That's What Senpai's Are For

[Third Person's PoV]

Yuji enhanced himself in curse energy and ran straight towards the creatures that Mahito released.

When Yuji appeared right in front of them he went to punch it and stop it from advancing but froze when he saw that they looked like little kids.

Before he could think of doing anything else the little creature's eyes started to water and tears streamed down their faces.

"Kill us please… end our suffering… we don't want to live anymore" They managed to groan before returning to making mindless Zombie noises.

Yuji bit his lip till it bled, his eyes started to water before nodding his head, wanting to fulfill their wish and end their misery.

Yuji steeled his heart and did what was necessary. He tried to make it as painless as possible.

When he was finished he stood surrounded by their corpses, he gritted his teeth and clenched his fist. His nails started digging into his palm until blood started dripping down to the ground.

He took a deep breath to calm down and told himself what Shoko told him previously, "They were already dead… I was helping them" Yuji repeated, as if trying to hypnotize himself.

When he calmed down he looked towards Nanami's direction, expecting to see him holding his own against Nanami.

Instead what he saw almost made his heart skip a beat with worry, Nanami was nowhere to be seen, all there was a black dome.

Yuji then remembered the lessons Ash taught him and what he saw when Gojo fought the volcano curse, "A domain"

He said to himself before using his previous anger and grief of what he just experienced and surrounded himself with his curse energy.

Yuji shot himself towards the domain leaving behind a spider-web design on the ground due to the force and strength he used to propel himself.

He drew his fist back before throwing an underhanded punch which used his running momentum and force. His punch ended up breaking a hole on Mahito's domain and as he entered his eyes widened in shock.

"NANAMI!!!" Yuji cried when he saw Nanami missing an arm and leg laying on the ground with blood spilling out of him.

A large gash wound appeared on Mahito's body causing blood to splash out of him making him grow weak.

He was brought to his knees as blood continued to pour down from his mouth, he looked up and saw Sukuna looking down on him.

With another swipe from Sukuna's finger all four of Mahito's limbs were severed, taking him by surprise as he plopped to the ground with a thud.

Mahito quickly dispelled his domain to stop Sukuna from attacking him again.

Yuji stood by Nanami's body without an expression on his face, Yuji's curse energy then started to rampant as he slowly turned his head to look at Mahito's.

Mahito's survival instinct triggered when he saw Yuji's two dark orbs looking at him.

Mahito, although weakened, quickly tried to stop the bleeding and regrow his limbs.

As Mahito stood up he looked up towards Yuji and saw him already in front of him with his fist already cocked back.

Yuji punched Mahito in the face so hard that his face caved in and completely tore off his jaw, sending him flying back crashing into the school building.

Yuji slowly started walking towards Mahito with his curse energy leaking out as he is currently unable to control his anger.

"I'll kill you" was all Yuji said as he arrived in front of Mahito's body.

Although Mahito didn't have a move, Yuji could tell he was smiling at him, almost as if he was making fun of him.

But before Yuji could do anything, Mahito started growing in size that could almost reach the top of the school roof.

Yuji took a step back and narrowed his eyes ready to run towards Nanami and protect his body when he exploded.

Mahito's body then popped as if it was a balloon pop causing Yuji to run towards Nanami but stopped when he realized that Mahito didn't actually explode.

When he looked back he saw a tiny version of Mahito jump down into a drain, escaping. Yuji wanted to go after Mahito but Nanami's well-being was more important.

With a sigh Yuji turned back and was surprised to see Ash sitting down before Nanami's body with Junpei perfectly fine on the floor asleep.

As Ash was using his flames to heal Nanami he didn't say anything and just continued.

"So you were here the entire time?" Yuji asked with a shock expression, which he figured out seeing Ash healing Nanami.

The more Yuji thought about it, the angrier he started to become, "Wait since you were watching everything to begin then you saw what Mahito did to those little kids and since you healed Junpei… You could have helped those children too."

Yuji's fist tightened as his expression did the same, "You were watching this whole time and didn't do anything to help!?! You had the ability to help them but you stood there watching everything!?!?!" The more Yuji kept talking the higher his voice got.

"Yuji… shut up" Ash coldly said.

Which took Yuji completely by surprise as he never heard Ash talk like that. He noticed Ash's expression and his tightened fist and realized there was more to it.

"Why didn't you help them?" Yuji managed to whisper out while lowering his head.

Causing Ash to sigh, "They didn't want it"

"That's it!!" Yuji yelled looking up towards Ash, causing him to look at Yuji a bit coldly before it quickly melted as he really couldn't stay mad at Yuji due to Yuji's nature.

With another sigh Ash started to explain, "Yuji… not everyone wants help, that is something you need to learn. To them death is their resting place where they are at peace. Me healing them and bringing them back to life would be cruel, they would have to live with the memory of the trauma for their lives.

They themselves said that they wanted to die… if anyone one of them pleaded to be rescued and safe I would have jumped at the first opportunity to help them.

As a Phoenix I am someone that has a close relationship with life and death, thanks to that I learn that sometimes being dead is better than staying alive, sometimes life is too much that the only way to find peace is to find death.

So to answer your question, I did help, I helped them by doing nothing and letting them experience peace, my feelings on the matter nothing…"

Yuji lowered his head once again, "then what about Mahito? Why didn't you stop him?, your strong I know that with a snap of a finger you could have killed him"

"And how would you have felt about it, If I did just that?" Ash retorted back.

Hearing this Yuji thought about then looked at Junpei and at Nanami before lowering his head once again, "Unsatisfied…"

To which Ash nodded his head, "There's your answer, Yuji this isn't my fight… it's yours. This is your journey, this is something you have to experience in order to grow stronger. If I did everything for you, you would grow at all."

Yuji said when he heard that and realized what Ash meant, he lowered his head in a bow, "I'm sorry… and thank you for looking out for me Senpai"

Ash just looked at Yuji and smiled, "That's what senpai's are for, am I right? You don't have to apologize or say thank you"

Ash stood up, put Nanami's body over his shoulder and patted Yuji's shoulder, "Come on grab Junpei. I have things to do" he said with a smile before opening a flame portal and walking through it.

Which Yuji did as well will carrying Junpei in a princess carry…