Chapter Text
They were unwanted children.
It’s something they never really say out loud in his dreams, but it’s there. His first life’s earliest memories were of hunger and a hand in his. How they survived from infancy, Yuji wasn’t sure. There had to be someone, at some point, but his soul had forgotten because his original mind was not capable of remembering it.
“Sukuna,” Sukuna says and Yuji had no clue how old they were. Younger than any other memory he dreamed. They were sitting around a fire, fish on sticks roasting in the heat. Sukuna had said his own name with a surety. The reason for it was explained as his small round face declared, “I wanna be Sukuna.”
All at once, Yuji understood. Nobody had named them. No. This is a memory of the moment they had named themselves.
“You just wanna sound cool,” Yuji’s past self muttered, then promptly caught the rock his brother tossed at him in retaliation. As if acting on instinct he tossed it back. Sukuna dodged it and rolled his eyes.
“You’re just jealous!”
“Am not!”
“Mine is always gonna be cooler!”
“I haven’t even picked one yet,” past-him said and all at once he felt stupid. Of course his past life wasn’t named Yuji. The coincidence would have been astronomical if he had been. He doubted Sukuna would ever say his name again, after he was gone. Yuji’s half of their soul’s name was silently kept in a box. Sealed away up until this very moment.
They were so little, sitting around the fire, and picking names for themselves. What had they called each other before? Had they lived so apart from society that they never needed names because they always knew they were talking to each other? They didn’t seem that old though.
Sukuna huffed, “Pick one or I’m gonna name you.”
Pouting, he curled up a bit at the pressure of having to pick a name. Though, from what Yuji could gather from the memory, they’d been talking about it for a while– yeah– they’d realized they needed names to sell fish. To talk to other people.
“Yours is fine for both of us.”
“Don’t be dumb! Get your own name!” Sukuna complained petulantly.
“Names are boring,” Yuji’s past self whined right back and… yeah. It was a lot of pressure. To pick something especially when your brother was so quick to pick a name chosen for how mysterious it was.
Giving a fake gag, Sukuna said, “Baby.”
“M’not a baby,” Yuji complained like a baby and he laughed at his past life for being so cute. For being so normal. He took his fish off the fire and started blowing on it.
Sukuna seemed to immediately begin staring at his own still cooking fish with all the patience of a starving child that knew they’d face sickness or mouth peeling burns if they gave into their hunger too fast.
“Real adults have names,” Sukuna taunted halfheartedly as he was more occupied with examining his still cooking fish for signs of being done. There was a stretch of quiet as Yuji’s past self thought and watched his fish cool.
After a minute or three, Sukuna snagged one of the fish from the fire and started waving it around as if trying to cool it off fast. Before Yuji could even think it, his memory snagged the fish from his brother and shoved the already cooled one into his hands.
For a moment, Sukuna grimaced but then bit into the cooled fish and ate it off the bones carefully. Though, Yuji nearly had a heart attack when his own past self bit into what had to be a searing hot fish only for it to just feel pleasantly warm as his teeth crunched through the fragile bones and searing hot flesh.
Oh. Yuji startled at the sense memory of it all. Had his past self been immune to heat? He knew his own body was strong. If he had to say, Yuji’s current modern body was stronger than his past self. From the little he read he figured it was because Sukuna’s cursed energy hadn’t been around so called ‘holding him back’. So he’d physically been stronger than his memory self. As he considered it, that part of him that informed the memory, told him that yes. He could handle a lot more heat than most. Huh. His first life could also see curses couldn't he? That was something. It wasn't nothing.
“Kannon, I like that name, I guess,” Yuji felt his mouth move and the words come out. But they were new and beautiful. A word to call himself.
Oh.
Ohhhhhh.
Kannon.
Maybe fate was a bit funny. Yuji and Kannon. Compassion and Mercy. It was like something from a song. He could laugh almost.
“You’re so boring,” Sukuna whined but just ate his lovingly given fish.
“You should consider forming a pact,” Gojo-sensei said in a tone most people would use to discuss the weather, “It would go a long way towards getting Sukuna tolerated around here if he promised for realsies not to hurt anyone.”
“Did he just say ‘for realsies’? What is he, an old man?” Sukuna spat, clearly not agreeing with the suggestion.
Yuji on the other hand rubbed his face and four eyes before he said, “You just got Sukuna to say ‘for realsies’. Just so you know.”
“Nice!” Gojo grinned then his smile fell a bit. Waving a finger around like he was trying to be a proper teacher, Gojo continued his previous thought, “But seriously. You should consider it, you two. I can’t always be around for you and while the higher ups themselves aren’t much of a threat, it’s all about image and going about things the ‘right way’ if you actually want to do this.”
‘This’ was likely being a Sorcerer. Yuji knew that much. The plan was to do their best until it was time to be executed as far as he could tell. Though, he was pretty sure Sukuna’s plan didn’t involve that last part. Which Yuji kind of agreed with since they weren’t exactly a threat so maybe they could work something out… though, ‘work something out’ was probably really optimistic when it came to Sukuna.
“I have no intention of playing the political games of weak and feeble Sorcerers,” Sukuna said, his mouth forming in a blink. It was becoming so normal that Yuji was beginning to think of that part of his face as where it belonged. Then, reminding everyone of who exactly he was, Sukuna gave his own option, “We should just kill them all and be done with it.”
“Whoa! We can’t just kill people cause you don't like them!” Yuji protested more than just a little, he looked to Gojo for help. Mostly he expected his teacher to agree that killing people— no matter how annoying— was bad.
Instead, Gojo very blandly replied, “No can do. Thought about it, but if we kill all of them, more will just take their place. They keep track of the line of succession extremely well.”
Putting out his hand, Gojo started lifting fingers as he listed, “We’d have to kill the old farts, their sons, their sons. Not just heirs either but potentials too. Daughters as well if we want to be safe. It’s really more blood than it's worth.”
“But we could do it,” Sukuna said petulantly.
“I could do it,” Gojo said flatly, “Yuji is still a child.”
“He could cover his eyes,” Sukuna joked and Yuji shrieked.
“Can you two stop plotting murder?! What the heck is happening?!" Yuji felt like pulling his hair out at the sudden turn of events.
At the moment the three of them were in the middle of the forest. Somewhere far far away from the school where no one could get caught in the potential cross fire of what was about to happen.
Switching with Sukuna was one of those things that would set off alarms if they did it inside the barriers around the school. Yuji didn’t understand all the details and when Sukuna tried to explain it was like the guy was slamming a book to Yuji’s head in an attempt to get something in between his ears. All he understood was ‘Sukuna scary’ and that was it.
“Don’t worry too much about it, Yuji,” Gojo said with a smile. It was one that Yuji got the feeling he’d put on just to calm him down. Unfortunately it was working. Gojo was just that kind of guy who made you feel like things were gonna be fine when he used that cheery voice. Tapping his chin, Gojo said, “Nobody is going to be doing that sort of thing any time soon. It's like you said, just because we’re strong doesn’t give us a right to go around killing people we don’t like. Besides, there are more strong people in your corner than you realize.”
“Are you going to start spouting morals? Digusting,” Sukuna gagged and Gojo actually laughed brightly like it came from deep in his chest.
“Of course not, attaching morals to strength would be sort of naive,” Gojo said like it was the most obvious thing in the world, “I don’t believe morality and strength have anything to do with each other.”
“Good, I almost thought you were an actual fool,” Sukuna replied, sounding satisfied. Though Yuji wasn’t. Not one bit.
“But—” Yuji protested, feeling a little lost, “You’re not a bad person– or– Curse User. Right? That’s the word. Gojo-sensei, you’re always doing good and protecting people.”
“Strength and morality might not have anything to do with each other, that’s true,” Gojo nodded, then with a soft expression on his face he explained, “But if you are strong, you must assign yourself morality. Rules are what keeps society running and while some are silly, the most important ones are the things that keep us from descending into chaos. Even you, Sukuna, had rules, didn't you? After all, you successfully ruled Gifu during your lifetime.”
“Everyone has rules,” Sukuna said, his tone dripping with disdain, “Don’t lecture me about such things.”
“Yeah yeah,” Gojo waved him off, then addressed Yuji when he said, “So don’t worry too much. You’re still young, enjoy being a kid for a bit more before worrying about things like that!”
Yuji wasn’t really sure though. The idea of rules made sense for the reason Gojo said, but hearing that the two strongest beings in history— and currently on earth— could take or leave a thing like morals wasn’t comforting. Not that Yuji worried too much about Sukuna. The guy clearly wasn’t gonna do anything that Yuji didn’t like and Yuji had enough morals for the both of them. He supposed they just lucked out with Gojo being such a nice guy.
“Alright! You two, no holding back!” Gojo cheered, “Let’s see the limits of what you can do for now!”
The fact of the matter was, there wasn’t as much of a flip when they did it either. Yuji, would describe it as not so different from the way it felt to roll over in bed. How you’d shift and roll and suddenly your face was against the wall instead of looking at the room so you had to look behind you to see everything. Switching with Sukuna was very much like that.
One moment Yuji was with Gojo in the forest and the next he was sitting upon Sukuna’s throne of bones. Because that’s where Sukuna always funneled him when they did this. Straight in front of him was the torii gate. A mass of cursed energy and the specter of Sukuna himself. Yuji knew from their fight with Mahito that if he touched it, their halves of their soul would start to merge so he tended to give it a wide berth by staying on the throne he’d been placed onto. If he closed his eyes and focused on that cursed energy, then he could see.
Seeing the world as Sukuna moved through it was a specific kind of strange. Yuji was a passenger in the body that had only ever been his for the better part of the last fifteen years. He had the sense that he could force himself back into the limbs they now shared without taking full control. That Sukuna might be able to do the same and they were both sort of just not saying that part out loud to keep people from freaking out.
All that to say, Yuji could ride on the passenger side while Sukuna and Gojo beat the shit out of each other with their bare hands. Not that he didn’t learn anything from all this. Yuji got to observe two highly skilled hand to hand martial artists behave like five year olds, but also that meant he could learn tricks and moves from watching and not being the one to actually nearly get an arm twisted off. Even though it was also technically his arm… The whole thing was hard to think about but all in all it was nice getting to observe and make notes. He could also provide color commentary.
“Y’know, since we’re shorter you should probably go lower.” Yuji was still getting used to being the one inside, and still wasn’t able to form a mouth. Not that he had many chances to practice.
“Doesn’t matter, our muscle density is greater than his.”
“Okay, but he’s still top heavy compared to us. Cause he’s like a dorito and we’re like… a rectangle. You’re still used to being way bigger, huh.”
“Shut up.” Sukuna replied through his teeth, and Yuji felt a shove but just smiled to himself as he watched the other beginning to take lower shots. After all, guys tended to have a higher center of gravity and were easy to topple if you knew what you were doing. Girls were scary and tended to be way more balanced, because of their hips and boobs balancing them out.
“You need to eat more meat,” Sukuna griped as he dodged a very erratic punch, “We’re too short.”
”We’re above average height.” Yuji pouted a little, attempting to form a mouth again and failing. Ugh.
“You’re above average height, actually,” Gojo said, backing him up. Though the grin on Gojo’s face was kind of scary. Like he thought it was fun that Sukuna and Yuji could lazily converse while in a fist fight. Which was proved correct when Gojo very happily asked, “Are you taking this seriously?”
“Of course I am, My brother thinks he can offer me advice,” Sukuna laughed, redirecting one of Gojo’s kicks, he threw a punch of his own to be dodged. Gojo did manage to land a decent kick in the stomach by a very athletic twist which sent them flying.
“Is he helpful at all?” Gojo sounded like he didn’t think Yuji would be.
“Hey,” Yuji frowned at the slight from his own teacher, “Tell him I was helpful!”
Sukuna scoffed and got in position for another close range assault, “Not really.”
“Stop acting like you didn’t take my advice.” Yuji shouted angrily at the clear bullying taking place. What a jerk!
“No.”
“Fine then, get punched for all I care.” Yuji crossed his arms, pouting at being treated like a useless idiot.
There was a sense of confusion from Sukuna at the threat, but it quickly vanished when Gojo made a swing and Yuji thrust his awareness into their legs to keep the current driver of their body from dodging.
Getting hit directly—point blank—- by Gojo Satoru was like getting hit by a train. It rattled their bones and blood so badly that even Yuji felt it. Naturally, they went flying. Through more than one tree and wound up crashing into a boulder that may have cracked like a spiderweb when it broke their momentum. Yuji was pretty sure that if Sukuna wasn’t so good at cursed energy reinforcement, they'd have a hole in their stomach.
“What the hell is wrong with you, you little idiot?!” Sukuna screamed. Though, he didn’t actually seem angry. If anything he sounded more like Yuji had eaten his share of their desert. There was even a sense of… pride? Weird.
Gojo arrived much faster than any normal person. He probably warped. Which Yuji was still trying to wrap his head around. But, it wasn’t his technique so it technically wasn’t really his business.
“Ah, my bad. Though… you seemed to forget to dodge. Which makes it your fault if we’re being honest.” Gojo said with all the grace of an adult shirking his responsibility. Then, because he was actually not stupid, he said, “Trouble with the piloting?”
“We had a disagreement on how useful he was.” Sukuna replied, his tone clearly implied that Yuji was being a child. Which! Was so annoying. Yuji wanted to shove him and sit on him. Was this what it was like to have a sibling?
“Ah… weird. Most texts say partial possession isn’t possible,” Gojo said, slowly, like he knew exactly how shady Yuji’s ability to take control of their legs was.
“It’s originally his body, it’s natural he has more control over such things” Sukuna lied, like a liar.
“Ah, well okay.” Gojo replied, clearly not believing it.
“You’re an idiot.” Sukuna informed him, tone dripping with condescension.
”Technically it’s your fault for being annoying.” Yuji refused to budge. ”He was gonna find out anyways.”
”You’re lucky I don’t just eat you again.”
Yuji laid across the throne and settled more, relaxing from the partial possession as he snarked right back, ”As if you could. I’m way too full of modern chemicals.”
Sukuna laughed, out loud at that reply. Gojo responded with a tilt of his head and very happily declared,. “Ha, ha! You two are creepy.”
Which had Yuji frowning but he knew it was all in good fun. After that the spar continued and while there was no real winner, they were just using their bare hands like the gods intended, so it was more for entertainment and getting a feel for how strong Yuji and Sukuna currently were. Either way, they seemed to satisfy whatever metric Gojo was going by and at the end of it they were promised he was going to petition to have Yuji eat the fingers the school currently had in storage.
When Yuji had switched back for the walk to the school and into the barriers he asked, “Sensei, if they say ‘no’, should I just go get them?”
There was a moment of silence before Gojo snorted a laugh and asked, “Can you do that?”
Hand on his chin, Yuji considered it a little harder and decided, “Probably. I mean, they’re just Sukuna. I know his cursed energy as well as my own… Actually, they’re really similar so I’m not sure why his sets off the barriers.”--- Yuji shook his head and kept on with the original point— “But If I tried I could probably find them no problem if you told me the basic location of the vaults.”
“You’re right, your cursed energies are extremely similar, but not exact. I had some research done on your family because of it. Nothing solid yet, but from what I can see, I’d say you’re less ‘the same’ and more ‘perfectly compatible’.”
Yuji wasn’t really sure what that meant. If that’s how they had been in their first life too, or if Sukuna turning himself into cursed objects had changed his cursed energy somehow. Honestly, Yuji wasn’t even sure what the difference was between those two things when it came to cursed energy.
Mustering up all his confidence, reminded himself there was no such thing as a stupid question, he nodded and said, “Right, I don’t get it but okay.”
“I can’t really explain it because you can’t see cursed energy in the same detail as me and your technique doesn’t involve that kind of thing.” Gojo waved a hand as if it didn’t matter, “Just don’t think too hard about it. Kay?”
It seemed a little irresponsible, if he was being honest. Whatever the case was, Yuji did trust Gojo. Even if he wasn’t always the best at explaining complicated stuff.
“Gojo is a terrible teacher, but he’s correct to say that the compatibility of cursed energies is a complicated matter,” Sukuna said, the sharpness of the insult was kind of lost because he was so obviously satisfied with getting to punch someone and be punched for a bit, “There are several ways cursed energies can be compatible. The one you’re most familiar with is reverse curse technique. The issue with most sorcerers learning to heal others is their inability to neutralize their spiritual energy enough to ‘donate’ energy to someone else.
“Another way is more in line with how some techniques work. This method is ‘boosting’. One technique I encountered allowed a user to alter their own cursed energy enough to provide ‘boosts’ to themselves. While their own energy could be used to boost others.
“Our compatibility is more similar to the latter. The same way that you can blend iron and carbon to make steel. Combined they are greater than the single parts".
Yuji was fascinated by that sudden knowledge, not just about the techniques either.
“That’s how you make steel? I never knew that. I always assumed it was just like any other metal you mined.”
“That’s because you’re an idiot who can barely read.”
“HEY! Kanji is hard!” Yuji whined but he couldn’t really do anything about that.
There were a lot of reasons to feel cold when you were small and had little to your name. Winter had teeth and the fire going low in the dark of night could let death crawl in through the cracks of their small home in the forest.
Except, at the moment, it was summer in the bright day as Yuji found himself laying on the ground. Flat on his back the sun beat down on him and he could smell smoke, see fire. Through blurry vision he realized that it was their home that was burning. Absently he hoped it didn’t start a forest fire. Which felt oddly in line with what past him. How he knew, he wasn’t sure.
Sometimes when he wanted to say or do or think the same thing as his first life— as Kannon— Yuji would almost feel like he got a ‘perfect’ in a rhythm game. It wasn’t really a concrete feeling or confirmation but there was a knowing. So he knew they both were idiots worried more about forest fires than they were the fact they were surrounded by fire but felt freezing cold.
There was the sound of wood clattering on the ground. Feet pounding ferociously.
“Kannon!” Sukuna screamed. The sound of it was like he’d had his lungs ripped out and full of blood. Yuji felt that ‘great job’ again as they tried to move their head to look at Sukuna. When trying to move their head, Yuji realized that there was something inside of him. Them. Well, some things. And suddenly it became clear why he was so cold.
Blood. It soaked into the summer parched ground and made their clothes sticky. Blood was filling his throat and choking him like some twisted form of reverse drowning. Everything hurt in a dull way. Like the pain was distant, maybe it was their adrenaline, or maybe it was Yuji’s mind preventing him from feeling that pain of dying.
Sukuna fell to the ground next to him and for the first time, Yuji watched the boy hesitate. Hands unsure. Then he grabbed the hilts of the several pole arms stabbed through Yuji and Kannon’s body. Breaking them off near the heads,Sukuna tossed them with a scream like bloody murder before he was ever so gently lifting their body off the ground. Not completely, but enough to hold him close.
“Where are they?! Who did this?!” Sukuna demanded, vengeance already burning in his red eyes.
It was… sad. There were tears gathering in Sukuna’s eyes and it was making Yuji want to scream. For a boy too young for so many things. Too small to handle so much. Not just for Sukuna either, but for himself. For Kannon. A boy so strong but so young. Not strong enough for this.
“You’re gonna be okay,” their mouth moved and Yuji felt himself dying, the helplessness of it. The coldness and fear. Not for himself, but for Sukuna who would be left alone. With nothing but the emptiness they’d fought back for so long. “You’re strong, Sukuna.”
When Sukuna’s tears fell on him, they were burning hot. Weakly, Yuji reached up and touched the other boy’s face that was so much like his own. Wiping those tears away because he couldn’t do much else.
“I’m sorry. I wanted— I wanted to be with you longer.”
“You’re not supposed to die at all you idiot!” Sukuna scolded, but it was a desperate horrible thing that sounded like the grief of a thousand lost hopes.
It was a testament to how strong he was that Kannon— Yuji— could still talk. Even as their voice came rough and wet, quiet like the wind.
“Sukuna, we promised. You knew– you knew—”
“Shut up!” Sukuna sobbed. He was just a child whose world was crumbling, “Shut up! Shut up! You’re dying you— can’t make me!”
“We pro–” he coughed up blood. Red and furious it splattered on Sukuna’s white yukata, adding to the massacre already bleeding into him from holding his dying brother. — “We promised.”
Holding him close but not so close it would drive the metal deeper into his body, Sukuna demanded, “Who did this. I’ll do it if you tell me who did this to you.”
It was strange to die on a summer day that was bright. Not a cloud in the sky. Birds were singing because it wasn’t a day for dying. It was a day for hunting and fishing and playing in the river. It was a day for selling wood to the charcoal burner in the mountain and getting extra portions for dinner. It was a day of promise.
He pressed his mouth closed and Yuji felt that feeling again as he hoped to god that he didn’t tell Sukuna who did this. Because Sukuna would kill them. Even though they were just stupid people who were afraid of their own shadows. Yuji knew that, knew that because everyone that ever tried to hurt them in these memories were the same.
They were just people in a terrifying land of monsters and sorcery. Trying their best to fight the everyday evils they could protect themselves from. It was stupid and infuriating, but to them, sorcerer twins hunting in the forest during a time where eating animals was banned were that evil.
Killed for the crime of being born starving. It was awful and Yuji hated how he could understand why Sukuna became what he did. Yet he could also feel bad for the people who did it. For being so stupid and letting fear rule them.
Sukuna buried his face in their neck and sobbed. It was a broken kind of sound that left Yuji’s heart to tear. Something in them broke at that moment. Sukuna’s fury faded to the desperation of the child he was when he begged, “Please.”
In that moment, Yuji felt that feeling. That synchronicity of both parts of him moving as one.
“Shin.”
It was like vomiting glass to get the words out as he gripped Sukuna’s clothes. With the last of his energy, Yuji felt his other self promise.
“You can’t leave me here!” Sukuna broke down completely. A child desperately clinging to his brother. His nails dug into Yuji’s skin as he sobbed and cried, “You can’t leave me here!”
“I’ll come back,” he vowed, slurred and drowning in his own blood.
Sukuna held him tighter and made a vow in return. “I’ll wait for you.”
Then bared his teeth.
Yuji woke up before his brother began to eat his flesh. He wasn’t sure how much of him Sukuna ate. He wasn’t even sure why it worked the way it did. If he was being honest, he felt rather calm about the whole thing. There was peace to it, experiencing it.
Looking around, Yuji found he wasn’t in his room. It seemed like he hadn't completely woken up. Instead, he’d been dragged into their domain and found himself sitting on top of Sukuna’s throne of bones. A quick look around found Sukuna himself sitting at the base of his shrine, facing away.
“I brought you here.”
“So I wouldn’t see you eat me,” Yuji said, because it was obvious. Sukuna didn’t reply and that was enough to confirm it.
When he finally spoke, it was emotionless and unsettlingly quiet.
“We made a pact, after the first time we were attacked for what we were. That if one of us should die, the other would consume their living flesh and gain their strength. You had a body much like Zenin Maki and a small technique that created fire. Not much. Just enough that we never needed flint. It made you immune to poison since you were able to ‘burn’ it out of your blood.”
“Okay.” Yuji said, unable to quite understand it all.
“When you died, it was because you were too kind.” Sukuna said, cold and still like death itself, “You always held back against non-sorcerers.”
“Sorry,” Yuji frowned and felt a little bad about it, because he couldn’t imagine not saying he was sorry.
“Shut up, don’t apologize for dying, moron.”
“Sorry.”
Sukuna made a dissatisfied sound, then carried on as if to ignore him, “When a sorcerer is killed without sorcery they frequently become curses. Sorcerers always die with regrets, after all.”
“Oh.”
Yuji didn’t quite get it. Not fully. He understood enough that Sukuna was trying to explain to him how they had become the King of Curses. The strange combination of their pact and that first him likely being on the verge of becoming a curse while the tug of war their souls had been engaged in abruptly ended.
It was no wonder nobody understood.
“So it was love.” Yuji said, and he could almost cry. Love. Love had made the King of Curses. Gojo-sensei had been right all along.
“Go back to bed,” Sukuna said, and he would not look at him, “Have better dreams this time.”
“Sorry.”
“Will you knock it off?!”
Yuji covered his mouth because it wouldn’t exactly be appropriate to laugh. Sukuna had probably been super fucked up about that for a long time. Who wouldn't be? Then again, Yuji was kind of feeling a lot about being the one that died. Yeesh.
“Sukuna, it’s strange, but I’ve always preferred the snow.”
“You have some taste.” Sukuna replied, and for a moment Yuji understood he was grateful.
Closing his eyes, Yuji did his best to fall back asleep and dream of something that wasn’t a memory. And if it was a memory, to make it something nice. Though, he felt– for a moment– that he’d been changed.
Not because he really had been, but because he understood things differently. That he was Yuji, but he was also Kannon. That he had lived and died and promised to return. That Itadori Yuji wasn’t just Itadori Wasuke’s grandson or Itadori Jin’s son.
There had been a thousand years of love and violence that had culminated into his existence. He was Itadori Yuji, and he’d been loved for longer than he’d ever known.
It wasn’t nothing.
“Yuji,” Sukuna interrupted his thoughts. Yuji opened his eyes and found the other finally looking at him. Peeking over his own shoulder in the distance. Sukuna looked subdued and sounded distant when he said, “Before you go to sleep, I have something to tell you. I’ll only say it once.”
“What is it?” Yuji focused, waking himself up to full alertness so he wouldn’t forget what Sukuna had to tell him.
“I would have spoken of you more, if I had loved you any less.”
“You’re kind of a menace, but you’re a good brother.” Yuji replied with a smile he couldn't help, and then, because it felt right. It felt true, he said, “And I love you too.”
“Go to bed, you’re too stupid to be sacrificing rest.” Sukuna huffed and turned away again, as if love was shameful and disgusting. It reminded Yuji so much of his grandfather he laughed.
“You’re such an old man.”
Sukuna shot up and whipped around before he began shouting, “Get off my chair before I throw you off! You have your own perfectly good shrine but you’re always getting your disgusting self all over mine!”
Tossing his head back, Yuji laughed, “Toss me off then! You put me here, jerk!”
It was a little while before he went back to sleep properly, but Yuji’s actual body got eight hours and that’s all that mattered. Probably. He wasn’t going to think too hard about it.