Chapter Text
The cover Sukuna got him is warm against the cold. Especially the early morning chill that threatens to seep into his bones and stay there for the rest of the day.
Megumi dons it with only a little bit of spite, an improvement for him to say the least. He can’t really complain too much about something meant to keep him warm. The Zenin’s had bitter colds that took lives when they weren’t careful, and no doubt winters here would be the same.
Sukuna’s clan lives a bit further south though, and he wonders if it’ll be the same. Would the ground harden over with ice, would his breath float in front of him? It feels like it will, but Megumi’s not sure.
He doesn’t want another freezing winter again, where the food is scarce and sickness runs rampant.
The way back to Shoko’s office is just far enough that it gives him time to think about the Zenin’s and ponder what he’s lost. As sad as it is, he really hasn’t lost much besides his sister. There were no possessions that he cared for or things he wanted.
He does wonder about the fates of his cousins and what they went through. Maki and Mai were fighters, not unlike himself. If they got out alive, they were probably safe somewhere, living safely away from the family.
He hopes, more than anything though, that Tsumiki is alive and well. He hopes that she is safe, wherever she is.
She’s probably safer than with him right now. Sukuna doesn’t need another inch to use as leverage against him.
Though, he’s not sad to see the rest of his family gone. Maybe this winter will be more pleasant without them because at least with Sukuna, he hasn’t had to worry about where his next meal is going to come from or what another alpha might do.
No, he only has to worry about his alpha.
Megumi holds the cover a little tighter around his shoulders as he knocks on Shoko’s door. There is no answer, though not unexpected from the early morning hour.
He knocks again. Could Shoko even hear him? He’s taking a risk in coming here, of knocking on the door, all in the hopes that something might come of this rather than nothing.
Almost a minute passes before muffled cursing comes from the other side of the door. Megumi waits patiently, hearing something knock over before the door opens in front of him.
Shoko reeks of wine and smoke from her pipe, and somehow she looks even more exhausted than Megumi feels. The bags under her eyes have darkened, looking like deep black bruises on her face.
“What do you want?”
Megumi starts, fumbling for a moment over his words. There are too many people around, most of them starting their day bright and early.
Shoko takes the hint easily. With a sigh, she stands aside just enough to let Megumi slip inside, rubbing her forehead while she does.
The smell of wine is even more potent inside her room than out. Megumi ducks his chin a little, hiding his nose in the collar of his cover. It’s just enough to help muffle the scent without being too obvious.
“What’s going on?” Shoko asks, voice a bit softer this time.
Megumi doesn’t even know where to begin. But he’s always been blunt, and there’s not really a way to sugar coat this.
“I need suppressants for my heat,” Megumi says quickly. “At the very least something to prevent pregnancy.”
Saying it aloud makes it feel so much more real. There’s no sugar coating what Sukuna is going to do to him when the heat starts, if the alpha feels inclined he can even remark Megumi, and do it the proper way that will leave Megumi on his knees and completely dependent.
“You know I can’t do that,” Shoko sharply says.
Megumi knows. But he waits.
Because sometimes not being able to do something doesn’t mean that it still isn’t done.
Shoko sighs, a heavy thing, and finds her pipe, discarded from last night. Megumi’s fingers flex at his sides, but he keeps them lax.
“Please,” Megumi says after a moment. “I can’t—I can’t have a pup right now. I need more time, I need to be safe.”
“Sukuna would keep any pup of his safe.”
Megumi deflates a little, which forces another sigh from Shoko. Of course, he thinks to himself, he’s foolish to think he has allies here. Everyone would throw him to the wolves in a heartbeat to save themselves from Sukuna.
He needs to leave, sooner rather than later, get as far away from Sukuna as he can before things get worse. He won’t be dependent on an alpha who doesn’t care for him.
Megumi can make it on his own.
“If Sukuna finds out what you’re asking for, he’ll have your head,” Shoko mutters. “And mine. If he thinks that I gave you anything, that’ll be the end.”
This time, he doesn’t duck his head to avoid the smell of time and smoke, but instead does so in shame. It’s asking for a lot—to ask for someone to put their lives at risk just to give him a temporary relief.
But he has to try anyway.
“Sorry for bothering you—”
“Have you ever seen a star flower?”
Megumi blinks at the sudden question, brain not following the change in topic. Star flower? Not many flowers grew with the Zenin clan, at least not enough for Megumi to care about them. He had more important things to worry about.
Shoko continues, not at all thrown off by Megumi’s silence. “It’s a flower that grows near here. It looks rather different, with five points that seem to drip blood. I’ve heard it makes a nice tea if you boil it correctly.”
Tea, they’re talking about tea now? Megumi finds himself nodding though, because there’s not much else to do when people start suddenly talking about flowers and tea.
“You should try it,” Shoko says firmly. “Before winter comes, you’ll have to wait until spring. It’s too good to wait.”
Everything snaps together at once for Megumi, and he nods, understanding. Of course, tea, he’s always loved tea, why not give this a try? It couldn’t hurt to try.
“I’ll try to find some,” he says sincerely. “Thank you for the recommendation.”
Shoko waves a hand, in a clear dismissal, and Megumi heads to the door, already planning on how exactly he’ll get outside of Sukuna’s walls to search for this flower.
“Oh, and another thing,” Shoko says just as he leaves. “If Sukuna asks, I’ll be telling him that you came here. I won’t be losing my life by lying to him.”
Megumi gives a small, brisk nod before he leaves. It stings a little, a reminder that he can’t simply let himself put his guard down. It’s a lot to simply put his faith in blind strangers who don’t want to lose their own life.
He truly is alone here. Even more so than at the Zenin clan. At least there he had his cousins, some people who were by his side. The rest of them had been awful but he hadn’t been alone.
Tsumiki races through his thoughts as he leaves. Of course, there’s nothing more than what he imagines, he lost one of the only real people who cared about him.
Sukuna took that from him. He won’t forget it.
Megumi holds his cover a little bit tighter. In the end, there’s nothing really stopping him from leaving, is there? Sukuna won’t even notice if he’s gone. The alpha seems to hardly notice anything about him.
He turns suddenly, making his way to the stables.
He needs to do this, before more people wake up and try to stop him from doing so. Because he knows that deep down, if Sukuna got any word of this, he would do everything to stop Megumi.
It’s not like he’s planning to leave indefinitely. He would come back, his inner omega demanding that he not go too far from his alpha despite the lack of bond between them.
Sukuna’s horse is happy to see him. Megumi hushes the great beast gently, though it stamps his hooves in excitement when Megumi goes to his saddle.
“Sukuna doesn’t take you out enough, does he?” Megumi mutters. “We’ll get you some exercise, come on.”
At least it’ll get him some variety as well. Megumi’s not really sure what Sukuna does all day that takes him away, but Megumi pretty much only goes to either the kitchens, the stable, or training with Yuuji now.
Strangely enough, he had more freedom with the Zenin than he does with Sukuna. And that’s really not going to sit well with him.
Once Sukuna’s horse is saddled, Megumi grabs a few apples to put them in a pack, one for himself later and more for the horse, and sits himself up.
“Let’s go,” Megumi murmurs, and spurs the horse forward.
Sukuna can suffer, thinking that he’s missing. Megumi doesn’t care. Maybe it’ll finally teach the alpha that Megumi doesn’t need him.
“Your omega left.”
Sukuna pinches the bridge of his nose. Just the words are enough to make a small headache spark behind his eyes.
And Yuuji’s amused look really isn’t helping that matter. Of course Yuuji would find this all endlessly amusing.
“You know his name, why don’t you say it?” Sukuna growls.
Yuuji shrugs helplessly. “He asked me not to tell you.”
Of course he did. Apparently no one wanted to tell him what his omegas name was, so Sukuna just had to deal with that.
This really just isn’t working out for him. Instead of having a cute and needy omega always waiting for him, Sukuna finds himself barely seeing the damn omega.
He should have known the omega would be a fighter; hell, the omega tried to kill him despite being battle worn and tired and bloody. Even marking him was barely enough to keep him in place.
“Why do you look so amused, brat?” Sukuna questions, leveling Yuuji with a glare. “Go and find him.”
“He’s your omega, shouldn’t you want to find him?”
“I’m busy.”
As busy as one could get finding release in someone else. But the omega in his lap was pretty, with long black hair Sukuna runs his fingers through.
Yuuji has the decency to look ashamed, or at least away. Sukuna does not. Though they’re not much to look at, currently lying naked on the bed next to him. Sukuna’s heard he’s insatiable at times, but this one couldn’t even last two rounds.
All-around a disappointing afternoon. And Yuuji’s words weren’t making it any better.
“Busy,” Yuuji snorts. “He thinks you hate him, you know.”
Sukuna shrugs. He really doesn’t see anything wrong with that at the moment. The omega clearly hates him, not wanting to give a moment of his time, not even responding to the gift Sukuna got him.
They would both be trapped in a place together by hate, and that was fine with Sukuna right now.
Sukuna runs his hand through the omega’s hair next to him. The touch is soft, and gentle, until it’s suddenly not. He practically picks the omega up by the hair and throws them to the floor.
“Get out,” he orders coldly.
The omega scrambles to their feet, disoriented by what’s happening. All it takes is one more cold look from Sukuna for them to grab their clothes and rush from the room.
He needed a bath to get the smell of them off. Their scent wasn’t right, a bit too earthy, like the soil freshly plowed outside. Most omegas tended to smell badly once he was around his own. He couldn’t find anyone who had the scent of jasmine like his omega did.
Yuuji looks at him like he’s the scum of the earth, lips pursed distastefully. Sukuna arches a brow, waiting to hear what he has to say.
Though he already knows. It’s not the first time they’ve had a conversation like this.
The lecture doesn’t come, though. Yuuji just looks more than disappointed with him, as though Sukuna’s crossed some line that shouldn’t be crossed.
“Don’t look at me like that, brat,” Sukuna scoffs. “I’ve had harems before this and I’ll have them again.”
Yuuji’s disappointed look doesn’t fade. It seems to get even worse. It’s irritating.
Without a word, Yuuji turns on his heel, heading towards the door. His teeth are locked together in place, a growl on his lips. But he doesn’t snarl.
He remembers well the last time that he snarled at Sukuna.
“Your omega is out by the western lake, someone saw him there. If you want him back, you should get him before he travels further.”
Sukuna perks up at that. The western lake was further than Sukuna thought he could get, and to travel so far without notice was almost unheard of.
Throwing the fur off himself, Sukuna finally stands in all his naked glory. He truly is a sight to behold; his omega is so lucky without even realizing it.
“Ready my horse, brat, I’ll go collect him.”
Yuuji nods, but actually manages to look a bit sheepish as he raises his hand to the back of his head. Sukuna almost doesn’t wait for him, dressing himself with haste.
“About that,” Yuuji starts, “it seems your omega has stolen your horse.”
Well, this day certainly couldn’t get any worse.
The crisp air signaling the start of winter is even more prominent by the lake Megumi finds. He’s used to the cold winters of the Zenin clan, where snow falls as though it hopes to suffocate them with the weight, but he still wraps the cover Sukuna gave him a little closer around him.
He’s found the star flower. He’s found several, actually, enough to last him a while, hopefully long enough for spring to come again and at that point, Megumi’s sure he’ll have plenty of other problems to deal with.
But he’s not ready to go back just yet. He steers Sukuna’s horse towards the lake, stopping along the edges of it.
The mountains in the distance make a wonderful sight. From all of the stories, Megumi almost expected the land outside of Sukuna’s home to be wrought with fire and brimstone, ravaged and plague-ridden.
But instead, it’s pleasant, nice even. If he felt more at home here, like he did at the Zenin’s at the time, he would have enjoyed the ride.
“Not such a bad day, is it?” he asks the horse, reaching into the satchel and pulling out an apple for the great beast.
Oh, he hopes Sukuna hates him when he realizes he’s gone. And he hopes it brings even more ire when he realizes that Megumi’s taken his horse as well.
Megumi dismounts slowly, feeling his feet underneath him on the rocky shore of the lake. The water laps at the stones with ease, a gentle back and forth that Megumi watches. The horse goes to graze, not at all opposed to finally having Megumi off his back after so long.
He’s waiting, as much as Megumi hates to admit it to himself. He’s waiting because it’s easier than to keep moving and running.
The few hours of freedom are more than he thought he would get.
It doesn’t take him long. Megumi manages to learn how to skip a stone over the water four times before he hears the stomp of hooves against the ground, and feels someone behind him who he’d much rather not see.
“You’ve caused me a lot of trouble, omega,” an annoyed voice calls out.
Megumi idly glances back over his shoulder at Sukuna, before he throws another stone over the water. He’s calf-deep in cold water, precariously balanced on stones that would easily have him falling if he moved the wrong way.
“Is that so?” he returns, not at all caring. “It took a few hours for you to notice I was gone, didn’t it?”
It’s the only way the day makes sense. It was more than likely Yuuji who told Sukuna that he was gone, and for his own safety at that.
He throws another stone over the lake.
“You’ve had your fun and proven your point,” Sukuna calls, dismounting. “Did you have fun with Invictus?”
Ah, so that was the horse's name. Though he clearly hears his name, Invictus has no intentions of turning, barely flicking his ears in acknowledgement.
“He makes for good company, unlike someone I know.”
The barb is enough to make Sukuna smile, though even Megumi can sense that his patience is wearing thin. Before he can move, the water ripples and sloshes as Sukuna walks up behind him.
“Come back or I will carry you back,” Sukuna warns, reaching down to place a broad hand on his back. “You seem insistent on testing me, omega.”
Megumi snorts gently, though he doesn’t shrug off the touch. His balance is precarious enough already, moving too much would ruin it, and Sukuna doesn’t seem like the kind of alpha to catch him if he started to fall.
He looks down. Sukuna’s footing isn’t much better on the stones.
“Sukuna,” Megumi starts, looking up at the alpha.
“Yes?” the alpha asks impatiently, leaning down a bit.
If this works he’s going to be in so much trouble but he doesn’t even care. Megumi reaches up, softly like an omega should, just to the front of Sukuna’s clothing. The movement does just what he wants, prompting Sukuna to lean down, as though Megumi’s going to kiss him.
Megumi wants to gag at the idea. Instead, he flattens his palm against Sukuna’s chest, and pushes with as much strength as he can muster.
Sukuna stays in his feet for a moment, maybe two, and then with a terrific splash he lands on his butt in the slightly chilly water. He sputters, not as soaked as he could have been if the water had been deeper, but is still going to be uncomfortable and upset for the ride back.
Megumi barely manages to laugh before Sukuna grabs his wrist, pulling him down into the water in his lap. It’s just enough to make him squeak in protest, a noise which he fully plans on denying later.
“You minx,” Sukuna complains, his chest against Megumi’s own.
Megumi’s hand rests over his heart, able to feel the steady thump thump thump of it against his skin.
“What did you expect?” Megumi asks, pulling back. If he’s smiling, then it simply doesn’t mean anything.
“Am I going to have to carry you back myself?”
Megumi scoffs, picking himself up and splashing Sukuna once more.
Sukuna takes Invictus, leaving Megumi with the other horse he’s brought. Just before he mounts, Sukuna grabs his arm, grip almost tight enough to be painful.
“Do not leave my kingdom without me again, omega,” he orders. “It’s dangerous out here.”
Megumi tears his arm away, the skin hot where Sukuna touched it. Without a word, he mounts his horse, and sets back off in the direction of Sukuna’s kingdom.
Sukuna leads him, as an alpha should. And Megumi watches him for most of the journey back, reminding himself that his alpha smells of sage and incense.
He does not smell of earth and soil.