't care.

Two different chromosomes, two different species even if from the same feline group, are on opposite podiums. So why would they cross over. instability disguised as what remains of passion, devotion, loyalty to another.

"He's 3 weeks old now, would you like to hold him?" He asks. It made his face slightly scrunch and waver at once. All he could do was shake his head, no. He doesn't want to hold a broken reflection of what a lost man can create, it'd feel so wrong.

The concept of cradling a being that represented the insanity of man and humanity was too much for him to bear. “If I held that kid…I wouldn't know what to do.” His voice tries to stand tall, but it scratches similar to a replayed record.

Toji realized that a man he viewed at one of his own, created the dark age of biology using his devotion to a woman. If that child gets out- life would be akin to a purgatory for them both. The world felt like it shifted axis once again that day- but it seemed like it was just for him.

“What is his name?” Toji quietly asked.

 “Itadori, Itadori Yuuji.” Jin replied, a sense of pride in that accomplishment was evident.

Chapter Text

Toji is not insane to think that the private; Itadori, who is only 15 months into this place before he was sent to America alongside him for a stagnation swap, is the reason he is paranoid, right? All of this started after those somehow still pristine glasses made their way to the foot of his boot when he stumbled on his first week.

He found a letter that has his name on it, and it doesn't look fully official. The off-white envelope looks professional down to the way it was sealed-- as if it was meant to be sent overseas back to Japan where very few of the units family lived but it was specifically addressed to him. He does not recognize the handwriting from anyone, but it was written in his original dialect.

Although he has been a military veteran for 19 years and seen stuff beyond what the average white collar person would see through the trials… he has never been more anxious in his life than at that very moment, but he kept his face as still as stone once he heard a familiar voice call out to him snapping him out of the dreading haze.

“Sargent Fushiguro.” 

"why are you in the Senior quarters? Itadori." he asked. Only sparing a glance over the shoulder covered in a cameo coat before picking up the letter and bawling it up to discard its wrinkled remains in the nearby trashcan. All he heard was a hum of surprise by the supposed newcomer after that action.

“Did you not read it? It was written personally?” Itadori couldn't hide that he seemed slightly offended by the swift action. He leaned on the door frame, body language feigning disappointment.

“Private, if you do not exit the quarters, you will be facing disciplinary action along with extra training hours. I'm letting you off lightly”

Who was he kidding, he's going to make this guy’s experience hell for a week by entering a restricted area like he belonged here, it is mandatory to learn right from wrong after all. That letter is it's own thing he'd prefer to be ignored.

He doesn't know how he even managed to slip past the others to place it there...

Chapter Text

He gradually extended his arm to the Itadori, receiving only a look that could be described as uncertainty. “Bite.” He commanded, “You need to taste again.” Watching Jin refuse something so vital to his being irked him; he didn't put up a fight. Instead, he put his arm back down to let it relax once more.

"You're not mine; I need Kaori," he said, voice mellow and hurt. Still in mourning, Jin's mouth rawly recalls the savory flavor her claret provided. The main reason why he's rejecting the offer handed to him with an open palm. 

The taste of apricots is the only one he’s enjoyed for the nearly decade of time they spent together. “She's been gone for a while now. You look like a dead man already,” Toji remarked, wrong timing he knew that but-

 He's half right. 

Shallow bags under his eyes as if he hasn't slept in days; his wrist looks mildly thinner than on the last visit. “Have you eaten anything at all after the funeral?” He didn't get a response; that told him all he needed to know. It was a prolonged suicide in his eyes. 

The magnolia petals on the countertop are still fresh, slightly rotted, but have their vibrant pigments. The infant was clean and dozed off in the bassinet inside while his own baby slept in his very lap.

“I don't know what I am—” Toji admits, “I don't know if I'll be sweet, sour, or nasty like how she was… But you can't function without taste; nobody can, and you aren't different from the rest of us even if human meat is its own thing.”