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There are moments like these, from time to time, where the clarity from years ago breaches his mind and he finds himself drowning in the nonsensical world he's been swallowed by. The room around him is suddenly strange and the collar around his neck becomes a ball and chain.
The understanding that this isn't right, comes upon him and he can do nothing but look in the mirror.
Yuuji sighs, he frowns at the glass. The person that looks back at him is someone he doesn't recognize.
The years were unkind to him, but it doesn't show on his face. His scars remain, testaments to his will, but they're clean, silver things now, like the embroidery on fine cloth.
Instead he is softer, his hard lines shaped into something that, though sturdy, does not carry the roughness of his teenage years. His clothes are beautiful, traditional things that speak of wealth and his hair is soft and clean.
The bags under his eyes and the curse blood on his skin do little to change his appearance from that of an omega pet.
Tamed.
His hands clench to fists. His jaw flexes in the mirror as his teeth grind in a rage that's slithered about under his skin for years now.
At least the fire in his eyes hasn't left.
The shoji door opens. Yuuji doesn't turn, but he watches the area behind him from his mirror.
Sukuna steps into sight.
In these moments of clarity, Yuuji can't help but compare Sukuna to the visage he wore when he solely resided in Yuuji's head. He's so much bigger now than when he took Yuuji's form. Where once he had looked like a devil king sitting in his throne of skulls, he now looks every inch a malevolent God.
Yuuji knows he's neither. Half curse though he may be, Sukuna is only a man.
Large arms wrap around him from behind. Compared to Sukuna's hulking form, Yuuji is tiny. The top of his head barely reaches the bottom of the curse's chest. And so Sukuna envelopes him. He leans down from behind, his lower set of arms holding Yuuji around the waist.
Yuuji's eyes meet four ice blue ones.
"Come," Sukuna tugs him backwards.
Following is automatic now, and the way his body moves on command while his mind lags behind leaves a trail of unreality in his wake.
Sukuna backs them up to the nest a few meters from the mirror. He sits and pulls Yuuji onto his lap.
"You are so remiss to use my power," Sukuna says, bemused. Chest to back, his breaths fan against Yuuji's hair and his tempered heart beats in tandem with his.
"What're you talking about?" Yuuji grumbles.
"Brat," Sukuna bites. He pushes his bared teeth against Yuuji's neck, just under his ear. "I could've handled that thing. A request is all it would've taken."
Yuuji purses his lips. He grips the fabric of his kimono, "Yeah, but I didn't need you to."
"And now you reek of it," The distaste is clear as bells in Sukuna's voice, and Yuuji doesn't need to see him to know the frown that dons his face.
A hand lifts his chin as two more reach for his wrists. The touch isn't gentle, but it's not rough either, and something deep in Yuuji, something he has no control over, calms.
He doesn't have the energy to fight it.
Sukuna nuzzles into him, scenting. Puffs of his spice smell permeate the air, miffed and possessive. It envelops Yuuji easily, surrounding him in the sense of Sukuna.
It should not be a comfort.
His wrists are turned up, and Sukuna rubs their secondary scent glands together.
It's a visceral reaction, the way Yuuji relaxes into him. It's ridiculous, really, that his body would find any solace in this monster who has been the sole cause of his suffering.
With a bitter smile, Yuuji supposes he's been trained well.
He hates it.
He leans against Sukuna, letting his head fall back onto his firm body with a sigh.
It's not long before Sukuna reaches up and unclasps the collar around his neck.
The skin is sensitive where it covered him, now unused to being touched since Sukuna first put that collar on him years ago. And he can't repress the shiver that drags down his spine when Sukuna nuzzles his scent gland.
It's a possessive act, Yuuji knows. Sukuna is marking his territory after another curse dared to touch him. It's done in a perfunctory way, borderline aggressive in the way he dowses Yuuji in his scent.
This isn't an unusual place for Yuuji to be. It happens less frequently now, but there is always some curse or another that wants to try their luck with Yuuji. They see only a human omega and pay little heed to the warnings whispered about him.
It doesn't really matter. He always makes quick work of them, but it draws Sukuna's ire.
"Why don't you want me dealing with curses anyways? Cranky that I don't need you?"
Unsurprisingly, a hand wraps around his throat. Yuuji doesn't do much as flinch at the way fingertips squeeze in a wordless threat. It'll probably bruise later if Sukuna decides not to heal it -- not that it matters.
Teeth tease his scent gland, fangs scraping at the bite scar on it. And a low, quiet growl rumbles from Sukuna's chest. "I'm 'cranky' because you covered yourself in filth, touching that thing," He says into Yuuji's pulse. Another hand wipes at Yuuji's cheek, drawing up the tacky, old blood, "Its scent clings to you in a thoroughly unappealing way."
"Of course," Yuuji says with a dead grin, "I'm not allowed to smell like anything but you."
"So it can learn," Sukuna snarks.
"It can punch you in the eye, too."
And Sukuna bites. He digs his fangs deep into Yuuji's gland, mean and rough. The sensation roars to life, sudden and painful and pounding in Yuuji's veins, drawing a gasp from his lungs.
And the teeth clamp harder, burrowing into the viscera like Sukuna intends to take a proper bite out of Yuuji. He gasps at the way it sets all his nerve endings alight, threads of heat and animal feeling yanking at his heartbeat.
Yuuji's back arches and his head lulls back, baring himself to the curse enveloping him.
And Sukuna peels away, the wet sound of blood and saliva bright in Yuuji's ears as he releases the flesh from his teeth. "Good boy," Blood stained lips hum against his jaw, spreading the ichor from the bite across his skin.
Lungs pool with air as Yuuji pants against the fading sensation.
"Is it so hard to submit yourself to me?" He murmurs into Yuuji's ear, then licks up the old cursed blood on his skin.
Yuuji lets his eyes fall shut, and he grinds his teeth. "No," He lies.
Sukuna laughs.