Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

"Alright, you got everything you need?” Nobara asks.

Yuji double checks his bag. “Yeah, think so.”

“Blankets? Water? Chew toy?”

“Yup.”

Megumi is sulking in the kitchen with a mug of coffee. “How about rat poison?”

“Megumi,” Yuji scolds him.

He holds up his hands. “All I’m saying is, you’d be saving a lot of time if you just dropped a brick on his head.”

“Yeah, well, that’s why I’m going instead of you. I know he’s got it in him to change!”

Megumi shoots a pleading look at Nobara, who shrugs.

“Just let him do his thing,” she says. “When he comes back and nothing’s changed because Sukuna’s a heartless piece of shit, he’ll see it your way.”

“No, come on, all he needs is a positive influence,” Yuji insists.

“Sure.”

“A male role model.”

“Yup, loud and clear.”

“This is the best idea I’ve ever had!”

“Well, that’s not saying much,” Megumi mutters under his breath.

A little offended, Yuji grumbles, slings his bag over his shoulder and grabs his coat, ready to leave.

Megumi chases him. “Look, Yuji, I’m not worried about you failing, that’s not the thing. If anyone can do it, you can. I’m— I’m worried about you succeeding.”

“Huh?”

“It’s just that.” Megumi sighs. “It’s because of Sukuna that we met in the first place. When you come back to this time, we might be nothing more than strangers.”

“Then I’ll just get to know you all over again.”

“But what if I don’t listen? What if I’m an asshole and I find you annoying?”

“…Do you find me annoying?”

“No, but this is a different version of me we’re talking about!”

“Relax, Megumi. No matter what happens, deep down you’re gonna be the same super cool guy as always.” Yuji thumps him on the arm. “Anyway, this isn’t about us. It’s about everyone else. Just imagine how many people we could save if Sukuna was less of a dick.”

“Yeah, imagine,” Nobara drawls.

Damn, Yuji is starting to get a very unsupportive vibe from these two. Well, he’ll show them. He used to help supervise little kids at their club activities at school and everyone loved him! He was a “nice young man”— those were the teachers’ exact words! He’s got this in the bag.

“Well, here I go,” Yuji says, taking one last look at the apartment he shares with the two of them. They embrace him tightly, which takes him by surprise and makes him laugh. “C’mon, you won’t even notice the time passing! I’ll be back to update you on my progress before you know it!”

“We’ll miss you anyway,” Nobara says.

Megumi doesn’t say anything, but his grip tightens a bit.

Finally, they let him go. Yuji steels his nerves. This mission is going to last a long time, but he swears to himself that he’ll give it his all. He won’t get lazy halfway through. He’ll bring his best to every single day.

Yuji wasn’t expecting the sky to be so clear. It’s pretty enough during the day, but once night rolls around, it’s downright mesmerizing! He stands there for almost an hour gawking up at the fine silt of stars and cosmic dust curving around the earth.

And it’s quiet, too. Yuji thought he knew what quiet was like, but this is a whole new level. No trains, no cars, and hardly any people. The silence is smothering. Sometimes hours will go by with nothing but the sound of wind threading through trees and birds calling.

There are downsides. The amount of bugs flying around is just crazy, and there’s a ton of big, creepy ones, too. Yuji’s not afraid of bugs or anything, but there’s only so many weird creatures you can handle crawling all over your body before you start to get freaked out.

It doesn’t take him all that long to find Sukuna. When he does, despite everything, his heart twinges with sympathy.

There’s a cedar tree at the top of a hill that seems to function as an execution spot. There are countless bodies hanging from the branches, all in varying stages of decomposition. Some have been there so long that they’ve mummified, the bleached remains of their clothes shimmering around them like funeral shrouds. Some are fresh and difficult to look at, their faces bloated and their skin waxy. Yuji circles the tree. Most of the bodies are female. He wonders what their crimes were, if anything at all.

There’s a particularly new one hanging low— new enough that the blood is running fresh and red down her body. Yuji follows the path of a droplet as it slides down her arm, swells up at the tip of her index finger and detaches, dropping to the ground. Into a pile of guts.

With morbid fascination, he steps closer, then springs back when the pile moves. It takes some time to bring up the courage to kneel beside it and comb through it with his hands.

And there he is. Unmistakable with his four arms and four eyes. It’s Sukuna, ejected from the body of his mother upon her death, covered in viscera and twitching feebly in the cold. Born from nothing, into no one’s waiting arms. Yuji’s prepared for this, thankfully. He whips a towel out of his bag and picks Sukuna up.

Sukuna’s strong, yeah, but there’s no way he could’ve survived this point in his life on his own. Who would’ve come along to rescue him, if not Yuji? He looks around, trying to find some random approaching stranger. Sukuna doesn’t cry and his eyelids are slack over blurred eyes, so he must be very weak.

Oh, well, this is where things begin to change, then.

“I’ll take care of him for you,” Yuji tells the corpse. 

Yuji did a lot of research to make sure his time in the Heian era went smoothly. He’s perfectly prepared to face the lack of technology and the language barrier and any other problems that might arise. (If he ever decides to go back to school, he’ll definitely get an A in history at the very least.)

He warms up a basin of water and gives Sukuna a quick bath. He washes the dirt and blood and viscera off him, slowly revealing that familiar face. Once he sees it, he can’t help but smile.

Is it weird that he finds this version of Sukuna cute? Well, he’s a baby and you’ve got chemicals in your brain that force you to find babies cute. It’s no big deal. It’s not like he’s saying the adult Sukuna he knew was cute or anything. Cute is probably the last word anyone would use to describe him.

“Maybe you are the way you are because you got knocked on the head when you came out?” he asks. He peels a long string of something orange out of Sukuna’s wispy hair. “How about that? You think you got knocked on the head?”

Sukuna doesn’t show any sign that he can hear Yuji because he’s still too weak. Yuji prods him, trying to rouse him. Man, his nose and ears and eyes are so small, and his head looks like a dumpling. He’s pretty substantial for a baby — maybe ten pounds and heavy like a boulder — but still. It’s a long shot from the towering man Yuji once fought.

There’s still some gunk stuck between his fully developed stomach-teeth, so Yuji gently pries the mouth open to get a better angle at it. As he’s doing this, the teeth abruptly snap shut without warning, pinching Yuji’s fingertip hard enough to break the skin.

He hisses and shakes his hand off and sucks his finger, surprised by how bad it stings. A coppery taste floods his mouth. He’s bleeding and there’s a red smudge on one of Sukuna’s stomach-incisors.

Energized by the taste of new blood, Sukuna finally manages to open his eyes.

They’re the same eyes Yuji knows, but they’re much cuter now that they’re in a little baby’s head. Yuji can’t even find it in himself to be mad about getting bitten.

“Morning,” he says. “You sleep alright?”

Sukuna’s stomach-mouth chitters, searching for more blood. Hmm, poor guy must’ve been feeding off the viscera he was born in. Maybe he chewed his way out once his mom died? That’s probably why he’s even a cannibal in the first place! Well, Yuji is definitely going to educate that out of him. From now on, Sukuna’s going to have to put up with plain old formula. Yuji's not even going to bother finding a wetnurse, because he already knows what’s going to happen if he presents someone with a four-armed, four-eyed baby and asks them to hold it.

It’s too early to get chased around with pitchforks, so Yuji prepares a bottle from his bag and feeds Sukuna the way he learned in that one parenting class. By the time it’s over, Sukuna’s skin has warmed to a healthier pallor and he’s become strong enough to close his tiny hands into fists around Yuji’s sweater. His grip is disturbingly strong. It's kind of scary how quickly he's bounced back from the brink of death.

Yuji wraps him up nice and warm, then moves on to the next phase of his journey. Finding accommodations!

He scores a nice little cabin in the wilderness, which is exactly what he wanted. It’s a fixer-upper, though. It’s made out of thin wooden planks that look old and weathered, and they’ve buckled a little under the strain of the constant rainfall. The roof has a few holes that keep leaking water and there are several gaps in the walls that allow cold air through.

But it’s nothing Yuji can’t fix. The roof comes first, because the damp is making everything ten times worse, then he fixes the walls, then the floors. He hunts for meat and trades it at the village way down at the bottom of the hill for new blankets and tapestries to brighten the place up.

Sukuna is completely silent throughout all this. He never cries, even to signal that he wants something, which would be worrying if not for his incredibly attentive eyes. He stares at everything and is clearly wide awake and lucid. He stares at Yuji’s face and his hands as he’s working, stares at animals, stares at leaves swirling through the air.

Yuji tries his best to encourage this curiosity by taking him out on walks and giving him things to hold and talking to him all day, but he’s not sure if it’s working.

When they’re around other people, Yuji keeps him hidden in a sash. He doesn’t want anyone to freak out over the way Sukuna looks when he’s still so young and impressionable. Thankfully, Sukuna doesn’t move around much either, so getting up close to people isn’t a cause for concern.

(Can’t do it forever though. Sukuna’s going to start growing fast. What was he, seven foot tall? Maybe more. Yeah, Yuji’s not carrying all that.)

In total, it only takes a week for Yuji to make their house a home. He’s lit and extinguished the fire so many times that a sort of permanent warmth has blossomed within. The wood is tough and new and ready to protect them from anything. It’s really something to be proud of.

“I can completely focus on you now,” Yuji says, curling up on the bed beside Sukuna. He held Sukuna through the colder nights, but even though it’s warm now, he might just go ahead and keep doing it because it’s like having a hot water bottle. “What do you think’s going to make you grow up to be a nice guy? You need a little affection, right? Maybe I should get one of those ladies to sew you a cuddly toy. Hm, then again, maybe you’d just eat it.”

Sukuna stares at him.

“You totally would, wouldn’t you?”

Sukuna continues staring.

It’s still so crazy how small he is. Yuji can only fit one finger in his hand. Wonder when he’s going to start using his cursed technique?

"There he is," Nobara says. "Wow, so much changed since you've been gone!"

Yuji gets excited. "Wait, really?" He looks around, trying to spot the differences. Maybe his little act of kindness sparked a chain of events that snowballed into a perfect scenario where everyone he loves is still alive and all the curses live among humans in harmony?

Well, their apartment looks the same as he remembers it. Their living room is kinda messy and there's a couch in the corner with all their laundry piled up onto it. Even his old coffee mug that he totally forgot to clean up is still sitting there on the window ledge. But maybe the changes go beyond what’s visible to the naked eye?

"No," Nobara says flatly. "Absolutely nothing has changed. Sukuna still killed, like, thousands of people. He was still a grade-A prick to his last breath." She goes back to her phone.

Yuji is disappointed, but he won't allow this to get him down. He's only been with Sukuna for a week, after all. Change doesn't happen overnight! This was always going to be a long term mission.

Now that Yuji has returned to his own time period, he has created a reality where someone found Sukuna under that execution tree, washed him and fed him, only to abandon him immediately after. It sounds cruel, but Yuji forces himself to dismiss the guilt. As soon as he returns to that time period, this reality will be erased and replaced by a new one. One day, the story will go as follows: Sukuna was found under a tree and adopted by a random guy of no importance who raised him with kindness and taught him to respect all forms of life. Sukuna died peacefully surrounded by family and only ever used his cursed technique in self defence.

Sounds great! Yuji heads into the kitchen to refill his bag with formula. He's also going to need some more detergent for laundry, and a few matchsticks, because making a fire without them is a huge hassle. It’s winter in Sukuna's time period, so all the wood in the forest is damp with frost. Terrible. Oh, while he's here, maybe he should order some clothes for Sukuna?

He gets distracted scrolling for cute outfits that might accommodate four arms, so he doesn't notice Megumi entering the kitchen. Yuji's doubled over on the ground, so Megumi almost trips over him.

"Damn," Megumi says, almost spilling his drink. He sighs. "Getting ready for another visit?"

"Yup. Might order some clothes. Think you can keep an eye out for the delivery?"

Megumi scoffs at the idea. "Sure, I guess."

Maybe now’s a good time to ask about the joint adoption thing again. ”You know,” he begins carefully, “you wouldn’t have to take time out of your day to wait for anything if you just let me bring Sukuna here. It’d be way easier.”

Megumi is shaking his head vehemently. Before he can even say anything, Nobara calls to him from the next room. “Is he saying that shit about bringing Sukuna here again?” she shouts.

”Yes, he is saying that shit,” Megumi says.

”Kick him in the nuts right now.”

Yuji springs up. “I wasn’t saying anything!” he lies angrily. “And besides, even if I was saying anything, it wasn’t for you to hear, Nobara!”

Megumi has his foot back like he was actually going to kick him. He corrects his posture. “Sure.”

Yuji fumes quietly to himself, but he understands why they’re hesitant. They don’t see Sukuna quite like he does! And also, Megumi's still got all his scars. Physical and mental ones.

Yuji has stared at the ones on his face long enough that he has them perfectly memorised. They haven't budged even an inch. Yuji is certain that, if he spends more time with Sukuna, the day will come when those scars disappear. Same for Nobara. She'll have both eyes back.

It’ll snowball. The kindness he shows Sukuna will definitely snowball. It’s foolproof. Definitely. 

Chapter Text

It takes Sukuna three months to make a noise.

Here’s how it happens: Yuji sometimes brings back treats like cake and canned food and incense, to make his daily life in the Heian era more enjoyable. He’s multitasking one day, feeding Sukuna some formula and feeding himself a few slices of vacuum-packed smoked meat, when Sukuna starts to get fussy. Which, in this case, means he grabs Yuji’s hand with all four of his own and squeezes tight until Yuji’s skin flares purple.

Insane grip on this little guy! Anyway, Yuji pulls the bottle back and holds his face, trying to see what’s wrong with him. Sukuna keeps fidgeting and pushing Yuji away. Yuji realizes he’s going for the smoked meat.

Figuring he’ll regret his curiosity and act more sensibly if he gets a taste, Yuji gives him some. His stomach-mouth chews a bit, then— swallows? Yuji’s not sure how that process works, but yeah, that’s pretty much what happens.

Sukuna’s face lights up. His eyes sparkle. He makes a loud, amazed sound and starts struggling more vigorously until Yuji caves and feeds him the rest, thereby revealing that he's adorably incapable of opering both mouths independently. Even when there's only food in one, the other will mirror its chewing movements. Anyway, after that, Sukuna completely swears off the liquid diet.

Yuji has to skip a few pages in the milestones book, but he’s proud of Sukuna nonetheless. He tries Sukuna on a bunch of different things; fruit slices, avocado, sweet potato. Unfortunately, none of it passes the taste test. Sukuna spits out anything that’s not meat. Yuji doesn't want him eating too much processed stuff, so he sticks to home-cooked. Grandpa passed on a great stew recipe to him, and he finds himself making it almost every day.

After the diet change, Sukuna starts growing rapidly, way beyond the pace of a regular human baby. Four months in and he’s already loud and curious and crawling around all over the place. Yuji isn’t too surprised, since he’s robust as hell like a rottweiler puppy. He likes to investigate things with his mouth rather than his hands, inserting random objects into his stomach to be chewed up and spit out. He’ll cry if he doesn’t like the taste, which is murder on the eardrums, but Yuji has a lot of parenting books under his belt so he knows how to meditate.

Still, it’s a lot sometimes. Yuji worries about Sukuna getting hurt or maybe taking a bite out of their table, so he keeps having to run around after him and herd him back onto the bed. Sukuna is pretty crafty for a baby and he’ll find his way under tables and chairs and random pieces of furniture, just to make it difficult for Yuji to grab him. When Yuji does, however, he splays all his limbs out like a spider, which is very cute and makes Yuji forgive him.

It’s good that Nobara suggested a dog chew toy over a teething ring, because Sukuna’s stomach-teeth are unbelievably powerful. Sukuna likes to grab things and curl up around them and roll like a turtle stuck on its back while he chews it. He’s busted up three chew toys so far doing this.

So, yeah, he’s doing good and growing up healthy. His language acquisition is standard, by comparison. That is to say, he just makes garbled noises. Yuji responds to it enthusiastically because he finds it cute and he honestly thinks they’re communicating in some kind of emotional way, so yeah.

“Aghbwah!”

“Yes, that’s right, Sukuna!”

“Gah!”

“Thank you, that’s so nice of you to say!”

“Urgh, urghwbwh…”

“Yeah, I was thinking that exact same thing!”

Sukuna’s really opening up, which is wonderful! Yuji tells Megumi and Nobara about it, but they don’t seem particularly interested. He also tries to show them some pictures he took of Sukuna with his phone, which he powered with the help of his trusty portable charger.

“Stop trying to show us that fat freak,” Nobara says.

Yuji clutches his phone to his chest in outrage. “Of course he’s fat, he was only just born! It’s not like I’m overfeeding him or anything. Right, Megumi?”

Megumi sighs and casts a snide glance down at the picture Yuji took. It’s Sukuna chewing on a rubber duck. Even though it’s the cutest thing ever, he shudders like he’s seen a ghost. “It’s the fact that he craves meat even though he’s an infant. That’s what creeps me out.”

“He’s just growing fast, that’s all. Anyway, if I bring him here, I can try him on all kinds of different foods and who knows, maybe he’ll find something normal that he really likes!”

Before he even finishes talking, they both roar simultaneously, “no!”

Hmph. After filling up his bag with the essentials and then a variety of baby food pots, he heads back to the Heian era. He walks up the crisp, grassy path leading to their tiny home concealed within the trees.

“I’m home!” he calls out as he walks through the door.

There’s a dead mouse on the carpet. At first it looks like it’s been cut into three pieces, but when Yuji gets closer, he realizes there’s a fourth piece missing; a fatty one, part of the mouse’s belly. Sukuna is sleeping peacefully on the bed without a care in the world, although there’s a small splatter of blood on his stomach-lip.

Yuji connects the dots, but even though Sukuna has used his cursed technique, there’s really nothing Yuji can do about it when he’s too young to differentiate right from wrong or control himself very well. Yuji will just have to be a little more cautious when handling him, that’s all.

“Hey, buddy,” he whispers, gently awakening him by touching his cheek. “It’s still daytime, you know.”

Sukuna yawns and reaches out to him, asking to be picked up. Yuji desperately wants to brag to some other parents about how fast his own baby got around to doing this, but unfortunately he doesn’t have any friends around here.

He uses a cloth to clean away the blood, then gets Sukuna dressed. It’s kind of difficult to do this, because Sukuna’s stomach-mouth has a mind of its own and it keeps sucking up all the clothes he wears. He holds him against his shoulder while he cleans up the mouse.

“You can’t keep eating stuff you’ve picked up off the floor,” Yuji lectures him. “You’re gonna get sick if you do that. Besides, there’s no way it tastes good. You didn’t even cook it and it probably has all kinds of diseases.”

Sukuna doesn’t seem to be listening to him. He grabs Yuji’s shirt and starts pulling, maybe just to annoy him. Yuji carefully guides his hands away.

“Hey, this is important! Man, I can’t believe you prefer gross raw rodent meat to half the things I cook. I’m offended, you know. Really offended.”

They go for a walk together and spot some deer. Yuji tries to encourage Sukuna to say the word; deer, deer, those are deer. No results yet. Sukuna loses interest once they leave his field of vision, and he continues pulling on Yuji’s clothes and whacking him. His strength is starting to make Yuji wince.

Something funny happens on the way back, though. Sukuna starts to sing. It’s just random noises jumbled together into a sort of melody, but when Yuji joins in — maybe he’s just imagining it, but — Sukuna seems to try and harmonize with him.

That’s another thing to write down in the milestones book!

He reads poetry to Sukuna that night, running his fingers across the words as he goes along. Sukuna seems more interested in the movement of his hands than anything else. They fall asleep at roughly the same time.

Nobara and Megumi get takeout together. Yuji’s usually the one who cooks on weekends, so they’ve been struggling to fill the gap. Megumi tried to replicate those warming winter recipes Yuji learned from his grandpa to no avail.

“Alright, fine,” Nobara says suddenly, slamming her drink down. “I admit it. He’s… kind of cute.”

“Dammit, Nobara,” Megumi complains. As far as he’s concerned, this is something better off left unsaid.

“I can’t hold it in anymore. He’s cute. He just is.”

“Look, I get what you’re saying and I agree, but you have to bear in mind that he’s going to grow up to be a murderer.”

“Wait, what? I was talking about Yuji and his milestones book. He was filling it out just before. Did you think I was talking about Sukuna?” Nobara laughs mockingly. “Did you just say you find Sukuna cute?”

Megumi flushes. His ears feel hot. He turns away and shovels down another mouthful of noodles.

Yuji swings around the corner. “Hey, what did I miss?” His shirt is completely covered in vomit, and when he reaches across the table to steal some food, both Megumi and Nobara cry out with revulsion and flee.

“What the hell is that?” Nobara asks, clawing her way across the room in terror.

“Oh.” Yuji looks down at himself. “Okay, so, get this. Sukuna can throw up through the stomach-mouth.”

Megumi has never seen anything like it. “You don’t say.”

Yuji gestures as he describes the event. “So, imagine a t-shirt canon that’s filled with—”

“Enough,” Nobara says loudly. She grabs a knife out of the block on the counter. “Get in the shower right now.”

Yuji raises his hands defensively. “Hey, hey, watch it. I just wanted to come back and see if anything changed. Sukuna sang with me today.”

“Nothing changed. The place down the street still overcooks their noodles.” Megumi has gathered his bowl off the table and has resumed eating in the corner. He prods the limp noodles with disinterest.

“And we still can’t make rent,” Nobara adds.

Yuji looks genuinely disappointed, even though Sukuna hasn’t developed the ability to retain permanent memories yet. “Bummer.”

“Yuji, please just take a shower,” Nobara says.

He turns to leave, but comes back. “Is that a milkshake? Can I try Sukuna on that?”

She throws the knife at him and it gets embedded in the wall where his head was as he scrambles to the bathroom.

You know how bears can climb faster than they can run? Well, Sukuna’s upper body strength is insane, so he can just grab fistfuls of Yuji’s clothes and climb up to his chest whenever he wants to be picked up. The extra arms probably help with this.

“Woah, woah, okay,” Yuji says when Sukuna gets to his shoulder and then his head. The extra weight makes him almost drop the pot of hot water he’s carrying. “Alright, calm down.”

He peels Sukuna off himself and holds him at arm’s length.

Sukuna smiles and laughs. He’s already growing in his normal-teeth. “Yu,” he says.

Yuji’s heart stops for a second. “Did you just say my name?"

Sukuna stares at him.

"You totally just said my name, right? Come on, say it again. Please? Yu-ji. Yu-ji.”

Sukuna is an asshole by nature, so he doesn’t perform this miracle again, no matter how many times Yuji asks or how may treats he gets bribed with. Yuji is frustrated as hell and ready to start pulling his hair out over it.

It takes another few months before Sukuna begins to speak properly. He knows the words for a few random objects, which he’ll bark repeatedly in an attempt to receive some kind of response. “Yuji” is also one of the words he knows. Yes, he finally says it again. Unfortunately, it’s just the word he uses to indicate that he’s hungry, which figures.

In other news, he also seems to be trying to stand. Most of the time he scuttles around on his hands and knees with surprising speed, like a terrifying insect. When Yuji catches him in a particularly adventurous mood, he can be propped upright and he’ll stand there, swaying, for at least eight seconds!

Yuji makes sure to shower him with praise when this happens. Through this, he discovers Sukuna’s new favorite game. When he throws Sukuna into the air and catches him, he laughs so hard that he goes red in the face. Yuji does it for an entire evening and he doesn’t get tired of it at all.

“Yu, Yu,” Sukuna says, hitting him when he sits down for a break.

Yuji is exhausted, because Sukuna is incredibly dense and weighs more than he should. “Oh, so that’s how it is? Yu when you want me to throw you around and Yuji when you want me to feed you?”

“Yu.”

“I have feelings too, you know.”

“Yu.”

“Su-ku-na.”

“Su…”

Yuji forgets he’s pretending to be angry and eagerly encourages Sukuna to say his own name. He doesn’t really get anywhere with this, but he does cave and throw Sukuna into the air a few more times.

He really, really wishes he could take Sukuna back to his own time, even if just for a visit! Little guy’s gonna be a big guy one day and he’ll need new friends. That’s never going to happen if Yuji keeps him locked up like this, but what else can he do? It’s a cruel world out there and it’s Yuji’s responsibility to keep Sukuna safe. One bad experience could warp him in so many ways.

Megumi and Nobara could be the positive experience that Sukuna needs. Two ordinary humans who are friendly and accept him without pointing out all the ways he’s different.

He sighs. Maybe when Sukuna’s a little bit older, they’ll change their minds.

In a reality that exists only briefly, Sukuna admits to Uraume one day that he, perhaps, remembers having a family. Or, a parent. He doesn’t remember any faces, but he remembers warmth and the feeling of safety.

“What made you mention this?” Uraume asks.

“This poem.” Sukuna shows them the page he’s on. “There’s something vaguely familiar about it.”

Uraume reads through a few of the lines. Though they’re not one for poetry, they can at least feel the flow and rhythm of the words.

Sukuna smirks to himself. “Maybe I scared them off with my cursed technique?”

He never mentions this again, and it is the last time he is so vulnerable with Uraume. The book of poetry collects dust in his library.

Chapter Text

It’s getting harder and harder for Yuji to see the two versions of Sukuna as the same person. There’s that Sukuna who was deadly, cruel, self-absorbed and untouchable, like a god. Then there’s his Sukuna, who’s apparently an early bird and likes to shove him awake at six in the god damn morning.

“Yu,” Sukuna says right in his ear.

Yuji rolls over and blinks blearily, trying to make his vision clear up. He yawns. “Sukuna, it’s still dark outside.”

“Birds.”

“The birds can wait.”

Sukuna’s lips purse. He sees Yuji trying to bury himself beneath the covers. “No,” he whines, shoving Yuji harder. “Birds!”

“Agh! Alright, I’m getting up.”

Sukuna yells at him as he gets dressed, pulling at his haori even though it prevents Yuji from putting it on. Yuji tries to rush, but he can’t make his tired body move any faster than it already is. Eventually Sukuna decides he’s had enough and just grabs Yuji’s hand with all of his own and starts pulling him to the door.

Yuji could resist it if he dug his heels in, but he allows Sukuna to guide him outside, down the steps and through the forest. Over roots and under reaching branches and through a thin stream with large rocks placed across it at even intervals as stepping stones. Sukuna needs help hopping across those.

A nest of blue birds have turned up in a tree and Sukuna is extremely interested in them. The big adult one starts chirping at a specific time in the morning and for the past week, Sukuna hasn’t missed a day. He just can’t get enough of it.

Yuji stands and supervises, rubbing his tired eyes as Sukuna runs around the tree, trying to find the best angle of attack. When Sukuna thinks the bird is distracted, he’ll begin his stealthy ascent. Yuji thinks nothing of it, because the bird will always flutter off before he gets there.

Sukuna’s still growing crazy fast. Yuji’s milestone book looks like all his exam papers from school; that is to say, full of gaps, because guess who stood up on his own two feet all by himself and then started running around, all in the same day? If Sukuna had peers, he’d be way ahead of them. Barely a year old and he can run and talk in clipped sentences like he’s twice — or thrice — his age!

He still has the attitude of a newborn baby sometimes, though. Oh, boy. Always needs something. Yuji’s been exhausted lately, trying to keep up. The months of hard work are finally catching up to him and he’s dying for a break. Luckily, he can always head back to his own time period to enjoy a nice long nap when he needs to, and the cool thing is, Sukuna won’t even notice he’s gone.

(Well, he will, but Yuji will erase that reality upon his return, so it kinda cancels out when you think about it.)

He hasn’t been back to see Megumi and Nobara for a while, though, so his eyes begin to drift shut as he’s standing there. He sways to the side, then jolts upright when he realises he’s about to lose his balance. He blinks, trying to force his vision to clear up.

Sukuna is hunched over something on the ground. Yuji can’t hear the birds chirping anymore.

“Yu, help,” Sukuna says, running over. He proudly presents the thing in his hands: a dead bird with its head cleanly severed.

For a moment, Yuji wakes up fully. “Sukuna, what did you do?”

Sukuna seems confused by the question. He looks down at the bird, then back up at Yuji. He tries to offer it to Yuji. “Help.”

He wants Yuji to fix it like a broken toy. Yuji sighs and kneels before him. He remembers spending a lot of time rehearsing what he’d say in this situation, but now that he’s here, all the words have disappeared from his mind.

“It’s dead, Sukuna. You can’t fix something once it’s dead,” he explains evenly.

Sukuna frowns and tries to offer it again.

Yuji wraps his hands around Sukuna’s, enclosing the bird within them. “It’s kind of like sleeping, but then you never wake up. You have to be more careful because now we can’t listen to it sing anymore. You liked its singing, right? Well, it can’t sing to its chicks either and I bet they liked it, too.”

Most of it probably goes over Sukuna’s head, but he brings Sukuna with him to a nice spot in the forest to bury the bird. Yuji is hoping that the process will make an impression on him. They dig together and they find a little bundle of flowers and set the bird to rest. Afternoon rolls around and Sukuna seems more sombre by then.

“It’s okay,” Yuji tells him, smiling widely. “It’s not your fault. You didn’t know.” He prods Sukuna on the nose.

Sukuna’s face crumples up and he sticks his tongue out, which makes Yuji laugh.

Yuji finds himself writing down all the conversations he has with Sukuna, because he wants to remember how happy he was when they happened. It’s all stupid stuff, but it means a lot to him.

Try to eat all of this. This is your favorite, remember? Yuji asks.

Hot, Sukuna says.

Yeah, it’s real hot. We have to wait for it to cool down!

Nobara scowls. “Yuji, this is garbage. He literally only said one word.”

She tries to set the notebook down so Yuji forcefully shoves it at her. “No, keep reading! Just keep reading and I swear you’ll connect with him on a personal level!”

She sighs and continues.

Sukuna, no, you can’t eat that!

Give me.

I told you, it’s not for eating.

“What was he trying to eat?” Nobara asks, trying her best to feign interest.

Yuji sighs wistfully. “Toilet paper.”

“Uh-huh…”

Sukuna you can’t just eat meat and nothing else. You need vegetables, too.

Stop it! Stop it!

Just one bite won’t hurt! Hey, stop hitting me! You have to eat at least one.

“The king of curses, defeated by leafy greens,” Nobara muses.

“Oh, well, actually, he kinda defended his title pretty well that time…”

“Yuji, don’t tell me you actually let him have his way.”

Yuji averts his eyes bashfully. “It’s harder than you might think! Look, I’m really, really close to making him eat a carrot! I’m like, this close.”

Nobara shakes her head.

Sukuna, you aren’t going outside until you get dressed, Yuji says.

Go away!

Hey, that’s very rude. Please don’t talk to me that way.

Go away!

“He’s just telling you to fuck off in this one!” Nobara yells incredulously.

“No, he’s not! I just— I just—” Yuji is almost speechless. “I can’t believe you don’t find it cute!”

“How is this a happy memory for you? He’s practically telling you to go kill yourself!” She laughs.

Yuji flushes, embarrassed, and snatches the book back. “You don’t get it.” He shouts, “Megumi! Tell Nobara she’s wrong!”

Megumi is in the bath. His music is loud enough that it’s thumping through the walls, but his sigh is so dramatic that they both hear it anyway. “Whatever you guys are arguing about, leave me out of it.”

“Megumi Toji Fushiguro, get your ass outta that tub and tell Nobara she’s wrong before I lose my temper!” Yuji demands.

Nobara looks horrified.

The music stops and a dripping wet Megumi sticks his head through the doorway. He also looks horrified. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to piss you off or anything, Yuji.”

“Well, actually, yes you did, because you gave me an attitude! I'm going to count to three—”

Nobara grabs Yuji’s shoulder. She flinches away when Yuji whirls around at her with outrage.

“Yuji, relax,” she says carefully. “Don’t go all parental on us.”

“I am relaxed!” Once Yuji says this, the anger leaves him and he collapses onto the sofa lifelessly. “I wish you’d understand that he’s more than just Sukuna to me. I’m raising him and he’s, like, my kid now. I care about him. When you say mean stuff about him, I…”

He sighs. His thoughts are too complicated for him to verbalize right now.

Nobara and Megumi exchange worried glances. Megumi has wrapped himself in a towel so that he's semi-decent and his hair is slick over his face.

“Sorry, we didn’t think about it that way,” Nobara says tentatively.

Yuji purses his lips. “Ah, forget it, it’s no big deal. I’m getting worked up over nothing. Sorry. Give me a sec to cool off or something.”

“Look,” Megumi says evenly. “If you’re really so set about making us like this brand new Sukuna…”

Yuji sits up, vibrating with excitement.

Megumi squeezes his eyes shut. “You can bring him around once. Just once and we’ll all take a good long look at what a great job you’re doing—”

“Megumi!”

“—but then he has to go straight home.”

Yuji nods vigorously. “Okay, yes, totally! You guys won’t be disappointed, I swear! Oh, I can’t wait. You’re gonna think he’s so cute!”

He leaves to go pick Sukuna up. He's extremely excited to include his best friends on this new chapter of his life!

Nobara pitches a furious glare at Megumi. “If he barfs, you’re cleaning it up.”

Megumi winces. “Right…”

In another brief reality, Uraume is cleaning up after dinner.

There are many servants at the inn Sukuna has been invited to, but Uraume insists upon attending to him personally. They don’t trust strangers, and Sukuna deserves nothing less than their own careful attention to detail.

In any case, Uraume is the only one who knows how to properly cook human flesh, and they will not allow Sukuna to suffer through the clumsy attempts of amateurs who turn their noses up at such tasks.

As Uraume discards dirty water over the edge of the pavilion, they notice Sukuna standing in the yard. Immediately they know they’re intruding upon a private moment, but their instinct is to freeze in place rather than run.

He’s watching a bird as it makes its nest. It’s small and delicate and its feathers are a bright blue. It flits from tree to tree, trying to find the perfect spot, and his quick eyes follow it. The expression on his face is unusually empty, as if his mind has withdrawn somewhere deep inside of him.

At one point, he lifts his hand up to it, as if to imagine it sitting in his palm. The bird lands momentarily on his index finger, perhaps mistaking him for one of the trees, and the contact jolts Sukuna awake. He notices Uraume, who dips their head respectfully, but says nothing.

He leaves at a brisk pace. Uraume hesitates, but ultimately decides to follow. If Sukuna doesn’t want their presence, he will say so, and that will be it. Until then, Uraume will accompany him.

He follows the path leading out of the village even as it becomes narrow and winding and tapers off into the nearby forest. He hesitates for a moment at the boundary before heading inside. The trees are densely packed, and at times Uraume struggles to keep up. Sukuna is forging a very particular path, as if he’s been here before.

They arrive at a cabin. It looks old and unkempt, and various plants have grown wild in its contours, cracking the woodwork. Sukuna pushes open the door. The interior is dark. It’s clear to Uraume that nobody has lived here for many years.

There’s a pot on a table that has been blackened by the damp. Old tapestries hang from the walls, and there's a moth-eaten bed. Sukuna steps inside and turns in a full circle, taking everything in. He pauses when he sees a small stuffed animal on the ground, though it’s hard to tell what kind of animal it’s supposed to be, given its age. He picks it up and stares at it for a very long time.

Uraume wants to say something, but they’re not sure of a respectful way to break the silence.

“It was real,” Sukuna says, more to himself than Uraume. “I thought it might’ve been a dream I had when I was younger.”

Uraume watches Sukuna curiously, desperately wishing to know what has compelled him so. Sukuna notices, turning to face them. They abruptly avert their eyes out of respect.

Sukuna smirks. “It’s fine, there’s no need to be ashamed of your curiosity.”

“Am I truly so transparent?”

“The bird,” he says. “It seemed familiar to me, so I observed it, wondering why. Then it hit me all at once.” He touches his chin in thought. “I was hoping to find someone here. I thought that if I saw his face I’d remember more.”

His words are guarded. Uraume cannot glean any particular emotion from him, so it’s impossible to say whether the person he speaks of is a friend or foe.

“Whose face?” They dare to ask.

“It doesn’t matter. If he’s dead, then I’m at peace. If he were alive and living here, I would’ve killed him to make myself at peace.” He leaves the cabin. After a moment, he realizes he’s still carrying the stuffed animal and, with some effort, forces himself to drop it.

Why do little kids run around so loud even though they’re so tiny?

Sukuna is stomping around the apartment with excitement because there are many new sights and sounds for him to absorb and it’s over-stimulating him a bit. Yuji chases him, snatching dangerous obstacles out of his path everywhere he goes.

He tries to climb the clothes rack and when it threatens to topple over, Yuji just barely dives in to catch it. There’s no time to rest, though, because Sukuna quickly runs to the next most exciting thing: the hair dryer that Nobara left plugged in.

“Woah, woah, wait! That’s not for kids!” Nobara says, lifting it out of his reach.

Sukuna makes an angry noise and tries to climb her. She freaks out like there’s a rat crawling up her leg and starts thrashing around. Yuji quickly grabs him before he can get kicked into the wall, which makes Sukuna angrier because he doesn’t want to be held right now.

“This is exhausting,” Megumi complains. He’s also been chasing Sukuna with a look of concern. He’s been a step behind Yuji the entire afternoon.

Megumi’s been doing a great job! He flinches every time he looks at Sukuna, but he keeps all his negative comments bottled because he doesn’t want to hurt Yuji’s feelings. Yuji’s definitely going to give him a bear hug when this is all over, and also maybe buy him a couple drinks.

(Nobara’s getting nothing, though.)

“He’s not usually this energetic, I swear,” Yuji says. Sukuna is smacking his face while he says it, so Yuji grabs one of his hands. “Sukuna, stop that! You can behave better than this!”

After an ungodly five hours, Sukuna finally wears himself out. He’s trashed the living room. Nobara has gathered all her valuables into a pile in the corner and she’s standing guard, but she’s exhausted and ready to collapse. Megumi is sprawled out on the couch.

“I’ve got new respect for you, Yuji,” Megumi says to the ceiling.

Sukuna is now entertaining himself with a bunch of yarn (where the hell did he find that?) so he’s become quiet and placid on Yuji’s lap. Yuji is staring down at the top of Sukuna’s head with embarrassment, but when he hears Megumi’s compliment, he gains the strength to look up. “Really? That’s great! Being a parent is such a thankless job. It’s nice to hear a compliment every now and then.”

“Don’t they say parenting is its own reward?” Nobara jokes.

Yuji laughs. “Not in the Heian era, they don’t.”

“Well, what do they say in the Heian era?” Megumi asks.

“They say, babysitting for your friend is a great way to show you care!”

Megumi sits up so he can shove Yuji’s face away. Yuji yelps and tries to fight back, but he can’t because he’s laughing too hard. He doesn’t realize how rough it’s getting until Sukuna cries out, “stop it!”

“Oh, sorry,” Megumi says awkwardly. He seems unnerved. These are the first words he’s heard Sukuna say since he got here, so it’s no surprise.

Sukuna doesn’t accept his apology, instead turning around to embrace Yuji tightly. Yuji realizes what’s going on. “Aw, you scared him.”

Megumi’s eyes widen with disbelief. “I... scared him?”

“Yeah! Look at him, he’s totally scared right now!”

“The mighty king of curses,” Nobara scoffs.

Sukuna presses his forehead harder against Yuji’s chest, as if trying to burrow into him. Poor little guy. Now Yuji feels bad. He totally let this get out of hand. He touches Sukuna’s face, drawing his attention. “It’s just Megumi, buddy. It’s okay. He wasn't hurting me or anything.”

“Yeah, it's uh,” Megumi struggles. "It's just a game."

Sukuna’s eyes flare wide with panic at his voice.

“Maybe it’s time to go home,” Yuji says, standing up.

Megumi goes after him immediately. “Alright, here, lemme grab your coat—”

Sukuna doesn’t make a noise, doesn’t make any indication that he’s about to react. It happens out of nowhere. Megumi just— recoils. His head swings back like he’s been slapped across the face. A splatter of blood appears on the arm of the sofa and Yuji fixates upon this, his brain shorting out. When he looks back, Megumi’s hands are covering his face and more blood, too much blood, is streaming through the gaps between his fingers.

“Megumi?” Yuji rasps.

Megumi stumbles back. Nobara’s on her feet in an instant, racing across the room and catching him before he can fall. She tries to peel Megumi’s hands away to check his wound, but in his panic he refuses to let go.

“Megumi, shit, I didn’t—” Yuji goes forwards uselessly. He doesn’t know what to do, but he can’t just stand there doing nothing. “Are you okay? Shit, shit, I totally didn’t— he’s never—”

But he has, twice, to the mouse and the bird. Yuji’s stomach turns.

“Dammit, Yuji, you didn’t tell us he had his cursed technique!” Nobara shouts.

Yuji shakes his head. “I didn’t think this would happen! Megumi, here, let me help.”

“Yuji!” Nobara holds up a hand to warn him off. “Just go, alright? You’ve still got that— kid with you! I’ll call for help, so please, just get away!”

Fuck. Yuji looks down at Sukuna, who is much calmer now. There’s a strange sort of satisfaction on his face as he stares at Megumi. He knows that he’s won the fight, that he's victorious.

Yuji feels cold. He never meant for this to happen. He thought he was teaching Sukuna to act differently. He can’t bear it anymore and he flees, adrenaline pumping through his system.

Sukuna’s spirits are high when he gets home. He wanders around the room for a while before selecting one of his stuffed animals. The horse. He shows it to Yuji.

“That’s nice,” Yuji says tiredly.

Sukuna whacks him with it. He likes it when Yuji pretends it hurts and curls up on the ground to "die". It makes him laugh. Unfortunately, Yuji's just not in the mood right now. He hugs Sukuna instead.

This is on Yuji. It's nobody's fault but his own. He failed to keep control of Sukuna. He got Megumi hurt because he was selfish and he forgot that this is a mission he’s on. A real, serious mission. Truth is, the Sukuna he has in his arms right now is exactly the same as the guy who made a vessel out of him and ruined his life. Yuji only tricked himself into believing otherwise.

But even knowing this fact, Yuji can’t bring himself to let go of him. Even when he starts struggling and whining.

“Aw, you don’t wanna hug me?” Yuji laughs faintly. “C’mon, don’t be so mean.”

Sukuna escapes and runs away from him, but stops and waits for him to begin the chase. He likes tag but gets bored with hide and seek. He likes getting thrown into the air and wrestled with, but hates games that require him to sit still. This is Yuji's kid. Yuji pushes down all his negative feelings and forces himself to keep going. He needs to try even harder from here on out.

Chapter Text

In a reality where Yuji is still just fifteen and a vessel, he invites Nobara and Megumi out to the arcade to wind down after a particularly difficult curse hunt. He decides to try out the claw machine. He struggles for a while to get the prize he wants and ends up with a rubber duck.

It’s a girl duck with a pink bow on its head.

“That is a bath toy,” Sukuna says suddenly.

Yuji is surprised by the sound of his voice. “Uh, yeah. I guess you can tell?”

“I was right?” Sukuna sounds mildly impressed with himself. “I don’t know how I knew that.”

“Huh? Really? I mean, it’s a duck, so it goes on water. Kinda easy to figure out.”

Sukuna scoffs like he said something stupid and exits the conversation.

Yuji stays in the Heian era for a very long time. He stays for so long in fact that the thought of returning to modernity makes him nervous. Life moves a lot faster over there than it does here. Here, everything feels like it’s ambling along at a pleasant pace, even though the daily chores keep him busy from dawn until dusk.

First off, he has to get up, make breakfast, then wake Sukuna up. If Sukuna’s already awake and getting into trouble, that’s fine, but if he’s asleep, waking him up without causing a tantrum is like defusing a bomb. Yuji has figured out a very careful ritual that works about 80% of the time. Part of it includes having food ready.

“Hey, buddy, time to get up,” Yuji whispers, putting his hand on Sukuna’s back.

Sukuna’s nose wrinkles. He covers his face with his hands and curls up into a ball.

Even though Yuji knows that Sukuna is about to act like a brat, he can’t help but smile. “Come on, it’s a nice day. You don’t wanna waste it in bed, do you?” He holds Sukuna’s hand.

In protest, Sukuna abruptly snatches himself free and rolls over. In a perfect world Yuji would just give up and snooze with him for the next five hours, but unfortunately he’s an adult with responsibilities. He shakes Sukuna a little more insistently.

“Go away,” Sukuna says.

What a hypocrite! After weeks of taking him to see birds at the crack of dawn, this is what Yuji gets in return? “Hey, I told you not to talk to me that way, didn’t I? Come on.”

“Stop it. Don’t wanna.”

“I know, I know, I didn’t wanna wake up either.” Yuji fixes up Sukuna’s hair a bit. “But… we need more firewood and I can’t go get it on my own. I need my little helper.”

Sukuna opens his eyes and squints up at him. He’s getting smarter every day and now he can understand most of what Yuji’s saying. He can also respond in choppy sentences, which is a very impressive accomplishment for his age, even if he has to think for a while to figure out the words he wants to use.

Yuji presses the advantage. “It gets kind of scary in the deep woods, right? I’m too scared to go without you.”

The way Sukuna’s eyes light up with interest is pretty funny, but he quickly becomes embarrassed and buries his face in the pillow, too prideful to give in.

One more shot. “Don’t you wanna see what I made for breakfast?”

This is like a verbal black flash, tearing through all of Sukuna’s defenses in an instant. Finally, he allows Yuji to pull him out of bed and get him dressed and ready for the day. Sukuna’s been growing more upwards than outwards lately, and his limbs are longer, so Yuji had to get him a whole new wardrobe. Barely two and he’s hitting all the milestones of a four year old.

It makes Yuji wonder how old Sukuna was, physically, when Yuji fought him. The idea that he might’ve been younger than Yuji is now kind of freaks him out. Anyway, as well as being bigger, the Sukuna in front of him is also more sure-footed and dexterous, so he can sit at the table and use chopsticks all by himself.

…Not that he always does. Every now and then he’ll get frustrated and insist that Yuji feed him, which is fine. Airplanes haven’t been invented yet, so they made up a game together where Sukuna pretends to be a bloodthirsty monster attacking a bunch of tiny people. Here comes the innocent bystander, Yuji will say. Wah, wah, help, the monster’s going to eat me! Don’t eat me!

Yuji’s not sure if he should be encouraging this kind of cannibalistic behaviour, but hey, it even makes Sukuna eat vegetables sometimes, so any behavioural issues that come from it are an acceptable payoff.

So, the daily chores continue. After feeding Sukuna, Yuji brushes both sets of teeth for him without getting bitten, then gets him ready to go outside.

A while back, Yuji remembers ripping through all the packages he got delivered and there was a random scarf among them. He didn’t remember ordering it.

“Completes the look,” Megumi said from the couch.

Yuji was delighted. “You bought this for Sukuna?”

“No, I bought it for you to give to Sukuna. There’s a difference.”

“Sure.”

Yuji misses his friend more than anything. Holding the scarf in his hands is a small comfort. It’s green and blue with little dogs woven into the end, so, kind of ugly but cute at the same time. He wraps it around Sukuna’s neck. Winter passed a long time ago, but mornings are crazy cold in the forest where the light can’t penetrate.

They head out. The ground is slick and muddy. The rainy season is bringing out the worst in Sukuna, because he likes to jump around in puddles and ruin all the cute kimonos that Yuji gets from the seamstresses in the village. Yuji’s hands are cracked and red from all the scrubbing he’s been doing in ice cold basins of water to get the stains out. He misses his washing machine.

But he can’t go back. He can’t face Nobara or Megumi. His throat gets all tight at the thought.

It’s a short walk to the spot Yuji likes to chop wood at. He and Sukuna hold hands for half the journey, but then Sukuna gets sick of walking and asks to be carried.

“I’m watching,” Sukuna says, resting his head on Yuji’s shoulder.

“Oh, I see.” Yuji bounces him to get a better grip. “So that nothing can sneak up on us?”

“Yeah.”

“That’s smart.”

“Yeah,” Sukuna says proudly.

"Keep an eye out for tigers. This forest's full of them."

Sukuna seems both excited and frightened. "Really?"

"Really," Yuji says wisely. "Big ones."

Trees are good target practice for Sukuna’s cursed technique. Yuji puts Sukuna down in front of a nice symmetrical one. It’s important that he trains frequently. Yuji would like him to master it so that he never loses control of it or uses it in anger.

“Remember, nice, small and even, okay?” Yuji gives him an encouraging push.

Sukuna approaches the tree, glances back at him for encouragement, then attempts to cut it in half. The first cut is struck at a diagonal across its trunk, revealing the soft pale wood beneath the bark. A little frustrated by the lack of power, Sukuna makes a more forceful gesture and another cut bisects the first. This one is a few inches deeper and more ragged.

“Easy,” Yuji warns him. “Not too much.”

They keep going like this, whittling it away, bit by bit, until the tree topples over. By that point, Sukuna is tired and frustrated, so Yuji chops the firewood by himself. He compliments Sukuna’s efforts as he does this, but he worries that his words are going over Sukuna’s head because he’s a little boy and he wants to be a powerful sorcerer capable of easily obliterating trees like Yuji can.

On the way home, Sukuna stops to stare down the path that leads to the village. It’s dark and winding.

“Sukuna, stay with me, I don’t want you getting lost,” Yuji calls.

Sukuna catches up with him and holds his haori like a baby elephant holding its mother’s tail, since Yuji’s arms are full. “Are you gonna, um, go away?” he asks.

Ah. Sukuna’s too big to hide in the sash now, so Yuji can’t take him to the village anymore, even though Sukuna hates being left alone.

“Maybe,” Yuji says, feeling a little guilty. “I need to go get some rice since we’re almost out. Rice tastes really good with meat, right?”

“Right.” Sukuna hesitates. “Um, the people in the village...” The gears in his head turn as he tries to find the words.

Yuji waits patiently. He doesn't want to rush him.

Eventually Sukuna asks, “how many eyes do they have?”

There’s worry in the question, which hurts to hear.

Yuji has sheltered him too much. He doesn’t really know anything about the outside world, and the longer Yuji puts off teaching him, the more startling the realisation will be. There’s no way Sukuna can live a happy life and find love if he’s never allowed to meet anybody. Yuji needs to give him the opportunity to try. The time has come for him to explain to Sukuna that he’s different from everyone else, but he needs to figure out the right way to say it. It’ll be a difficult conversation and it might take some time for Sukuna to understand. Yuji can't screw this up by being lazy and saying the first thing that comes to mind.

“I’ll tell you a story later,” Yuji deflects. “After we’re warm and we’ve eaten a whole deer.”

Sukuna gasps. “Whole deer.”

“Yup. The whole thing.”

Bath time is at the end of the day because making Sukuna do it in the morning is virtually impossible. The rubber ducks help with his mood, but Sukuna’s getting older and pretty soon he’s gonna start wondering where Yuji gets them from. Yuji’s not looking forward to having to live a life without modern conveniences.

He heats up a basin of water and gets lost in thought as he washes Sukuna. Incense, nice soap, matches, his phone, the water filter, sugar— oh, god, candy and cakes. All of that is going to have to go soon. He gets distracted and a frothy trail of shampoo begins to crawl down Sukuna’s face. Yuji quickly wipes it away, revealing Sukuna’s miserable scowl. He starts trying to escape, like he always does.

“Hey, hey, the more you do that, the longer it’ll take,” Yuji scolds him.

“But you never go in the bath,” he sulks.

“I don’t fit in the tub, thanks,” Yuji says. “Pretty soon you won’t be able to either, and then you’ll have to come with me down to the river.”

“You have a– have a bath in the river?”

“Yeah. And it’s ice cold and there are fish and there’s sand and gross weeds everywhere, and creepy bugs that live in the water that crawl all over you like—” Yuji tickles him, which makes him shriek and laugh. “So, when you think about it, it’s not so bad being in the tub, right? At least it’s nice and warm.”

Since Sukuna has been successfully cheered up, the rest of bath time goes by without issue. Sukuna forgets about his earlier question about the villagers' eyes by the time they’re having dinner, so Yuji is safe for another day. Once Sukuna is asleep, he gets out a notepad and starts mapping out what he’ll say. He misses his own time period more than ever, because he could really, really use some advice right now.

He wakes up feeling like there’s a boulder on his chest, and for once it’s not Sukuna. He sucks in a breath, his lungs feeling unusually tight. It’s like he’s suffocating, and that's not even the worst thing. His head is pounding and it feels like it’s stuffed full of cotton. His body is too hot and too cold at the same time. He carefully slips his arm out from under Sukuna and gets out of bed, trembling at the cold air, so that he can force down some water. All it does is hurt his throat and sit uncomfortably in his stomach.

It’s no use. He’s sick. He touches his forehead and the skin is boiling hot. Where did this come from all of a sudden? He’s pretty sure he has a stash of medicine for emergencies like this, but when he checks the box he usually keeps it in, it’s empty. He rummages around the house in disbelief.

Even though struggling through sickness in the Heian era isn’t Yuji’s idea of a good time, he really doesn’t have a choice in the matter. He still can’t bear to go back. He’s not ready to look Megumi in the eye. He’s going to have to just ride it out.

Sukuna doesn’t notice as he gets back into bed.

The next time he wakes up about three hours later, he feels even worse. His eyelids are stuck together and they feel swollen. The light beaming in through the window is burning a hole through his skull. His breath whistles on every inhale. He tries to sit up but is taken off guard by how much effort it takes. He doubles over halfway through, exhausted.

He's never going to live it down if the thing that forces him to go back home is sickness. He's gonna look so stupid, crawling back and begging for medicine and oil rubs and hot water bottles and boxes of tissues. He's got to hold on for as long as possible!

Uraume is proud of their cooking, not necessarily because it is exemplary (though it is) and not because they enjoy doing it (though they do), but for the simple fact that Sukuna appreciates that quality in them above all else.

It’s winter, so they spend the day cooking a stew. When it’s finally time to serve, the meat practically melts in the mouth. Sukuna thanks them and tries a bite. The flavor seems to take him off guard.

Worried that he disapproves, Uraume asks, “is it not to your liking?”

“It’s not that.” Sukuna stares into the bowl. “I think you seared the meat before you stewed it.”

“Yes, I did.”

“That is what my— father used to do.”

He trips on the word momentarily. This takes Uraume off guard, because they’ve never known Sukuna to falter. Not in his words, not in his movements, not in his mentality. Not once.

Sukuna smiles, amused by Uraume’s shock. “You should take that as a compliment.”

“This is the first I’ve heard of your father.”

“This is the first I’ve thought of him since you and I met.”

“Ah, I see. I take it the two of you are not very close?”

“I only knew him as a very young child.” Sukuna returns to his stew, eating it more slowly than usual and savoring every bite. “I always assumed he fell to sickness, though, looking back, the circumstances of his death were slightly more unusual than that. After a week of being unable to move, he walked out into the cold, perhaps to prevent me from eating his corpse. I have yet to decide if he did this out of kindness or cruelty.”

Uraume nods. Sukuna’s tone is even, as if he is describing the weather, though Uraume cannot assume anything from this. Sukuna does not share any information that he does not wish to share, and this includes insight into his emotional state. Perhaps he did love his father. Uraume will not ask, because Sukuna has given them indication enough that it is not for Uraume to know.

Still, they cannot help their impertinent curiosity. “Would you have preferred to eat his corpse?”

“Yes,” Sukuna says without hesitation. “If our time was to be cut short, I would’ve preferred to extend it through his death and beyond.”

“I see.” Uraume wonders if they should apologize for the memories their meal has unearthed.

“Don’t apologize,” Sukuna says, always one step ahead.

Uraume almost apologizes for wanting to apologize. Instead, they dip their head to satisfy their own need for complacency.

“You know,” Sukuna says, “I think my father was wasted on a version of myself that was too young to remember him.”

Uraume doesn’t understand. “Wasted?”

Sukuna doesn’t explain. “Never mind. This was a long time ago. That small window of time with him makes no difference to the rest of my life. It has done nothing for me and it makes no difference.”

He says this, but his eyes become distant, as if he’s begun to dream while awake and some hazy memory has taken shape before him. He raises one hand as if to touch it, but the empty air runs cold through his fingers. Without dismissing Uraume or saying his thanks, which is something he usually does after receiving good food, he sets his bowl down and leaves.

Uraume begins to clean up. It is the first and only time Sukuna doesn’t finish a meal Uraume has cooked for him.

Chapter Text

Yuji rummages around in the dark, scattering random boxes of pills. Just something for the headache and something to loosen up his chest. That’s all he needs. He thinks he finds the right thing, but it slips out of his shaking hands. Shoot. He fumbles, blindly trying to find it on the ground.

The light flicks on. It stings his eyes and he hisses, covering his face.

“Yuji?” Nobara asks. “Where have you been?”

Fuck, red alert. Yuji abandons the medicine and grabs onto the counter so he can get to his feet. “Sorry, sorry, I was just heading out,” he says, his words slurring together.

“Are you okay?”

“I’m fine. Sorry.”

“Why do you keep apologizing?” She grabs him and touches his forehead. “Holy shit, you’re burning up. You’ve got a fever.”

“Huh? I, what? Me?”

“Wow. How long have you been letting this fry your brain? You barely have one to begin with so you’ve got to start treating it right. C’mere.”

She pulls him down the hallway. Yuji’s in no state to resist. Megumi stumbles out of his room in his pajamas.

“Yuji,” Megumi says, amazed. He runs the rest of the way so that he can grab Yuji and check him.

“Megumi. Sorry.” Yuji doesn’t know what else to say. Despite the sickness, he still remembers everything that happened and he has the clarity of mind to feel guilty. He tries to pull away, but Megumi’s grip tightens.

“Why did you hide yourself away?” Megumi asks. “Why didn’t you come back? We were worried sick about you.”

Yuji’s eyes widen. This isn’t what he was expecting at all. “I— I hurt you, Megumi. What happened was my fault.”

Megumi shakes his head without hesitation. “Nothing happened that we weren’t already expecting. I could’ve dodged, I just let my concentration slip, that’s all.”

“No way, Megumi, don’t put this on yourself.”

“I’m not. This isn’t anyone’s fault. It was just a stupid accident. It’s not even worth thinking about.”

“Megumi, your scars.” Yuji feels tears burning in his eyes. Megumi’s scars look so much worse than before. They’re rough and the skin is puckered like it healed all wrong. If Yuji didn’t know any better, he’d say Megumi’s whole head got blown to pieces and then haphazardly strung back together again.

For some reason, Megumi looks clueless. “What do you mean?”

“I added more! This is all my fault!”

“My face has looked like this since Shinjuku, Yuji. Nothing has changed.”

“I was taking him to bed,” Nobara says pointedly.

Megumi nods and helps to escort Yuji. Yuji is surprised by the sight of his bedroom, pristine and ready to welcome him back. There’s no dust either. They’ve been sweeping the place for him.

“You guys,” Yuji says, overwhelmed by emotion. Then he coughs.

They get him everything he could possibly need to ride out his sickness. Extra blankets and plenty of water and medicine. Megumi even starts brewing soup, even though Yuji asks him not to waste his efforts. Nobara puts a cold cloth on his forehead and finally, his headache starts ebbing away.

“You really did worry Megumi,” Nobara says, replenishing the cloth once it’s become warm. “He’s been pacing around non-stop. It annoyed the crap out of me, actually.”

Yuji frowns. “I don’t understand. He doesn’t have anything to be worried about.”

“Yuji.” Nobara sighs and pulls her chair closer, her expression becoming unusually earnest. “We’re still a team, you know. We pay the bills together, we kill curses together, and when you get your stupid ideas, Megumi and I support you together. That’s how it’s always been.”

“You…” Yuji doesn’t have the words. Months of stress catch up with him and he begins to cry.

“Shit, don’t cry, you’ll make me cry!” Nobara laughs warmly, wiping the tears out of his eyes. He falls asleep by the time Megumi brings the soup up.

He gets delirious that night and starts calling out for Sukuna.

“I left him,” he says, his eyes rolling around rapidly in their sockets. He keeps trying to get up and Nobara keeps having to push him down. “He needs me. I can’t leave him alone."

"He won't even notice you've been gone. You'll make a new reality."

"No. He still notices. He gets scared. He needs to eat five meals a day.”

“Five meals?” Nobara echoes, incredulous. “He was already tall as hell when we fought him. He’s gonna be, like, eight foot nine this time around.”

Yuji isn’t strong enough to fight his way free from her grip. “Please let me go get him. He’ll be wondering where I am.”

“Maybe we could—” Megumi begins, but then he wisely zips his mouth shut.

Nobara pitches a nasty scowl at him. “You were going to suggest that we bring Sukuna here, weren’t you?”

“No. Maybe. No.”

“You definitely were.”

“No, I swear. I heard you loud and clear the first time— we are never, ever, ever bringing Sukuna here. We had a big accident the one time we did and I learned my lesson.” Megumi nods, assuring himself of his own words. “Sukuna is never coming back here. Never. That’s the one rule we have in our household and we are going to uphold it. Yup.”

In another reality, Sukuna ambles around the house, worried and confused. Yu has never left him alone for this long before, but Yu has also never been this sick before.

Sukuna tries to search for him, but he has never been outside on his own except to go to the bathroom, so he ends up running back to the safety of the house after a few steps.

He gets hungry and starts eating random things in the house. Even the vegetables.

He gets hungrier and is forced to eat birds and mice even though they don’t taste as good as Yu’s cooking.

He sleeps curled up beneath Yu’s haori, but it doesn’t smell like him anymore and it soon becomes worthless.

His life changes and the warmth of his current household becomes a distant memory.

In this reality, however, two people arrive at the door the same day Yu disappears. They knock politely. Sukuna doesn’t know how to answer the door, so he stares at it with fright until it slides open by itself, revealing two vaguely familiar people; Nobara and Megumi.

Sukuna doesn’t remember them well enough to name them though, so he runs to hide under the table. He thinks he should try cutting them apart, but what if they’re like those trees? Still standing after the first few shots? What if they retaliate?

If Yu were here to protect him, he would’ve already begun to chop them like firewood.

“Cute place,” Nobara says, walking inside and looking around.

“Wait, take your shoes off,” Megumi warns her. He’s already doing the same.

“Oh, shit, right. Sorry.”

“Don’t—” Megumi gestures at Sukuna urgently. “He’s right there.”

Nobara whirls around. “Oh sh— shoot.”

Sukuna shrinks back. They’ve already found him, even though he thought his hiding place was pretty good.

Megumi, the taller and therefore scarier one, comes closer. When Sukuna makes a frightened noise, he abruptly stops and then kneels. “Hey, um. Everything okay?”

Sukuna doesn’t say anything. He might just cut Megumi across the eyes as hard as he can and then run for the door.

“It’s me, Megumi,” Megumi says. “You know me. We didn’t really hit it off but I’m Yuji’s friend.”

Sukuna’s eyes widen when he hears the name. He doesn’t dare come out from under the table, but now Megumi has his attention.

“The thing is, Yuji’s sick,” Megumi says. “He can’t get out of bed and he can’t come home because he needs medicine. If he does come home, he could die.”

Sukuna makes another frightened noise.

Nobara smacks Megumi aside. “Oh, get out of the way, dummy.” She steals his place in front of Sukuna. “Your dad’s staying at our house so we can help him get better. He’ll be okay, but he’s been asking for you and he misses you, so will you please come with us to help calm him down?”

The only reason Sukuna crawls out from under the table at all is because Yu says he’s a very brave boy and he wants to make Yu proud. He isn’t quite confident enough to look at Nobara while he’s taking her hand though, so he stares at the ground instead.

“Alright, let’s go.” Nobara’s hand tightens around his. She carefully leads him outside. “Did we get rid of all the electronics, Megumi?”

Megumi raises an eyebrow. “Depends. Did you leave your hair dryer lying around again?”

“No,” she snaps.

“Then we’re all good.”

Yuji is awoken by very loud and distinct footsteps. Sukuna leaps on top of him like a cannonball and Yuji chokes like he’s taken a punch to the gut.

“Sukuna,” Yuji says, desperately trying to get some space. Sukuna is hugging him way too tight. “Sukuna, hold on a second.”

Sukuna shakes his head angrily and hugs him tighter.

The best way to get through this is probably to just lie back and wait for it to pass. He closes his eyes and tries to meditate like the parenting books told him. He almost manages to block it all out, but then he feels a brief yet unexpected pressure on his cheek. Sukuna has just kissed him.

“Better,” Sukuna says.

Yuji always does the whole “kiss it better” routine when Sukuna gets cuts and scrapes, because grandpa used to do the same thing and it always made Yuji feel better. This is the first time he’s getting it in return though. He sits up, suddenly alert, but Sukuna is already running back to Nobara, who’s standing in the doorway grinning.

“There, see?” she says. “Now Yuji’s gonna get healthy in no time. Look, his skin’s already got some color back!” She takes Sukuna’s hand.

Yuji smiles. He’s so touched that he actually does feel much better. His chest feels lighter at least. “Thank you, Sukuna,” he says.

Nobara quietly shuts the door, allowing Yuji to recover in darkness.

Now that he’s getting some rest in a warm house with clean running water and healthy food delivered to him around the clock, he starts getting better day by day. Very soon, he’s on his feet and shuffling around. He still needs to bundle up and he finds himself falling asleep all over the place, but it beats being on death’s door.

Nobara and Megumi are getting on way better with Sukuna this time around.

It’s rough going at first. Sukuna is— not quite shy, because that’s not the right word, but wary. His eyes track Nobara and Megumi around the room like they’re enemies and he’s not running around or playing like he usually does. It takes some coaxing to get him out of his shell.

To Yuji’s surprise, it’s auntie Nobara who does it first. She’s pushy and blunt and it gets Sukuna’s hackles up, but when the tension breaks and they end up wrestling, Sukuna seems to enjoy it a lot. He laughs as she pushes him around. She’s very good at pretending that she’s struggling to compete with his strength.

“Yuji, help,” Nobara cries out theatrically when Sukuna leaps onto her back and wraps his arms around her throat. Slowly, she’s crumpling to the floor.

Yuji winces because he knows from experience how tight Sukuna’s grip can be. Nobara is very kind for putting up with it. “Sukuna, don’t be mean.”

“Die, die,” Sukuna says.

“Yup, dying, lights fading, here I go,” she says, collapsing on the ground to “die”.

Pretending to kill Yuji is one of Sukuna’s favorite games, so it’s no surprise that he likes doing it to Nobara, too. Sukuna laughs and runs to Yuji.

“I killed her,” he says proudly. “She was the monster. I saved you."

This is a reference to one of the poems Yuji has read him, where a brave hero faces off against a terrible monster to rescue a beautiful maiden. Which might mean that Yuji is the maiden, which is unfortunately way off base. Yuji hugs him and congratulates him anyway, making sure to sneak an appreciative smile over his head at Nobara. It’s probably quite eerie to play a game like this with someone you actually fought for your life against, so Yuji wants her to know just how much he appreciates it.

She smirks and shakes her head, peeling herself off the ground.

Megumi comes in as a slow second. It takes some time for Sukuna to warm to him because Megumi’s not very talkative in the first place, so he prefers to just hang around in the corner and do his own thing. He’ll watch Sukuna attentively to make sure he’s not getting up to anything dangerous, but that’s about it.

The first time they actually, really interact is when Nobara walks into the room way too confident and says to Sukuna in a loud voice, “you think I’m pretty, right? I’m the prettiest girl you’ve ever met.”

“Nobara, you’re the only girl he’s ever met,” Yuji reminds her.

“Prettiest person, then,” she corrects her self. Then she flips her hair back and smiles kindly at Sukuna. “Actually, you know what? Let's play a game. Say who you think the prettiest person in this room is.”

Sukuna chews on his finger. He thinks for a bit. Then he looks at Megumi, who jolts and nervously points at Nobara. Unfortunately, Sukuna doesn’t get the hint.

“Megu,” he says, because he’s already forgotten Megumi’s name.

Megumi slumps. Nobara flies into a blinding rage. Yuji laughs. Even as scarred as Megumi is, he’s still super hot.

Apparently all Megumi needed was an ice breaker, because after that, he and Sukuna start getting on pretty good! Sukuna treats him a little differently than he treats Yuji or Nobara, maybe sensing that a different approach is necessary. That means no sudden attacks or smacking or punching. They mostly just talk.

It so happens that Megumi is very good at keeping the conversation going. Yuji writes it all down in his conversations book.

I have a lot of toys. I have a horse and a chicken and a cow and another horse.

Wow, that’s really cool.

Where are your toys?

I don’t have any.

Oh. You can have one of mine. Not the horses though. Or the cow.

That’s very generous. So, I can have the chicken?

Sukuna’s brow crumples at the thought, only then realising that he’ll have to part with one of his possessions. Frustration begins to build on his face.

Maybe we can get Megumi a new toy just for him, Yuji suggests, to keep the peace.

Okay, Sukuna says pleasantly.

Megumi even manages to impress Yuji by sitting Sukuna down and convincing him to eat a whole portion of string beans. A whole portion! That’s, like, eight whole entire string beans! For Yuji, dinner time is usually an hour-long nightmare of games and bargaining and sometimes scolding and he still has green stuff leftover on the plate.

A whole portion. What the hell.

“Huh?” Megumi seems clueless when Yuji asks him about whatever magic spell he must’ve put Sukuna under. “I don’t know. I just asked him to, and he did. He ate pretty good.”

“Yeah, he does eat pretty good,” Nobara agrees. “We’re gonna make him at least ten foot tall. No, twenty foot. We’re gonna break the record for world’s biggest son.”

They all start getting along so well that Yuji might’ve become jealous, if it weren’t for Sukuna always running back to him when he’s unsure or tired. He frequently reports back to Yuji, always seeking attention from him. He also can’t fall asleep unless he’s in Yuji’s arms.

That’ll be a bad habit to train out of him in the future, but for now, Yuji just enjoys the affection.

Sukuna is also very involved in Yuji’s recovery process. He jumps at the chance to play nurse, attentively watching Nobara as she wrings out the cloth for Yuji’s forehead or stirs dissolving pills into his water. Always asking to help when Megumi’s bringing up more soup. Yuji appreciates it, even though the spoon usually ends up jabbing him in the face rather than going into his mouth when Sukuna’s got hold of it.

“We can’t do this forever,” Yuji says once Sukuna has fallen asleep beside him.

“Why not?” Nobara asks.

“He’s going to start asking questions if we keep bringing him here.”

“Then we’ll go to you,” Megumi says easily.

Yuji’s eyes widen. “Are you sure?” He’s ecstatic, but he doesn’t want to show it until he’s absolutely sure that this is what his friends want, too.

They both seem pretty hyped about it, though. They glance at each other, nodding, then turn to Yuji to give him their mutual agreement. 

“Well, good,” Yuji says, grinning. “I ordered some clothes for you guys a while back, so you can look the part when you visit. It’ll be like cosplay!”

Nobara sighs and rolls her eyes, but there’s a smile there despite it. Megumi just looks intrigued by what his outfit’s going to be.

A truly worthless individual dares to challenge Sukuna, shouting some nonsense about his family and vengeance. You killed them, you monster, he says, swinging his sword about.

“Did I?” Sukuna drawls, looking to Uraume for confirmation.

Uraume doesn’t know either, because many of the people Sukuna kills are beneath their notice. He prefers to fight interesting opponents who will entertain him by putting up a fight, but if someone should be standing in his way, he will certainly kill them too.

Uraume has seen him kill someone so as not to be made to step aside when their paths were about to cross. He killed someone for ruining his view of the horizon, if only for a moment. He killed someone for their tone of voice— though it was directed not at him, but at another. It was spoiling his mood.

Of course, Sukuna swiftly cuts down this worthless individual with a mere flick of the hand. Uraume stands, preparing to remove the corpse from Sukuna’s sight.

“Son of a bitch,” the man says, blood spurting from his mouth. “Damn whatever brought you into this world.”

“I came into this world the same as anyone else,” Sukuna says, unbothered.

“Then damn your whore mother, and your cocksucking father.”

Even Uraume is not prepared for the ferocity of Sukuna’s retaliation. His next attack hits the man so hard that Uraume falls to the ground to brace themselves against the shockwave. Blood hits them so hard that it’s like being pelted by rocks.

The man is still somehow alive by the end of it, which must mean that Sukuna took very special care to keep him alive. Uraume shields their eyes, prepared to defend themselves if blood hits them again at the same velocity.

“I’m going to share something with you and I want you to spread it around,” Sukuna says, approaching the living lump of flesh he’s created. He grabs it by the throat, causing it to tremble with pain. “You are the first to insult my father and you’ll be the last. If I have to suffer even one more slight against him, I’ll know you haven’t done your job correctly, and I’ll come find you.”

He drops the man, then departs.

“Uraume, clean up,” he says curtly.

“Yes.” Uraume knows they must be short and concise when Sukuna is in this mood, so as not to frustrate him. The door slides shut, leaving Uraume alone with Sukuna’s victim. His words indicated that he wanted this particular vermin kept alive, so Uraume will not dispatch him. But that doesn’t mean they’ll treat someone who insulted Sukuna or his family kindly.

Chapter Text

When they get back home, Sukuna starts talking about the village with renewed interest, and he doesn’t stop for months. Doesn't stop for over a year. Eventually they hit a breaking point and pretty much every conversation starts circling back to it. I wanna go, when can we go, it doesn’t matter how many arms or eyes, I wanna meet new people!

He thinks he’ll find friends like Megumi and Nobara to call his own, but Yuji knows that this will be difficult, and it’ll be a long process filled with trial and error. He tells Sukuna as much, not wanting to obfuscate the truth.

“People can be dangerous,” he says seriously.

“But I’m strong! If they’re bad I— I can cut them up with my technique!” Sukuna insists.

“Sukuna, we’ve talked about this. I don’t want you using your technique on people unless your life is in danger.”

“I won’t! I promise! I’ll only use it if I need to!”

“You won’t need to, if I have anything to say about it. You’re too young to be getting into dangerous situations like that.”

“But— but—” Sukuna is breathing heavily because he’s getting upset. “If they’re allowed to hurt me, how come I’m not allowed to hurt them back?”

“Nobody’s allowed to hurt you, but bad people might do it anyway.”

“Why?”

The answer is too complicated for Yuji to explain to him. He sighs. “You’re still young, Sukuna. I won’t let you meet anyone until I’m completely sure that they’ll accept you, and that’s final.”

Sukuna throws himself down with frustration and folds his arms.

“You’ll make friends,” Yuji assures him. He tries to embrace him, but Sukuna shoves him away. “I promise, I’ll go down to the village tomorrow and find people. I’ll find sorcerers who won’t mind if someone’s a little different to them.”

“Different,” Sukuna mutters angrily.

“Sukuna…”

“Just— never mind. I don’t want any stupid friends anyway.”

Later, at dinner, he doesn’t eat anything, instead going outside to throw his horse toy at the wall repeatedly. At bedtime, he sleeps with his back to Yuji and ignores Yuji wishing him a good night.

Since he’s getting a little bit older — and way taller than average — Yuji rolled out his own bed for him. He seemed nervous at the idea of sleeping on his own, so Yuji introduced it in increments. The first few weeks, he only had to sleep in it for one night out of seven. The the next few weeks, two nights, and so on until he felt perfectly safe sleeping without Yuji all the time. He actually seems to prefer it now.

It’s greatly helped to nourish Sukuna’s independence, but it’s also led to some impatience. Suddenly Sukuna wants to grow up so fast. Pretty soon he’ll be packing a bag and demanding Yuji’s permission to leave the nest. Hell, maybe he won’t even ask for permission. Maybe he’ll just pick up one day and leave. This has always been the goal. It’s any parent’s goal. Still, it makes Yuji anxious about how fast time is passing. He doesn’t want to give up his baby just yet.

With these thoughts swirling in Yuji’s mind, he falls asleep. His bed now has more space than he knows what to do with, and the nights seem colder without the extra body heat, so he sleeps restlessly. Some kind of parental instinct jolts him awake hours later in the darkness. He looks around.

He can’t see Sukuna anywhere. The bed beside his own is empty.

He checks the whole house with increasing panic, before finally bursting outside, shouting Sukuna’s name. Deep down, he knows what happened. He got outsmarted by a fucking child. Sukuna was never going to give up on making new friends and he was never going to wait for Yuji.

Yuji sprints through the trees to the fork in the road that leads down to the village. He shouts for Sukuna, stumbling because he didn’t put shoes on. Barbed plants and twigs and sharp rocks dig into his feet as he runs, slashing branches out of the way.

He almost collapses with relief when he miraculously finds Sukuna coming back up the road. It feels too easy, too merciful to be real. After a few seconds of stunned silence, Yuji goes to him. The first thing he sees is red. Sukuna’s clutching his face just like Megumi was, with blood pouring between his fingers. Yuji pleads to himself that this is some kind of nightmare.

“Sukuna, what happened?” Yuji asks.

Sukuna springs back at the sound of his voice, but when he realises who it is, he bursts into tears and rushes at him. Yuji grabs his face, horrified by the wounds. Both eyes on the right side of his face are bleeding profusely. The eyelids are swollen and red, and all he can see of the eyeballs is bloody pulp.

Until now, Yuji has only taken care of scrapes and bruises. Tiny injuries that Sukuna barely notices. Sometimes he’ll show them to Yuji with pride, probably because he enjoys getting fussed over. Never anything like this.

There’s no time to ask questions. Yuji picks him up and runs home to fix him. The next four hours are miserable. Sukuna keeps flinching back in fear and pain whenever Yuji tries to touch his eyes. Sometimes he’ll fly into a panic and try to escape the house. It takes a lot to calm him down when this happens. Yuji has to hold him and talk to him softly and run his hands through his hair.

His old horse toy, which was always his favorite, now moth-eaten and abused and left abandoned outside, is a huge help. Even though Sukuna has been acting like he’s outgrown it, clutching it seems to give him an anchor. Yuji hates seeing his most important person suffer so much, but he cannot break down alongside him. He has to be strong to make Sukuna feel safe.

Eventually Sukuna exhausts himself. Even though he’s still upset and his legs are still rattling, he doesn’t have the strength to fight Yuji anymore. Yuji cleans his wounds and wraps them.

“Sukuna, tell me what happened,” Yuji says when the grueling work is done.

Sukuna shakes his head.

“Please? I just want to help you.”

He shakes his head again.

Okay. Now is not a good time to push him, so for now Yuji will drop it. The sun is rising. They spend the rest of the day indoors, in the quiet. Yuji makes Sukuna’s favorite meal and feeds it to him, though he only manages a few bites. Yuji wishes they could just post up on the sofa together and watch movies, but since there’s no TV, he invites Sukuna to come weave a blanket with him.

Yuji’s terrible at this kind of delicate stuff, but lately he’s finding himself with more spare time than he knows what to do with, since Sukuna can entertain himself and put on his own kimono and brush his own teeth— well, no, he always misses the molars, but still. Yuji figured he’d pick up a couple new Heian-era hobbies to fill in the gaps, and the seamstresses were happy enough to teach him their ways, thanks to years of generous trading.

Sukuna’s actually better at it than him, despite his lack of interest. It’s strange, watching him work. He’s built for power and brute force, but he can also be gentle in equal measure. Yuji is proud. Sukuna glances up and him and Yuji smiles earnestly, but this makes Sukuna avert his eyes.

That night, Sukuna crawls into bed with Yuji. Yuji doesn’t protest at all even though it’s technically against the rules, gathering him into a hug.

“I just wanted to meet someone new,” Sukuna says.

Yuji holds him tighter. “Did you go down to the village?”

“You kept saying no, but I thought...” Sukuna sniffs. “I saw some other kids my age. They all had two arms and two eyes, but I really, really thought that if I was polite enough…”

He doesn’t continue, but Yuji already knows how the story ends. To be honest, he’s not sure if he can even bear to hear it. Poor Sukuna. He’s so kind and thoughtful and energetic. He’s a good kid, he really is, so there must be some way to integrate him into society and have him connect with others happily. They just haven’t found it yet.

“Don’t be sad, Sukuna,” Yuji says. “You just have to find the right people, that’s all. Today wasn’t the day, but maybe next time.”

Sukuna’s remaining eyes are shining in the dark. “There’s nobody like me, is there?”

“No,” Yuji admits. “And that’s why you’ll have a tougher time making friends than most people, but it won’t be impossible, I promise. You’ll just have to find someone who’s just as unique as you are, that’s all. There’s probably a bunch of people out there who are just as lonely as you, for all kinds of reasons.”

“So I should find strange people to make friends with?”

“Well—”

Sukuna smirks. "Like you?”

Yuji props himself up on his elbow. “What, you think I’m strange?”

“You’re very strange.”

“What’s strange about me?”

Sukuna thinks for a moment, then smiles mischievously. “You sing when you wash clothes, but you sing really bad.”

“No way! You just haven’t listened closely enough!” Yuji throws his head back and sings the highest note he can manage.

“Stop! Stop! You sing so bad!” Sukuna laughs and jumps onto him, covering his mouth.

Yuji wrestles against him, trying his best to sing, even when Sukuna starts hitting him. Then they’re both laughing too much to breathe and Yuji feels tears well in his eyes. His heart is overflowing with love for his son.

Sukuna’s mood is much better when he wakes up. He’s happy and motivated and eager to help Yuji with all his chores. He has a fresh outlook on life. Yuji can see sadness hidden deep within his eyes, like a fish at the bottom of a murky pond, but it doesn’t make the happiness any less genuine.

Yuji has a fresh outlook, too. For the next few weeks, he makes all Sukuna’s favorite meals, plays all his favorite games and pretty much spends every waking moment having fun with him. He truly enjoys spending time with his son, so it’s no work at all.

One day, Sukuna heads out to collect firewood, because he’s just so helpful, and Yuji stays home to keep an eye on the stew. It’s a mild day outside and slightly humid. That’s when there’s a knock at the door.

This far into the woods, visitors are extremely rare. In fact, this is the first visitor Yuji’s had in years. Warily, he goes to the door and twitches it open a sliver.

Outside is an average-looking man of no importance. One of the billions who lived and died unremarkably and never made the history books. He eyes Yuji disdainfully.

“Well,” he says, “I thought it was all just rumors, but here you are.”

“Excuse me?”

“The ladies in the village spoke of a man who comes down from the woods to trade. I assume that man is you.”

Yuji opens the door a little wider so they can talk properly. “I guess so, unless I’ve got a neighbor I’ve somehow never crossed paths with.”

The man doesn’t laugh. His eyes are sharp. He has a sword at his hip and he might be a sorcerer— Yuji is getting a certain sort of vibe. He hopes that the way his hand tightens around the door frame isn’t obvious.

“Did you need something from me?” Yuji asks.

“Information,” the man says. “A boy in the village died. He was butchered. Cut to pieces like an animal. His friends saw the whole thing and are saying a four-armed monster came out of the woods. I’m going to get to the bottom of it.”

Yuji’s stomach tightens into a rock. His whole body reacts and his ears start ringing, but he keeps himself as still as a statue. “That’s terrible,” he says earnestly, because it is terrible, children dying. Nothing else to be said about that.

“Do you mind if I look around?” the man asks.

Maybe Yuji should put up a fight, act all offended that he’s a suspect, but honestly he doesn’t have the energy for it. He’s still reeling. He allows the man to enter without complaint.

With a brief thanks, the man steps inside and takes measure of his surroundings. He uses his sword guard to prod the woven blanket on the ground, as if it’d dirty his hands. He sees stuffed toys and a stew bubbling over a fire.

“I live here with my daughter,” Yuji says evenly, because Sukuna can only wear kimonos and the seamstresses gossip. “You can ask anyone around town. I hunt for meat and trade it.”

“How do you hunt?” the man asks without missing a beat.

Yuji gestures to the bow and arrows he has propped beside the door. He figured he’d need it to uphold the ruse, though he thought he’d be upholding it against any mothers or traders he managed to make friends with and invite over. Not someone like this. “I was trained by my father,” he lies.

“Where is your father now?”

“Dead. Wolves got him.”

“Ah. And where was he from?”

“Up north.”

“I see.” The man doesn’t look convinced. “Want to demonstrate for me?”

“Demonstrate what?”

“Your form.”

“What, in here?”

“I’m interested. I’ve heard they teach archery different up north.”

Yuji did not come here unprepared. He’s no good with a bow and arrow but he went to the archery club a few times in his younger years and he made sure to brush up on his technique before starting this mission. He nocks an arrow, making sure that the position of his hands are perfect, and mimes drawing back for a shot. The man stares at him for several seconds before dismissing him, apparently satisfied.

Yuji puts the bow down and watches him continue his search, making sure to stay completely still so that he doesn’t let on that he’s nervous. Sukuna will be back any minute and then it’ll all be over. Doesn’t matter that he’s practically still a baby, he looks like a curse and he’ll be treated like one.

“How old is your daughter?” the man asks.

“Four,” Yuji says, barely containing his anger. “You don’t really think a four year old could kill someone, right?”

“Of course not. There’s no need to be paranoid.”

“Well, sorry, you’re looking around my house so I assumed.”

“You’re the adult here.”

“Yeah, an adult with two arms. You think I’m hiding two more in a chest somewhere or something?”

The man grunts. He seems frustrated that he hasn’t found anything incriminatory. As he’s leaving, he stares over his shoulder into Yuji’s home, clearly hoping for a clue to reveal itself.

“Terrible way for a child to die,” he says before finally leaving.

Yuji lets out a sigh of relief and collapses into the closest seat with his head in his hands. He isn’t sure how long he sits there until Sukuna returns.

“Yu, Yu!” Sukuna is calling happily. “I found some good ones. They were all really dry out in the open! We can use it straight away.” He has his arms full of perfectly cut wood. There’s a spring in his step, but this disappears when he sees Yuji’s face. “Yu?”

“Sukuna,” Yuji says.

Sukuna looks unsure, but he forces a smile and continues. “I got these for you.” He tries to offer Yuji the wood.

“Sukuna, a man just came and told me a kid got killed in the village.” Yuji kneels in front of him and sets the wood aside. “I’m going to ask you something and I want you to tell me the truth—”

Sukuna is already denying it. “No.”

“—did you hurt anybody when you went down there?”

“No.” Sukuna is shaking his head. “I didn’t do anything. They’re the ones that hurt me!”

He’s lying.

Yuji’s chest feels tight. He knows what Sukuna looks like when he’s lying because he’s so young and dumb he hasn’t learned how to mask it yet. It’s in the way his eyes flick to the side and the slight hesitance in each word, like he’s too nervous to put his whole heart into it.

“Sukuna, you’re lying to me,” Yuji says.

Sukuna becomes more frantic. “No I’m not! I told you I didn’t do anything! They— they were— they hurt me first! They threw the rock at me!”

“Sukuna.”

“I don’t know how that one died but they threw the rock at me! It’s not my fault!”

Still lying. This is the worst case scenario. Yuji feels like a failure. He wishes more than anything for Sukuna to give him some other explanation to wake him from this nightmare, but he has a sinking feeling that he knows what really happened.

“Tell me the truth, please,” Yuji begs him. “Stop lying to me.”

“I’m not lying!” Sukuna screams, overwhelmed, jumping in place.

“You are.”

“They threw the rock and I pushed him— they— I don’t know what happened after that!”

“The one you pushed, is that the one that died?”

Sukuna is eager to give Yuji a response that appeases him, so he’s quick to admit it. “Yes. That’s definitely the one, I remember.”

Yuji’s voice hardens. “Okay, so how did you know that if you weren’t the one that killed him?”

“I—” Sukuna realises his mistake and goes pale. “I didn’t kill him! He hit me! It was his fault! You should be mad at him! Why are you mad at me? It’s not fair! It’s his fault! It’s all his fault!”

“Sukuna, I’m not—”

His fear explodes out of him as anger. “Why— why don’t you love me?!”

“You know I love you, Sukuna,” Yuji snaps, disgusted by the mere idea that he doesn’t.

Sukuna starts to cry like he never has before, even when he was a baby. “I’m sorry! I’m sorry! I’m sorry!”

Yuji breaks a little. He doesn’t know what a good parent would do in this situation, but he knows what he’d do. “Sukuna. Listen.” Sukuna is inconsolable, so Yuji wraps him up in a tight hug. “I’m not mad at you, okay?”

Sukuna holds him tightly and cries against his chest.

“You got hit really badly. They broke two of your eyes, so you couldn’t even see straight, right? And you didn’t know what to do next, so you just started pushing. You just wanted to make them get back and your body responded.” Yuji presses his face against Sukuna’s hair. “You only went down there in the first place because you just wanted to make friends, but they hurt you instead. I bet your head was all over the place. Right? Right?”

Sukuna just keeps crying, but the initial panic is fading. He’s listening.

Yuji pulls away a little and waits for Sukuna to look him in the eye. “Sukuna, look at me. Look at me, buddy. I’m glad you’re here with me. If they were gonna keep throwing rocks at you and there was nobody around to help, I’m glad you defended yourself. Okay? But I know you can control your cursed technique, so what happened?

“I was scared,” he says at first, but then, ashamed, “I was angry. I just wanted to make friends and they hurt me, so I wanted to hurt them back even worse.”

“Oh, Sukuna.” Yuji hugs him again.

This is on Yuji.

He failed to keep Sukuna and everyone else safe from each other.

What’s going to happen to their little family now?

Chapter Text

“We need to be quick, so just make sure to grab your favorite things,” Yuji says. “We can leave everything else behind.”

Sukuna wraps his arms around himself, shifting from foot to foot. He looks back into the home they’re abandoning. Already Yuji has stripped the essentials and ferried them to Nobara and Megumi’s apartment for safekeeping. There they’ll stay until Yuji finds someplace new.

“I don’t wanna go,” Sukuna mutters.

Yuji sympathizes. He runs his hand through Sukuna’s hair. “It’ll be a little scary at first, but this’ll be good for us. We’ll find somewhere new and make a fresh start. Sounds cool, right?”

It takes some more convincing to get Sukuna moving. If Yuji could, he’d uproot the entire house and carry it on his back to wherever the hell they end up, but that might be a… little too strenuous. It doesn’t help that the weather is miserable. It’s raining and it’s cold and their breath frosts in front of their faces, so no wonder Sukuna’s dragging his feet.

Eventually Sukuna emerges with his horse toy. “This,” he says confidently, “I definitely want to keep this one.”

“Great choice.”

Sukuna nods. “Um, what about you? Do you have all your favorite things, too?”

“I’ve got the thing I love most right here!” Yuji yanks him up into a hug, causing Sukuna to laugh and kick his feet around.

Despite all the worry and anxiety, Yuji manages to keep Sukuna entertained during the walk. They play games and talk and just connect. Sukuna really is fun to talk to, and his grasp of the language gets better every day. Yuji loves to hear his thoughts.

And the Heian era is just as amazing as ever. They exit the forest onto a mountain pass that casts a massive mile-long shadow across the valley below. Sunlight beams off the snowy peaks in the distance. It really is beautiful. Yuji stops to stare, and Sukuna, who is excited by his newfound freedom, runs ahead and wheels around in circles. Then he shouts at Yuji to keep up.

They walk all day and way into the night, taking many breaks in between. Nobara and Megumi arrive once the sun has gone down. Nobara — Yuji loves her — comes at a full sprint. She’s removed her sandals because she’s not used to walking in them and her kimono looks like it’s been haphazardly tied in a rush.

“Sukuna,” she says, falling to her knees and grabbing him. “Man, you really got busted up. Does that hurt?”

Sukuna is used to her brashness by now. “No,” he says bravely.

Yuji has been cleaning the wound frequently, but it refuses to close over. The two holes where Sukuna’s eyes were stay fresh, bright and angry, almost smoldering like fire. Sukuna has to bite his lip and knot his fists into his sleeves whenever Yuji changes the bandages.

Nobara sucks her teeth, then pulls Sukuna into a hug. “I bet it was nothing you did. It was just those dumb kids being mean and stupid.”

“You didn’t tie your kimono right,” Sukuna says smartly.

Nobara’s jaw drops at being rebuffed so easily. It looks like she’s going to complain, but Megumi catches up to them then. He goes straight to Sukuna, and even though he’s not much of a hugger, he pulls Sukuna into his arms.

“You’ll be okay,” he says simply, like it’s a fact.

Sukuna nods.

“We should keep moving,” Yuji hints, not wanting to bring bad memories up again.

Then they each hold one of Sukuna’s hands and guide him along behind Yuji. Sometimes they’ll swing Sukuna back and forth, which Sukuna seems to enjoy. They look like a young couple in love with their baby between them, but Yuji doesn’t say this out loud for fear of being knocked out by Nobara.

The three of them put their heads together to find a nice new location. There’s a lot of disagreement and some arguing, then a lot of walking. A little bit of fistfighting between Nobara and Yuji while Megumi entertains Sukuna in the background. More walking. Lunch break with a couple self-heating bentos Megumi brought. Yuji makes a very special exception for them, even though he’s trying to swear off all modern conveniences. Sukuna doesn’t eat the vegetables, but Yuji hasn’t had the heart to force him to in a while.

They get so far away from their previous home that it feels like they’ve entered a new country entirely. They find a nice place by the river with good coverage from the elements. Looks like an old barn that was used to store food for the winter, abandoned now, but still in a good state. It’s a short walk away from a new village. If all goes well, this is where they’ll set up their new life.

Since he’s got his friends to help him, most of the important work gets done in a single day, despite them arguing the whole way through it. It helps that only little fixes are required. A leak here, a crooked floorboard there.

“You know what?” Yuji asks Sukuna.

Sukuna looks up at him. “Huh?”

“I think you can have your very own room. What do you think? This place is bigger than our old one, so we could have a doorway right here. You can slam it in my face when you’re mad at me.” He mimes sliding a door back and forth.

Sukuna’s eyes sparkle at the thought, and then he’s their own personal foreman, guiding their work as they renovate his private quarters. His new bed is plush and comfortable and twice the size of the old one, his favorite tapestry gets pinned up on the wall to brighten up the place, and he’s got his horse standing guard by the entryway. He’s definitely making himself at home.

Nobara and Megumi also bought him a bunch of new clothes, new blankets and most importantly, new toys to try and make the transition easier. Sukuna is especially enamored by the goose and he carries it around pretending it’s real and that he cut it down from the sky.

The nearby village seems nice enough. There are people everywhere and they seem to be thriving. Someone pulls a water buffalo past, and it looks well-fed. Everyone’s homes are warm and welcoming, and at the crest of a hill is a large compound that overlooks it all. Yuji worries that it’s a sorcerer clan of some kind, but he’d rather not draw attention to himself by asking about it. He searches for a place to trade.

And he finds Uraume.

He thinks it’s a vision from the past and sucks in a breath, instinctively ducking behind a wall. For a split second he’s back in Shibuya with danger at every turn, fighting for his life. The panic fades though, and he forces himself to peek.

It’s definitely Uraume. They’re very distinct, so there’s no way they could be mistaken for anyone else. They’re so small, though. Smaller than Sukuna, which, to be fair, isn't saying much. But they're thin. And frail. Their sleeves are pinned up and they’re carrying a pail full of water that seems far too heavy for them. Their arms shake as they struggle to put one foot in front of the other.

Chores?

Yuji wants to go to them, but indecision holds him back. What if he brings Sukuna and Uraume together and it’s not the right time? What if Uraume doesn’t accept Sukuna, and Yuji goes and ruins the one good relationship Sukuna ever had? He doesn’t know how the two of them came to be allies and he might end up spoiling something very special.

In the end he is unable to make a decision in time and Uraume disappears. He asks around about them.

“Oh, that one?” a man fishing by a stream asks. “I wouldn’t concern myself with them, if I were you. They're certainly strange.”

“A servant at the manor. I’m sure you’ve seen it.” His friend gestures towards the hill, then shakes his head with dismay. “Difficult family to work for.”

Yuji is a little worried by this, so he says his thanks and starts asking about the manor instead. Unfortunately, he just gets more of the same ominous stuff from the old woman washing clothes in a bucket on the front step of her home.

“Are you looking for work?” she asks. “I’d advise you to stay away from that family. They’ll work you to death. Better to struggle along on your own.”

Yuji returns to his house, anxious and distracted. It’s taking a while for the smell of food to seep into the woodwork, and only when it does will it feel like home. Everything is still a little too pristine and new for his liking, so he’s is eager to wear it all down over the coming years and make it feel lived-in.

Megumi is reading Sukuna a story when Yuji crosses the threshold. Sukuna springs up when he realises Yuji has returned and runs to hug him tightly. Then he pulls Yuji inside to show him the calligraphy they’ve been practicing together.

“Woah, calligraphy?” Yuji whistles. “That’s amazing! You’ve got him working on that already, Megs?”

“It’s something to do.” Megumi flushes a little at his praise.

The calligraphy is pretty good for a kid Sukuna’s age. The brush strokes are clumsy to begin with, but become more steady as they go on.

For the first time in four years, Yuji is at the apartment alone. He doesn’t bother switching on the lights. He just collapses on the couch.

Nobara and Megumi have been helping out in the Heian era a lot, but now that they’ve finished setting up their new house, things will be returning to business as usual. They'll go back to hunting curses in the modern era and Yuji will go back to raising Sukuna on his own.

It’s not that he’s tired of Sukuna or anything, but he wants to savor his final chance at solitude. His one last uninterrupted nap.

He closes his eyes but finds that he can’t sleep. He stares up at the ceiling. He touches his face, feeling the deep bags under his eyes. He’s getting older now. He found a gray hair when he was getting ready this morning. Grandpa always used to say he got his first gray hairs in his twenties because he worked so hard and slept so little. Looks like Yuji’s going the same way. The years are passing faster and faster, and pretty soon he’s gonna be thirty. After that, he’s gonna be forty before he knows it.

This is his life now. He doesn’t regret the decisions that brought him here. Not at all. He loves Sukuna, against the odds. He just wishes things were easier for them both.

Someone enters the apartment and turns on the hallway light. Yuji jolts up. A shadow is cast against the wall and it isn’t shaped like Nobara or Megumi.

“Yuji?” someone says.

Whose voice is that? In Yuji’s panic he can’t place it. Several matches flash through his mind, but none of them are possible, so he dismisses them one by one. He vaults over the couch and crouches behind it, waiting anxiously for the intruder to show their face.

“Is anyone home?” they call out again.

It isn’t possible. Yuji dismisses it again. He must be having some kind of episode. He covers his ears and screws his eyes shut, trying to force his brain past it. Figures, he came here for a relaxing break and he’s about to have a panic attack!

He feels the floor creak beneath his feet as the intruder comes closer, and then the couch presses against his back as they lean on it.

“Yuji.”

Yuji looks up. Choso is leaning over him, frowning with concern. Real, alive, breathing, right in front of him. Pale like a corpse, like always, with his hair tied up in pigtails. He’s wearing a fun new outfit, though. Something more modern.

“Choso,” Yuji breathes. Cautiously, afraid that his words will blow the illusion away like dust.

Choso comes and crouches beside him. “Are you okay? Was it something Sukuna did? I told you before, this whole mission is a terrible idea."

“You’re alive.”

“Of course I am.” Choso runs a hand through his hair.

Yuji never knew his father, and he became a father at a young age, so this small comforting touch is like a drop of water in a desert. He absorbs it immediately and becomes desperate for more, throwing himself at Choso and hugging him tightly.

Choso accepts the hug, holding him and calming him down with soothing words. After so many years of doing this for Sukuna, Yuji never realised that he desperately wanted someone to do it for him in return. He’s been wanting someone to hold him and tell him everything’s alright for so long.

“You’re alive,” Yuji says. “It— it worked. It really worked.”

“What worked? I don’t understand what you mean.”

“It doesn’t matter.” Yuji laughs wetly. He pulls back so he can look at Choso’s face again. It’s exactly the way he remembers it, minus the startled deer look. That part's new. “You never died in Shinjuku, did you? Look at you.”

“No.” Choso seems disturbed by the thought. “Did you have a dream where I did?”

“You got burnt up in fire, protecting me.”

Choso nods, listening carefully. Then he calmly dispels Yuji’s delusions. “I see where this is coming from. You’re misremembering. The fire didn’t touch you. There was nothing for me to protect you from in that moment.”

Which means, Sukuna stayed his hand.

He stayed his hand against Yuji.

Yuji thought that Sukuna was still be too young to properly commit anything to memory, but maybe now he’s finally at the cusp of permanence. Some phantom trace of love persisted deep within Sukuna and prevented him from coming at Yuji with his full strength. At the last moment, he diverted the path of his fire to spare Yuji. Maybe a memory burst across his vision, something triggered by Yuji’s face or voice.

Yuji can’t wait to go home and tell Sukuna just how proud he is.

This is where the real changes begin. There's something kind of lonely about the fact that he'll soon belong to a reality that nobody else remembers. All on his own, like an alien from another planet. It's something he can take pride in at the same time, though.

Sukuna is left squirming on the ground, a rapidly dissolving lump of flesh, too weak to stand up on its own without a vessel. He shouts and thrashes, rejecting the loss with his entire being. He had clung to Fushiguro more desperately than he knew he was capable, because he had clung with the terror of a child about to experience pain by the hand of his father.

Someone touches him. Their hands are unusually tender.

He realizes, he’s felt this before. Yes, long ago, he was safe in someone’s embrace. He remembers the happiness, the belonging. He remembers knowing he had their unconditional love.

He wonders, then, how he allowed himself to forget something so warm.

He looks up at Yuji. The memory flashes across his mind.

“Hey, buddy,” his father whispers, gently awakening him by touching his cheek. “It’s still daytime, you know.”

It’s the first time he’s ever managed to recall something from his childhood. He’s experienced nostalgia before, many times. There are sights and sounds that are familiar, and certain flavors remind him of a home he never knew. Several times during this very fight he'd come close to hitting Yuji, but would find himself unable, seized by a strange, unexplainable hesitance. Until now, he has remembered nothing solid.

Sukuna tries to reach out to him, but he doesn’t have the arms anymore. He lies there, immobile and useless, trying to talk but failing.

Yuji lifts him up anyway, holding him close. Sukuna isn’t sure what he's saying. All he knows is, he’d like very much to fall asleep here, now that he is for the first time at peace. He allows himself to drift away.

Chapter Text

“Alright, here we go! You’re gonna love this,” Yuji says, presenting the dish to Sukuna. Meat piled on top of more meat. It’s still steaming and Yuji doubled up the portion, so it’s bigger than Sukuna’s head.

Sukuna gasps and eagerly grabs his chopsticks, but then he hesitates. “Why?” he asks, looking up at Yuji with his big adorable eyes.

Yuji smiles so wide it kind of hurts. He just can’t contain his happiness. He ruffles Sukuna’s hair. “Because you deserve it, that’s why. I’m so proud of you.”

“Oh. But what did I do?”

“You were just your own perfect self, that’s all.” Yuji pinches his cheek and then takes his chopsticks from him. “Here, want me to feed you? We can play that game you like!”

Sukuna is a very typical child. Sometimes he likes to think he’s cool and independent, so he gets angry when Yuji assumes he can’t do something on his own. But sometimes it’s the opposite and he wants to play pretend and have his hair brushed and his kimono tied for him. Sometimes he asks Yuji to pick him up so he can fall asleep in his arms, stuff like that. It depends what mood he’s in.

Right now he’s in a good mood, so he happily pretends to be a monster eating random people off the street. It’s another one for the conversations book.

I’m the most powerful sorcerer around and my name is, uh. Yuji hesitates. Sato… Go! Yeah, that’s me. I heard there’s a monster here and I’m gonna slay ‘em.

Rah, Sukuna says threateningly.

Woah, nobody told me the monster was this scary! I’m leaving! Yuji bounces the meat away. Sukuna chases it and devours it, along with everything else in his bowl, even though the whole thing put together is half his body weight. His appetite is both impressive and frightening.

Afterwards, while he’s chewing on a bone and kicking his feet, Yuji begins to unwind his bandages. Sukuna is enjoying himself so much that he doesn’t even notice. Yuji jerks back in shock at what he finds.

For the first time, there’s no blood waiting to gush out. Sukuna’s broken eyes are completely covered by some sort of growth made out of thick, corded flesh. It’s the mask Yuji remembers him wearing when he incarnated into his true form, but this time all soft around the edges and covered in fuzz, like the skin of a peach.

“Sukuna!” he gasps when he realizes.

Sukuna stops chewing and looks at him.

“You know what you look like?” Yuji frames his hands against his forehead, imitating antlers. “A buck!”

“A… buck?”

“A male deer. Have you ever seen them when they’re growing their antlers in? They’re covered in velvet, like this.” He touches the mask and is mesmerized by how soft it is.

And just like a deer, Sukuna drops this velvet in the coming weeks, revealing a sharp, clean mask that looks like wood. A fresh set of eyes swell through the gaps. He looks more like the original Sukuna than ever. It’d be scary if he weren’t so small and cute.

Sukuna doesn’t seem to mind the development. He runs around and plays and eats like normal. The mask doesn’t cause him any distress, so Yuji accepts it as a part of him. He makes sure to clean all the bumps and valleys with a warm cloth every evening, even though it makes Sukuna’s eyes water.

(He keeps the old velvet in a similar jar to the one he keeps Sukuna’s baby teeth in. It’s totally not gross or creepy no matter what Nobara says.)

Back at home, Yuji starts getting to know Choso as a person. They never really had the chance after Shibuya because things got so crazy so fast. Choso seems delighted when Yuji invites him out for tea — or coffee, or a milkshake, or whatever the hell you want Choso I’ll pay—

“No, I can pay,” Choso says quickly.

Yuji frantically shakes his head. “Really, Choso, it’s on me.”

Choso already has his wallet out though. “Where do you want to go? Money isn’t really an issue since I don’t spend it on anything to begin with.”

Yuji is about to protest, but then he realizes something. “You have money?”

“Yes, the teacher salary is quite good. I have a lot saved up.”

“You’re a teacher?”

“Yes.” Choso tilts his head and smiles. “I think I’m better at it than I used to be.”

They find a small cafe on the main street and sit across from one another in a set of plush chairs by the window, enjoying the warmth of the midday sun. Yuji has been having trouble going out in public recently because every time he sees babies he can’t help but go over and coo at them even if it annoys the accompanying parents. Megumi and Nobara are there to wrangle him out of trouble when he gets into it, although they tend to keep their distance when he finds a screaming infant and gets it in his head that he can help to calm them down.

Thankfully there are no screaming infants in sight, so Yuji simply gets a coffee to wake himself up and it makes him feel like more of an adult than ever.

So, in this new reality Yuji has helped to create, Choso’s story continued after Shinjuku. He clung to Yuji since he didn’t have anything better to do, always there to be his backup, his player two. He went everywhere with Yuji, accompanying him on every mission, every outing, every trip to the supermarket. To his first apartment, and then to his second. Sounds like they were practically glued at the hip.

One day Yuji “encouraged him to find a hobby” (which seems to be Choso’s overly-polite interpretation of Yuji kicking his freeloading ass out). This led to him becoming a teacher and training young sorcerers. Now everyone calls him Choso-sensei and his phone keeps buzzing on the table because his students keep trying to get hold of him.

“You can answer that, it’s no big,” Yuji says.

Choso shakes his head. “It’s probably something stupid. They can handle themselves.”

“I love that confidence.”

“Thank you.” He returns to his drink.

“You’re welcome. You’re totally welcome.” Yuji smiles, staring at him, committing him to memory.

Choso jolts when he realises he has Yuji’s undivided attention. “Is there something wrong?” He glances behind himself.

“No, nothing. You look good, that’s all I wanted to say. Still doing your hair the same way. I like that.”

Some color lightens up Choso’s pale complexion. He seems pleased with the compliment. They start talking about more casual things, like the weather and fashion and food. One thing leads to another and Yuji is flipping through his Sukuna photo album, trying his best to convince Choso that he’s cute.

“Oh, here, can you spot him?” Yuji hands him the phone. “He climbed a tree.”

It takes Choso a while to find him. A tiny speck in the upper branches, obscured by leaves. “That seems dangerous.”

“He loves climbing.” Yuji swipes to the next pic. “That’s him throwing a tantrum. He fell asleep halfway through it.”

“That’s nice.”

“And this is him wearing his scarf! Suits him, right?”

“Yuji,” Choso says. “You seem like you’re really enjoying yourself.”

“Huh? Well, yeah. This mission’s, like, my life decision. It’s everything now. I don't regret it. I don’t think I’m even capable of regretting it.”

Choso studies his face for a while, before nodding with acceptance. “If you don’t regret it, then neither do I. If you ever need any help, please let me know.”

Yuji’s about to politely refuse, but then it hits him. “You’re a teacher, right? Maybe you can come over and give him a formal education! Fill in the gaps! There’s got to be some stuff I missed! You can be…” He thumps his fist against his palm. “Uncle Choso!”

“Uncle…” The phrase seems to rattle around in Choso’s head. He flushes. “Okay, that sounds good.”

Haha! Another poor sap roped in! Yuji’s getting good at this. Pretty soon he’s gonna have a whole babysitting army. Speaking of, on the other side of the room, a baby starts crying. Yuji stalks towards it. Choso does not possess a strong enough understanding of social etiquette to stop him.

The introduction is a little rough. Sukuna has become much more wary around strangers thanks to the "incident" (not that he was particularly warm to begin with), so he scampers behind Yuji and glares at Choso distrustfully.

“It’s okay,” Yuji encourages him, kneeling down and tugging him forwards. “This is my brother, so he’s safe, I promise. Say hello!”

“Hello, Sukuna,” Choso says. He’s looking sharp in his kosode.

Sukuna doesn’t respond, instead holding Yuji tighter and hiding his face in Yuji’s arm.

Yuji doesn’t even have to say anything. Choso registers Sukuna’s fear immediately and slowly backs up, like he’s dealing with an anxious dog. Then he takes a seat at the table, facing away from Sukuna to give him the impression that he’d be unprepared to defend himself if Sukuna decided to attack.

“I only came today to introduce myself. I’ll leave soon,” Choso says without looking Sukuna in the eye. It’s a subtle reassurance that his attention is elsewhere, that Sukuna isn’t under too much scrutiny.

True to his word, he has tea and leaves straight afterwards. Sukuna lets out a sigh of relief once he’s gone. Yuji makes sure to praise him for keeping his nerve and Sukuna absorbs it hungrily, even though he's sulking.

They build up Sukuna’s confidence in increments, increasing the length of Choso’s visits each time. For the first few weeks, Sukuna clings to Yuji like a barnacle, but as time goes by he begins to loosen up. Eventually he’s able to sit at the table on his own, and he even begins to talk.

“I can cut wood with my cursed technique,” Sukuna says guardedly. “It doesn’t matter how big the tree is.”

“That’s very impressive,” Choso says.

Sukuna restrains himself from showing it, but it’s obvious to Yuji that he’s excited by the praise. What began as a thinly veiled threat has become a boast. “I can cut down the whole tree in three tries. It used to be four.”

“If you practice hard, do you think you can get it down to two?”

“Yes.”

“Why don’t you show me?”

They spend the rest of the day outside, chopping down trees. Choso joins in, taking down five in one shot. Yuji elbows him and teases him for showing off, but it was clearly the right move to make, because Sukuna is so awed by his blood manipulation that all his reservations get stripped away in an instant. After that, he’s all over Uncle Choso, always looking forward to his next visit, always begging him to stay longer and teach him more.

Choso has a reaction every time he gets called “Uncle”. Steam practically starts shooting out of his ears. He seems to be just as excited by Sukuna as Sukuna is by him. Between them, a very strong bond is forged. Yuji is glad that Sukuna has another special person in his life, but still… nothing beats making your own friends, right?

Once again, he thinks about Uraume.

He wonders if they’re okay.

Currently, it's almost bedtime and Sukuna is practicing his calligraphy on his own. Yuji runs a hand through his hair, drawing his attention. "Maybe we should go down to the village together sometime, buck," he offers.

Sukuna visibly closes off. His posture becomes stiff, his shoulders jutting up sharply as if he's bracing himself for an attack. "I don't want to."

"You'll be with me. I'll carry you. If you wear your big haori, nobody will see your arms or..." Yuji falters, because telling Sukuna to hide his body feels wrong.

"I don't want to," Sukuna says again, more firmly.

Forcing him would only result in more trauma, right? Yuji sighs and allows him to continue with his calligraphy, feeling ashamed of himself for even suggesting it and ruining the mood. He's going to have a to do a lot of thinking about this. Sukuna took to Choso well enough, so maybe all he has to do is find more willing volunteers to spirit up to his house?

Sometimes, by accident, Uraume remembers their dismal life before Sukuna. They remember chores. Hauling water, scrubbing floors, carrying wood, washing clothes. They remember their arms burning, their hands becoming raw and red from the water.

One particularly awful day they scrubbed the same blanket for hours. The stubborn stains refused to wash out. There was this constant worry nagging at the back of their mind: if they didn’t finish the job fast enough, it wouldn’t be dry in time for the evening, and then they’d be punished. This worry was so potent that it imprinted upon Uraume’s mind and sometimes they jolt awake in the middle of the night due to it.

Every day was like that. Constant anxiety and, to their disbelief, constant failure. They always tried their best, so it never made sense how they’d always fall short. Shame drove them to try harder and still, it would yield no results.

That blanket had been particularly heavy. Hauling it out of the river and wringing it made their arms tremble. Sweat built up on their forehead and they swiped it away. That was always the most annoying part: when the sweat dripped into their eyes, blinding them. When it mingled with tears of frustration. When their body failed them.

It wasn’t the first time Uraume had cursed their weak body, and it wouldn’t be their last. They always thought, if only they were strong enough to keep up with the others, then maybe they wouldn’t have to endure so much punishment. Hard work is supposed to toughen your muscles, but that household made Uraume weaker by the day. They fell ill with increasing frequency, too. The other servant children seemed to resent them for spending so much time laid out in bed recovering and they’d play mean pranks as revenge, or steal Uraume’s food, or their clothes.

Uraume once found their winter cloak in the river. It’s lucky that they’ve never felt the cold, or else enduring the long nights in only their underclothes might’ve killed them.

With that heavy blanket in hand, they walked back to the compound’s sprawling yard, taking great care not to let it trail on the ground. They were going to hang it up, but their sandals were old and worn and their legs were tired, so they tripped and fell. They looked down at the blanket in horror. Despite hours of tireless work, it was once again covered in mud.

They sat there for a while before beginning to cry. They were only eight at the time, so they were perhaps a bit more emotional than they are now. All they could think about was how their punishment would surely be coming despite how desperately they worked to avoid it.

Somebody noticed them and walked over. A man. Uraume flinched and shielded their face from him when he got close, causing the man to stop short.

“Everything okay?” he asked.

Uraume didn’t dare look up at him or speak. Even the other servants could be cruel, because any mistakes Uraume made would reflect upon them and they resented Uraume for it.

The man waited patiently for a response, but when he realized he wouldn’t receive one, he knelt down and pointed at the blanket in Uraume’s arms. “That’s a big job for a kid. How old are you?”

Uraume still did not respond, but they finally looked up. The man had a scarred face. When their eyes met, he smiled, which took Uraume off guard.

“I’ll go first,” he said. “I’m… this old.” And he flashed his hands at Uraume; ten, ten, five. Twenty five.

Enticed by the unique new method of communication, Uraume responded. Eight.

“Eight!” The man seemed impressed. “You’re actually older than— well, that’s something! I sucked at doing laundry until I was at least eighteen. Everything kept coming out the wrong color. One time I shrank my underwear so bad I could only fit one leg into it.”

The thought made Uraume laugh, but they had been punished for making noise without permission before, so they clapped their hands over their mouth to silence themself.

The man didn’t seem to mind, though. If anything, his own smile widened. “Anyway, what I’m trying to say is, laundry is like, my favorite chore ever now. Can I please finish washing that for you?”

He reached out and Uraume recoiled. It wasn’t just the movement of his hands, though Uraume does remember it took them many years to unlearn their fear-response whenever they saw someone’s open palms. It was also the fact that Uraume didn’t know if they had permission to offload their work onto someone else. They would sometimes be unexpectedly punished for doing something they didn’t know was forbidden.

“It’s okay,” the man said with a warmth that was unfamiliar. “We can do it together if you want. The water dries out your hands, right? And then they start itching, which is so annoying. So, let’s get it done fast!”

Uraume relented. The man picked up the blanket for them, making it look light as a feather, then they both went back down to the river. The man did most of the work by himself, and since his arms were much stronger, he was able to scrub the whole thing spotless in minutes. Uraume was amazed.

“There! Good as new!” he exclaimed when the work was done, stretching it out in front of him. Uraume could see the sun shining through the material, making it almost glow white.

They touched it, unable to believe that something could become so clean so easily. Without noticing it, their eyes welled with tears of relief. The man whose name Uraume never learned wiped those tears away before they could fall. Uraume wasn't like the other children, born into the household to become servants. Uraume didn't have a mother or father to show them the way, so this touch was unusual to them, and they have never forgotten it.

The man watched Uraume as they made the tiresome journey back to the compound, and when Uraume arrived at the gates at the top of the hill, he waved goodbye. Uraume waved back. The two of them never met again, but Uraume hopes life treated that man well.

At the very least, he wasn’t among those Sukuna killed on that bright, burning day he freed Uraume from that miserable house. It had been sheer coincidence that Uraume survived the initial blast, and endearing themself to him thereafter by steering survivors back to him had been an accident. Uraume acted solely out of resentment. They wanted every last soul living in that compound to die... though if that man had been there, Uraume would likely have pointed him in the other direction. Him, and nobody else.

Chapter Text

Megumi comes out of his room for a glass of water. He yawns and rubs his tired eyes, then flicks on the light. He yelps when he sees Yuji sitting on the kitchen counter with his head in his hands.

“Megumi,” Yuji says seriously, “do two wrongs sometimes make a right?”

Megumi clutches his chest as his heartbeat slowly calms. He sighs angrily. “Famously, no.”

“Damn.” The back of Yuji’s head hits the cabinet. “I was really counting on you to support me, you know.”

“Support you in what? What stupid idea do you have now?”

Yuji answers this with another question. “Do you think I’m good for Sukuna?”

Thinking this is going to be a long conversation, Megumi grabs his water and sits with Yuji. “Yeah, I think you’re good for him. I still don’t know if he’s capable of change, but you’re raising him well. He likes you and you give him everything he needs. Simple.”

“So, in short, my child-raising skills are good?”

“I’d say so, yeah.”

Yuji perks up. “Alright, that’s all I need to hear!” He hops off the counter and leaves the room.

“Yuji, wait—” Too late. Megumi gets the feeling he’s given Yuji the wrong idea. Oh, well. Whatever stupid stuff happens next, he’ll just have to deal with it as it comes. Right now he just wants to go back to bed.

It’s a risk, Yuji knows that. Uraume was fiercely dedicated to Sukuna until the very end. What Yuji is doing right now throws a wrench into their whole dynamic, but he wants Sukuna to have someone his own age around—

Or, well, close to his own age, at least.

He killed a particularly big and fat deer for this purpose. He bounces it into a more comfortable position on his shoulder, turns his chin up and climbs the hill like he’s more confident than he is. There’s a man guarding the gate.

“What business do you have?” he asks curtly.

“Uh, well.” Yuji is taken off guard by his tone. “I’m looking to trade. Heard you’ve got a lot of people working here and I need someone to help me chop firewood?”

Maybe he shouldn’t have phrased it as a question, because the man’s eyes narrow with suspicion. He waves Yuji in though, giving him stern orders to keep his head down and be respectful.

The people living on the compound are a bunch of rich assholes, which Yuji sort of already expected. They sneer at the deer Yuji has brought, even though he knows damn well they’re going to pick the bones clean. It’s a good, healthy deer after all.

Yuji asks for a member of their staff in return. He doesn’t even need to specify that he wants Uraume. The young noble lounging on the pavilion does it for him, flicking his hand carelessly and saying, “that one, the small one,” because he clearly hasn’t even bothered to learn Uraume’s name.

It’s a struggle to keep a straight face. More and more, Yuji wants to beat the hell out of everyone here. The only thing holding him back is the thought of Sukuna waiting for him back at home. Yuji can’t make a commotion and uproot him again. It wouldn’t be fair.

Uraume is dragged in at a brisk pace. They’re stumbling, barely able to keep up. Their hair’s a mess like they’ve been sleeping out in the dirt. Probably the last person you’d pick to chop wood. Yuji is supposed to take this as an insult. They think they’re treating Yuji like a dog, giving him their table scraps— their unwanted leftovers.

Man, these guys suck. Better block them out before he loses his cool.

Uraume looks confused and worried, so Yuji kneels closer to their height and smiles. “Hey, remember me?”

Their eyes widen with recognition, but then they get shoved forward hard enough that they stumble. Yuji lurches forward just in time to catch them before they fall. It takes them a moment to comprehend the fact that they haven’t hit the floor, and when they realize they’re in Yuji’s arms, they flinch back.

“If that’s all you wanted,” the young noble says, returning to his lounging. He closes his eyes without bothering to dismiss them.

Since Uraume doesn’t seem up for holding hands, Yuji simply gestures for them to follow and they leave the compound together. As they walk, Yuji tries to fill the silence with pointless rambling, but as time passes, the lack of response becomes impossible to ignore.

He glances back. Uraume has their arms wrapped around themself and is shivering. It has nothing to do with the cold. Their eyes are wild and white.

“Y’know,” Yuji says, “there’s someone at home who I think you’ll really get along with.”

Uraume looks up at him, but then immediately looks back down, maybe afraid that they’re not allowed to do that.

“He’s younger than you, even if he doesn’t look it, so could you please be nice to him for me?” Yuji continues.

“I understand,” Uraume says cordially.

“Wow, you’re formal! Not that that’s a bad thing. I’m just impressed, that’s all.”

They arrive. Sukuna is chasing a squirrel. It bounds into a tree and he sprints after it, climbing only a few feet before noticing Yuji.

“Yu!” Sukuna says. “Did you get more rice?”

He hops down and comes running over, but then he sees Uraume and his face goes pale. He stops, feinting towards the trees but not quite managing to run for cover; he knows it’s too late and he’s already been seen. Uraume does something similar, hiding behind Yuji. There’s a tense silence. The standoff drags on.

Yuji smiles bashfully. No going back now. “Sukuna, this is Uraume. Uraume, this is Sukuna. Say hello.”

Sukuna shakes his head. His expression is tight with betrayal. His hands come up to protect his face.

“Hello,” Uraume says, though their voice quivers. Their compulsion to respond to direct orders overrides their fear.

Sukuna flinches like he’s been stung by a bug. He doesn’t know how to respond. Yuji isn’t sure what those village kids said to him, but it probably wasn’t anything good. Yuji goes to him and embraces him.

“They don’t know the way around the house,” Yuji whispers in his ear. “Maybe you can show them?”

Sukuna’s fists tighten around his haori desperately as myriad emotions flash across his face. His eyes are pleading with Yuji, begging for confirmation of something that seems too good to be true.

“They seem nice,” Yuji says. He gives Sukuna one last squeeze, then lets go. “I’ll be right here, okay? Keeping an eye on you.”

It’s a big task, but Sukuna walks over to Uraume. Uraume stays where they are. Sukuna is taller than Uraume even though he’s only turning five in two months. It’s crazy, seeing it up close. Really puts into perspective how fast he’s growing. Maybe Yuji really is feeding him too much… but that’s an issue for another day.

Sukuna glances back at Yuji one more time, looking for his comfort. Yuji smiles at him and nods, and this is the last little push that Sukuna needs.

“I can,” he begins, but then he falters. He holds a hand out to Uraume instead.

Uraume stares at it like they’ve never seen a hand before. Yuji starts to get nervous and Sukuna starts to rescind the offer — starts to draw away — but in one sudden burst of confidence, Uraume grabs it and interlocks their fingers.

Eep, they’re holding hands, like, for real! So cute! But Uraume’s hand looks so small, pale and cold in Sukuna’s. Clearly Yuji has been treating him better than that noble house has been treating Uraume.

Slowly, Sukuna tugs Uraume into the house. He walks at Uraume’s pace, which is markedly slower than his own. Yuji notices Uraume's sandals then, and the poor condition they’re in. Fixing those will be priority number two, which comes after cooking a large, healthy meal.

Feeling more proud than ever, Yuji follows them inside. He doesn’t want to get too close because this is Sukuna’s moment to shine. He drifts along behind them, quiet as a mouse, there to smile approvingly whenever Sukuna looks to him for guidance.

Sukuna shows Uraume the hearth where they make fire to cook food and warm the house. He slides their newly installed door back to show them his bed, which has been left in disarray because Sukuna barely tidies up after himself. He shows them various trinkets and objects, explaining their use like Uraume is an alien from outer space.

Uraume’s eye gets snagged by Sukuna’s horse, which is sitting in the hallway.

Sukuna glances between them. Then he goes to collect it.

“This is my favorite,” he explains. “You can have it if you want, though. If you're careful.”

Uraume’s whole face brightens. They accept the gift, perhaps the first they’ve ever received, and hold it close. They wrap their arms around it, seeming to fall in love with the sensation of having something to hold.

“Do you like deer, Uraume?” Yuji asks.

“I’ve never—” Uraume’s mouth snaps shut. They spoke by mistake, and now they’re looking at Yuji, waiting to be corrected.

“Deer tastes nice,” Sukuna says, filling the gap. “Yu makes nice food. You’ll like it.”

Yuji goes about preparing dinner. Today, more than ever, he doesn’t want to fall short, so he makes enough that they’ll have leftovers for days. Uraume seems content to sit and hold the horse toy, leaving Sukuna to creep up behind Yuji.

“Sukuna,” Yuji says, brimming with pride, nudging him playfully. “I think you made a friend.”

Sukuna clutches him and presses his forehead against his back. Yuji doesn’t realize he’s crying until he hears the sharp inhale. They’re happy tears though, so it’s okay.

Their first day goes pretty well, all things considered. Who knew adoption was this easy? Certainly not Yuji! He’s two for two!

When dinner finally gets served, Uraume tries very hard to restrain themself, but they devour it with almost as much fervor as Sukuna.

Days go by and Uraume’s nervousness just wont shift. Standing idle was probably forbidden in their old life, so it’s no wonder they’re getting restless. Yuji has been doing pretty much everything for them, since they’re an eight year old and that’s how it works.

He catches Uraume trying to roll up their own bed and carry it somewhere unobtrusive and quickly intercepts, sending them outside to spend the morning with Sukuna instead. Another time, he catches them rummaging through the cleaning supplies. When Yuji stops them from using any of it, they frantically bow their apology.

“I didn’t realize it was forbidden,” they say. “Please forgive me.”

“Aw, you don’t have to apologize. I just don’t want you doing any boring work. Go watch Sukuna chop trees, I think he’d like that.”

This sounds enough like an order to comfort Uraume, and they go outside to find Sukuna. When they do, they watch attentively as he demonstrates his woodcutting technique. This is a huge relief, because Sukuna has been randomly chopping things ever since Uraume arrived, perhaps trying to impress them, though Uraume’s attention is usually absorbed by their new horse.

Speaking of Sukuna, he has been on his best behavior thanks to their new (hopefully permanent) guest. He’s a little more subdued than usual, and he hasn’t thrown any tantrums. Yuji didn’t know he had it in him! Still, there’s a wall surrounding Uraume that refuses to be knocked down, until one day they take an interest in Yuji’s cooking. Yuji doesn’t even realize he has an audience until he’s halfway through the process of chopping vegetables. Uraume is peeking out from behind the corner at him, thinking they’re being subtle.

“Want to join?” Yuji asks.

They duck away, frightened at being caught.

“Come on,” Yuji encourages them. “It’s easy. I’ll show you how.”

Uraume doesn’t come out. Not until Sukuna goes back there and leads them out. They seem much more confident when Sukuna’s holding their hand, which is adorable. Honestly, the two of them are getting along even better than Yuji thought they would. They probably didn’t do this in their original reality. Hold hands, that is. Try as he might, Yuji can’t see it as anything but an improvement.

In any case, cooking is a useful skill to have, so it’ll be good for Uraume to learn it. It’s one of the nicer household chores, too. Less strenuous, and it really gets the creative energy flowing. He demonstrates his technique to his attentive students (though one is visibly more attentive than the other).

“And, the most important part.” Yuji takes a spoonful and offers it to Uraume. “You have to taste it before you give it to anyone.”

Uraume looks at Sukuna, who nods even though he loves doing the taste test. Having received permission, Uraume eats the spoonful.

“How is it?” Yuji asks.

Uraume nods, and speaks. “Good, but I think..."

"Go ahead."

"You need more salt."

“You’ve got a good palate! That’ll make you a good cook.”

They seem pleased at the idea.

The next time Yuji sparks up the fire to make dinner, they’re right at his side, ready to learn.

Twenty or so years later, Sukuna sits upon a pile of corpses within the silent, smoking remains of a battlefield, suffering from the most profound sense of boredom. There had been no challenge at any point. For a long time now, nobody has been able to measure up to him. He is beginning to wonder if he has exhausted this world of all it has to offer.

“Wonderful show!” Kenjaku says. He’s wearing a new, unfamiliar body. He winces, stepping over a particularly gruesome corpse, picking up his hakama so as not to stain the hem.

Uraume blocks him off. “Nobody asked for your input,” they say, trying to shoo him off.

“It was only a compliment.”

“What do you want?” Sukuna asks. “Make it quick. I don't have the patience for this right now.”

To his credit, Kenjaku doesn’t back off. His smile becomes slightly more awkward, but it remains affixed to his face. “An answer to the question I asked you some time ago.”

Uraume frowns. “What question?” They try not to show it, but they hate it when Sukuna conducts business behind their back, and they always act as if they’ve been betrayed when it happens. When Yu left not long after introducing the two of them, Uraume took that to mean that Sukuna was now their responsibility.

Sukuna knows better. He knew— still knows Yu. The softness of his embrace, his voice. The care with which he cleaned Sukuna’s clothes and the way he’d fuss over Sukuna’s hair. The framed calligraphy. The horse. The nickname, buck. None of that had been an illusion, and none of it will be brushed aside so easily. It had been genuine, and they were not the actions of a man who would leave of his own accord.

Yu is dead. It is the only acceptable explanation for the days and weeks Sukuna waited by the window, hoping to see him returning up the trail. This world, which only takes and takes, took his father. He decided that it would take nothing else from him, and in fact that he’d be the one taking from it.

“I have no interest in submitting to any of your experiments,” Sukuna says. “Bring my father’s soul back in a living body and I might change my mind.”

Kenjaku fumbles. “Well, that’s— that’s quite a tall order.”

Bored, Sukuna stands, clearing a path through the bodies with his cursed technique. Rain begins to fall and it’s cold on his bare skin.

In a thousand years, a boy called Yuji Itadori will snap his fingers and say, “ten fingers and ten toes, right?”

“Close, but no. Sukuna actually had four arms,” Satoru Gojo will explain.

“Yikes.” Yuji will shudder imagining it. “What kind of guy was he? I mean, he was probably pretty crazy, since he turned into a curse and all.”

“Hm, well, legend says he was a daddy’s boy!"

“…Come again?”

The curse inside him will stir with agitation, but Yuji will clutch his stomach and chalk it up to indigestion.

Chapter Text

In all realities, Sukuna goes looking for Yuji. The hours turn to days and then to weeks, and eventually he can no longer bear to live on that damned mountain pass, haunted by memories.

In all realities, he travels with Uraume. The distance gives him some reprieve. 

In some realities, he returns home decades later and in a fit of rage burns the whole forest down, hoping to reveal something hidden within the trees. He feels empty afterwards when he’s standing in the middle of a smoldering gray wasteland, having erased the place his father loved so much.

In a handful of realities that only exist as the result of a specific sequence of coincidences, Kenjaku makes a passing comment that inflicts Sukuna with the paranoid delusion that maybe his father is still alive somewhere and enduring a fate worse than death. He becomes especially wrathful then, pushing himself to the limit, killing and torturing for information nobody has, following false leads given under duress and becoming increasingly more vengeful whenever he reaches a dead end. 

In some realities, Sukuna is known to be fond of horses. Much of the offerings given to him include finely bred horses. He doesn’t ride them or eat them, but he seems to enjoy looking at them.

In all realities, it’s common knowledge that he and his father shared something special. It’s so formative a characteristic that word of it is passed down through the centuries, alongside tales of his exploits and his power.

In the 21st century, Yuji, age fifteen, says, “it’s funny when you think about it.”

Nobara is shaking the vending machine because her melon soda got stuck. “Huh?”

“Even the king of curses had someone who loved him.”

“What, his dad?” She starts kicking it, but the soda doesn’t budge. “There are a bunch of parents like that. My baby is a sweetheart, my baby wouldn’t do that, my baby is totally smart and if he failed that test it must’ve been your fault—”

“My baby isn’t a bully,” Megumi joins in.

“My baby behaves well at home.”

“My baby would never use language like that.”

“Blah, blah, blah, always the same shit.” Nobara rams the machine with her elbow. “Parents are biased. They raise shitty kids and then defend their shitty actions to hell and back— ugh, dammit, Fushiguro! You’ve got skinny arms! Reach in there and pull my soda out.”

“Your arms are skinnier than mine,” Megumi says, aggravated.

They stand next to each other to compare. In the background, Yuji sighs. Neither of them understand what he’s trying to say. Deep down, he wants to believe that everyone, even the most rotten people, have qualities that are worth loving.

He wonders what Sukuna’s father saw in him. Maybe they were good together and they had something special? For some reason, Yuji keeps rolling this question around in his mind, and as the days pass he finds himself more and more desperate for an answer.

The next time he sees Gojo, he asks for more information on Sukuna’s mysterious father.

“Sorry, Yuji, but I’ve got nothing,” Gojo says. “This was the Heian era, remember? They didn’t really keep records on nobodies.”

Yuji tries not to let on how distraught he is, because it’d probably make him come off weird. “But this is Sukuna’s dad we’re talking about! He must’ve been important somehow, right? C’mon, you’ve gotta have something.”

“For all intents and purposes, he seems to have lived and died in complete anonymity.”

“Aw, man…”

Gojo shrugs. “Guess he wasn’t as big or evil as Sukuna was.” 

“Well then, how do we know he even exists in the first place?”

Gojo leans forward, becoming much more animated. “Get this, it’s real poetry! One bright, beautiful morning — and take this with a grain of salt, because you know how people love to exaggerate — Sukuna appeared before the world for the first time. He had one thing to say: I will spare the person who returns my father’s body to me. Either his voice was very commanding or he killed a bunch of people immediately after, because all the major clans whose roots go back far enough took him very seriously and started hauling ass to find his dead dad. Nobody found him, which means Sukuna spared nobody. That’s why he’s known as a legendary demon.”

“Well, I think that’s kinda sweet, in a weird way.” Yuji feels a little bashful saying it, but it’s true. Everyone deserves to have a dad that loves them unconditionally, and even though a part of him is envious, he is, in a strange way, happy for Sukuna.

Gojo smiles indulgently. “He really had a soft side, that Sukuna. He had a favorite animal, too. And he enjoyed poetry.”

“Poetry? Seriously?”

“Yeah, he left behind a whole library. Evidently he took good care of it, because there were some very well-preserved and historically significant pieces in there. Many weren’t signed and don’t have an identifiable author, so it’s entirely possible that he wrote some himself.”

“No way. Please tell me you’ve got some. I need to read what he wrote.” 

It’ll be like reading Sukuna’s diary! The child in Yuji is giddy at the thought. 

Gojo offers his phone with a flourish and Yuji devours the screenshot of the poem on it. He’s not really into literature or anything like that, so all the complicated stuff like rhythm and structure go over his head, but he wants to know more about the guy sealed inside of him, so he puts in the extra effort to understand the words themselves. 

The poem is about a young deer who stumbles in a blizzard and loses track of its father. It waits in the same spot, watching anxiously as fresh snow obfuscates the hoofprints its father left behind. After a cold winter that feels endless, spring comes, and it finds its father’s carcass feeding a wreath of blooming flowers. In order to consume the carcass, it transforms into a wolf.

“Aw, this one’s sad,” Yuji says.

“My theory is that the deer died in the snow and all that stuff in the second verse is just a hallucination,” Gojo says, making Yuji’s mood even worse.

There are a few other poems that Gojo thinks were written by Sukuna, but they’re all quick and rough and careless, like the doodles Yuji does in class. Nothing quite like the deer poem. There’s one page where Sukuna has listed everything he knows about skinning and butchering animals, and he seems to be brainstorming ways to bring it together into something more artistic.

Hate skinning in cold but tastes bad in the heat. Better to pull skin but too hard the whole thing split in half once. Antlers remind me, he kept mine. Soft winter.

Seeing his thought process laid out on paper is fascinating. Cathartic, too. It’s so hard to guess what Sukuna’s thinking sometimes. He’s an asshole and he does what he pleases, but there are long stretches where he’ll go completely mute, as if contemplating something very deeply. During these times he won’t respond to Yuji’s questions, nor listen to any pleas for help. 

Whenever they’re in his domain together he always sits up somewhere high so he’s out of reach. His eyes follow Yuji around, slow but attentive, like a predator with a half-hearted interest in prey. To be honest, their first meeting was the only time Sukuna ever really looked at Yuji like a person and spoke with him and listened. 

It happened a while after Yuji ate that second finger. He blacked out and awoke to the sensation of hands on his face, the grip just a little too intense and smothering. When he opened his eyes, Sukuna was standing right in front of him. He yelped and tried to escape, but Sukuna’s grip tightened.

“It’s me,” Sukuna said. His nails were digging into the edges of Yuji’s eye sockets.

“Sukuna?” 

Sukuna seemed close to panic. “Yes. I just look different, that’s all. It’s me. Buck.”

“Yeah, you normally have four arms, right?” Yuji grabbed his wrists and tried to pry his hands away, but they were immovable. “Look, if you wanna talk, that’s fine, but can you please let me go?”

Sukuna abruptly let him go. Yuji wasn’t prepared for the sudden loss of stability and hurtled backwards. Thankfully, Sukuna snapped forward and caught him before he could fall. 

Ugh, it makes Yuji cringe just thinking about it. He can remember how embarrassing and awkward that whole situation was like it happened yesterday. Imagine having some random stranger’s arms around you, his hands soft like he’s afraid of hurting you and his whole expression radiating concern?

Yeah, weird. 

Yuji grinned nervously and extricated himself. “So, this is some place you’ve got,” he said, trying to deflect from what just happened, looking around at the blood and bones and all the creepy architecture.

Sukuna stared at him without responding.

“Have you ever thought of modernising it? Maybe adding a coffee table or something?” Yuji asked.

No response. Sukuna began to turn away. His eyes began to narrow with suspicion.

Yuji wasn’t sure what he was doing wrong. “Or… a few pillows might make things more inviting, at least.”

“What is this?” Sukuna asked in an unexpected burst of anger. “How were you created?”

“Um, you mean, how was I born?”

“Born,” Sukuna scoffed. “No, I asked how you were created. Who made you? Who sent you to deceive me?”

Yuji started getting a little nervous. He raised his hands defensively. “Uh, I dunno what you’re talking about.”

Sukuna shook his head and backed up. “This is a trick. Something to mislead me. You’re a pale imitation. I’ll gut both you and the fool who had the nerve to make you.”

“Look, I think we’re getting off on the wrong—”

Sukuna dismantled him and he woke up with a gasp. That’s what sealed the deal for Yuji, and he decided to hate Sukuna from there on out. 

Everything after that only compounds his anger. Getting his heart ripped out, the shit that goes down in Shibuya, losing Megumi. Every time Yuji thinks Sukuna has reached the bottom, he just digs deeper. 

Raising two kids is a whole different beast to raising just one. Yuji thought he’d just have to double up on the food portions and the laundry. He didn’t expect all this… competitiveness.

Sukuna enjoys Uraume’s company for all of one week, because they’re new and interesting. When it becomes apparent that he’ll have to share everything 50/50, that’s when the troubles start. He sees Yuji brushing Uraume’s hair and tying their kimono in the morning and is outraged.

After all, Sukuna is used to dominating all of Yuji’s time. Every last second. He’s a sponge and he greedily absorbs all of his love and affection. All those menial little chores Yuji does, like clipping his fingernails or cleaning his mask or brushing his stomach-teeth— those are all special little rituals they’ve created together. They’re so special, in fact, that doing anything similar with Uraume is nothing short of betrayal.

As if tooth brushing wasn’t already hard enough, now Yuji has to fight to avoid losing fingers.

“Sukuna,” Yuji snaps, after the fifth near-miss, “stop trying to bite me!”

Sukuna shoves him. He’s really too old and too strong to be doing that. “I can brush my own teeth anyway!” 

“No you can’t, you always miss the back ones.”

Sukuna flushes with humiliation and glances at Uraume. “No I don’t! That’s a lie!”

Uraume is sensibly brushing their own teeth in the corner. When Yuji gave them their own toothbrush, they took to the task without complaint. Yuji praised them a lot because it seemed like they didn't get much praise in their old life, which is what caused this whole damn tantrum with Sukuna in the first place.

Sukuna hits him again and Yuji gives up. It’s been a long day and Sukuna has worn him out with his bad behavior. “Fine. Do it by yourself, but if you start getting cavities, you only have yourself to blame.”

Yuji goes to prepare the bedding. Sukuna continues with his tantrum because he doesn’t actually want to brush his own teeth, he probably just wanted Yuji to apologise for paying attention to Uraume. Yuji tries his best to ignore the childish insults hurled at his back.

It carries on like this. Uraume’s calligraphy is amazing and Yuji says so, which causes Sukuna to wad up the paper he’s working on and throw it at Yuji’s head. Then when Yuji’s back is turned, he does the same to Uraume’s, which makes them cry. It takes Yuji a while to realise it's happening, because Uraume is very good at keeping silent even when they're upset. Yuji has no choice but to think up a random punishment on the spot. He settles for making Sukuna go outside and sit on the front step until he’s thought up a decent apology. Unfortunately, he very stubbornly refuses to do this and it starts to rain, so Yuji has no choice but to cave and let him back inside.

One day he hears Sukuna and Uraume arguing in the other room. About what, Yuji has no idea. Sukuna has a stronger personality than Uraume and, as it turns out, he can be domineering as hell. Whatever he says, goes. Uraume usually just follows along with it when they’re playing outside or reading or sewing together, so it’s rare for them to butt heads. Uraume even seems to enjoy it when they don't have to make any important decisions, so it all works out. This time though, Uraume says no. There’s a sudden silence, then a loud thump, then Uraume flees the room in tears.

“Did you just hit Uraume?” Yuji asks.

Sukuna flounders and thinks up a lengthy excuse, which basically means “yes”.

Yuji sends him to the step.

Then the wood cutting! God! Sukuna is stronger than your average kid and he can carry a whole stack of wood on either shoulder without breaking a sweat, which is great! But Uraume is smaller and slighter, so even though they barely manage a few logs, Yuji praises them extensively for the effort. Wrong move. Sukuna trembles with anger and, out of spite, cuts up all of the wood Uraume’s carrying with his technique. When Yuji scolds him for it, he explodes.

“But I’m stronger than them and you didn’t say anything nice to me!” Sukuna complains.

“That’s not the point, Sukuna. You could’ve hurt them.”

“I wouldn’t have! I know how to use my technique!”

Yuji breathes slowly, trying his best to hold his temper. “Sukuna, I’m going to count to three and I want you to apologise.”

Sukuna glares at him stubbornly. Yuji counts to three, but Sukuna doesn’t fall for his bluff. Damn, now he's actually got to follow up with his threat. Screw it. He puts Sukuna on the step. Again. It doesn’t produce any results though; Sukuna is still angry as hell when it’s time to come inside, and instead of apologising to Uraume, he just huffs and turns his nose up.

Uraume doesn’t seem to mind all that much. They aren't harboring any grudges, even though Sukuna actually hit them that one time. If anything, they seem fascinated by Sukuna’s wild, untamed spirit. When Sukuna finally does that angsty teenager thing where he storms to his room and slams the door shut, they stare, mystified and somehow inspired by his disrespect of authority.

“Please don’t copy him, Uraume,” Yuji pleads. “He’s a handful on his own and I don't think I could keep up with two of him. Just keep being your own sensible self.”

Uraume smiles meekly. It’s the first time they’ve responded positively to a joke Yuji has made, which raises Yuji’s spirits a bit. Just a bit, not much. It’s very hard to feel anything positive lately, since he’s so tired. 

He asks for advice next time he swings by the apartment.

“You need to be firmer,” Nobara says. “Let that little brat know who’s boss!”

“Maybe he has unaddressed insecurities? You should invite him to an honest discussion about them,” Megumi says.

Yuji has absolutely no idea who’s right between them, so he flips a coin in his head and chooses Megumi. When he goes home, he does so with the intent to pull Sukuna aside and make him open up. He’s met with a firmly shut door, though. He sends Uraume out to forage for some interesting berries that they can use for dinner tonight, which makes their eyes light up with interest. They rush out of the house without a second thought.

Time to strike. “Sukuna?” Yuji calls, knocking on Sukuna's door politely.

There’s a shadow beyond the paper. Sukuna is listening, but he has chosen not to reply. 

“Can I come in and talk to you, please?” 

“No,” Sukuna says. Then, “maybe. I did more calligraphy.”

“Oh, really? Can I see?”

Sukuna slides the paper through the door. Yuji sighs when he reads what’s written.

I wish Yu loved me just as much as he loves Uraume, but he doesn’t because he’s mean. I should run away.

Yuji sets the paper aside. Maybe Megumi was right about those unaddressed insecurities. He sees Sukuna’s discarded horse on the ground and picks it up.

“There’s someone who wants to say hello to you,” Yuji says.

Sukuna opens the door a crack. He seems intrigued by the toy, but is reluctant to come out.

“I miss my friend,” Yuji says in his best horse-voice. “I want to see him. Where is he? Where’s my friend Sukuna?”

Sukuna bites his lip to try and hold back the laughter. It’s a valiant effort, but eventually it bursts out of him involuntarily.

“You laughed! I won!” Yuji cheers. 

“Shut up,” Sukuna says without venom.

“You can’t be mean to me anymore, since you laughed. Those are the rules.”

Sukuna finally opens the door to take the horse from him. At first he was happy to give up ownership to Uraume, but when they fawn over it too much he gets jealous and snatches it back. It obviously hurts Uraume’s feelings, which is why Yuji had a frank discussion with him about sharing and being generous. "Once you give something as a gift, you can't take it back" and so on. It doesn’t seem to have made a mark.

Yuji decides it’s probably for the best if they go somewhere nice and relaxing for their discussion, so he invites Sukuna to the lake. The walk there is silent except for the chirping of birds and the thumping of small animals running through the underbrush. They arrive at a clearing and sit with their legs over a rock that overlooks the rippling water below.

Now, how to say this? Yuji probably should’ve foreseen that he’d have trouble splitting his attention evenly between the two kids. Uraume is still flighty and nervous and they seem to constantly expect brutal punishment for honest mistakes, so Yuji is softer with them than he is with Sukuna. Maybe he made a few bad decisions along the way. All he can do now is try to make up for them.

“I still love you, Sukuna,” Yuji says. “Uraume’s just new, that’s all. They didn’t have a mom or dad to tell them how everything works, so I’m just trying to get them caught up.”

Sukuna looks away from him, pulling on a loose thread on the horse’s head. “Well, I don’t have a mom either.”

He did, once, but Yuji doesn’t know anything about her, so there's not much he can say on that. “You have me,” he says.

This seems to calm Sukuna a bit. His expression softens, but there’s still something weighing on him.

Yuji puts an arm around him. “I want you to be my partner in this, okay? We need to be a team together. We can help them get settled in. That sounds good, right? You and me, teammates.”

Sukuna tests the word. “Teammates?” 

“Yup. You’re my number one in this. I’m really relying on you!” Yuji ruffles his hair.

Sukuna melts at his touch and leans against his side. They stay there for a long time. At one point, a tiny bird zips underwater and emerges with an even tinier fish. When they go home, Sukuna is in a complacent but sullen mood.

Chapter Text

Sukuna’s a little too big to fit into the tub now. 

Yuji despairs. This is the worst possible time for them to transition to the river. Sukuna’s so high-strung lately that even the slightest inconvenience sets him off. Yuji wishes he could get around it somehow, but Sukuna’s got mud behind his ears and a big stripe of filth up his neck, so he needs to be washed immediately. 

He leads both Sukuna and Uraume down to the river. Uraume jumps in easily. They’re used to bathing like this and they don’t feel the cold, so they don’t need any encouragement. Yuji smiles at them, pleased that they’re so easy to manage. 

Then it’s Sukuna’s turn. He stares at the slick, muddy incline suddenly plunging two meters down into the bottom of the river. It’s covered in reeds with large crickets hopping about. Might be a snake or two somewhere.

“Look, I’ll go first,” Yuji reassures him. He hitches up his kimono and wades out a few steps. “C’mon, it’s not so bad.”

Sukuna glares resentfully at Uraume in the deep end, then he looks down at the ground. “I don’t know if I can swim.” He sounds ashamed to admit it.

“That’s okay, I’ll help you. C’mon.” Yuji spreads his arms out for a hug, welcoming Sukuna in. 

Sukuna hesitates for a very long time, but eventually screws his eyes shut and forces himself out. He gasps at the ice cold water, but plunges on ahead, thrashing his arms about in a desperate attempt to reach Yuji faster.

Yuji holds him tightly and, after making sure he’s ready, pulls him out into the deep water. Sukuna dares to open one eye, and what he sees beneath them makes him go pale like he’s seasick. The water is deep enough that the bottom simply disappears into darkness.

“I’ve got you,” Yuji reassures him. “I bet you can swim really good with your four arms, though.”

“I don’t know.”

“Just start kicking your feet, it’s easy! Here, see?” 

Yuji keeps a firm grasp on two of Sukuna’s hands, but allows him to drift. Sukuna thrashes a little when the water crashes between them, severing their connection, but very quickly he figures out how to keep himself afloat. He seems amazed at himself.

“Sukuna!” Yuji cheers. “That’s amazing! I told you, didn’t I? Knew it’d be easy for you!”

Sukuna realises he’s receiving praise for something Uraume can already do better. This is all it takes for him to finally figure out that he’s not being sidelined in favor of somebody older and more capable and better-behaved. He brightens up and grins. “Let go, I can do it on my own. Even better than you, I bet,” he says confidently.

Yuji lets go. Sukuna bobs underwater for a moment but rapidly paddles back up. He’s a natural! Still a little clumsy, but there's enough power in his arms for it to work.

"Better than you, see?" Sukuna loses his rhythm a little and struggles to regain it, but he eventually does and the smile returns to his face. "Better than you! My technique is better, too!"

"Hey, don't get overconfident, brat." Yuji splashes him. Sukuna splashes back way harder. The cold water is brutal, but he laughs despite it all. When he encourages Sukuna to go spend time with Uraume, he goes without complaint and is much more gracious than usual. He's not too rough and he doesn't say anything rude. He's right back to the gentleman he was when they first met. Problem solved! At long last!

Except Yuji’s suffering isn’t over yet. Somehow the curse of competitiveness gets inflicted upon Megumi, Nobara and Choso, because they start competing with one another, too. It all starts when Yuji invites the whole gang over to enjoy the Heian summer, and then Sukuna starts pestering Choso for more demonstrations of his blood manipulation.

Yuji tries to divert his attention because he doesn't want to burden Choso, but he quickly gives up. It's no use trying to calm Sukuna down when he's in an excitable mood. Thankfully, Choso is a wonderful brother and he's always happy to help. He goes one step further and invites Sukuna to a spar, and though the idea makes Yuji nervous at first, Choso performs perfectly. He dodges Sukuna’s attacks without making it seem too easy, and he hits back without making it seem like he’s pulling his punches.

By the end of it, Sukuna is in a much better mood and he’s well-exercised, so he sits and eats without further complaint.

Yuji is so incredibly touched that he could cry. “Choso, you’re amazing! Thank you, thank you, thank you!” He forgets he’s not talking to a child, grabs Choso’s face and plants a loud kiss on his forehead. 

Choso staggers back and mutters unintelligibly when it’s over. He looks like he’s been struck by a lightning bolt.

Everyone is staring at Yuji in disbelief, which is a little embarrassing. His ears feel hot. “Uh, food!” he says, realising what he’s done. “Let’s try my food! I made it. Uh. Yeah.”

For some reason, after that little incident, everyone starts vying to spend time with the kids. They signal their efforts to Yuji to make sure he knows how hard they’re trying and how much effort they’re putting in. It’s weird, but it’s a blessing, because lately he really needs the extra help. Whenever they manage to guide Sukuna or Uraume through a difficult task such as eating food they don’t like or doing a chore, they treat it as a victory.

It carries on for so long that Nobara even makes a scoreboard. It looks like this:

Yuji: 7 (He knows all the best tricks to get the kids to do whatever he wants, even if they don’t always work.)

Choso: 3 (Sukuna loves his blood manipulation.)

Nobara: 1 (She spent an evening doing Uraume’s hair, which they seemed to enjoy.)

Megumi: 0

“Ha, you’re dragging along in last place, chump,” Nobara says.

Megumi’s face goes dark. He decides he’s had enough of being on the bottom of the food chain. He stands and, with a flourish, summons his demon dog. A big powerful one that has long limbs and dagger-like teeth. It stands there with a dopey expression, wagging its tail.

“Play,” he orders it.

It bounds over to Sukuna and Uraume, who shout with surprise and then, upon realising it’s friendly, begin to chase it around with excitement. Sukuna catches it first, jumping on board like it’s a rodeo bull and riding it several laps around the clearing. Uraume seems very impressed by his bravery. It’s the most excited the two of them have been in a long time.

“That still counts as just one point,” Nobara grumbles, reluctantly adding a point to Megumi’s score.

Megumi smirks. “Wait until they see the elephant.”

Nobara jabs him with her pen. “Hey, this is already kind of cheating to begin with. I don’t want to hear anything about any damn elephant.”

“Yes,” Choso frantically agrees. He seems very concerned with this turn of events. “You can’t bring in outside help. It’s not fair.”

Uraume jumps onto the demon dog as it passes and the extra weight finally makes it topple over sideways, flattening them both. They emerge from beneath its fur, laughing with exhilaration. Then the three of them start wrestling like a bunch of puppies. The dog is very gentle with them, only pretending to lunge for them, biting empty air.

“That should be another point for me,” Megumi says smartly. He turns to Yuji and inclines his head slightly.

“You need something?” Yuji asks, confused.

Megumi flushes a little. “I did good, right?”

“Sure, buddy.” Yuji pats him on the shoulder. 

Megumi seems disappointed. 

He’s so weird sometimes. 

At the end of the day, Sukuna is flushed with happiness. He starts begging Yuji for a wolf toy. Apparently he's finally completely abandoned that horse and allowed Uraume to claim full ownership. It would be nice if this meant Sukuna learned the meaning of giving gifts, but Yuji figures he's only doing it because of his newfound interest in wolves.

Sukuna falls to one knee and Yuji seizes the opportunity, laying a black flash into his gut. It’s everything he’s got but it only stuns Sukuna for a moment, and then the fight continues. They exchange blows until Sukuna suddenly lurches forward, pulling him into a clinch. 

Yuji realises, once he’s immobile, how exhausted he is. He needs this reprieve. For just a moment he allows himself to submit to it. 

Sukuna laughs. “You’re trembling.”

Yuji grits his teeth. He’s still not strong enough. He wants to kill Sukuna so badly that he can’t stand it. The need to erase him from this earth is all-consuming, burning up his mind. He’s never hated anyone as much as the man he’s holding in his arms right now. He wishes he could make Sukuna scream in pain.

Sukuna leans close to Yuji’s ear. “Do you remember me?” he asks. 

The feeling of his breath makes Yuji shudder. “What are you talking about?”

“I don’t know what you are, but if you have the same soul, then this is your last chance to come back before I kill you.”

“You’re not gonna kill me, you piece of shit.”

“Oh, I’m going to, you know I’m going to. You’re outmatched. You’re going to lose this fight.” Sukuna holds him tighter, squeezing the breath out of him. “So look within. There must be something in you. Some remnant. A memory.”

“What the hell are you talking about?”

“You cannot — will not disappear, your soul will not be overwritten, I won’t allow it. If that’s you in there, I won’t let you go back into the afterlife as the useless brat you were made into, Yu.”

Yuji startles at the affectionate nickname. “What?”

Sukuna repeats it with more enthusiasm, trying to lure out another reaction. “Yu.” 

“What are you trying to pull?”

“You have a name for me, too. Allow it to come to your mind, and say it.”

Yuji pauses, frowning, unable to figure out what Sukuna’s getting at.

“You know it,” Sukuna insists. “Let it come to you. It’s there. You remember. Come back.”

Enough of this. Sukuna’s presence is stifling. Yuji snarls venomously. “Cut the crap.” He digs his fist into Sukuna’s side over and over until he hits a black flash strong enough to break them apart. “Stop acting like you know me!”

Sukuna stumbles. For an instant there’s genuine confusion on his face, like he wasn’t expecting to get hit at all. Then he’s baring his teeth furiously and his eyes are wide and white. He’s not playing anymore. He comes at Yuji with everything he’s got.

But the outcome is the same in this reality as all others preceding it. Megumi and Nobara pull through and in the end Sukuna lies defeated on the ground in a mass of bubbling flesh. His one bulging eye flicks around in panic, and he writhes like he’s trying to escape. 

Yuji’s hatred dissipates then, seeing the person he hates the most reduced to such a pathetic state. All he can feel is sympathy. His burning desire to look down on Sukuna fades away like it never existed, and he realises he doesn’t have the heart to match Sukuna’s cruelty. He approaches and kneels. 

Sukuna startles at his sudden proximity, and then begins to tremble. “It’s you,” he rasps, recognising the warmth in Yuji’s eyes. His one eye narrows into a crescent, overcome by emotion. “Father.”

Yuji remembers what Gojo told him about Sukuna’s father and their close relationship. He had forgotten all about it until now— forgotten about that human side of Sukuna. The least he can do now is give Sukuna some comfort before he passes on.

“That’s right, it’s me,” Yuji says.

Sukuna exhales shakily. “All these years I’ve been searching.”

Yuji isn’t sure what to say, because he’s not the person Sukuna’s looking for. He lets instinct guide him and the words come naturally, as if he’s possessed. “Well, it’s over now, buddy. No more searching. You crossed the finish line.”

“Even though I doubted, a part of me never stopped believing. Now I found you. I found you.”

“Yeah. I bet you’re tired.” Yuji picks him up and holds him close. “You should rest now.”

Sukuna closes his eye. His corrosive energy fades away.

Chapter Text

While Yuji is dedicated to giving Sukuna a true Heian upbringing, he just can’t resist indulging in modern birthday traditions. He tried to hold his nerve when Sukuna was still a baby, but as soon as he crossed a year off his calendar, he realised how sad and empty he felt being unable to celebrate Sukuna’s life the way grandpa always used to celebrate his. He brought in a cake and sang to Sukuna and gave him a bunch of new toys, and Sukuna was very happy and cuddly that day.

He celebrated all of Sukuna’s birthdays thereafter, sometimes getting more excited for it than Sukuna himself. At some point — maybe when Sukuna was five or six — he exchanged the cake for a big cut of meat, which Sukuna greatly preferred. It became their own personal tradition, and now every year Yuji goes back to the apartment to order something super exotic, like alligator or kangaroo, just to make the whole thing feel special. “I got it from a traveling merchant,” is the excuse he always uses.

Year after year, it gets harder to keep thinking of unique new cuts. Buffalo, boar, quail, camel. Pretty soon he starts running out of ideas. Also, for some reason, Sukuna’s birthday always takes him by surprise. Time is passing so fast lately. Sukuna’s one, two, three, then suddenly ten, completely out of nowhere!

Ten! The big 1-0!

Yuji stares at the calendar, feeling oddly somber. He’s in his thirties now, and if this keeps up, before he knows it, he’ll be in his forties. He still feels like a kid so it’s a difficult concept for him to wrap his brain around.

Sukuna creeps up behind him. “I want ostrich again this time. Please?”

Yuji turns to him. He’s still growing at the same insane rate as always, so they’re almost the same height. Sukuna is also built a little sturdier with his four arms and broad chest, so he looks tougher than Yuji. It’s mildly annoying. Where did the fat little baby Yuji fell in love with go?

“No, you’re on a diet,” Yuji says.

“What? Why?”

“You can not be taller than me, not at your tiny little age.”

Sukuna smirks. “I’m going to be, whether you like it or not.”

“You aren’t allowed.”

“You’re short, Yu,” he snarks.

“I’m five— I’m not short!”

“Your height starts with a five, so you’re short.”

“That’s very specious reasoning,” Uraume says from the writing table, because they’re 5’5.

“Uraume,” Sukuna says disapprovingly, “if you’re going to be on Yu’s side, at least use words he can understand.”

“Oh, you’re a funny guy, huh?” Yuji pinches his cheek. “Really funny! You’re lucky I’m so nice, because I already got you your ostrich steak. Knew you’d want that.”

“Yes!”

Yeah, Sukuna has grown a sense of humor. When he was younger, he and Yuji would tell each other jokes. Sukuna’s usually made no sense whatsoever, and as a result they’d be inadvertently hilarious. For example, at age three he thought all jokes had to start with the knock knock opener, so his favorite went: knock knock, who’s there, why did the chicken cross the road, because it was stupid! Then he’d laugh his ass off and it’d make Yuji laugh too.

Gone are those days. Now Yuji just has a big sassy pre-teen wandering around the house, always talking back and thinking he’s so damn smart. Which he is, because Choso and Megumi keep teaching him stuff while Yuji pretends he isn’t lost and confused in the background.

“Did you finish your chores?” Yuji asks.

Sukuna rolls his eyes. “Obviously. I’m an early bird, unlike you, old man.”

Yuji doesn’t need to go check. He already knows that the cabinet will be full of chopped wood, the beds will be rolled up and a fresh sheet of practice calligraphy will be waiting for review at the writing desk. Despite being willful, like an unbroken horse, Sukuna is very sensible when he wants to be. He takes chores very seriously and he’s usually hard at work before Yuji even wakes up. It puts Yuji to shame, but in equal measure, it makes him proud.

“Thank you,” Yuji says earnestly, running a hand through Sukuna’s hair. Positive reinforcement is really the only way to make Sukuna do anything, so Yuji always showers him with praise.

Sukuna’s smile widens at the affectionate gesture. It makes the markings on his face stretch in a way that Yuji can only describe as “warm and welcoming”. Maybe it’s just his parental bias talking, but any girl would be lucky to have him.

“I’m more excited for your birthday than mine,” Sukuna says. “I wish it would come around faster.”

“Oh, I don’t really need to get any older, thanks. You know it’s all downhill once you hit thirty? Like, biologically.”

“I already know what I’m going to get for you. It’ll be fun.”

He seems eager. Yuji laughs quietly. Once Sukuna got old enough to actually figure out what a birthday was, he always made sure to get a gift for Yuji. In his younger years it’d be a dead animal or some drawings and a promise to behave very nicely for the rest of the week. Now that he’s a little older, his gifts are more thoughtful and elaborate. Yuji honestly can’t predict what Sukuna might have in mind.

“Maybe we should swap and make it my birthday today instead of yours?” Yuji asks.

“After I eat the ostrich steak, maybe.”

“Well, that kind of defeats the point, doesn’t it? Maybe I want to eat a normal steak.”

Uraume speaks up. “Incidentally, Yu, what would you like to eat on your birthday? You should tell me now, in case I need time to source ingredients.”

Yuji nudges them. “Surprise me, Uraume.”

Uraume has made wonderful progress these past few years. They’ve bloomed into a mature and responsible teenager well beyond their years. They’re not shy about voicing their opinion, and when they address either Yuji or Sukuna, their voice doesn’t quiver like it’s trying to scurry back into their mouth. They don’t flinch at sudden movements anymore — at least, not all the time — and they’re perfectly happy to travel down to the village on their own.

More than that, they sometimes insist upon it. One time they stole the pot Yuji uses for rice right out of his hands.

“There’s no need for you to exert yourself,” they said. “In any case, I can get a better deal than you.” Then they took it down to the village to refill it.

Yuji was suspicious at first, because the village is full of people who used to push them around and abuse them. He stalked along behind them one day to figure out what was going on. Turns out, they’re polite as an angel at home, but out in the village? They treat everyone like trash. They barely give a second glance to the people they trade with and they sniff disdainfully at familiar faces who come over to strike up a conversation.

Uraume catches eyes, because they’ve changed so much from the waif they used to be. They’re well-fed and healthy and they move with confidence. Yuji doesn’t have the heart to interfere. He figures that Uraume deserves these little victory walks, especially when they get the chance to toss a few passing insults at nobles from the compound on the hill.

“I’m done,” Uraume announces, setting their calligraphy beside Sukuna’s.

“Finally,” Sukuna mutters.

Uraume shoots a dirty look at him and they head out together to do— whatever it is they want to do. Maybe they’ll explore, maybe they’ll cause trouble, maybe they’ll fight. Yuji just leaves them to it. They never come back worse for wear, so he doesn’t worry too much.

“Don’t do anything I wouldn’t do,” Yuji calls after them.

“That’s not the best advice, Yu,” Sukuna says.

Uraume shuts the door before he can dig a deeper hole for himself.

Yuji laughs and shakes his head and studies their calligraphy for mistakes, although they’re both kinda running circles around him. He’s never been a pen and paper kind of guy.

Once he's done, his thoughts start to wander. Things are good lately. They’ve settled into a cute little routine, so even though time keeps passing faster, Yuji treasures all the little snapshots of their lives. He writes them down in a brand new notebook, because he never wants to forget them.

For example, Sukuna’s first successful solo hunt! That was three years ago. He came back with a proud grin on his face and a huge deer over twice his size draped over his shoulders. One quick, clean, merciful cut across the throat, just like Yuji taught him. Uraume was trailing along behind, inspecting it and planning out how they’d butcher it. Yuji almost cried because it felt like Sukuna’s first step into adulthood; knowing how to hunt technically made him self-sufficient.

Not that Yuji would be allowing him to leave the nest anytime soon. Ten is still too young, Heian era or not!

A large portion of the notebook is filled with moments of Sukuna and Uraume bonding. Like Sukuna carrying them around on his shoulders. Both of them arguing and Sukuna walking off with an angry sigh because Yuji taught him to leave the situation when he could sense himself getting frustrated. Both of them exploring together and spending the whole day out in the deep woods, finding strange bugs and mushrooms. Yuji will sometimes catch them sparring together, and at first it made him nervous, but they’re both very responsible and take care of each other so he doesn’t even give it a second glance anymore. Uraume, of course, always loses these spars.

They’re great together. Yuji is confident that they’re even closer now than they were in their original reality. They depend on each other and totally love each other even if they deny it and grate on each other’s nerves sometimes.

They return in the afternoon a little muddy and disheveled. Yuji sternly forbids them from entering the house until they’ve removed their shoes, socks and haori.

As Sukuna’s folding up his haori, he keeps glancing nervously at Yuji. “Yu,” he begins in a way that makes it very clear he’s about to ask for something.

Yuji smirks at him knowingly. “Yes?”

Sukuna glances back at Uraume, who is for some reason hiding behind the safety of a tree. They nod encouragingly.

“Since it’s my birthday,” Sukuna says, “would you spar with me?”

It’s the first time Sukuna has asked outright. He’s always been very curious about Yuji’s abilities, always asking questions. Who would win in a fight between you and Uncle Choso? Who would win in a fight between you and Uncle Megumi? Aunt Nobara?

Yuji’s friends are all saps, so they all insisted that Yuji would win, which didn’t do anything to demystify him. It just spurred Sukuna on, making him more and more eager to see Yuji in action.

“I’m not all that impressive, you know,” Yuji warns him. It’s something he’s said a thousand times.

Sukuna shakes his head vehemently. “I bet you are! Anyway, it doesn’t matter because it’s just a spar! Just for fun!”

“I don’t know.”

“Please?”

“Why do you want to see me fight anyway? You’ve already seen me chop wood, it’s basically just more of that.” Yuji doesn’t want to admit that he’s kind of out of practice. Raising kids doesn’t give you much time to fight curses, so he’s lost a lot of the muscle memory he used to rely on.

That’s not the only problem either. With Sukuna looking more and more like his original self, Yuji is worried that… maybe an accident will happen. Yuji still sometimes jerks awake from nightmares about fighting for his life. He doesn’t want his mind to fail him while he’s trading blows with his son. He doesn’t want to accidentally hit him too hard.

With his abilities, all it’d take is one misstep and— Yuji doesn’t even want to think about it. He no longer possesses the ability to fight Sukuna. It’s physically impossible for him.

Sukuna seems to be getting frustrated. “Please? Just once, for my birthday.”

Yuji desperately wants to submit to those four adorable puppy eyes, but he doesn’t. “I’m sorry, Sukuna. I won’t fight anyone unless it’s serious.”

Sukuna slumps, but to his credit, he takes the rejection with grace. He turns to Uraume and shakes his head and Uraume looks even more disappointed than him, if it were possible.

Dinner at the end of the day is nice at least, if only because Uraume is the one cooking it. Yuji feels like a useless bum when his own kid is the one feeding the family, but who could resist when they’re such a good cook? Even with their limited Heian-era ingredients, the end product is always divine. Uraume somehow instinctively knows how to cook an ostrich steak too, that’s how good they are.

In the morning, they’re all feeling a little lazy because they over-ate. Yuji is up first. He gathers the ashes from the fire pit and throws them out. It makes him sneeze, and his eyes water. The sky is still dim and silvery and the gentle breeze is cold.

Sukuna is at the table when he gets back inside, messing with a metal wire puzzle Choso got him. One of those that you have to untangle. Yuji ruffles his hair as he walks past. He enjoys mornings like this. No schedule, no worries. They can just enjoy their time together in peace.

“Any plans for today, Sukuna?” Yuji asks as he works in the kitchen. It’s not fair to leave all the cooking duties to Uraume. They deserve to enjoy someone else’s home cooking, too.

“I’m going to try to hunt an ostrich,” Sukuna says. “Uraume wants to come with me and I said that’s okay as long as they’re quiet.”

Ostrich, huh. In the forest? Sure. “Sounds fun, buck.”

“Yeah, I know.”

That means Yuji’s going to have the house to himself again. Maybe he should go visit the gang? He’s usually the one going over there, since there’s this new TV show he’s been getting into and he doesn’t want to miss any episodes. It’s fun spending time with Nobara and Megumi, just chilling on the couch like old times.

Yup, that settles it. He’s gonna take a few things down to the village to get mended by the seamstresses, then he’s coming back up to do a movie marathon.

Uraume rushes into the room, embarrassed that they’re the last to rise, and they only calm down once Yuji reveals that breakfast has already been taken care of. They all eat together and as usual, Sukuna finishes his bowl first and starts picking at Yuji’s.

“Hey!” Yuji flicks him on the mask, producing a loud thunk. Uraume laughs.

Sukuna clutches his face in pain. “Ow.”

“That didn’t hurt, don’t be such a baby.”

“But it did hurt. It hurt a lot.”

Yuji becomes concerned. He delicately pulls Sukuna’s face closer. “Wait, seriously?”

Sukuna grins. “You’re too gullible.”

Yuji sighs loudly and shoves him away. Sukuna rolls with the movement and jumps to his feet, and then he and Uraume get ready to depart. Yuji catches Sukuna at the door and kisses him on the top of the head.

“Ugh, Yu,” Sukuna says, squirming out of his grasp.

Yuji laughs and pulls him in for a quick, forceful hug. “I love you, buck.”

After a moment, Sukuna stops resisting and returns it. “I’ll come back before it’s dark, so don’t worry,” he reassures Yuji, before turning and running. Yuji watches him until he’s completely out of sight, which is why he notices each time Sukuna glances over his shoulder to check that he’s still there.

With the kids out of his hair, Yuji gets quite a lot of work done. He cleans up the house and reorganizes all their furniture (he’s been getting into doing that lately, since it makes the house feel fresh and new), then he gathers the clothes that he intends to take to the village.

There’s a knock at the door.

Back already, huh? Maybe he really did find an ostrich. “Sukuna, you know how to open the door,” Yuji says admonishingly.

They knock again.

Figuring it’s some kind of prank, because he’s been subject to many recently, Yuji braces himself and goes to the door. “You’re still twenty years too young to get the drop on—” His words get caught in his throat when he slides the door open and sees who it is.

It’s the sorcerer from the previous village who came to investigate after Sukuna killed that kid. Yuji wants to retreat, but they’ve already locked eyes and Yuji is pinned to the spot like a deer in headlights. A slight breeze threads through the sorcerer’s hair, and a few strands of it catch on the stitches across his forehead.

Yuji’s heart sinks. “Can I help you?” he asks.

“Oh, there’s no need to be cold, we’re acquainted,” Kenjaku says. “Several years ago I came to search your house, remember?”

“I remember.”

“Unfortunately, I have yet to find the person I’m looking for, so if you’d be so kind as to let me in?”

“Am I still a suspect?”

Kenjaku hums, his smile widening. “You know, I didn’t think anything of it at the time, but something occurred to me recently. Your bowmanship!”

“What about it?”

“The way you drew the string back.” Kenjaku mimes it. “It was very unusual, like nothing I've ever seen north, east, south or west. Now I'll ask again. Can I come in?”

“If I let you in and you don’t find anything, will you finally leave me alone?”

“Of course.”

Yuji’s knuckles flare white around the door frame. He desperately doesn’t want Kenjaku anywhere near him right now, but if Kenjaku returns while Sukuna or Uraume are home, it could be disastrous. It’s now or never.

He steps aside and allows Kenjaku to walk through the doorway. Out of practice or not, he's more than capable of defending himself.

Chapter Text

“This is very special,” Kenjaku says about a tapestry on the wall.

Yuji is following him closely, like a cat stalking its prey. He’s not going to let Kenjaku out of his sight. “Lightens up the place.”

Kenjaku continues searching the house, picking up random objects and turning them over in the light. He selects a cup that’s been left behind on the table and wipes a smudge off the rim, before inspecting the residue it left behind on his fingertips.

“Not clean enough for you?” Yuji asks, a bit annoyed. “Sorry, I wasn’t exactly expecting guests.”

Kenjaku shakes his head. His genial smile hasn’t moved an inch this entire time, like it’s been painted onto his face. “Not at all, Itadori-san, not at all. You should see my house. What a mess.”

“Sure.”

“I’ve been meaning to ask, what’s that smell? Did you cook this morning?”

“Yes.” Yuji doesn’t elaborate.

Kenjaku fills in the silence. “I’m sure it was very nice.” He goes into Sukuna’s room, and that’s when Yuji starts getting nervous.

“Are you almost done?” Yuji asks, coming a little too close and letting slip a little too much of his urgency.

Kenjaku turns to him abruptly, as if trying to catch him in the act. Yuji manages to school his face into blankness before Kenjaku sees anything suspicious, though a single bead of sweat is crawling down his neck.

His house is 99% Heian, but there might be a modern thing or two lying around that Yuji forgot to clean up. Nothing that’d catch Kenjaku’s eye, surely. Maybe a matchstick here or there.

It’ll be fine, Yuji reassures himself.

“Look at this,” Kenjaku says, picking up the new wolf. “The stitching is remarkable. I’ve never seen such masterful work.”

That’s because it got made in a factory. “If you’re done looking at my daughter’s toys?” Yuji snatches it back.

Kenjaku is unaffected by Yuji’s rough treatment. “Ah, your daughter. Where is she now?”

“Out.”

“Out where?”

“Out.”

“I was told you hired a servant a few years ago.”

Yuji bristles at the word and automatically goes to deny it, but then he thinks better of it. “Yes,” he grits out.

“Where are they?”

“Out.”

Kenjaku laughs loudly. “I can see I won’t be getting much out of you!”

“Well, I already told you everything you need to know.”

“Where are you from?”

“Up north.”

“Where are you really from?”

Yuji blurts the first thing that comes to mind. “Hida.”

“Itadori-san,” Kenjaku admonishes him, “you know what I’m asking. What year?”

A cold sensation sweeps over Yuji, like a ghost has walked through him. “How?” he rasps. It’s the only word he can get out right now, because his lungs are closing up.

“It’s not very polite for us to talk like this, is it? Why don’t you make tea?” Kenjaku brushes past him and invites himself to sit at the table. “Well? What are you waiting for?” He snaps his fingers.

Later, they’re both sitting across from one another with tea. Kenjaku jumps into his interrogation immediately. “How are you doing it? Some kind of cursed technique?” he asks.

The fact that he’s asking at all means that he hasn’t figured out the trick himself, so Yuji still has an advantage, however small. “I’m not telling you.”

“At least give me a hint.”

“No.”

“I’m a scientist, Itadori-san. An intellectual. People like you and I, we share our research to further our understanding of the world.”

“Scientist, huh.” Yuji scoffs. “They have that word in the Heian era?”

“I don’t know, do we?”

Yuji grimaces and turns away while Kenjaku remains in good humor.

“You know, something just occurred to me,” Kenjaku says suddenly. “Isn’t there a risk that your meddling might complicate the circumstances of your birth? You’re trying to change the future, yes? Trying to bring about a better, more peaceful reality? I can’t imagine the suffering you must’ve endured to push you to take such drastic action, but— can I say something that might sound impolite?”

How the hell does he know all this? Yuji swallows. “Sure.”

“If not for that suffering, you would never have had the inclination to come here, would you? In a reality where you never suffered, do you think you’d still find yourself traveling back through time to get here? What do you think will happen if the answer is no?”

Admittedly, time travel has always confused Yuji. After a certain point, all the branching threads start overwhelming his mind and he can’t untangle them, but this particular dilemma is one he’s already considered and overcome. Everything he does for Sukuna is permanent. He will always come back for Sukuna no matter what happens.

He doesn’t trust Kenjaku and he doesn’t want to reveal too much of his hand though, so he keeps his mouth shut.

Kenjaku continues. “You are a part of your own reality, not just an impartial observer.” His finger is circling the rim of his cup hypnotically. “What I’m worried about is you locking yourself — and by extension, all of us — in an endless loop. You get hurt and travel back to change everything. You change everything and create a world where there is no hurt. Because there is no hurt, you never travel back, and in failing to travel back, you allow that original world of hurt to come to fruition. So on, endlessly. You make no progress. You stay there in one spot, circling, aimlessly. Tell me, Itadori-san… how many times do you think your reality has reset? How many years has your soul existed in its various forms?”

“I’m thirty-one.”

“How many times have you been thirty-one?”

This conversation is starting to unsettle Yuji. Kenjaku seems eager to make an enemy out of him, but he can’t afford to fight right now. Not with Sukuna and Uraume in the woods somewhere nearby. He’s not sure about the capabilities of Kenjaku’s current body and he doesn’t want the kids to get hurt.

He’s pretty sure Kenjaku notices him glancing nervously at the door, because his smile widens slightly.

There’s a bedtime story Yuji once told Sukuna about a little dog living with its human family in a village. One day it got flung back to a time before dogs existed, and it found a pack of wolves. It told them how nice humans were, which convinced them to try becoming friends with the humans. That’s why we have dogs today.

How did the dog exist in the first place if the only reason wolves became friends with humans was because a dog told them to? Sukuna asked, confused.

Because the dog was part of a causality loop. It was an event with no origin.

Sukuna obviously didn’t understand. He was still just a baby and he only knew small words, which is why Yuji risked telling him all this at all.

Imagine a fish lying on the bank of a stream that is rushing on without it, that’s what the dog is like.

“You’re way off the mark,” Yuji says instead of going into detail about all that. “I didn’t come here with a half-baked plan. All that stuff you’re saying, I already figured it out, and I thought of a workaround.”

“Oh?” Kenjaku leans forward eagerly. “Please share. It’d give me peace of mind to know.”

“No,” Yuji says stiffly.

“Then I’m afraid I have no choice but to continue assuming the worst of you, Itadori-san.” There’s a slight squeak as Kenjaku’s hand moves down to the handle of his tea cup, and then he takes a sip. Everything about this sequence of movements feels deliberate, like a performance Yuji is being made to watch. “You know what I think? I think you’re a hindrance to the forward progression of mankind.”

There’s something electric in the air. Yuji rises up off the ground a little, ready to defend himself. He glances again at the door. "I think I'm done talking to you, so get out,” Yuji demands.

Kenjaku’s face darkens. He puts his cup down. “What a shame. If you were a decent man, you’d offer your life to fix your mistakes. I must admit, I thought you’d be better than this.” He stands.

“Yeah, well, that was your mistake.”

“No, it was your mistake.”

The body he’s wearing belongs to a Kamo. Yuji dodges the first attack before he even sees it coming, his body reacting instinctively. The blood hits the back wall and blows it apart.

Yuji retaliates without stopping to take a breath, surging forward to throw a punch with all his weight behind it. He catches a glimpse of Kenjaku’s eyes widening in shock at his speed before his fist connects. Kenjaku manages to withstand the first impact but the second takes him off guard and sends him to his knees.

No hesitation, Yuji tries to dismantle him. Kenjaku barely escapes with his life, hopping gingerly over the upended table and taking cover behind Sukuna’s door. Yuji ends up splitting the floor apart by accident and he sucks his teeth. That’ll be a bitch to fix.

“There’s the technique that my current body remembers so well!” Kenjaku crows, delighted by the display. “I can see where your daughter gets it from! Or should I say, son?”

“Shut up,” Yuji snarls, beginning the chase.

Kenjaku acts like a rabbit, ducking and weaving through the house as Yuji methodically destroys it, eliminating each hiding spot one by one. He finally catches Kenjaku at a corner and shoves him outside, sending him tumbling through the grass.

“My body has a son, too,” Kenjaku says breathlessly, struggling to his feet. “He was there when that four-armed monster came out of the woods.”

“Shut up.” Yuji tries to dismantle him again, but his vision is obfuscated by a cascade of blood and he pulls his hands back, not wanting to destroy something important by accident.

Kenjaku’s voice echoes from nowhere. “What did your boy tell you of that night? Did he tell you the whole story?”

Yuji, for the first time, falters. “What do you mean?”

Kenjaku gathers his blood together, revealing himself crouched among the trees. Yuji squares his feet to prepare for his words, as if they’ll hit him like something physical.

“A group of children with nothing better to do decided to sneak out to skip stones,” Kenjaku begins. “These children belonged to sorcerers, so they knew how to defend themselves. They were old enough to have begun their training. They knew they’d be safe, especially in a group like they were.”

Sukuna never told him those children were sorcerers. Yuji never pressed him, but he tried his best to make Sukuna feel safe so that maybe one day he’d spill. The idea of finally getting the answers he’s been seeking is tantalizing, but he doesn’t want to betray Sukuna’s trust like this.

“You’re trying to distract me so I’ll spare your life, aren’t you?” Yuji asks. "Shut up and focus on the fight or you're going to die."

Kenjaku shakes his head, amused. “They saw a four-armed monster come out of the trees, and at first they threw rocks at it, but then they realised it was only asking to join their game. They allowed it, for a time. The monster was stupid and naive, so it did whatever they told it to, which, as you can imagine, was very entertaining for them.”

Despite himself, Yuji can’t resist listening, even though he knows the information will only hurt him in the end. “What happened next?”

“They told it that all children are born with four eyes and four arms, so it needn’t be ashamed of itself. They also told it that, eventually, all children cut off the extra parts so that they can fit in with the adults. They told the monster to pick its favorite eyes—”

“You’re lying,” Yuji says, slamming his hands over his ears to protect himself from whatever comes next. He can’t bear the thought that he wasn’t there when Sukuna needed him most, and Kenjaku’s story is only putting salt in the wound.

“Children can be so cruel,” Kenjaku commiserates.

“That’s not true.” Yuji’s knuckles crack with how hard he balls them into fists. “Sukuna was never cruel to anyone! He deserves to have friends who accept him as he is!”

“Ah, so the monster has a name after all.”

Yuji hits Kenjaku with everything he’s got, closing the gap in an instant and pinning Kenjaku to the ground. Yuji reels back, ready to split his soul in half. Kenjaku’s hair is sprawled all over his face so that Yuji can see nothing but his white teeth, his lips peeled into a grin.

“Wow, what power!” Kenjaku says. “In your time, do we know each other? Did I do something to upset you?”

"Yeah, you did." He thrusts his hand forward to destroy Kenjaku's head, but he hesitates an inch before the hit can connect.

Choso, he suddenly thinks.

If Yuji kills Kenjaku right now, then Choso will cease to exist permanently.

He recoils, terrified at how close he’d come to erasing someone he loves so dearly. He stumbles back, inadvertently allowing Kenjaku the chance to recover.

“You blinked,” Kenjaku says, flicking up a single drop of blood between them.

There’s still an opening. Yuji can see it clear as day. He can still kill Kenjaku. His attack will still hit Kenjaku first if he reacts now, but Choso. Choso. Choso.

His moment of hesitation is all it takes to make him lose the fight. For an instant, everything goes black.

“Choso,” Yuji barks, lurching upright. His throat is clogged with smoke and he gags.

“Please stay calm, Yu,” Uraume says.

“Uraume?” Yuji looks around blearily. Where is he? It’s night but he can’t see the stars. The sky is tinged with yellow. Everything is so loud, he can’t bear it. Is he having a panic attack? He can hear cars thundering by and a distant train, the shriek of its railings hammering into his skull.

“Yu,” Uraume says again, holding him carefully as he curls up into a ball. “I understand that this might be overwhelming for you, so please focus on my voice. I’m here.”

“Where am I?”

“You are in a place called Shibuya. Things are not as you remember.”

Yuji’s stomach turns. “That… can’t be…”

He pushes Uraume aside and sits up so that he can see what’s around him. What greets him is an electric city with towering skyscrapers and countless flickering lights; people stacked in apartments like bees in a hive. There’s a busy main road just beyond a concrete barrier to his left, and when a large vehicle suddenly streaks past, he gasps in surprise.

“It’s okay, Yu,” Uraume reassures him. “They’re just machines. Automatons, of a sort. We’ll study them together, it’s nothing to be afraid of.”

“No, no, no.” Yuji is trembling. “This isn’t happening. This isn’t real.”

Uraume looks heartbroken. “You’re okay, Yu. Please calm down. Look at me.”

A loud, seismic tremor ripples through the ears. “What was that?” Yuji yelps.

“Fighting,” Uraume says vaguely. They grab Yuji’s shoulder tightly. “I’m sure you’re wondering where Sukuna is, but he is not within reach right now. Let’s stay out of the way for the time being.”

“Sukuna?” Yuji breathes.

Uraume smiles. “He’ll be quite surprised to see us, I’m sure.”

Yuji can’t wrap his head around it. His brain keeps chasing its tail like a dog, repeating the same set of words in sequence. Shibuya, Sukuna, fighting. He tries to stand but his legs feel weak. He stumbles. Uraume lends him their support, but he rejects it.

Something is not right.

He begins to run in search of answers. Uraume calls out to him, chasing him but quickly falling behind. He follows the familiar streets, already knowing which path he needs to take. It leads him into the subway tunnels. This must be a nightmare, because everything is exactly as he remembers it.

Curses ahead. He tears through them easily, each impact powerful enough to vaporize them. He leaves nothing behind except for clouds of red mist. He hesitates for a moment when he sees the transfigured humans, but he ultimately kills them, too.

He needs to check the time. He needs someone’s watch. He needs to know who he can save and who is already gone. In his panic, he decides to give up on following the color-coded routes and simply smashes through the wall to a place he knows he's going to find.

Through the smoke and rubble and blood, he sees Kenjaku examining his nails.

Yuji stops where he is, watching him warily with his eyes wide open and unblinking despite the blood dripping into them. He’s soaked in it and it’s pooling beneath his feet. He must make for quite the shocking sight.

Kenjaku smiles. He’s wearing the body Yuji knows him best for, with the finely groomed hair and the kesa. The prison realm is beside him. “You look amazing, Itadori-san! Fresh as a spring morning!” he says.

“What is this?”

“Your son is within his vessel,” Kenjaku says, “but I’m sure you knew that already, right? If all goes well tonight, the two of you will be reunited, finally, after a thousand years.”

“No,” Yuji says sharply.

Kenjaku’s smile tightens. “Yes,” he says.

There’s a dark place in Yuji’s mind that’s quick and cunning and executes orders like a machine. He hasn’t visited this place in over ten years. The last time he did, he was fighting Sukuna in Shinjuku. He thought he left it behind, but now that everything has changed in an instant and he has no idea if those he loves are still alive, he has lost himself to it once again.

“I’m not going to let you or Sukuna destroy this place. Over my dead body,” Yuji says darkly.

“You’re going to let me do whatever I want. Do you know why?” Kenjaku produces something from his sash. It’s a container about the height and width of a soda can. Inside, there’s a small dark shape that looks a little bit like gummy candy.

“What is that supposed to be?” Yuji asks.

“Give me the benefit the doubt, Itadori-san. I know more than you seem to think I know. Take a wild guess.”

It looks like one of Choso’s brothers, but the shape and texture are both unfamiliar. This must be a brother Yuji has never seen firsthand before, but that leaves him with very few options.

The answer hits him out of nowhere.

“Choso,” Yuji breathes. But how? Choso should be awake and alive and beating the shit out of him right about now. Why is he still…? "Kenjaku, how much did you change? What did you do?"

Kenjaku shakes the container playfully and Yuji lurches forward with a cry on his lips. All he can do is watch helplessly as Kenjaku tosses it between his hands, taunting him.

“Want to save your brother?” Kenjaku asks. “You can! I’ll give him to you! All I ask is that you play nice.”

“Give him back. Give him back.” Yuji feels like an animal. He can’t think straight anymore.

“Swear it, swear you’ll play nice—”

Yuji lashes out, cutting Kenjaku across the face. Kenjaku just barely manages to keep his footing. His hand tightens around Choso’s container, causing a spiderweb crack to unfurl across it.

Yuji stops. He can’t risk it.

“Play nice. Do not touch me, do your best to keep me unharmed and do not attempt to interfere with the prison realm, and I will return your brother to you. Does that seem like an unfair deal? Well, I’m the one you have to thank for your revival, so technically you owe your life to me,” Kenjaku reminds him.

"I owe my death to you."

"Details, details."

Yuji glances down at the box at Kenjaku’s feet, reverberating with restless energy. His heart is racing with anticipation as if a pistol’s going to be fired to signal the beginning of a race.

“What time is it?” Yuji asks.

“9:30pm.”

There’s a thrill in Yuji’s heart. There’s still time. “Where are Nobara and Megumi and— Sukuna’s vessel?”

“You should already know that.” He waves dismissively.

Yuji needs to find Nanami and Nobara and Megumi— and, maybe, the younger version of himself. He can’t be too late this time. “I accept your terms,” Yuji says loudly. Whatever Kenjaku’s plan is, Yuji will figure out a way to circumvent it later. Right now he needs to focus on saving people.

Kenjaku tosses the container at him. Yuji lunges for it, just barely managing to catch it before it hits the floor. He wraps his arms around it tenderly and runs. He can feel Choso’s cursed energy, warm and familiar.

Wait, who are you? Where am I? I'm cold, it seems to say.

Yuji holds him tighter, hoping to comfort him.

Chapter Text

Based on Yu’s description of the beasts, ostriches are enormous flightless birds capable of delivering powerful kicks strong enough to knock back wildcats. Sukuna meant to hunt one to impress Yu, but it’s starting to look like their expedition will end in failure.

“Perhaps ostriches hibernate,” Uraume offers.

Sukuna grunts.

They continue climbing the mountain all day until they crest a peak and realise they’ve accidentally summited the whole thing. The sun is beginning to set and they didn’t mean to come so far in the first place, so they finally admit defeat and turn around.

On the way back, Sukuna notices a herd of deer and decides to take one as a consolation prize. He selects the biggest and healthiest, takes the bow off his shoulder, draws back an arrow and shoots. His aim is perfect and the deer goes down instantly.

“Why waste your time with the bow? Your cursed technique is much more efficient,” Uraume says.

There’s a smirk on Sukunas face from the successful kill, but this disappears when he addresses Uraume. “Because it’s a skill I can hone, that’s why. Getting better at things is fun.”

They go to collect the deer together. They debate skinning it on the spot, but eventually decide to carry it home first, since it’ll be getting dark soon. Sukuna easily tosses it over his shoulders and Uraume carries his bow so that it doesn’t get saturated with blood.

“I bet Yu will be surprised at how well I’m doing this, better than him even,” Sukuna muses. His spirits are lower than if they’d actually managed to kill an ostrich, but he seems pleased with the deer regardless.

“Yu isn’t so bad at hunting,” Uraume says charitably.

“All that matters is, he’s not as good as me.”

“Are you going to say that to his face?”

“I don’t see why not. Yu always praises me for my strengths.”

“He might take it as an insult.”

“Maybe if you said it,” Sukuna says flippantly.

Years ago, this comment would’ve upset Uraume. They’d assume it to be an attempt to make them feel that they had no right to Yu’s love. It would’ve led to a power struggle that’d get them nowhere. Now, though, they’re more confident of their position in Yu’s heart.

“Don’t say I didn’t warn you,” Uraume says.

The weather is pleasant, so the journey back is quite enjoyable. Uraume looks at the orange sky through the gaps in the canopy overhead. Light dapples the path before them.

At one point, Sukuna slows down, his face pinched with discomfort. Uraume watches him curiously.

“Do you sense something strange?” he asks under his breath, as if afraid someone will overhear them.

“Like what?”

Sukuna doesn’t reply. He drops the deer and abruptly breaks into a jog that soon becomes a full sprint. Uraume struggles to keep up.

Only when they get close to their destination does Uraume realise what’s making Sukuna act so strangely. There’s something electric in the air. Residual cursed energy. A fight has happened at home.

Sukuna breaks into the clearing first and Uraume hears his cry of fear. They arrive a moment later to the sight of their family home in ruins, half of it sprawled out across the grass. The sight takes them off guard and they stand there, frozen with disbelief. A thin trail of smoke coils in the air from a fireplace still lit but struggling against the open air. Sukuna vaults the wood jutting up from the ground which used to be their doorway and paws through what’s left of their home.

“Yu! Yu!” he calls with increasing volume and fervor. There’s no reply. Yu is nowhere to be found.

Uraume joins the search, even though they’ve hit a mental wall and they can’t comprehend what has happened. It’s all so sudden. They’re not even sure what they’re looking for, but their hands begin to shift the rubble automatically.

Suddenly Sukuna makes a pained noise. He has located his toy wolf, but it’s saturated in blood.

“It doesn’t make sense,” he says, his voice strained. “Everything was fine this morning. Yu said goodbye to me. He was here.” His hands tighten around the wolf hard enough to pop the stitches. Its stuffing bursts out and he recoils at what he’s done.

“Sukuna,” Uraume says, worried that he’s losing himself.

“I don’t understand, I don’t understand,” he keeps saying.

Uraume looks back into the house. There must be some sense to be made of all this. They run their hand along the wall where it has been sliced in half and find that the cut is unnaturally smooth. It can only be the result of the technique that Sukuna and Yu share.

There’s blood, too, but more blood than can be produced from a single body. There are no footprints on the ground that might indicate a large amount of people trampling through, so Uraume’s conclusion is simple. Blood manipulation.

“Yu fought back, at least briefly,” they say.

These words seem to cut into Sukuna. All at once he goes silent. Anger consumes his features like fire running through a forest and turning it to ash.

“The blood is still warm. If we move now, we can still catch up." He rises to his feet. The wolf remains firmly in his hand. “Yu— dad. Dad. I’ll kill them. I promise. Whoever did this, I’ll rip them apart. All of them. Everyone they love. This whole world! I’ll take everything away from them!”

In the 21st century, Yuji, age fifteen, says, “it’s funny when you think about it.” Nobara is barely listening because of her whole melon soda debacle, so he continues. “Even the king of curses had someone who loved him.”

“What, his dad?” She starts kicking it, but the soda doesn’t budge. “There are a bunch of parents like that…”

Somehow she and Megumi wind up arguing about arm width while Yuji thinks to himself about Sukuna’s father in the background. The next time he sees Gojo, he asks for more information.

“Boy, have I got something interesting for you,” Gojo says, which is not what he said in the previous reality. “Have you ever wondered where we get all our info on Sukuna in the first place?”

“No, not really. Where?”

“His father’s diary!”

Yuji whistles. “They had diaries back then?”

“Sure they did!” Gojo whips out his phone. “And this particular diary is the most valuable source of information on Sukuna ever. Thanks to Sukuna’s dad, we know all kinds of important stuff, like how Sukuna used to get fussy at the dinner table! And how he used to do that old jumping out from behind the door prank! And how he got made to sit on the naughty step like a completely normal kid!”

“A completely normal kid,” Yuji echoes. He’s fascinated by the idea. To think that someone like Sukuna was once a kid — and before that, a baby — learning and growing like anyone else. Yuji can imagine him spending time with his dad, being taught how to read and write and all kinds of other stuff.

He gets a little lost in his imagination, so it takes him a moment to realise Gojo is speaking.

“He had a sibling, too,” Gojo says. “Uraume. No word on who the mother for that one is, though. They just sort of pop up in the records one day. Typical for the king of curses to be the oldest child.”

“Cool.” Yuji wishes he had siblings.

Gojo finds a particularly interesting page. “Check this one out. Yeah, as you can see, the only downside is, the handwriting is garbage. I can barely make out what it says. It’s gonna take experts a million years of study to decode this whole thing. We’ve only figured out, like, 40%.”

Yuji peeks over his arm to catch a glimpse at the screen. The handwriting looks similar to his own, so even though it’s chicken-scratch, he can make sense of it. “It says, Sukuna wanted to fight again—”

Gojo gasps. “Wait, you can seriously read this crap?”

“Uh, yeah. I mean, it’s faded, but…” He clears his throat and continues. “I felt bad because it was his birthday, but I had to say no. I don’t want to hurt him.”

Gojo hands him the phone. Suddenly his stare feels very intense, despite his eyes being hidden behind a blindfold. Yuji continues reading even though it’s super awkward like he’s giving a presentation at the front of the class.

I think his mood picked up a little after dinner, or at least I hope it did. Maybe when he’s older, I’ll fight him for real. Then again, he’s going to be strong as hell when he’s my age and I’m gonna be an old man, so maybe that will still be too dangerous? It’s hard. He’s so good at writing and sewing and stuff like that, but he’s not interested in any of it! He just wants to fight. He’s good at everything. I’m proud, though I shouldn’t be, because he did it all by himself. It must be fate. He always would’ve been talented, with or without me. I get worried sometimes that I’m barely making an impact. Am I just a little tick hitching a ride on your back, Sukuna?

Yuji swipes. The next and final page of the diary has a very short entrance that must’ve been written by someone else, because the ink’s a slightly different color and the handwriting is way neater. It’s so neat you’d think it got printed by a machine.

You were more than that.

And that’s all it says.

“They seem like a cute little pair,” Yuji says. “Wonder what his dad thought about his son going out and killing a bunch of people, though.”

Gojo shrugs. “He probably didn’t think much of anything, because he bailed when Sukuna was still young.”

Yuji hisses like he’s just stubbed his toe on the leg of a table, “dang.”

“Yeah, sucks. Poor Sukuna fell for it, too. He doesn’t seem to understand that when your dad disappears without a word, it’s probably on purpose.”

“Double dang.”

Gojo shakes his head with disapproval. “Sick stuff. Truly sick stuff. What a terrible father.”

Yuji doesn’t want to cast judgment, since he wasn’t there at the time and he can’t say what might’ve been running through Sukuna’s father’s mind. “I guess so.”

“You’re both idiots,” Sukuna says, making Yuji jolt. “Neither of you know what it’s like to be loved by your father, so I have no idea why you feel the need to cast aspersions on me.”

“Oh, get a load of daddy’s boy over here,” Gojo says.

Sukuna sucks his teeth. “My advice to you would be to hold your tongue, unless you want to lose it.”

Yuji tries to swat Sukuna’s mouth away like a bug, but all he ends up doing is slapping himself while Sukuna relocates to the other side of his face.

“Then again, I’d hate to do you a favor,” Sukuna continues. “You’d be much more popular if you knew how to shut up. Have you noticed that nobody can stand to be around you?”

“Ouch. Are you mad because I’m the only one with the guts to tell you the truth?” Gojo asks.

“I’m not mad.”

“Listen, I’m gonna say this slowly. When your dad said he was going out to get milk, that was a lie. People don’t normally take a suitcase with them to the grocery store.”

“I don’t abide insults to my father.”

“Oh, I’m real scared.”

This is the most awkward argument ever. Yuji sighs. “Can we not do this, you guys?”

“I pity both of you,” Sukuna says before disappearing.

Unfortunately, Gojo is now in a giddy mood. “Did you know that Sukuna’s into poetry? He wrote this whole beautiful ballad about tracking his father down and eating him! Talk about daddy issues. Creepy stuff. Want to read it?”

Yikes. “Uh, no thanks…”

Yuji is moving quickly and purposefully. There’s no knowing what Kenjaku has changed, so crucial events may be happening out of order. If this is supposed to be Kenjaku’s way of preventing him from rescuing anybody, it’s not going to work. He and Sukuna will make sure of it.

He’s not an idiot. He knows Sukuna still has it in him to kill people— a lot of people. But those ten long years they spent together were full of love and if Yuji can just get to him, hold him, talk to him, maybe this whole nightmare can be averted.

Choso’s cursed energy radiates concern. Wait, wait, where are we going? Please be careful. I need to see my brothers again. They’ll wonder where I am. They’re only small and they need me—

Yuji shushes him.

There’s a commotion ahead, so he goes to it and finds Nanami among a swarm of transfigured humans. The sight of him whole and alive mesmerizes Yuji. There’s a sheen of sweat on his face and a few cuts littering his arms, but other than that, he’s as good as new. A transfigured human leaps at him and he carves through it, but he doesn’t notice the second one about to hit him from behind.

It doesn’t take much for Yuji to destroy it. His and Nanami’s eyes momentarily snag on one another in the chaos, and just from that, Yuji knows he’s been registered as an enemy. He certainly looks like one, covered in blood as he is. It doesn’t matter, though. Regardless of his own feelings, he’s not here to make friends. He’s here to save lives.

He helps Nanami clear out the area, and then, before the blood can even settle, they collide. He catches Nanami’s arm before the blade can come down on his head, though his knees threaten to buckle at the force. Their faces come very close.

“Where is the vessel?” Yuji asks. It’s thanks to the adrenaline that he doesn’t break down in tears. Even Nanami’s cologne is as he remembers it.

Nanami ignores him, wrenching himself free and trying again, charging him from a different angle.

It’s so strange, seeing him fight from the opposing side. Nanami’s supposed to be like… a big bird, and Yuji’s supposed to be the chick following him around and hiding in his feathers. Yuji’s supposed to be way back there, watching Nanami work, standing in awe of his power. Not over here bearing the brunt of it.

It doesn’t matter. He still has a job to do. “We don’t have to fight. Make this easy for both of us. Tell me where the vessel is,” Yuji says.

“No,” Nanami snaps. “Who are you?”

“Yu—” Yuji begins, but he stops. There’s a kid out there with the same name and Yuji doesn’t want to steal it from him. “I’m a father looking for his son, that’s all,” he says instead.

“Then, who’s your son?”

They’re interrupted by the sound of applause.

Mahito is spectating their fight from a distance and he looks very pleased. “Don’t say anything! It’s right on the tip of my tongue! I definitely know you from somewhere! I’ve seen you before!”

“Mahito,” Yuji says. This is new.

After a moment, Mahito snaps his fingers. “I got it! You’re that old body Geto keeps in the basement! Finally joined the party, huh?”

“If I were you I’d start running now,” Yuji says sharply.

“Woah, woah,” Mahito says, raising his hands in submission. “What’s your problem? We’re on the same side, aren’t we? I guess Geto didn’t fill you in, but we all want the same thing, Yu.”

“Don’t talk to me like you know me.”

“Oh, but I do know you! You’re Ryoumen Sukuna’s very own father! I’m right, right?”

Nanami falls back a step like his first instinct is to run, but ultimately he stays where he is. His jaw is set very tight and he’s breathing a little more heavily, though even this is measured, as if he’s trying very hard not to let on that he’s panicking.

Mahito cups a hand around his mouth and whispers not so subtly to Yuji. “Hey, I just had an idea. Let’s team up and kill this guy. He’s a real pain in the neck, believe me.” He nods his head at Nanami.

Nanami glances between them, maybe trying to gauge which of them is a greater threat.

“I don’t have time to fight sorcerers,” Yuji says acidly.

“But you want to see Sukuna, right? They’re going to stand in your way.”

“Nothing can get between us.”

Nanami’s eyes settle on Yuji. Looks like he’s decided who the bigger threat is. For some reason, the serious look on his face makes Yuji laugh. The sound rings out in the empty concourse. The magnitude of the whole situation has wrecked his nerves and he just can’t stop it from bubbling up.

“You know what? You look just like my son when he first saw a crane! Yu, Yu, come quick, there’s a giant mythical duck in the garden!” Yuji wipes a tear out of his eye. “I mean, he was four, so the crane obviously looked a lot bigger from his perspective.”

“I see,” Nanami says, unsettled.

“You’re a little old to be making that face, though. No offense.”

“None taken.”

Mahito glances between them with a pout. “Hey, why are we talking about cranes instead of killing each other?”

“I don’t know,” Nanami says.

“Alright, well.” Mahito springs up and turns to face the entrance. “If you guys don’t mind, I’ll go first!”

Right on cue, Nobara comes running in. She’s got her hammer out, but it looks like she only just got here because her uniform is all pressed and proper and her hair is in perfect shape. She balks at the three of them, not expecting them to be in her path.

Several things happen at once.

Without thinking, Yuji lunges at her, wanting to grab her face and hold her and see both eyes safely in their sockets. Nanami intercepts just as fast, cutting him off and shoving him to the side. It puts Yuji in a frenzy because all he can think is Nobara, he’s stopping me from going to Nobara. On instinct he turns to Nanami and reels back his fist, though he's not yet sure which attack he's going to unleash.

But then he sees Mahito taking advantage of the distraction, an arm outstretched, ready to take Nobara by surprise.

In an instant Yuji switches targets. He blocks Mahito off just in time, like he always does in his wildest dreams, and splits him into countless pieces. Blood bursts from Mahito’s body with such force that it sprays the ceiling. Mahito’s smug expression drops with horror when he realizes he cannot retrieve what’s left of his soul and that it’s been permanently fragmented. He kneels, trying to scrape together his own guts.

Yuji feels a great relief at the success. Mahito looks small and powerless beneath him right now, and he shivers when Yuji’s shadow crawls over him.

“I told you to run, didn’t I? Now look what you made me do,” Yuji says.

Mahito slinks back. “W—wait.”

“Who the hell are you?” Nobara barks at Yuji.

Her arm is seized by Nanami before she can instigate the fight she's clearly eager for. She tries to escape, but it’s no use. Nanami's grip tightens enough to make her wince when Yuji looks over at them with even more blood dripping down his face.

Yuji takes a step towards them, trying to figure out the words he needs to say, but then he senses something.

It’s Sukuna’s cursed energy. He breathes the name involuntarily. This must be another one of Kenjaku’s changes. Sukuna shouldn’t be escaping yet. Dammit, this is too soon. It’s no use. Yuji glances down at Mahito, but it’s obvious he’s no longer a threat, especially with Nanami around to back Nobara up.

Without another word, he leaves.

Choso seems nervous. Please be careful.

Chapter Text

Deep in his soul, he already knows where he needs to go. It’s extrasensory, like the premonition of a black flash, and he allows it to guide him. He moves up through the subway and past the ticket gate, smashing through all the barriers in his way and arriving outside in a roar of smoke and rubble.

You’d think it was daytime. The fire seems to stretch so high that it touches the clouds, and Sukuna is a tiny black silhouette against it. He grins, the light reflecting off his white teeth, and surges towards Jogo. There’s no urgency in his movements, like a cat toying with its prey.

By contrast, Jogo doesn’t seem to be having much fun at all. His arms tremble with exertion as he tries and fails to catch Sukuna in his flames. A single attack burns a whole building to cinders, and it collapses like it’s made of matchsticks. The dust unfurls throughout the city streets, choking out any survivors in the area.

“Stop it,” Yuji rasps, trying to fight his way through. They can’t hear him. They’re too far away and too caught up in their game. “Stop it!”

They move several blocks over, destroying everything in their path. Yuji finds his footing and races after them, but they’re moving too erratically. A flash of light forces Yuji to cover his eyes and by the time he’s recovered, they’re nowhere to be seen.

People on the ground scream as they’re caught in the fire. He covers his ears, unable to bear the sound of it. There’s a shrinking sensation in his head like he’s being sucked back into a younger version of himself, vulnerable and scared and clueless.

“Stop it! Sukuna, stop!” A sudden burst of heat throws him to the ground. He coughs and struggles to his feet again.

Choso is concerned. Please be careful, please don’t get hurt. I need to go home to my brothers.

Sukuna is laughing with that same childlike joy Yuji fell in love with, but now the sound chills his blood. He shakes his head to clear the awful thoughts threatening to consume him.

“Sukuna!” he says again with more venom. “Stop it right now!”

This time his voice is heard. Sukuna glances down at him disdainfully and dismisses him with a careless swipe. It comes with a dismantle that Yuji barely dodges. He stares at the mark it left on the ground in disbelief. It’s been a long time since Sukuna has tried to hurt him.

Maybe Nobara was right all those years ago. He has been too soft on Sukuna. He needs to show him who’s boss.

The fight continues without him. Sukuna hasn’t even bothered to check if he’s still alive— he saw someone weak and boring and decided to kill them without a second thought. Yuji chases them, carving his way through pillars of fire until he emerges directly in front of Jogo.

Jogo seems in awe of Yuji. “It can’t be,” he breathes, his one eye widening with recognition. “Are you—?”

Yuji knocks him back down to the ground hard enough to crater the tarmac. It’s not a black flash but it’s damn near strong enough. With Jogo momentarily out of the way, Yuji turns to Sukuna, who seems annoyed that his game is being interrupted. He sneers and starts talking, “who the hell do you think you—”

Yuji doesn’t let him finish his sentence either. He marches up to him, ignoring the second dismantle thrown his way, and slaps him across the face.

The crack of his palm seems to reverberate throughout the whole street. Even Jogo, who’s struggling up from the ground, recoils.

Sukuna stares at him with wide eyes, shocked that someone would lay their hands on him in such a demeaning way.

“Don’t you dare talk to me like that,” Yuji says. He can no longer contain his temper, even though he’s talking to his son. He still loves Sukuna, he’s sure of it, but god dammit he’s pissed. “I can’t believe you. You just flicked your hand at me like I was trash and went on your way. You didn’t hear me calling to you?”

“I—”

“When I call you, I expect an answer.”

“What gives you the right to address me with—”

“I’m your father, I’ll address you however I want.”

Sukuna’s lip curls. “Do not speak of my father,” he says darkly.

Yuji grabs his ear and yanks on it. Sukuna tries to dodge but he’s unprepared for the speed of Yuji’s movements. Now he’s trapped.

So Yuji starts counting for an apology. "One. Two."

“I’m going to make you regret being born,” Sukuna promises him, leaning sideways at an awkward angle. “I’m going to pick you apart piece by piece. I’m going to lock you in one perfect moment of agony—”

"Three." Yuji raises his hand to slap him again, but after a brief struggle, Sukuna manages to escape Yuji’s punishing grip. His ear is flushed an angry red and he clutches it in pain.

Jogo meekly speaks up. He’s finally risen to his feet. “It— it’s true.” The intensity of Sukuna’s stare makes him wince, but he continues. “Sukuna, what he says is true.”

“You’re lying,” he says, glancing between them. When nobody caves, he becomes more furious. “I'd know my father the moment I laid eyes on him. I’ll show you what I do to fools who disrespect me.”

Yuji scowls. Sukuna has killed innocent people, and because Yuji is his father, every single one of those deaths fall upon him. They take priority. “Sukuna,” he says in a warning tone.

Sukuna steps back. He’s heard this tone before. “I’m surrounded by fakes. All of you, empty bodies made to trick me. You’re nothing compared to the real thing. Show me your face and I’ll tell you exactly where you went wrong,” he spits.

Ah. Yuji stops. He forgot about the blood. Suddenly he feels filthy and he wants to claw himself out of his own skin. He never considered that his face had been concealed by all the viscera. Slowly, he wipes it away.

Piece by piece, the impenetrable wall of Sukuna’s face is beginning to crumble. His expression twitches as if being hit by small bursts of electricity. “It can’t be,” he whispers.

Jogo dips his head. “That man standing before you, I’ve seen him before. Geto said that the body has been kept in reserve for a thousand years. It was to be the receptacle of a very particular soul. It’s clear to me now whose soul that is.”

So, Kenjaku killed Yuji and held onto his body like a total creep until the time came to summon his soul back into it. Now his future only goes as far as Shibuya.

The magnitude of the loss isn’t hitting him just yet. He can’t go forward, only back, so in an instant he has lost everything. His Megumi, his Nobara, his Choso, even his apartment. All that remains are the things he left in the Heian era, and he has no idea what state they’re in.

“Buck,” Yuji says, softer now, more desperate. “Tell me why you did all this. Tell me why you killed so many people.”

Sukuna’s eyes widen at the nickname. “It was a… competition.” He tilts his head, as if trying to find an angle that will allow him to see into Yuji.

“You must’ve known that I’d be against it. Did you think that just because I was gone, I didn’t matter anymore? Everything we shared, did none of that matter?”

“I don’t know.”

“Sukuna, please.”

“You weren’t there.” Sukuna finally breaks. His eyes shine. Flecks of ash glint as they pass by his face. “You left me. I lost your guidance. Did you really expect me to become anything other than what you see before you?”

Yuji will not allow this to be turned around on him. “Answer my question, Sukuna.”

“It doesn’t matter anymore. You’re here now, so we can continue where we left off. I chased you horizon after horizon. I never stopped looking for you. Every night I looked up at the stars and dreamed that you were looking too. I persisted all these years, knowing that I'd find you, even after your death. I thought I'd fill you in on everything you missed, that I'd show you how much I’ve grown, but looking at you now I feel like a child again! I’ve brought our technique to new levels in your name." Sukuna reaches out to him. "All of this was for you. Father.”

Yuji holds him firmly at bay with a hand on his chest. Sukuna looks down at it, unable to comprehend why he currently isn’t in his father’s arms.

“I’m disappointed in you, Sukuna,” Yuji says. “I don’t want to hear anything else until you’ve thought up a good apology.” It’s like reading off a script, because he’s said these exact words many times before. If this were the Heian era, Sukuna would be sitting on the step outside.

But it’s not, so Sukuna’s face falls, his eyes becoming dull like lead. Then his markings fade away from his vessel’s skin. The body goes limp like a puppet with its strings cut. It tilts sideways and begins to fall, but Yuji manages to catch it before it hits the floor.

He stops to take a good look at— himself, though he can’t see it as himself anymore. The boy in his arms looks so young and helpless that he’s become a stranger in every way.

For so long, Yuji’s guilt has been eating him up inside. He’s always hated himself for being too weak when he was fifteen, but now, from his new perspective, all he sees is a teenager who tried his best and fell short.

It’s freeing, in a way. He bore every death on his own back, taking the entirety of the blame for it, but he can see now that none of it was his fault. He was always just a stupid kid in the wrong place at the wrong time, fighting enemies he could never hope to match up to.

And that stupid kid he once was is almost dead, because the stupid adult he’s become couldn’t keep Sukuna in line.

Time to chew out culprit number two.

“So,” Yuji grits out, “you guys destroyed half of Shibuya for a little competition.”

Jogo holds his hands up in submission. “Please wait a moment. He— Sukuna said that if I could land one hit on him—”

“If Sukuna told you to jump off a cliff, would you do that?”

Jogo doesn’t say anything, which might mean yes. Or, he’s never been scolded by a parent before and he has no idea how to react.

Yuji scoffs. “Forget it. This kid’s barely alive. I need to get him to safety.”

“We fought prior to Sukuna’s awakening,” Jogo says.

“You fought?” Yuji demands, to confirm the changed scenario.

Jogo falters at his tone. “I had to subdue him to feed him the fingers. Those injuries were nothing to your son when he was in control. If you’d just let me—”

“No. Don’t come near my son again. You’re a bad influence.” He turns to leave without another word, his younger self in his arms.

Jogo chases him. “You don’t understand. There are things Geto needs you to do!” He reaches out, maybe to grab Yuji and hold him back.

In an instant, Yuji knocks a chunk out of his body. Jogo falls to one knee, looking at the red slurry on the ground that was once attached to him. The muscles twitch helplessly like dying fish, then become still.

“You can’t even touch Sukuna while he’s stuck inside a kid,” Yuji says. “The hell makes you think you can touch me?”

This sends a strong message, and Jogo allows him to leave.

Megumi is still out there somewhere. There’s no time to waste.

The last thing Yuji remembers is fighting that one curse Gojo-sensei failed to kill. The old man with the volcano head. Everything after that is a blur.

Someone is carrying him somewhere. Their arms are warm and he feels safe. His eyes flutter open and he blearily looks around.

“Hey there,” the person carrying him says. Some guy. His voice is warm and it makes Yuji feel like he’s sitting at a fireplace with hot chocolate.

He tries to talk, but he doesn’t have the strength. He starts to struggle because he doesn’t know what’s going on. The arms around him tighten— enough to comfort him but not enough to hurt.

“You’re fine,” the guy says. “I’ve got you. Just go back to sleep and I’ll take care of things here.”

He puts something on Yuji’s chest. It’s like a soda can, but there’s something inside it staring up at him with two bulging eyeballs the size of pinheads. Both are covered by a thin veiny film, like a baby bird.

Yuji makes a stupid noise.

“That’s your big brother,” the guy says. “I think he’d like it if you said hello.”

You know what? Sure. “H’llo,” Yuji slurs.

The creature doesn’t respond but it continues to stare at him. It floats up and bumps against the glass like a manatee at the aquarium. A little grossed out, Yuji tries to make sense of the face looking down at him instead. His vision is swimming and it’s all blurry, but it looks like one of the photos grandpa showed him years ago.

“Dad?” Yuji asks. Maybe he’s going into heaven right now or something.

The guy seems confused, but he smiles regardless. “Nah, you’ve got it all wrong. I’m… Santa Claus! You still believe in me, right?”

“Wait, seriously? But I thought he wasn’t…” Yuji’s words blend together and he trails off deliriously.

“Yeah, yeah. You wanna go back to sleep for me, buddy? I’ve got you, I promise. You’re safe with me.”

Yuji closes his eyes and allows the exhaustion to claim him. The noise of the city fades into the background, like when he fell asleep at a party and his grandpa carried him up to his bedroom.

Chapter Text

As soon as Nanami exits the subway and emerges at street level, he notes the distant smell of smoke. Over on the other side of the city, a glow emanates from the earth, silhouetting rows upon rows of scorched buildings. A lot of people must have died, but Nanami cannot allow himself to get caught up in the numbers right now.

“Looks like we missed all the fun,” Nobara says.

Nanami wants to scold her for splitting with her team and wandering around on her own, but that’d be hypocritical, because he’s currently doing the same. She has a good excuse, too. She got lost in the confusion when Mahito attacked and had chosen to pursue him through the tunnels, which led her to Nanami.

Not wanting to part ways with Nobara, Nanami made the decision that they’d both hunt for Yuji together. Their current priority must be to locate and secure him before Sukuna’s father has the chance to make contact.

Looking at the state of the city, they might already be too late. Nanami grimaces, wondering what this means for Yuji.

“Sukuna’s father,” Nobara muses as they run. “As if we didn’t have enough to worry about already.”

“Kugisaki, if we come across him again, do not engage him,” Nanami orders.

“Huh? What am I supposed to do, then? Just stand in the background and look pretty? You’re kidding.”

“There are plenty of other things for you to fight tonight, just not him. Flee on sight.”

She scoffs, clearly not listening to him. Great. If that man, Yu, takes them off guard, Nanami will have to remove her from the situation by force. Yu’s presence had been formidable and he destroyed Mahito easily. Nanami can’t let Nobara — and by extension Megumi and all the other kids here tonight — go up against Yu and inevitably lose.

It’d be an unconscionable waste of life.

But Yu seemed fairly even-minded, if a little erratic. He might accept an offer to a one-on-one. If it comes down to it and the others need time to escape, Nanami will have no choice but to put his own life on the line. He sensed Yu’s power, and it likely eclipses his own, but if he plays his cards right he should be able to drag the battle out.

“Over there!” Nobara says.

Mei Mei is up ahead, with Ui Ui beside her. She’s stooped beside a particularly large hole in the ground, which plummets down into another section of the subway. She shushes them when they get close.

“Where is Itadori?” Nanami asks anyway.

“That’s what I’m trying to find out,” she says.

She must have her crows scouting ahead. All they can do for now is await her verdict.

“There’s a new player for you to watch out for,” Nanami informs her. “Somehow Sukuna’s father has been revived. He said his name was Yu.”

She seems only mildly surprised. “Sukuna’s father? From the Heian era?”

“In a vessel,” Nanami specifies. “I didn’t get a good look at the body he was occupying, so I can’t say for sure if it formerly belonged to anyone important.”

Nobara becomes especially serious now that it’s time to talk about her friend. “Itadori’s being hunted. We all know Sukuna was a daddy’s boy, right? It probably isn’t a stretch to say that his dad was a, uh, what would you call it? Boy’s… daddy? That doesn’t sound right.”

“Boydad,” Ui Ui offers.

“Caring father,” Nanami cuts in, quickly rushing the conversation on. “If he finds Itadori, there’s no knowing what he’ll do. We have to get there before he does.”

“Well, if that’s your aim, then I’m afraid you’re already too late. He’s been apprehended.”

Nanami’s eyes widen. “What?”

“He’s out cold about a mile up the metro line, maybe dead.” Her eyes are distant, flicking erratically back and forth, receiving information from her crows. “Your guy — Yu — already has him and is moving him to another location.”

“Shit,” Nanami says. 

Nobara glances at him with surprise. 

“Yeah.” Mei Mei’s smile widens. “Out of curiosity, where’s the rest of your team?”

“I lost track of Ino, and the last time I saw Fushiguro he was about a mile and a half up the metro…” Nanami stops. “Shit. What would Sukuna's father want with Fushiguro?”

“A better question would be, what does Sukuna want with Fushiguro?”

Nanami tries to remember if Yuji ever told him anything about Sukuna that might indicate an interest in Megumi, but he’s starting to panic and he keeps coming up blank. In any case, there’s no other solution but to pursue Yu through the tunnels in the hope of arriving in time to mitigate the worst of the fallout.

“Don’t tell me the other idiot's in trouble too?” Nobara says, her grip white-knuckled around her hammer.

They’ve already wasted enough time talking. Nanami beckons them sharply and leaps into the hole. 

The tunnel continues endlessly ahead of them. Yuji’s footsteps echo. His younger self thankfully still had a phone on him, so Yuji’s using it as a flashlight. The sight of his old lockscreen made him smile; himself and his grandpa together at the hospital.

Suddenly, Sukuna speaks up. “Father.”

Yuji ignores him.

Sukuna tries again. “Father.”

“You never used to call me that,” Yuji says stiffly, without looking down. “Why start now? Do you think it changes anything between us?”

A few seconds pass before Sukuna continues. “I want to apologize for attacking you. I was careless with my technique, which is something you always warned me not to be. I failed to abide by your teachings and as a result, I almost hurt you. From now on, I’ll be more careful.”

This isn’t a sufficient apology. He’s not even apologizing for the right things. That little slip-up back there where Sukuna tossed a dismantle at him— that’s probably on the bottom of Yuji’s priority list. It would’ve been less of an insult if he received nothing at all.

“I see,” Yuji says flatly.

“Do you forgive me?”

“I’ll think about it.”

Sukuna seems to realize he’s slipped up somewhere. Despite his obvious frustration, he’s careful to keep his voice neutral. “I need clarification on the apology you asked for. I don’t understand what I’ve done wrong.”

“No, you know what you did.”

“I don’t.”

“Then you’ll have to figure it out. Actually, no, let me ask you a question. How have you been treating your vessel?”

“What?”

“Did your little game with your buddy blow out your eardrums? I said, how have you been treating your vessel?” Yuji is letting his personal feelings get in the way. It’s hard not to when he’s in the middle of reliving some of his most traumatic memories. It’s just too easy to forget that Sukuna is his son when he’s acting like this.

“Fine,” Sukuna says guardedly. He knows that the truth will get him into trouble.

“Oh, really. When your vessel wakes up, will he say the same thing?”

Now Sukuna is losing his temper. He’s a dog that’s been backed into a corner. “Why does it matter how I’ve been treating him?”

“Do not,” Yuji says sharply, “give me that attitude.”

“I’m just asking a simple question, old man. There’s no need to get defensive, unless you have something to hide.”

He goes and kills a bunch of people and then resorts to the name calling when he doesn’t get his way. Typical. “You know what? Fine. Be that way. We don’t have to talk. When the kid wakes up I’ll talk to him instead.”

“Ah, it’s all becoming clear now. I thought perhaps your tenderness for this brat was because he is my vessel, but you're just interested in the new toy, aren't you?”

“What?”

“The new one has everything in order. No loose stitches, no deformities. You can finally have what you always wanted, right?”

“Sukuna, I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“Don’t play dumb, I see straight through you. Well, go ahead. Chase your little fantasy of the past and leave me behind. Live that picturesque life I never let you have.”

Yuji is insulted. “I can’t believe you’re saying this. You know how much I love you.” He tries to keep his composure because he’s supposed to be the adult right now, but it’s difficult.

“You think that just because he looks like you, he’s yours. Well, I’ll tell you what he is. He’s an empty body based on you and nothing more! His worthless little life has no meaning! Whether you like it or not, you were cursed to have me as your son, not him!”

“Just stop,” Yuji says. “Enough arguing. I’ve had enough.” His voice cracks embarrassingly and he bites his lip. Dammit. They’re both technically in the quadruple digits age-wise, so they should know better that to argue like children, but despite all the realities they’ve been through, and all the timelines, Sukuna still gets under Yuji’s skin like no other. It's humiliating. Yuji is thirty-one, but he just got his feelings hurt by his own son.

If his Nobara were still here, she’d laugh. The thought that he’ll never see her again makes everything worse and he squeezes his eyes shut to fight back the tears.

Sukuna’s breath shutters momentarily, as if he attempts several times to make a retort, but he ultimately remains silent. The body in Yuji's arms goes limp, though Yuji hadn't realised until now that it had become tense.

Choso seems very relieved with this development. That's right, go away! Leave my brother alone! Don't worry, Yu, I'm here for both of you!

Cute. Yuji misses his own Choso more with every passing second, but unlike Sukuna, Yuji doesn’t have time to wallow in self pity. He can see the next platform up ahead, so he picks up the pace. Just then, a glint of light emerges from his left and he barely reacts in time, avoiding the dive-bombing crow. He destroys it as it passes, but his grip on his younger self slips so he drops to one knee to try and regain it.

His younger self is still sleeping. That’s fine. Yuji doesn’t want him to see the destruction Sukuna has wrought, not so soon nor so suddenly. The sight of Shibuya in ruins haunts him every night. It’s the kind of torture he doesn’t want his younger self to have to endure. He’ll find out eventually, there’s no avoiding it, but Yuji will do everything he can to make sure that realisation occurs in a safe and secure environment. 

In any case, if there are crows following him, then he must be on the right… track.

He sniffs and laughs weakly to himself at his own joke. “Track,” he says, jostling the body in his arms. “You’re gonna get real funny when you're older, buddy.”

He emerges somewhere in Dogenzaka. He has no idea where Megumi might be right now, so he searches the area methodically. Now that Sukuna has exited the fight, things have become eerily quiet.

One minute Megumi is running and the next he’s on the ground with no idea how he got there. The pain flares up afterwards. Belatedly, he realizes he’s been slashed across the back and the damage is devastating.

He groans, struggling upright. He winces when he puts pressure on his leg. Might be a sprain or a fracture. He’s slightly lopsided when he stands, clutching his arm. 

Haruta whistles. “Wow, look at all that blood. Are you sure you can keep going?”

Megumi looks down at the ground where his blood is pooling. Suddenly his vision swims. What now? What is he supposed to do? He’s running out of options. Screw it. He’s almost dead anyway, so the only path available is Mahoraga.

He reaches out, preparing to recite the incantation. Haruta reacts, sprinting to close the gap between them. It won’t be enough. Megumi grins with savage satisfaction. At least he’ll be able to take this piece of shit down with him— 

A man appears out of nowhere and kicks Haruta into one of the dumpsters lining the wall. The metal crumples and the whole thing tips over. Megumi stops, bewildered. He leans to the side, trying to peer over the rim at Haruta, who’s struggling to climb out.

“How does that feel?” the man asks Haruta. From Megumi’s position he can’t quite see the man’s expression, but he can see the swell of his cheek, which indicates he’s smiling. 

Megumi’s eyes trail down.

The man is holding Yuji’s unconscious body.

Megumi lurches forward. “Yuji! Are you—?” He falters when the man begins to approach him.

Megumi wants to back up, but he forces himself to hold his ground. He prepares to summon Mahoraga again, but as the man gets closer and closer, his face comes into clearer detail, and what Megumi sees makes his brain short circuit. He looks exactly like Yuji, just older and sharper. His eyes especially have more of an edge to them. There may be some scars hidden beneath the blood, but other than that they’re virtually identical.

A relative? There's no way they aren't related. Yuji said that his grandpa was his only family, but maybe this is someone lost or secret. There's simply no other explanation.

“Hold this,” the man unexpectedly says.

“Who are you?” Megumi asks.

“Yu is fine,” he says.

It takes Megumi a moment to realise he’s been given a name and not a riddle to decode. Yu. One short, sharp syllable. He jolts when he realizes that Yuji is being handed over to him and he scrambles to take the body.

Yuji feels unnaturally light, like parts of his flesh have been shaved off. He’s covered in cuts and burns and he’s eerily still. His head rolls unresponsively when Megumi tries to shake him awake.

“What did you do to him?” Megumi demands.

Yu doesn’t answer, instead turning to Haruta. “Hey, do you like picking on the weak?”

Haruta is finally on his feet. He grins nervously. “Um, well, I—”

“Me too,” Yu says pleasantly.

Megumi closes his eyes and blocks out the noises. It doesn’t last long, maybe a few seconds. There’s a tearing sound, like fabric, and then a thump. Something heavy hitting the ground. A suffocating silence interrupted by wet footsteps.

When Megumi opens his eyes again, he sees Yu tracking footprints through the blood on the ground as he makes his way over to Megumi at a casual pase. Haruta is nowhere to be seen, as if he evaporated. Hell, maybe he did.

Once they’re barely a meter apart, Yu suddenly extends his arms straight out in front of him. He projects his voice. “With this treasure, I summon—!”

Megumi sucks in a breath and stumbles back, reacting viscerally and instinctively to the chant that’s so fresh on his mind. His wounded leg seizes and he crumples to the ground, with Yuji going down with him. In an instant he’s been rendered helpless. 

Yu holds his position for several seconds, before bringing his arms back down to a neutral position at his sides. “See? It’s not so funny when it’s happening to you, right? You need to think about these things."

Are you kidding?! It’s not funny in any scenario! Megumi thinks, embarrassed that he fell for such a stupid trick. 

The tension anticlimactically diffuses. There’s no trace of hostility in Yu’s body when he comes to kneel before Megumi. Even his voice changes, becoming low and soft. “Try to be more careful from now on, Megumi. A lot of people care about you and they’d be heartbroken if you weren’t around anymore.”

Then he smiles impishly and taps Yuji's shoulder. When he moves away, he takes the smoky scent of scorched wood with him. 

“It— you—” Megumi is speechless not only from the rollercoaster of events, but from this stranger using his name so casually. 

“Don’t press on his chest too hard, there’s a little friend in there,” Yu says.

“What…?”

“Take a look.”

Megumi feels ridiculous rummaging around in his friend’s clothes while he’s unconscious, but he does it anyway. He finds a strange container with an even stranger creature inside of it. It somehow seems angry with him, its body wobbling threateningly. He quickly puts it back where it came from.

Meanwhile, Yu is stretching his arms overhead. The sleeves of his kimono ride up, exposing skin that has been tanned from long hours in the sun. You’d think not a single day passed since the Heian era. “Let’s go to the clinic. Both of you need to rest and recover.”

Shit. How does this guy know about Shoko’s clinic? Does he know where it is? Is this a threat?

“There is no clinic,” Megumi blurts. He feels like slapping himself across the face afterwards, because it’s the worst lie he’s ever attempted.

Yu pitches a smile over his shoulder. “Sure there isn’t. How about, instead, I just drop you off on some random street that's totally not right next to any clinic and you can decide where to go from there?”

The smartest thing to do right now would be to go along with what Yu’s saying until there’s an opportunity to escape. Or attack. Probably escape. “Don’t try anything,” Megumi warns him.

“Same to you, Megumi. Don’t try anything. In particular, don’t try summoning anything. If I see you trying to set Mahoraga on me…” His smile doesn’t shift, but his face seems to solidify into ice. “...I’ll break both your arms.”

So that's what this is. Yu handed Yuji to him to occupy his arms and prevent him from summoning his shikigami. If a fight were to break out, Megumi would have a split second disadvantage while he puts Yuji down. He could always just drop him, but in his condition, Megumi's honestly not sure if he'd survive. Megumi looks down at Yuji with concern. Hopefully Shoko can help them somehow, if Megumi can survive long enough to get to her. With his legs quaking, he forces himself forward. They make their way through the city slowly.

Someone calls after them. "Wait!"

Two girls are running over. They're going straight for Yu. Megumi hisses under his breath at them, run, run, run, but they continue relentlessly to their doom.

They both flinch when they receive Yu's undivided attention. The first girl, Nanako, steps forward, and even though she’s trembling she forces herself to speak. “You’re— you’re Sukuna’s father.”

It sounds like an accusation. Yu glances at Megumi. “Yes,” he admits.

Megumi's grip on Yuji tightens. Things are becoming more clear. Somehow he's in an even worse position than he thought. Yu must've come to him with a plan. None of this is a coincidence and he's now startlingly aware that Sukuna could take control at any moment.

Nanako's eyes slide over to Yuji. “Then, maybe you can convince Sukuna to help us. If you want, we— we also have this.” She produces one of Sukuna’s fingers.

Without warning, Yu strides forwards and confiscates the cursed object before it can do any more damage than it’s surely already done. The girls seem terrified, but Yu doesn't seem to even register it.

"See over there?" Yu points to a hole in the wall that Megumi didn't notice before because it's so small and subtle. Just barely wide enough to fit a person through. A scant few droplets of blood decorate the perimeter of it. "Go over and look inside. If you would've met Sukuna, that would've happened to you."

The girls shiver when Yu brushes past them. Megumi dips his head and follows. The girls stay where they are, clutching each other, but once Megumi rounds the block he hears them scream in horror at whatever they found beyond that hole. The sound makes Megumi's shoulders jut up.

"Don't worry, Megs," Yu says. "If he's lucky, he'll survive."

Chapter Text

“I’m sorry, Jogo, really! I didn’t think he’d attack you like that!” Kenjaku laughs.

Jogo grumbles. “Seems like you’re having an awful lot of fun, Geto.”

“A bad influence! Did he really say that? Oh, my stomach!”

Jogo sighs, submitting to the mockery. There’s really nothing else he can do. He was soundly defeated. He’d probably be dead right now if it weren’t for Yu’s unexpected animosity towards his own son. Sukuna was said to be very close to his father, so it’s surprising that their reunion went so badly.

“What do we do about him?” Jogo asks. “You said he’d help us, but he certainly wanted nothing to do with me.”

“Give him some time to settle in and I’m sure he’ll come around to our way of thinking. You can’t rush these things, you know.”

“How can you be so sure?”

“How? Well, I’ve got him all figured out, that’s how. Oh, Yu, Yu, Yu.” Kenjaku turns to the sky. “Let me tell you this, little fish. No sooner can you change events set in stone than a fish can leap from the water and destroy the moon which pulls the tides of time.”

Jogo glances over his shoulder. “Are you talking to me?”

Kenjaku sighs. “No, sorry, I was just thinking out loud.”

The temperature drops, signaling Uraume’s arrival.

“You did something wrong,” Uraume says sharply.

“Yes, nice to see you too, Uraume,” Kenjaku says.

“You said it’d be quick and painless, so why is Yu wandering around Shibuya completely clueless? He should be with us, but he’s not. Explain that.”

“Well, I’m not his keeper. I don’t know what’s going through his mind.”

Sharp claws of ice spring from Uraume’s tense fingers. “You swore a vow—”

“And I upheld it, didn’t I?” Kenjaku asks smoothly. “Your father is alive, and despite how it seems, he’s in possession of all his faculties. I did everything I said I would.”

Uraume wants to protest. They know Kenjaku has tricked them, but they can’t put their finger on how, exactly.

“Deceiving me is one thing, but deceiving my brother, especially with regards to his most precious person— you will regret this,” Uraume promises.

“Will I? Oh, don’t tease me.”

No longer willing to countenance such barefaced mockery, Uraume turns on the spot and leaves.

This was supposed to be a beautiful moment one thousand years in the making. It was supposed to be Uraume’s gift to Sukuna; the reunion of their family. Tonight was supposed to end differently. They feel the loss more profoundly than ever, and they clutch their chest in pain.

Sukuna doesn’t even know they’re alive, but what good would it do to reveal themself now? The vessel is still in the way, and so are all those sorcerers.

They need a second chance with Yu. Some time to explain. Surely the love that binds them didn’t rot away with time?

There’s a small knot of sorcerers gathering near the clinic. Makes sense that once the fighting died down, everyone would regroup here. As Yu approaches, the sorcerers stand to attention, creating a kind of frontline against him. Shoko is there, too. She must’ve come out to smoke, but she drops her cigarette when she sees Yu.

Yu tries to think of a way to break the ice, but the opportunity is taken from him when Nanami and Nobara — and Mei Mei and Ui Ui  — catch up to him. Being surrounded is an unpleasant feeling, but he forces himself to stay loose and relaxed. He doesn’t want anyone to think he’s here for a fight.

“Hey all,” Yu says with an awkward smile.

Kenjaku is still out there somewhere, likely looming over Gojo like a creepy gargoyle. He should warn Nanami at least, right? When he tries to speak, the words get stuck in his mouth and he remembers the promise he made. Wincing, he keeps the information to himself.

Nanami stops a few feet away. He’s staring at Yu with disbelief.

“Holy shit, Nanami,” Nobara says breathlessly. “He looks— he looks just like—”

“Never mind that,” Nanami says.

“But—” Nobara glances at Yuji unconscious in Megumi’s arms and swallows her protest, forcing herself to focus on the matter at hand.

“I have an offer for you,” Nanami says. “A one-on-one between you and me. As a professional sorcerer, I should be able to give you an interesting fight. If you win, I’ll fill you in on everything you’ve missed these past thousand years. Understanding your surroundings will give you a big advantage in the future.”

Yu’s eyebrows fly up to his hairline. “Wow. You wanna fight me that bad?”

Nanami is trying to be subtle about it, but throughout his little speech, he’s been taking small, slow steps, trying to get between Yu and everybody else so that he can block Yu’s access to the clinic. “That bad,” he confirms.

“Alright, what happens if I lose?”

“You die.”

“That seems a little imbalanced.”

“Sorry, but your death is all I really want from you.”

“You’re funny, but I only came here to make sure that these kids get to safety.” He gestures at Megumi. “Go ahead, buddy.”

Eyeing Yu warily, Megumi slowly creeps around him, and then once he’s out of arm’s reach, he breaks into an unsteady jog. Several people clamor around him and he collapses the moment he’s finally able. Yuji gets urgently bundled inside

Yu is staring longingly at the doorway, so he doesn’t notice Nanami talking to him for a moment or two.

“Is Sukuna still contained?” Nanami demands, a little louder this time.

“Huh? Oh, yeah, he’s still in the kid, if that’s what you’re asking. No changes there.”

“And why haven’t you killed Fushiguro? What do you want with him?”

“Hey,” Megumi says, offended.

“Shut up and get inside, you’re a target,” Nobara snaps.

Megumi seems surprised that he’s being spoken to this way. “Wha— in that case, you should be getting inside, too!”

“You’re the one with the broken leg, dimwit!”

“It’s not broken, it’s just a sprain!”

“Then why are you wobbling around like there’s a rat in your pants?”

“Kugisaki, seriously—”

“Both of you go inside,” Nanami says loudly.

They ignore him and continue arguing.

Yu laughs. “Kids,” he says to Nanami.

Nanami’s expression darkens.

Shoko chooses that moment to speak up. “Can someone tell me what the hell is going on? This guy— his face—”

She flinches when Yu turns to look at her, which makes Yu feel bad.

“This is Sukuna’s father,” Nanami says to her. “Stay out of the way. I’m probably not going to win this one.”

“Wait, what?”

“Woah, woah.” Yu holds his hands up. “You guys are freaking out over nothing. I’m serious about what I said. I’m not here to pick a fight. I only came to make sure the kids are okay. Yuji in particular.”

“Because he’s your son’s vessel, I know,” Nanami says.

“Well, it’s not just that. He’s a person with feelings too, you know.” This remarkably tender admission reminds Yu of where he is and what’s been happening around him. No more joking around. “All I want is for him to be in a safe environment when he wakes up and finds out what Sukuna did. I don’t want him to be alone.”

Nanami’s tone turns venomous. “Why does it matter to you?”

Yu is surprised. Nanami has never spoken to him like this before. “He’s a kid.”

“But not your kid. He might look like you, but the two of you are strangers. You are one thousand years old. Any blood relation you might’ve had is as diluted as his relation to me. As it stands, your real son just killed— I don’t know how many people. I don’t see why any of us should listen to anything you say.”

“Nanami,” Megumi hisses, “don’t provoke him.”

“Sukuna isn’t…” Yu stops himself. He doesn’t want to be the stupid parent who can’t admit their own child’s wrongs. “It doesn’t matter. I’m here now. He’ll listen to me.”

Shoko scoffs and mutters, “doesn’t matter?”

Yu ignores the barb and presses on. “We can figure out something that works for all of us. There doesn’t need to be any more fighting.”

“You’re kidding,” Nanami says.

“He’s my son,” Yu pleads. “I know him. At his core, he’s a human being, just like anyone else. I taught him to be good. Something must’ve happened while I was gone that messed with his head, that’s all. I can fix this!”

There’s a bit of an uproar at that, with several people talking over one another. Nanami’s voice comes out the clearest, “you’re completely delusional.”

There must be some middle ground they can reach, if only Yu can prove to them that Sukuna is worth taking a chance on. “He was a good son. He’d always help me out. He’d follow me around while I cooked, waiting for me to hand him things to eat. He liked taste testing things. He— he liked his wolf toy. I…” He falters at all the intense, accusatory eyes on him. “I know we’ll never be friends, but at least let the fighting end here.”

“All we’ve done so far is defend ourselves. I’d tell you to take this energy to your son, but I’d rather you stayed as far away from Itadori as possible,” Nanami says.

“What do you think I’m going to do to him? I only want to help him.”

“Frankly, I don’t trust your intentions. From your perspective, he’s a barrier between you and Sukuna, and I don’t appreciate how eager you are to get close to him.”

Yu flinches. All he’s doing is making everyone angrier. He realizes belatedly that he hasn’t apologized properly yet, so he throws aside his pride and tips forward in a bow like he’s a businessman or something.

“Woah, woah, dude,” Nobara says frantically.

“I’m sorry for everything my son has done,” Yu says cordially. “On his behalf, I’ll accept whatever punishment you think’s necessary as long as it doesn’t kill me. I still have so much work to do. That’s why, if you try to kill me, I’ll have no choice but to fight back. Sorry. I won’t let you hurt Sukuna either. I know he’s done wrong, but he’s my son and I’ll protect him, always. I won’t ask you to forgive him, but please leave him be. I won’t let him hurt anyone else.”

“Can you promise that?” Nanami asks.

“Yes,” Yuji says fiercely. Not because he’s sure of what he’s saying, but because he’s desperate for it to be the truth.

There’s a long silence after that. Yu lifts his head. Nobody seems to know how to react. He must make for a pretty pitiful sight; a grown man pleading for mercy for his murderous son.

“You know,” Shoko says with a little humor, “it’s bold of you to be bowing like that just to say you’re gonna fight us if we step out of line.”

“I didn’t mean for it to come off that way,” Yu says. He dips back down to bow and apologize again, with different phrasing.

“Somebody stop him already,” Nobara says.

“We forgive you, so get up,” Megumi says.

Nanami raises an eyebrow. “We?”

“Yes, we. No more fighting.” Megumi glances around, confirming it individually with everyone present. “No more fighting. No more fighting.”

Shoko sighs, but doesn’t protest. “Kids making decisions for us adults, what’s the world coming to?”

Yu feels a little flutter in his heart. Figures it’d be Megumi who stepped up first. It always was, right? Without meaning to, he shoots Megumi a thankful smile.

For some reason, Megumi averts his eyes and starts bashfully messing with his collar.

Nanami sighs and relents. “Alright, I’ve been overruled. For now, let’s consider ourselves at a stalemate. I won’t attack you if you won’t attack us.”

This is more than Yu could’ve hoped for. He springs up. “Thank you!”

“Don’t thank me, thank them.” He jabs a thumb at the kids. “And bear in mind, Itadori isn’t the only barrier keeping you from Sukuna. I’m here, too.”

Real mother hen energy! Yu takes it as a compliment, even though it’s not technically directed at him. “So, can I go see Yuji now?”

“No,” Nanami says curtly. “You still aren’t welcome here. As for your punishment, we’ll decide on that later. Protect us from a few curses and I might start warming up to you.”

This time Megumi says nothing in Yu’s defense. Yu tries not to let his disappointment show. “Well, I guess I’ll just stand guard out here, then. Um, thank you for taking a chance on—!”

Everyone has already filed inside by the time he gets his last words out, and he’s left speaking to a door that has been rudely shut in his face. 

“...me.” He sighs and wanders off.

Yuji is having a strange dream where he’s, like, a baby for some reason and he’s struggling to stand up. He’s trapped inside a big plush sleeping bag; the kind you give to babies who squirm around too much. He pushes himself off the ground with his four chubby arms, but then he just teeters over and rolls helplessly onto his back like a turtle.

“Whoops!” someone says. It’s a guy with a blurry face— the guy who introduced himself as Santa Claus. He comes over and picks Yuji up, then sets his feet on the ground. “You fell over! That’s okay, you can try again. Come on, little caterpillar, you’ve got this!”

Yeah, I’ve totally got this, I’m not stupid, Yuji wants to say. All that comes out of his mouth is a bunch of garbled nonsense though. He tries to wrench himself free, but he’s not strong enough. The sleeping bag is also way too restrictive.

Then everything shifts without explanation, as things tend to do in dreams, and suddenly he’s sitting in the grass. Santa Claus is sitting beside him, peeling an apple. The curls of skin gather in a pile on the ground where a line of ants have come to investigate. Every now and then his grip on the knife slips, because he’s missing two of the fingers on his hand.

“Try this,” Santa says, pressing an apple slice to Yuji’s lips.

Ugh, gross, Yuji thinks, pushing it away.

“Aw, come on, you haven’t even tried it! Just one bite and I’ll leave you alone. Please?”

Yuji holds his nerve and escapes the situation unscathed, because in this dream he apparently detests apples. He can’t stand the look of them or the sweet smell. All he wants is meat, and he can’t comprehend why the pile of wood in front of him is not currently alight and cooking venison to a deliciously crispy consistency. He starts crying because of this.

Then he’s a little older and he’s staring up at Santa, who’s grinning like he’s about to share a big secret.

“Guess what I got for you?” Santa asks.

“What?” Yuji asks.

He reveals something from behind his back. It’s a horse toy! This makes Yuji very excited for some reason. He decides to cherish it forever, or at least until a cooler toy comes along. Something has been bothering him though, so he decides to voice it.

“Yu,” he says, “why don’t you have your fingers?”

Santa’s eyebrows go up. He looks down at his hand with surprise, as if he’d forgotten he doesn’t have a full set. Then he smiles indulgently. “They got bitten off by a tiger.”

“A tiger?”

“Yup. You’ve got to watch out for tigers. They’re strong and dangerous.”

“Then— then we should get rid of all the tigers!”

“Naw, come on, we don’t wanna do that.”

“Yes we do!” Yuji insists. “When I’m stronger I’ll get rid of all of them so they don’t eat any more of your fingers!”

“See, Sukuna,” Santa says, “the thing with tigers is, they don’t live the same lives that we humans do. They grow up all alone and they don’t have fathers to tell them what’s right and wrong, so they just make up their own rules as they go. The tiger that bit me, well, I guess he was just doing the only thing that made sense to him. I don’t hate him for it.”

“Well, I do,” Yuji sulks.

Santa ruffles his hair. “That’s because you’re not a tiger, buddy.”

Then everything goes cold and the warm shell of their home cracks open, exposing them to the cruel wind and the dark sky. Yuji finds himself alone, without explanation, looking around at the rubble. The toy in his arms is warm and saturated with blood— it oozes out when he squeezes it, so he drops it in surprise. Without him noticing, the horse has become a wolf.

There’s a hollow sensation in his chest, like his heart has been ripped out. All he can think about is how desperate he is to find his father. It’s like up until now he lived by the light of a single candle that has now been snuffed out, leaving him in a cold, dark expanse of nothingness.

He sucks in a breath and wakes up, lurching upright.

There’s a lot of shouting. He picks out Megumi’s voice somewhere in the middle: “wait, stop, it’s him, it’s him!”

(There’s another very muffled voice saying help me, help me, let me out!)

Nobara is on him then, wrestling him back down onto the bed. “Calm down, you’re safe!”

Shoko shoves them both out of the way, pushing open Yuji’s eyelid and shining a flashlight in there. Yuji flinches and tries to escape, but her grip is surprisingly tight.

After a bit of wrestling and a few other strange tests, she lets him go. “Should’ve known that you of all people would spring back,” she says.

Nanami is in the room too, for some reason. “Itadori,” he says. His voice is still cordial, but somehow it conveys infinite relief. “How are you feeling? Do you have all your senses?”

(Help! Let me out! He’s my younger brother! Let me out!)

“Yeah, I’m— I’m fine.” Yuji tries to catch his breath. The emotions he felt in the dream are still clinging to him. He waits for them to dissipate, and once they’re finally gone, he sighs with relief. He doesn’t ever want to feel that kind of hollowness again.

“What do you remember?” Nanami asks, handing him a glass of water.

Yuji’s stomach is rolling a little, so he’s not sure if he can even stomach a drink. He stares at his wobbling reflection. “Um, I was fighting the volcano guy and I got knocked out. What happened? Is it over now? Did we win?”

“It’s over for now, yes,” Nanami says quickly. “Your fight, is that all you remember?”

(You’ll all be sorry when Yu comes back for us! You’ll all be sorry!)

“Well, yeah. Like I said, I got knocked out.” Yuji looks around. Everyone is staring at him strangely and it’s making him nervous. “What’s up? What happened? No, don’t tell me.”

His hands start to shake and he drops the glass. The water spills, but thankfully Nanami catches it before it can tumble off the bed and shatter. Yuji doesn’t need anyone to say it out loud, because he can tell by the vibe that Sukuna took control. Maybe he’s paranoid, but it’s always the first explanation that comes to mind. He tries to leave the bed, but Nanami holds him firmly by the shoulders.

“Itadori,” Nanami warns him.

“No, let me go, I need to— I need to help—” He doesn’t know what he’ll see when he gets outside, but there’s definitely going to be damage that needs cleaning up. If someone got hurt because of him, then he needs to be there.

“It’s over, I told you. The outcome cannot be changed now.”

His words hit Yuji like a knife to the gut. He shivers and allows himself to be maneuvered back into bed.

“As it stands, we’ve cleared Shibuya of any active combatants,” Nanami explains. “Either they all slunk off to regroup or they’re all dead. I’d say the former is more likely. Civilian casualties aren’t as high as they could’ve been and that’s all I’ll say on that. Gojo is still missing. We weren’t able to retrieve him and we have no idea where he might’ve been taken. That’s where we are right now.”

“You missed the most important thing,” Shoko says.

Nanami closes his eyes for a few seconds to compose himself. “Yuji, do you remember anyone going by the name Yu?”

Nobara and Megumi’s stares intensify.

Yuji is still reeling from Nanami’s summary of events, so this question takes him off guard. “Uh, funny you should say that, I just had a dream about a guy called Yu. He said he was Santa Claus, though.”

(Yu was just trying to cheer you up. Did it work?)

“…Santa Claus, huh.”

“Yeah. I think he might’ve been joking, though.”

“You think?” Nobara scoffs.

Nanami briefly touches his forehead, like he’s got a headache. “Hm. So you spoke with him?”

Yuji wracks his brain. It helps to stave off the shock. “I dunno, it’s kinda foggy. Maybe. We were going somewhere, I think.”

“Dude, you got kidnapped,” Nobara says bluntly.

“Wha—huh?” Yuji squawks.

Nanami looks tired. “Well, I was hoping to lead into that a little slower, but alright. Yes, you got kidnapped by a man who looks remarkably like you. Itadori, it’s important you think hard about this one. Do you have any family members, living or dead, who looked just like you? A cousin or an uncle, something like that?”

“No, it was just me and grandpa. You’re— you’re saying—”

“It’s no use trying to keep it from you.” Nanami glances at Shoko and she shrugs, so he continues. “Sukuna’s father has been revived and his vessel looks like you. The only explanation that makes sense is that he was a relative of yours.”

“Either that or something even more sinister,” Shoko adds.

"Like some kind of replication technique," Nobara says.

"Or... cloning, like in that movie we watched together," Megumi's ears turn red as he offers his own crazy theory. He tries to act unaffected, but he seems to earnestly believe what he's saying and is subtly glancing around to try and find some agreement.

"Either way," Shoko says, "chances are, there’s something unique about your family’s biology that allows you to house Heian-era demons.”

There’s only one part of this whole thing that Yuji is paying attention to. “A relative of mine?”

“Yes,” Nanami says.

Yuji’s heart is beating faster. He needs to confirm it ten times over, because if it’s all one big misunderstanding it’ll probably break his heart. “You’re saying this guy could be my family?”

“Sukuna’s father is in control of the body and I didn't see him struggle at any point,” Nanami explains evenly. “It's unlikely that any trace of his vessel remains.”

(Stop upsetting him! Stop it! I can feel that he’s upset!)

There we go. Knew it. Yuji is glad he didn't let himself fall in love with a stupid fantasy, but the confirmation that he's still alone makes him feel like shit. “So I don't even know this guy and he's already dead. Great.” He punches the bedframe.

“...Itadori—” 

“Nanami,” Yuji snaps back.

Nanami's eyes narrow. "Don’t get ahead of yourself. This isn't a fight you can win.”

“But no matter how you look at it, Sukuna is my responsibility, so his dad is my responsibility, too!" He starts struggling out of the bed again.

(Little brother! I’m here! I’m right here! Come to me, I’ll protect you!)

“Ugh!” Yuji slams his hands over his ears. “Who the hell is saying that?”

There’s a sudden confused hush. “Saying what?” Nobara asks.

“Someone’s been talking this whole time. It’s like something chewing on the inside of my ear!”

Nobara looks at Shoko. “Uh, did you check him for head injuries?”

“There’s no cure for natural stupidity,” Megumi says.

(Little brother! I’m here!)

Yuji begins yanking open all of Shoko’s medical drawers. Metal tools and implements clatter around, but eventually he manages to find the weird little container that Santa Claus — or, Yu — gave him, containing the strange alien creature. He picks it up and its cursed energy blossoms with warmth.

Let’s escape together! I know where Yu is! I can sense him, the creature says. Nobody’s reacting to its words. They’re mostly distracted by its creepy appearance. Nobara has turned green.

A memory returns to Yuji out of the fog. Yu said that this little gumball thing is his brother. There’s definitely no family resemblance, but hell, he'll take all the help he can get.

“Help me out,” Yuji mutters under his breath, bringing the container up to his lips so that nobody else can hear him except for the little gumball. “You’re my brother, right? So, help me out.”

His brother’s cursed energy ignites at those words. Be smart. Break the light and it’ll give you an opening to escape. They won’t be expecting it.

“Itadori,” Nanami says warningly, seeming to sense the plan brewing in his head. “Don’t get any stupid ideas.”

Unfortunately, Yuji is only capable of stupid ideas.

Yu will be very happy that you're going to see him, I know it, the creature says. He rescued you and united us! Without him, I might've never known!

Chapter Text

The city is rapidly cooling as the fire dissipates. The sky has begun to unload with cleansing rain. Ash is settling over the ground, turning it a damp gray. Yu is sitting on someone’s balcony because it’s still intact and there’s a deck chair for him to rest on. He’s finally starting to feel his age.

He kept his younger self’s phone, and though he remembers the password, he can’t bring himself to enter it. He wants to see all the old pictures and texts, but he can’t shake the feeling that it’d be immoral to snoop. He sighs and sets it aside.

He misses his own phone. He had so many pictures and videos on it. His lock screen was himself and Sukuna when they first began their journey together. Sukuna was a doughy little baby swaddled up in Yu’s arms, and Yu had a big smile on his face like a crescent moon.

He took the picture way back when Sukuna had that problem where he kept scratching himself in his sleep. Yu had to dress him up in all these cute little sleeping bags with mittens attached. He used to love looking at the pictures and reminiscing. The videos never failed to cheer him up, too.

Ten whole years of memories, gone.

They weren’t all of Sukuna, either. Sometimes Yu would take pics when he went out with Nobara and Megumi. They’d go to the bowling alley or the movies, or out on a hike in the wilderness, or they’d grab a bite or a couple drinks. There was a sweet picture of them that the waiter took on Megumi’s birthday with Megumi covered in confetti, still bright red with embarrassment from the happy birthday song. Another where Nobara drank way too much and Yu had to carry her on his back. They argued the whole way home and Yu kept threatening to drop her into trash cans. Oh, man, Megumi was so pissed!

Yu laughs weakly. Then his thoughts slide into darker places.

He was never a shy kid. He was great at talking to people and as far as he remembers, he never had a problem with anyone in school. Nobody ever tried to pick on him, or, if they did, he never noticed, because insults always slid off him without effect. It also never hurt his feelings to see a bad grade on his test papers, and he never thought twice about the volume of his voice or the things he was saying.

After he became a sorcerer — more specifically, after Shibuya — things changed. He became self-conscious about aspects of himself he never knew existed. He cursed himself over and over for his stupidity, and when tensions rose between himself and his friends, he second guessed every word. It was like carrying a boulder on his back.

He thought he broke that boulder after defeating Sukuna, but now it’s back, heavier than ever.

Is he a good father?

Could he have done better?

Was he even the right person for this mission to begin with?

These are the thoughts plaguing his mind.

The rain is falling harder now, creating a curtain of water over the balcony. The city wobbles erratically. A small white shape grows from the gray. Something coming closer.

Yu squints. Ah, it’s Uraume trying to quietly scale the building without alerting him. When they realize they’ve been caught, they freeze up right where they are with one leg slung over a railing.

Yu smiles and beckons them. “Uraume.”

The rain sweeps his voice away, but maybe because of the smile, Uraume cautiously continues their ascent until they finally make it to Yu’s floor. They hop the railing but keep one hand clenched tight around it, ready to bolt at any moment. They look smaller than usual, shy like when the two of them first met, just standing there gnawing on their lip like they’re expecting to get smacked over the head.

“Uraume, you know what I’m going to say, don’t you?” Yu begins.

Uraume inclines their head in lieu of an answer.

“I’m disappointed in you. I’m disappointed in both of you.” Yu takes a moment to decide how stern he needs to be, then continues. “How many times have I told you and Sukuna to treat people how you’d like to be treated? Yes, people can be cruel and the world hasn’t been kind to you, but that doesn’t mean you can just go and kill whoever you want.”

“I don’t understand what you’re upset about. So some people died, so what?”

Yu doesn’t usually get angry with Uraume, so he’s taken off guard by the heat that comes in response to their answer. “Uraume, all of those people had lives and families and jobs.”

“So?”

He exhales sharply and begins to pace. “Sukuna played this card, too. You’re both the same, god. Can’t even look me in the eye and admit what you did. Where did I go wrong?”

“Yu—”

“What have I always told you?”

“Never use—”

“Never use your technique on people except in self defence!” Yu is shouting by the end of it. He’s never had to speak to Uraume this way before.

“You should be angry at them, not us. This is something Sukuna and I decided upon a long time ago. There’s them, and there’s us— our family. We’re a unit and the world is always our enemy, so everything we do to them is always in self defence!”

“Oh, is that why Sukuna decided to start playing games in the middle of Shibuya? Because everyone’s an enemy so who cares who dies? How many kids do you think were hanging out tonight, trying to have fun together? They never did anything to you and now they’re dead.”

“I don’t care,” Uraume says petulantly.

“Uraume, you’re too old to be this stupid.”

“Why shouldn’t Sukuna kill whoever he pleases?” They raise their voice when they see Yu about to reply, cutting him off before he can begin. “Can you honestly say that a single person in this entire country would ever accept Sukuna and I as we are, except for you?”

“You don’t show kindness with the expectation that others will return it. That’s not how it works.”

“Then why should we abide by rules that nobody else will follow? What does it do for us, except hurt us?”

Yu tries to think of an appropriate response. Maybe he overthinks it.

“Exactly,” Uraume concludes. “We will be met with contempt wherever we go. You are the only one who ever gave us anything different. But perhaps I’m giving you too much credit, because right now you’re giving me the same contempt I’ve received from everyone else.” Then they turn away from him and firmly fold their arms.

…It might not be a very good parenting tip, but sometimes it’s easier to allow bad behavior in the name of convenience. Hey, there have been times where Yu hasn’t slept a wink and he’s been stooped over the table with a pounding headache and Sukuna is being an inconsolable brat because he wants beef jerky for dinner instead of a balanced meal, so Yuji just gives him the damn jerky to shut him up.

Yu knows he’s being manipulated, but Uraume still looks every bit the teenager Yu left behind in the Heian era. It’s hard to stay angry at them.

“I just want the two of you to lead honest lives, you understand that, right?” Yu asks tiredly. “Come here.”

Uraume tries to hold themself back, but they fly into Yu’s arms and cling to him desperately. Yu presses his face against the top of their head and they stay like that for what feels like an eternity.

“What am I gonna do with you idiots?” Yu says, more to himself than Uraume. He looks up at the spackle on the ceiling.

“We never found out who killed you. We carved a bloody path through so many people but we gained nothing,” Uraume says against Yu’s chest.

“Yeah, that’s because killing people never gets you anywhere.”

“What else were we supposed to do? There was no other way for Sukuna to cope with the loss. There was never a happy moment after that. No warm home to return to. Just cold wilderness and unfamiliar buildings. It was only five years, but it felt like a thousand.”

“Wait.” Yu pushes Uraume away, holding them firmly by the shoulders. “Five years? But Sukuna said—”

Then he stops. Sukuna never actually gave Yu a specific time frame. Yu had simply assumed that he’d spent the rest of his natural life in the Heian era, because the alternative was unthinkable. Back in Yu’s first reality, Sukuna’s true form had possessed all the ruggedness of a fully grown man. Fine wrinkles around the eyes and mouth, too! There’s no way he was fifteen.

“Hm? Yes, five years,” Uraume says again. “Then we met a man called Kenjaku, who offered us a deal. Since he looked at Sukuna without immediately screaming or running, we of course heard him out.”

Yu’s ears start ringing. “What deal was this?”

“He promised to one day return you to us. Sukuna couldn’t bear the wait, so he — and of course, I — chose to exit our mortal bodies and wait with you in the afterlife until we could return as a family.”

“You gave up your lives for me?”

Uraume nods like it’s very simple. “Of course.”

This makes him laugh incredulously, but his jumping chest stutters like a broken engine and he begins to hyperventilate. He covers his face with his hands.

“Yu,” Uraume says worriedly.

“You’re both so stupid, you had so much to live for!” He looks down at his shaking hands. His heart hurts like it’s being squeezed in a fist. His whole world is turning white. “Oh my god, what have I done? I’ve made everything so much worse! I've wrecked this timeline! Why— why am I even here right now?”

Uraume goes to hug him again, but Yu lurches to his feet. “Yu?”

“I need to see Sukuna.” He leaps from the balcony, but he’s not heading for the clinic. He’s heading for the Heian era.

The grass crunches softly under Kenjaku’s feet. He hums, enjoying the pleasant ambiance of the forest. Sunlight dapples his path, making wreaths of flowers glow. Their perfume is sweet. The corpse in his arms looks like a child’s toy that has been broken and discarded. It has mostly bled itself dry.

He’ll have to find a way to preserve it before it begins to rot. After all, this corpse represents a valuable research opportunity. It’d be an unforgivable waste to let nature claim it.

His song is interrupted by a noise in the underbrush. Kenjaku looks towards it with surprise. A small dark shape is rapidly approaching. There’s a subtle glow to its eyes. Perhaps a deer? Or maybe a wolf? Either way, it will be easily dispatched. Kenjaku prepares himself.

Once it steps into the light, its shape becomes clear. It’s a man covered in blood. Kenjaku glances down at the body he’s carrying.

“Impossible,” he gasps.

The man — Yu? — shouts and sprints up the slope to him, his voice cracking with its ferocity. Kenjaku drops the body and brings his arms up across his chest to defend himself, but Yu breaks his guard immediately, pouncing on him and sending him to the ground.

The look on his face is feral. He’s lost control, like an animal. His teeth are bared and as he speaks they flash like fangs.

“You piece of shit, I should’ve known it’d come back to you,” Yu says, grabbing a fistful of Kenjaku’s hair. “My son? My son?”

“Now, now, let’s use our words!” Kenjaku pleads, but then he immediately strikes back, trying to take Yu by surprise and cut his throat.

Yu dodges. He reels back and Kenjaku senses an oncoming black flash. He squeezes his eyes shut and prepares himself for death, but nothing happens. The preternatural warning he received fizzles away, leaving only the carefree music of songbirds and the playful tickle of grass on his neck.

Yu is not hitting him. He sits there astride him, growling like a wolf. He looks furious.

“You can’t hit me,” Kenjaku realizes. He laughs with elation. “You can’t do it, can you? Oh, Itadori, I got you, didn’t I?”

“No, you just got lucky. It won’t happen again.”

Kenjaku sits up, ignoring the pain in his scalp. “Did you make a promise to me in our shared future? Let me see, what would I say? Hm, do your best to protect me, or something like that?”

Yu drops him with disgust, wiping off his hands on his kimono as if they’ve been dirtied. He circles his own corpse a few feet away and props his hands on his hips, staring down at it with disapproval.

“This is fascinating,” Kenjaku says brightly. “I have so many questions to ask you.”

He tries to get up, but Yu shoves him back down. “You stay the hell away from my kids. Stay away from Uraume and stay away from Sukuna. He’s ten! Ten! A little boy! Taking his life when he’s just fifteen? You’re a real piece of shit.”

“Itadori, I don’t really know what you’re talking about. Things that seem obvious to you might not be so obvious to me, since I’ve yet to see the future.”

“Yeah, sure. I bet you’ve already got ideas cooking up in that slimy head of yours. Well, I’m not letting my guard down this time. Sukuna is good. He’s good! He doesn’t kill people for no reason and he wouldn’t do anything to hurt me. I’m not letting you corrupt him again.”

A fly lands on the dead body. Kenjaku destroys it with his blood, drawing Yu’s attention back to it. His face goes pale and his lips flatten into a line, as if he’s trying very hard not to vomit.

“If Sukuna finds that body, we’re both screwed,” Yu says.

“Well, I was just about to go put it in a safe place.”

“A safe place?”

Kenjaku puts a finger over his lips. “A secret safe place.”

Yu deliberates on this. Kenjaku can practically see the gears turning in his head. “Fine, go,” he snaps.

Kenjaku scoops the body up. If he’s reading the situation correctly, then his little pipe dream of drawing distant souls into vessels will one day become a reality! Which means that, due to a strange wrinkle of time, Kenjaku is standing in the presence of two simultaneous versions of the same person. Granted, one is dead, but still, it’s no less miraculous! 

“I’ll come back to find you when I’m done,” Kenjaku promises.

“No, leave my kids alone."

“Oh, nonsense, I’ll come back. I mean, it’s not like you can do anything about it, so of course I’ll come back.”

Yu’s clenched fists tremble. He storms off without another word, and Kenjaku resumes his long journey home, though this time with a spring in his step and a slightly more enthusiastic tune on his lips.

Nobody should have to see their own dead body, or look into their own gray, slack, glassy-eyed face. Yu knows he’s going to be haunted by it every time he tries to go to sleep. It has truly shaken him.

“Sukuna! Uraume!” he calls out, running blindly through the trees. Their home was in ruins and he had spent some time trying to salvage some of his most precious belongings, such as Sukuna’s teeth and his velvet, but all he found was smashed glass. He has no idea which way the kids went on their hunt and he curses himself for his carelessness. He should’ve asked! He should’ve known something bad might’ve happened! A good father would’ve been prepared!

He already failed once by letting Kenjaku get to them. He can’t fail again. A thousand years of history depend solely on him!

“Sukuna! Sukuna!” With each unanswered cry, he becomes more frantic until it overwhelms him and he clutches his head, feeling tears burn in his eyes. 

“Yu!” Sukuna calls back.

Yu turns, wiping the single tear off his cheek. Sukuna is there, whole and unharmed, sprinting down the incline at him. They collide with force and wrap their arms around one another. Yu holds him tight, savoring the moment. 

“Yu, you’re covered in blood. Are you hurt?” Sukuna asks frantically.

“It’s not mine.”

Sukuna nods, relieved. “Good. I hope it was painful. I hope you killed them all.”

“No.” Yu sighs. How did he never notice the seed in Sukuna’s head sprouting and growing every day? Now it’s transformed into this: savage satisfaction at the thought of a stranger’s death.

“Then I’ll kill them all. Where are they? I’ll make them pay for this.”

“Stop talking like that, Sukuna. We aren’t going after anyone.”

“But, father—!” Sukuna's mouth snaps shut and his eyes widen.

Yu frowns, remembering what his son became in Shibuya. “Father, huh. That’s new.”

Sukuna flushes and mutters under his breath, “In my head I always call you that.”

"Wait, seriously?" Yu’s heart twists. “But I thought you were just—”

Trying to manipulate me, he almost says. But no, the truth is, Sukuna really does just… love him. He slumps with relief, grabs Sukuna’s face and smacks a loud kiss on the mark on his forehead.

“Ugh, Yu,” Sukuna complains.

"Aw, come on, we're right back to first names?"

"Yes."

Yu hits him with another few kisses just for his audacity. Sukuna squirms angrily, but when Yu resumes hugging him, he melts into it and happily returns the embrace.

“Sukuna, my son,” Yu says aloud, just to hear the way it sounds. “I’ve been a shitty father.”

“No, that’s not true. You’re the best father. I wouldn’t change anything about you.”

Despite all the conflict warring in Yu’s head, this marginally lifts his spirits. He runs a hand through Sukuna’s hair. While he’s in the Heian era he can pretend everything is okay, but one day the future will come. The timeline where Sukuna returned home from his birthday hunt only to find smoking ruins and an absent father has been successfully erased, but the pain of it lingers in Yu’s mind. He can’t stop thinking about the look in Sukuna’s eyes when they argued, and how different it all feels now that he knows he died so young.

In Sukuna’s original timeline, was anybody ever as cruel to him as Yu?

He selfishly holds Sukuna tighter.

They regroup with Uraume shortly afterwards. Sukuna raises an arm and shouts, “I found him!” and Uraume comes running. Yu hugs them again, pleased that it feels exactly the same one thousand years down the line.

“You seem unlike yourself,” Uraume says worriedly, taking his hand. 

Yu musters a smile. “I’m fine, really.”

They glance at Sukuna, who takes Yu by the arm, offering him support. “Let’s go home?”

They make do with the ruins for the night. With Sukuna’s help, Yu manages to create a small alcove in the rubble to protect them from the elements. They work quietly. It makes Yu sad, but he strips up the floorboards to use as firewood. An old tapestry they made together is repurposed into a blanket and Yu gathers the kids together so that they can spend the night in his arms.

It should be more miserable than it is, but Uraume manages to find their old deck of cards. Yu brought it over a few years ago, thinking it’d pass as something from the Heian era. He taught them simple games like go fish to get them hooked, and when they got bored he elevated them to poker.

Sukuna is great at poker. Yu couldn’t get him to stop cheating for the first ten or twenty games, though. He kept hiding cards in his stomach-mouth. Other than that, he’s got great control of his facial expressions and a tactical mind, so he wins most of their games. They’d bet on treats like jerky and high quality beef. Family game night is always fun, and they usually do it after or during a meal since they’re already gathered around the table together.

Tonight, though, they play beside the fire on the ground with empty stomachs. Yu realizes his eyes aren’t what they used to be when he has to squint to see what’s on the cards.

“Need help reading that?” Sukuna offers.

Yu sucks his teeth. “Yeah, right, cheater.”

Sukuna is smirking. He shrugs. “Suit yourself.”

He slaps down a royal flush a little while later and Yu angrily demands that he open his stomach-mouth. There’s nothing hiding in there though, so he has to reluctantly admit defeat. 

“Let’s keep playing.” Sukuna eagerly shuffles the cards together.

“I never win at poker,” Uraume complains.

“Well, it’s not my fault if you’re too stupid.”

Uraume pinches him and Sukuna retaliates by grabbing their hair. Yu breaks them up before things can escalate into an all-out brawl. There’s the usual cawing of “he started it” and “they started it”, which Yu promptly shuts down, too. 

A little while later, Uraume falls asleep and Yu starts dozing. Sukuna is building a house of cards. His precision is really quite impressive.

“You guys are in a good mood tonight,” Yu mutters.

He didn’t really mean for Sukuna to hear him, but he does. “I’m very happy,” Sukuna says.

“Why? Look at this place. We’ve lost everything, and soon…” He isn’t sure how to broach the topic of Kenjaku waiting in the wings. 

“You’re alive and we’re together.” Sukuna momentarily loses his concentration and the stack collapses. He begins to gather the cards. “I really thought you were gone.” 

Yu pulls him close and he presses his face against Yu’s shoulder. “Sukuna, please don’t do anything stupid with your one precious life. Even if I’m not around, there’s so much in this world for you to see. And who knows? Maybe you’ll find one special person that you want to settle down with.”

“Ugh.”

“Hey, don’t make that noise, it’d be cute! I could even be a grandpa. Woah. Imagine that.”

Sukuna mutters. “But I don’t like anybody else, and they don’t like me. Except Uraume, even though they’re annoying sometimes.”

The thought of Sukuna’s body going cold and pale and rotting away and being consumed by insects makes Yu feel sick. “Please? For me? Try to make the most out of life. Don’t ever cut it short just because there might be something better in the next one. You’ve got to squeeze all you can out of it. You know, the really good stuff takes you by surprise.”

“Hmm.” Sukuna looks up at him. “Did I take you by surprise?”

“Nah. I planned on being your father for a long time. Didn’t expect you to be so cute, though.”

Sukuna scoffs. “Yu, I’m too old for you to keep saying things like that.”

Yu laughs. “You’re always going to be my baby no matter how old you get. Even in a thousand years, you’ll be my buck!” He tweaks the mask on Sukuna’s head, just because he knows it’ll get a reaction.

“Ugh!” 

"Promise me, Sukuna? Promise me you'll always try to find the good in life."

Sukuna sulks and grumbles, but eventually says under his breath, "alright, I promise."

Yu is pleased. "Thank you, buck."

All things considered, the cold isn’t so bad. There are so many loose ends for Yu to tie up and so much work for him to do, but for now, he sleeps. Maybe after they find a new house, Yu will bring home a family pet? Maybe it'll help teach Sukuna to value the lives of those weaker than himself. Maybe a... cat... or a dog... or...

He starts snoring. For once, his annoying kids don't shake him awake to inform him of this.

Chapter Text

It really is true that time moves faster the older you get. Yu looks down at Sukuna sleeping beside him, wondering where all his baby fat went. Sukuna’s face has become so angular that he looks serious even in his sleep.

“You know I love you,” Yu says to him, wishing fervently for the words to sink into his subconscious mind. “You love me too, right? I believe in you, Sukuna. I know you’re good.”

Yu runs a hand through Sukuna’s hair one last time, then checks on Uraume, then disappears. He doesn’t want to abandon them when Kenjaku could return at any moment, but he needs to see if the future corrected itself. He’s desperate to have his Nobara and Megumi and Choso back. Maybe it’s stupid, but he keeps thinking that if he jumps one more time a little differently than before, he might land where he wants to instead of in that nightmare in Shibuya.

He keeps his eyes firmly shut when he arrives in the future, afraid to open them. It’s unusually quiet. No traffic, no droning airplanes overhead. Before he even looks to confirm it to himself, he can feel tears burning in his eyes, because he already knows what he’s going to see.

The sight that greets him is Shibuya’s smoldering wreckage. Not as bad as the first time around, where Sukuna practically immolated the whole city, but the stench of corpses still hangs heavy in the air. It’s exactly how he left it.

Sukuna didn’t keep his promise, but the sad thing is, a part of Yu already knew he wouldn’t.

His legs feel weak. He paws around for someplace to sit and collapses. The weight of his thoughts are unbearable. He slumps with his head in his hands and laughs helplessly, but the sound cracks and dissolves into tears. He sucks in a breath and begins to cry in earnest. It’s like there’s a bottomless well within him and the tears seem to last forever. His eyes and cheeks burn from being violently swiped dry after each new teardrop.

He hears footsteps nearby and jolts upright, blinking rapidly.

Yuji has somehow found him and is staring at him in bewilderment. Eventually he realizes he’s out in the open and scrambles behind a fence for cover.

“Dammit,” Yu says. “I’m sorry, I should’ve expected— you don’t want to see this.”

“Uh.” Yuji peers around the corner, but swiftly retreats when they meet eyes. It takes him some time to bring up the courage to come out and face him directly. “Are you, um, okay?”

“I’m sorry, this is pathetic. I just want things to go back to the way they used to be. I want my friends, I want my brother, I want my baby. God, why am I saying this to you? Ignore me.”

“No, no, it’s fine.” He turns to mutter to himself, “way to go, Sukuna, you made your dad cry.”

Sukuna does not respond.

Yu shakes his head and viciously rubs his eyes. “I shouldn’t be crying. I’m too old to cry. Give me a second.”

“Whaaaat? Come on, I cry all the time! I cried, like, last week! Get this, I’m craving a melon soda so I go to the vending machine. Just my luck, it gets stuck against the window. I order a cola ‘cause I think it’s gonna knock the melon soda down. Guess what? That gets stuck, too!”

Yu sniffs. Yuji is speaking with so much energy that it’s hard not to at least try to match it. It’s funny how quick the mood changed. One second Yuji’s all suspicious, next he’s talking to Yu like they’re best friends.

No wonder people always called him stupid.

“Woah!” Yuji says, pointing at him.

Yu flinches. “What?”

“You smiled!”

“…I did?” Yu touches his own face, surprised. He hadn’t even noticed Yuji cracking into him with that upbeat charm of his.

“Yeah, you totally smiled! I saw it!” Yuji is smiling, too. “You can’t cry anymore since I caught you smiling, alright? That’s how it works.” 

Yu has used that line on Sukuna once or twice. But even though they’re the same person, talking to Yuji produces a completely unique sensation like he’s talking to a stranger. Yu was never like this likable when he was younger, right? 

“Oh!” Yuji says suddenly, hitting his palm with a fist. “I just thought, you’re from the Heian era so you probably don’t know what a melon soda or a cola is, right? We can go try some if you want.”

Yu tilts his head at him, amused. “Hey, aren’t we enemies? Why are you just standing here, talking to me? What if I attack you?”

“You were crying,” Yuji says, like it’s simple. “I would’ve felt like such a dick if I hit you while you were like that.”

“Well, I’m not crying anymore. Let’s go.”

“Huh?”

Yu attacks him without warning, shaving a few inches off his hair— and leveling the building behind him. Yuji whirls around in shock and this split second distraction gives Yu time to kick his legs out from under him and send him to the ground.

“Dead,” Yu says, pointing two fingers at his forehead and mimicking a dismantle. Then he offers Yuji his hand.

Yuji stares at it. After a moment his expression sharpens. He realizes he’s being trained and gets to his feet. They find their marks a few meters apart, count down in their heads, and run at each other again.

As they fight Yu smiles to himself, remembering how flawed he used to be. Too rigid on his feet, too loose with his fists. He counters everything Yuji throws at him easily and knocks him back, inch by inch.

“Dead,” Yu says, grabbing Yuji’s throat momentarily. Hard enough for him to feel it but not hard enough to send him reeling. Yuji tries to strike back but Yu knocks his arms aside, exposing his chest to a hard prod. “Dead.”

Ouch, says Choso. I don’t like this tough love technique, Yu…

“Stay still!” Yuji barks, getting frustrated. He’s a few inches shorter than Yu, and also lighter. He’s powerful but underdeveloped. He fights instinctively, but his instincts are unrefined. He is not ready to fight Sukuna in this state.

“You’re not good enough,” Yu says.

Yuji breaks away from him to try and think of a different angle. He hops on his feet to get his blood pumping, then rushes in again— only to be deflected and humiliated.

“Dead. Dead. Dead. No arm, now what are you going to do?” Yu mimics a dismantle on Yuji’s arm, right at the dip of his elbow, then wrenches it behind his back. “You’re now fighting me at a disadvantage. Either you can save your strength to give yourself time to heal, or you can push yourself harder in the hope that you’ll end it before you bleed out.”

Yuji snarls but doesn’t respond. He’s unable to get a good angle on Yu and he’s not strong enough to escape Yu’s grip.

“Dead.” Yu smacks the back of Yuji’s head repeatedly, punctuating each blow with the word, “dead, dead, dead, dead. Come on.” Yu leans closer. “I know you’ve got it in you to do better. For a rookie you’re exceptional.”

Some of Yuji’s fight disappears and he slumps. “I’m not a little kid. You don’t have to lie to me. I suck. All of this— all of this is my fault,” he says bitterly.

It took Yu a decade of healing and soul-searching to finally forgive himself for everything that happened when he was fifteen. He became an adult — a parent — and realised how helpless children are. Most of the time, children don’t even know how to brush their teeth right! Yu would never blame Sukuna for losing a fight against a stronger opponent, so why should he blame the younger version of himself for doing the same? 

Even though everything is crashing down around him right now and his heart is in chaos again, all of this is still true. He thinks very hard about what he needed to hear when he was fifteen. 

“Yuji,” Yu says, “I don’t think you were meant to be a fighter.”

Yuji frowns up at him, looking somehow betrayed. Maybe he expected more empty platitudes. 

Yu continues. “With the right training, anyone can become anything, but to be truly exceptional you have to have a spark. You can only get so far without passion, right? Fighting is the same as… drawing, or singing, or cooking. I think you were meant to be something else and, I’m sorry, my son took you off that path.”

“No, it’s not your—”

“Fault?” Yu finishes for him. He releases Yuji’s arm so that they can talk properly. “You’re never going to be as strong as Sukuna. Whether or not things like this happen” — he looks out at the ruin of Shibuya— “that’s entirely up to him. He is the one who could’ve prevented this, and I’m the one who could’ve taught him to. Isn’t that right, Sukuna?”

Sukuna doesn’t respond.

Yu frowns, disappointed and honestly a little hurt. But if Sukuna won't talk to him in this era, Yu will simply go back and talk to him in the Heian era. “None of this is on you, Yuji. I’m sorry for what happened. I hope you can forgive me.”

Yuji doesn’t respond either, but his eyes flicker and his lips tighten like he’s about to cry.

Aw man…

“C’mere.” Yu pulls him into a tight hug, tucking his head in under his chin. “It’s okay. It’s all going to be okay.”

Yuji’s body shudders. He returns the embrace. All Yu can think is, wow, Yuji stinks of old blood and hospital chemicals right now. And sweat. And that deodorant he always used to use. He remembers standing in the bathroom and unloading half a can every morning. He’d always wonder why he kept running out, because he never really realized he was using too much. Maybe that’s why Megumi’s nose always wrinkled every time they met in the hallway?

After a moment Yu realises what he’s done— he’s inadvertently gotten ahead of himself and hugged someone who’s supposed to be a complete stranger. He pulls away, an apology already on his lips, but the sight of Yuji in tears takes him off guard.

Someone new appears.

“Yuji!” Nanami yells. He looks terrified. He hops a barrier and advances on them, but stops a few feet away when he realizes the position Yuji is in. A moment later, Nobara and Megumi arrive.

“Shit,” Nobara says.

Megumi links his hands together, though from this distance Yu isn’t sure what he’s preparing to summon… Ugh, his eyes weren’t this bad a month ago, were they? Well, whatever Megumi is summoning, it’s better not to risk fighting it. Yu isn’t in the mood for any more fights.

“I'm still disappointed in you, but I also still love you, Sukuna,” Yu says simply, certain that Sukuna is listening.

Yuji stumbles when Yu abruptly lets him go and gives him a small push towards them, but he doesn’t take the hint. As if magnetized, he returns to Yu without warning and embraces him again, protecting him with his body. 

“He’s fine, guys, he’s fine!” Yuji says.

“Get away from him,” Nanami demands.

Yuji shakes his head. “He’s cool, we were just talking!”

“Y— Itadori, you don’t understand.”

“I understand all that stuff about him being from the Heian era and Sukuna’s father, I just think he’s a nice guy, that’s all.”

“Really?” Yu asks.

Yuji pitches a quick smile back at him. “Really. I kinda like your vibe.”

“Thank you.”

“Yuji,” Megumi says seriously, “close your eyes and keep your head back or you won’t be able to lift your chin off your chest.”

“Huh?”

He summons his bird, which streaks forward and plucks Yuji off the ground before disappearing into the sky. Yu squints upwards, trying to figure out where he went, but all he can hear is Yuji’s rapidly shrinking scream. 

“That was a ridiculous risk, Fushiguro,” Nanami says before beginning his assault on Yu.

Megumi and Nobara react a few seconds later and Yu finds himself struggling to keep track of all three of them at once, since he has to make sure not to apply enough force to actually hurt them. He changes tactics and retreats to a distance, because it takes longer for the kids to catch up with his quick movements, and with them lagging behind he can single out Nanami.

Nanami obviously realises this is happening, but he keeps swinging because it works out in both their favor. Neither of them want any kids in the fight right now. They push each other further and further out into the city until they crash through a storefront and end up surrounded by wrecked shelves and dismembered mannequins. 

Yu clutches his head, a little dizzy. When he turns back to Nanami, he recoils at the acidic look he’s receiving.

“Tell me the rest,” Nanami says.

“Huh?”

Nanami slams a hand against the wall, trapping Yu in. “Your appearance and your attitude are starting to paint a picture I don’t like. It’s suspicious enough that you look exactly like him right down to the structure of your skull, but now you’re luring him out to you.”

“Hey, I didn’t do anything.”

“I won’t be so easily deceived. Tell me the truth. Who are you?”

Yu stares at him and he stares back. Piece by piece, Yu crumbles.

“It’s me,” Yu says. The enormity of the confession takes his breath away and he stands there feeling like a huge weight has been removed from his shoulders.

“What?” Nanami asks.

“I’m Yuji Itadori. All of this has happened to me before.” He gestures around. “I’ve been through this fight in Shibuya, but it ended differently the first time around.”

Nanami frowns. Slowly, he removes his hand from the wall and steps back. “I don’t understand. Are you saying you’re from the future?”

“And the past, too.”

“Explain.”

Yu laughs helplessly. “Aw, I wish I could, but I suck at putting things into words. It’s a bunch of complicated stuff I don’t really get. I dropped out of school without graduating, you know.”

“Try,” Nanami demands.

“Imagine you’re a fish swimming in a stream. You can only go one way. You can’t beat the current. It’s always pushing you forwards. That’s life.” Yu checks to make sure Nanami is paying attention, and he is, so he continues. “Now imagine I’m a fish that jumped out onto the bank.”

“So, you’re… dead?”

“I’m a third thing.” Yu grins. “You probably don’t believe me, huh? I never really thought about whether I wanted children back when I was fifteen. Didn’t think I’d live long enough, for obvious reasons.”

“And, what, you picked Sukuna of all people to be your kid? Sukuna, the thousand year old man? I don’t get it.”

“I went back in time, like the Earthworm movie, which one was it?” Yu snaps his fingers. “Where the guy makes the time travel machine and they change the future because they stepped on an ancient bug?”

“How on earth would I know?”

Yu remembers, “Human Earthworm 4, Cambrian Crisis.”

“That doesn’t prove anything.”

Yu points to a crooked billboard a few blocks away, just barely visible through a hole in the wall and the haze of ash choking the city. It depicts a screaming woman in the arms of the titular human earthworm, running away from a Paleozoic monster.

“Comes out next Thursday if I’m remembering right,” Yu says. “Sorry, I think I just spoiled the ending for you.”

Nanami looks very tired. “You’re not joking, are you?”

“I’m dead serious.”

He sighs. “What am I going to do with you?”

“Ah, well…” Yu realises belatedly that Nanami’s tone has warmed considerably. “Wait, do you actually believe me?”

“I’m more inclined to believe in time travel than a single other person enjoying those shitty movies, so I guess you really are Yuji Itadori.”

“I haven’t even proven myself. You— I was just joking with that Earthworm shit! I’m Sukuna’s father! I could be dangerous.”

Nanami raises an eyebrow. “We can resume our fight if that’s what you want.”

“No. No, it’s fine.” Yu is struggling to believe his luck. This seems too good to be true.

“Good. About two minutes ago I was fairly certain I was going to lose to you and die. Well, Yuji— or if it’s now your preference, Yu,” Nanami begins.

Yu jolts at the tender way Nanami says his name. Things usually don’t come to him this easily. He’s almost scared to invite this good thing into his life, for fear that an equally bad thing will come after it to balance the scales.

“You look tired,” Nanami continues with concern. “I’m not going to ask what you’ve been through, because, well, look at you. You might be older than I am. You know better than I do what it means to be a sorcerer, right?”

Yu laughs tearfully. “I guess so! Hey, you know what this means? You’re my kohai now!” He elbows Nanami.

“Okay, don’t go saying that where people can hear it, I’m serious.”

“I won’t, I won’t.” Something occurs to him. “Hey, Nanami, about what I told you…”

“This isn’t the type of information I want to share blindly. For now, it’ll stay between you and me, and perhaps a select few trustworthy people. For now,” he emphasises. “I don’t know how I’m going to explain myself if someone catches us talking, but… I’ll think of something.”

Yu nods, relieved. Telling everyone the truth would do wonders for their planning and battle strategy, but it would also be a large risk. They'd practically be advertising the fact that a weaker version of Sukuna is accessible, and Yu is not prepared to put his son in danger like that regardless of the kind of person he becomes in the future. He’s also not ready to let his younger self in on the secret yet. He wonders what he would even say. Their lives are wholly unique and separate, two trains on parallel tracks. The easiest explanation would be, “I’m you from the future,” but then that’s not the whole truth either.

Besides, Yu doesn’t want to inflict Yuji with the knowledge that a version of himself is ultimately responsible for all the destruction Sukuna has caused today, after he just made that whole speech trying to prove otherwise. Kid’s got enough on his plate, and Yu knows intimately how crushing it is to shoulder all the blame. 

“Anyway,” Nanami says, “for the time being, you can stay at my apartment if you want. The sofa’s a pullout.”

“Woah, seriously?”

“Yes, seriously. You could seriously use a shower."

“Oh man, oh man, oh man, I’m gonna see what your apartment looks like! Holy shit, I bet it’s boring as hell.”

“I’m about to rescind my offer, senpai.”

Yu mimes zipping his mouth shut.

Nanami smiles. Well, it’s kind of just a minute upward tilt at the corners of his lips, but that still counts. “That’s better.”

It’s a tiny drop of relief in an ocean of despair, but Yu enjoys it all the same.

Yuji wakes up in Sukuna’s innate domain. He’s barely given the chance to find his balance before Sukuna gives him a hard shove that sends him to the ground.

“Ow! Hey, what the— fuck?” His voice catches for a moment on the word because he’s not used to using it, but he’s so angry that he forces it out anyway. 

“Who do you think you are?” Sukuna gives him a hard kick that takes his breath away. “Nosing up to him like a pathetic dog looking for a master? You’re disgusting.”

Yuji scrambles upright, taking a second kick to the side. He manages to scurry out of Sukuna’s range before the third one and prepares himself for a rough fight. He’s certain he’s never hated anyone as much as he hates Sukuna right now. “Why the hell did you drag me here? Haven’t you done enough for one night? Why can’t you just leave me alone?!”

“Why can’t you figure out your place?” Sukuna bites back, somewhat petulantly. “He is not your father. Vying for his sympathy by crying in his arms— don’t make me laugh!”

Yuji exhales angrily. “Big surprise, you don’t know that people cry when they’re sad. Guess that explains why your dad was crying. I’d cry too if I had a kid like you.”

Sukuna sneers. “You’re taking advantage of a confused, recently reanimated man and you think you have the right to speak to me as if I’m the monster? That is simply laughable. Yes, whatever helps your guilty conscience, brat.” He spits and then storms up to his big, lordly throne to throw himself onto it and sulk. 

Even though he’s clearly physically an adult, he acts like he’s still a child! Well, Yuji’s not going to put up with it anymore. He chases Sukuna to continue their argument, and since Sukuna is reclined, he’s forced to look up at Yuji.

“I see what’s happening here,” Yuji says. “You’re mad because he hugged me, aren’t you?”

Sukuna’s hands tighten around the arms of the throne. “I think I’ll kill you once for every word you just spoke.”

Yuji spreads his arms wide. “Go ahead! But just so you know, if you do that, I’m telling.”

“Where do you think that will get you? He won’t listen to you. Even if he finds you charming for the similarities you share, he will realise the hollowness of your relationship very soon and discard you. Listen well, you are not his son.”

“But I could be— I could be a way better son than you, and I think you know it.”

“Better? Ha!”

“He looks exactly like me! I don’t know what’s going on about that, but he could be my ancestor or something. You had four arms, right? Bet you didn’t even look like you came from the same planet.”

“He doesn’t train with people he cares about,” Sukuna snaps. “That is confirmation enough for me that your little ploy will get you nowhere!”

“He never trained you because he likes you too much? Sure. Is that what he told you?”

Sukuna’s expression doesn’t change, but his eyes darken considerably. Perhaps he’s just now realising how little sense it makes.

“You know what I think?” Yuji asks eagerly. “I think you’re scared.”

“Scared?”

“Yeah!” Yuji grins, feeling very powerful in this moment. “You know, I feel bad for him, being stuck with someone like you! Admit it! You’re—”

He’s dismantled before he gets the word out.

Chapter Text

Yu feels much more like himself after a hot shower and a decent night’s sleep. Nanami’s sofa feels like lying down on a pile of bricks, but it does wonders for Yu’s back. He sits up, stretches and gathers his things.

All of the sorcerers still capable of fighting stayed in Shibuya all night on standby, but no new curses appeared. The city remained silent. Yu wonders what Kenjaku has in store for them this time around and why he’s leaving them in suspense. He wishes he could ask Nanami for his thoughts about it, but he’s not sure what would count as a breech of the vow he made.

When he heads into the kitchen, Nanami is there scraping the burnt parts off a slice of toast.

“Tortoise or cat?” Yu asks.

Nanami glances up at him. “Isn’t it tortoise or hare?”

“No, I mean, as a pet.”

“Which I’d rather have? Probably a tortoise.”

When they got to the apartment last night, Nanami gave Yu a set of clothes to change into and then they got to talking. Yu shared pretty much everything with Nanami (except the info he has on Kenjaku, of course) so Nanami knows now that the Sukuna of this time is fifteen.

“Fifteen,” Nanami had echoed with a flat expression.

“Yes,” Yu said.

Nanami spent the next few minutes in complete silence with his head in his hand like his skull contained a massive iron weight. Then, once he picked himself up, he said, “I wonder if fifteen is too old to put a child into timeout.”

It would’ve been funny if the situation weren’t so serious.

“I’m going to get Sukuna a pet. To teach him responsibility,” Yu announces. He’s invigorated by the idea. He’s certain it’ll work. Now that he’s identified a behavioral problem, he can start working to tackle it instead of just pretending it doesn’t exist.

Plus, it might help to… fill the gap. Yu has been thinking about how he’ll tell the kids that Nobara, Megumi and Choso won’t be visiting anymore. It’ll be tough and the tortoise won’t reverse what happened, but it’ll be a start. Maybe it can be something they all rely on together.

“Our Sukuna, or the Heian Sukuna?” Nanami asks.

“Heian Sukuna.”

Nanami sighs explosively with relief. “Good. I thought you might be reneging on that apology you demanded from him.”

“Well, about that…”

Nanami points the toast at him imperiously. “Don’t. Just try to think for a moment about what kind of message you’d be sending him if you caved right now.”

“I’m not going to cave, I just think I could approach it differently, that’s all. I basically said I didn’t want to hear anything until he apologized, but he hasn’t seen me for a thousand years! I should go and ask what he’s been through first and we can talk it out. I’d be setting a good example that way, right?”

“Yu, it’d be one thing if he raided your alcohol stash or invited a bunch of friends over without your permission and wrecked the house, but he has killed innocent people. A lot of them. Now is the time for you to come down on him hard, because if you don’t, you’ll lose his respect. He’ll walk all over you.”

“But I—”

“The thing about being a father is, you can’t always be your child’s best friend. Sometimes you have to be the villain.” He continues scraping his toast. “Another word of advice? Don’t let him see how badly you need him, because he’ll use it against you.”

Yuji frowns. “He’s not that kind of person. He wouldn’t hurt me like that.” A careless dismantle is one thing, but cruel emotional manipulation… That’s no longer the kind of thing Sukuna does.

But then again, Sukuna has proven him wrong before. Yu is starting to think that he doesn’t know the first thing about his own son.

“That’s not what I meant,” Nanami says placatingly. “He just seems like the kind of kid to press an advantage to get his own way, that’s all.”

“Oh, you’re definitely right about that.” Yu smiles. “You know, when he was really small I burned his mouth when I was feeding him some hot soup. He looked at me and said, Yu, did you do that on purpose? Tears in his eyes! I went crazy trying to make it up to him because I felt so bad, and I guess he got wise. He started saying it all the time. Yu, did you do that on purpose? It took me weeks to figure out that he was pulling my leg to get extra treats.”

“There you have it. Emotional manipulation,” Nanami says.

Yu pouts, realizing what he has inadvertently admitted to. “Ah, it’s no good trying to lie to you, huh? You’re good with the parental advice, Nanami. Have you ever considered having kids yourself?”

“Not while I’m a sorcerer.”

Yu’s mood drops. A strange little part of him wonders what it’d be like if he went back and make Nanami’s life better — if he switched paths and threw everything in with him instead, but he already fell in love with Sukuna, so that’s out the window. But maybe there’s still something he can do.

“Nanami,” Yu says evenly, “do you want a change of pace?”

Nanami’s slice of toast stops halfway to his mouth. He squints suspiciously.

In a fun twist of fate, Nanami actually already has his own kimono buried deep in the closet and zipped up inside a dusty plastic case! Apparently he bought it for a festival that he never had the time to attend. He looks cool as hell wearing it, even though he’s pulling a face like he’s incredibly uncomfortable.

“I’m doing this for you, not Sukuna,” Nanami informs him solemnly, adjusting his sleeves for the thousandth time.

They climb the path to Yu’s wrecked home together. If he got the timing right, Sukuna and Uraume won’t have even noticed his absence and Kenjaku won’t have had the opportunity to strike.

He breathes a sigh of relief when he finds the kids still asleep right where he left them. The fire they used to keep warm has been reduced to a single charred block of wood giving off a faint trail of smoke. Yu looks around. There’s no salvaging this place, and there’s no point in it, besides. Kenjaku knows its location and Yu won’t ever feel comfortable living here again. That means they’ve got a lot of work to do today.

The last time they relocated, Megumi and Nobara were there to help. Yu’s heart aches at the thought of them, but he’s already done enough crying to last a lifetime and he needs to be strong for the kids.

He joins Nanami at the foot of the steps. There are a few things they need to iron out before they wake the kids. “Alright. Sukuna and Uraume can pack their own bags once they’re up. It’ll make them feel more secure if they can select their most important items themselves. We’ll focus on the necessities; things to keep them warm and fed for the next few days at least.”

Nanami nods. “How should I introduce myself to them?”

“The best lie is a half-truth! You can be my old sensei!”

“Old? We look the same age.”

“Meh.” Yu waves him off. “Give or take, sure. They’re kids, so they don’t know what old people look like.”

Nanami huffs with amusement. “Be that as it may, I’m surprised you’re still lying to him after ten years.”

His tone is… somewhat suspicious. Yu frowns at him, now much more alert, and he forgets that he’s supposed to be keeping his voice low. “It’s not like it’s a bad lie or anything. He can’t come with me to the future, so I want him to be comfortable here. I don’t want him to feel like he’s missing out on anything.”

“But he is. Missing out, I mean. You aren’t allowing him to get to know you in your entirety.”

“Huh? What does he need to know except for the fact that I love him?”

“I wonder,” Nanami says, disengaging from their disagreement. He turns away, perhaps looking for a spot to begin his work.

But Yu can’t let go so easily. “Hey, no, what is it? Do you think that’s not enough or something?” Something new and complicated has been introduced to his already overworked brain and hes desperate to solve it.

Nanami opens his mouth to reply. Yu gets a split second warning in the form of footsteps rapidly approaching before Uraume’s ice juts up from the ground between himself and Nanami. They both spring back, startled. Uraume tackles Yu around the middle, wrapping their arms tight around him in a protective embrace, while Sukuna stands at the ready to cut Nanami down.

“Hold on a second!” Yu cries.

“Is he the one?” Sukuna demands, advancing threateningly. “Is he the one that wrecked our house and tried to kill you?”

Nanami, to his credit, doesn’t back off. He turns his chin up and holds his ground, his eyes challenging Sukuna to make the first cut.

“Sukuna!” Yu struggles towards him and grabs his arm, dragging an unwilling Uraume behind him. “That’s enough! What have I always taught you? Don’t be the one who escalates! And no, he is not the one that did all this!”

Sukuna stares up at him with outrage, then wrenches himself free. His eyes are blazing when he looks at Nanami, like he’d want nothing more than to cut him up. His fingers twitch eagerly.

“Sukuna,” Yu warns him.

Sukuna grits his teeth, stiffening at his tone. “It doesn’t matter. He shouldn’t be here in the first place. If I cant go to the village, then all those people from the village can’t come up here either!”

Yu isn’t sure what to say to that. The instinctive scolding that he’s about to blurt out gets caught in his throat and he’s left woefully silent, because it honestly isn’t fair that Sukuna can’t live freely, and as a result, maybe it isn’t fair to allow people to invade his personal space.

Nanami speaks up to fill the gap. “I was your father’s sensei when he was younger. He called me here to help you pick up your things and move, since this place is now unsafe. I’m not here for any other reason.”

Sukuna’s eyes widen with alarm. “Move?”

“Yes, move,” Yu says. “And don’t even start, because I’m not changing my mind.”

“We don’t need to move! Whoever’s after us, we can just kill them and forget about it!”

“No, Sukuna.”

“Fine, you don’t even have to do anything! Let them come and I’ll kill them!”

“Yes, that’s right, let them come,” Uraume says, slowly prising their arms from Yu so that they’re free to fight.

Yu pitches an apologetic glance at Nanami, embarrassed about how bad his parenting looks right now. “Look, kids, would you please just be a little nicer? Nanami’s my sensei! I want to impress him with how good you guys are! Could you be on your best behavior for me, please? I know you can do it.”

Sukuna purses his lips with displeasure. He does this whenever Yu babytalks him, since he’s growing up and he wants to be addressed like a small adult. Yu unfortunately hasn’t fully adapted to this change and he frequently slips up.

Maybe just one more push? “Work with me, Sukuna. Uraume.” Yu pets Uraume’s hair.

Nope, neither of them relent. In fact, Sukuna actually scoffs like Yu has said something stupid.

Looks like it’s the stick.

“Alright, you know what?” Yu says sharply. “Come on, let’s talk in private.”

He drags himself and Uraume around the back of the house. After affixing Nanami with a dark glare of warning, Sukuna follows. Yu lines both kids up in front of him and puts his hands on his hips.

Where to begin?

“I just can’t believe how the two of you are acting,” he says.

“Yeah, okay,” Sukuna says flippantly, turning away from him.

Yu snaps his fingers, demanding his attention. He succeeds in making Sukuna lock eyes with him, but in a very immature display of rebellion, he has three of those eyes roaming elsewhere like he’s only barely paying attention to Yu and he wants Yu to know it.

“Nanami is my friend and you threatened him before he even had the chance to say hello. What were you thinking?” Yu asks.

“I don’t know,” Sukuna mumbles.

“What do you mean you don’t know?”

He shrugs.

Yu feels ineffectual. It’s frustrating, like all his words are just bouncing off a wall. Uraume meanwhile seems content to fade into the background while Sukuna does all the backchatting. “Well, here’s how it’s gonna go. I want both of you to go back out there and apologize to him, and after that, we’re packing up.”

Sukuna folds his arms defiantly. “We’re not packing up.”

“It’s not a choice, Sukuna. We’re in danger here.”

“I don’t care. I’m not doing it. I’m not leaving, so just shut up!” Sukuna snaps in a burst of childish anger.

“Sukuna…”

“I want to live here! We can fix everything! It’d be easier than building a whole new house again, and— and besides, if we move, how are Aunt Nobara and Uncle Megumi and Uncle Choso going to find us?”

Dammit. Yu doesn’t want to reveal the truth to them in a situation like this. It’s going to break their hearts. He needs a private, safe moment. “That doesn’t matter right now. Just listen to what I’m telling you.”

“No! I’m not scared of whoever’s coming to attack us!” Frustrated, he tries to dodge around Yu and escape, but Yu catches him.

“Well, I am!” Yu snaps. He’s never raised his voice in anger at Sukuna before, not like this. It shocks Sukuna silent and he stops struggling. Yu says again, “I am. I hate thinking that you guys are getting hurt while I’m not around to protect you. I can’t stand it. Just please, Sukuna, listen to me.”

Sukuna wilts. His eyes drift down to the floor and stay there, his body slumped with resignation. Yu touches his arm and Sukuna responds by interlocking their hands, allowing himself to be guided back to Nanami. He’s dragging his feet, but other than that, he doesn’t resist. Uraume, always his loyal follower, comes with.

Nanami is waiting patiently when they return. “Ready to start?” he asks.

“Don’t try anything,” Sukuna warns him. He doesn’t let go of Yu for hours as they work, carefully parsing through splintered wood and ruined furniture. He keeps one of his four eyes fixed suspiciously on Nanami the whole time, daring him to step out of line.

Yu wants to scold him and order him to be more inviting to their guest, but they already had a kind of nasty argument and he doesn’t want to exacerbate things. Tensions are high enough as it is.

It’s late in the afternoon by the time they’ve finally gathered everything together. If they head out now, they’ll be stuck in the wilderness while it’s dark, which might be too difficult for the kids. Yu frowns, trying to figure out their next move.

“I can think of several solutions,” Nanami hints.

“No, I can’t take them to the future,” Yu says, chewing his lip nervously. “If I change too much, I won’t be able to keep up with my own story and everything will fall apart. We'll have to bunk here for one more night and just hope..."

Hope Kenjaku doesn't come back.

Nanami eyes him suspiciously. "Hm."

They’re sitting together on the deck. The sky is tinted orange and bugs chirp loudly in the tall grass. Little pinpricks of starlight are starting to show, flickering sleepily. Sukuna and Uraume are trying to stoke a flame on a new pile of wood and Sukuna keeps snapping at Uraume to get back, because their ice is interfering with his work.

They’ll be eating meat skewers together. Easy. Sukuna killed a few rabbits wandering around a warren nearby and he diced them up. No herbs or spices, they’ll be eating just to sustain themselves tonight.

Yu takes a deep breath and tries to lift the atmosphere. “It’s nice, right? All this quiet.”

Nanami takes it in for a moment. “It is, yes,” he decides.

“Just think about it. All that stuff in the future hasn’t happened yet. All that death and pain, none of it exists.”

“When you put it that way, I suppose it is… quite relaxing.” It sounds like Nanami has chosen that word carefully.

“Yup. Relaxing.”

“Not for you, though, I’d imagine. One thousand years of history rest on your shoulders.”

Yu scoffs. “Yeah, and all I’ve done so far is screw stuff up. I just don’t know how to fix it anymore, Nanami. I thought it’d be easier than this.”

“Parenting is never easy, and you’re doing it on your own. What you’ve accomplished so far is commendable.”

“What, this?” Yu gestures back to their house. “Shibuya? Two dead kids?”

Three, his mind supplies. Because no amount of time travel will reverse the fact that here, in this time period, Sukuna has already killed. He killed some poor child who still had his whole life left to live. Maybe the reason Yu never registered it properly until now was because he never saw the Heian era as his home— as a real place with real humans who all have their own hopes and dreams and aspirations. For him, the Heian era was like a fantasy land he could delve into and mold to his satisfaction, and if he didn’t like the results he could always abandon it and return home.

In the back of his mind, he was always a visitor on a mission, never a resident. Never someone who had to play by the rules.

How could he be so stupid?

“But that’s not the ending, is it? Your mission isn’t over yet,” Nanami says.

Yu is starting to trust himself — and, by extension, Sukuna — less and less. He’s starting to worry that maybe things are set in stone. He desperately wants to believe that he still has a chance to create that utopia he’s been dreaming of, but it’s shrinking away from him more every day.

After all, if his mission was to change Sukuna and rescue all the people who fell by his hand, then he has already failed it. Where should he move the goal posts next? And when Sukuna kills again, what then? At what point will Yu have to admit that he has failed as a father?

“Nanami, do you…” Yu swallows loudly. He scratches the wood beneath him and fidgets with his sleeves. He’s afraid of Nanami’s answer, but this is a question he must ask. “Do you think I’m a bad father?”

“I think you make mistakes, Yu,” Nanami says carefully.

Yu winces. He tries to accept it, but it hurts.

“But,” Nanami continues, “the only thing I’d ever want from my father is for him to love me, and you love those two kids. It’s not so linear that I can tell you whether you’re good or bad, but… they’re lucky to have you. That’s all I’ll say.”

Now Yu just wants to cry. He laughs sadly. “Despite everything, you’re still my smart and reliable sensei.”

“And you’re still—” Nanami abruptly stops talking.

“Hey, hey, what was that? Were you gonna insult me just now? You were, weren’t you? Hey! Don’t walk off! Come back!”

When night falls, they eat together. Nanami doesn't complain about the simple fare, which is good, because if he did, Yu would've ribbed him about his burnt slice of toast. They sit in a circle surrounding the fire and Sukuna very blatantly puts himself between Nanami and Yu, acting as a barrier. Yu tries to make small talk, but every time Nanami dares to reply, Sukuna will bite savagely at his food as if trying to warn him that he's stepping out of line.

It's incredibly awkward, borderline unpleasant. 

Once they're done, they trash their skewers. It feels weird to not have any dishes, and Yu sort of misses the old routine where Uraume would dry them and Sukuna would put them away. They started this routine when Sukuna was much younger and therefore too clumsy to do anything else. Half of the fun was in wrangling him in to actually do the job at all, since he loved thinking up excuses to get himself out of it. He's not the type of kid to shirk work, but he's definitely the type to purposefully annoy the hell out of you at every possibly opportunity.

It's time for Nanami to leave, and since Yu needs to escort him out, he decides to wrap up some business first. He apologizes to Nanami who's waiting by the treeline and takes Uraume aside first, since he wants both kids to have their own private moment to come to terms with what he has to tell them. He walks with them for a while through the quiet woods and then softly admits to them that they won’t be seeing their aunt or uncles anymore.

They cry a bit, but their tears crystallize before they can fall. They keep turning away from Yu when he tries to embrace them, so Yu decides to give them some space instead of crowding them.

“I’ll come talk to you later, okay?” Yu promises them. “Whenever you’re ready.”

“How did it happen?” Uraume asks.

“I don’t…” Yu is disappointed to find that he still doesn’t have the fortitude to talk about it. “I don’t know, it just…”

“It’s okay,” Uraume says quickly. “You don’t have to say it. It’s fine.”

Sukuna is next. His reaction is similar. They’re walking together when Yu says it in short, plain words — they’re gone, they won’t be coming back — and Sukuna falls behind. Yu stops, waiting for him to catch up.

For a while, Yu can’t read anything on Sukuna’s face. Whatever emotions are occurring within him are happening so deep inside that they can’t breech the surface. Sukuna touches the corner of his eye, though his fingers come away dry. He must’ve been sensing some kind of future premonition of tears, though, because they start to fall shortly afterwards.

Yu hugs him immediately. Though it’s horrible, a part of him is glad that Sukuna still possesses the ability to cry at all. The original Sukuna never cried because he didn’t love anything enough to care if he lost it, and Yu can’t imagine a worse fate for his son.

Chapter Text

The future is still the same, but Yu didn’t expect anything different. Nanami has filled him with doubt, and the consequences of his time jumping have become impossible to ignore.

You left me. I lost your guidance. Did you really expect me to become anything other than what you see before you?

The truth is, Yu never gave Sukuna a change to grow into someone good. He teased him with love, then cruelly snatched it away only ten years into his life. The bitterness, the hate that emerged as a result, is only natural.

Yu doesn’t know what to do. He doesn’t know what to sacrifice to fix all of this. His emotions have been a mess lately and now he's just exhausted.

It’s a dusky gray morning. He walks at random for a while, but the wreckage of Shibuya haunts him everywhere he goes. A TV that he can see through a barbershop window is reporting news on it and several people have crowded around to gawk. Further on, he hears two people gossiping about it in hushed voices when he walks past, and a paranoid part of him warns him to run away before they realize it’s all his fault. And the smoke still hasn’t cleared— or maybe that’s just his eyes. They’re not working like they did before.

Oh well. He needs to talk to Sukuna. That’s why he’s out here today. He heads to his old dorm— or, Yuji’s dorm. He hears voices when he gets close to Yuji’s room.

Yuji’s is the loudest, and he’s shouting at the top of his lungs without regard for his neighbors. “The hell are you talking about? You’re literally, like, the size of a skateboard standing upright! You’re not my big brother.”

“Yes I am!” Whoever he’s with is very squeaky and high-pitched. Yu imagines a scurrying little mouse.

“It’s in the name. I’m bigger than you, so if anything, you’re the little brother here, not me.”

“No, that’s not right at all! You have to call me aniki!” Then there’s a small stomp, which reminds Yu of when Sukuna was a baby and he’d get when he didn’t get his way.

“Uh, yeah, not a chance. People are gonna look at me funny if I do that.”

“I’m your aniki! Aniki! Aniki!”

“Hey, watch it, you’re gonna get blood on the sheets!”

Yu opens the door. Yuji is standing on his bed with his bedsheets gathered in his arms, trying to keep out of reach of a strange gremlin that has invaded his room and is trying to hop onto his bed with him, to no avail. Its face is flushed red with fury.

…Choso?

The little gremlin turns around. It certainly looks like Choso— if he were travel-sized, that is. It’s got the big dark eyes and pale skin, except it looks all dough-y, like you’d leave a permanent indent if you prodded too hard. Its hair’s a mess and it’s wearing one of Yuji’s hoodies, which swamps it. The sleeves trail.

“Yu?” Yuji says. Then he yelps and yanks the sheets up around himself to hide the embarrassing Earthworm shirt he’s wearing as pajamas.

“Yu!” the gremlin says, wobbling over.

Holy shit, it is Choso!

Choso is a little unsteady on his feet, like a newborn, so he trips on some of the garbage Yuji has left lying around. Yu’s many long years of parenting have ingrained into him the instinct to drop and catch an infant before it falls over, so he saves Choso from breaking his nose just in time. He has all kinds of questions he wants to ask, but they all exit his brain once he has Choso in his arms.

“You smell like a new baby!” Yu exclaims, inhaling deeply from his hair. It’s a weird smell, but since he associates it with Sukuna, he can’t help but love it.

“I am new,” little Chosito says proudly. He points to the shattered remains of his container in the corner of the room, and the trailing end of his sleeve swings like a pendulum. “I was sick of being trapped and useless, so I made myself a body.”

“What— how— but—” Ugh, you know what? Forget it. He’s just happy to see Choso again, even in this strange new form. “That’s very impressive, Choso.”

Choso nods, accepting Yu’s words not as praise, but as fact. Then he remembers he’s supposed to be angry and resumes his tantrum. “Yuji won’t call me aniki! Make him!”

“Oh, come on!” Yuji complains. “I’m fine with him being my brother, but calling him aniki is a step too far!”

Choso presses his lips together. His face is steadily turning crimson. If this keeps up, there’ll be steam shooting out of his ears.

“Easy, easy,” Yu says, holding onto his shoulders. He’s an expert at dealing with both toddlers and overbearing brothers, so he’s pretty sure he has this in the bag. Honestly, he’s happy to be presented with a dilemma that’s actually within his ability to solve.

“Yu, how did you even get in here anyway? If you get caught, you’re in trouble,” Yuji says. He hobbles off the bed and sticks his head out through he doorway, nervously glancing up and down the hall.

“Am I a wanted criminal or something?” Yu asks.

“Well, yeah! You’re Sukuna’s dad, so… yeah.”

“But I’m a nice guy just trying to do the right thing.”

“Yeah, yeah, I know that. I’m just saying everyone else doesn’t know that. And Megumi lives, like, right next door. He’s been on my ass this whole time about how you’re crazy and stuff.”

“Then I better get out of here before I get caught.” Yu turns to leave with a smirk, knowing he’ll be chased.

“Wait!” Yuji blurts, stumbling over his sheets. “You can’t— you’ve gotta take this thing with you!”

“Aniki!” Choso cries angrily.

“Look, you should be the one calling me that!”

“No! That's all wrong!”

“Yu, just—” Yuji sighs explosively. “Just lemme get dressed, I’ll come with you! I need a break, man.”

Yu laughs and leans up against the door frame. “Take your time.”

He rushes off, leaving Yu alone with Choso. Choso waits until the bathroom door has clicked shut, and then he looks up at Yu.

“They're so difficult at that age,” Choso complains.

A little baby trying to commiserate with him! So cute!

Yu crouches down and nudges him encouragingly. “That’s why you’re here, right? You need to be the responsible one. Keep him in line.” He winks.

Choso nods seriously. “And I need clothes, because nobody will take me seriously like this. A— a big brother needs to be admirable, so he needs to look good.”

There are stars in his eyes as he says this.

Yu tidies Choso up on the way out, finding him a fresh new outfit and pulling his hair into pigtails, because it was always going to be pigtails no matter what. It’s Choso’s classic cut! Like the original, Choso also has that big dark band across his nose and it shimmers threateningly whenever Yuji starts acting out of line.

Like when they get to a crosswalk. Yuji briefly glances both ways before stepping out, but Choso catches a fistful of his pants before his foot can touch the ground.

Yuji looks down at him questioningly.

“You need to hold my hand,” Choso says, reaching up to him. The band starts to leak as he tries very hard to maintain his composure at the danger Yuji is putting himself in.

“Oh, right. You’re a little kid, so you need help crossing the street, right. Yup, got it.”

Choso shakes his head smartly. “No, it’s so you don’t wander off. It’s a busy street and I know what you're like."

Yuji’s eyes widen incredulously. Yu tries to smother his laugh out of politeness, but Yuji hears it anyway and flushes. Grumbling to himself, he takes Choso’s insistent hand and walks slowly with him across the street once the light flips. They remain together even when they get back onto the sidewalk.

“Anyway,” Yuji says loudly, trying to regain his composure despite the gremlin currently latched onto him, “I bet this is all really strange to you. Must’ve thrown you for a loop when you first woke up. Even for people born in the modern era, the city can be overwhelming.”

“Overwhelming is definitely the word,” Yu says.

“Well, don’t sweat it too much! I can show you around! If you break it down into little chunks, it’s not so hard to digest! Actually, no time like the present.” He clears his throat and frames his hand against a row of buildings to their left, projecting his voice a tour guide. “So, these are all food stores! You just go in and buy whatever you want. They sell noodles and, uh, burgers and shakes and stuff. Wow, there’s so much food you haven’t tried.”

“I’ll get around to it.”

“Right, you probably already know about cars, but in case nobody explained it to you, they get people from A to B. That’s why we’ve got to stick to the sidewalk. Imagine a really fast horse and carriage, okay? Okay, so, there’s a vending machine. Oh! You should definitely try a sprite, it’s gonna change your life. Here.”

Yuji hands him a coin.

Yu stands in front of the machine uselessly, having momentarily forgotten how to use it. He really took his muscle memory for granted. He’s just about to put the coin into the slot when Yuji notices he’s struggling and snatches it back out of his hand.

“Sorry, forgot, Heian era,” Yuji says bashfully. “Here, I’ll show you, it’s super easy! You just put it in and then press the button for the thing you want. Look, here it says it’s the sprite, so, uh, you just pick that one.”

Yu smiles. “Thank you,” he says gratefully, even though he really didn’t need such a lengthy explanation. He just needed a moment to think. Yuji also collects the sprite before Yu can, and he snaps the tab off too.

“Tell me what you think,” Yuji says. He seems excited.

It’s kind of cute, so Yu indulges him. He takes a sip and says “woah!” the same way he would if he were acting impressed to Sukuna or Uraume in their younger years.

Yuji grins. “It’s fizzy, right? That’s because it’s carbonated.”

“Carbonated, huh?”

“Yeah!”

“What does that mean?”

“Oh, uh, they put air in it. Carbon dioxide, I mean. Hence carbonated.”

“Interesting.” Yu takes another sip. “You’re pretty smart, aren’t you?”

Yuji flushes. “Who, me?”

“Carbon dioxide, that sounds like a big word to me. I’ve never heard it before, coming from the Heian era and all.”

“Aw, well, I guess so!” Yuji scuffs his shoe against the ground and links his hands behind his head, which makes Choso fuss and complain about being abandoned. “I got pretty good grades back when I was in school, you know.”

Yu knows that’s an outright lie. He was a C-student at best. “Wow,” he says anyway, because he remembers how starved for validation he became after his grandpa died. His grandpa was grumpy and standoffish and his jokes could be kinda mean, but he always made sure to compliment Yu on the things that mattered.

Once he became a sorcerer, he needed that voice of encouragement more than ever. People kept dying around him and he took the blame every time. The weight of it was crushing.

But he’s getting lost in his memories. Choso’s surprising appearance distracted him, but he can’t let himself forget why he’s here. He hints to Yuji that he’d like to eat somewhere quiet and they wind up getting food together at a random restaurant. The waitress at the podium by the entrance smiles at them, then leans forward to peer at Choso way down below.

“Aw, your youngest is so cute,” she says brightly.

Yuji makes a strange yelping noise at the implication. “Well, I, uh— Yu’s not technically my— my dad or anything, he— well, he kinda—”

“I’m the oldest brother,” Choso corrects her.

She indulges him, “my mistake!” and guides them to their table. They each receive a menu and they peruse it for a while, though Yu is barely registering the words in front of him and Yuji keeps glancing over the top of his menu at Yu.

“About what she said,” Yuji begins.

“Maybe we are related?” Yu jokes. “I could be a long lost grandpa of yours.”

Yuji seems conflicted. “Yeah, but if you’re Sukuna’s father and we’re related, then that’d mean…”

Yu smiles sadly. “Sorry, I got ahead of myself. Family is more than just blood, I know that.”

There’s an awkward silence.

Alright, no time like the present. They’ve got this booth all to themselves and the place is mostly empty.

“Yuji,” Yu begins carefully, “this might not be a nice question for you, but can I ask how Sukuna is doing? You don’t have to switch with him or anything, but I’d like to know.”

Yuji suddenly smacks his menu down. “He killed me,” he says, almost proudly.

Sukuna’s eye and mouth burst open on the side of his face. “You’re lying!”

“I’m not! Yu, I went into his domain and he killed me for no reason!”

“You shouldn’t have come into my domain to begin with!”

“How’s that my fault?! You pulled me in there!”

“Again, you’re lying!”

“Stop it,” Yu snaps. Figures they’ve got a can of worms to open up on him when he’s just trying to have a diplomatic discussion for once. “How am I supposed to hear what either of you are saying if you’re talking over each other? Yuji, what happened?”

Sukuna breathes heavily. “You always believe everyone else before me,” he spits, disappearing.

“Get back here, Sukuna, I’m still talking to you,” Yu commands.

Fifty-fifty odds on him returning, but thankfully Yu gets lucky and he obeys. His single eye is narrowed into a mean sliver. Choso is watching them nervously, but when the waitress delivers him a complementary ice cream (because he’s just so cute) he quickly invests himself in that instead.

“It’s like I said, he got all pushy and then he dismantled me.” Yuji folds his arms petulantly. “And it’s not the first time, either. He ripped out my heart once!”

“No I didn’t!” Sukuna’s voice still has that hesitant quality of a child that lacks confidence in his own lies. Of course he does, he’s still only fifteen. He gained the power to flatten cities before he figured out how to lie properly. Figures.

Yu kneads his forehead at the knowledge that even this is still the same. After ten years, Yu still couldn’t prevent even this. “Sukuna, just when I think you’ve dug yourself as deep as you can go…”

Choso tugs on his sleeve, interrupting him. “Sometimes tough love is the only way,” he says wisely.

It’s… strange to take advice from a tiny child, but alright. Nanami said it, too. He said to come down on Sukuna hard. It hurts Yu’s heart to be the villain, but if it’s what’s best for Sukuna, he’ll bottle his emotions and do it.

“What did I say to you one thousand years ago, when you were ten years old and we reconnected after our house got destroyed?” Yu asks.

Sukuna doesn’t reply, and with each passing second Yu becomes more furious. It’s like Sukuna isn’t taking this seriously at all.

“I asked you to promise me” — Yu is overcome by hopeless desperation and he thumps his fist against the table “—promise me to try to find the good in life. I asked you to try to make the best of it and now look at you. Is this what you wanted?”

Sukuna still doesn’t reply.

“How old were you when you died? When you killed yourself?” Yu demands.

“Fifteen,” Sukuna admits.

“Is that what you call making the best of it?”

Sukuna finally fights back. “What else was I supposed to do? You know there’s nothing in the world for me! Your one fault is your constant optimism, always pretending I could be something better, always filling me with false hope!”

“I wasn’t pretending! All I ever wanted was for you to be happy! Sukuna, I know there’s a place for you in this world! You just refuse to let yourself see it!”

“It’s the world that refuses to make space for me, not the other way around!”

Yuji snickers.

Yu switches his attention to him. “Do you want to get involved in this, Yuji?”

Immediately, Yuji starts to fumble. “Uh, no.”

“Is something funny?”

“No. Sorry.”

“I’ve had enough,” Sukuna announces loudly, then he disappears.

“Sukuna!” Yu calls. Then he curses under his breath. Sukuna has retreated into his shell and Yu blew his brief window of opportunity by yelling at him. The only sound right now is Choso’s spoon clattering around against his bowl and Yuji’s awkward shifting.

He wishes it could all be simpler.

Well. He didn’t become a father because it’d be simple.

“Sukuna, I know you’re still listening to me,” Yu says, staring intently into Yuji’s eyes. “I love you. I’ll always love you, no matter what you do. Even if you kill every last person in the world, I’ll still love you. Even if everyone else rejects you, you will always be welcome to come home to me. But these stupid decisions you’re making won’t make you happy, and I will do everything in my power to correct your course.”

For some reason, Yuji is beet red when Yu has finished his monologue. His mouth flaps like he’s trying to reply, but in the end he just dips his head and holds a sensible silence.

Choso is nodding to himself, like this type of family drama is very ordinary to him.