Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

“Yūji-kun~!”

Yūji flinched at the sing-song tone of his captor, moving away as the man knelt and reached out to rest his hand on his head. It was a gentle touch. It should’ve been comforting. But, he knew better. Knew he was incapable of being kind. It had been four years since he’d been taken from his grandfather’s home. Four years of being exploited. Not in any normal way, thankfully, but he almost wished that had been the reason. He could understand that; could process it. Fight it. The things his captor did went deeper than that in a way Yūji couldn’t even begin to fathom. No matter how many times he tried to figure it out, he never could.

“What a rude thing you are. To think I went through so much trouble to bring you a gift.”

The idea of a gift from him filled Yūji with dread. He knew with certainty that nothing good could come of it. Everything he did was for the purpose of exploiting whatever it was he got out of keeping Yūji locked away, so whatever he got that he considered a gift for Yūji undoubtedly served that purpose. Even still, Yūji could only watch as his captor pulled a small box from beneath his shawl and set it on the ground, sliding the lid off. It looked like the kind of box a necklace would come in, but it wasn’t a necklace that he pulled out of it.

It was a finger. An old mummified finger.

“This is a very special cursed object. What I want you to do, my dear Yūji-kun, is use this to increase the energy you have on reserve.”

Yūji didn’t want to. He knew refusing and resisting meant he’d just be forced into doing what he wanted regardless, but his instinct was to have nothing to do with the finger his captor was holding. Unfortunately, the fact that he hadn’t immediately cooperated was enough to tip the man off to his refusal and he frowned. Yūji gasped as his face was taken roughly into his hand, struggling against him uselessly as he pressed down on his jaw in a way that forced it open.

“Honestly, Yūji-kun, you should know by now that I hate when you rebel against me,” he said. “If you won’t do it yourself, I’ll make you.”

Despite his best efforts to pull away, the hold on his jaw was too tight. The finger was disgusting, tasting of wax and soap. Yūji’s only consolation was that it went down easily, though he got the feeling that it did so intentionally. He coughed and gagged in hopes it would come back up, but it didn’t. In fact, it almost felt as if it disappeared entirely before the feeling of it in his throat could fade. His captor moved away from him as if anticipating something, but Yūji didn’t even get the chance to try to find out what it was that had him tense. Something bubbled up inside him that left him feeling nauseous and caused his vision to blur. He wasn’t sick; he didn’t feel like puking. It was something new and powerful his body was trying to adapt to.

Yūji lost consciousness from the stress of it all.

<><><o><><>

He didn’t know how long he’d been out; could’ve been a minute, could’ve been several days. But, when he opened his eyes, he was lying on his back in what he thought might be water. Groaning, Yūji sat up to look around as his vision stabilized. The first thing he noticed that what he was in wasn’t water but a red liquid that wasn’t quite as viscous as blood. Then he realized he wasn’t in his room. Instead of being surrounded by concrete in every direction, he was sitting inside what looked like a ribcage that spanned further than he could actually see. He was convinced he had to be dreaming. The finger he’d been forced to swallow had undoubtedly poisoned him, causing him to have a wild dream.

The blood-water rippled and Yūji heard soft splashing as if someone was approaching him. He tensed as the pressure from before weighed down on him, but he still managed to get himself to turn. Instead of his captor, however, he was met with the sight of someone else. Someone new. Yūji would describe the stranger as an older version of himself as they looked nearly identical. The other him lacked the youthful roundness of Yūji’s face, the front of his hair was pushed up, and he had black tattoos on his face. His eyes, all four of them, were red as opposed to Yūji’s brown and he wore a white kimono.

Somehow, it wasn’t the fact that he was looking at his doppelganger that had him questioning things. It was that he wasn’t freaked out by the other at all. Whoever and whatever he was, he was strong; Yūji could tell that much. But, he felt no fear. Not as the man approached him. Not when he knelt in front of him. Even when he reached out, instead of flinching away from him like he always did with his captor, Yūji let him comb his fingers through his hair. He felt safe with his lookalike despite knowing he shouldn’t feel that way.

The other’s hand moved from his hair, sliding down to pull the shawl aside to reveal his shoulder. The stranger stared at the long-healed bite wound that his captor had given him. It rested just before the juncture of his neck and shoulder and while it had healed, it hadn’t done so properly. The scar was gnarly to look at. His lookalike scoffed at the sight.

“What a mess he made of you,” the man said, the disgust in his voice making Yūji cover the wound as if it was somehow his fault it was that way. “Not only did he miss the vital point, he didn’t even complete the bond. Clearly, he’s far too young to know what he’s doing.”

Yūji didn’t know what that meant and looked at the other questioningly.

“What is your name, boy?”

“I....My name is Itadori Yūji.”

“Yūji....An ironically lovely name for my vessel,” he said. “You will call me Sukuna.”

Sukuna. He felt like he’d heard that name before. A story maybe?

“Tell me, Yūji, would you like to be free of that whelp?”

Free? It sounded nice, but in a way that sounded too good to be true. What would Sukuna want in return for helping him?

“There’s no need to look so nervous. I have no intention of hurting you,” Sukuna said, lifting Yūji’s chin so he was looking at him. “How about we make a binding vow, hm? Something that benefits both of us.”

“...Binding vow?”

“Think of it as an unbreakable contract between two people. Or, rather, a contract where the one who breaks the terms suffers severe consequences.”

That seemed incredibly simple for something that sounded mystical. It sounded fake, to be perfectly honest, but the idea of magic actually explained a lot of what he’d gone through since he was locked away.

“How do we do that?”

“First, the terms of the contract must be made. Once we can both agree to the terms, we shake on it and vow to one another to uphold our deal. To make it easier for you, allow me to tell you the terms of the contract I have in mind,” Sukuna said. “First, I offer you my full protection from all threats and dangers that could be considered unnatural or man-made in exchange for your cooperation with the terms of the contract. The first term is that you will agree to forge a bond with me.”

Protection from anything unnatural or man-made. Yūji could only assume that meant he’d be safe from pretty much everything that wasn’t some stubborn or terminal illness and old age; there weren’t many ways a person could die that were “natural”. As for the bond, he had no idea what that meant, so Sukuna briefly explained it while tracing the wound on his shoulder.

“It is a connection formed between cursed spirits. It allows the two to mutually empower one another. What your captor did to you when he bit you was an attempt to forge this bond, but he missed the vital point and failed. Even if he had succeeded, the effects would’ve been weaker than what he was likely hoping for since the bond wasn’t mutually performed. As I said before, he appears to be young and doesn’t fully grasp the concept; no cursed spirit with a shred of understanding would do what he did.”

“So....We...bite each other and get stronger...?”

“That is the simplest way to put it, yes. Moving on to my second term,” Sukuna said as he removed his hand, “there are nineteen more fingers that must be found and returned to me. You will be expected to find as many as them as you can in order to assist me in restoring my original power.”

Yūji scrunched his face. Nineteen other fingers? And, Sukuna expected him to just eat them? One was already gross enough. And, what was that about his original power? He was already intimidating enough with just one fraction of it; Yūji really didn’t want to imagine what he’d be like when he was restored.

“This power of yours....What will you do with it?”

“Other than protecting you as I promised I would? I can’t say for sure. I am a cursed spirit; it’s inevitable that I will hurt others. But, I would be incapable of ever hurting you.”

“No.”

“Oh?”

“You won’t...hurt anyone. At least, no one that you shouldn’t.”

Sukuna stared at him, seeming to consider his statement. At first, Yūji thought he was going to refuse the change; he looked annoyed with it for a minute. But, he seemed to ultimately decide his goals were worth the setback.

“Very well. Then along with my previously stated conditions, I’ll add a third: For as long as you live, barring any non-sorcerers that might threaten you, the only ones that I will intentionally go after are cursed spirits, curse users and sorcerers. This also includes anything they may be able to summon. In addition, I will avoid unnecessary collateral damage to the best of my ability.”

Yūji watched Sukuna hold out his hand, looking at it intently. He wasn’t sure if he should agree or not; he just knew in his gut he wasn’t picking up on something. Some baked-in loophole that Sukuna could exploit to avoid the consequences he mentioned. But, at the same time, he didn’t want to refuse him. He didn’t want to know what would happen if he did, especially being trapped in what he could only assume was Sukuna’s mindscape. Even if he was free to leave if he refused, Yūji didn’t think he could handle being imprisoned by his captor for much longer.

Sukuna was obviously out to exploit him the same way the other man had been, but it was different. It was at least mutual with him. Frankly, if he had to choose between two jailers, he would choose the one that wasn’t outright cruel to him. Hesitantly, Yūji reached out to take Sukuna’s hand and before he could possibly reconsider, a chain erupted from their joined hands and bound their arms, locking them together. He was, admittedly, fascinated by it.

“Very good,” Sukuna said before pulling him close, leaning down to press his lips against the juncture of his neck. Yūji tensed. “Don’t be afraid, Yūji. When done properly, the process of bonding may be a little uncomfortable, but you will feel no pain.”

He was right. Yūji felt the bite; felt the way Sukuna’s teeth sank into his skin. But, there wasn’t any pain. It really didn’t feel any different than if he’d just pressed down on his skin. Sukuna stayed like that for a short time, maybe fifteen seconds, before he pulled away. After giving Yūji some time to breathe and curiously poke at the bloodless open wound on his neck, he shifted the shoulder of his kimono to reveal his own neck. Yūji was embarrassed to admit it, but Sukuna had to guide him to where he was supposed to bite him. To make up for his lack of knowledge, Yūji decidedly didn’t hesitate as he bit down, breaking the skin with more ease than he expected.

It wasn’t blood that leaked out, though, but something cooler. Lighter. He didn’t know what it was, but it made him light-headed. Sukuna chuckled.

“Oh, and one more thing, little sorcerer,” Sukuna said as Yūji’s body relaxed and all but slumped against the other, barely hearing what he said. Instead, he watched with tired interest as the chains that bound their arms together faded out of existence. “Rest now. When you awake, you will be free of that whelp.”

<><><o><><>

When Suguru and Satoru had accepted the mission in Kawasaki, it was because it was a relatively simple one that they felt comfortable letting the first years handle on their own. Sure, it had come to his attention only because Junpei had told him about it and expressed some interest in helping out; despite everything the boy had gone through before his mother died and how much he openly hated his former schoolmates and teachers, he was too kind to not do anything. But, the spirit’s rank was the only reason Suguru considered it to be a good way to give the students a chance to put what they’ve learned the past few months to the test. Had it been any higher than Grade 3, he would’ve told Junpei to trust his upperclassmen.

Letting the students handle it meant he and Satoru spent most of the time observing them from a distance. It was an investigation-type of mission, so they had to work to figure out what was going on, but they did eventually locate the cursed spirits that had been causing trouble. They had just exorcised them, which Satoru insisted meant they deserved an award for their hard work, when things took an unexpected turn. While they celebrated their victory with a well-deserved and proper lunch at one of Kawasaki’s nicer outdoor restaurants, an overwhelmingly powerful presence covered the city. All of them froze, stunned by the aura, before Suguru and Satoru stood.

“Ijichi!” he and Satoru yelled, the man already running up to them.

“Get the kids out of the city!”

“Gojō-sensei, we can help,” Megumi said.

“I appreciate it, Megumi-kun, but no. You just finished a mission and this one is well above the curses you handled. Go with Ijichi. Suguru and I will handle this.”

As disappointed as Megumi and the other students were, they didn’t argue. They knew Satoru was right. As promising as they were, they just weren’t yet qualified to handle spirits higher than Grade 3; and, even then, the only ones he and Suguru would consider for a Grade 3 curse were Megumi and Nobara. So, the kids let themselves be herded away by Kiyotaka. Once they were all in the car and driving off, Suguru and Satoru hurried towards the source of the aura. They knew for certain they were going the right away when they started having to push their way through the crowd of non-sorcerers that were running in the opposite direction.

By the time they reached the epicenter of the chaos, whatever had been causing it had died down. The streets were empty, either because everyone had run away or holed themselves up inside. What they found surprised them; it wasn’t just one Special Grade curse, but two. They both looked completely human with the one they had the better view of sporting stitch work all over his body. The other one was turned away from them, but Suguru took note of its pink and black hair. He also noticed the one with the pink hair wore an over-sized version of the shawl the other wore. Partner curses having a fight maybe?

“Suguru, look.”

He followed Satoru’s gaze to find a young boy who was around six or seven clinging to the pink-haired curse’s leg. Maybe it wouldn’t have been so strange if the boy could see curses, but neither of them could see or sense anything that suggested the boy had potential as a sorcerer. Which meant the curse he was clinging to wasn’t an invisible entity; everyone could see it.

“Possession? Or, do you think that body is a vessel?”

“Hard to tell without getting closer. What should we do?” Satoru asked. “If we get close, it might aggravate them and put the kid in danger.”

He was right. The deaths of non-sorcerers was usually inevitable when dealing with curses in public spaces, but he and Satoru always tried to avoid unnecessary death when possible. So far, the curses were clearly just waiting for the other to do something, so they had some time to think.

“We should try to get the boy’s attention. If we can get him away from the curse he’s clinging to, we can get him to safety.”

Suguru was going to say something, but he made eye contact with the pink-haired curse for a moment. He didn’t see enough of his face, but he could’ve sworn there were four eyes. And, the marks on his face looked vaguely familiar.

“Boy,” the curse said as he looked back at Stitchwork. “I am going to count to three and you are going to run to that alleyway there. One.”

“Wait. He’s sending the boy to us?”

“Two.”

Suguru didn’t understand what was happening. It was wildly out of character for a curse, especially a Special Grade curse, to spare a human’s life.

“Three.”

The boy sprinted off as he was told to do, heading straight to them, and as soon as he was no longer restricted by the boy’s hands gripping him, the pink-haired curse disappeared from where he’d been standing. Suguru watched even as he took the boy into his arms and put him to sleep as the curse reappeared, bombarding his stitched opponent with more punches than could be counted. The curse sent the other into the air, gathering energy into his fists.

“Watch closely now, my little sorcerer! I’m going to show you how to use your cursed energy to its fullest potential! I expect you to master it! To grow stronger for the both of us!”

So, it was a vessel. Possessions blocked out the original soul entirely, but vessels shared awareness with the curse that shared their body. Suguru and Satoru watched as the pink-haired curse shot into the air and landed not just several more strikes, but also a Black Flash. They froze. They had never seen a cursed spirit use Black Flash before. Until that moment, they thought it was exclusive to sorcerers and curse users.

Stitchwork plummeted to the ground with a disgusting splat, but because he was a curse, he didn’t die. That didn’t mean he didn’t suffer consequences. Suguru almost felt bad watching him struggle to get up. He failed, but still glared at his opponent.

“This isn’t right. This isn’t how this was supposed to go. Your consciousness was supposed to disappear when Yūji swallowed your finger.”

“You really are young, aren’t you? Everyone knows a cursed object’s consciousness will only be destroyed if it's swallowed by someone stronger than it. Even if you had done things properly, Yūji wouldn’t have been anywhere near strong enough,” the curse said as he approached the other and pressed his bare foot onto Stitchwork’s head. “I may only have a fraction of my power, but I still possess more power at this moment than any curse or sorcerer will ever see in their lifetime. I will not be erased by a child.”

The curse toyed with the other’s head, pushing down and twisting it into the street.

“Even though I should kill you, I suppose I owe you thanks for forcing Yūji to swallow my finger. Without your contribution, I wouldn’t have been incarnated. So, I will let you go just this once, but you will do well to stay as far away from my vessel as you can. This is the only time I will show you mercy. Do I make myself clear?” Stitchwork looked up at the curse, considering. “Think quickly, Mahito. Ryōmen Sukuna does not offer mercy often and my patience is running thin.”

“Did....Did he just say-?”

“He did. He called himself Ryōmen Sukuna.”

That was bad. That was very bad. It was way worse than they thought. A Special Grade was one thing; Ryōmen Sukuna was a completely different ballgame. The power he had technically made him unrankable, which made him something beyond that of Special Grade. Even operating with one finger’s worth of power like he currently was, he had outmatched his Special Grade opponent with ease.

Suguru must’ve missed the other curse agreeing to retreat because when he turned his attention back to Sukuna, he was alone. Alone and clearly exhausted. Had he expended more energy then he could handle dealing with the other curse? Suguru went to summon the Inventory Curse, but Satoru stopped him, pointing to the boy he was holding. Right. He couldn’t fight while holding him.

“He doesn’t...seem hostile right now. Do you think he'd be willing to chat?”

“What? Satoru, you can’t be serious. This is Ryōmen Sukuna you’re talking about. Are you just going to invite the King of Curses to tea and crumpets?”

“Do you think he’d like crumpets?” Satoru asked. “Obviously that’s not what I meant, Suguru. What I’m saying is that he would’ve tried to kill us already in any other circumstance. Not to mention this place would be a wasteland if he wasn’t holding back. Something’s going on and we should figure out what it is.”

Before Suguru could agree or disagree, a thud caught their attention and they looked over. Sukuna had collapsed to his knees, leaning over with his arms hugging his stomach. So, he really had overexerted himself. In spite of his condition, though, he turned his head to look at the two of them.

“I am sworn to protect this vessel from all threats, so if you intend to bring harm to him, I suggest you think it over as long and hard as you need.”

Sukuna’s eyes went from red to brown and the two smaller ones closed into scar-like marks on his vessel’s face. At the same time, the marks faded away until only the vessel’s true face could be seen. There was no time to think before the vessel, Yūji if Suguru was piecing things together correctly, collapsed from exhaustion. Satoru rushed over to check on him and after carefully setting the boy down, Suguru followed.

He looked young, around the same age as their students, but he was noticeably malnourished. Not enough to be of any serious threat to his life or health, but enough to conclude he hadn’t been fed all that well.

“Satoru,” he said, shifting the shawl aside to reveal two distinct wounds on Yūji’s neck and shoulder. “These are....Bond marks?”

“Yeah. They are. This one’s old and not done properly, but this one....It’s fresh.”

“Sukuna said the other curse forced the boy to swallow one of his fingers, so it sounds like this Mahito’s been involved with Yūji for a while. Do you think the old mark is from him? Can cursed spirits even bond with sorcerers?”

“...Based on Sukuna’s interest in protecting his vessel and what he said earlier about ‘growing stronger for the both of them’, we have to assume they can. Which means the botched mark is probably from Mahito and the fresh one....That must’ve been Sukuna’s doing.”

Suguru looked down at Yūji. He could already hear the elders demanding his execution; a vessel of Sukuna was already bad enough, but one that had formed a bond with him was even worse. Yet, he could tell with one look that Satoru had no interest in letting the elders kill the boy. Ordinarily, he’d try to reel Satoru’s complex in because he couldn’t just argue with the elders every single time he disagreed with them without eventually causing trouble for the people he was arguing for. But, this time, he couldn’t help but want to support him.

Sukuna had said Yūji had been forced to ingest his finger, which meant despite the choice to bond with him, he hadn’t ended up in the situation willingly. He deserved a chance.

Chapter Text

Yūji came to slowly, blinking away the lingering grogginess. He shook his head as an added measure, not that it helped much, before he looked around. He was in yet another strange place, though instead of a never-ending void of ribs and blood-water, it was a small room covered floor to ceiling with talismans. Yūji himself was kneeling and bound in thick ropes. Briefly, he wondered if those would even be able to stop someone like Sukuna, but when he asked, he got no reply. His brows furrowed as he tried to talk to him again with no success.

“Sukuna...?”

“Feeling lonely, Yūji?”

Yūji’s head shot up to look at the man who had addressed him. He had white hair that was pushed up in a spiky fashion by the black blindfold he wore. The blindfold matched the rest of his attire, which consisted of a black school-style jacket with a high collar, black pants, and black shoes. Was it uniform or was it a fashion trend? He didn’t know.

“I–Who are you? Where’s Sukuna?”

“The name’s Gojō Satoru, but you can just call me Gojō-sensei~! As for that roommate of yours, don’t worry. He’s not gone,” Satoru said, pointing at the walls. “These will keep him at bay for the time being so we can talk uninterrupted.”

He recalled Sukuna warning him about an interrogation. Was that the “talk” Satoru was talking about? Probably.

“First thing’s first, how about telling me your name?”

“Itadori Yūji.”

Even though Satoru’s eyes were covered, Yūji could still read him. He looked like he’d had a revelation of some kind. He watched as Satoru pulled out his phone and appeared to search for something on it.

“I knew you looked familiar. Four years ago, in Sendai City, a boy went missing. This is you, right?”

Satoru turned his phone to face him, revealing an image of Yūji when he was eleven. His shoulders sank a little when he noticed his grandfather had been cut out of the picture so that it could focus on him.

“...Yeah. That’s me.”

“I’m going to take a wild guess and say that curse, Mahito, kidnapped you, right? Locked you away and tried to bond with you?”

Yūji looked away from Satoru, too ashamed to look at him.

“Four years under lock and key with a Special Grade cursed spirit....I’m astonished the only wound you have is his bite,” Satoru said. “What exactly did he do to you while you were with him?”

“...Nothing, really. He just...had me do exercises to make me stronger. I don’t really think he knew what he was doing; Sukuna says he’s young, probably born around the time he took me.”

“Oh, yeah? That’s a lucky break; you’d be in much worse condition if he was a more experienced curse. So, what about Sukuna? How did you end up swallowing one of his fingers and what happened after you did?”

Yūji explained what had happened in Kawasaki. How Mahito forced the finger down his throat in hopes of increasing his energy reserves. Then he described his encounter with Sukuna in his mindscape - no, innate domain - and how he came to be Sukuna’s bondmate as well as their binding vow.

“You’re telling me Sukuna willingly agreed to keep any damage he causes to as much of a minimum as he can? I can’t tell whether there’s something special about you or if he’s just that desperate!” Satoru said with a laugh. “It doesn’t matter. The fact that there’s now a limit on Sukuna will work well in your favor. We might be able to talk the elders down from immediate execution with that.”

At that, Satoru got up off the chair he was sitting on and moved to kneel in front of him. He was uncomfortably close, but Yūji couldn’t go anywhere, so he had to sit there and let him look him over.

“How does the control over the body work? Can he take over whenever he wants?”

Yūji blinked.

“I....I don’t know. He’s only done it once and he didn’t make me give up control. He just...asked that I leave it to him and I didn’t have a reason to say no.”

Saying he asked wasn’t entirely accurate, but he hadn’t demanded or suggested he take control, so it felt like the best comparison. Before Satoru could say anything, there was a knock and they both looked at the door as it opened. The man who walked in was dressed similarly to Satoru except he wore bontan pants and not regular trousers like Satoru. Sorcerers definitely had uniforms then.

“Oh, good. He’s awake,” the man said as he stepped into the room. “What’d you learn?”

“At least introduce yourself, Suguru,” Satoru said. “This is Getō Suguru, my partner in crime. Feel free to call him Getō-sensei.”

Suguru rolled his eyes.

“He hasn’t been approved yet, Satoru. Don’t get the kid’s hopes up.”

Satoru didn’t pout exactly, but it was a near thing. It didn’t last very long, though, and soon he was launching into a retelling of everything he’d learned about the situation. When he finished, Suguru looked at Yūji.

“Do you think he would force control from you?” Suguru asked.

“...No. I don’t think he would.”

Yūji was, quite honestly, speaking out of his ass on that one. He didn’t know Sukuna. All he knew was that out of the two options he had, he was the better one and so far, he wasn’t regretting it. But, clearly, there was more to Sukuna. Would they really be so cautious about him if he wasn’t some big shot curse?

“Getō-sensei, Gojō-sensei, who is Sukuna?”

“A terribly powerful cursed spirit from the Heian era. He reigned for almost four hundred years, slaughtering thousands of curses and sorcerers, before he split himself into twenty indestructible fingers. Ryōmen Sukuna was the driving force behind the fall of sorcerer society. After the Heian era, sorcery fell out of practice as less and less people with the ability to manipulate cursed energy were born,” Satoru explained. “As you can see, the fact that you managed to get him to put a leash on himself is a very good thing.”

He knew he was going to be bad, but Yūji didn’t think Sukuna would be that bad.

“Anyway, we have to go. The elders want to talk to Yūji and evaluate him for themselves,” Suguru said. “They may also want to talk to Sukuna, so let’s hope he can mind his manners.”

“Why? It’s not like they’re going to risk killing him with Sukuna looking after him.”

“Kill him, no, but they can lock him away for the rest of his life. He’s been locked up long enough, don’t you think?”

Satoru frowned, but didn’t argue as he moved to untie him from his restraints.

“Suguru’s right unfortunately. I know you can hear us, Sukuna, so we highly suggest you behave yourself for the sake of your vessel.”

<><><o><><>

Sukuna sat on his throne silently as he listened to Yūji’s meeting with the jujutsu elders. For the most part, it was going well. The elders asked a couple questions that tripped him up, but Yūji was handling it fine on his own. The few times he did mess up were minor, inconsequential mistakes that would mean nothing in the long run. But, then they asked him about their bond and binding vow and his blood boiled. They had worded it in a way that, no matter how he answered, it could be twisted into an admission of guilt.

He wouldn’t have that. He reached out, opening the eyes that were fixed beneath Yūji’s and morphing the side of his face to create a mouth for him to speak with.

“How far the great jujutsu society must have fallen if its leaders resort to tricking children into confessing to crimes they didn’t commit,” he said. “My vow to protect Yūji does not stop at physical threats, so I suggest you rephrase your last statement.”

“Sukuna–”

“Ryōmen Sukuna. I didn’t give you permission to address me so casually. That is a right reserved solely for my bondmate.”

It wasn’t. But, he certainly didn’t want to be addressed casually by the wrinkled bags of expiring meat that currently led jujutsu society.

“Ryōmen Sukuna. Why don’t you explain how this...relationship came to be?”

Relationship. Such a weak word to describe the intensity of a bond. But, he wasn’t about to lecture them on something like that. There were some things sorcerers didn’t need to know.

“I crave power and Yūji craved freedom from his captivity. It was an ideal set of circumstances brought on by the foolishness of a curse that doesn’t even have an understanding of its own existence yet.”

“Can you take control of the vessel’s–”

“His name is Itadori Yūji. Remember it,” Sukuna said. “As for your question, the answer is not as simple as yes or no. When Yūji is conscious, I’m unable to wrestle control from him; he must give it to me. But, if he is unconscious, I can seize control of his body. I currently have no desire to do either, but I will do so if he’s ever in danger.”

A partial truth, but he wasn't about to let Yūji in on a secret that could be used against him.

“What are the terms of the binding vow you made with each other?”

“Oh, I can–”

“Quiet,” Sukuna said before Yūji could continue. “The specifics are none of your business. All you need to know is that the vow is tilted heavily in favor of the order you pretend to care so much about.”

Satoru and Suguru knew the terms, but that didn’t bother him. As far as Sukuna was concerned, he and the two sorcerers were working towards a common goal. But, the elders weren’t allies and it would be foolish to give them every card there was. Both he and Yūji looked over when a hand rested on Yūji’s shoulder, watching Satoru move to stand next to him while Suguru stood on the other side.

“If I may, my exalted elders, Suguru and I have a solution that might put this whole thing to rest.”

Sukuna almost laughed. Satoru sounded just as tired of the elders as he felt. He was an interesting sorcerer, that was for sure.

“We all agree that Sukuna is far too dangerous to let live, but for the time being, he’s contained and not necessarily a threat. Satoru and I propose a suspension on Itadori Yūji’s execution. Instead of executing him now, we do so after he’s consumed all twenty of Sukuna’s fingers. We’ve already concluded that as long as the binding vow is in place, Sukuna can’t cause harm to his vessel, which includes dominating control of his body as that would cause damage to his soul. In exchange for this honorable sacrifice, Yūji will be enrolled into our school and be allowed to freely learn the ways of jujutsu.”

“Sound like a plan, Itadori-kun?”

Yūji was quiet as he thought and Sukuna waited, curious to see what he’d say.

“Sukuna?” He closed his eyes, sinking back into his innate domain to find Yūji standing in the blood-water below him. “If I accept, would that break my end of the deal?”

“The only condition you are bound to is restoring my original power. How you do so doesn’t matter,” he said. “I would suggest you agree. It’s clear the two sorcerers have no intent of executing you.”

Yūji still took a minute to actually decide even with Sukuna’s assurances. He was trying to play it smart; to figure out the boons and disadvantages. He ended up agreeing to Suguru and Satoru’s proposal. The elders weren’t happy with it, but they ultimately had no reason to reject it. Still, they had to question what the two intended to do if Sukuna lost control. Satoru could only laugh at that.

“Sukuna already told us he can’t forcibly take control of Yūji’s body unless he’s unconscious. That means as long as we keep him safe, Sukuna won’t have any reason to get involved.”

In the end, the elders reluctantly accepted the proposal. The only condition was that Yūji would be placed in Suguru’s class. The reaction from the two was to simply shrug, which meant it likely didn’t matter if Yūji wasn’t in Satoru’s direct care; the two likely considered the other’s class as their own seeing how they were both in Kawasaki together. Sukuna could only stare at the dividers that kept the elders hidden.

They had been far too accommodating. He didn’t trust them.

Chapter Text

Yūji had the entire weekend to settle into the school dorms and get a tour of the school. He hadn’t been able to meet any of his schoolmates yet; apparently, students usually spent weekends away. That made sense to him and while he would’ve liked to meet them before he started classes, Yūji wasn’t bothered to spend the weekend almost entirely with Suguru and Satoru. They were a fun pair to watch. In addition to his teachers, Yūji was introduced to the principal, Yaga Masamichi, and the school’s doctor, Ieiri Shōko, but he didn’t interact much with them. Meeting Masamichi was more of a formality while he was taken to see Shōko about his mild condition.

Sukuna was, surprisingly, very quiet. If Yūji talked to him, usually to ask a question about something he didn’t quite understand, he’d answer. So, he wasn’t ignoring him. It seemed as if he was content to let Yūji just do his own thing. He was very different from Mahito. If he estimated how much time Mahito spent away from him over the past four years, it would probably come to around two weeks worth of time in total. He had asked Sukuna about it once and he explained it was a result of the bond. Bondmates were inclined to stay close to each other. Yūji guessed that was why Sukuna let him live his own life without crowding him; he was always with him, after all, so he never had to worry about what was going on.

“So”–Yūji leaned his head back to look up at Satoru–“what do you know about packbonds?”

Yūji tilted his head. At the same time, he felt Sukuna rouse from his idling. He got the feeling that he was curious.

“Um....Is that anything like the bond Sukuna and I have?”

“Kind of, but it’s not for cursed spirits; it’s a variant created by sorcerers.”

“Wait. Sorcerers can bond with each other, too?” he asked. “I haven’t seen any bites on you or Getō-sensei.”

Satoru laughed.

“That’s because we don’t bond the way curses do, Itadori-kun! We’re civilized people, not barbarians!”

“Should you die before him, he’ll be the first one I kill.”

“Haha....You’re not serious, are you?”

Yūji kept a straight face at Sukuna’s deliberate silence, but he didn’t like that at all.

“Packbonding, Itadori-kun, is performed by two or more sorcerers to replicate the effects of the bond between curses. It’s not permanent like what you and Sukuna have; it needs to be reinforced after a time. But, the benefits are the same. Here, watch.”

Yūji turned around on the sofa, startled to see Suguru leaning against the wall until he was signaled to join them. He watched as Satoru held a hand out with his fingers spread apart in a deliberate way. In response, as if accepting an invitation, Suguru reached out with his own until the pads of his fingers met Satoru’s. Yūji continued watching as cursed energy sparked between their fingers before flowing into the other.

“Fascinating.”

“You mean you’ve never seen this before, Sukuna?”

“I’m not surprised,” Suguru said as he and Satoru’s hands separated. “Packbonding was discovered and refined after the Heian era. Sukuna wouldn’t have been around for it.”

“It was one of the many ways jujutsu society countered the devastation he left after his reign ended, but it fell largely out of practice almost three hundred years ago. There aren’t many modern day sorcerers who have bonded with others.”

“Really? So, then, why did you two do something so outdated?”

“That’s a story for another time, maybe. Anyway, the reason I bring it up is because Suguru and I would like for you to join the packbond your fellow first years have with each other.”

“Won’t the elders–”

“The elders don’t know about it. It’s our own personal project,” Satoru said. “The problem with you, though, is that we don’t know if it’ll be safe.”

“Because you’re bonded to Sukuna, your cursed energy is now mixed together. That means the cursed energy the two of you generate is now essentially tainted by the other’s; this is the foundation of the bond’s empowering effect. It’s what connects the two of you.”

“...It might be dangerous for them, right?” Yūji asked, sulking a bit. “So, I won’t be able to join”

The idea of not being able to bond with anyone else didn’t really bother him. It was more so that not doing it meant he would be an outsider. Yūji didn’t like the sound of being ostracized like that.

“Dangerous, no; obviously, a curse bonding with a sorcerer doesn’t hurt them, so we’re not worried about their health and safety. Remember, the point of a bond is to empower the bonded pair or group so they can help build each other up. So, the issue is that bonding with your peers would naturally lead to Sukuna getting stronger,” Suguru said.

“There’s also the fact that we don’t know if packbonding with you will lead to a technical bond with Sukuna on their ends. If it doesn’t, then it won’t matter, but if it does....That’s five extra sources of power for him to benefit from on top of the mutual empowerment between the students and we really don’t want him to get too strong too quickly.”

Yūji shuddered at the feeling of Sukuna’s false mouth forming on his cheek.

“Would that really be such a problem? The way I see it, this will benefit you just as much as it would me.”

“Will it? Would you be so kind as to explain your reasoning?”

“Consider the words of my condition for the binding vow carefully. I swore to avoid unnecessary collateral damage; I did not swear to avoid it entirely. If I can kill an opponent without inflicting harm onto bystanders, I will do so, but I also won’t hesitate to sacrifice as many as necessary. The stronger I am, the less destruction I will cause if I’m ever called on or forced to fight in Yūji’s stead,” Sukuna said. “To add to that, even if the two bonds don’t interfere with each other, your students being bonded to Yūji means they would be my bondmates by proxy. I would be inclined to protect them.”

Suguru and Satoru looked at each other thoughtfully, appearing to silently communicate with one another. Yūji didn’t know if it was just because they knew each other so well or if there was something about a packbond that made it possible to understand each other. Whatever the case, he couldn’t help but be intrigued.

“Could we really trust you to watch their back, Sukuna? Maybe that’s something you could’ve easily done back when you had a body of your own, but that’s not the case now,” Suguru said. “Is that something you would even want to do?”

“Whether I want to or not is irrelevant. Once a bond is formed, my bondmate becomes a part of me and I become a part of them; it is my instinct to protect them. As for the matter of my body, I’m certain it won’t be a problem. Yūji doesn’t strike me as the kind who would sit back and watch someone he knows die.”

Yūji slapped his hand over the mouth on his cheek as his face turned red. He wasn’t sure why it embarrassed him to be called out that way, but it did. Sukuna could’ve easily just made a second mouth, but he didn’t. He could hear the cursed spirit chuckle at his embarrassment from wherever it was his soul had rooted itself inside his, but that was the only reaction he had to give. Meanwhile, Suguru and Satoru looked at each other and spoke silently again, this time looking a bit more concerned than before. Whatever it was, it wasn’t about the packbond. But, when they looked back at him, that was the topic they returned to.

“I guess with everything Sukuna said, we really don’t have much reason to not let you join the packbond. If nothing else, the initial connection can serve as a test run to see how this will actually play out,” Satoru said. “Depending on how it goes, we can decide whether you can stay bonded with them or not when the next reinforcement cycle comes around.”

Right. They did say packbonds weren’t permanent. Yūji tilted his head.

“How does the reinforcement work, Gojō-sensei?”

“Hm? Oh, it’s nothing special; you just repeat the bonding process with your packmates. It’s the same thing Suguru and I showed you. Right now, we have them on a monthly schedule, but the more you reinforce the bond, the longer it lasts between cycles. Eventually, you won’t really need to worry about it much at all. Before today, I can’t remember the last time Suguru and I had to reinforce ours. I want to say...six months ago?”

“Close. It was seven.”

“Wow. You two must’ve been bonded for a long time for that to happen, huh?”

“Almost twelve years,” Suguru said with a softness that left Yūji feeling as if there was something more than just friendship or brotherhood between his teachers. “Anyway, we brought the matter up with you today because the next reinforcement cycle is actually scheduled for tomorrow.”

He blinked. Really? Was it a coincidence that they scheduled him to start on that day or intentional? With Satoru and Suguru, Yūji couldn’t even begin to tell.

“Of course, you being okay with it doesn’t mean it’ll happen. Your classmates still have to decide whether or not they’re comfortable with it. Speaking of which, they haven’t gotten back to us about it all weekend. You did tell them about Yūji and Sukuna, right?”

“...Eh?”

The way Suguru pinched the bridge of his nose before smacking the back of Satoru’s head and walking away had Yūji laughing.

Chapter Text

Suguru looked up at his door as it cracked open. He watched in what should’ve been amusement as Satoru peeked in, but he didn’t know how to feel anything like that anymore, so he ended up just staring back at him. Not being sent away was enough for Satoru, though, and he invited himself in, shutting the door behind him. Noticing the way Satoru leaned back against the door after locking it, Suguru sat up. He looked tired and frustrated.

“Satoru?”

For a long while, his friend didn’t move. He didn’t respond. Something was very wrong with him; Satoru never missed a chance to talk to his friends, especially when that friend was Suguru. Standing, Suguru made his way over to the other. It was only when he was standing in front of him that he realized there were tears on his face. Without thinking, he flicked the light off so that the only light in the room was what came in through the cracks in his blinds.

He didn’t know exactly why he did what he did. Satoru had never cried in front of anyone; he was far too proud for that. So Suguru wasn’t doing something he knew would help. It just felt right. Turning off the lights made some sense; Satoru’s eyes were sensitive, after all, and being comfortable enough to be vulnerable around someone wasn’t the same as being fine with them seeing you cry. But the way he cupped the other’s face with his hands to wipe away the tears with his thumbs? What about how he pressed his forehead to Satoru’s? That was unnecessary. Invasive, even. But, Satoru didn’t push him away or make it known in some other way that it was unwelcome, so he continued.

Besides, it felt nice to be close to Satoru again. The curses were easier to tolerate when he was around.

“What is it? Talk to me, Satoru.”

It took another few minutes, but Satoru did eventually look up at him. Suguru lost himself in his eyes. That was nothing new, though. How could he not let himself be pulled in by them? Anyone would, he was sure, if they were ever blessed to look at them long enough.

“...They’re keeping us apart.”

Suguru looked away, letting his hands slide to rest on Satoru’s shoulders. He knew what he was talking about; he’d figured it out a while ago.

“Yeah....Yeah, I know.”

Suguru was startled when he was pushed back, stumbling to keep himself from falling. Apparently when Satoru was vulnerable, he was also emotionally reactive. Somehow, it felt nice to know for certain that Satoru was just as human as the rest of them, though that was probably the last thing he should be thinking about.

“Sato–”

“You knew? You knew and didn’t talk to me about it? What the fuck?”

“I....I didn’t....There wasn’t a reason to–”

“You and your fucking reasons!” Satoru yelled. “What reason could possibly exist that tells you not to talk to me about something like this?!”

Another frustration-fueled shove when he didn’t answer quickly enough. This time, he couldn’t catch himself and fell back. Suguru felt sick as he sat up and coughed. When he pulled his hand away from his mouth, he wasn’t all that surprised to see his palm heavily sprayed with blood. It was long overdue if he was being honest.

“Suguru!”

“Satoru, I–”

He was hit with another coughing fit. Damn it. He hadn’t wanted Satoru to find out.

“What...? What’s going on? Suguru?”

“Nothing. It’s just....It’s just the curses. I’m fine.”

“Fine? People who’re fine don’t cough up blood, jackass! What do you mean the curses?” he asked. “The curses don’t do this to you. Are you sick?”

Satoru reached out to rest his hand on Suguru’s forehead, but he slapped it away.

“...Are you...taking in more than you can handle?”

There wasn’t any point in trying to lie. Satoru was too smart to fall for it now that he figured it out. Suguru sighed as he leaned forward, but instead of answering verbally, he just nodded.

“Suguru, that’s the dumbest thing you’ve ever done. What’s going on with you? Why would you do that?”

“Because of you, Satoru!” he said. He regretted his poor choice of words immediately, but he continued regardless. “Ever since things went down with Riko and that damned ape that killed her, you’ve run so far ahead of the rest of us. I thought....I thought if I caught up to you, they’d start sending us out on missions together again.”

“You don’t need to make yourself sick with curses to go on missions with me, Suguru. Yaga-sensei would’ve assigned us to a mission together if we’d gone to him about it. Hell, I probably could’ve smuggled you out in a box if we got that desperate.”

Suguru hated that he chortled. It wasn’t the time for humor, at least in his mind, but Satoru always could make him laugh.

“I know. I should’ve gone to you when I realized what they were doing. Sorry.”

“...Yeah, I’m sorry, too,” Satoru said, moving to sit next to him and lean his head on his shoulder. “I haven’t exactly been the most attentive friend either. I should’ve realized you weren’t doing so hot a lot sooner.”

The two of them continued leaning on each other in the dark in silence. Suguru felt better with Satoru there with him. It was the best he’d felt since Riko died. Eventually, though, Satoru sat up. Looking over, he noticed the other was thinking seriously about something.

“We can both agree they’re just being pricks because we failed to protect Riko, right?”

“I think it has more to do with us being willing to go against orders to set Riko free than actually letting her die; the elders are just as bad as those cultists. They don’t care about her, just what she was. But, you’re right. They’re just being assholes.”

“The fuck are we going to do about them?” Satoru asked. “We can’t keep letting them send us out on our own and there’s only so much Yaga-sensei would be able to do.”

Suguru almost groaned, frustrated. How was he supposed to know?

“Who knows, Satoru. We’d probably need a damn miracle. A way to force them into sending us on missions together. Too bad there aren’t any rules or laws we could use against them.”

“...Wait.”

Satoru got up and went to Suguru’s bookshelves. Before he could ask what he had in mind, Satoru started flipping through different books. When he didn’t find what he was looking for in one, he would let it fall to the ground and move on to another. Suguru’s eye twitched.

“What the hell, Satoru? I don’t come into your room and throw your shit everywhere.”

“Yeah, yeah. Bitch about it to me later.”

Suguru rolled his eyes as he stood, going over to pick up the books Satoru dropped. After about five minutes of flipping through his books, Satoru let out a triumphant “aha!” before laying what he found on the desk. Curious, Suguru set the stack of books he’d collected on the floor to be put away later and joined Satoru.

“Packbonds!”

“Packbonds? Isn’t that from way back when Sukuna was still around?”

“They were actually refined after he self-destructed, but yeah; it’s super old. And, that’s why it’s so good for us. Here. Look, look,” Satoru said excitedly, pointing to a specific passage. Suguru had to get his phone out and use the screen as a light to read the text. “It says packbound sorcerers are entitled to have at least one member of their pack with them during exorcisms. If we bond with each other, the elders won’t be able to tell us we can’t go on missions together.”

Suguru read a bit more on them before setting the book down.

“...They could just change the law once they find out what we did, you know.”

“I mean, they could, but they wouldn’t dare. Changing an old law right after the first time it was enforced in, like, a hundred million years? That’s such an open and obvious dig at us. Even our little Utahime would raise a stink about it if they did.”

That was true. There was no way to hide their assholery when he and Satoru would be the only ones the change would apply to.

“So, what do you say, Suguru?” Satoru asked, holding his hands out. “Would you be my bondmate?”

“Pff–Did you have to say it like that? At least take me to dinner first.”

“Bond first, dinner later. Come on, Suguru. You know you want to~”

Suguru chortled, but turned to him and pressed the pads of his fingers to Satoru’s. Neither of them said anything when their fingers shifted, clasping onto the other's hands. Were words even really necessary at that point?

“Fine, but I want soba.”

“Yes, yes. Only the very best for my dearest bondmate.”

Chapter Text

“Hi! I’m Itadori Yūji!”

Yūji frowned as he looked at himself in the mirror. No matter how he said it, it sounded wrong. Stupid. He didn’t know how he was supposed to introduce himself. He couldn’t remember. Sighing, he decided to drop it and hope he didn’t make a complete fool of himself.

“You’re overthinking this.”

“Shut up. It’s been awhile, okay?”

He picked up the uniform jacket and put it on. His uniform looked almost identical to Satoru’s except he had red shoes and it sported a red collar-hood hybrid. It was kind of cool that their uniforms could be customized. He wondered if the other students would have custom uniforms, too. Realistically, he couldn’t imagine why anyone wouldn’t add flare to their uniforms, but he supposed it might not be for everyone.

“By the way, what do you think about the packbond?”

“You know my thoughts on it. It’s worth trying.”

“Well, yeah, I know that. I meant what you think about it in general. It’s new for you, right?”

Sukuna was quiet for a few minutes as Yūji finished getting ready.

“As far as imitations go, I suppose the sorcerers deserve praise for it.”

“Sounds like you don’t think it’s as good as the kind we have.”

“These packbonds seem to focus solely on empowering those involved. Our bond allows for more than that,” Sukuna said. “Do you remember the technique I used on Mahito?”

“Yeah! It was so cool! I think Gojō-sensei said it’s called a Black Flash? He made it sound like it’s a really special technique.”

“It is. Normally, a cursed spirit couldn’t use Black Flash; it requires a specific level of concentration that we’re incapable of achieving. But, because you and I are bonded, it allows me to access and use any technique you have an innate talent for. You will also eventually be able to use mine. Packbonds don’t seem to allow this.”

Yūji blinked. They could do that? What kind of techniques did Sukuna have? They had to be powerful if he was dubbed the King of Curses.

“Wait. But, I don’t know how to use Black Flash yet. Or....Anything, really.”

“Innate talents are predetermined. Think of it as having the blueprints of your sorcery etched into your soul. Bondmates can read these blueprints and create a temporary copy for themselves.”

“Oh. That’s cool,” Yūji said. “I can’t wait to be able to do that. What are your techniques?”

“Focus on your own for now, brat.”

Yūji pouted and went to respond, but was interrupted by a knock on his door.

“Itadori-kun~”

“Coming!”

He grabbed his bag and hurried to the door, opening it to reveal Satoru. He was back to wearing his blindfold as opposed to the dark glasses he had been wearing all weekend.

“Ready to meet your classmates?”

“Yeah! So ready!”

Yūji didn’t come out of his captivity unscathed. He struggled to sleep through the night, he definitely had some kind of dependency issue, and being called Yūji-kun elicited a fear response in him. Considering all the damage he could’ve been stuck with, he knew he got off lucky. Still, he was surprised by how excited he was to meet everyone. Yūji expected more nervousness and uncertainty than he actually felt; aside from what he thought was a normal amount, he was fine. Maybe he was just that resilient or maybe he was an extrovert desperate to make a friend, especially one his own age, but he wasn’t going to complain.

“Hey, Gojō-sensei?” Satoru looked at him. “What are the other first years like?”

“Hm....Well, Mimiko and Megumi are more on the ‘leave me alone’ side of the social spectrum, but they’re social enough to not raise any serious concerns. Junpei is, too, but he’s been getting better with Suguru’s help; he’s actually a very friendly kid. Out of all of them, I’d have to say Nobara’s the most extroverted, but Nanako’s a close second. She’s a bit of a ‘mean girl’, though, and it takes a while to get her to open up,” Satoru said. “Junpei’s a good friend to make if you like movies; he can talk about them for hours. Mimiko, too, but she really only likes thrillers. If you prefer reading, Megumi could recommend something. Nobara’s really into fashion and Nanako’s the one to go to to catch up on what’s trending these days. She could definitely teach Sukuna how to use a phone or a computer if she wanted to.”

“Why would I ever?”

“He says he’ll keep that in mind,” Yūji said, ignoring the indignant noise Sukuna made. “You know them really well, Gojō-sensei. Is that because the classes here are so small?”

“That plays a role, but it really only applies to Junpei and Nobara. Suguru and I took the twins in when they were seven and I’ve been something of a benefactor for Megumi since he was...six, I think? So, I’ve known the three of them for years now.”

So, three of his classmates were essentially their teachers’ kids. That was either really cool or really embarrassing. Maybe it was fine with Suguru, but Satoru seemed like the type that would embarrass his own kids. Still, he remembered being told which students were in their individual classes and Yūji thought it was sweet that the twins were split between the two. Megumi being in his benefactor’s class also felt like deliberate placement.

It was quiet for a while after that and he thought about everything Satoru had told him. Junpei definitely sounded the most fun; he remembered really liking movies, though he couldn’t quite remember the last movie he watched before Mahito kidnapped him. It had been the latest Pokémon movie and he remembered his grandfather taking him to the theater to watch it on opening day, but he couldn’t recall the details. Really, the only thing he could associate with the movie now was his abduction. He’d watched it maybe three weeks before everything happened.

Eventually, Yūji realized they weren’t heading for the classrooms. Curious because he didn’t know the school well enough to recognize where they were going, he looked up at Satoru.

“Where are we going, Sensei?”

“Somewhere private. Can’t have the elders catching on to what we’re doing, can we?”

Right. The packbond was a secret project. Yūji didn’t know the purpose of it, but he could only guess it had something to do with the elders. At least, it had to be related to them. Taking into account the way Satoru didn’t hide his disdain for them and the little patience Suguru seemed to have for them, it made the most sense. He was still curious, but there really wasn’t any reason to ask more about it; he figured he would be told eventually. Besides, something else drew his attention. Turning his head, Yūji spotted a warehouse in the distance. There was a familiar feeling from inside that drew him in like a magnet.

At first, Yūji thought it might be Sukuna’s fingers. He could only assume the sorcerers had some of them hidden away somewhere; if nothing else, it seemed weird to plan a strategy around executing him and Sukuna if they didn’t at least have a way to show they could do it. But, it didn’t feel like him at all and he didn’t react. If it was his power, Sukuna would show interest.

“Itadori-kun?” He jumped, looking at Satoru. The concerned look on his face made him feel a bit guilty. “Something wrong?”

“Yeah. Sorry. I was just....What’s that building over there? It wasn’t part of the tour you and Getō-sensei gave me.”

“...That’s where the cursed objects we’ve collected are sealed away. It wasn’t part of the tour because students aren’t allowed there. Before you or Sukuna ask, no; there are no fingers there. We keep particularly dangerous cursed objects like his fingers at a more secure location.”

Okay. So he was right; it didn’t have anything to do with Sukuna. So, what had tried to draw him in? He couldn’t ask because there was no way Satoru would know the answer, though, so Yūji shook his head and continued following his teacher.

“So, you have some of his fingers....Shouldn’t you have given them to me already? Won’t it upset the elders that you haven’t?”

“Patience, Itadori-kun. We’ll get there. There’s a lot to keep in mind when it comes to this. Trust your teachers, okay?”

“Y-Yeah! Of course!”

Satoru laughed, ruffling his hair before draping an arm around Yūji’s shoulder and pulling him away from the warehouse. Yūji couldn’t explain why, but it didn’t feel right to walk away from whatever had been drawing him in. Distracting himself with idle chatter with Satoru, he failed to notice one of Sukuna’s eyes open to watch the warehouse as they moved further away from it.

<><><o><><>

The place Satoru took him to was a private cabin he and Suguru owned on the school property. Yūji had stared at Satoru when he explained that, but his teacher shrugged it off as he led him inside. Despite how small it had looked on the outside, the inside was actually spacious enough to comfortably fit everyone. Suguru stood in the middle of the main room with the other students sitting in various places of the room. Two girls sat on the loveseat leaning on each other watching something on one of their phones. The main sofa was occupied by two boys and another girl.

“Hello, dear students~! Are you all ready to meet your new classmate? I hope so because he’s very excited to meet all of you!” Satoru said, moving aside to show Yūji off to the others. “Let’s make sure to give him a warm welcome, hm?”

Yūji felt like tunneling into the ground. None of them looked remotely okay with him being there, though he supposed the shorter boy that had half his face covered by his hair looked less uncertain or judgmental and more curious. To make it more uncomfortable, he couldn’t tell what it was they were acting on. Was it because he would potentially be joining an established packbond? Were they bothered by his connections with Sukuna? They could just not like how he looked for all he knew.

“Quite the crowd.”

Yūji slapped his hand over his cheek. Sukuna randomly showing up to judge them wasn’t going to help at all.

“Uh....S-Sorry about that. I’m....Itadori Yūji. It’s nice to meet you...?”

He felt pathetic. He remembered being so social back before he was taken and hidden away from the world and now he couldn’t even introduce himself properly.

“...This is Sukuna’s vessel? Seriously?” the girl with the phone asked. “I was expecting someone more...impressive.”

“Nanako!” the teachers exclaimed.

“What? I’m just saying! I’d be embarrassed to be incarnated into someone who can’t even introduce himself properly if I was Sukuna.”

“She will be the second one that I kill.”

“Please, stop saying things like that.”

“Aw, come one, Nana-chan. He doesn’t seem that bad,” the boy that covered his face said as he stood, walking over to him. “Hi, Itadori-kun. I’m Yoshino Junpei. It’s nice to finally meet you!”

There was a hum that sounded like approval from Sukuna that Yūji kept to himself. Instead, he smiled back at him.

“I think Gojō-sensei said you like movies, right? Maybe we could watch some together sometime?”

“O-Oh! Yeah, okay! That sounds like fun!”

They were carefully interrupted before they could derail things by Suguru asking them to join them. Junpei took his seat back while Yūji sat on the armchair. Satoru moved next to Suguru, but opted to sit on the coffee table instead of stand.

“We don’t have all day unfortunately, so to save time, let's get the rest of the introductions out of the way. Itadori-kun, these are the twins, Hasaba Nanako and Mimiko. The young lady next to Junpei is Kugisaki Nobara and–”

“And, the handsome sourpuss next to Nobara is Fushiguro Megumi!”

Yūji watched Megumi scowl at Satoru’s teasing, but didn’t say anything.

“None of that now. We’re on a schedule, remember? You can tease them later,” Suguru said as he leaned on Satoru, resting his arm on his head. “All of you still have a choice to make.”

“That’s right. While Suguru and I would like Itadori-kun to be included into your packbond, we won’t take that choice away from you. Knowing everything you’ve been told, how do you all feel about it?”

Yūji looked around the room and watched as they all seemed to think long and hard about the idea. The longer they spent thinking about it, the more it felt as if it wasn’t going to happen. It made sense they would hesitate or just not want to, though. Being packbound to Sukuna, even by a technicality, wasn’t exactly something the average sorcerer would want. To be fair, being bonded to any cursed spirit was probably enough of an undesirable situation; that curse being Sukuna just made it a hundred times worse.

The fact that the packbond was a secret probably added to the lack of interest, too. After all, it was one thing if the elders found out about its existence; they couldn’t be upset because it wasn’t illegal for sorcerers to do it. But, finding out Yūji and Sukuna had been included? That was definitely a recipe for disaster.

“I can’t say I’m all that thrilled with the idea of being bonded to the King of Curses in any way, but if Gojō–” Megumi cut himself off, looking at Satoru as the man perked up. “If Getō-sensei sees more pros than cons, I’m not opposed to it.”

“I’m with Fushiguro-kun, but don’t think for a second I’ll just sit back and do nothing if Sukuna goes nuts. Technically speaking, it would be our responsibility as bondmates to kill him if he does anyway,” Nobara said.

“As if any of them could, but you can’t help but admire her spirit.”

“I reserve judgement,” Mimiko said. “I’ll bond with you this time to see how it goes. If it goes well, I won’t object to next month’s reinforcement.”

“Ugh....Fine. If Mimiko’s doing it, I’ll do it, too. But, you better not think you can get by just by siphoning off us, got that? Nothing pisses me off more than leeches that take credit for everyone else’s work.”

Yūji blinked. He hoped that was just part of her mean girl act and not a genuine look into how others actually perceived him. Not that he even knew how they could see him in any particular way. The worst they had on him at that moment was that he was Sukuna’s vessel and bondmate.

“Well, I’m okay with letting Itadori-kun join our pack. He seems nice!” Junpei said. “Besides, helping you get stronger means there’d be even less chances of Sukuna being in control, right? Because he won’t have to step in to help you?”

“Uh–Yeah, that’s right.”

“Wonderful! All that needs to be done is–”

“Hold on, Satoru, that wasn’t everyone. They still need to decide.”

“Didn’t they say they’d be fine with it yesterday?”

“No. They didn’t. Sukuna explained how it could benefit the students and Yūji showed some interest, but neither of them actually said they wanted to do it.”

Yūji hadn’t thought he had to put it in plain terms, but seeing Suguru be considerate of the fact that even he and Sukuna got a choice was nice.

“I’ve already told you my stance on the matter. You can make the choice for us.”

He said that as if there was really any choice to make. Yūji had already decided he’d do it if the others were fine with it.

“Sukuna and I want to do it.”

Suguru nodded before tugging Satoru out of the way. Everyone else got up and formed a circle around in the middle of the room. Yūji joined them and watched as they took their neighbors’ hands in their own. That wasn’t the method their teachers had shown him the day before, but he took that to mean there wasn’t really a required way of sharing energy.

“You remember what I taught you about controlling the flow of your cursed energy, Itadori-kun?” Suguru asked. He nodded. “Alright. Join hands with Junpei and Mimiko. All you have to do is focus your energy into them.”

“As for the rest of you, you’ll be bonding with someone who’s beyond your rank, so don’t be alarmed when you're overwhelmed by Sukuna’s energy. You’ll be fine. Just stay calm and let your bodies adapt to it.”

Yūji hoped none of them passed out like he had when Sukuna incarnated into his body. He didn’t think they would; incarnation was probably very different from bonding. But, he remembered he’d gotten light-headed when he bonded with Sukuna, so there was a chance they’d feel the same way. Putting those concerns aside for the time being, Yūji took Junpei and Mimiko’s hands. He waited until he could feel the flow of their energy enter and merge with his own before he took a breath, focusing on reaching out with his own. To his right, Junpei tensed and to his left, Mimiko hunched over, breathing deeply. The others took it well enough; not without visible discomfort as they adapted, but no one fainted at least.

“Two shikigami users. Interesting.”

“...You can tell what their techniques are? Does that mean you can use theirs like you can mine?”

“No. I would need to be directly bonded to them to do that,” Sukuna said. “Megumi appears to be the strongest of them. I’m looking forward to seeing him in action.”

He supposed Sukuna would take an interest in something like that. Once he felt Junpei and Mimiko loosen their hold on his hands, he did the same. Looking at Mimiko, Yūji reached out just in case she fell. She looked really out of breath.

“Are you okay, Hasaba-san?”

“Mimiko and yes. I’ll be okay,” she said. “Thank you for asking, Itadori-kun.”

Chapter Text

“Itadori-kun?”

Yūji looked up from the book Suguru had given him to read while the others trained on the field. He wanted to join them, but he wasn’t ready to spar with them yet. Thanks to Sukuna, Yūji had a fairly good idea what his fighting style should be, but he still needed to actually learn how to fight. But, Suguru had been called away by Masamichi for something, so Yūji was left with a book on basic jujutsu to read while he waited.

“Oh. Hey, Mimiko-san.”

Mimiko sat next to him, placing her doll on her lap. She seemed to hesitate for a few moments before she looked at him.

“I...wanted to ask earlier, but I didn’t want to draw more attention to it. That mouth and voice....That was Sukuna, right?”

“Yeah. It was....Sorry if he freaked you out; I can’t really stop him from doing that.”

Not that he really cared to stop him. What happened in the cabin was out of character because he had so far only done that when he needed to talk.

“I thought he couldn’t take control of your body. Or, is this something different?”

“Well, he’s not really taking control of my body when he does that. I can still move and talk independently.”

“I see. And, he can do that whenever he wants?” Yūji nodded. “Huh....So, if I said hi to him or wanted to ask him something, he could answer without using you as a messenger.”

“Yep!...Did you want to?”

“Huh? Did I want to what?”

“Say hi to him? Or, ask him something?” he asked. “I mean, I can’t say he’ll respond if you do, but you can try if you want.”

Mimiko looked away in thought before shaking her head.

“No. I was just curious. I think, eventually, we’ll have to talk to him; he’s kind of a student now, too, and he’ll be there when we go on missions. It’s important that we can communicate with our team. It’s useful that we won’t have to rely on delayed responses from him.”

“I am not a student. She’s delusional.”

“We spent five minutes Friday night teaching you how to operate the doors and windows. You might know almost everything about jujutsu, but there’s still a lot you could learn. Maybe I should ask Nanako to teach you how to use a cellphone?”

There was a brief, sharp pain on his forehead.

“Ow!” he exclaimed, rubbing where the pain was. “What was that?!”

“Itadori-kun? What’s wrong?”

“I....I think he just flicked me. How?”

“The same way your body bears my bond mark; damage to the soul will affect the body.”

“You attacked my soul?”

“I poked your soul. You’ll be fine.”

“Jerk.”

He said that, but he couldn’t really stop himself from laughing. He found it humorous and a little endearing that the King of Curses could be so human.

“Are you okay, Itadori-kun? You’re not hurt, are you?”

“No, no. I’m fine, Mimiko-san, really; we were just teasing each other, that’s all.”

Mimiko blinked. She was in disbelief at what he’d just said. He supposed she would be; teasing Ryōmen Sukuna probably wasn’t something people thought they could, or even should, do. Why would it be? Only an insane person would try. Or, someone who knew they were mostly safe with him like Yūji did.

“Mimiko! C’mon! It’s your turn!”

“Coming! I’ll...see you later, Itadori-kun.”

“Good luck, Mimiko-san!”

He waved to her, watching her hurry to the field where she would apparently be sparring with Nobara.

“I have a question for Sukuna if he wouldn’t mind answering.”

“G-Gojō-sensei?! Where did–Were you there the entire time?”

“Yes,” he said, smiling. “Well? Will Sukuna answer my question?”

The second pair of eyes opened, looking at Satoru. It was the only confirmation he was going to give.

“How did you know bonding with Itadori-kun would work? Before Mahito, there hasn’t been a curse that’s done that and I doubt you took the time to learn it from him.”

“I knew it would work because Mahito’s failed bond was partially functional. I could feel the connection with him, so I concluded I could do the same.”

Yūji frowned. Sukuna was lying. But why? He couldn’t imagine there would be any consequences for telling the truth. His knowledge would imply he’d seen it done before, but that could’ve only happened back during the Heian era; there wasn’t anyone around that could be punished, though he didn’t know why Sukuna would care about that. Unless he had bonded with a sorcerer before? There was nothing about that in his legend, though. Surely it would’ve been known.

He decided he would ask another time.

“Follow-up question. What happened to the incomplete bond with Mahito?”

“Nothing. It’s still in place, but our complete bond takes priority. As long as Mahito keeps his distance, it’ll remain dormant.”

“Hm....I’m afraid you’ve just gone and confused me more. I can’t for the life of me figure out why you’d spare him. Ryōmen Sukuna sparing someone who’s, technically, a rival just doesn’t feel like the kind of thing you’d do. Unless you’re certain he’ll stay away, it seems like a headache waiting to happen.”

“Killing him would have hurt Yūji and that would’ve violated the vow I made to him. It isn’t as if I enjoyed sparing his life. As for him staying away....There’s no chance that he will; I knew this when I spared him.”

Yūji froze. Wait. Did that mean Mahito would come looking for him again at some point? What were they supposed to do if Sukuna couldn’t kill him without breaking his vow? Maybe one or both of his teachers could deal with him, but there was no guarantee they’d be around if - when? - they ran into Mahito.

“I....Does that mean he’ll keep coming after me?” Yūji asked, feeling sick to his stomach.

“I’m sure Sukuna knows what he’s doing, Itadori-kun,” Satoru said, resting his hand on his shoulder as an added comfort. “Besides, a cursed spirit that doesn’t know its own power yet isn’t much of a threat to Suguru and I. Special Grade or not, we’ll be able to handle him.”

“He’s right. I couldn’t hurt him in Kawasaki, but by the time he gathers himself and comes to challenge me, your bond with him will be broken. He won’t receive mercy from me a second time.”

“...I thought bonds were permanent.”

“Complete bonds are permanent. Incomplete ones, especially ones that aren’t even properly made, fade over time. So long as you and Mahito stay apart, it’ll break on its own.”

He pretended that made sense. Bonding still didn’t quite click in his head, so the rules around them were a mess to him.

“Itadori-kun.”

“Getō-sensei!”

“Ready to start your lessons?” Suguru asked. He nodded. “Good. I just want to make sure it’s me you want to train with today. You know you can ask Satoru, too.”

Yūji glanced back at Satoru. He smiled lazily at him and waved. Maybe he’d spar or train with him someday, but starting off with the sorcerer everyone claimed to be the strongest didn’t seem like a good idea.

“I’m sure, Sensei.”

“Alright. Come along then.”

He got the distinct feeling that he might’ve made a mistake.

Chapter Text

He had, in fact, made a mistake. When he chose to train with Suguru, Yūji had operated under the assumption it would be easier and less straining on him to train with the teacher that was closer to his skill level. Sure, Suguru was still a powerful sorcerer, but he wasn’t Satoru levels of powerful. It turned out not being the strongest meant he didn’t feel all that compelled to pull his punches. His training, if it could even be called that, was brutal. Yūji came out of it sore, bruised, and maybe a little humiliated. Okay, a lot humiliated, but not because he got his ass handed to him. Almost everyone there had been laughing; the only ones who weren’t were Megumi and Nanako, but the latter was visibly amused.

Even Sukuna thought it was hysterical, but Yūji was less bothered by that one. Sukuna’s ability to be amused by what happened implied he trusted Suguru and Satoru to take care of his vessel. Even when he was getting wiped, they weren’t perceived as a threat.

That evening, after spending a good while soaking in the tub, he sat down to do his homework. And, honestly, homework for a normal curriculum wasn’t something Yūji expected to have. But, it turned out that even though the school was essentially a training ground for sorcerers and the government was aware of its hidden agenda, it was registered as an actual school. So, they did still have to learn regular mundane subjects. It impressed him more than annoyed him, but he supposed he could thank Mahito for that. The only thing he had actually done right was make sure Yūji was studied. Or, well, he never stopped Yūji from picking up any of the books he would bring back whenever he left.

A little after nine, there was a knock on his door that, thankfully, pulled him away from his science. Peeking out, he saw Junpei standing there and smiled, opening the door to greet him.

“Junpei-kun, hey! What’s up?”

“I–Well, I was just....I wanted to ask what kind of movies you like,” Junpei said. “You know, in case we get together to watch some. I want to make sure I have something you’d want to watch.”

Yūji tensed. Right. Of course he’d be expected to have a certain genre he liked above the others. He hadn’t gone into too much detail on his captivity; given how adjusted he was despite having every reason not to be, they probably assumed it was more like being locked in a bedroom than a storage unit.

“Uh, well. I’m not picky. I’ll watch anything once, you know? I can’t really think of a specific movie that I’d consider a favorite.”

Noticing Junpei looking at him, it took a few moments to realize he was looking at the bond mark on his neck. Yūji brought his hand up to cover it; not because he was ashamed of it or anything. He refused to be shamed into choosing survival. But, he didn’t know if it made Junpei uncomfortable.

“S-Sorry! I didn’t mean to stare! I just....It looks like it was painful. It doesn’t hurt, does it?”

“Oh, no. It doesn’t. I don’t feel it at all actually,” Yūji said, his hand moving to cover Mahito’s mark even though it was already hidden by his sleeve. “Apparently it’s not supposed to hurt.”

“...Does that one hurt?”

“Eh....It’s just phantom pains every now and then. But, I’m fine. Anyway, I have to get this science thing done so I can get to bed.”

“Hey, Itadori-kun?” Yūji looked at him curiously. “I know we’re strangers, but....Well, we’re packmates now. So, if you ever want or need to talk about anything, I’m happy to listen.”

Yūji blinked before he smiled softly.

“I’ll keep that in mind, Junpei-kun. Thanks. Good night.”

“Night!”

Shutting the door as Junpei walked away, Yūji leaned back against it as he stared at the ground. Everything was going so well. He should feel nothing but relief and joy, but he mostly just felt afraid. He was constantly worried that he was having a really good dream and he was going to wake up at any moment surrounded by concrete and books wearing that stupid over-sized shawl Mahito dressed him in simply because he couldn’t be bothered to keep track of Yūji’s physical growth. It was a ridiculous thing to be afraid of because he knew there was no way to have such a vivid dream full of people he hadn’t ever seen before, but it was still rooted in his mind and wouldn’t go away.

“...Hey, Sukuna?”

“Hm?”

“I don’t suppose you know any techniques that can put someone to sleep, do you?”

“I do, but don’t make it a habit. Techniques aren’t cure-alls.”

“Yeah, I know. I just don’t feel like waking up at three in the morning again, that’s all.”

He chose to ignore the slight eagerness in Sukuna’s tone. He wasn’t stupid; he knew that meant he was probably waiting to have control of his body. Maybe Yūji should be more concerned about it, but whatever Sukuna had in mind, he was going to trust it wouldn’t end up falling back on him. Besides, it wasn’t like it necessarily had to be anything bad. Sukuna was trapped in his innate domain all day with literally nothing to do. Yūji honestly wouldn’t be surprised if he just wanted to get out for a bit.

Chapter Text

The ease in which Sukuna was able to sneak into the warehouse and disappear with one of the more secure cursed objects hidden away there was laughable. Security at the school was incredibly lazy and while it worked in his favor once, he was suddenly questioning whether it was the safest place for his bondmate. If Sukuna could sneak into the school’s most secure building without trouble, then anything or anyone could sneak into the grounds with even less to worry about. Then again, he supposed the security came from having Gojō Satoru around; a powerful sorcerer like him likely kept order just by existing.

Still, he decided to remain on alert. He wasn’t about to risk letting his guard down and potentially letting Mahito slip through the cracks. But, then, keeping an eye on the young curse was exactly why he’d gone to the warehouse in the first place. He needed someone to track him down and relay information to him. And, it just so happened that along with three of his fingers, the sorcerers had also captured and contained the ones he’d entrusted their safety to. Looking at the three had briefly made him wonder what happened to the one that had protected the finger Mahito forced Yūji to ingest.

He didn’t dwell on those thoughts and worries for very long, though. It had been almost a thousand years, after all; it was inevitable that some of them would’ve died. It was a stroke of luck that Chōsō was one of the curses captured by the sorcerers instead of outright killed, though he supposed he could only attribute that to the fact his embryonic form was protected by Sukuna’s grave wax. Of all his former bondmates, he trusted Chōsō with this particular task the most. He was always very attached to and protective of his fellow cohorts. Sukuna had no doubt he would devote himself to maintaining Yūji’s well-being with the same fervor as he’d had for the others.

First, though, Sukuna needed to find a vessel for Chōsō. Anyone would do as long as they were weaker than him, so he technically had thousands of options to choose from, but he wasn’t foolish enough to abduct some random civilian that would obviously be missed the same night the warehouse was broken into. Besides, he would prefer to avoid any serious backlash from Yūji. When he inevitably found out what Sukuna did, he’d probably be less upset that he incarnated a curse using a nobody that wasn’t doing anything worthwhile with their life. That was why when he chose his target, he plucked the twitchy human that radiated with all the wrong intent instead of the woman he was stalking. He still did something arguably bad, but at least he could argue he saved a life in the process.

Sukuna, unlike Mahito, didn’t have the patience to force the embryo down the man’s throat in hope he didn’t immediately cough it up. It was larger than his finger, so it wouldn’t go down nearly as easily. Instead, he carefully slit the man’s stomach open and plopped it directly into his gut. After all, the only requirement was for a vessel to be alive. Their age, sex, the condition of their body; none of that mattered. It would all be overridden by the cursed spirit. Normally. He didn’t know what Yūji’s deal was and at that point, there was no point in trying to figure it out. That was why he wasn’t worried about how fucked up the man’s body was from whatever substances he seemed to have poisoned himself with or the injury he’d given him. Before long, Sukuna was no longer looking at the vessel’s agonized expression as he writhed, but the familiar face of one of his most valued bondmates.

“...Ryōmen-sama...?”

He chuckled. Chōsō was only semi-conscious. It showed in the noticeable drawl as he spoke and the unfocused, hazy look in his eyes. Not an unfamiliar look for him, though the method wasn’t usually how Sukuna got him to that state. It only lasted a few minutes, though, and then Chōsō was fully conscious. Even though Sukuna looked very different from what he used to look like, there was no mistaking who he was. Chōsō bowed, resting his head on the ground.

“Ryōmen-sama, it’s an honor to see you’ve returned. I....I must apologize sincerely to you.”

“Oh? And what has my little bloodling done to wrong me?”

“Your finger, my lord, I–I failed to protect it. The sorcerers....I’m ashamed to say they were too much for me.”

“Hm....That is quite a shame; you were among the strongest of my bondmates,” Sukuna said, watching Chōsō’s hands ball into frustrated fists. “It’s of no consequence. Your failure has worked in my favor, little bloodling, so all is forgiven.”

Chōsō looked up at him, curious but silent. Respectful. Never asking about Sukuna’s personal business unless prompted to.

“I have an assignment for you, Chōsō. It concerns this vessel of mine.”

The other sat up and watched as Sukuna shifted the sleeve of Yūji’s nightshirt. Chōsō’s first reaction was to his lord’s mark, his eyes lighting up as it always did whenever he gained a new bond-brother. Even though his bonds with the sorcerers he took during the Heian era ceased to exist when their lives as humans ended, they were eternally his. As such, any bondmate he took after them would always be regarded as their bond-brother. Or, bond-sister in Uraume’s case.

Before he could ask questions about Yūji, though, Chōsō’s eyes caught on the botched mark. No doubt he thought someone had tried to steal his bond-brother from their lord; the dark, furious look in his eyes said it all. Sukuna chuckled as he reached out, tucking Chōsō’s hair behind his ear. He calmed just enough to look away from Mahito’s mark and refocus his attention onto him.

“Don’t get the wrong idea, Chōsō; if there’s a thief in this, it would be me. But, their bond was incomplete and poorly done, so it hardly counts.”

“...The bond is still in place. You didn’t kill the other curse?”

“I couldn’t. I vowed to protect this boy; killing his former bondmate would’ve gone against that vow. Besides, he was hardly worth killing at the time,” Sukuna said. “But, that means Mahito will retaliate. And unfortunately, I have no way of knowing what he’s up to so I can prepare. That’s where you come in, little bloodling.”

Chōsō stared at him.

“Is Ryōmen-sama asking me to spy on...Mahito?”

“Spy? No; that’s far too simple. I need you to infiltrate his circle, if he even has one. Ally yourself with him; be the most valuable player on his side of the board. That way you can relay everything back to me. In the meantime, Yūji and I will continue to grow stronger so that when he inevitably strikes, we can handle it.”

“Of course. Whatever you ask of me, I will do it. But....What if this pits me against the two of you? I won’t be able to retreat without drawing suspicion, but I refuse to hurt you or my bond-brother.”

“I expect you to play your role perfectly, Chōsō, so you will do what you need to based on the information Mahito gives you. If he tells you everything that’s happened, it makes sense you would avoid fighting Yūji; if not because he’s bonded to Mahito, then because you aren’t foolish enough to trigger Ryōmen Sukuna into action. But, if he doesn’t tell you this, then you will act accordingly. Aim to knock Yūji out or push him into a corner so that he’ll be forced to call on me for help. Retreating to avoid fighting me is hardly anything suspicious.”

Chōsō nodded, accepting his task. Communicating with each other would have to wait until Yūji ingested the finger that held the fragment of Chōsō’s soul, but he could work his way into Mahito’s good graces in the meantime. As Chōsō moved to stand, clumsily getting to his feet, Sukuna kept his arms out in case he needed to catch him. But, he adjusted to his new body quickly enough. So long as he didn’t overexert himself the way Sukuna had, he would be fine.

“Here,” Sukuna said as he held the clothes out to him. Hopefully Yūji wouldn’t notice one of his uniforms missing or didn’t ask about it if he did. “It’ll be a bit small, but it’s temporary. Approaching Mahito in a sorcerer’s uniform would be akin to a confession. Find something you like before you look for him.”

Chōsō looked between the uniform he’d been given and the white t-shirt and dark sweatpants that Yūji changed into after his bath. Unimpressed with the judgemental stare his cohort gave him, Sukuna glared back. Daring him to say something.

“You look comfortable, Ryōmen-sama.”

“I prefer my kimono. Go on now.”

With that, Chōsō was gone and Sukuna hurried back to the school before anyone noticed Yūji wasn’t in bed.

<><><o><><>

“You were right, Satoru,” Suguru said as he watched Sukuna and the cursed spirit he incarnated go their separate ways. “Should I go after the new one?”

“Hm....I think we can let him go for now.”

Even though they were speaking over the phone, Suguru still looked over as if he was going to see the other.

“Not worried he’ll cause trouble?”

“If he does, we can handle him. But, we have to consider the fact that he was chosen and released by Sukuna. That means whoever he is, they know each other. Partner spirits maybe, or possibly another bondmate. If I had to guess, Sukuna’s taking precautions against Mahito.”

Suguru thought.

“He’s probably not a bondmate. Sukuna wouldn’t send him to his rival if that was the case.”

“Ah, that’s true. Curse bonds are like neon lights,” Satoru said with a laugh. “Anyway, let them do their own thing. We can question Sukuna about it after next month’s inspection of the warehouse.”

“...What are we doing, Satoru?” Suguru asked, rubbing his temple.

“Winging it. That's all we can do right now.”

Chapter Text

Two weeks had passed since his first day of school. In that time, Yūji had improved considerably. Satoru was the better teacher to have for the fighting style Yūji was told would work best for him. By the end of his first week, he was already allowed to spar with the others, though he was limited to Junpei, Mimiko and Nanako as they were much closer to his skill level than Megumi and Nobara. It might’ve been a more impressive improvement if not for the fact that he was exploiting Sukuna’s presence. Yūji spent an hour each evening in the curse’s innate domain sparring with him there to further reinforce what he’d learned, which helped him advance quicker than he normally would’ve.

There was also the fact that Yūji’s natural physical prowess far exceeded most others. He had never really thought about it; to him, being stronger or faster than his peers was normal. He remembered his grandfather had always been strong for someone so old and from what he knew, his father was the same. But, it wasn’t normal even for sorcerers without training. Megumi wondered if it was a Heavenly Restriction, but Sukuna shot that down immediately. Heavenly Restrictions apparently seared the soul and Yūji’s soul was unburnt. So, whatever it was, it was an anomaly that they couldn’t yet explain. But, it was one he was more than willing to take advantage of and, so far, there were no drawbacks to it.

All of that combined meant that his teachers were comfortable sending him on supervised Grade 4 missions. That was why he woke up more excited on Saturday morning than just the usual weekend anticipation. He’d been assigned a mission alongside Junpei and Nanako. He was finally allowed to actually do something other than study and train. Their supervisor wasn’t either of their teachers, though, but a man named Ijichi Kiyotaka. He wasn’t a combatant, but for such a low level cursed spirit, the three of them didn’t need a combatant to accompany them. Especially with Sukuna as back-up, though Suguru had made it explicitly clear that Sukuna was a last resort.

To be perfectly honest, Yūji felt kind of bad about needing to keep Sukuna locked up. The curse didn’t say it, but it was obvious he was bored out of his mind. His hour-long spars with Yūji were the only thing he ever got to do and those weren’t exactly thrilling. But, he understood why Suguru had all but drilled that statement into their heads. Even with his vows and whatever obligations he had for Yūji’s packmates, Sukuna was still an incredibly powerful cursed spirit. That made him dangerous even when he wasn’t trying to be.

“Alright. Since this is Itadori-kun’s first field mission, we’ll go over everything again,” Kiyotaka said as he passed the tablet to Junpei. “You’ll be dealing with a pretty standard Grade Four curse that’s taken up residence at the Eishu Detention Center. Honestly, any one of you could defeat it on your own. The building’s been evacuated, so don’t worry about being discreet.”

“An evacuation for a standard Grade Four? That sounds extreme,” Yūji said.

“The building was evacuated by the authorities because a number of the residents and staff have gotten sick in a short amount of time. It was a safety precaution.”

“So, either the curse has a poison technique or the cursed energy is affecting the people,” Nanako said. “Moon Dregs should be able to protect us from its technique then.”

“...Moon Dregs? What’s that?”

“Right. You haven’t seen it yet, have you? Moon Dregs is my shikigami.”

Yūji blinked. Sukuna had said there were two shikigami users. If Junpei was one of them, who was the other?

“Really? What’s it like?”

“It looks like a jellyfish!”

That was neat. So, shikigami took the form of an animal? Yūji was a little jealous; it sounded fun being able to summon your own animal friend.

“So, how can Moon Dregs protect us if the curse uses poison?”

“Moon Dregs uses poison, too,” Nanako said. “It can also protect others from poison or cure them if they’re infected.”

“Yep! Megumi-kun’s been helping me learn more about my shikigami and its potential.”

He could only assume that meant Megumi was the other shikigami user. At least, it made sense for him to be if he understood them enough to help Junpei with his.

“Still....It’s a bit weird, isn’t it? A low level Grade Four shouldn’t even have a curse technique or give off that much cursed energy,” Junpei said. “Could it be influenced by a cursed object?”

“There’s no indication of there being a cursed object involved, but it’s possible. Should I call Gojō or Getō and request the case be entrusted to someone else?” Kiyotaka asked.

“No, we’ll be fine. If neither of them saw anything weird about it, then we don’t have to worry. There’s probably more than one curse; weaker curses do tend to flock together. Ready to head in?”

“Ready if you are, Nana-chan.”

“Let’s do this!”

The four of them got out of the car and walked up the long, long road to the detention center. Kiyotaka flashed something to one of the officers guarding the perimeter who looked understandably confused and displeased that their back-up were a bunch of high schoolers, but he couldn’t stop them, so they walked past him. The overcast made the silent center even more eerie than it probably would’ve been.

“I’ll put up the curtain. Remember that you won’t be able to pass through once it’s up until the cursed spirit or spirits are dead.”

With Nanako in the lead, the three of them headed inside as the sky darkened around them. He’d never been inside a detention center before, but nothing stood out about it. Seemed like a pretty standard institution to him.

“So....How do we find the curse?”

“Normally we’d track its residuals, but this place reeks of it, so that’s not going to help us. If only Megumi-kun was here; his dogs could track it.”

“Moon Dregs can’t do that?” he asked, Junpei shaking his head. “Guess that makes sense. Jellyfish don’t have noses....I think.”

Junpei chuckled, shaking his head.

“Guess we’ll have to try and find the point where the energy is coming from. Damn. Junpei-kun and I aren’t all that good at that and you can’t even use your cursed energy yet, so you’re more useless than us.”

“Ouch. C’mon, Nanako-san, do you have to be so harsh about it?”

“Corridor to the left.”

Yūji was startled by Sukuna’s contribution. Instead of speaking up, though, he thought. He could relay that information to the others, but he didn’t want to get into that habit. If they ever got into a serious situation, delayed information could be the difference between life or death, right? So, he decided he wasn’t going to play along.

“Huh? What was that?”

“Do not.”

“Sorry, Sukuna, but I think the cursed energy might be messing with our connection.”

“That’s not how–” Rolling one’s eyes wasn’t an audible action, but Yūji could swear he heard it when Sukuna rolled his anyway. “The epicenter is coming from the corridor on the left.”

“Oh! Thanks, Sukuna!” Junpei said.

“Hm.”

“He says no problem,” Yūji said, ignoring the feeling of being flicked on the head again. “Anyway, to the left!”

“This isn’t a field trip, you know. You don’t have to sound so excited about it.”

“I’m pretty sure he’s just happy to be allowed off campus, not the mission itself,” Junpei said. “Right, Itadori-kun?”

“I mean....I can’t say I’m not excited to be doing my first field mission, but yeah; getting off campus is really nice, too. Besides, we’re going to the penthouse after we’re done here, right? I can’t wait!”

“...Yeah, okay. I can give you that.”

The three of them - well, four counting Sukuna - made their way down the corridor until they got to a set of double doors. Even without Sukuna’s input, the three of them could feel the cursed energy radiating from the other side.

“Through here, right?”

“Yes,” Sukuna said. “Obviously.”

<><><o><><>

Kiyotaka stood outside the curtain as he waited with increasing impatience and concern for the students to return. It was a simple case; nothing that should’ve taken more than ten minutes to complete. So, naturally, when they weren’t back after half an hour, he started to worry. Had Junpei been correct? Was there a cursed object that slipped through their investigation? Or, maybe it was as Nanako said and there was more than one cursed spirit. If that was the case, were they overwhelmed by their numbers? It was just the three of them after all. He pulled his phone from his pocket at around forty minutes and resolved to call either Satoru or Suguru if they weren’t out after an hour. He didn’t want to completely doubt the students, so he’d give them the benefit of the doubt.

His phone rang around forty-five minutes after the kids went into the detention center, startling him. Looking at the ID, he tensed when he saw Satoru’s name displayed on the screen. Was he calling to check how things were going? That was unusual. But, then, they did have a bit of an unusual student that time around.

“Gojō-san,” he greeted.

“Heyo~! Just calling to see how our dear students are doing. They should be done by now, right?”

“Ah....It seems to be taking longer than it should, but I’m sure they’ll be out soon.”

“Really? Well, it’s a big building. Plenty of places for cursed spirits to hide,” Satoru said. He wouldn’t call the detention center big, but he wouldn’t say half the things Satoru said. “Anyway, Suguru and I wanted to ask if you’d be willing to take Itadori-kun to Sugisawa Hospital after the mission’s wrapped up. We already sent Akari to pick up Nanako and Junpei, so no worries there.”

Kiyotaka blinked.

“Sugisawa Hospital?”

“Yep. Suguru did some digging and found Itadori Wasuke’s records. He’s a LTAC patient at Sugisawa Hospital. From the look of things, he’s not doing so hot. Itadori-kun should be allowed to visit him. I think it’ll do both of them some good.”

“I....I certainly don’t mind, but Sugisawa’s all the way in Sendai City, isn’t it? That’s a pretty big detour.”

Satoru laughed, though there was no sincerity behind it. He sounded more confused.

“Why would it be a detour? You’re already in Sendai City.”

“You’re...messing with me, yes? We’re not in Sendai; we’re in West Tōkyō,” Kiyotaka said. “They were assigned to deal with the cursed spirit haunting the Eishu Detention Center.”

“Eishu–What?”

It was quiet for an uncomfortable amount of time as Satoru clicked through the database.

“What the hell are you talking about, Ijichi? That’s not even on the list of cases that are approved for student training,” Satoru said. “Suguru! Do you know anything about the Eishu Detention Center?”

Surely not. Surely there was a mistake. He was certain Satoru just wasn’t seeing it, though the notion that Gojō Satoru of all people had simply skimmed over it was ridiculous. He acted stupid and lazy, but he wasn’t. He listened as Suguru said something, but he couldn’t hear what it was. But, he didn’t need to because Satoru was more than happy to let the world know about it.

“The fuck do you mean Special Grade?! How did that get through–We have to get to west Tōkyō! Now!”

Kiyotaka’s blood ran cold and he stood there still as a statue for a good few minutes after Satoru had abruptly ended the call. When he snapped out of his shock, Kiyotaka ran up to the curtain to dispel it, though he wasn’t sure what he was going to do. He wasn’t a combatant, after all. But, maybe if he could find them, he could still help them. Even if it meant giving them a few minutes to run away before he died, he’d take it. But, when he dispelled his curtain, he was dismayed to find another barrier had been placed behind his. Except it wasn't a curtain; it was the shell of a domain. He smacked his fists against the domain wall before sinking to his knees, unable to do anything but pray the students would be able to survive long enough for their teachers to show up.

He couldn't have been sitting there for very long, maybe five minutes, before his head shot up at the sound of the domain cracking. He got to his feet and moved away, watching as it shattered. Once it was down, revealing the detention center, Kiyotaka hurried to the building. His mind raced with what he might find inside. The best case scenario would be to find the three of them safe and unharmed; the worst he could imagine was opening the doors to a massacre. But, Kiyotaka didn't even make it to the doors before they were thrown open. And, suddenly, he wasn't sure if a massacre was still the worst case scenario.

Where exactly on the scale did encountering Ryōmen Sukuna fall?

Chapter Text

The moment the domain engulfed them, they knew something had gone horribly wrong. If a low level Grade 4 was unlikely to possess a cursed technique, then they sure as hell weren’t going to know how to use Domain Expansion. No one said it aloud, but they knew. It was obvious the tampered file was the work of the elders. A way for them to, hopefully, get rid of Sukuna without outright going against the deal to not have Yūji executed. It was devious; Junpei was almost impressed. Almost. It was still an attempt on Yūji’s life and they even dragged him and Nanako into it. He knew their teachers weren’t fans of the elders, but it was only then he was really grasping why they felt the way they did about them.

“Sorry,” Yūji said suddenly, catching Junpei and Nanako’s attention. “This is my fault.”

“No, it’s not.”

“But, I–”

Nanako pressed her finger to Yūji’s lips, shushing him before he could continue.

“Don’t. You didn’t ask to swallow Sukuna’s ugly ass finger–”

“Was that necessary?”

“–and you didn’t have much choice when you bonded with him. None of this is your fault, so don’t start spouting that nonsense. Hell, even if things were different and you had become his vessel and bondmate by choice, that doesn’t change the fact that we’re in this mess because of the elders.”

Junpei reached up to rest his hand on Yūji’s shoulder, nodding to him with a smile. Nanako was right. Nothing about the situation was his fault.

“...Alright. So, what should we do?” Yūji asked.

“There’s no way the three of us are going to be able to do anything against a curse as strong as this one. We....We just have to wait and do our best to survive,” Nanako said as she pulled out her phone. “A low level Grade Four shouldn’t take us more than ten minutes to deal with. Ijichi-san will probably call Getō or Gojō around that time. They’ll be able to break through the domain. They’re probably on campus, so teleportation’s off the table, so they’ll use one of Getō’s curses. The fastest one would be able to get to the center in maybe five minutes. So, I give it fifteen or twenty minutes tops.”

Junpei rubbed his neck nervously. Twenty minutes wasn’t a lot of time, but there was no telling when the cursed spirit would attack or how long they could survive when it did. He could maybe protect them with Moon Dregs; it had a very durable body. As long as the cursed spirit used blunt attacks and not anything that cut or pierced, they’d be able to hide inside it for a good while before he needed to give it a break. The real problem with that, though, was that Moon Dregs actually got weaker the more people it had inside it. Twenty minutes was fine if it was just Junpei it was protecting, but him on top of Nanako and Yūji? That time would easily be halved.

He wondered if it’d be worth focusing only on himself and Nanako. Yūji had Sukuna’s protection, after all; he’d be fine no matter what the curse threw at them because even at his weakest, Sukuna was stronger than any curse he’d ever heard of. Satoru confirmed that. Junpei didn’t like the idea of not having Yūji’s back, though. At the very least, he should check to see how he felt about it.

Before he could even completely turn to look at Yūji, though, there was a distinct sound that Junpei couldn’t quite place before it got quiet enough that he could swear sound itself ceased to exist for a short time. The three of them stared in horrified silence at the arm that had pierced through Yūji’s chest, its hand holding and displaying his still beating heart. It was so quick and clean that Yūji didn’t even realize what he was looking at.

“Itadori!”

Everything that happened after Nanako screamed for their classmate happened so quickly that Junpei wasn’t able to process it at the time. Yūji was discarded, thrown across the room like trash where he smacked against the wall so hard the concrete cracked. Nanako attempted to pull her camera up before anything else could happen, but the cursed spirit was faster than her, crushing her arm in its grip with enough force to distort it entirely before discarding her, too. It turned to Junpei, stepping on and shattering Nanako’s phone as it approached. Junpei fell back and crawled away pathetically without ever taking his eyes off it.

Its power was overwhelming. It was far stronger than anything he’d encountered so far, rivaling the weight of Satoru’s own. Junpei watched as the curse balled its fist and raised it, ready to strike, and his mind supplied him with the information that a fist was blunt. Blunt meant he could protect himself. He reached inward to summon Moon Dregs, but the shikigami wasn’t able to finish manifesting before the cursed spirit brought its fist down. Junpei, despite logically knowing it would do nothing, raised his arms to cover his face.

The strike never landed. Instead, there was the distinct sound that he could now only associate with skin smacking concrete. When he opened his eyes and peeked out from between his arms, the curse appeared as shocked as the three of them had been when it attacked Yūji, looking at its shoulder as it processed it no longer had an arm.

“That was close.” Junpei jumped, leaning his head back to find Yūji standing behind him. No, not Yūji. “Too close.”

Sukuna.

Junpei gasped when the collar of his shirt was yanked and before he knew it, he was over Sukuna’s shoulder and across the room where Nanako lay unconscious on the ground. Sukuna dropped him in a way that felt both careless and careful before he knelt, placing his hand on Nanako’s shoulder. Junpei watched, astonished, as her arm was reconstructed right before his eyes. Right. Sukuna used to be a sorcerer; the only known case of a sorcerer becoming a curse. Of course he knew how to use reverse cursed technique.

“Neither of you are to move from this spot. I cannot and will not guarantee your safety if you do.”

Junpei could only nod and watched as Sukuna stood only to disappear again, crashing through a wall while dragging the cursed spirit with him.

<><><o><><>

Contrary to what the legends said about him, Sukuna was not an angry person. Was he an agent of destruction and chaos? Did he take immense pleasure in the slaughter of hundreds - no, thousands? Yes, absolutely. He wouldn’t argue that. But, angry? Not at all. Even when he had been human, he spent his days in a constant state of hatefulness, but people could hate without anger. He was never angry that the people around him treated him like a monster. Sure, he detested them for it and wanted them to suffer, but he understood why they were so scared of him. He knew he was an abomination.

It wasn’t until he had become a cursed spirit that he’d felt anger and even then, he could count on one hand the number of times he’d been driven to a state of rage. Sukuna would sooner die a thousand horrible deaths than ever admit aloud that he cared deeply for his bondmates, but the fact that his anger could only be triggered by harm being done to them was the only confession they needed. And, it made sense, didn’t it? Sukuna was born from a man that had nothing. No family, no friends, no home; not even a name. Even the clothes he wore as a human were all stolen from the corpses of his victims. Never his. Just burrowed trash because even he had the decency to not walk around naked. Being attached to the few he could call his own was inevitable, so it was only natural that when someone hurt them, he would be furious.

Almost a thousand years of slumber hadn’t changed that. His blood boiled the moment Yūji’s heart was torn from his chest. Yūji was fine, of course; repairing his heart wasn’t even child's play for Sukuna. But, the damage had been done. The second the curse so much as considered laying its filthy hand on his sorcerer, its fate was sealed.

The fight lasted far longer than it should’ve, though. The curse itself wasn’t all that strong. It was still a Special Grade, so it was in a completely different dimension than the curses the students could currently handle, but it was nothing compared to Sukuna. Or, at least, it shouldn't have been. He’d been so blinded by his rage that he’d completely missed the fact that his enemy was drawing on the power of one his fingers. That meant, since Sukuna was also operating on the power of one finger, they were evenly matched. But, even though the curse was able to utilize his techniques against him, it couldn’t access the full benefit of the cursed object. And that was how Sukuna was able to kill it.

Because Sukuna could connect with the soul fragment that was tucked safely behind his own. Truth be told, he’d always considered Tarō’s power to be incredibly boring; not useless, as it was powerful if utilized correctly. Just boring. It required observation. Sukuna needed to watch and record his enemy, which went against his preferred method of combat. But, he couldn’t use Malevolent Shrine without risking Junpei and Nanako. It was just by proxy, but they were as much his as Yūji was and while he wasn’t above killing them if necessary, there was no point in letting them die at that time.

So, he behaved himself. He put himself on the defensive, recording every move the curse made against him. After almost an hour, he’d gathered all the information he needed to recreate a smaller, more concentrated version of Malevolent Shrine. In an instant, before the curse could even sense his change in demeanor, it was gone. Obliterated into red dust by the onslaught of echoes.

“Echo Projection,” Sukuna said as he knelt and picked up the finger, “By observing my opponents, I can record their movements and recreate them as I see fit by projecting afterimages capable of mimicking the original subject.”

There was no reason to explain the technique. No one was listening. Maybe Sukuna was just feeling sentimental as he, once again, pondered Tarō’s fate. He’d attempted to reach out to him, but he never responded. That didn’t mean he was necessarily dead; he could be in embryonic stasis or he could just be ignoring him, though he highly doubted that was the case. His worried state wasn’t lessened in the slightest as he held the second finger in his hand, sensing Ryūsei’s soul fragment from within it. That was even more concerning than Tarō. Ryūsei’s power revolved around distorting perception and senses; he was, technically, untouchable. Sukuna had seen him trick others into killing their own allies or fighting the air itself with his techniques all while standing, unseen, mere feet from them.

More than that. He’d been subjected to that power. He knew from experience as both a user and a victim how effective it was.

Sukuna looked up as the domain began to shatter, swiftly swallowing the finger before the maze of concrete halls and pipes was gone, replaced with a recreational room. Junpei and Nanako were there, the latter still unconscious while the boy looked at him with uncertainty. Not fear exactly, but it was clear he didn’t know what he should be doing. Sukuna had to resist the urge to roll his eyes before he approached them, kneeling to lift Nanako into his arms. He didn’t say anything as he stood and made his way back to the lobby, relieved that Junpei had the sense to follow him without being told to.

When he kicked open the center’s doors, they almost smacked the kids’ supervisor in the face. Another couple seconds and they might’ve. A shame that they didn’t, but Sukuna settled for simply glaring at the bespectacled man. It wasn’t technically his fault as the file had been tampered with, but weren’t these managers supposed to be an investigative force? He should’ve caught on that something was wrong. Really, the only reason the man wasn’t cut to pieces already was because Sukuna hadn’t caught on either.

Though, he had somewhat of a valid excuse. Whatever made Yūji more of a lock box than a vessel also seemed to mess with his perception of cursed energy. He hadn’t sensed the cursed spirit’s true power until after he’d been given control of Yūji’s body. That was a serious problem.

“Nanako!”

Sukuna looked away from Kiyotaka as Suguru ran up to him, ripping the girl from his arms to check on her. He was too focused on the girl to even realize it wasn’t Yūji that had been carrying her, but Satoru noticed. That didn’t stop him from resting his hands on both his and Junpei’s shoulders, checking them over.

“Are you both all right?”

“Yeah. We’re fine, Gojō-sensei,” Junpei said, glancing at him. “Is Itadori-kun...?”

“Resting. He’ll be fine.”

“Good. That’s good,” Satoru said before he moved away. “I’m going to kill those sons of bitches and make fossil fuel out of them.”

Sukuna tilted his head. He had no idea what that was, but it sounded violent. He could support that.

“From now on, any team that has Yūji on it isn’t going on field missions without either Suguru or I. If we’re not available, we’ll send you out with Kento.”

“Kento?” he and Junpei asked simultaneously.

“He was mine and Suguru’s underclassman. He’s a Grade One sorcerer, so he’ll be more than capable of handling almost anything that comes at you. Trust me, those pricks won’t get a second chance to come after Yūji with underhanded tactics like this again.”

“They better not.”

Chapter Text

Yūji woke up suddenly, shooting up before his eyes could even open. His hands flew to his chest where he found nothing when he expected to find a hole. After all, the arm piercing his chest with his heart gripped in its hand was the last thing he remembered before he passed out. At least, he thought he passed out? He hadn’t died, so that had to be what happened. Did that mean Sukuna repaired his heart? Could reverse cursed technique do something like that?

“I don’t know how well modern sorcerers can use reverse cursed technique, but restoring your heart and Nanako’s arm was nothing I couldn’t handle.”

“Oh. Good. That’s good. I thought–Wait. What happened to Nanako-san’s arm?”

“Nothing I couldn’t fix. Anyway, there’s something I need to–”

Yūji’s door opened at that moment and interrupted their conversation.

“Kōchō-sensei!”

Masamichi’s head shot up and he rushed over, setting the food he’d brought on the bedside table before looking Yūji over.

“Itadori, are you all right?” He nodded, watching Masamichi sigh and let his head hang. “Thank goodness. Satoru and Suguru will be relieved to have you back, and I imagine your classmates will be happy, too.”

“Oh. Did Sukuna cause them trouble?”

“No. Nothing like that; he hasn’t even left your room. We’ve all just been worried about you, that’s all. It’s been four days–”

“Wha–Four days?!”

Yūji reached over to grab his phone, looking at the date. September 12. It had indeed been four days since the field mission. Was he really out that long?

“Your heart was ripped out, Yūji. If you were to ask me, I’d say four days is an inappropriately short recovery time.”

“Yeah, but you healed me, didn’t you?”

“Don’t be daft. Just because I healed the physical wound doesn’t mean there was no emotional or mental trauma.”

That made sense. Yūji watched Masamichi move the tray to his legs, taking a seat on the small chair that had been set up near the foot of his bed.

“I hope you appreciate my cooking more than Sukuna does, Itadori-kun.”

“Huh?”

“You were asleep for four days. Did you think I would let you waste away in your bed?”

Yūji rolled his eyes. That wasn’t what he meant. To be honest, he was trying not to think about the fact the was wearing his pajamas and smelled of soap and shampoo. That wasn’t something he and Sukuna had discussed before, but he didn’t want to dwell on it due to the extreme circumstances. They’d be talking about it at another time, though.

“What’s wrong with Kōchō-sensei’s cooking?”

“Nothing. I just can’t taste it.”

“Wait, really? Food doesn’t have a taste when you eat it?”

“No, it has a taste. Just not a pleasant one.”

“What’s it–”

“Shut up and eat, brat.”

Yūji decided to do as he was told. Sukuna clearly didn’t want to talk about it. It was quiet as he ate and unlike Sukuna, Yūji greatly enjoyed it. He must’ve made it obvious because Masamichi looked pleased.

“Thank you for the food, Kōchō-sensei,” he said, setting the tray aside. “It was great!”

“I’m glad to hear it! Now, as much as I’d like to let you go out to the field with everyone else, there’s some things that you need to be caught up on and made aware of,” Masamichi said. “First, the elders would like to extend their sincerest apologies for the ‘digital mishap’ that sent you to the Eishu Detention Center.”

“...No disrespect to you, Kōchō-sensei, but am I allowed to call bullshit?”

There was a cough from Sukuna that sounded like he was covering up a laugh.

“Satoru and Suguru already did plenty of that so you don’t have to. The second order of business is about that finger Sukuna ate at the detention center. Fortunately, the elders aren't too upset with it after being very sternly reminded of how Sukuna was even there in the first place. But, that doesn’t change the fact that a finger was ingested against the deal that was made with your teachers.”

Yūji had agreed that he wouldn’t ingest any fingers without either Suguru or Satoru there. It was a precaution just in case something went wrong. Maybe they’d gotten used to Sukuna being agreeable with whatever Yūji decided to do, but that didn’t mean it was a guarantee. He never agreed to that arrangement; in fact, he’d actively scoffed at it, said something along the lines “his body, his choice”, and then never mentioned it again. So, no, he wasn’t going to scold Sukuna or apologize for him recollecting one of his fingers because he made it clear he’d do with them as he saw fit if he happened to be in control.

“Now, as I said, the elders aren’t going to raise a stink over it; no official ruling’s been broken and the only reason Sukuna came into contact with that finger was because of their ‘blunder’. But, Suguru and Satoru are hoping you might be able to talk some sense into Sukuna since their negotiations with him fell through. No one’s saying he needs to hand over any fingers he finds; just that he waits until either of them are around before swallowing it.”

“No.”

“Will it really be a problem to just give Getō-sensei and Gojō-sensei some peace of mind? They’re sticking their necks out for us, you know. It’s the least we can do.”

“They’re sticking their necks out for you, Yūji, not us. Not me,” Sukuna said. “I’ll do whatever I please with any fingers I come across.”

Yūji sighed and shook his head, silently letting Masamichi know that Sukuna wasn’t willing to budge on that particular matter. He didn’t seem surprised, so he probably knew there was very little chance of success.

“It can’t be helped then. Could Sukuna at least assure us this won’t backfire on you? This is unknown territory; we don’t know how your resistance to incarnation works.”

“I can’t. I don’t know anything about it either. If they’re so worried, then they should just avoid letting you ingest more than one or two fingers at a time.”

“...He says one finger at a time shouldn’t cause any trouble.”

There was no way Yūji was going to swallow more than one in one sitting if he could help it. Hell, remembering the vile taste and texture of the one he’d been force fed made him want to just let Sukuna do it for him, but he wasn’t sure if switching with Sukuna for something so trivial would go over well with the elders. Suguru and Satoru were already in hot water just by looking out for him; Yūji didn’t want to do anything that would end up making things worse for them.

“Alright. Then let's talk about some new arrangements. First and foremost, after what happened at the detention center, we’ve decided you need to catch up to your classmates. So, you’ll be starting intensive training on Monday. That means from sun up to sun down for five days a week, you’ll be working with Suguru until you’ve all but mastered not just your combat style, but also how to manipulate your cursed energy,” Masamichi said. Yūji almost groaned. “In the meantime, you’ll be suspended from field missions and even when Suguru clears you for them, you’ll be supervised by either him, Satoru, or Kento.”

“Okay, but....Who’s Kento?”

“Nanami Kento is a Grade One sorcerer that’s reluctantly agreed to supervise your field missions if neither of your teachers can do it themselves. Anyway, there’s no need to worry about your standard classes while you’re busy training with Suguru; arrangements have already been made to make sure you don’t fall behind.”

Yūji and Masamichi looked out the window as the school bell dinged, signalling the end of the day. The man tutted, disappointed the talks had gone on so long, but Yūji didn’t mind. He didn’t feel like going to the field anyway.

“...Right. There’s one more thing.”

“What’s that?”

“It’s....Suguru did some digging around and found your grandfather’s records.” Yūji perked up. “He’s a LTAC patient at Sugisawa Hospital and has been since early this year. The field mission you were supposed to go on was in Sendai City. The plan was for Kiyotaka to take you to see him after the curse was dealt with.”

His grandfather was still alive. He’d always thought Mahito had killed him just to avoid any loose ends; he’d always made it sound like he had anyway. He always said things like he wouldn’t have anywhere to go if he ran away or that no one was looking for him. It was why he hadn’t looked into his case since being free. Yūji didn’t think there was a reason to. A part of him also didn’t want the details, choosing to live in a bubble he made for himself where his grandfather was spared a cruel death rather than be subjected to Mahito’s sadism.

“He’s not doing so well; his records indicate he’ll be lucky to live past the end of September. The quickest I can rearrange for you to see him would be this weekend, but I can’t guarantee he’ll live that long.”

“Please.”

“Okay.”

Masamichi stood, ruffled his hair carefully, and then left with the tray. Yūji felt the familiar feeling of anticipation bubble up inside him as he thought about seeing his grandfather again. He was nervous; of course he was, but it was drowned out by more joyfully-driven feelings. He had no idea what he was going to tell him because obviously he couldn’t tell him the truth, but he would figure it out.

“Oh, right. You were going to say something earlier, weren’t you?”

“It can wait. It isn’t relevant for the time being.”

Chapter Text

“Hey, so, can we talk?”

Sukuna looked at him as he settled in the spot that the curse had made for him. Yūji wasn’t sitting next to Sukuna; he doubted the other would ever allow anyone, even a bondmate, to sit next to him like they were an equal. But, he was high enough on the pile of bones to where if he wanted to, he could use Sukuna’s leg as a pillow. Whether that was intentional on Sukuna’s part or not, Yūji didn’t know, and he wasn’t particularly interested in finding out. It wasn’t his domain anyway, so Yūji didn’t think he should be commenting on how Sukuna ran it.

“What is it?”

“I just....About you being in control of my body, I think we should have some ground rules. Outside what you can’t do without breaking the vow you made, I mean.”

“Is this about what I did while you were recovering? Because I thought I did a fairly decent job taking care of you; I even did your assignments for you and made sure you didn’t stink up your room.”

“That right there; that’s, uh....That’s the problem,” Yūji said. “I’m not all that upset about it because the situation wasn’t, you know, normal? Changing into something’s fine, I guess; wouldn’t want you going out in my pajamas or anything. But, the showering? That’s...maybe a bit too far for casual outings.”

“Your concerns are unfounded. As you said, the situation was unusual. I have never and do not intend to make it a habit in any way to bathe or dress you.”

“What? You mean you don’t change while you’re out? Sukuna! Normal people can’t see your marks! Everyone must think I’m a fucking weirdo walking around at night in pajamas! How am I supposed to show my face outside campus?!”

The curse looked at him, wide-eyed and blinking slowly, as he seemed to struggle with what he’d just heard. When he did realize what he was talking about, Yūji couldn’t tell if he was amused or disturbed. His face distorted in a way that expressed an equal amount of both.

“Yūji, do...do you think I ‘go out’ when you’re asleep?”

It was Yūji’s turn to be confused. He didn’t? With how much he complained about being bored all day, Yūji thought Sukuna did take advantage of his sleeping hours to get out. Not every night, but enough to not go stir-crazy. Wasn’t that why he’d taken one of his uniforms and slipped out that one night?

“I mean, yeah? You’re always bitching about being bored, so why wouldn’t you? I don't mind. As long as you’re, like, not committing any crimes or hooking up with people.”

“You sound disappointed, Yūji. Worried about the parasite in your head, are you?”

“You’re not a parasite.”

Worried wasn’t the right word for it. Yūji just didn’t think Sukuna should be locked up all the time. He supposed the elders and even his teachers would have something to say about it, but as long as he wasn’t causing trouble, did they really have any leg to stand on?

“There’s no reason for me to go out,” Sukuna said. “I can’t kill anyone, causing a little chaos would fall back on you, and my bed only has room for my bondmates. I’d much rather be here all the time wading in circles. At least it’s not bright or noisy with nothing to make up for it.”

Yūji let his chin rest on his palm as he thought.

“Okay. Well, I still stand by what I said. If you do ever decide to go out, I don’t care if you change into something that’s not pajamas, but don’t go showering. It’s weird.”

“Really? Hm....That’s a dangerous restriction, you know. What if I get into a fight or some drunk prick vomits–”

“I doubt anyone would be able to get close enough to you to cause that much trouble.”

Sukuna blinked and looked at him for a couple seconds before he turned his head away.

“The others will be returning to the dormitory soon. You should get dressed and go see them; Junpei and Mimiko have been especially worried about you.”

Chapter Text

“Good afternoon, Yūko!”

“Hello, Kimura-san!”

“Visiting Itadori-san today?” Yūko nodded, holding up the bouquet of flowers. “Oh, those are lovely! I’m sure he’ll love them!”

Yūko would never really know if Wasuke actually appreciated the flowers she brought when she visited him. He never complained about them, but he also never complimented them. Sometimes, even though she always told him what the arrangements were made of, she wondered if he noticed them at all. But, since he never told her to stop, Yūko was happy to keep bringing them. That day, she found a bouquet of pink roses and knotweed. Normally she didn’t care for bouquets that featured knotweed; it wasn’t all that pretty, at least to her. But, it combined with the pink of the roses reminded her of Yūji. She couldn’t not buy it.

Walking into the room, she found Wasuke where he always was: Sitting in his bed staring out the window with a distant, sad look in his eye. He never talked about it, but it was clear as a cloudless day that he thought a lot about Yūji. Maybe talking about it would hurt too much. Maybe he just didn’t want to spill his woes to her. Whatever the case, he turned his head away from the window when he saw her in its reflection.

“Good afternoon, Itadori-san,” she said as she walked up to the vase. “I brought knotweed and roses today. I’m not usually a fan of knotweed; it’s not very pretty, in my opinion. But, I like how they look with the roses.”

For once, Wasuke actually looked at the bouquet. He watched as she replaced the dying flowers she had brought last time with the new ones, not looking away even when she moved to throw the old bouquet away. No comment, as usual, but he took notice. That didn’t mean he liked them, though, but he was a grumpy old man who wouldn't be afraid to tell her if he didn’t, so she took his silent observation as a form of approval.

“I also brought some kikufuku with me. Hōjicha, of course!”

“Hmph. Frivolous. You should be saving for university, not wasting your money on a worthless old man.”

“You’re not worthless, Itadori-san, and you’re not that old.”

“I’m seventy-two.”

“Mhm. And, you turn seventy-three next week. But, you’re still not that old,” Yūko said. “My great-grandmother turns a hundred next month, you know.”

“Hm.”

Yūko went ahead and served the kikufuku, talking idly about how her week had gone as she did. Even though he complained about it, Wasuke didn’t refuse the treat. Whether he was just being polite, actually liked it, or was just sick of hospital food, she’d never know. But, that was okay. It didn’t go to waste either way.

“Have you thought about what you want to study?” Wasuke asked. “You don’t have that many years before it matters, you know.”

“Business.”

“Because you want to?”

“Yes, Itadori-san.”

“As long as it’s what you want.”

Yūko was grateful that Wasuke took an interest in her future. It was sweet that he wanted her to do what she wanted rather than her family’s wants. But, even though she struggled on whether or not to take over the shop, Yūko ultimately decided it was what she wanted to do. It wasn’t as if she was ever opposed to it; she just didn’t know if it was the future she envisioned.

“...Yūko.”

She tilted her head, curious, and watched as Wasuke twisted the ring off his finger. When he took her hand to set it in her palm, Yūko was physically startled.

“Itadori-san, I can’t–This is your family’s heirloom, isn’t it? It should go to....It’s Yūchan’s.”

“My Yūji isn’t coming back. No one keeps a victim alive for this long and if they do, they’d be better off dead.”

“Please, don’t....Don’t say that, Itadori-san. He’ll come back; I know it.”

“...Silly girl. Whatever comes back won’t be Yūji,” Wasuke said. “But, thank you. For loving my grandson all these years.”

Wasuke closed her fingers around the ring.

“You’re the closest thing to family I have left. Keep it with you, Yūko; it’ll protect you from dangers you’ll never even know exist. And, promise me you’ll live your life the way you want to; don’t let that stubborn grandmother of yours pressure you.”

“...Okay. I promise, Itadori-san.”

Yūko couldn’t help but look at the ring as Wasuke looked away again. It was such a simple thing; a silver band dotted with seven small pink gemstones, the central stone being the largest while the three on either side decreased in size. She’d never seen it anywhere but Wasuke’s finger. Seeing how well-maintained it was impressed her considering it was, supposedly, hundreds of years old. It was too big for her fingers, though, so she made a note to herself to find a nice chain for it.

She went still suddenly, unmoving as a distinct sound filled the room and echoed through her head like a morbid instrumental.

“Itadori-san?”

Chapter Text

There weren’t many things that still had the power to break Suguru’s heart. Off the top of his head, he could only think of two things that could hurt him in such a way. Satoru and the girls had that power, of course. Suguru wasn’t sure what he would do if, one day, Satoru decided he was tired or sick of him, or one or both of the girls left him. Maybe he’d just off himself right then and there, but he might also commit war crimes. Death was acceptable to a degree, though obviously the elders were very lucky Nanako hadn’t died in their attempt to quietly kill Yūji, but being left behind? Unacceptable. They might as well rip out his heart and grind it up until it wasn’t even dust if they did that because that was essentially what they’d be doing anyway.

The second thing was people like Yūji. Everyone knew the type; the “rays of sunshine” as Satoru and Mimiko put it that made the world a bright place just by being near them. The people who were happy, positive, and usually never bothered by much of anything. Maybe even a little bit dumb but in a way that didn’t leave you annoyed; just charmed. There weren’t a lot of people like that, so it was natural for others to gravitate towards them, though it was always uncertain what their intentions were for doing so. Most likely wanted to experience and maybe even protect the warmth those people exuded; others undoubtedly wanted to snuff it out.

The loss of that natural warmth was heartbreaking enough; Suguru had learned that when Yū died. The way the world got a little dimmer and how their group broke apart because, to be honest, Yū was the only reason Kento ever hung out with the three of them. But, nothing could’ve prepared Suguru for the pain that came with watching someone who exuded positivity as naturally as the sun gave off heat lose that light inside them. It was downright disturbing how much it bothered him to watch Yūji behave more like a machine in the days following the news of his grandfather’s passing. It was understandable, of course; he’d lost his only remaining family just two days after being told he was alive and would be seeing him. Anyone would be affected by that experience. Understanding didn’t mean there weren't any effects, though. The first years were gloomy because they’d gotten so used to and come to rely on Yūji’s bottomless well of positivity in such a short time, Masamichi was upset with himself for telling Yūji about his grandfather at all instead of just letting him continue to live with the false narrative he’d made for himself, and Satoru was on the verge of actually killing the elders because he blamed them for interfering with the field mission in Sendai City.

He could relate to all of those sentiments, though he didn’t think Masamichi was in the wrong for telling Yūji the truth, but Suguru just wished the kid would cry already. He could say with certainty that that was all Yūji needed, but for whatever reason, he refused to. Maybe he thought it would make him look pathetic in front of his teachers and peers? That they’d judge him for being weak? He’d certainly told them enough times over the last few weeks how cool he thought they all were and he didn’t exactly have the confidence to just be normal a kid his age should have. Suguru had made it his personal mission to try and get Yūji to express himself in a healthier way. There was nothing he could’ve done for Yū and he still couldn’t forgive himself for Riko’s death as well as the way Satoru never fully recovered from what happened with her. He wasn’t about to let someone else down, especially when that someone was someone he was directly responsible for.

If only the kid would let him. They had spent quite a lot of time together the last few days training, so there was never a shortage of opportunity to talk to him. But, even though Yūji had had everything but a normal life for the past four years, he was still a teenager and teenagers weren’t exactly the type to open up to adults even on their best days. Honestly, the only reason Suguru went through with starting Yūji’s intensive training on schedule was so he could talk to him. And, also, because being lost in grief was admittedly a good time to learn about the importance of emotional regulation when it came to jujutsu, but that was a secondary concern. It wasn’t as if Yūji was in any real state to grasp the concept.

Eventually, an entire seven days after Yūji got the news, Suguru got his chance to actually talk to the kid. It was obvious throughout the week that he was slowly breaking down; it showed in the way he conducted himself while training and sparring with Suguru. He started off strong in what he could only assume was a way to cope, but over the course of the week, he became less and less intense about it. Eventually, he wasn’t even trying anymore. When he caught Yūji’s fist that Friday, there was no force behind it whatsoever. Whatever had been fueling him that week had run out and now all he could do was stand there with his head low as Suguru watched and waited.

“Why...?” Yūji asked quietly, his shoulders shaking ever so slightly. “Why did he have to–? Why couldn’t he just wait one more day?”

Suguru was only vaguely aware there was no anger in Yūji’s voice. It was just pain. He wouldn’t have been surprised if Yūji held some anger towards his grandfather for dying; it wasn’t exactly unusual, especially with young people like Yūji. Death was often equated to abandonment. Even though a part of Suguru knew Yūji was too good to hate someone for something as uncontrollable as death, it had still been the first place his mind went.

“Damn it!” Yūji shouted as he pulled away from Suguru, turning away to hug himself. “I thought....I spent so long thinking Mahito killed Ojīsan, but he didn’t and I thought I could at least have one thing left, but now he’s–!”

Suguru lurched forward when Yūji collapsed, relaxing a little when he realized it’d been intentional and not his legs giving out. Still, he moved to sit next to the kid where he knelt, hugging his knees to his chest as he hid his face.

“I....I didn’t even get to tell him I’m okay in the end. Ojīsan died not knowing what had happened to me,” Yūji said, looking over at Suguru with tears. “Why....Why does that hurt more than losing him does?”

Because he’d already grieved his grandfather and the brief two days of hope he had wasn’t going to erase four years of grief and acceptance, so his heart was zeroing in on the fresher pain. Suguru didn’t say that, though, because Yūji wasn’t looking for answers. He wasn’t looking for comfort either, though Suguru still reached over to run his hand down his back anyway. Yūji was just putting everything he was feeling into words and needed someone to listen.

“I don’t even know if he was alone. Ojīsan didn’t like being alone. I hope someone was there with him in the end; he didn’t deserve to not have at least one person there.”

Suguru continued to stay quiet, but he knew someone had been part of Wasuke’s life. His ashes had already been claimed when Satoru went to see if he could claim them on Yūji’s behalf. So, he at least had someone even if they weren’t there with him when he died. Suguru and Satoru agreed not to say anything until they were able to find out who had them because they didn’t know if it would just cause Yūji more stress. It helped that he hadn’t asked about Wasuke’s remains. Maybe the fact that he was entitled to them just hadn’t crossed his mind yet.

“Why was it me, Sensei? Why did he take me?”

Yūji let himself fall over to where he was leaning against Suguru. He was undoubtedly talking about Mahito and that was the mystery, wasn’t it? Mahito was based in Kawasaki. Since he was supposedly a newborn curse at the time he took Yūji, he wouldn’t have spirited him away to a place he wasn’t familiar with. He and Satoru were yet to figure out not only how Mahito knew about Yūji but also why he would bypass everyone else just to get to him. Hell, Kawasaki was Junpei’s hometown, so there was a very real potential victim much closer to home for Mahito to target. Hell, Junpei was a bitter kid back then. Mahito might’ve been able to groom him into a sidekick instead of keeping him locked up all the time like he had with Yūji, which would’ve made his life much easier.

Not that Suguru wanted Junpei to be involved with Mahito in any way. He was just thinking logically. As someone who was able to get a lot closer to curses than most could, he understood their nature better than other sorcerers and a newborn curse would rather not do anything that could be considered difficult before it even had a grasp on what it could actually do. Mahito’s actions were far too brazen to the point that he and Satoru were almost entirely certain he’d been sent after Yūji.

“...I hate him. I hate him. I don’t even want Sukuna to be the one to kill him because I....Is it wrong that I want to do it?”

“No. There’s nothing wrong with that, Itadori-kun, and no one has more right to that privilege than you. Not even Sukuna.”

Yūji chortled.

“Funny. He said the same thing,” Yūji said before he sat up. “But, he said I won’t get the chance if I don’t train for it.”

“...Well, he’s right, but don’t push yourself.”

“No, it’s okay. I’m sorry for not taking my training seriously, Sensei. But....Thank you for letting me vent.”

Chapter Text

“Chōsō~!”

Chōsō looked up from the book he’d been reading, watching as Mahito sauntered into the room. Seeing as he was sitting in an arm chair that was in no way big enough for more than one person, Mahito huffed, but that didn’t stop him from plopping himself into Chōsō’s lap. Despite wanting to push him off, he remained calm and let him settle. His behavior, at least around Chōsō and the other curses they associated with, wasn’t the sort he’d expect from an enemy that Ryōmen Sukuna felt was enough of a threat to monitor. But, then, curses did tend to be friendlier with other curses.

Still, it’d been almost two months since he “stumbled” into Mahito’s little lair and he wasn’t used to his attitude. Chōsō almost felt bad about spying on him. Almost. His childishness didn’t erase the fact that he was an active threat to his bond-brother and, by extension, the person Chōsō had sworn his eternity to.

“Mahito-san,” Chōsō said. “Did you find what you were looking for?”

“I did! I didn’t even have to kill anyone to get it; honestly, you’d think those sorcerers would be a bit more serious about protecting their artefacts.”

He blinked. Artefacts? Cursed objects probably. What exactly had he gone to retrieve? It wasn’t any of Sukuna’s fingers because he would’ve felt their power. Whatever it was, it had to have something to do with whatever his plan was. He was still, unfortunately, not privy to what Mahito had in mind. But, he’d already concluded it had nothing to do with getting the boy back; he had expressed no real interest in Itadori in the time Chōsō had been there with him. Yet he was very vocal about Sukuna, his interest bordering on obsession.

It was personal, but in a way that somehow felt ancient, and Chōsō couldn’t help but think his new bond-brother was just a pawn in Mahito’s game. He wished he could contact Sukuna to talk about it, but he hadn’t yet restored their connection. The sorcerers were probably making it difficult for him to do so.

“...Chōsō.”

“Mahito-san?”

“You’ve been around for some time, right?”

“One hundred fifty years.”

That was how long he’d been a cursed spirit before Sukuna self-destructed anyway, but Mahito didn’t know that and he didn’t need to. Not yet anyway. He’d learn the truth once Sukuna was able to fight back against him.

“Why do you ask?”

“No real reason. I was just curious....How would someone with more experience than me go about breaking someone that has nothing to lose?”

Chōsō looked at him, watching the way his head cocked to the side in a way that was far too innocent and cute given the question he’d just asked. Break? He couldn’t mean Itadori, so that meant he had to be referring to Sukuna. He wanted to break the King of Curses? That was impossible; even at his softest, Sukuna wasn’t the type to shatter like that.

“I suppose....If I was able to find something they did stand to lose, I would take it from them.”

“Oh~? How very devious of you, Chōsō. I completely agree, of course; after all, everything with the slightest bit of sentience has at least one thing they can’t stand parting with. But, I propose a much more...interesting take on the matter. I say the best way to break someone that has nothing to lose is to find that one precious thing”–Mahito, in his usual fashion, pressed his lips to Chōsō’s ear–“and force them to destroy it with their own hands.”

Chōsō froze as the words lingered in his mind. He looked at Mahito, who was smiling at him with a grin that looked innocent but radiated with sadistic pleasure.

“...That’s...certainly one way to go about it,” Chōsō said. “Though, I admit I don’t see why anyone would go through the trouble.”

“I guess it is a rather complicated effort, isn’t it? But, when challenging someone like Ryōmen Sukuna, it’s really the best way, wouldn’t you agree? After all, no one and nothing holds that kind of power of a creature like Sukuna. Except, perhaps, Sukuna himself.”

It wouldn’t work the way Mahito thought it would. Itadori wouldn’t be the first bondmate Sukuna had lost; during the Heian era, he bonded with a total of thirteen sorcerers and each of them had died, naturally. He was familiar with the pain of a bondmate’s death. And, even though he’d vowed to protect Itadori, there was no way to spin the boy’s death in a way that would trigger the consequences of breaking the vow. Most didn’t realize it, but upholding a binding vow didn’t mean having to follow through with it; they were upheld by intent. That meant as long as the contractee possessed the intent to carry through with the terms of the vow, failure wouldn’t trigger any backlash.

And, Sukuna was actually very good at keeping his word, so he would possess the intent to protect Itadori for as long as the boy lived.

“You know, you’re rather adorable when you’re thinking. Tell me, what is my favorite little sea urchin thinking so hard about?”

“Just trying to get into your head, Mahito-san. See if I can match your brilliance.”

“Ha! I’m flattered! A shame you won’t let me bond you; I don’t think I’ll ever meet another curse quite as interesting and appealing as you.”

He could. Chōsō could easily agree to Mahito’s proposal. It would make it much easier for Sukuna to kill him without causing damage to Itadori, especially since the botched connection between the boy and Mahito hadn’t faded at all in the two months they’d been apart. Chōsō was willing to put himself through the pain of losing a bondmate if it meant protecting his bond-brother and serving Sukuna’s agenda. But, it wasn’t a choice he would ever make without talking to Sukuna about it first. He was strict, especially when it came to matters of trust and loyalty; Chōsō may bond with Mahito for Sukuna’s benefit, but it could very well still be seen as an act of betrayal.

“Enough of your teasing, Mahito-san. You’ll make me blush.”

Chapter Text

It’d been almost a month since the incident at the Eishu Detention Center and the passing of his grandfather. While he spent most of his days on his intensive training with Suguru, a lot had actually happened. The major thing was the Kyōto Sister-School Goodwill Event that was held at their campus in Tōkyō at the end of the month. Yūji had been excited about the event since he learned about it from Mimiko, Megumi, and Nobara back before his field mission even happened. He wasn’t allowed to participate, of course, because he wasn’t qualified yet, but Megumi and Nobara had been elected to take part, so of course he wanted to be a good, supportive classmate and cheer them on. It had been fun to sit in the viewing lounge that the staff and visiting sorcerers used with Junpei and the twins.

Somehow, Yūji had come out of the Goodwill Event with a friend. Maybe. Truth be told, he still didn’t understand what had happened and no matter how much he tried to figure it out, he never got any closer to a valid answer. Yūji wasn’t complaining necessarily; sure, he could do without Aoi bombarding his phone with texts several times a day. But, well....It was nice? Having a friend he didn’t go to school with was always good and as eccentric or possibly insane as he was, Aoi seemed like a genuine and good person. Besides, he seemed really invested in making sure Yūji got stronger and was that such a bad thing?

Another exciting thing was that he was finally - finally! - able to spend weekends at the condominium with the others. The first time he visited the penthouse that weekend after talking to Suguru about what happened with his grandfather was incredible. Especially since it was the first time he actually got to meet the second years. They had been back from their field duty since his failed field mission, but between their focus on training for the event, Yūji being unconscious for four days, and then spending a week in a downward spiral as he tried to come to terms with his grandfather’s death, he hadn’t had the time or energy to actually introduce himself to them. Needless to say, that weekend was unforgettable.

On a smaller scale was the matter of his grandfather’s remains. When he had remembered that was an option, Suguru and Satoru had admitted they’d been trying to find who had claimed them, but there hadn’t been any luck. The crematorium that worked with Sugisawa was stubbornly refusing the digital age, so all their paperwork was filed and stored manually; someone like them could easily sneak in and get the records, but apparently there were limits to Satoru’s rebellion. It was one thing to rebel against the elders because that really only affected a small bubble; it was another thing to risk pissing off the government and causing nationwide backlash for sorcerers everywhere. But, it didn’t really matter. Yūji had asked them to stop looking. He didn’t feel right taking the ashes from someone who obviously cared enough about the old man to claim them, stating he didn’t think he had more of a right to them than the person who’d been there for his grandfather. Suguru vehemently disagreed, but dropped it after a short argument when he saw how serious Yūji was.

Oh, and he’d ingested the three fingers that were in their custody over the course of the month, but he didn’t really consider that a major event. It was literally why he was there, after all; a duty he had to fulfill. But, for some reason, Sukuna had sulked about it for a little while. That was weird.

“Mustard leaf?”

“Hey, Inumaki-senpai,” he said, watching the other join him on the bench. “I’m okay. I was just thinking about everything that’s happened this month, that’s all. I...kind of forgot how quickly time flies by, you know?”

“...Kelp.”

Yūji wanted to punch himself for bringing down the mood.

“Oh, hey. Did you guys figure out what you’re doing for Halloween?”

“Salmon,” Toge said as he pulled out his phone, opening the chat with the other second years.

“Shibuya, huh? That sounds like fun!”

“Salmon roe?”

“Ah....Well, we’re split right down the middle. Nobara, Junpei and I want to go to Ikebukuro, but Nanako, Mimiko and Megumi want to go to Kawasaki. We thought about asking Getō-sensei and Gojō-sensei, but....Well, we already know they’ll side with Nanako and them.”

“Salmon.”

“Junpei suggested we just spend Halloween separately, but Nobara and Nanako shot that down; they’re really stubborn about the six of us doing something together. Must be the–Uh–Peer loyalty?”

Toge looked at him, tilting his head curiously, but Yūji played it off. He didn’t know if the second years knew about the packbond or if he was allowed to mention it to them. All he knew was that even though Suguru and Satoru were their teachers last year, they didn’t suggest packbonding with them because neither Maki nor Panda could do it.

“It’s fine. I’m sure we’ll figure something out before next week.”

The other was quiet for a minute as he thought before he pulled out his phone to type something, showing Yūji once he was done.

“Sendai? Hm....I don’t know if Sendai has any Halloween events; Ojīsan wasn’t really big on crowds, you know? We celebrated holidays at home. I could check, though.”

“Tuna mayo.”

“Hey! Toge!” He and Toge looked back at Maki. “Come on; we’re going shopping for our costumes.”

“Salmon!”

Toge gave a thumbs up to encourage him to keep working on a solution for him and his peers before he got up and left with Maki. Yūji got out his phone to search for any events happening in Sendai that he might be able to suggest. He did find a festival hosted by Sugisawa High School that included class-run events and exhibits as well as a costume contest. It was fairly new, only implemented in the last couple years, but had become a popular and highly anticipated event in that short time. Yūji smiled as he stood, not looking up from his phone as he made his way to the bedrooms. This led to him not noticing Satoru blocking his way, bumping right into him.

“Oh. Gojō-sensei, hey. Sorry.”

“No worries, Itadori-kun,” Satoru said. “What’re you up to?”

“I was going to find everyone to see if they want to go to Sendai for Halloween.”

“Sendai, huh?”

“Yeah. See? Sugisawa High hosts a pretty big festival on Halloween. Cool, huh?”

Satoru read through the page on Yūji’s phone, smiling idly the entire time. Then his smile broadened.

“Well, how convenient!” he exclaimed. Yūji tilted his head. “Suguru said he thinks it’ll be fine to start sending you out on field missions again; you’ve gotten much better at controlling your cursed energy and you apparently landed a punch on him? Congrats! Pretty impressive getting that far with my bondmate.”

“Thanks, Gojō-sensei! Does that mean you’re sending me out soon?”

“Mhm! We were going to send you to Sendai this weekend with Megumi and Mimiko to tackle the field mission you should’ve been assigned to last month. It just so happens Sugisawa High is where you’ll be heading. If the others agree, you guys can just take out those pesky curses while you enjoy the festival.”

Yūji thought.

“...Won’t that be too risky with everyone there?”

“Nah. Sugisawa’s curse population are all small fry that aren’t even a threat to non-sorcerers; there’s just a lot of them. Between the six of you and the shikigami, getting rid of them discreetly shouldn’t be a problem. Besides, since it’s an official field mission, you’ll have a supervisor. Though, it breaks my heart to say it won’t be me or Suguru; we’ve got our own plans for Halloween.”

“Oh. So, it’ll be Nanami-san?”

“That’s right! Man, he’s going to be so pissy that he’s being sent to a festival! I can’t wait to tell him!”

“Might.” Satoru looked at him. “I haven’t even talked to the others about going to Sendai next week yet. He might be sent to a festival.”

Satoru puffed his cheeks in an exaggerated childish way at the possibility of his fun being intercepted, but it didn’t last long.

“Well, I have full faith in your ability to get everyone on board, Itadori-kun!”

“Yeah, yeah....I’ll try my best, Gojō-sensei.”

“Ha! Just remember to text me with their decision, yeah?”

Yūji let Satoru ruffle his hair before taking the cheap lollipop that his teacher bought in bulk and kept in his pocket in case his sweet tooth acted up at an inconvenient time.

“I will, Sensei!”

“See you tomorrow, Itadori-kun.”

“Okay!”

It was only after Satoru was gone and Yūji had gone to see the twins and Megumi about the possible change of plans that he fully realized what his teacher had said. It took until after he’d talked to Nobara to understand that meant he was probably going to be sparring with Satoru instead of Suguru. He wouldn’t normally be worried, but considering Satoru had gone out of his way to congratulate him for landing a punch on Suguru, he could only assume he wouldn’t be going as easy on Yūji as he did before the detention center.

“Hey, Sukuna, how badly do you want to fight Gojō-sensei?”

“Not enough to interfere with your training.”

“You’re a jerk.”

“Hm.”

Chapter Text

“Hey, Nanami-sensei, can I ask you something?”

“Don’t call me that. I’m not your teacher,” Kento said. “What is it?”

Yūji almost laughed. Their supervisor for the night was so serious; he could understand why Satoru liked riling him up. Unfortunately for his childish teacher, none of the students had wanted to work on the holiday, so he didn’t get to use the festival as ammunition. He was forced to stick to the original plan of sending him, Megumi, and Mimiko to the school over the weekend to deal with the curse infestation. He was still able to talk his former junior into supervising them citing some last minute schedule conflict, though, much to Satoru's delight and Kento's annoyance. At that moment, Yūji was sweeping the upper floors with Kento while Megumi and Mimiko focused on the lower floors.

“Have you ever thought about what your life would be like if you never got involved with sorcerers and curses?”

There was no answer, of course. Yūji wasn’t expecting one; Kento was very obviously not the type to mix personal and professional, even in conversation. That didn’t stop him, though.

“I do. Sometimes. I haven’t in a while, but being here makes me think about it,” he said. “Sugisawa is where Ojīsan planned to send me; said it was the best school in the area and he always wanted to set me up right, you know? It's kind of hard not to think about what my life would be like if Mahito hadn’t taken me.”

It was hard to really imagine what a normal life for him would’ve been when the only thing he could base it on were movies, but he didn’t think the life in his head sounded bad. A part of him yearned for it even because of course it did. It was normal for people to want something they couldn’t have and for Yūji, he didn’t even end up where he was because of anything he’d done. The choice was stolen from him. Not that he’d trade it in, of course. He didn’t hate his life as it currently was; the exact opposite, actually, even with the bad parts thrown in.

“Still, I can’t say I’d have had the best time if I was a student here. Not with all these curses all over the place. Ignoring them when I saw them on the street was hard enough; not sure how I would’ve pulled it off with them being so close.”

“What?” Kento stopped, looking at him. “You’ve been able to see cursed spirits since you were little?”

Yūji tilted his head, confused. Kento wasn’t the only one surprised by what he’d said; Sukuna was also roused, his surprise and curiosity flooding out from his innate domain in waves.

“How long have you been able to see them?”

“Uh....As long as I can remember. Ojīsan could, too. I mean, he never actually said he could, but there were a ton of things he did that wouldn’t make sense if he couldn’t,” Yūji said. “Like, this one time he took me to the park, but he refused to let me go on the swings. He said he was just too tired to push me, but he didn’t mind spinning the carousel, so I figured he saw the snake monster coiled around the top of the swing set, too. Sometimes he’d make us cross the road even when we were the only ones on the sidewalk because there was a monster blocking the path.”

“This wasn’t weird to you?”

Yūji pouted. No, it wasn’t weird; it was normal to him.

“Isn’t that normal?”

“No, Itadori-kun, it’s not normal at all. That kind of perception is something that doesn’t just happen; even within the clans, it needs to be taught. Normal people like us who have the ability to become sorcerers will passively start to perceive curses, but it takes years and it’s usually not until we’re teenagers that it becomes something worth noting.”

“Really? Huh....Maybe that’s how Mahito found me?”

“Unlikely.”

“What? Why?”

“I doubt that. If that was how he found you, other curses would’ve targeted you much sooner; the chances are you’d have either been killed or taken by another curse long before Mahito showed up. That just raises more questions, though,” Kento said, trailing off as he thought. “...This will need to be discussed another time. We should focus on the task at hand.”

As if on cue, the white dog that Megumi sent with them jumped overhead, snatching a small curse from the air. He and Kento looked around to find both the hallways were infested.

“You and the dog continue down the main hall. I’ll take the side hall. We’ll loop back around to regroup. Do not go to the next floor on your own and don’t be afraid to retreat if you need to. There’s no shame in it. Understand?”

“Mhm! You be careful, too, Nanami-sensei!”

“I’m not your teacher.”

“Nanamin?”

Kento almost glared at him, likely out of habit considering he’d picked up that nickname from Satoru, but didn’t scold him. Instead, he waved him off before hurrying down the side hall, taking out the curses with unfair ease and precision. It was incredible, but Yūji wasn’t going to let himself slack off and ran down the main hall with the white dog. Between the two of them, the curses were dealt with quickly. There really were a ton of curses at the school; way more than he thought there should’ve been. Had they gone ignored for so long because they were so weak or was it a sudden influx?

“There was likely a cursed object on the grounds that kept the curses at bay that was either lost or went dormant recently, which allowed all the previously subdued energy to materialize.”

“A cursed object? Why would something like that be at a school?”

“Humans have been using ‘holy’ artefacts to ward off ‘evil spirits’ for as long as cursed objects have been around.”

Yūji thought. That was true. He still didn’t know why Sugisawa High would have an object like that, but he wasn’t going to dwell on it. Humans were weird like that.

“Should we try to find it? See what happened?”

“I don’t care what you do, but that sorcerer might be upset if you go off on your own.”

Right. He couldn’t leave the floor they were on without Kento. Yūji perked at the sound of the dog whining and looked over to see it trying to get through the door to the central roof. That probably meant there were more cursed spirits outside. He stood, going over to the door but stopping before he pushed it open.

“...Do you think this counts as going to the ‘next floor’?”

“Brat.”

Sukuna sounded amused, but did nothing to dissuade or encourage him. Yūji took a minute to think about it, looking back as he heard the telltale sounds of Kento still dealing with his hall, and decided it shouldn’t be a problem. There were no curses there that he couldn’t handle; Suguru and Satoru had made sure of that before reassigning the case to them. Opening the door, the dog rushed out and Yūji followed.

The dog - Yūji was just going to call it Shiro for simplicity’s sake - was already tearing through the curses that were gathered there. Nothing that caused any trouble for him and Shiro.

“Huh. Weird,” he said as he reached down to scratch Shiro’s head. “That can’t be all, can it?”

“What do you mean?”

“The file. It said the central roof was a major hotspot for curses; students and staff have been avoiding it because people get nauseous. But, there were way less of them out here than there were inside and there aren’t any reports of anyone getting sick at an unusual rate.”

“Curses like these wouldn’t have very strong outputs and when they’re inside, they’re divided by walls, so it’s no surprise no one is getting sick during class. They probably only converge on the roof when there’s enough people using it to draw them in.”

“...Probably. Guess I’m just being paranoid. Worried something will go wrong again.”

“Even if it does, none of the curses here are higher than Grade Four. Your supervisor and the dogs would’ve picked up on it if there were. You’re more than capable of handling any surprises you might encounter.”

The encouragement was nice to hear, though he didn’t doubt he could handle the mission. He wouldn’t have been assigned to it if he couldn’t.

“Aw, thanks, Sukuna–Whoa!”

Shiro suddenly moved, shoving Yūji away from where they’d been standing in time to avoid something large from squashing them. He sat up and looked back to find Shiro standing between him and a large curse. Or, he thought it was a large curse, but Yūji couldn’t tell if it was that or a bunch of small ones clustered together.

“What the hell is that?!”

“Hm....If I were to use modern terms for it, I would call it a ‘semi-Grade Three’ cursed spirit. It’s an incomplete amalgamation of Grade Four curses trying to evolve into a stronger form. This must explain the ‘hotspot’ on the report. Because its evolution is incomplete, the managers that investigated the place would’ve clocked it as an abnormal cluster of Grade Four curses. Careless work on their part, again, but at least it won't almost kill you this time.”

“It’s huge! The Special Grade at the detention center wasn’t any bigger than a person, so why is this one so big?”

“Don’t try to use a curse’s size to determine its power; the form doesn’t matter. Focus, Yūji, and don’t panic; it’s big, but it’s still weak. You can handle it,” Sukuna said. “Actually....Let’s make use of this one.”

“What? Sukuna, now’s not the time for games.”

“Don’t be difficult. I’m trying to help you end this quickly.” Yūji rolled his eyes but didn’t argue further. “Good boy. Now, I want you to focus on my cursed energy as it flows through you. Close in on it and follow it until it connects you to me.”

Yūji frowned at the instructions. They sounded so bizarre, not to mention the timing of it was strange. But, he was going to trust things would be fine; if nothing else, Kento would probably find them before anything happened. The worst case scenario was that the impromptu lesson was a failure. So, Yūji took a breath and closed his eyes, doing his best to find and separate Sukuna’s energy from his own. It wasn’t easy, though; he didn’t even know how to tell apart different energy signatures yet, so it all felt the same to him.

Until, after maybe a minute, he was able to pick up on the slightest difference and focused in on it. It felt as if he was picking away at a knotted nest of threads, all of the same color, until he finally found the one that was slightly off. Like finding crimson hiding among maroon. He plucked at the crimson thread, holding it tight and followed it. Suddenly, he wasn’t standing on Sugisawa’s roof but sinking into a sea that somehow managed to feel like he was being both sliced to pieces and incinerated all at once without the pain of it. Not a sensation exactly, but the impartation of a concept; like he was being supplied with the knowledge that he was lucky he was supposed to be there while also being told what would happen to him if he was an unwelcome visitor to the deepest part of Sukuna’s soul.

“Good. Reach out and search for the technique I call Dismantle. Let the concept of my technique become one with you.”

Technique? His technique? Yūji almost broke his concentration and forced himself out of the sea of Sukuna’s soul when he realized what was happening, only just managing to keep himself grounded - well, submerged - by having just enough focus to not let go of the thread he’d worked so hard to find.

“Focus, Yūji.”

He did. He reached out, more so with his consciousness than his hand, and felt a wealth of information that threatened to flood into him. But, Yūji didn’t let that happen, doing his best to find the blueprint that Sukuna told him to look for. When he did find it, Sukuna’s technique imparted itself onto him, but in a way that felt temporary. An extra layer that would melt away as soon as it was no longer needed. So, the “copies” that Sukuna mentioned weren’t permanent additions to a person’s arsenal but rather a quick, one-time favor.

With the concept of the technique now clinging to him, he let himself erupt from the sea of Sukuna’s soul and in an instant, he was back on the roof. With how long it took for him to copy the technique, Yūji was sure he’d come back to reality to chaos, but no; nothing had changed. It was as if time had stopped while he was following Sukuna’s instructions. But, maybe that shouldn’t have been so weird to him? Time didn’t seem to move the way it did in the physical world when he was in the innate domain. An hour, when in the domain, felt like several; like time inside the soul was sped up.

Yūji could think about it later and shook the thoughts from his head. Refocusing his attention on the cursed spirit, Yūji came back to his body just in time for the entity to charge at him. Without even thinking about it, he moved, too, charging ahead of Shiro before the dog could even move. In the instant it took for him to raise his arm, the curse was all but blown to bits by the power of Sukuna’s Dismantle. There was some damage to the school, but nothing major; he’d somehow managed to angle the strike enough to avoid ruining the building.

As incredible as it had been, Yūji didn’t get the chance to voice anything. He was suddenly exhausted, swaying with no control of himself until he stumbled back and fell. Faintly, he heard Sukuna say something to him and instead of meeting the floor, he could tell he’d been caught before he collapsed. But, that was all he had the capacity for before he shut down.

Chapter Text

Suguru looked into the rearview mirror, taking in the sight behind him and Satoru. Megumi sat in the middle with Mimiko and Yūji on either side of him, both of them using his shoulders as pillows while Megumi’s head was leaned back, earbuds in his ears and his arms crossed. Weak curses or not, they had all worked hard that night, so he couldn’t blame them for taking the chance for a nap. Especially Yūji, at least according to Kento’s recounting of what happened, though even he admitted his report was all speculation because he didn’t actually know what happened.

“We should take a picture. You know Megumi will deny this if we don’t.”

“You can. I happen to like being on his good side.”

“Fine. Take the wheel for a second.”

“Wha–Satoru!”

He did his best to glare at Satoru without taking his eyes off the road, listening as the other dug his phone from his pocket. As usual, he cursed quietly at the candy wrappers that fell out. A bad habit of his he always swore he was going to change but never did. Honestly, at that point, Suguru would be worried if he ever did follow through with that promise. Satoru took the picture while giggling like a maniac the entire time before turning back around and taking back the wheel.

“Aren’t they cute? I'm glad to see Yūji fitting in so well.”

“So am I. I’m glad they were all fine with letting him stay bonded to them,” Suguru said. “Though, we should probably tell them at some point.”

“Ah, don’t worry about it. It took years for us; we can’t even guarantee they’ll stay bonded after graduation. Or, even survive until then. We’ll make it part of our congratulatory speech.”

“Honestly....You’re the most irresponsible man that I know, you know that?”

“Yet here you are, enabling me like the world’s worst leash. A perfect fit if you ask me.”

Suguru rolled his eyes, smiling as he did. Not everything Satoru did needed him to talk him down. Frankly, they both knew he’d be miserable if Suguru was too strict and a miserable Satoru wasn’t good for anyone. Besides, out of the two of them, it was Suguru that needed to be reigned in. Ironic considering the elders actually looked to him to keep Satoru in check, never once realizing the one they were worried about was little more than a grenade compared to the nuclear bomb he called a partner.

“Uh, oh.”

“Mess up the picture?”

“Nope. It’s back,” Satoru said, turning his head a bit. “Persistent little stalker, isn’t it?”

They should just be lucky whoever they were hadn’t taken advantage of the fact that they weren’t with the students on their mission. It had been a risky plan, but Satoru’s hypothesis had been correct. Still, Suguru was getting a little sick of them stalking his student. Yūji had enough to deal with.

“Let me out here,” he said. “I think it’s time we get some answers out of them.”

“You’ll be fine on your own?”

To most others, that would probably come off as condescending, but Suguru knew better. He chuckled as he leaned over, pressing a kiss to Satoru’s cheek.

“Get the kids back to the school, Satoru. I’ll be fine.”

He could tell Satoru wanted to say something, probably along the lines of “call if you need me”, but he’d gotten much better at not immediately letting himself fall back into the nightmares that Zen’in monkey left behind whenever he and Suguru did have to part ways for a bit.

“...You better have a follow-up for that kiss in mind when you get back, Suguru, or I won’t talk to you for a week.”

“Ha! As if you could go more than an hour without pestering me!”

Satoru shoved him away with a laugh before he slowed the car down. Not stopping because Mimiko would wake up immediately without the motion of the car keeping her relaxed, but moving slow enough for Suguru to be able to safely step out and close the door. Carefully, of course, to not wake Megumi. The car sped off once he moved away from it. Suguru didn’t know if he should be surprised or not that the presence that had been stalking Yūji for almost a month didn’t follow the car. He hoped that meant they were wanting to talk.

“You can come out. I know you know why I stayed behind.”

No one came out of the trees, but Suguru was a little startled to find a pair of glowing yellow eyes staring out at him from the darkness. They blinked once, twice, and then never opened again. Sensing hostility, Suguru summoned the Inventory Curse and proceeded to retrieve Playful Cloud. Just in time, too, as he heard the sound of a blade whizzing through the air.

Suguru turned quickly, raising Playful Cloud to catch the strike of a naginata. To be perfectly honest, he wasn’t expecting a weapon. More than that, he wasn’t expecting a completely humanoid curse either. Suguru took the opportunity to look them over. Save for their eyes, which were a rich amber that almost appeared golden, and their slightly elongated ears, they appeared entirely human. Olive skin, long black hair with a white braid hanging in front of each ear, and a scar running horizontally along the left side of his face. A strange feature for a cursed spirit, but to each their own. Their weapon was also unique, possessing a pale staff that shimmered when it caught the light of the moon and an abnormally curved blade that looked more like a crescent than anything.

It looked vaguely familiar, but he couldn’t recall where he’d seen it before.

“My, what a sight you are. I’ve seen plenty of cursed spirits in my day and you might just be the prettiest.”

“I’d return the compliment, but your best feature is your eyes and unfortunately for you, I never did have much of an opinion on purple.”

“Oh, ouch. Spare a man’s heart a little, would you?” he said. “I didn’t want to fight, you know. How about we talk instead?”

“I have nothing to say to you murderers!”

Suguru blinked. Murderers? Now he was even more curious. Were they wrong? Was the curse stalking him and Satoru instead of Yūji like they had originally thought? No. It was definitely Yūji they were stalking. He didn’t get the chance to say anything else before the curse grabbed Playful Cloud and with admirable strength, used their shared grip to flip Suguru. He was slammed painfully into the pavement of the road and before he could recover physically, the curse was raising the blade of their naginata. Suguru only had a short moment to defend himself before the blade came down, aiming straight for his head, where it stopped less than an inch from his skin.

He smiled up at the curse’s bemused expression.

“...I see,” they said, their tone equal parts annoyed and astonished. “You sorcerers are fine imitators.”

“It’s just Satoru and I for now, but I imagine once it gets out, it’ll be commonplace. I will say my burrowed Infinity is nowhere near as strong or quick as the original, though; almost couldn’t call on it in time.”

“Is that how you were able to kill Tarō?”

“Tarō? I’m afraid I don’t know who that is.”

His answer only infuriated the curse further. Whatever had happened, they wholeheartedly believed the one they called Tarō had been killed by their hand. Suguru wasn’t exactly saying they hadn’t; it was entirely possible since they didn’t usually take the time to learn the names of the curses they killed. But, if Tarō was anything like the curse he was currently with, then he was fairly confident they hadn’t killed him.

“Cut the bullshit, sorcerer. Someone killed Tarō and stole the finger he was protecting. If it wasn’t you, then tell me why you have Sukuna-dono’s vessel in your custody?”

“Ah!”

So, that was it. When they had confronted Sukuna about the warehouse incident, he and Satoru were able to get him to confess to having bonded with thirteen sorcerers during the Heian era, all of whom became cursed spirits to stay with him. The curse Suguru was currently at the mercy of must be one of those former bondmates and Tarō....He was probably the one Mahito had killed for the finger he forced Yūji to ingest.

Sukuna wasn’t going to like that. He had sounded particularly fond of that one.

“You must be one of Sukuna’s bondmates. He’s told us about you all, though not in much detail. Rude of him to keep such a lovely and fierce creature to himself if you ask me.”

The curse scowled, pulling away from him as if he’d been scorched. Suguru laughed as he sat up, not at all worried as the blade of the naginata rested against the barrier of Infinity. Not at first anyway, but he went still and the blood froze in his veins when he felt the cold press of the blade against his throat. Had it cut through Infinity? He knew he hadn’t dismissed it.

“You have thirty seconds to tell me what you’re doing with Sukuna-dono.”

“At the moment, we’re working with him to try and keep Yūji alive. We haven’t yet figured out what we’re going to do beyond that.”

“Working with him? Nonsense. Sukuna-dono wouldn’t care about keeping a vessel alive.”

“Well, he doesn’t really have much of a choice seeing how he’s bonded to the kid and all.”

“...Explain. Now.”

So he did, fully aware of the blade against his throat that was slowly pressing further against his skin. It was a miracle he wasn’t bleeding yet. As he spoke, much to his relief, the blade gradually left his skin until it rested bluntly against his shoulder. Which startled him enough to nearly make him jump out of his skin when the curse appeared out of thin air in front of him, kneeling to meet his current height as the blade and, presumably, the other him seemed to vanish.

“My cursed techniques involve the manipulation of a person’s perception and senses. Your Infinity’s still intact; what you felt was a hallucination.”

“...Neat trick. I’m glad I was the one who chose to stay behind,” Suguru said. “Is it safe to assume you’ll stop stalking our student?”

“Perhaps. If you can find a way to let me talk to Sukuna-dono.”

Chapter Text

“Sukuna~”

“Seriously?” he said, opening the extra eyes on Yūji’s face to glare up at Satoru. “Don’t you have a husband to keep you occupied overnight?”

“Bondmate and partner, not husband; not yet anyway. One day maybe. Anyway, Suguru’s the one that asked me to wake you.”

Sukuna was going to kill them both and when he did, they better appreciate the kindness it would be to let them die together. Sitting up, he was tempted to smack the lazy, cocky smile off Satoru’s face but he knew without a doubt he had his Infinity active. Satoru gestured for him to follow once he was on his feet. Annoyed as he was by the fact that he really didn’t have a choice or even a reason to not follow Yūji’s annoying mentor, he did so without complaint. At the very least, he was going to trust they wouldn’t disturb him for no good reason.

Not that there was ever a “good” reason to disturb Ryōmen Sukuna, so maybe “tolerable” or “forgivable” were more accurate words.

Satoru led him out of the dormitories and through the campus. He thought maybe he was being taken for more questions by the elders, though he wasn’t sure what they’d have to ask considering he’d been a good little curse and kept to himself, but no. Sukuna caught on when they approached the gates, realizing they were leaving the campus. Or, at least, leaving the barrier that protected it. He was almost amused by the idea of crossing through the barrier and causing a panic, already hearing the symphony of “Ryōmen Sukuna has escaped!” ringing in his head. Too bad that would just cause trouble for Yūji and the entire reason he was behaving himself was so he didn’t reinstate the execution order. Sure, it was more to spare himself the trouble of having to protect him, but still.

So, like the good bondmate he was, Sukuna stopped just short of the barrier. Blessed with the Six Eyes, his guide realized immediately and turned to him.

“Something wrong?”

“I won’t be going further than this,” Sukuna said. “You and I both know what’ll happen if I cross the threshold.”

“...Can’t you do what you did to sneak out when you released Chōsō?”

“That was enough of a task with just one fraction of my power. I won’t be able to repeat it now that Yūji and I have consumed four more fingers since. The only way to hide my presence now is to hide behind Yūji.”

Satoru looked disappointed. It was the kind of frown that would have Yūji’s shoulders slumping, but Sukuna didn’t care; he was quite content with the swift progress they’d made.

“That’s unfortunate.”

“I can wake him and then put him back to sleep once we’re out of the barrier. Do it quick enough and he might just think it was a dream.”

“Oh, so you can take control whenever you want.”

“If I recall, I told you and your elders that I can only take control of Yūji’s body without his consent if he’s unconscious; otherwise, he needs to willingly switch places with me. That wasn’t a lie. But, I never said I couldn’t put him to sleep.”

Satoru actually laughed. It seemed inappropriate seeing as he just learned his entire argument had lost any credibility, but he supposed Sukuna hadn’t exactly given much reason for him to be worried. Other than the incident with Chōsō, he hadn’t taken advantage of his bondmate’s sleep schedule in any way that would raise any concerns.

“As useful as that is, it won’t do much to get you back in. Besides, if we wanted Yūji involved, we would’ve woken him up alongside you. Let the kid sleep; he worked hard tonight and deserves it,” Satoru said as he dug his phone out of his pocket. Sukuna sneered as candy wrappers fell out. “Fucking....I really have to fix that habit.”

It shouldn’t bother him. It wasn’t his mess nor was it anything that affected him. But, the way Satoru just left the wrappers to potentially be carried off by a breeze got under his skin. The sorcerer’s lack of decorum sickened him.

“Were you raised by slobs or were manners just not part of your curriculum?” he asked, catching Satoru by surprise. “Your wrappers. Pick them up.”

“...Seriously?” The amusement in Satoru’s voice made him itch, but at least he listened. “Who knew the King of Curses was a clean freak.”

He didn’t consider keeping one’s residence clean to be some kind obsession, especially when the mess was one’s own fault. It was common decency as far as he was concerned. Something even curses tended to adhere to because no one actually enjoyed living in filth. That said, there were certainly a lot of things no one but those he let get close knew about him. Most outside his circle wouldn’t know that he had practiced and mastered many of Japan’s more refined and noble arts, being particularly fond of literature and calligraphy. Hell, the only thing he regretted about being a cursed spirit was his inability to enjoy food the way he used to. Just because he was a cannibalistic mass murderer didn’t mean he was an uncivilized heathen with no sense of propriety.

Thinking about it, that was probably why Satoru’s indifference bothered him. He enjoyed a bit of irony, such as being partially incarnated into a vessel whose name included “benevolence”, but Sukuna, someone born into something less than poverty, being more well-behaved than someone born and raised in a noble family was the kind of irony that left him feeling disgusted.

“Finally.”

Sukuna looked up, gaze moving past Satoru to watch as Suguru ascended the stairs. He wasn’t alone, however, and Sukuna raised a brow. It took quite a few minutes to recognize the man walking next to the sorcerer and his head perked up. So, Ryūsei was alive. He was relieved at first, but that feeling was lost when he saw the weapon in his hand. The pale, shimmering handle and crescent blade were unmistakable, though he wasn’t used to seeing it while the spirit was dormant. Normally, when he looked at it, the naginata radiated with energy.

Tsukuyomi. One of Japan’s most ancient treasures that was stolen from the vaults of the imperial family. It was a beautiful and powerful cursed tool; possibly the most powerful to exist, at least back then. Naturally, there was nothing else he could’ve possibly presented to his first bondmate that he wouldn’t consider an insult.

Upon seeing it in another’s hand, Sukuna’s soul was all anger laced with something softer. Mourning, perhaps, because he knew with absolute certainty that if Tarō was alive or there was a chance to incarnate him, Ryūsei wouldn’t be carrying it with him. His first thought was of betrayal and for a brief moment, he itched to cut the traitor to pieces. But, his rational mind supplied him with the reminder that he’d been incarnated through the finger that had been left with Tarō, so it was more likely that he’d had been killed by Mahito. That did nothing to calm the rising tide inside him, but his anger was no longer pointed at Ryūsei.

His eyes shifted to watch Ryūsei kneel before him, unsure of when he and Suguru had crossed the barrier. He watched as the other lifted Tsukuyomi, presenting it to him with both hands with own gaze fixed firmly to the ground at Sukuna’s feet. He made no move to take it. Sukuna had no interest in getting into the matter of Tarō’s death in front of Satoru and Suguru. Besides, he still felt the burn of Tsukuyomi’s rejection when he’d spirited it away from the vault and wasn’t all that eager to put himself through that a second time.

“This is the first time you’ve ever kneeled for me, Ryūsei. Did you miss me that much?”

“My time would be better spent counting ants.”

“Ha! Almost a thousand years since we parted ways and you’re just as prickly as ever! It’s good to see you again, Ryūsei,” he said. “Stand. Seeing you on your knees makes me sick.”

Sukuna didn’t have equals, but his bondmates came pretty close. And out of the thirteen - well, fourteen now - he’d taken, Ryūsei was the only one who had never bowed or bent to his whims and commands. It had been his power that drew Sukuna to him, but he came to appreciate the adamantine spine he possessed above everything else about him. Because even tyrants needed someone who was willing to speak their mind to them openly and freely.

“I’m going to assume you have a good reason for ignoring all my attempts to reach you.”

“I wouldn’t call it ignoring; I wouldn’t have come looking if that was the case,” Ryūsei said. “I can hear you, but your voice is....It’s like trying to listen to someone talk with my head underwater while my ears are clogged.”

Well. That explained why Chōsō hadn’t responded to him. Another restriction placed on him by Yūji’s unique constitution? The boy was proving to be far more trouble than Sukuna could’ve ever anticipated. It didn’t necessarily bother him, though; in fact, it’d been some time since he’d been met with a compelling challenge that required his brain over his brawn.

“I see. Then it seems you, my little trickster, will be quite busy for a while. As far as messengers go, I couldn’t ask for a better one; your ability to deceive senses and perception will be invaluable.”

“...Messenger?”

“Yes, but first, I need to ask. How many of you are left?”

It was curiosity, nothing more. At least that was what Sukuna was going to tell himself for the time being.

“Uraume and I are the only ones left who are currently incarnated. As for the rest, I only know of Tarō’s fate; I can’t tell you which of the others are dead or merely in stasis.”

So, he wasn’t aware that Chōsō had been incarnated.

“Since it appears that Suguru filled you in on my situation, then you must know that I intend to kill Mahito. Unfortunately, I’m no closer now than I was two months ago; the bond he has with Yūji hasn’t faded at all and the longer time drags on, the closer we get to a confrontation.”

“You need a double agent then.”

“No. I’ve already assigned that role to Chōsō, but given the experience you described to me, he has no way to contact me,” Sukuna said. “I need you to relay this information to him and act as a go-between when necessary. You’ll be able to get in and out without Mahito noticing you.”

“Hearing you talk about espionage is strange, but I guess these are strange times. Is that all you need from me, Sukuna?”

He thought, debating the worth of his second request. There was no guarantee anything would come from it and it would just be a waste of time that Ryūsei could be putting to more productive use, whether with his task as a messenger or enjoying time for himself. But, there was a chance it would bear fruit. If it did, they’d have answers to their biggest mystery.

“...I need you to look into the name ‘Itadori’. Find everything you can about this boy’s family and share anything you consider interesting or unusual.”

“Hey, now. A bit bold of you to be talking about invading our student’s private life so openly in front of us, don’t you think?”

Sukuna ignored Satoru as he continued, “His constitution is alarmingly unique. I’m guessing there’s something in his ancestry that will explain how he’s immune to incarnation. I would start with his grandfather, Itadori Wasuke, if you think investigating a dead man will lead anywhere.”

“Even the dead have secrets, Sukuna; you just have to know where to look. But, is the boy really immune? That seems too strong of a description from the looks of things.”

His eye twitched. That was a stupid question; of course he was sure. Resistance to incarnation would still allow Sukuna to possess some considerable power over the body without having to rely on Yūji’s consent. Or, rather, his ignorance. The only reason he was able to manifest eyes and a mouth whenever he wanted or could communicate with the kid at all was because he wasn’t aware he had the ability to suppress Sukuna entirely. He could lock the cursed spirit up in a little box inside his soul if he wanted to and Sukuna could do nothing about it except seethe silently to himself.

Immune was the only word to describe Yūji’s constitution, though there’d never been a case of incarnation immunity before.

“Is there a reason you would question my wording?” he asked, causing Ryūsei to tug at his braid as if to draw attention to his hair. “Speak. I detest children’s games.”

“The term ‘immunity’ suggests you have no influence over his body, but you’ve clearly had some influence if his hair is the same as yours. Wouldn’t it be more accurate to say he’s unusually resistant?”

Sukuna stared. Truth be told, while he had a very good memory of his life as a human and an even better one after becoming a curse, he had absolutely no recollection of what he looked like beyond the defining four arms, two faces and extra mouth. He’d never cared to really memorize the color of his hair, especially since it was usually caked with blood or dirt as a human anyway so it wouldn’t have mattered. As a curse, did he have pink hair?

“Not to burst your bubble, but Yūji looked like this before I came into the picture.”

Yūji said precious little about his childhood, especially after his grandfather died, but he recalled Nobara asking about his hair once. She was curious if it was because of Sukuna or if, for some reason, Mahito had dyed his hair and he just never stopped. Yūji had laughed as he told her it wasn’t dyed or the result of the incarnation; it was natural. Pink hair ran in his father’s family, though he couldn’t provide any reason for the phenomenon. Apparently it wasn’t normal for anyone to be born with two hair colors, though, and he’d joked that his mother’s genes must’ve fought hard to earn their place.

A thought suddenly ran through Sukuna’s mind, but he shoved it into a hole. For the time being, he wouldn’t make any assumptions or jump to any conclusions.

“We’ll have to work out a way for you to contact me that doesn’t involve upsetting those conniving pricks since we can’t communicate the normal way.”

“The boy has a phone, doesn’t he?” Ryūsei asked. “I can just give you my–”

“Not happening.”

Ryūsei looked at him as if he was something to be analyzed.

“...Have you...not bothered to learn how to use a cellphone, Sukuna?”

He had actually taught himself how to use a cellphone; he wasn’t sitting around doing nothing for four days straight waiting for Yūji to wake up. That didn’t mean he had any interest in using it. He’d just been bored out of his mind and figured he had nothing to lose by learning.

“We’re not going to use Yūji’s phone to communicate.”

“It’s the twenty-first century, Sukuna. You really should consider it. I’m happy to show you how to use it if you’d like.”

“I know how to use a phone, little trickster. I would like to keep him out of this for the time being. Sharing a body with him doesn’t mean I’m going to deny Yūji the same right to live his own life that I gave the rest of you.”

“If you need your own phone, Suguru and I probably have a spare laying around somewhere you can have,” Satoru said. “I think it’ll make Yūji very happy to see you getting with the times.”

Sukuna scowled.