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Oh, shit. thought Megumi.
He stared, almost wide-eyed, at the smiling face of Ryoumen Sukuna - who was all of a sudden standing just a few meters away from the two of them.
(That smile couldn’t possibly spell anything good for him or Kugisaki.)
Before he could even fully think of what he was doing, Megumi pulled the hand stopping Kugisaki from moving forward back to himself. Immediately after that, he summoned the black Divine Dog-
(his only remaining one)
-which instantly charged at the curse.
For a moment, as the realisation of what he has just done (a potentially very foolish action) occurred to him, he could only observe as Sukuna took his hands out of the pockets they were tucked into and-
-grabbed the Divine Dog out of the air completely casually.
(It felt like the action one would take with a misbehaving pet, not a shikigami on a murder path.)
For a second, the black-haired teen wondered if he was about to crush or cut up the poor dog in half that way.
Damnit, should I dismiss it-!? ran through his head whilst the curse just stood there.
Sukuna stared at the shikigami trying to somehow escape his slightly outstretched hold with an unreadable expression – curiosity, perhaps?
But then, with no further hesitation, he plopped it back onto the ground, relatively softly, and-
-crouched down to pet it.
The dog just let out a confused - but not pained - sound and simply sat there.
(It was clearly unsure of what it should be doing now that the target was giving out scritchies.)
Ok, what the hell. thought Megumi, and started to wonder if he has maybe started to hallucinate somewhere back there.
But then the curse began to talk and he realised that no, that fucking voice couldn’t possibly be a hallucination.
(What it was saying, though…)
“Hmm, my Vessel was not exaggerating, it seems – this coat is indeed worthy of being called ‘Divine’ in terms of its softness.”
The King of Curses continued to comb his clawed fingers through the fur of a very confused Divine Dog, weirdly gently, for a few moments more.
(Megumi, just as utterly befuddled, wondered how he was doing that without scratching the hell out of his shikigami’s pelt.)
Then, just as another hand was about to join the first one in the petting, Sukuna leaped a short distance away in one smooth movement - snatching the dog up too.
Not even a blink later, a Nail charged with cursed energy previously headed straight for his head impacted the earth instead.
Megumi glanced at Kugisaki, startled by her sudden action, and saw her posed to strike again if needed.
(Her face looked to be both determined and pinched in fear.
The fact that according to what she said earlier she was almost out of Nails did not escape Megumi’s notice.)
Half a second later, he looked back to where the curse landed from the short jump – he didn’t want to leave the very likely threat out of sight for more than a moment, after all.
The curse in question now stood straight again, holding the still incredibly confused Divine Dog under one of his arms.
The other was propped up on his hip in an almost disapproving manner.
Before Megumi could try to process the sight, Sukuna frowned slightly and spoke. “Like student like teacher, I suppose – did ‘the strongest’ teach you to deliberately interrupt someone in such a manner?”
Kugisaki didn’t say anything at that, still standing tensely next to her classmate. She was completely ready for the moment it all went south, it seemed.
Seeing as he wasn’t about to be answered, Sukuna huffed.
He then switched his hold on the dog to a more suitable one – two arms properly supporting the spine and everything.
(‘Is- Is he trying to hug it??’ went through Megumi’s mind for half a second.)
“Frankly speaking, I should be questioning both of you on that.” The curse gestured at the canine in his arms with a very slight movement of his head. “I was merely greeting you, little sorcerers, and yet got charged at by a shikigami.”
He shifted the way he held the Divine Dog again, making it possible to delicately claw at its fluffy head whilst still holding the summoned animal up.
(The dog’s tail started to slowly wag, and Megumi felt like he was in some sort of a fever dream.)
“Although I do appreciate the opportunity to experience this very pleasant texture in person, regardless of the way it happened,” the curse raised a single brow up. “-I am starting to believe I oughtn’t expect basic courtesy from anyone.”
“It’s not a lack of ‘courtesy’ if you skewer someone before they get to do it-“ suddenly spoke up Kugisaki, indignant. In the middle of the sentence though, she seemed to realise who and where she was talking to and tacked on a quick “-uh, your murderous majesty?”
For a moment, the ‘murderous majesty’ in question simply… paused.
And, just as Megumi started wondering if this is it, isn’t it-
-the King of Curses chuckled, amusement almost dripping from the sound.
“Ha, quite the interesting epithet indeed.”
Sukuna tilted his head a bit, a sliver of teeth showing in an open-mouthed smirk.
(He was holding a fluffy dog like an oversized plushie and yet that fact did not take away from the frightening effect of the gesture at all.)
“It’s not necessarily inaccurate either, is it?”
Before any of the teens could even try to answer the question, the curse straightened his neck back up and started speaking again. “Although I do find the gesture of respect - however unusual in execution - rather pleasing, you needn’t use such titles at the moment. This is not a true royal audience, after all – merely a casual talk.”
Kugisaki seemed to blink for a moment, absorbing the words as she leaned back from her tense position a bit.
Sukuna, meanwhile, hummed.
“But, returning to the rest of your statement;” he nodded his head slightly in the brown-haired teen's direction. “-usually, I may have even conceded. It is quite true that a dead or injured opponent is better for oneself if one doesn’t want to fight them at the moment.”
(The absence of an ‘or you could just walk away’ option was unsurprising.)
The curse shifted his hold on Megumi’s Divine Dog once more, enabling him to use the now more free hand to wave it around a bit-
“Yet, in this particular instance I am not, in fact, an opponent of yours. Thus, the argument is sadly void.”
-before it returned to petting the black-coated head instead.
The King of Curses pursed his lips thoughtfully for a moment, seemingly musing over the situation. “Although I do understand where the assumption may have come from, of course.”
Hearing all of that, Megumi straightened up a little bit from his incredibly-on-guard posture. He noted Kugisaki relaxing very minutely as well.
“…What exactly is it that you mean by ‘not an opponent'?” the black-haired teen asked, unsure of the intention behind the statement – regardless of its meaning at face value.
Maybe we’d be too easy to beat and that’s why…? he thought, recalling Sukuna’s almost disdainful reaction at Gojo-sensei trying to initiate a fight with him in a ‘weakened’ state.
The curse simply shrugged, once again reminding Megumi of just how unnervingly human he could act sometimes.
“Oh, simple. My Vessel was so worried about me possibly going on a, hm, rampage whilst in control, that he ensured I could not do so.”
He grinned a bit, the gesture just as unnerving as always. “Thus, I am ‘not an opponent’ by quite basic definition.”
...What?
“What?” his hammer-wielding classmate echoed Megumi's thought, and he glanced at her.
She frowned, still nervous but also clearly annoyed at the vague statement. “Yeah, forgive me for not believing it so easily, but how could he have possibly done that? I mean you’re-“
Kugisaki faltered for a moment when she met the curse’s slightly questioning eyes, but finished her thought. “-well, you. Itadori isn’t exactly…”
“-Powerful enough to force me to do anything, especially not by word alone?” interrupted Sukuna.
(It wasn’t fully what she was about to say, but it was close enough in meaning.)
“Why yes, that is what I told him as well.”
He scoffed, rolling his eyes a little.
“Which is precisely why I also informed him that he shan’t have me listening to him unless he makes use of something I would have to obey. In this case, a Binding Vow.” he said completely nonchalantly, as if it wasn’t something absolutely insane to hear.
At that moment, Megumi’s breath caught in his throat – not, this time, simply from Sukuna’s presence, but rather the sheer implications.
(He could tell Kugisaki barely held in a gasp herself, hearing that.)
A Binding Vow!? Damn it, Itadori, that’s NOT being CAREFUL, you absolute idiot-!
The black-haired teen shook his head a bit, and took a quick, steadying breath.
Then, he began speaking – the curse seemed oddly talkative, and he hoped to continue that.
“What did Itadori agree to? And for what?” he asked, doing his best to hide how stressed the situation was making him.
(He had a feeling he wasn’t exactly successful, but he was not about to completely lose his composure if he could help it.
And he didn’t want Sukuna to have that much to gloat over, at least not obviously.)
The curse paused, seemingly surprised.
Then, he smiled once again, for some reason incredibly amused. “Why, you seem to believe yourself entitled to the information.”
He dropped the smile, raising an eyebrow instead. “Interesting; one would think those Vows aren’t quite as private as their binding of one’s self so thoroughly would imply, then.”
Megumi swallowed thickly, wondering if he actually overstepped there. “I-“
He didn’t get to finish trying to defend himself, as Sukuna just started talking once more with a shake of his head. “No need to apologize or explain, I understand. It does involve your friend, doesn’t it? Of course you would be curious.”
(For some reason, Megumi suddenly felt like he got played.
Into what, though, he had no idea.)
“Usually, I may have found your presumptuousness annoying.” Sukuna said in an oddly mellow way, in spite of what he was saying.
“And yet, quite fortunately for you, I am currently in a good mood and willing to divulge.”
Then, the King of Curses himself put his chin directly on the Divine Dog’s head whilst switching his hold into an even more plushie-like one.
He was clearly enjoying the texture just as much as he claimed beforehand, as he let out an appreciative hum at the action.
(The whole gesture was such an annoyingly Itadori thing to do that it almost physically hurt to see it being done by the curse possessing him, instead.)
He’s messing with us, damn it! thought Megumi, trying not to visibly grimace - or dismiss the summon altogether from frustration.
(If he did, who knows; maybe Sukuna would decide that he’s being rude or something stupid like that, and stop being cooperative.)
Clearly completely uncaring of the turmoil he stirred, the curse lifted his head just a bit from the fur and began talking again. “The contents of the Binding Vow are as follows; Itadori Yuji-“
The real, full name of his classmate falling out of Sukuna’s mouth was incredibly disturbing to hear. The curse didn’t even pause to note Megumi's reaction, though.
“-shall temporarily give up control over the body we share to me, so that I may defeat the, hm, ‘Special Grade’ curse that used to exist in the building behind me.”
Megumi’s eyes narrowed minutely. That was the plan, but now he worried what the rest of the Vow was.
Fortunately (or unfortunately) for him, Sukuna wasn’t finished explaining.
“Until he regains control once again, I may neither injure nor kill anyone besides that specific curse,” His eyes seemed to grow more amused for a moment. “-not purposefully at least.”
…Wait, what? Sukuna allowed that as a condition??? thought Megumi, almost flabbergasted at the sheer notion.
That must be the reason why he’s not doing anything.
He grimaced slightly.
Damn it, Itadori! That’s clearly good foresight but-
The curse, obviously unaware of the other’s thoughts, tilted his head - cheek almost squished into the black fur of the Divine Dog as he smirked. “That is, of course, assuming I am not attacked first – as that would enable me to both injure and kill the perpetrator, were I to wish so.”
Megumi paused, his mind screeching to a halt.
I,-
He recalled the fact that both he and Kugisaki have already tried to attack the curse.
(He stared at the shikigami in Sukuna’s hold, and quickly looked over at the Nail still imbedded into the ground.
Kugisaki was clearly thinking the same thing, as their wide-eyed gazes fell upon it in tandem.)
With growing horror as his eyes slowly returned to looking at the curse, Megumi realised that if Sukuna had let either of the attacks connect (why didn’t he!?), Itadori’s Vow would have become-
completely
fucking
useless .
(The idea almost made Megumi’s heart ache. To waste such an utterly risky thing the- idiot has done for them-)
Out of sheer instinct - despite knowing that the Divine Dog was definitely not about to attack Sukuna randomly - the Ten Shadows user dismissed it with hands that wouldn’t stop shaking, damn it-
In complete contrast to the fear the previous information instilled in the two teenagers, the curse merely almost pouted at the sudden lack of the canine in his arms.
Still seemingly annoyed at the loss, Sukuna put both hands on his hips and let out a close-eyed, almost exasperated sigh turned slightly downwards.
Then, he opened his eyes and crossed his arms instead. “I suppose all good things must come to an end, but that was rather abrupt of you to do, brat number two.”
He hummed.
“Additionally, that was not your only question, was it? Are you still curious enough to pay attention?”
Megumi took a quick, steadying breath - trying to ignore the apprehension he felt at the possibilities of what he’s about to learn about - and answered.
“I am. What else was there? What did… Itadori give up for this?”
To his side, Kugisaki grimaced at the question. She was clearly unhappy with whatever answer there may be as well.
With his arms still crossed, one of them slowly drumming his fingers on the other, Sukuna raised an eyebrow.
“There was nothing more to it on the brat’s side. And it is quite humourous that you assume he had to give anything besides temporary control to me up.”
…What.
“I- Are you saying you didn’t want anything in exchange?” Megumi asked in disbelief.
The curse tilted his head to the side slightly. “Oh no, you misunderstand. I did get quite a lot in exchange, it was simply nothing I would need to include in the Vow.” He smiled just a bit. “Besides, none of it is a detriment to my Vessel, I assure you.”
The black-haired teen couldn’t help but have his thoughts race on what all of that could possibly mean.
Before his ideas could get too crazy, though, Sukuna interrupted them with a roll of his eyes.
“Before you drown in wrong conclusions, I simply mean that I got to have a bit of fun with that weak thing you had so much trouble with.” He huffed. “Even if it did end up being an abysmally lousy fighter. And, of course, that I didn’t end up losing a tenth of my power to your collective incompetence."
He raised an eyebrow. “I sincerely hope to see improvement on that matter in the future.”
Now, Megumi wanted to defend himself and Itadori, but ended up biting his tongue. After all if he had been stronger back there, this whole situation wouldn’t be happening.
Sukuna smirked, darkly amused. “Of course even assuming I did lose it, such a thing would be no true loss for myself. From the perspective of the world this much is enough to strike fear into the hearts of most beings, but in comparison to what would still exist? Laughable.”
He shrugged, dropping the smile. “And who is to say that the deprivation of power would be permanent? I am not merely some common curse, after all.”
(The teens weren’t sure what that meant, but most definitely hoped he was just being arrogant.)
Sukuna hummed. “Frankly speaking, the bigger loss would have been of my Vessel.”
Megumi almost choked (and heard Kugisaki let out a ‘HUH!?’ off to the side).
Sukuna waved a hand, scoffing. “Now, do not think I would weep over the brat’s death due to any sort of sympathy, no. What I mostly speak of is the fact that I would need to await another opportunity to Incarnate for an unknown amount of time – and that is a frustrating prospect.”
He uncrossed his arms, and gestured vaguely outward. “Besides, brat number one has been keeping me entertained alongside the two of you with all of his ‘shows’, ‘mangas’, ‘hangouts’ and the adequate-enough attempts at cooking.”
The curse crossed an arm over the other’s inner elbow and kept gesturing with the free one. “He has proven himself to be an existence I would rather not cease.”
Suddenly, Sukuna scowled. A sliver of his teeth barred whilst his free hand returned to its crossed position, and his eyes filled with an almost palpable glint of something.
(It looked like, perhaps ironically in a grim sense, possessiveness.
Megumi felt sick all of a sudden.)
“I care not for the sorcerers' ‘plans’ for the brat, he’s not allowed to die as long as he is my Vessel.”
Then his face returned to a more neutral, if thoughtful state - much calmer yet still terrifying. “Perhaps even beyond that, were he to cease being one someday.”
Neither teenager knew what to say to this.
(It was… Technically a good thing, sure. Apparently they won’t have to say goodbye to their friend after his ‘quest’ is over.
But at what cost?
The implication of Sukuna possibly somehow gaining a separate body in the future wasn’t helping their unnerved thoughts, either.)
Sukuna didn’t even allow them to muse on that revelation before he added another weird thing.
“As a courtesy I have decided that you two are not allowed to die either. I am certain that since he is the absolute child that he is, the brat would become sad and mope for eons over it.”
He scoffed. “I have seen enough ‘sad stuff’ alongside him to know, and I do not need such a thing in the way of my entertainment.”
Huh? thought Megumi, trying to unpack that.
The curse shrugged, nonchalant as always. “Additionally you’re not boring, yourselves.”
He waved a dismissive hand in the direction of the dumbfounded teens. “Of course that does not mean I shall help in any substantial way in exchange for nothing, do not even dare presume such.”
He clicked his tongue. “I suppose I can be merciful and put you back together from absolutely certain death, one or two times in the future - but that is all my potential annoyance at your passing shall give you.”
“Anything beyond that, we can discuss later.”
Megumi grimaced. I guess that’s also good for us, but that ‘discussion’ doesn’t sound like something I’d actually want to do…
Then, Sukuna sighed, closing his eyes for a moment. “Hopefully I have clarified whatever your concerns were about, for now. If you do not mind, I’d rather-“
He didn’t finish the sentence, as all of a sudden his eyes opened and he turned his gaze down to one of his legs – he looked almost dumbfounded.
Megumi looked to the same spot as well, and noted…
A sealing talisman?
It didn’t look like anything extremely powerful, but it was clearly neither the most common type.
(It appeared to be similar to the ones in the Talisman Room back at Jujutsu High, if perhaps a bit more sophisticated.)
But what-
Oh, oh shit-
There it was, a standard-type paper shikigami doll trying to scamper away into the trees surrounding the Detention Center courtyard.
(It seemed to be succeeding so far, mostly thanks to the curse’s surprise rather than any actual agility.)
A voice suddenly resounded from behind him and Kugisaki, panicked and belonging to a very familiar figure - running up to them
“Students! I’m not sure how long that’ll hold, run to the car!”
It was Ijichi-san.
And he just-
(He just essentially attacked Sukuna-)
Before Megumi could even finish the thought, Sukuna was no longer standing where he stood a second before – the teens quickly turned around to see what happened.
The King of Curses was right in front of the Assistant Director, stopping him in his tracks immediately – and making him take a few hurried steps back.
“Now what do we have here?”
(What little remained of the paper talisman laid forgotten behind everyone – half a blink later, it disintegrated into nothingness.)
Ijichi-san stood absolutely frozen as the curse seemed to loom over him despite being shorter in stature.
(Obviously, the physical appearance of such a being was only but a fraction of its presence.)
“Aren’t you the ‘Assistant’ that brought the brats to this location?”
Sukuna seemed to have a calm façade on his face, but Megumi could almost bet that he wasn’t actually feeling that way.
He leaned in just a bit further up to the other adult, tilting his head as well.
“What did you think that farce of a sealing was going to accomplish, sorcerer?”
Then he grinned, the expression giving off nothing pleasant.
(Megumi felt a shiver run down his spine despite his best attempts to stop it – all of a sudden, all the previous happy expressions seemed marginally less frightening in comparison.)
“And do be honest – I will know if you try to speak otherwise.”
Ijichi-san, despite being very clearly utterly terrified, tried not to look completely away from the horrifyingly red eyes, and started to hesitantly answer the question.
“I-,” he gulped. His gaze shot over at the two first-year students in an almost pleading way for the briefest of moments,
(almost as if saying ‘Why are you just standing there, go!’)
- before it returned to looking back at the curse.
“I- Wanted to give th- The students an opportunity to escape.” he finally let out, trying not to trip over his words.
(The two teens looked at each other at that, both appreciation for the attempt at care and a level of despair painted over their features - in more or less subtle ways.)
Sukuna hummed, straightening up. The grin was gone, apparently unneeded anymore. “I assume you were planning on them leaving you behind, then?” He raised a brow. “What gave you the impression that you would be capable of stalling me long enough for them to properly flee, were there a need of it?”
He huffed, crossing his arms. “Which there is none, in case you were wondering. Due to a Binding Vow temporarily in place, I cannot do anything to them.”
The assistant director seemed both incredibly surprised and relieved at that.
“O- Oh, well, then I suppose it’s irrelevant then? My- plan, that is?” He tried to smile, but it just came off as a scared grimace.
He didn’t get to feel relief for long though - Sukuna frowned, his voice suddenly gaining a particularly dangerous cadence as he let out the demand to “Answer the question, sorcerer.” at him.
Ijichi-san somehow turned even whiter and proceeded to do exactly that.
“I- I was hoping you would be s-satisfied with f-focusing on one,-” His voice lost itself for a moment. “-sufficiently annoying t-target.”
Sukuna’s eyes turned into thin rectangles of scepticism.
“And what made you believe that might be the case? As far as you’re concerned, I would have simply killed you in an instant, instead.”
He scoffed. “I just might still do so – do try not to annoy me needlessly now.”
(That was enough confirmation for both of the teens to realise that the Vow did, in fact, no longer apply to the adult sorcerer.
Megumi wasn’t one to usually hope for too much, but in that moment he hoped Ijichi-san would somehow survive this – if only for Itadori’s guilty conscience, at the very least.)
The assistant director seemed just a bit calmer all of a sudden, much to everyone’s surprise.
“You could have, a-and still could, but I know for a fact now that you e-enjoy torture, in some capacity. S-so you may have t-taken your time instead of- not.”
Sukuna didn’t necessarily freeze, hearing all that – but there was most definitely a sudden, miniscule tenseness to his form that was not there before.
(A crack in the paper-thin façade of ‘niceness’, perhaps?)
It didn’t last long though, and the curse simply replied to the ‘accusation’ in a mellow voice.
“Oh? Have you perhaps read some books documenting my ‘reign of terror'? Is there a passage upon my enjoyments in such a thing?”
(‘That was not denial', thought Megumi chillingly.)
Ijichi-san seemed another degree calmer, for some reason. “I- assume something like that exists somewhere, but I wouldn’t have a-access. Looking at the c-cursed energy Residue on y-ou told me enough.”
This time, Sukuna didn’t have any delay in his reply. “How intriguing. What could you have possibly discerned by using such a, hm, basic ability?”
The phrasing seemed almost accusatory, oddly enough.
(Was it, for once, something Sukuna actually didn’t see coming?
Such a possibility felt oddly pleasant to the black-haired teen listening in to the conversation.)
The assistant director grimaced a bit. “I am not an expert, but even my slightly above average s-skill with it couldn’t have possibly missed the-“ He swallowed harshly, as if remembering a very gruesome sight. “-layers upon layers of Residue I’ve caught a glimpse of still being there. And I c-could be mistaken, but it all looked to have come from one being.”
(As Megumi tried to look upon the King of Curses in the same way Ijichi-san supposedly did, he had to almost instantly avert his gaze.
Sukuna’s presence was scorching to stare at - if he didn’t already know what to look for, he would have not been able to notice the indeed very present layers upon layers of splatters present on the curse as well.
(If that was human blood, the carnage would have had to be unreal.)
He couldn’t tell whether it actually have come from one being, but was willing to believe Ijichi-san’s assesment.
As he blinked the sight out of his eyes, he realised that the aforementioned Assistant Director must have had a more than ‘slightly above average’ skill with it if he was able to look at Sukuna for long enough to even notice the change - not to mention analysing it so quickly and properly.)
The assistant director drummed his fingers in a nervous manner on the side of his leg. “T-the conclusion was obvious.”
Sukuna leaned back a bit, humming. “Hmm, I suppose you’re not entirely wrong. I took my time whilst dealing with that thing’s miserable existence, indeed.”
(‘He just admits it!?’)
The curse tilted his head, looking back at Ijichi-san with an unreadable expression. “Does everything you’ve concluded mean you were willing to experience the same thing, just to let the two brats live?”
The taller adult tried not to grimace, and a droplet of sweat fell down the side of his face. Then, finally, he answered. “Y-yes.”
For a moment, everything was silent.
Sukuna didn’t move or say anything, and no one else dared to do otherwise either.
Then, he raised one arm to very slowly palm his face.
“Haa, this is indeed a cruel world, is it not?” he said, hand still over closed eyes.
What? resounded in everyone’s mind at the random statement.
The curse’s arm moved slowly up onto his scalp, fingers now between strands of hair, and he sighed. “For someone so dedicated to be blessed with such utterly meager amounts of power.”
“D- dedicated-?” tried interjecting the assistant sorcerer but then-
-all of a sudden his shoulder was held in an almost crushing grip, sharp claws piercing through the soft flesh as if it were butter, and harshly forcing him to bend slightly down.
He was now face to face with a smiling King of Curses.
(The two observers made a few short steps closer before their rational minds caught up with them.
They couldn’t do anything anyway - not without turning the same violence onto themselves.
And if they were to die now, Ijichi-san’s needless sacrifice would mean even less.)
One side of the injured adult's suit started to ever-so-slowly colour itself red with small rivulets of blood running down it - the shade just as crimson as the eyes he was now forced to look directly into.
Then, Sukuna spoke - chilling joy flowing in the undercurrent of every word.
“What a shame, but good. You’ll serve your purpose well enough, anyway.”
The grip tightened, and the bleeding man could only try to subtly grit his teeth, and grunt in pain.
(It may have not been the absolute worst pain imaginable to him, but it was most certainly up there.
The potential for more of it certainly added to his terror, though.)
“See, contrary to what you were apparently led to believe I actually want those two to stay alive – alongside my Vessel, of course.”
He gently put his free hand over his heart, and his gaze seemed to turn sympathetic all of a sudden.
“So to hear you be so willing to endure such a thing for their wellbeing? It truly does warm my heart, and I expect you to continue being so determined on their behalf.”
Ijichi-san shuddered.
(The cognitive dissonance of what was being said and done, alongside the pain, lost blood, and fear was making him lightheaded.)
The curse sighed. “Quite disappointing of the universe to give you such a formidable spirit, yet indeed make you so weak that it is both restricted by your fear and couldn’t possibly truly manifest itself into the realm of battles.”
Then, he glanced at the shoulder he was actively mutilating, and blinked, as if surprised.
He removed the hand off it, pierced flesh sliding off of claws only to turn into gaping, profusely bleeding wounds for a moment-
-before the gory mess grotesquely knit itself back together into complete recovery when he gently placed a few fingers coated in some form of energy back onto it.
The process was almost instantaneous.
“H-huh?” let out the previously greatly injured adult, disbelieving of what just happened.
(The other observers of the action were just as dumbfounded.
Did-
Did a curse(?) just use Reverse Cursed Technique?
On another being (that wasn’t also its Vessel)?
On a human, meaning it had to be Positive Energy!?
Or was it something else altogether-!?)
Ijichi-san stared at the nonchalantly retreating hand of the curse as the energy dissipated off it, then almost gaped at the King of Curses’ blank yet almost somber face.
“My apologies, it was not in my intention to injure you so gravely.”
A sigh.
“Humans truly are fragile, aren’t they? I must have forgotten just how much.”
His mouth turned ever-so-slightly downwards as he frowned minutely.
“I suppose I ought to be more careful in the future.”
(Megumi wanted to call ‘bullshit’ at it not being his ‘intention’ or him 'forgetting' something like that, but refrained for now.
Ijichi-san was alive and he didn’t want to sabotage whatever… fucked up charade of mercy this was.)
Before the other adult could even begin to answer the most likely rhetorical question, the curse turned his once again neutral gaze onto the previously bleeding shoulder and spoke.
“How does the now non-existent wounding feel? It is highly unlikely that I could have possibly made a mistake whilst fixing the affliction, but I do still want to hear whether anything seems off-putting.”
He waved a hand. “Some beings can be rather peculiar on the matters of reacting to healed flesh and such.”
The assistant director finally looked at the previously mangled shoulder, and saw the completely unmarred skin peeking through the holes left behind in the suit.
He then started to move the arm attached to it. A second later, he glanced at the curse but saw nothing indicating annoyance (at most, curiosity???) – thus, continued rolling it a bit.
His eyes widened slightly, much to the teens’ standing nearby alarm – but then, he pushed down onto the shoulder with the other arm’s fingers and just kept looking surprised.
He jumped a bit when Sukuna spoke up out of nowhere.
“Is anything not correct?”
The voice didn’t seem impatient, but Ijichi-san clearly wasn’t about to forget the sudden change of the curse’s mood earlier and answered immediately.
“Ah- N-no. I, uh, actually feel… Better than before? Overall?”
Sukuna stared at him for a moment more, then hummed. “Good. Consider it a recompensation for my, hm, overly enthusiastic actions.”
The adult sorcerer blinked in confusion.
The curse huffed softly. “And a gesture of appreciation for your hypothetical ‘sacrifice’. I was being sincere about my happiness over your willingness for it.”
“W- well, I would certainly prefer not having to, but-“ tried interjecting the assistant director – then, he almost jumped out of his skin when the same, still-bloody hand that previously wounded it pat him gently on his healed shoulder.
“Why, of course you would prefer not to. You needn’t worry about such obvious things, I am an understanding being.”
Oh sure, so ‘understanding’ thought Megumi derisively.
The curse, obviously unaware of the teen’s thoughts, took his hand off the other’s shoulder and stared at the crimson still staining his claws for a bit.
Then, he hummed and held his chin in the other hand for a moment in a thoughtful gesture.
He lowered the hand off his chin, and his gaze turned back to Ijichi-san as he gestured to the bloodied one.
“May I? It will simply go to waste otherwise.”
The adult sorcerer blinked, confused. His face turned very pale when he finally understood what Sukuna meant, though.
“Are- Is what you’re asking about… E- eating m-my blood?”
(Megumi could tell that Kugisaki had a similar reaction to himself at the idea, seeing her disgusted grimace.)
The curse nodded, with a bit of a ‘stupid question but I’ll answer’ air. “Why yes, that is precisely it. And yet considering your reaction I suppose you aren’t exactly eager at the prospect, are you?”
Ijichi-san clearly tried not to grimace, lest he offend the King of Curses, but didn’t exactly succeed. “W- Well, yes, I would much rather y-you didn’t? Do that? I- If it’s an actual question and n-not- Uh, oh well maybe I should have agreed actually-“
The rant was cut off before he could continue down that path though.
“Do stop that. I prefer my questions answered honestly, and you already provided the truth first. I wouldn’t have asked if I didn’t want to hear your frank thoughts on it.”
The curse shrugged, lowering the bloody hand.
“Fair enough, I suppose. It wasn’t exactly offered as proper tribute, and you do not deserve having it simply taken, as of right now.”
He shook his head, clearly amused.
“Of course that’s not to say I don’t deserve to take it, there is little in this world with such a classification, I simply prefer to show cordiality where applicable.”
The assistant director seemed unsure of what to say to that, (and neither were the other two young sorcerers listening in), but after a few beats of confusion he simply let out a simple “...Thank you?”
Sukuna raised an eyebrow at that. “Whatever for? I act the way I wish to because I wish to do so, and may I remind you that you have been quite painfully injured by myself not so long ago?”
“W- well-“
The curse waved a dismissive hand before he could even try to finish the thought. “Of course some would consider that a great privilege - but do try not to thank me for things only done by my own desire, especially when something of detriment to yourself has occurred. I am beholden to none, it is quite presumptuous to assume anything was performed with you in mind.”
“…The healing?” tried Ijichi-san, bravely – if a bit oddly for how he has been acting so far.
“A cordial apology, as previously stated.” the other answered flatly, yet with an undercurrent of slowly growing irritation at the questioning.
It didn’t seem like the assistant director was about to ask any more either way, the odd flash of braveness (most probably induced by some latent side-effect of the bloodloss) gone as soon as it appeared
- but then Kugisaki decided to suddenly butt in out of nowhere.
“Ok, ok, we get it,-” she started, walking to just slightly before Ijichi-san – and turned to Sukuna. “- you’re way too above us all to care about thanks and stuff, is that it?”
What the actual hell are you doing, Kugisaki? Megumi asked himself in his mind, very reluctantly approaching the same spot.
(He did kind of understand her intention of taking the attention off of Ijichi-san, but the tactic could certainly use some polish!)
Even if we’re sort-of immune to his claws and everything right now, it doesn’t mean you should be just trying to annoy the freaking King of Curses all casually!
Much to the annoyed teen’s surprise though, the aforementioned curse simply cracked a small smile at the interruption.
“Not exactly, little sorcerer, but you’re not completely in the wrong either.”
Kugisaki narrowed her eyes minutely. “Then what do you mean?”
The Vow is really making her way too calm about all this. thought to himself the other teen, sighing a bit.
Sukuna, still amused, decided to answer the question though.
“I am not above thanksgivings - I simply want them given for an actual reason, rather than as a platitude or with no sense to it.”
That’s… Surprisingly reasonable?
The black-haired teen shook his head internally.
No, it’s obviously part of his plan to, I don’t know, make us think that he’s not up to something.
He narrowed his eyes minutely in thought.
Reasonable doesn’t mean good. And he could be lying, at that.
Kugisaki made a short hum. “Well, alright. Not gonna thank you for not wanting to kill us, then.”
Sukuna’s smile only widened, which made the brown-haired teen visibly a little disturbed – she didn’t back down, though.
“Precisely so, brat number three. I knew you were no halfwit.”
The ‘not-a-halfwit’ in question was clearly irked at the nickname, but was also indeed not foolish enough to discard the Vow with an annoyed punch at the curse.
He, meanwhile, was about to cross his arms – but stopped halfway through with a huff.
“I don’t suppose any of have something to wipe this,-“ he gestured to the blood on his claws. “-off with which you would be willing to part? I suspect brat number one would prefer neither his clothing nor hand to be so obviously soiled with the results of human violence.”
Since when does he care about that? thought Megumi to himself, unconvinced of that actually being something the King of Curses would find worth in noticing.
Just as Ijichi-san seemed to open his mouth to answer, a drop of water fell from the sky.
Then two.
Five.
A few dozen-
and, all of a sudden it was steadily raining.
Sukuna raised his hand a little bit. He observed the translucent droplets turn red on contact with it, and ever-so-slowly take the colour away with their further fall onto the ground.
“How… Convenient.”
The downpour seemed to increase just a little bit, and Megumi heard Kugisaki mutter a ‘damn it, I don’t have an umbrella with me.’
Of course, so little rain wasn’t actually anything too draining on any of the people standing there – all outer clothing made for the purposes of sorcery was at least somewhat waterproof for convenience, and this wasn’t enough to affect their hair too much too quickly.
And yet, Sukuna scoffed upwards - as if annoyed at the heavens themselves.
“Regardless of the temporary convenience, I will not be having a conversation whilst every person in it is slowly getting soaked through.”
Ijichi-san attempted to speak up at that again.
(‘Possibly to make sure the insistence on ‘just talking’ doesn’t abruptly end again’ thought Megumi, slightly grimacing.)
“Well, we could u-use the car? Or- Or stand under the roof of the- detention center’s entrance?”
Sukuna didn’t exactly seem annoyed at the suggestions, but was clearly uninterested.
“I shall neither deign to speak in such a cramped, not sufficiently dignified space for this, nor continue standing around for no reason.”
He shook his head, and waved a hand towards the Center before he slowly turned to one of the fences separating the courtyard from the trees surrounding it.
“I have procured an idea. You ought to await its completion under that roof unless you wish to stand in the rain and get pelted with water instead.”
Everyone was a bit shocked at the sudden declaration, watching the slowly retreating curse.
After a few moments of musing over it, the black-haired teen reluctantly followed after him - despite the ‘directions’ - to at least try to monitor whatever it was he was planning to do.
(The other two humans looked at each other for a moment, then at the other two figures walking away.
They silently agreed to indeed stay under the roof until the King of Curses' ‘idea’ was finished - trusting Fushiguro to be smart about it and call on them if needed.
Hopefully they would still be able to see some things from there, as a precaution.
If not, they’d simply need to stay vigilant for any signal.)
Sukuna didn’t fully stop to acknowledge Megumi’s presence, but he did turn back and to the side just a bit to give him a raised eyebrow.
“You need not fret, little sorcerer, I am still quite bound to not cause harm if you recall.”
The ‘little sorcerer’ frowned, steeling himself. “I know. I don’t trust you anyway.”
Despite saying it in a way that could be seen as rude, he was merely rewarded with a small grin – much to his disgruntlement.
“Good. You shouldn’t.”
As the curse looked away from him completely, the teen couldn’t help but think What? What kind of- Reverse psychology-? Maybe-? Again-!? Was that!?
He recalled the way Sukuna has supposedly ‘agreed’ with him on the topic of Itadori not having to feel guilty over the curse’s hypothetical actions, earlier today.
What the hell is his end goal here!? he screamed internally, frustrated.
(And, perhaps, just the smallest bit scared.
He wasn’t about to admit it properly even to himself, though – not when it wasn’t as utterly blatant at the moment as it sometimes felt.)
As he kept thinking, they both continued slowly approaching the metal fence.
At one point Sukuna began to nonchalantly drum his claws on the side of his leg, and Megumi squinted at him in a bit of confusion.
Then, just as they were about three fourths of the way there, a sudden but subtle spike of miasmatic cursed energy washed over the teen – causing him to let out a minute shiver.
That- Was that Sukuna?
He got his answer when less than half a second later a rather large rectangle of the fence just… Fell over with a metallic crash.
Something has very clearly cut it.
And he could bet that the something was the result of Sukuna’s actions.
“I can almost feel you drilling into my head with your gaze, brat number two.” suddenly spoke up the aforementioned curse, throwing the teen out of his thoughts.
As they crossed over the newly created threshold into the forested area, Megumi noted just how… Perfect the divide on the still-standing pieces of metal looked. Unnervingly so.
Sukuna didn’t deign to wave away his worries though, at most intensified them, as he finished his thought from a moment before.
“That was, indeed, me.”
The curse turned to him a bit, a sliver of teeth and amused eyes on display on the part of his face visible to the teen.
“I hope such a thing wasn’t deemed as impressive just yet, or else I would truly have to reconsider just how low the standards have fallen since, well, my fall.”
He let out a small chuckle at that.
Great. Now he’s even laughing at his own jokes. thought Megumi, pursing his lips in a frown.
(Ironically, the unexpected action actually made the teen ever-so-slightly calmer.
It reminded him, in a miniscule way, of his guardian and teacher.
The connection was of course so utterly ludicrous in his mind that he didn’t exactly consciously realise that fact, though.)
“…It wasn’t.” finally let out the teen, slightly anxiously.
He wanted to see if the other’s ‘reasonable’ façade would crumble under such a small criticism.
It… Didn’t.
The curse simply hummed, neither amused nor annoyed.
Megumi wasn’t sure what to think of that non-answer.
The two continued to walk around, seemingly aimlessly – they weren’t moving far, and yet with every step further deep into the trees the shikigami user felt just the slightest bit more nervous.
I wonder what, exactly, he’s looking for.
Then, finally, the curse stopped in place.
He looked up and raised a hand, palm upwards.
“Here seems to be sufficiently shielded.”
Shielded? Megumi thought, looking up as well. After a moment of pondering, he realised that in this particular spot the canopy was preventing the downpour of water from falling through.
Ah, that makes sense. He was complaining about the rain.
He glanced around, same as Sukuna – and yet most probably with a different intention.
…This doesn’t seem that much more ‘dignified’, though.
As he wondered on that, the curse suddenly turned to him directly.
“Now, I do not mind your presence here but I would suggest standing further away from myself for now.”
Megumi’s brows furrowed, determined not to simply listen to the other for no reason – not when, for once, he didn’t need to do so on fear of Death. “Why?”
Sukuna crossed his arms, yet didn’t seem particularly annoyed at the questioning. Moreso exasperated, if anything.
“I am about to perform some redecorating here - and, frankly speaking, would prefer you out of range of any potential accidental injury.”
He waved a hand, vaguely gesturing to his shoulder.
“I have given out enough apologies for a while, today.”
Megumi tried not to go back to that with his thoughts at the reminder. He was unnerved enough as is.
“It would be quite annoying if I had to put you back together from some number of pieces or other manglement,-“
The teen wasn’t a fan of that mental image, at all.
“-due to your own stubbornness, so how about you do simply listen to my request?”
Instead of ‘simply listening’ the young sorcerer risked another possibly rude question. “Can you not control your own power properly?”
(He wondered where Sukuna's patience may have an end.)
And yet, the other seemed to - once again - be completely unbothered.
“I believe I do, but are you willing to risk possible harm by my word alone? I was under the impression that you didn’t trust me.”
Megumi frowned at the blatant display of his own words getting thrown back at him.
This seems… Weird. Why does he care?
…I guess I shouldn’t risk it, though. Damn it.
“Fine.” he eventually let out, and moved a few trees away. It was still close enough to see everything, but also far enough that anything reaching him on accident was more unlikely.
“Hm, thank you.”
(The curse’s voice was just as disturbing from a distance, apparently.)
Sukuna walked up a few steps closer to a particularly hefty tree. For a short while he simply surveyed it from top to bottom, humming.
Then, he raised his arm with two extended fingers, swiped his wrist in a casual, sideways arc-
-and the trunk was instantly cleaved into large, horizontal pieces.
It may have not been the most terrifying outcome when done on something as inanimate as a plant, sure.
And yet, all of a sudden it was much easier to imagine what that would do to a person-
-or curse.
Megumi grimaced, thinking back to the layers upon layers of cursed energy residue that were still most probably coating the King of Curses.
(And, by extension, Itadori.
The fact that curse blood, and flesh, fades away by itself from the physical plane may have never been quite as appreciated as at that moment.)
Meanwhile, the indirect subject of his disgust simply walked up to the sliced-up tree and swiftly took two pieces out – one per clawed hand – as if it was the largest and weirdest game of Jenga ever created.
(The sight may have been ever-so-slightly comical if not for the situation – the pieces most definitely looked to be much heavier than one would expect the relatively normal-sized person to pick up so casually.
It made Megumi wonder how much of that strength is the result of Itadori being Sukuna’s Vessel, and how much is it his own.
Perhaps both?)
The remaining wood fell onto the rest with a rather loud boom.
The teen grit his teeth a bit, and tried calling out to the curse with a slightly raised voice.
“People are going to hear those sounds and try to see what happened if you keep doing loud things!”
The curse glanced at him on his way back under the canopy, crimson eyes unreadable. He proceeded to say nothing until after he dropped the thick slices of wood close to each other in what may have been the beginning of a… Circle?
“You need not worry about that. I’ve endeavoured to put up an additional, simple Curtain to extend what was already there.”
Megumi blinked. When did he do that?
Sukuna waved a dismissive hand as he turned back towards the remaining tree.
“Believe me, I do not wish to deal with the swarming masses of unaware and ignorant humans right now.”
“…Because you couldn’t kill them?”
The teen wondered about the answer.
(Would he admit it outright, say something even worse, maybe divulge something actually useful about his thought processes-)
The curse, though, just shrugged – weirdly amused.
“Perhaps so. Or, perhaps, it’d simply disturb my work here and prove to be quite annoying. Brat.” he said, accentuating the last word with a huff.
Like I’m going to believe that. thought Megumi, unconvinced.
Sukuna proceeded to slowly continue arranging the tree’s pieces in a circle, seemingly discarding the leafy part on top of the stump for now. There ended up being five slices used in total, much to the teen’s slight confusion.
The King of Curses noticed his curious gaze, and turned away from surveying the current state of his work to look at him.
“Who knows, perhaps we’ll have another guest joining us.” he answered the unaired question, smirking a bit.
“Besides, wouldn’t you say that this looks nicer than if there were four seats?”
Megumi didn’t answer – but he did note how, apparently, the slabs of wood were supposed to be seats.
Not the most comfortable option, is it.
He looked at the slightly shiny, wet surfaces upon them.
Aand they’re full of sap. There’s absolutely no way Kugisaki is going to be up for sitting on that.
Instead of voicing his ponderings, he continued to silently observe the curse’s actions.
The curse in question walked back up to the sad remains of the once large tree, and leaned in a little bit, coating his hand in-
Positive Energy?
(It didn’t seem to be… Exactly that, from what little Megumi knew on the topic – but what else could it be?)
The moment his clawed fingers splayed themselves slightly over the top of the leafy crown, the… Divide between what used to be the very top of the tree and the stump seemed to-
-meld?
Megumi couldn’t even try to hide his shock, staring wide-eyed at what shouldn’t be possible - not without a specific, special Technique in place from someone.
(Right!?)
Sukuna didn’t seem to care even remotely about healing a tree, with a separated piece of dead wood from a completely different height, though – he simply returned to the circle of ‘seats’ completely casually.
He then proceeded to walk around it, cutting off any stray branches from every side only to… collect and put them in the middle of the whole arrangement in a neat pile.
The shikigami user shook himself out from his shock. He suddenly realised just what the plan seemed to be.
He’s making some sort of campfire? First of all, that’s just weird- also where from is he planning on getting the fire for it?
He thought about it for a moment. Maybe Itadori took some matches with him for some reason? I’m not sure why exactly he’d do that but-
He didn’t get to finish his thought – out of nowhere another, even more intense than every other one, wave of Cursed Energy washed over Megumi.
It was definitely Sukuna’s doing once again, as it was accompanied by an oddly ominous single word uttered by the King of Curses;
“-Open.”
(Was it really only one word? Something seemed wrong about that statement-
And yet for some unknown reason Megumi's brain didn’t want to-
think about it.)
The small, shielded pocket under the leafy crown of the forest was suddenly illuminated by the flames coating Sukuna’s hand, flowing between his fingers.
The fire wasn’t big, per se, and yet felt incredibly intense even in this state.
As Megumi stared, wide-eyed, at what looked to be a second Technique of Sukuna’s, the other simply walked up to every ‘seat’ and lightly tapped each of them on top with two lit, clawed digits.
A very thin layer of fire seemed to cascade out almost like water from the point of contact, leaving behind completely dry wood.
The process only stopped once the waves of flame touched the ground – it didn’t scorch anything even a little beyond that.
As the young sorcerer squinted his eyes to see the ‘seats’ better, he also noted how the process made them slightly shiny still, but in a moreso polished way rather than wet.
(Most probably as a result of some weird interaction between the heat and fresh sap, if he had to guess.)
Sukuna didn’t even really stop to check if whatever that was exactly worked out – he simply walked up to the pile in the middle and leaned down for a moment, taking out one of the larger branches out of it.
He held it out in a vertical position in front of himself, and proceeded to draw small circles with the flame around the top of the branch.
The circles slowly turned into a thin spiral as they elongated downwards – then, just as the beginning point was about to touch his other hand, he seemed to pull the glowing cord upwards so that it tightened around the wood instead, lighting it up in that pattern.
With a sharp flick, the glowing spiral disconnected from his fingers and remained on the branch exactly where it touched the wood – it didn’t spread at all.
(Every single step felt almost steeped in it being Unnatural – even beyond the usage of Cursed Energy, somehow.)
Finally, Sukuna put the branch back into the center of the pile and stepped back a little.
Half a second later, the entire chaotic structure was engulfed in flames – odd ones, at that. Although the fire’s height became more akin to a normal campfire after a moment, its movement still felt off somehow – as if it wasn’t truly, fully, simple fire.
The King of Curses looked at it for a moment, then turned around to walk towards where the now weird, short tree stood.
“That would be it, for such a quick project.”
I wonder what he would consider a ‘slow’ project. Good to know that he’s apparently done for now, though. thought to himself Megumi.
(He also wondered if they were about to go fetch Kugisaki and Ijichi-san, and started thinking about how to explain the whole ‘freaking campfire’ thing to them.)
As Sukuna unhurriedly neared the new hole in-between the other trees’ canopies created by cutting the previously chosen tree down in size, he put both of his hands together – the still undistinguished flame getting sandwiched between them.
“And this ought to be a sufficient signal for the other two to arrive.”
For a moment, Megumi wasn’t sure what that meant.
Then, the curse slowly separated his hands - the flame in the shape of a tight spiral has seemingly grown, and kept growing a bit more with the further distance between his palms.
Wait, what the hell is that-?
(The teen thought of trying to stop whatever the King of Curses was doing, but remembered how he can’t hurt anyone (besides Ijichi-san), and decided to stay put for now – however reluctantly.)
As Sukuna finally stopped right before the newly healed tree, he smoothly moved his hands from a position moreso in front of him, to his side – first extending both forward, then bending the other to the back whilst elongating the fire alongside it.
The whole sequence looked like-
a bow draw?
The furthermost end of the flame turned sharp, just as sharp as the two slightly parted claws it was now between of – as that happened, the curse finished effortlessly changing his stance to point the newly-formed arrow at the sky through the opening in the leaves.
Then, he briefly addressed the young sorcerer stood a short distance away behind him.
“You might want to shield your ears, kid.”
Without much thought (glossing over the ‘kid’), Megumi did so-
-and Sukuna let the scorching arrow fly.
Barely a second later - much earlier than one would expect from the sheer speed of it - it exploded.
For a brief moment, all was silent-
-then, an overwhelming cacophony of NOISE and LIGHT erupted from above.
The rain almost seemed to stop for a moment - the searing, scathing heat coming off of the flaming ribbons in the sky instantly vaporizing all falling drops of water.
And yet, neither the trees nor the teenager below them felt anything more than a comfortable rise of temperature – they both did feel the wind created by the explosion though, as it blew the leaves, the teen’s hair, his clothes, and everything else untethered to the ground back for a few seconds.
As Megumi finally opened his eyes to properly see just what happened, he noticed Sukuna just.. calmly standing in the same spot he was at beforehand.
The curse's head was ever-so-slightly turned upwards, hands in his pockets. His pink hair and relatively baggy clothing swayed with the ongoing aftermath of the explosion, but he didn’t seem in the least bothered by any element of it.
Megumi looked further up and-
The incredible sight of fire almost dancing in the sky, with the sheer power that would have absolutely been lethal if not for Sukuna’s clear intention of non-harm, made the teen feel an unclear to him emotion.
That’s… Oddly beautiful…
It was awe.
(A moth to a flame,
a mortal to a God.)
Then, with just as much momentum as when it all first exploded – the flames seemed to collapse in on themselves and-
disappeared.
The wind ceased, the illumination ended, and the young sorcerer blinked.
He then proceeded to attempt processing just what he has bore witness to a moment earlier, exactly.
If he'd used that thing at any point today, no, even that first day-
He swallowed thickly, stressed beyond belief for a moment.
…Gojo-sensei would have probably been the only person who could survive it.
And, just as another realisation of ‘That’s- one tenth of the King of Curses' power? Maybe even less-?’ started to occur to Megumi, the aforementioned monarch turned to him with a calm, pleased smile.
“Quite the calling flare, wouldn’t you say?”
He closed his eyes and tilted his head back slightly, apparently basking in the aftermath of the fiery Technique.
“I suspect we won’t have to wait much longer before they arrive.”
After a moment like that, he cracked two (one main, one secondary) eyes open to glance at Megumi - then opened them all and turned to look off to the side. “Hm, here they are indeed.”
Before the teen could even think of answering, he suddenly heard very fast footsteps approach them from in between the trees.
“FUSHIGURO YOU DUMBASS IF YOU’RE DEAD I’LL KILL YOU MYSELF-!” screamed Kugisaki as she ran through a piece of foliage into the small, covered clearing - only to barely manage to screech to a halt at the sight of him completely unharmed. “-ah.”
She swiftly put both the… knife-turned-handle(? ‘Is that what she mentioned earlier today?’) and hammer back into their respective holders on her person, and then one of her hands on her hip.
She waved at Megumi with the other. “I was honestly worried whether you may have decided to stupidly sicc your dog at the King of Curses again but I’m glad to, for once, be wrong.”
The aforementioned curse decided to walk a little closer to the two and butted in. “I wouldn’t have minded getting to experience that pleasant texture again, truthfully speaking.”
Megumi frowned slightly, determined not to let the curse think he can just ask for that. “My shikigami are not a petting zoo.”
Sukuna just shrugged, unbothered at the rebuttal. “Indeed, you’ve said so to my Vessel before. I have simply voiced my thoughts, you needn’t acquiesce to a demand that wasn’t there.”
Before the black-haired teen could reply, everyone’s attention got turned to Ijichi-san - who has just crossed the same foliage Kugisaki did a moment before.
For a moment, he simply tried to catch his slightly hurried breath. Then, as he opened his eyes and noticed four pairs of other ones staring back, he minutely flinched.
Sukuna clearly took note of that, as he crossed his arms and let out a breath of slight exasperation.
“I may have not clarified that fact beforehand, but I have neither any desire to kill, nor injure you any further at the moment, sorcerer.”
He uncrossed his arms, and gestured to a little further into the trees.
“In fact, I have even generously provided you with a seat – just as I have done for the brats and, of course, myself.”
The two humans who were not present for the creation of the seating area turned to look at Megumi, who ever-so-slightly nodded.
“He did. And-“
“Oh hey, is that a freaking fire in the middle? I’m guessing it’s related to the giant explosion earlier.” interrupted him Kugisaki, walking up to it.
Sukuna seemed amused with her enthusiasm as he neared the improvised chairs as well. “That it is in both regards, brat number three. I hope this temperature is preferable to the rain-induced cold air?”
(Megumi absentmindedly noted how the ground was also completely dry in a certain radius around the flames – less as if it simply dried out, and more like…
-all of a sudden it has never even gotten damp in the first place.)
The brown-haired sorcerer quickly glanced at the curse’s face for some reason, then spoke up again.
“Definitely, yes. I didn’t even really notice just how unpleasant that was to be honest.”
She turned to him properly. “You may have said not to thank you, but this is nice. Suspicious, but nice. So, thanks.”
The four, red eyes seemed unreadable for a moment as Sukuna looked back at her.
Then, he sighed. “I suppose you have at least acknowledged my voiced preference, so I shall note your appreciation of my efforts regardless of your subsequent disregard of it.”
He turned to walk up to a seat, and sat down on it with an almost annoying amount of grace.
(Almost as if it was not a cut slice of wood but rather a throne befitting a king.)
He crossed one leg over the other in a relaxed position that still somehow managed to feel oddly arrogant, and gestured to the other seatings.
“Do take a seat, I have not created the other ones for simple decoration.”
After a moment, Megumi moved to sit on one of the wooden ‘chairs’ closest to the curse.
(He didn’t necessarily want to take that place but he also didn’t want the other two to have to do so either.)
Sukuna seemed ever-so-slightly surprised at that, but gave no comment on it.
Kugisaki proceeded to then take a seat next to her classmate, and Ijichi-san continued the pattern - nervously setting himself down to her side as well.
This way one spot next to the curse was left empty, but he didn’t even glance at it in acknowledgement.
For a few longer moments, no one said anything.
Sukuna seemed content with simply sitting there as he vaguely observed the rest of them and enjoyed the warmth of the fire.
(Megumi wouldn’t admit it out loud, but it really was much nicer than being out in the rain.)
A short while later, Kugisaki stuck her hands out a little bit before her – closer to the campfire.
(The young sorcerer internally noted how freaking ‘toasty’ it felt – almost as if the flames were trying to comfort them even beyond the obvious properties of fire.
Whatever that meant was once again a mystery, though.)
“Now that I think about it…” she turned her eyes to the King of Curses, who looked at her back in interest.
(The brown-haired sorcerer's eyes glinted with the subtlest of touches of something akin to madness.)
“If this is your work, then wouldn’t me sticking my hand in there break your Vow?”
Megumi almost choked on air, turning his widened eyes to her.
(Ijichi-san may have actually choked a bit, meanwhile.)
The curse seemed unbothered by the insane question, though.
“Sadly for you, no. That would be quite explicitly not on purpose on my part, and as such I would not suffer any backlash over it.”
He held his chin and tilted his head in a thoughtful pose for a moment.
(It seemed to simply be a motion – whatever idea he must have come up with, it didn’t actually take so much thought.)
“If you wish to try your hand at causing me pain in an unusual way, how about this?”
He pulled something out of his pocket, and threw it – relatively gently – in Kugisaki’s direction.
“Catch.”
Startled at the sudden action, the brown-haired teen tried her best to actually catch whatever it was with a quick outward movement of her hands.
After a moment of fumbling with the object, she finally clasped it properly and sighed a quick breath of relief.
The relief soon turned into almost comical disgust when she looked at the thing properly – it was one of Sukuna’s Fingers, a Special Grade Cursed Object.
What the hell!? Where does he have THAT from-!? thought Megumi, panicked.
He almost stood up from his seat, but then noticed how Kugisaki seemed fine despite holding it, and decided to just observe. For now.
“Ugh, ewww-,” the brown-haired sorcerer was about to go on a rant over just how ugly and bleh the object was, when she suddenly remembered that she was sitting very close to its very literal owner.
“Uhh, I mean, cool manicure… job?” she finished lamely. She clearly tried her best to find anything worth complimenting about the object, but it wasn’t exactly the best or sincere one.
Meanwhile, Sukuna just seemed to grow more and more amused with her reaction by the second. He crossed his arms, huffing lightheartedly(???).
“Child, I am well aware of how disgusting that is to most beings. It’s a mummified, millennia-old severed finger. You needn’t lie on my behalf, especially since it most definitely doesn’t look even close to how it did whilst I was alive back then.”
He held his current hand out, displaying the incredibly sharp claws as if they were merely painted nails.
“I believe that the ‘manicure’ presents itself much better this way, wouldn’t you say?”
Kugisaki looked up from the horrible sight of the cursed object, and stared at the claws thoughtfully.
“Oh yeah, definitely. Honestly, it’s too bad you’re so freaking evil and apparently like maiming undeserving people with them, because they look way too cool for that.”
She leaned back, clearly in ‘assessment’ mode. “I don’t exactly wanna compliment you, but some people would - metaphorically - kill for that look you know.”
A huff.
“Lucky.”
Holy shit, Kugisaki. Megumi stared at his classmate with barely-contained shock, and so did Ijichi-san.
(The latter may have looked a bit closer to fainting, though.)
Despite the incredibly blunt not-exactly-fully-compliment, Sukuna seemed freaking delighted.
His eyes were almost gleaming as he put a hand over his chest, leaned down a little bit as if in a shallow bow, and smiled.
“Why, thank you. Too bad indeed, and yet I can tell that this time was sincere.”
He straightened up, still smiling. “How unexpectedly magnanimous towards my evil self, little sorcerer.”
The ‘little sorcerer’ straightened up slightly herself, and looked at him with even more confidence – possibly more that appropriate for the situation.
“Don’t get used to it, your murderous majesty. You are still way too evil for me to completely dismiss that fact.”
Sukuna got even happier, somehow.
“Then I shall keep that in mind and cherish the compliment for what it was, brat number three.” he said, something almost akin to a freaking purr flowing under the words.
Megumi wondered for a moment if his ears were working properly. He could see Ijichi-san almost reach towards his own in confusion as well.
Then, completely uncaring of the consternation he incurred upon them, Sukuna leaned back - returning to a completely casual, if still slightly amused, stance.
“If you may return your attention to the mummified finger – I didn’t give it to you for no reason.”
He pointed at it, still in her grasp.
“I do find myself quite curious over what would happen, were it to be struck with your intriguing Technique.”
W-hat??? Screamed Megumi’s brain.
(The assistant director pulled out a little bottle of water from one of his pockets, and tried to calm down by drinking a few gulps of it.)
Kugisaki just stared, dumbfounded.
“You… Want me to use Resonance on it?”
The curse nodded. “Indeed, that is what I meant.”
For a moment, the Straw Doll user just stared at the King of Curses in disbelief – then, she shook her head and made an awkward ‘X’ with her hands since one still held onto the Finger.
“No, sorry, but absolutely not.”
Sukuna blinked, perhaps a little taken aback.
“Why not? From my understanding, nothing harmful ought to happen to you even if it were to simply not work.” He tilted his head a little. “Was I perhaps mistaken in that assumption?”
Kugisaki grimaced a bit. “No, technically that’s right. But I’m not gonna throw away Itadori’s Vow just like that!”
She frowned, leaning back in a half-unsure and half-sure way. “Even if you wouldn’t want to kill me, my apologies for not wanting my organs rearranged with your - admittedly cool - claws for fun. If you can heal, nothing would really stop you from temporarily mangling one of us without dying.”
The young sorcerer took a subtle breath in.
“So, sorry, but I’m not gonna do that. You are still evil and untrustworthy… You know.” The last two words were spoken with a slowly trickling in but rather clear cadence of hesitation.
Sukuna, though, didn’t seem offended - merely thoughtful.
“Hmm, I do concede that your lack of trust is understandable and expected. It is a good thing, all things considered.”
He shrugged slightly. “Although, truthfully, in my perception fulfilling my own request would not have counted as an attack - but your logic is sound.”
He waved a dismissive hand vaguely in the direction of his Finger.
“You may keep that part of myself I’ve retrieved from the thieving ‘Special Grade’ for now, and give it to brat number one once he resurfaces. If I were to fully reclaim it at the moment, he would take even longer to return anyway – and I would prefer to be unbound from the ongoing Vow sooner rather than later.”
Kugisaki grimaced at the mental image of Itadori eating another mummified artefact of the Heian era, but proceeded to put the Cursed Object into one of her pouches anyway.
(She clearly didn’t want to have to actually hold it any longer.)
So the Finger was somehow ‘stolen’ by that curse? Maybe at some point of this form’s creation it thought that it would work like eating a piece from a stronger cursed spirit, and that made it turn into a Cursed Womb? It has become a Special Grade, after all.
Megumi’s lips turned into a thin line, remembering the sheer presence the blue-skinned curse seemed to have back in the Center.
And that was the result of improperly utilising a fragment of Sukuna’s power.
(His mind couldn’t help but return to the ease with which the world parted into pieces before him.
Such a thing could be replicated by many, certainly, even the teen himself could cut down a tree if he were to want to.
Yet here it felt so essential – there was nothing in-between the cause and effect, other than the curse(?)’s will.
He also thought back to the bright mass of fire dancing across the skies, so etheral and terrifying, yet somehow incomplete.
It truly felt like something created by a being rightfully called ‘Calamity’ – even a splintered one remains so regardless, after all.)
He closed his eyes, and tried to let out a subtle sigh.
I know we may have died otherwise that day, but you really fucked up by bringing this back to life, Itadori.
He would have glared at Sukuna at that point, but decided not to risk it for now.
(Who knows, otherwise Ijichi-san just may have ended up paying for his lack of control.)
The teen was brought out of his musings by the main subject of it speaking up after turning to Ijichi-san.
(Much to his instantly higher stress levels.)
“Something has just occurred to me. If you were planning on, hm, getting left behind as an attempt of stalling myself from pursuit…”
He crossed his arms and looked oddly thoughtful.
“How were the little sorcerers meant to have use of the car? From what I've ascertained, it is not a vehicle that could drive by itself.”
He squinted his eyes ever-so-slightly at the two teens in question.
“And I may of course be mistaken, but I’m fairly certain that neither of them has a ‘driver’s license’.”
Ijichi-san seemed unsure whether or not he should answer, but did glance at Megumi for half a second.
The teen in question looked away from him, ever-so-slightly embarrassed.
Before the assistant director or either of the teens could even try to answer though, another voice decided to butt it.
“You’re right, neither of them have a license – but dear Megumi has been taught quite a bit by yours truly!”
All three humans turned to the source of it,
“He has yet to conquer the art of not constantly hitting the curbs, but I’m sure by the time he’ll be able to legally drive around he’ll be a master of it!”
and were shocked to see-
“Gojo-sensei/Gojo-san!?”
The white-haired sorcerer grinned, clearly amused at their surprise.
“Yo! I’m here to save your butts~”
(As the two teens and no longer lone human adult stared at their self-described saviour,
the ancient curse sat silently next to the lone free seat with an unreadable expression.
‘Another guest’ has, indeed, arrived.
Time would tell what that fact was going to mean for them all.)
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