Work Text:
"You're here again."
The speed in which the pink haired teen ambled over the mound of bull heads was impressive. No longer did the brat stumble nor fall in every step, nor did he trip or hurt himself by poking fragile flesh on sharp brittle horns; he walked over the slope like it was a stairway to his goal.
Sukuna came face to face with his vessel who stood in front of him with a neutral expression. Amber eyes stared at blood red rubies and lips pursed in a thin line. For Yuuji Itadori, who had always been a thorn at his side; a defiant and unruly brat who caged him in this weak forgettable body, this silence was a sign of submission.
Sukuna narrowed his eyes on Yuuji as a muted question hung between them.
They need not speak out to each other anymore. Sukuna knew what he wanted, and Yuuji knew he could have it.
The brat settled himself on top of the curse's lap without waiting for the curse's permission. He wrapped his arms around Sukuna and curled up on him like a small cub seeking warmth from another's fur. A little babe looking for a safety net.
Again? Sukuna thought.
I want to sleep, Yuuji responded in kind, unbothered by the annoyance laced in Sukuna's thoughts.
Then sleep up there. Not here.
Yuuji replied by burying his head deeper in the crook of Sukuna's shoulder. He was done talking. Sukuna grumbled but let him be. This was how they worked now after all.
All it took was a single bite and the line that separated the monster and the human crumbled. Yuuji and Sukuna's fates became more intertwined than before. A single thread kept them conscious of each other's identity but a single tug would snap it apart. Yuuji didn't dare touch it. He was too afraid, despite his brave and courageous front.
Sukuna gently ran his fingers through it. One day, this thread will break and Yuuji will be no more. Perhaps even he too will be gone, melded as one with the person he despises the most in all of creation.
His shackle and prison. The beginning of his end, and now his future.
Yuuji and Sukuna were now one and the same.
Perhaps even more so given the dependency his vessel grabbed the moment the brat realized this was inevitable. In a last attempt to protect his sanity, and to pretend that he can control his destiny, Yuuji started taking what he wanted.
He couldn't get it from his peers. He couldn't get it from his superiors. He could only take it from the person that knew but not quite understood why he was struggling so. It was foolish really. Yuuji Itadori, who was initially open with his thoughts and feelings, now hid with the monster inside of him, seeking comfort the latter could not give.
Sukuna didn't comfort people. Especially not the brat that was dumb enough to swallow his finger and unfortunately have the willpower to contain and control him. He was the King of Curses, not the King of Cuddles.
That didn't matter to the brat though. He knew what he wanted, and he knew how to take it. If Sukuna wasn't at the other end of this situation he would've been proud of his vessel's increasing selfishness. Unfortunately, Yuuji decided to be selfish by invading his space, his domain, and had the gall to demand.
"Our domain," Yuuji corrected him and Sukuna scoffed.
"Who created it? That's right, me. You just started learning how to get your ass in here on your own. If you can do that, you can make your own."
"Don't wanna."
Sukuna clicked his tongue. Spoiled brat.
Sukuna recalled the first time Yuuji tried this unannounced. The curse threw him off, surprised by his boldness and cut his limbs apart, fixed him then sliced him up again to carve out his answer into the brats' thick skull. It didn't matter though. Yuuji was too dumb to understand it, and the brat wouldn't be himself if he just gave up.
After growing tired of their repetitive bouts. Yuuji finally won his first battle against him. Not because he outpowered or outsmarted the curse but simply because Sukuna gave up first.
Sukuna had no comfort to give. He didn't know how. Yet he understood what Yuuji needed. The brat was a simpleton after all. As Yuuji's chest rose and fell against his own, and his warm breath danced across the King's skin, Sukuna threaded his hand through the former's salmon pink locks.
Yuuji relaxed under the ministrations, finding solace in the unusual yet gentle act and leaned into his touch for more. The once obnoxious imbecile now fell obediently into Sukuna's palm, craving comfort he could not, and would not receive, nor ask from the people he should be receiving them from.
The sorcerer's sacrificial lamb was so bent on saving them from the burden of his thoughts that he silently crumbled under the weight of it. Yuuji continued to smile with the breath and youth of newly bloomed sunflowers to appease them. No one batted an eye to check the soil upon which that flower was rooted on.
Sorcerers have always been too stuck in their own world to realize, or even notice, just how far a comrade has fallen into depths they cannot reach.
Sukuna knew all too well.
Sorcerers he once thought of as allies turned their back on him the same way. They became too afraid of his power. His potential. They sliced him up and locked away his fingers so he may never see the light of day. It's almost karmic to see his vessel walk down the same path.
Only this time, Yuuji had someone beside him. A parasite that was always going to drag him further down until he was nothing more than an empty shell that Sukuna could mold and wield like a proper vessel.
An unwilling fallen angel.
Yuuji's friends did not exist in their shared domain. Hell, Sukuna figured Yuuji repeatedly came here so that they wouldn't. If they weren't around. Yuuji could be free. He could relax. He could rest. Only they existed here. Alone, together.
Yuuji wanted to tell his friends everything. His worries, his fears. His weakness. But the blood on his hands prevented him from doing so. The blood he keeps smearing on his own in secret. Yuuji broke.
He couldn't suppress the urges Sukuna once had when he matured as a curse. Devouring human flesh was simply too good. An experience he could retract. The sanguine taste that licked their lips enthralled them too much to stop. Yuuji couldn't deny it even if his squeaky clean morality screamed at him at how cruel and monstrous it was.
How disgusting it was to maim a living being just to feed. They kept devouring either way. Albeit as little as his insolent host would allow.
Sukuna did not care who they killed to satisfy their urges, but Yuuji, still barely hanging on by his morals, insisted they only devour 'Someone who deserves it'.
Sukuna followed, currying the whims of a desperate fool. That restraint would burn away soon. Sukuna knew just one body wouldn't be enough. Yuuji knew it wouldn't be enough.
They felt it.
Their souls were merging faster than they both anticipated, and while it excited Sukuna to be forever rid of the kids' annoying moralistic musings, the inevitability of it shattered the boy.
He wouldn't dare tell anyone. Yuuji was too afraid of the consequences; of his execution. Sukuna's imagined stomach grew full from the taste of anguish everytime Yuuji was swallowed by the thought of it.
Those pesky sorcerers might have noticed their merging, but they were so blinded and assured of the brat's trust in them that they failed to realize just how much he really hid behind joyous laughter and blinding white smiles.
Not even that dastardly Six Eyed sorcerer, who loved to flaunt around his faux omnipotence, could figure it out.
Yuuji was far too good at masking what he felt. It honestly concerned and impressed the King of Curses how easily the brat can pretend for the sake of others, even at the expense of himself.
So self-sacrificial.
In the end, that endearing nature of his became his downfall. His defiance shriveled into compliance.
His level-headedness shifted into paranoia.
His optimism melted into pessimism.
His vessel was truly broken beyond repair. It pushed Yuuji's fragile heart into the arms of the one person he never should have asked for solace from in the first place.
Sukuna only knew destruction. He was no being of love. And yet, as more of Yuuji became Sukuna, the same rang true that more of Sukuna became human.
Emotions that should have died when his soul ascended as the King of Curses once again tormented his mind. The thought of seeing his vessel tremble in fear of the inevitable made his soul waver. It was not out of concern, nor worry, no.
He loathed how his vessel feared something more abstract rather than Sukuna himself. Yuuji should only fear him. Not whatever concept of friendship or loyalty that the kid seemed too enamored by to let go of.
This was their space. Yuuji should only be thinking about him.
They grew more into each other regardless of the fingers they've ingested. Yuuji understood Sukuna more, while the latter found an indescribable possessiveness for his vessel blossom. It was as if their souls were resonating with one another, latching and binding them together. With their thoughts as one, he and Yuuji reached an understanding.
Should one ask, one can give. Should one yearn, one would do. Sukuna craved death, destruction, and pleasure. He knew Yuuji was beginning to crave the same things. He just wasn't ready to take that leap yet. He was too afraid to do so.
Seeing him at a loss like this, enthralled Sukuna. He was perfect. If not a tad annoying that Sukuna just now realized he actually liked the kid this way - crumbling and at his mercy. If only he could do the same to that Ten Shadows kid. If he had Megumi Fushiguro pliant and needy like Yuuji was right now, Sukuna would be nigh unstoppable.
Yuuji pinched Sukuna's arm, reminding the latter that neither of their thoughts were sacred from each other anymore. What Sukuna thought, Yuuji heard. All was laid bare in their shared domain.
"Stop thinking about Fushiguro."
"Imagine it," Sukuna said otherwise. "We have the power to claim him as ours. If we had our precious Megumi, I'd have my prize and you'd keep your friend."
Yuuji paused. Sukuna heard his silent reluctance to agree then came the predictably, almost rehearsed bout of despair. "We're supposed to die. I don't want 'shiguro to see us like this. I don't want him to -" See what I've become, was left unsaid.
Sukuna chuckled and carded his fingers from the brat's head, down his face and along his chin to gently lift his attention towards him. Golden auburn eyes which glimmered with a shade of red stared at him. Sukuna's red.
"We don't have to. Just say the word. I'll save us." We'll kill them all. "We'll keep Megumi safe."
Yuuji's eyes faltered at the temptation. Almost falling off the edge, but still holding on. He shook his head.
"There is no stopping this, you know that, don't you, Yuuji?"
The brat shivered upon hearing his name. Sukuna found that he loved seeing his vessel come undone with his voice like this. He relished in it. Devoured it just as greedily as Yuuji did whenever they sought a meal together. It was as if uttering each other's name strengthened the connection they had. Yuuji avoided it. Sukuna did it as often as he could. It made him feel powerful.
"Doesn't mean I want Fushiguro to know, or anyone else."
"They already do. They know what we've done. They're fools for thinking otherwise. The moment they see and accept the truth, you'll have to make a choice, Yuuji. Would you choose us, or would you choose them?"
"Them," was Yuuji's silent answer.
They wouldn't find comfort in that answer, Sukuna hissed. "That's why you're here aren't you? To escape the looks they've been giving us."
Yuuji kept silent, neither agreeing nor denying Sukuna's musing. Yuuji already knew the truth. He was simply delaying the inevitable. In doing so, he was making their life a lot more complicated than it should be. What Sukuna would do to take away that conflict from his host.
Hearing his thoughts, Yuuji pulled Sukuna closer and mumbled "Stop thinking. It's noisy."
"Only you would find that easy."
Sukuna felt his vessel's shoulder bounce, chuckling. Sharing this moment with just the two of fluttered at the pit of Sukuna's stomach. Like butterflies shedding off their cocoon and whisking out their wings of freedom. Aside from Yuuji's fear, Sukuna also came to enjoy his laughter; as seldom as they were now.
"Don't walk around in my room," Yuuji said as he drifted off, eyes falling shut and breathing going quiet like a whisper of the wind.
Sukuna rolled his eyes. "As if there's anything interesting out there."
The King of Curses continued to smooth out Yuuji's hair. Just as his precious other half requested, Sukuna kept his thoughts silent and listened to the brat's light breaths amidst the pitter-pattering of blood dripping down the dark pool of red around them.
Against his better judgement, the warmth enveloping him also lulled the monster to sleep. Somehow, it's been a lot easier to drown out the noise and anger with Yuuji around.