2 Family

*****

Yuuka has a grandfather, only a grandfather and a questionable set of dead parents. Her grandpa does not mention them much, all Yuuka knows about them is that they are dead and apparently Yuuka's parents. The secrecy didn't bother Yuuka before she recollected the memories of her adult self, and even now, the mystery behind them does not bother Yuuka. Maybe a bit curious but that's about it, she's just content that she doesn't have to pretend to still be the same child to more people. 

Anyways, Yuuka has a grandfather.

One that is surly, grumpy and grouchy. Those three words were synonymous yes, but how else would she describe him?

But there's one other thing to describe Grandpa Itadori though. 

Itadori Wasuke is a certified tsundere.

That's right, you heard it from Yuuka. Her Grandpa is a cutie patootie tsun-tsun, he's all stern faced and pursed lips but if Yuuka so much as wobbles her lips and gets shiny eyed, the old man would fold like a wet towel.

Of course, this does not work all the time. Itadori Wasuke is also a firm believer of tough love and does not spoil his one and only granddaughter too much so she won't cultivate into a brat.

He is raising Yuuka in the standard Asian style but without the heavy expectations of return investments when Yuuka becomes an adult. To her delight – and the old Yuuka's tears – the verbal karate is still there because the old man is in the firm belief of early exposure to harsh reality.

But still, he can be really sweet in his own grumpy way. 

"Look Gramps! I got a perfect score in Math, Science and PE! Sensei said I'm one of her STAR pupils so she gave me STARS!" Yuuka jumped up and down like the hyped up kid with sugar high that she is, showing off her test papers and the star stamps on her spindly arms.

Parents, students, teachers and randos alike watched her exuberant display, some even cooing at her enthusiasm like she was a puppy that's doing something adorably stupid. Yuuka pays them no mind, her eyes only focused on her grandfather with a disgruntled expression.

But Yuuka knows it is nothing but a front. She can hear it, the sound of his not hiding how he adores and takes pride with his granddaughter.

See? Ain't her Gramps such a tsun-tsun?

"Stop that!" Wasuke admonishes and Yuuka stops jumping yet her whole body vibrates, still waving her papers around enthusiastically.

Sighing, the old man takes the paper from her hands with a grumble and starts scanning the result, after a while, he lowers his hand down and looks down at her still practically sparkling face.

A face that says 'COMPLIMENT ME!' with drawn out glitters and pretty pink flowers that appeared out of nowhere.

Slowly, Wasuke's face morphs into a grimace that he tries to pass off as a smile, with them being near the school gates with lots of people milling around, it doesn't surprise Yuuka at her grandfather's failure. But still at least he tried! That's the fact of the matter and Yuuka's love and adoration for this man had never changed since Skull's memories resurfaced. If anything, it bolstered it to greater heights.

She had always loved her family from every life that she lived, may it be through blood, adoption, or a found one. These bonds kept her sane over the centuries, and as a powerful Sky of the most terrifying degree, familial bonds are sacred to her. So sacred that it drove her to insanity centuries ago, a lifetime ago where she ruled as a tyrant hellbent on revenge after the death of her wife and her children over a political movement.

That sacredness remained the same for her, despite the agony of having to part with her loved ones because of her inability to follow them in death. But because of that, Yuuka cherishes them even more since her time with them is limited. She never really learned how to detach herself when it comes to familial bonds, but she did try, oh dear she did. But it all ended in more misery on her part and pain for the departed.

Yuuka never tried that again, one lesson is enough for her to learn.

Why fight something as inevitable as loving someone as a family? It just happens without any prompt or knowing, it just clicks and the bond is formed and the love is already there. Being an immortal is lonely, and lonesomeness can lead to insanity, plus Great Skies like Yuuka can't deal with being unconnected in any way.

Skies are social creatures after all, even the ones who were introverts or the rare ones who were anthropophobic, they too can never resist the allure of a bond. They might as well self combust if left alone.

So yeah, Yuuka loves her grandfather very much even with the memories of Skull, she loves him even more now for knowing and feeling how much he loves her in return.

As a Sky, she has the privilege of being intimate to another person's emotions.

The heart of a person cannot lie. 

And Yuuka is a very strong Sky, a very ancient and a very Great one. She had suspicions that the Vongola line might have come from hers, but it's a suspicion she never bothered to investigate because she can feel her blood sing when she was near cute little Tsuna and to his many times grandpa Giotto when the man was still alive. Yuuka is extremely attuned to everything around her, to the wind, to the trees, to the grass, to the people. She had lived a long life of always knowing the world around her. Yuuka had never lived in a world devoid of sound, sight, scent, sensation and taste.

Yuuka felt it all, all at once all the time. Sensory overload is a thing of the past, her whole self had adjusted in taking different information and stimuli.

(Her body now had adjusted somewhat, as soon as the memories of Skull reappeared. Yuuka's young body had to struggle at first at the strain of everything around her, of being hyperaware all the time. But since Yuka's body is still young, she only had to adjust her flame sensing accordingly and now her body is adjusting at the increments of flame levels she has flowing in her veins.

To another, it might seem impossible and unheard of, but Dying Will Flames are Dying Will Flames for a reason, it's all about her strength of will and her own centuries of experience.)

All of her fine tuned senses can tell how much Wasuke loves Yuuka to a terrifying degree and seemed to be hiding her away from something.

Love is a nebulous concept that connects people to each other, why fight an emotion that would just hurt even more in the end if repressed. Yuuka has long learned that to be truly free, she has to let her heart decide what it wants to love and care for.

And so as soon as she first laid her eyes on her grumpy Grandpa Wasuke, she had already decided to love him in her full capacity, looming death behind the man notwithstanding.

Why should she be afraid to love when she's not afraid of Death? Why spend all that time regretting when she can seize the moment with her loved ones?

Yuuka had experienced the song and dance to how this should go and it doesn't get any better everytime. She just learned to appreciate them more and not take them for granted, remember how it is to love and be loved by them. Regrets are chains of the heart, and Yuuka is not someone to let her heart tie her down.

A warm hand ruffles her short hair roughly and briefly, proud mahogany eyes looking at her with adoration and love.

"Keep it up brat, but don't get too full of yourself."

Yuuka lit up even more, a smile rivaling the sun for its brightness carving itself to her sweet face.

"You betcha, Jiji!"

With her small hand, she grabbed Wasuke's in a tight grip that belied her frame. The old man doesn't let go.

"Stop smiling so much, you'd look more of an idiot than you already are." Wasuke grumbled, frowning as he started walking to their shared home.

Yuuka pretended that she hadn't heard him.

"Can we get ice cream on the way!"

Her old man didn't say anything but veered to the left, decidedly not the way to home but the direction of the recently opened ice cream parlor that sold cutesy cat-themed sundaes.

Fuck, she loves this old man.

Yuuka will be very sad when she sees him go.

But for now, she'll cherish all the time she has with him.

Yuuka grinned, "I love you Jiji~" She singsonged.

The old man scoffed, pointedly looking straight ahead but that only gave her a clear view of his red ears.

"Stop being embarrassing."

Yuuka giggled, her gramps is just sooo cute!

"Okay~" She said with a careless wave of her hand, immediately incinerating the huge disgusting brown blob that tried to stick to her grandpa with a flare of pure Sky.

It all went unnoticed by everyone in the vicinity like they seem to usually do, invisible to their civilian eyes.

The tenseness at her Gramps shoulder disappeared and he walked with his back straighter and with purpose.

Gosh, it seems Yuuka has to do more spring cleaning when she gets back, she does not want Wasuke getting sick anytime soon.

*****

A Sneakpeek into the future~

The uglier blobs are fighting over something, trying to keep ahold of something for themselves while the smaller ones watch on from a distance.

The something they were fighting over has Yuuka's full attention. The aura of it just screamed malevolence and evil™ that her whole body can't help but break into hives.

Yuuka decided then and there that she would have that for herself, so without hesitation, she threw her preteen body into the fray, uncaring to whatever monster blobs she tramples in her haste.

*****

"So you're telling me, that you ate my finger because you want to see how your body reacts to it?" 

Yuuka blinked owlishly, "Pretty much, yeah. Though I didn't expect a free bodymate to come with it."

"...Bodymate?"

"You know? Like a roommate, but instead of a room we now share a body."

*****

"W-What is this?" Disbelief and awe is clear on the curse's voice, then he proceeds to shove more of the meat into his mouth followed by a generous heap of rice.

Yuuka sat smugly at the throne of bones, smirking to herself as the curse controlling her body glut himself with her food.

"That, my friend, is hamburger steak, made by yours truly. And it's my own recipe too." Yuuka bets her whole lifetime that the curse had never had anything like it before, especially with him being sealed for centuries in crusty talisman papers.

"For a crazy old hag," Sukuna wipes his greasy mouth with the provided napkin on the table. "You sure do know how to cook."

Yuuka rolled her eyes at her rude bodymate.

Well two can play at that game.

"And for a brat who had been sealed by pieces of paper for centuries by mortals, you sure do know how to judge great cooking."

And no mortals, Yuuka is not insulting you, she's praising your ingenuity for sealing a being with pieces of plant life.

Before the man could roar in anger, Yuuka had already switched with him and calmly continued to eat her interrupted lunch.

Ah young men, and their pride, so easy to tease.

"FUCKING HAG! COME DOWN HERE AND FIGHT ME!"