Chapter Text
Yuji cast aside his trepidation and shrugged off what little remained of his uniform. He had insisted on keeping it on, but there really wasn’t anything left to salvage. All he had now was the red hoodie he had been using in lieu of the customized uniform with the hood. Even that was any better. He let it flutter to the ground. It was that moment of distraction that Sukuna struck.
His arm, tight with muscles, didn’t express just how strong he was. With a strike of his arm to Yuji’s shoulder, he sent Yuji out into the valley. Not down, but across.
Yuji’s head spun, trying to orient himself, trying to think---
Too late.
Sukuna was above him and before Yuji could properly parry, Sukuna punched him so hard, it stopped Yuji’s momentum horizontally and sent him shooting down to the earth. He saved a bit of himself with cursed energy. He didn’t wait for Sukuna, instead, shooting off into the forest, his mind racing.
He couldn’t face him head on, but he couldn’t just run. He had to--
Several trees above him groaned and fell, their trunks sliced cleanly in half. Yuji leapt up through them, landing atop them. Having been forced to be visible, Yuji turned in time to catch a blow from Sukuna, palms meeting fists. They stood face-to-face, both eyes wide, one manic, another shaken.
Sukuna was laughing, something Yuji hadn’t heard in a bit. “I told you I’d rip you apart.”
“You haven’t finished teaching me,” Yuji ground out. Sukuna was pushing against him, forcing Yuji to give ground, the tree trunks cracking and splintering beneath their strength. Yuji’s muscles threatened to split. “Is this all you have to show for yourself?”
Sukuna laughed, the sound coming from deep within him. “You know very well I can just take you apart and put you back together again however many times I want. So, put some real curse behind it!” He released his fists only to grab Yuji’s wrists and throw him like a rag doll.
But Yuji has gotten used to fighting on the back foot.
He caught Sukuna’s blow right before it broke his skull, but it didn’t stop himself from flying back from the force. He broke through the canopy, landing on his feet, earth overturning with his landing. He dodged as soon as Sukuna appeared. No luck. He ate the hit then swung back. Sukuna evaded easily as fluid as water and as raging as fire.
To an unskilled viewer, it would appear that Sukuna was on the defense, but he was just toying with him, reading his blows and side-stepping.
He’s been watching me, Yuji realized. All this time, he was actually watching. Analyzing. Dissecting every piece of his movements. Yuji gritted his teeth before quickly catching himself. He couldn’t let himself slip.
He brought his arms up to block a punch only for Sukuna to pivot and slam his ribs in with a side kick. Yuji stumbled. Sukuna grabbed his collar and yanked him in, their foreheads clashing together. Sukuna’s bloody eyes bore into him just as much as his grin.
“Keep going, brat. I have a surprise waiting for you,” he whispered before he released Yuji’s sweatshirt and landed a kick in his gut. Yuji slid back, tasting blood in his mouth, but he just glared at Sukuna.
“Yeah?” he said, spiting out blood. “Well, I’m not in the mood.”
“Oh, you will be.”
Yuji didn’t know how long it went on. Yuji relied on his strength and skills the most, but when it came to Sukuna, brute force couldn’t do it alone. When his body began to go numb from all the hits, he fell back on his tenacity and pain tolerance. But when even that began to waver, he knew he had to give some ground.
As he ran, Sukuna’s laugh echoed through the forest, trees felled with a single gesture. Sukuna had yet to use his technique on Yuji. Whether it was a slight against Yuji, it didn’t matter. It was what was keeping him alive. But, Sukuna made sure that the threat of it was always present. One wrong move, he could end Yuji. Instead, he made do with letting trees fall on Yuji.
Quite suddenly, Yuji found himself on a road. Not a pathway, but a proper paved road. Before he could comprehend anything more, Sukuna appeared at the edge of the road.
“Are you in the mood now?” he asked.
“Sukuna,” Yuji began but Sukuna had already released a kick that Yuji blocked with both his arms right before it slammed into his skull. He glared at Sukuna as he refused to let Sukuna's kick fully land. Sukuna's strike was an unrelenting pressure on Yuji's arms. “Don’t do it,” he hissed.
Sukuna’s expression was light, amused. “I’m getting a little tired of you telling me what to do. Besides . . .” He dropped his leg, instantly spin kicking him on the other side. Yuji caught it, but not well enough, the kick sending him straight down the road. He caught himself by his hands, the skin tearing off his palms. “It’s going to be your body crushing their homes.”
With that, Sukuna shot off towards the village.
Yuji kicked off right after, the deterioration of his body forgotten. As soon as they appeared at the first house, Sukuna whirled around, grabbed Yuji’s arm and hurled him towards it. Yuji crashed through the wall, straight into the home. He barely registered the breaking furniture or even the people until they screamed.
Yuji quickly pushed to his knees. “Go!” A child came running back for a barking dog. “Tell everyone---”
He was slammed into the wall, his body creating a crater. Sukuna had his hand over his mouth and jaw, threatening to break it. He wasn’t smiling so much anymore.
“When will you realize that you are holding yourself back?” he hissed. His hand began pressing in even further. Yuji strained against it, but he knew Sukuna would have no qualms about tearing it off. “For what? Your humanity? You think that if you don’t fight like me, you won’t become me? Domains, techniques, energy, it is all fueled by rage and greed! What will it take for you to evolve?” There was a brief pause. “Do you want me to destroy this village? Hm? Maybe slaughter all your friends?”
Yuji tried to cry out from beneath Sukuna’s hand. His entire body was trembling. In an effort to break free or through simple fear, he gripped Sukuna’s arms. With a sudden surge of anger, Yuji tore Sukuna’s arm away and swung a punch. He missed, but he didn’t stop, feeling as if he were gone and a raging body remained. His fist slammed into the floorboards, the wood caving in, as Sukuna deflected his punch.
“Is your hatred not enough?” Sukuna taunted. “Do you need more bodies in order to see the true nature of the world?”
Junpei and all the other transfigured humans flashed through his mind. He gritted his teeth and threw a punch. The patchwork curse appeared before him, and it broke what little reserve he had.
Though Sukuna remained two steps ahead, Yuji grew faster and faster. Every time Yuji fell behind or didn’t catch Sukuna fast enough, Sukuna grabbed one of the fleeing villagers and threw them, broke them, anything that would rile Yuji. Yuji did his best to catch them without losing sight of Sukuna. Still, the destruction spiraled out of control. Sukuna was a natural disaster and this was just his playground.
A truth hit him so hard, he almost staggered to a stop. If he kept stopping to save these people, he would never catch up to Sukuna and all that meant was these few lives would mean a hundred more. He knelt on the ground, a half-conscious woman in his arms, blood seeping from her brow. His vision blurred.
“I’m sorry,” he whispered.
Slowly, he got up and walked to the nearest patch of grass and laid the woman down. She was already dead. He closed his eyes, sending her soul a prayer. More cries came from down the street. Yuji turned, inhaled, then shot off.
Yuji took the anger that had been spiraling through his head and pulled it to the back of his mind. There was a time to mourn and pity himself but now was not the time. He couldn’t be ruled by emotion when in combat. It put everyone, including himself, in danger. Now, he understood better than ever. He was tired of losing. Inside or outside battle, he needed to do what it took to win. No matter the cost.
Toss aside your humanity, he thought, the voice inside his head sounding like him, yet not at the same time. To save others, he had to give a part of himself away. He already had. When he had gone with Sukuna. When he had taken another finger, another offering, he had given more of himself away. To Sukuna. To curses. He was cursed. It was time he stopped acting like he wasn't.
By the time he caught up to Sukuna, he already had two middle schoolers by the neck. Yuji didn’t cry out. He just clenched his fist, cursed energy exploding from it, never slowing down. Sukuna didn’t even look at him, so confident that he would dodge or stop him. At the last minute, Sukuna stepped back, normally too fast for Yuji to realize he had missed, but this time Yuji took advantage of their vicinity and counter-attacked quicker than he had ever before.
Then it happened. For the first time since he had left his friends behind and given himself up, he finally felt a sense of triumph as his fist landed straight against Sukuna’s right cheekbone. Strong enough to shatter the skull of a human, but just enough to get Sukuna to stagger two steps. Yuji should have taken that chance to close in and land more blows, but he was too shocked to think. Sukuna had dropped the two students who fell to the ground, crying. One of them finally got the courage to get her friend up and escape. Sukuna held his jaw, his mouth obscured. He was staring at the ground ahead. Yuji’s exhilaration and shock quickly plummeted. What if--
Sukuna turned to face him and with a flick of his finger, Yuji felt a searing hot pain cut across his neck. He immediately grabbed it with both hands as if he could catch his blood and shove it back in. He staggered forward, head spinning. He tumbled into Sukuna without meaning to. It was a vain attempt to remain upright. To clutch the closest thing to him. His bloody hand clutched the pure white of Sukuna’s kimono. The crimson spread as Yuji’s hand gradually fell. He slowly sunk to the ground before finally tipping over and onto his back.
There was smoke in the sky, marring the already dreary expanse. Screams and the crack of flames filled his ears, but all of that faded away as his eyes shifted to meet Sukuna’s. The cold indifference on his face sent a shudder through him. But with that shudder came a small smile of satisfaction. Because within that indifference, he knew he saw something else. Something human. A flicker of something Yuji could not name, and he knew it was because of him.
***
Sukuna dragged the brat by his hood to the nearest house. He sat down at the edge of the engawa, crossing his legs, dropping the brat beside him. His eyes were fixed on the ceiling, unseeing. Humans truly were so fragile. A shallow cut and they were clinging onto life only to die an uneventful death. Sukuna watched him, searching for the feeling of satisfaction. He couldn’t find it. Instead, he felt an odd tension in his chest. An anticipation. A nervousness.
The brat is meant to die by his hand, but that death was meant to be more glorious. Not for the brat, but for Sukuna. To end the brat’s life was meant to be a triumph, the destruction of a creature that had taken too much of Sukuna’s time and thoughts. He had put too much effort into this brat for it to end like this. That was what he was feeling, he told himself. Disappointment.
“Defeat me?” Sukuna muttered. “Can’t even dodge a small cut.”
Sukuna stared a while longer. In the background, the pandemonium he had created---no, they had created--went on. Shouting, running, car horns, screaming, and the occasional roof finally giving out. Sukuna the needle and the brat the helpless thread following after.
Sukuna took in the brat’s soft pink hair, so like his own that it annoyed him. Just like how he had been treating training with Uraume lightly. Always knowing that by the next morning Sukuna would have healed him. He needed to know his place. To remember their vow.
Well, it wasn’t a vow, a little voice conjectured. You can kill him at any time.
Sukuna reached out, tracing a pointed nail along the split across the brat’s skin as his hand wrapped around his neck. He pressed his thumb on the wound, more blood spilling out, as if he wanted to understand what dwelled under the brat's skin. He imagined reaching in through the opening and pulling out whatever it was that made the brat . . . him. There was a fire in there that Sukuna wanted to snuff out. A fire he wanted to control and wield like a blade. A fire he wanted to raze the whole world down. It felt right to have the brat’s blood running over his hand. Beneath his touch, he felt the pulse give out. The brat’s life was literally in his hands. It was as he promised. He would be the one to kill him and the one to save him. He was his maker and destroyer.
Sukuna put more pressure on the neck, covering the wound. The bleeding stopped. He removed the hand as someone stepped through the gate.
“Long time no see, Sukuna,” the stranger said as they stepped up to the gate.
Sukuna smirked. “Hello, Kenjaku.”
**
The last time Sukuna had spoken to Kenjaku had been more than 1,000 years ago. He was the last person he spoke to before he gave himself up to death. So, he had kept his promise then.
“I see you’re having a little fun,” Kenjaku said, now donned in the body of a Buddhist monk. His thin eyes were settled on the brat, not the pandemonium behind him. Sukuna had healed him, but the blood was still pooled in the hollow of his throat, smeared around his neck and spreading out around his head like a halo. Sukuna’s own hand was covered with the same blood. Sukuna rubbed his thumb against his fingers as if engraining the blood in the grooves of his fingers. He shook his hand, dismissing the brief gesture.
“I can say the same to you. How long have you been wearing that body?”
“A little more than a year or so.”
“And who were you before that?” Sukuna drawled, resting his elbows on his folded knees. He didn’t really care but Kenjaku was a twisted cursed user that even Sukuna found sickening.
“This boy’s mother.”
Sukuna let out a short laugh. “You really are disturbed.” He raised a knee. The noise beyond the stone walls of the house had died down, though he still felt a troubled energy. “How did you find me? Through your little offspring?”
“No. I remained nearby once Uraume went to join you.”
Sukuna’s brow twitched in annoyance. Sukuna had sensed them of course despite how far away they had been. The brat had even seen Kenjaku, but hadn’t registered it. But Uraume hadn’t told Sukuna that it was their doing. “So, what brings you here?” Sukuna asked, less amused.
Kenjaku smiled that sly smile. It hadn’t changed since then. Always a slithering, conniving creature. “I am holding an event on October 31st in Shibuya. A beginning of sorts. I think you’d enjoy being there.”
A smile slowly spread over his mouth. “It has been a while since I’ve had some true fun.” He looked down at the brat who had slowly begun to breathe again. “We’ll be there.”