Chapter Text
0.
“BLEGH!” “EUGH”
When they saw each other in their respective afterlife, the sounds of disgust that echoed all around them were strong enough to disturb the lotus flowers peacefully floating in an indeterminate pool.
“You’ve got to be fucking kidding me…”
“The audacity to be displeased by this outcome is mine, you brat.”
“Are you seriously going to be this petty even in death?”
Sukuna scoffed in indignation at being accused of such behavior. He is petty, but the accusation coming from the brat just automatically incensed him.
“Arguing with you is a pointless waste of time, begone and never look at my general direction ever again.” Sukuna rolled his eyes to drive home the intent, Yuuji just scoffed at Sukuna’s attitude and mumbled under his breath. “…what a fucking diva.”
Sukuna, of course, heard it and whirled to face Yuuji. Sukuna was in his four-armed form, towering over Yuuji was easy but of course, Yuuji was completely unfazed by Sukuna’s posturing and just met him eye to eye.
They were staring, daring each other to speak first and it was Yuuji who broke the silence.
“You couldn’t even swallow my misery, or break my will even when you wanted to. You could only choke on it and die, unfulfilled-“
He was cut off by one of Sukuna’s hands grasping his throat, another grabbed the back of his head and yanked. “You filthy mongrel, you don’t even know what you’re talking about.” Yuuji only let out a hysterical laugh at the promise of violence wrapped around his throat.
“Do I? Then make me shut up if you hate it so much, old man .”
Sukuna hissed in irritation and pressed his thumb harder onto Yuuji’s throat, steadily applying pressure. They may be in the boundary between life and death but it doesn’t mean they can still leave marks on each other, they are beings who can wield Cursed Energy after all.
Yuuji knew there was no need to gasp for breath but his soul, still used to being in the land of the living, wanted to open its mouth and take a gulp of air. Yuuji tried to stamp out the urge and not give Sukuna the pleasure of his suffering.
Sukuna on the other hand was more than patient to wear out Yuuji until he can see the boy’s eyes bulge, his complexion go sickly purple and tongue go bursting out of his mouth from the pressure.
They may be in limbo but his soul still clings to the natural reflex of self-preservation while it was still alive, Yuuji struggles to pry Sukuna’s meaty hand when Sukuna’s attention was suddenly grabbed mid-choking.
Yuuji tried to follow Sukuna’s line of sight to make him drop, killing him another time but could only make out a conspicuous shape that doesn’t belong in this blank, foggy area with lotus leaves floating in an invisible pool all around them.
“L-let go, you fucke-“ Yuuji almost finished his sentence when Sukuna unceremoniously dropped his hands from his throat and just left him, slowly walking towards the point of interest that grabbed his attention.
As Yuuji gasped and massaged his abused throat, it took awhile for him to register where Sukuna was walking towards.
Brown, nondescript and utterly out of place in this white out limbo that represents the border between life and death-
was a door.
Could it be…?
As Yuuji finally gathered himself to stand up, Sukuna was already in front of the strangely normal door. Sukuna didn’t speak and was quietly staring at this nondescript door.
“….Hey, Sukuna.” Yuuji tried grabbing his attention but Sukuna continued ignoring him.
“I know you can hear me, asshole.”
“Can you cease your blithering even for one second and let me think.”
Yuuji just scoffed at Sukuna’s attitude and chose to ignore what suspiciously felt like relief at the familiar pattern of their usual interaction.
“Aren’t you gonna open it? It means we’re ready to pass on, right?”
“Perhaps.”
‘?’ Yuuji couldn’t help but raise a brow at such a vague conclusion. What does he mean perhaps?
“You’re unsure?” Yuuji hedged, trying to catch a glimpse of what Sukuna was thinking.
Sukuna was silent as a grave again, ‘He’s really thinking this hard.’ Yuuji doesn’t like that. Something that made Sukuna pause like that and drop killing him for a second time.
“Do you think you deserve salvation, Itadori Yuuji?”
What.
Yuuji doesn’t know how to answer that, the question coming out of left field to him from Sukuna.
What’s that got to do with the door?
“Whether you answer or not matters little to me.”
‘Then why ask me that in the first place, asshole.’ Yuuji badly wanted to snark out loud but he held himself back in case Sukuna deigned to drop more information regarding their situation. Yuuji noticed Sukuna is more chatty when unprompted.
Sukuna then ran his hand over the door’s surface, taking in the texture, smoothing his hand over its grain and then used the back of his hand to caress over that painfully simple and standard-looking doorknob. “…”
Yuuji patiently waited for Sukuna to come to a conclusion when he spoke “Hmph. Utterly boring on the surface, just like you.”
Yuuji opened his mouth to protest when Sukuna twisted the doorknob and opened the door. Without a glance back, he entered beyond the unknown and left Yuuji alone.
Whatever indignation Yuuji felt, vanished to be replaced by a bubbling sense of panic. He couldn’t just let Sukuna be and wreak havoc once again. His own peace and self-preservation be damned, Yuuji decided to rush in and fall into a step behind Sukuna before the mysterious door closed. .
I.
“Oh nonono-“
“Oh, for the love of-“
Kiyoko Ijitaka and Marcus Niemann exclaimed in dismay in front of twenty investors and the Board of Directors during a sensitive meeting discussing the merger of their two respective companies under one umbrella company.
Their hands were stretched out towards the other but neither shook each other’s hands as the shock of memories of Itadori Yuuji and Ryomen Sukuna suddenly flooded through them.
“A-hem.” One of their peers politely coughed out loud to shake them out of their stupefied stupor.
Yuuji, now Kiyoko, gathered herself and employed every trick she knew by the book to calm herself down. Sukuna, now Marcus, schooled his expression instantly to that of cool professionalism before an entire worth of past lives came flooding back in one single flash when their eyes met.
Yuuji, mute with shock, sat herself as she grappled with the existential crisis of meeting Sukuna in this life. Sukuna in the meantime went on with the meeting, his face neutral, as if nothing happened in-between them and they had no prior history of trying to kill each other (and succeeded).
They were surreptitiously stared at throughout different points of the meeting which they both pointedly ignored, and the merger was agreed upon in the end despite that small display of shock towards seeing each other.
When the meeting ended, Sukuna left immediately after giving out the perfunctory goodbyes to his fellow businessmen, pointedly ignoring Yuuji. Yuuji immediately took chase, heels clacking on the marble floors on the swanky private floor where the meeting was held.
The elevator door was nearly closed when Yuuji used one long leg to halt it. She immediately entered and stood beside Sukuna as they both boarded the elevator down to the ground floor.
“You remember.” Yuuji’s voice was thin.
“Hn.” Sukuna grunted noncommittally, refusing to acknowledge Yuuji. Something that felt like anger gathered up inside her breast. She didn’t look at Sukuna beside her, but she could see their warped reflections on the metal surface of the elevator.
Yuuji has so much to say, so much to ask, but it was too much all at once. ‘Is she Yuuji, or is she Kiyoko? Both?’ Two sets of memories pressing down under her like gravity was pinning her mouth into silence.
Sukuna was just as silent beside her. Looking at their warped reflection, she could see how similar they are to their previous lives and not at the same time. If Yuuji squints hard enough, she could see them again as Itadori Yuuji and Ryomen Sukuna and not who they are now as Kiyoko and Marcus.
“Nothing to say, brat?” Marcus, no, Sukuna’s familiar voice reverberated in the small elevator, the familiar nickname shook something loose in Yuuji’s chest, the heavy tar of anger washed away by something light. Yuuji hates it but she is relieved by the familiarity of the name and the voice and someone sharing this experience of two memories in one lifetime. Even if it was Sukuna.
She remembers running towards Sukuna in that white limbo, Yuuji waking up inside of her was like his head breaking, breaching out of the ocean waves she didn’t even know she was swimming in.
“No comment either, asshole?” Yuuji finally stares at Sukuna’s new form, he was still taller and even with the heels, he was a good two heads taller than her. Sukuna was a foreigner this time while Yuuji stayed Japanese. Despite Sukuna’s new euro-centric features, Yuuji can see in the shape of his brow, the familiar tug of his lips to create that mocking smirk and the set of his eyes to see Sukuna’s old familiar and haunting form. Replace the blond hair and Yuuji thinks he could pass off as Sukuna once again.
There was even a small but faint scar under his eyes where his second set of eyes originally rested; mirroring Kiyoko’s birthmark under her eyes.
“Our business is concluded, there’s nothing more to talk about brat.” Sukuna barely glanced at her direction.
Yuuji’s stomach suddenly felt heavy, as if she swallowed rocks. She felt lightheaded as the anger came rushing back once again. Her disbelief is plain written on her face “That’s it? You’re not gonna talk about- whatever this is?” Her hands gesture wildly, sweeping grandly in an arc between them.
She was boring holes with how she was staring at Sukuna but Sukuna just sighed, exasperated.
Finally he pinned Yuuji with a look. In the dim, yellow atmospheric light of the elevator shaft, Sukuna’s dark eyes could’ve been that blood-red color once again in the trick of the light.
“Just because we knew each other doesn’t mean I want to do anything with you. Not now, not then. You’re a competent businesswoman in this life, I’ll give you that Kiyoko . But don’t you fool yourself into thinking that I owe you anything for being in the same situation with you.”
*Ding*
The elevator doors smoothly opened to let them outside on the ground floor of the hotel. Some of their business associates were already mingling and socializing loudly. To them, it’s quite obvious they were all just posturing, keeping up appearances to continue this farce, fooling each other, aren't we all just great?
They stepped out together, the chatter was loud and almost deafening but Sukuna’s voice was still carried smoothly above the din. “Don’t bother following me out after this. I wouldn't eat at the hotel buffet either if I were you.”
And just like that Sukuna as Marcus stepped out of the lobby and out of her life. She gave one last glare to his retreating back when an overly too familiar colleague lays a hand on her shoulder and pries “You knew Marcus? The way you greeted each other, heh . Is he your jilted lover?”
Yuuji shoved off the offending hand with a roll of her shoulders and gave a poisonous glare promising death to Sukuna and the asshole invading her personal space.
Her lips upturned into a sneer as she remembered how much she wanted to punch both of their faces.
“No, he’s worse.”
🪷
*SMACK*
The sound of flesh hitting flesh resounded deafeningly, the only sound echoing in this white space until Yuuji spoke.
“You have no idea how long I’ve been wanting to do that.”
Sukuna just rolled his jaw after Yuuji immediately jumped him to land one solid fist at the side of his face the moment his soul landed on their shared limbo.
Despite himself, Sukuna was just glad that didn’t turn out to be a Black Flash. He hated it when the brat did that.
When Sukuna left him as Marcus and scrammed, Kiyoko as Yuuji immediately used up all her resources available to her to dig into Marcus’ life.
For all intents and purposes, Marcus was an upstanding citizen. No laws broken, or murders committed, it was a squeaky clean record. But that was before he awoke as Sukuna. Who knows what he might do now that he awoke in this body.
Yuuji was gripped by this obsession to stalk Sukuna’s life, but all her investigative efforts led to nothing substantial. He didn’t even take in any lovers, that’s how boring he was. Not that she was any better as Kiyoko post-awakening. Sukuna and the memories of her past life consumed her.
If she wasn’t busy working she would comb over Sukuna’s every move in a foreign country.
Sukuna never came back to Japan and Kiyoko didn’t dare set foot into Sukuna’s home country.
Until one day, she got an urgent call from her private investigator that Sukuna, no, Marcus has died. He died in an Autobahn pileup in Germany. Just like that it was over.
Yuuji was gripped with an unbearable sense of longing.
‘This is a curse.’ There was no cursed energy which Yuuji was happy about, just a normal human life. But it was a life living under someone else’s shadow.
Yuuji refuses to be happy to see Sukuna’s familiar four eyed and four armed mug again but familiarity is a comfort, no matter the source.
“Are you happy now landing that measly slap?”
“No. I think you deserve more actually.”
Sukuna barks a laugh. “That’s rich coming from you, obsessively stalking my life even after I told you to leave me alone.”
Yuuji was struck as if Sukuna physically hit him. “You knew?”
“We may no longer have cursed energy in that life, boy. But I still have my instincts. A particularly persistent insect kept following me even while I was driving on the Autobahn. He was right behind me when the car in front of me suddenly swerved and clipped my car. I couldn’t swerve or stop because he was behind me. In the end, I joined the pileup along with 16 other poor souls. ”
Yuuji turns his head away in shame. Sukuna snorts at the action. ‘At least the brat has the sense to feel contrite.’
Yuuji felt sick to his stomach. He didn’t mean…he didn’t think it would…
“Your pity disgusts me, brat. We lived and died as sorcerers once, look around us, death is nothing but a mere pit stop to the both of us.”
“Even so, I’m sorry…I robbed you of your life even if I didn’t mean to. You were just living your life as Marcus…”
“If you truly are sorry, cease your useless pity party. Knowing I’ll spend my afterlife with you is as depressing as it is, I don’t need you moping on top of it.”
By then, Sukuna was already twisting the doorknob handle to open to another life.
He doesn’t wait to hear if Yuuji will speak. He’s had enough as it is.
II.
Yuuji and Sukuna are celebrities. They were idols in the same agency but in a different group.
Still, their circle is small and everyone knew they have prior history with the way Yuuji’s glances kept sticking on to Sukuna when he thought Sukuna wasn't looking.
Unfortunately for Yuuji, he was obvious as a wide open book to everyone and for professionalism’s sake, just discretely ignores his stares, including Sukuna.
One of his group members even jokingly asked if Yuuji was in love with him and Sukuna just shut him down with a glare. Not even the end of the fucking world would he think of the brat that way.
Speaking of…
‘That stupid brat…’ Sukuna is intensely annoyed at how he’s forced to play nice with the brat especially with how Yuuji’s expressive stare was… ‘misinterpreted.’
-
They have just finished performing at their nation’s biggest summer concert show for popstar idols like them and the both of them performed onstage for one huge collaborative group dance.
Things were going smoothly until…
“Hyung!” A part of the outdoor stage they were standing on suddenly gave, it was hastily extended to accommodate the number of idols performing. Considering they would only be performing 15 mins max, clap and then get off stage, the construction didn’t get too much scrutiny.
Some of the idols just stumbled and wobbled precariously but Yuuji got the worst of it, he was starting to fall backwards on a 7 foot drop to the landing.
Everyone else is standing still, dumbfounded but Sukuna, whose soul and mind was honed for the peak of battle, immediately felt his body move forward with no hesitation. He clasped Yuuji’s hands and yanked him back onto the stage.
Yuuji landed on top of Sukuna, safe and sound and Sukuna’s much larger body cushioned his impact.
The result was Yuuji lying comfortably on top of Sukuna’s…considerable chest, voted the nation’s chest pillow three times in a row in a major knetz website in a fanpoll.
Everyone else was rightly scrambling for them to check their condition while cameras relentlessly flashed and clicked to take pictures of this sudden development and continued clicking away when Sukuna didn’t allow anyone to take Yuuji away from him, too busy furiously whispering in Yuuji’s ear to berate the absolute stupid, empty headed brat.
Those same pictures now paint a different story in Twitter and various fansites and forum posts.
Top Posts:
“Gasppppp 👁👄👁👂👂👂”
[Image attached of Sukuna’s arm over Yuuji’s shoulders, his lips are directly whispering to Yuuji’s ears, his face is completely obscured by the angle]
8k retweets 1k quote retweets 56.7k likes
“OH TO BE YUJYEONG OPPA RN 😫😫😫”
[Image attached is of Yuuji resting his head on Sukuna’s chest]
12k retweets 6k quote retweets 100k likes
“He really didn’t have to put his hand on his head like that didnt he? 🥴”
[Image attached is of Sukuna flat on his back and Yuuji laying on his chest except his hand was over Yuuji’s head]
4k retweets 689 quote retweets 47k likes
‘Wait I don’t remember this at all-‘ Sukuna’s eyes squinted furiously at the offending image of what seems to be of tender affection to his maknae.
To a fangirls eyes, this is the ultimate proof of their “relationship”
“MY HEARTTT I CANT TAKE THIS ANYMORE”
[The image was of Sukuna reluctantly letting go of Yuuji to the first aid responders, his hand was gripping tightly on Yuuji’s jacket.]
13k retweets 4k quote retweets 90k likes
Sukuna remembers this well, on top of berating the brat, the brat had the audacity to give him cheek. Unwilling to not have the last word in, he grabbed Yuuji’s jacket and-
“SOMEBODY STOP THESE GAYS THEY’RE KILLING ME!!!!!”
[Image attached is of Sukuna yanking Yuuji back. Hard. Into his arms.]
25k retweets 9k quote retweets 150k likes
Sukuna was hissing bodily harm into Yuuji’s ears and recounting how stupid he is for being so out of it to fall like that and to stop ruining everything.
Yuuji in turn, used to Sukuna’s vitriol, built up an immunity to it and his expression was just of resigned acceptance.
To which there is a picture of that too and the fangirls of their “ship” absolutely ate the fuck out of it.
“YUJYEONG OPPA AND SUNGKYU OPPA RELATIONSHIP GOALS 🥺🥺🥺🥹🥹🥹💞💞💞💞💞”
[Four pictures of different angles of Yuuji and Sukuna “hugging” each other after the incident, with Yuuji’s sad eyes staring straight to Sukuna’s much more heated gaze to Yuuji. The rest of the people on stage were circling around them, as if the two were resting on a bubble they dare not interrupt.]
50k retweets, 1k quote retweets, 200k likes
If Sukuna’s impending debut of his solo career wasn’t on the line he would’ve jumped on that hole in the stage right now in place of the brat and end this farce.
—
Weeks after that “incident” (and to which the SukuYuu shippers celebrated) their manager suddenly hand delivered a cake to their shared condominium.
“It’s for you Sungkyung-ah.”
His group members ogled openly at the gift Sukuna received. It must be from someone a)important b)sponsored gift c)someone from within their circle and absolutely vetted to be safe.
Not to mention, cake was somewhat of a forbidden food to them in consideration of their diet to maintain a physique to rival that of greek gods.
“Hn.” Sukuna wordlessly opened the box and immediately felt his veins throb and threaten to pop.
In elegant icing were the words “I'm sorry” in Korean and the dedication was from none other than the brat himself.
“UWAH! Yujyeong oppa got you a cake from THAT Tiffany’s?!”
“But why is he apologizing? Shouldn’t it be Sungky-“ he was elbowed before he could finish his sentence by a more sensible groupmate.
Their manager sensing the growing ire of Sukuna from the peanut gallery just shushed them down.
If it wasn’t illegal Sukuna might’ve thrown them all from the balcony.
Normally, Sukuna throws out gifts given to him by fans and fellow idols alike but since the brat did give him a cake from such a prestigious patisserie shop even his manager is eyeballing the cake…
He took a slice right in front of his groupmates' intense jealousy, they know their hyung absolutely refuses to share but what if he changes his mind, he never eats cake normally after all...
“What? It’s my cake and I’m gonna eat it all.” Sukuna crushed his groupmates hopes and dreams right then and there.
“BOO!!! TOMATO! TOMATO!”
“I HOPE YOU GET FAT HYUNG!!! YOU DON’T DESERVE YUJYEONG-SSHI!!!”
—
Sukuna didn’t care much for sweets but even he had to admit the cake the brat sent him was…adequate for his palate.
Contrary to popular belief by his own group mates, he wasn’t as selfish as he seemed.
Mind made up, he googled the information of the patisserie shop the cake came from and he nearly bugged his eyes out at the price of one specially ordered cake.
‘The brat is loaded huh.’
Not to be outdone, he immediately called the number listed on the website to make his order.
-
“Buy me a car if you’re sorry” A Maserati sports car was stenciled on the cake. There was no name for the dedication but there could only be one person it could come from.
Yuuji huffed a laugh and let his group members take a slice of the cake.
-
“Another cake for you Sukyung-ah.”
Sukuna’s groupmates nearly broke their necks cracked their heads from how fast they turned it. These gossip wretches.
Sukuna opened the cake and “buy your own” was written on the icing but this time the cake was car shaped and the exact model of maserati Sukuna put in his cake to the brat.
“Hey, are you two lovers or something?”
Sukuna gave his group member a look as if he had just said the most offensive thing on earth to him.
His groupmate raised his arm in surrender. “Hey, it's a valid question! The way Yujyeong-hyung looks at you and the complicated expression on your face when you think we aren’t looking…”
“Invite us to the wedding hyung.” Another groupmate cut in, sensing the heaviness of the mood and Sukuna’s refusal to elaborate.
“There is NO wedding.”
“Aw don't be like that! Gay marriage is legal now yknow! It’s 2050 hyung!”
“There. is. no. wedding.” Sukuna imagined dropping them one by one from the 25th floor.
“Are you sure you and hyung aren’t lovers and we aren’t in the middle of a lover’s quarrel?”
“Who the hell buys a whole ass cake to say they’re sorry, communicate through text like a normal person, oi.” At this point, Sukuna was mentally giving himself a note to google on how to get rid of them without discovering their bodies.
“You’re just jealous, man.”
“I am jealous!”
Sukuna felt an incoming headache. “I’m eating my cake and none of you will get a single crumb.”
“At least share!” Sukuna just flippantly gave them the middle finger.
“Aww party pooper…then can I marry Yujyeong hung instea-“
“Absolutely not, I'll kill you.”
“You really don’t deserve Yujyeong hyung!!”
“We’ll tell him you hoard the cakes he sent you!”
“That’s right!”
“What the hell is that brat supposed to do about it? This cake IS mine, you greedy bastards.” Sukuna nearly growled out. This was getting ridiculous.
“Who are you calling a brat hyung? Yujyeong-hyung is older than you, you know!”
“Also, you’re the greedy bastard hyung! Not us!”
Oh Sukuna can’t wait until his contract finishes and finally debut as a solo artist.
Sukuna rolled his eyes at his groupmates’ yapping and slammed the door to his room bringing the entire cake with him.
🪷
“Sukyu- ah, I mean Sukuna-“
“Don’t talk to me.” Sukuna’s voice was clipped as he passed by Yuuji and made it straight for the door.
“But I-“
Sukuna opened the door absolutely not interested on hearing what the brat has to say.
-
“Oh Sukuna, you died after me this time, hey wait-!”
Sukuna power walks to the door again, leaving Yuuji behind.
-
“ARE YOU STILL EMBARRASSED YOU FELL TO YOUR DEATH WHEN WE WERE IDOLS THAT ONE LIFETIME?!”
“DO NOT! SPEAK OF THAT STUPID LIFETIME!”
“YOU ARE EMBARRASSED!”
“No comment.” Sukuna hissed.
“Childish old man!” Yuuji managed to get a word in before Sukuna shut the door on him again.
III.
There was blood on Yuuji’s hands.
The corpse beneath him was bleeding out, the blood blooming like a grotesque flower underneath the man he killed.
He had just killed someone and yet, his body was thrumming as if he shot a dose of adrenaline straight to his veins. An inexplicable mixture of excitement, elation and anxiety bubbling in his gut.
Yuuji remembered chasing the man as if he was prey in the city streets at night; biding his time and observing until he closed in at the perfect moment and struck.
He had just killed someone.
And he’d be lying if he said he disliked it.
‘ Fate really gives us the strangest of cards sometimes, huh? Yuuji thought as he met a familiar set of carmine eyes. Sukuna was still his sworn enemy even in this lifetime but he was this world’s hero and would’ve been a villain’s latest victim – if I hadn’t betrayed him as his longtime partner and killed him.
Once the momentary shock wore off, Sukuna smiled as he slowly approached Yuuji.
“There’s nowhere to run, I’m afraid.” His smile was beatific, like a saint’s but Yuuji knew Sukuna was anything but.
“See you on the other side-“
Sukuna moved fluidly and before Yuuji could register what was happening, his body was already hitting the ground beside the man he had just killed.
“-brat.”
Sukuna watched as Yuuji slowly bled out, the bright color of his eyes turning into dull amber. He watched on, nearly unblinking as he memorized every single detail until he heard the last whisper of air coming out of the brat’s mouth.
This was a first for Sukuna and he relished the experience.
He glanced at the brat’s companion dispassionately and kicked the no name’s body off the rooftop.
For the first time in many lives, Sukuna is looking forward to what the brat has to say.
🪷
Yuuji had been trying to sleep – if a soul in a not-dead-and-not-alive state was even capable of doing so. When he heard a familiar voice. ‘ Great, big asshole is back.’
“How did it feel? Crushing that man beneath you like an insect?”
“Shut up.”
“Felt good, did it not? He was such an eyesore, rude, a worthless waste of space. His absence will not be missed, especially by his victims.”
Yuuji clenched his fists tight, he could will himself to bleed and hurt if he wanted to, and he did. He let the blood pool in his knuckles and let it drip to the lotus’ pool beneath them, staining the water pink with his blood.
“You wasting your energy on such fruitless endeavors would naturally infuriate me but despair is a good look on you, brat.” Sukuna grinned, all teeth and all four eyes crinkling with mirth.
Yuuji saw the predator that his victim must have seen in his last moments.
Yuuji looked away, unsettled. The fact of the matter is, he really didn’t regret how he stabbed his previous partner multiple times even after his soul left his body. Maybe deep down, he agreed with Sukuna. . Letting the man live would not be beneficial to anyone. He really was better off dead. Killing out of defense was one thing but killing for the sake of it? He really was a worthless waste of —
There was no wind in this place but Yuuji trembled all the same, shivering as if a cold wind passed through his soul.
The pool beneath him was murky with his blood and was glad for it. He didn’t want to see his reflection and see how closely he mirrored Sukuna at that moment.
Silence reigned as Yuuji mulled over the past events of his life. Every time, without fail, he and Sukuna would reincarnate within each other’s lifetimes.
The first one was a shock granted, but as time went on and only Sukuna for his companion without anyone else, Yuuji voiced his thoughts that have been slowly plaguing him for a few lifetimes. “Why do you think this keeps happening? This cycle of reincarnation we go through together? Isn’t this messed up? Are we messed up?”
Yuuji may not have been a sorcerer for as long as Sukuna but he knew this wasn’t the norm for anyone, even for Sukuna.
Sukuna didn’t reply immediately. The brat was correct that this wasn’t a norm even in the world of Jujutsu but he’s also not about to tell him that
He had an inkling ever since they first came here, leave it to the brat to realize something is wrong only after a few multiple lifetimes. Sukuna thought he’s had enough as well. He might as well tell everything as it was to bring the brat up to speed regarding what he thought was the truth of their situation.
Mostly, he was looking forward to how the brat would react.
”I’m sure you have heard of the term: reap what you sow.” Sukuna begins.
”Its origins trace back to a buddhist concept of your karma; similar to a seed being sown, will bear fruit one day. Depending on the seeds you have planted, good or bad, the resulting fruit will one day ripen. Actions have consequences even if we don’t feel it now, and it will follow us, into the future.“
“What’s this got to do with me?” Yuuji gritted out, he had a feeling he wouldn’t like what Sukuna was going to say next.
“Oh it has everything to do with you,especially with the way our souls have been connected, one way or another, through circumstances both out of our control and in which I permitted it to be manipulated through the Binding Vows I have made.”
Yuuji shook his head, unbelieving. Something was gripping his heart like a cold hand, squeezing it tighter and tighter. His silence prompted Sukuna to continue.
“Curse Kenjaku for his meddling, if you want to blame someone.. It was his idea to imbue you with my cursed finger since your conception.…”
Yuuji’s head felt like it was being stuffed with static, Sukuna’s words were slowly and horrifyingly making sense but maybe, just maybe – ‘ If i reject it, it doesn’t have to be real’
“I’m sure our entanglement with each other with you as my vessel and the subsequent events thereafter further blurred the lines.”
“I loathe to admit it but you have forced my hand on some circumstances that may have directly brought on this situation to the both of us. You, borne from the soul of my other half, and further imbued and imprinted with my cursed finger upon your gestation…keh, According to the seed that’s sown, so is the fruit that you reap there from .”
“Why do you think this keeps happening? this cycle of rebirth? isn't this messed up? Are we messed up?”
“What do you think, Itadori Yuuji ? This is our hell, our samsara, our vipaka. We reap what we sow.”
“WE?? I DID NOT SOW SHIT!”
Sukuna’s cackles sent a shiver down Yuuji’s spine. “Ohh you naive brat, have you forgotten? You’re a part of me! MY SOUL! MY FRAGMENT LIVES ON YOU! MADE FROM MY CURSED FINGER OF COURSE YOU WILL LIVE ON WITH ME WHEREVER I GO!”
“You may have developed a consciousness separate from mine but we have and always will be intertwined together. You may be more similar to me than you thought as well brat, kehihihi.”
Yuuji ignored the last part and refused to entertain it. He diverted the subject, unwilling to linger on Sukuna’s words.
“Why? Why must we go through this cycle together?”
“Maybe it’s the only way for the universe to correct itself. Our cursed energy is seen as one, and we shall always be one.”
“…what the hell.”
“Wipe that offensive frown on your face, you make me sick.”
“ME? I SHOULD BE THE ONE SAYING THAT TO YOU!”
Sukuna yawned, which pissed off Yuuji even more.
“AREN'T YOU MAD YOU’RE STUCK WITH ME ASSHOLE?”
“Oh, I am mad, indescribably so . But complaining like what you’re doing is a waste of time when I gathered as much the first time we landed here.”
“The first time-?”
“That’s right. Do you believe you deserve salvation, Itadori Yuuji?”
The memory of those words suddenly hit Yuuji. Like a locked box suddenly opening.
“What’s-why’s that gotta do with me, with this?” Yuuji gestured listlessly at their white blank lotus infested shared space.
“Alright, let’s put it this way, something even your one track mind could understand. Do you think I deserve salvation?”
Yuuji’s mouth goes dry. Does he believe Sukuna, Ryomen Sukuna, slaughterer of hundreds and thousands of innocent lives in Shibuya, Shinjuku and more nameless innocents during the Heian period deserves to be saved?
No. Sukuna was a monster. Yuuji had no regrets giving it his all on putting him down as a curse, once and for all. But as the cycles went on, Sukuna lived his life…even after they regained their memories, sure they had leftover derision and judgements based on their previous lives but does his sins have to follow him when he did nothing more but live his life?
Sukuna has no reason to lie about their connection. This shared space of their afterlife was proof enough to him. His chest tightened and something felt hollowed out as he slowly realized the implication of their shared existence.
“I…”
“I see the gears are finally turning in your head, brat.” Sukuna said softly.
“Here’s a reward for using a piece of your brain: Live your life the way you want. Eat when you want to eat, Kill everything that is an eyesore, throw it a bone if it entertains you. Existence is mind numbingly boring otherwise.”
And with that Sukuna opened the door once again and left.
Even without rushing, Yuuji knew where he would end up anyway.
The door is ajar. Yuuji enters.