Chapter Text
Growing up, Nobara had always loved the story of Cinderella. She had dreams of a handsome prince sweeping her away from her small town, taking her to a to a life of luxury, a life of happiness. She would often play pretend with Saori, imagining Saori as a prince from a far away land. With Saori as prince charming, the fantasy of being swept away didn't seem as far. Sadly, as all good things do, Nobara's time with Saori came to an end. Her prince charming was forced from the small town, taking Nobara's status as a princess with her. The clock had struck midnight on her fantasy, and there was no glass slipper left behind. Instead, what was left was more like an evil step mother; the insatiable lust for more. More than this small town, more than her small self. Eventually she got more, a life of exorcising small town curses, but it still wasn't enough.
When she was older, Nobara read the original story of Cinderella and realized how foolish her dream of being swept away was. Dreams didn't come true without blood being spilled, the true Cinderella knew this, Nobara learned this as a budding sorcerer. In order to find her prince charming, in order to get the more she desperately desired, Nobara had to spill the blood of her home-town and leave. There was only one place for her to go; Tokyo, where her original prince charming was from. There would be more for her there, more sights, more smells, more tastes, and certainly more curses. Bigger curses. The thought made her feel excited, her satisfaction was a train ticket and a rental lease away. So she asked, begged, pleaded for her grandmother to recommend her to Tokyo Metropolitan Curse Technical College. A month later she was on her way, leaving shaved heels and cut toes behind.
Arriving in Tokyo allowed her to fully realize just how much she had been missing in her home-town. The transition was almost too much with the noise and the crowd. The city had a life of its own. Nobara shoved the unease deep down, listening to her new teacher prattle on about Tokyo and some building they had to exorcize before they left for the mountains. Nobara's first exorcism in the city was simple really. The only real difficulty in it was working with Itadori. The pink haired, puppy eyed boy was new to exorcising curses, and she was stuck with him. He was hopelessly optimistic which was a painful contrast to Megumi, who was much darker in both hair and demeanor. Thankfully Itadoru wasn't useless, the pair exorcising the curse quickly in order to get back to the others.
Life proceeded on like this for about a week, life was a grand ball of minor curses and victories. It was enough for Nobara at the time, her desire just barely sated. Life was a grand ball of not so grand curses, and thats how it stayed until the detention center. "Run and don't come back," that's what Itadori had told Megumi and her. Run through the curses back to the lentils and ashes, run so you'd live to meet your prince. What else could she do? So she ran, she ran until Megumi's demon dog found her, until they dragged each other back to Ichiji. She ran to their carriage and cursed her own name for being so damn weak. As the rain fell, so too did her hopes of her fellow first years coming back. "You're only a first year," Ichiji spoke softly, his eyes remorseful, "no one expected you to succeed." The words bit into her, the feeling washing over her being colder than the rain. How could she be a sorcerer if she was dead in the water when she ran out of nails? How could she be a princess when blood filled her shoes, overflowing with every step. These thoughts were only amplified by Megumi's lonely return, the cold feeling in Nobara's chest becoming arctic as he explained what happened. "He's gone, higher upside will probably take the body soon..." the words hung dead in the air, as dead as their friend. No, not friend; their classmate. "Lets go home," Nobara tried not to choke on the words, "We'll catch a cold if we stay here."
Hours, it had been hours, almost a day even. It had been a day since Itadori had died, so why did it still hurt? People die all the time from the curses, what made Yuuji different? It didn't matter, shouldn't matter, so why did his smile still haunt her as she and Megumi sat in sunlight that cloaked the schools steps? Her thoughts were interrupted by footsteps, ringing clearly against the cobblestone path. Before the two first years stood a boy with snow white hair and a panda that towered over him. "Yo, I'm Panda," the voice almost matched the bear perfectly, though he seemed a touch too soft spoken. "This is Inumaki." The bear gestured to the white haired boy, said boy's mouth being covered by his uniform jacket. Inumaki gave a peacesign and a simple "Tuna Mayo" in response. They were admittedly not the weirdest thing Nobara had seen all week. That title belonged to the all too chipper smile on Gojo's face; like one of his students hadn't been announced dead 6 hours before. Her thoughts had fogged her hearing over, muffling Megumi and the two new peoples voices until a new one cut through the daze. "You two look like someone died, cheer up a bit." The voice snapped Nobara from her stupor, brown eyes flicking up to find the owner. What Nobara saw brought her childhood dreams rushing to the front of her memory. Dark hair, hazel eyes, and a relaxed grin greeted Nobara. If prince charming was real, he took the form of the woman before her.
"Zenin... someone did die..." Panda probed nervously, watching as the dark haired woman's face contourted with worry. "You could have told me! And what did I tell you about that Zenin bullshit !? Call me Maki!" Zenin, no, Maki punctuated this statement with a punch to Panda's furry shoulder. "Now I look like an ass..."
"Well you are heartless-" Panda stated this in a rather factual manner.
"Salmon Roe," Inumaki nodded in agreement.
The three continued to squabble like this for around five minutes before Mefumi cleared his throat. The three paused their argument to turn and to turn and face the first years. Inumaki had an almost sorry look in his eyes and Maki returned to her previous confident smirk. "You guys should come with us to the field, we're going to be training the two of you."
Prince charming was too hasty of an assumption to be made, thats what Nobara thought as Maki ordered Panda to swing the orange haired sorcerer by her ankles. At the very least, the blood rushing to Nobara's head stopped her from thinking. Pink hair and a friendly smile couldn't plague her while she was spinning, just motion sickness. Nobara kept at this for hours, spinning like a princess at a ball as furry paws gripped her ankles, only releasing their grip to allow the princess to attack. They trained like this for days, one of the second years putting their underclassmen through hell only to stop at sundown. Nobara could only feel the burn of her muscles and the shortness of her own breath. No pain, no sorry, not until she stopped.
"You've been slowing down lately, you need to take a break." The sun was setting as Maki said those words, bathing Nobara and her in a cozy golden light. "I'm not slowing down, you're just faster that I am." Nobara spat the words out quickly, not thinking about how poor of an excuse it was. Maki gave a calm look before placing a hand on Nobara's shoulder. It was warm, the gentle but firm kind of touch you couldn't help but kean into. "You need rest, you can't get stronger without it. Especially if you randomly collapse on me." Hazel eyes pierced dark brown as Mami spoke. "You can even come to my down if you want. Either way you should take a break." The words hung in the air as the older of two walked away, leaving Nobara's mind to wander back to an offer and a gentle touch.
'You can even come to my dorm in you want. Either way you should take a break.' The words kept floating around Nobara's head, repeating over and over as the clock struck 12. It was getting late; she should be asleep, resting like she was asked to by Maki. Instead she was locked in an internal debate, arguing with herself over some stupid offer. Her younger self would have bounded over like a lost puppy at such an offer, especially one made by someone as handsome as Maki. But then again, the green haired students looks had nothing to do with it did it? Then again, the world had a habit of treating lost puppies the same way it had treated Yuuji. A painful death after a glimmer of hope was all that awaited people like him. Tears welled in Nobara's eyes at thought of the rosey haired boy, her throat closing as her mind shut down. Nobara's feet handled the rest, carrying her body off on a path her eyes couldn't process. She landed in front of a solid door, the plaque reading 'Maki Zenin'. Body trembling, Nobara raised Hans Hans knocked three times, the knocks ringing put into the hall around her as she awaited the opening of the second year's door.