Chapter Text
Sukuna looks up at the clear sky, but doesn't feel any joy at getting sunlight to warm up his skin - his skin, not Itadori’s - as he sits with his back against the side of a building.
What use is it, getting his body back, if he has no cursed energy left to stay alive?
Everything that could have gone wrong, did - in the worst way possible, too. He sorely underestimated his vessel and his shit-for-brains allies. Sukuna doesn't know what he hates the most: one of them, them all, or his godforsaken luck (in this case, the lack thereof). Why did Yuuji fucking Itadori have to be the one to eat his finger and start this whole string of unfortunate events? It could have been anyone else. It could have been no one . He'd be better off living sealed off and locked up, split into twenty waxy pieces.
He's falling apart from the inside out, and he feels every fiber of his being dissipating like sand slipping through God's fingers. There's nothing keeping this body together now, other than sheer power of will, but even that has a limit - he's already lost enough blood to dampen the whole front of his kimono and make a pool under his sitting form; there's no way he'll live much longer. He's out of allies, out of ideas, out of strength.
What now?
He doesn't want to die. He didn't wait a thousand fucking years for this - meeting his end left forgotten, rotting away, while these insects called sorcerers pamper each other not even a block away from him, even though one is more injured than the other, among those who survived. Sukuna genuinely didn't think he'd ever die like one of them, but if death is the only thing awaiting him, then he'd rather have it in battle.
But, of course, they wouldn't allow him an honorable death. They'd ignored him as soon as he stopped being a threat - as soon as he split apart from Itadori, and the brat leeched off each drop of cursed energy Sukuna had - accidentally; he’s sure it was an accident. The very second Itadori hit the ground after collapsing, everyone seemed to forget that they were dealing with the King of Curses, and ran to his side.
Well, everyone but Megumi Fushiguro. Sukuna always did have a good eye for wit and talent.
(Too bad it meant he got his chest slashed open as soon as he got his body back, and was practically killed before the urchin boy, too, ran to check on Itadori.)
Sorcerers are always like that. If only they'd properly killed him when he was human, they'd have avoided a substantial amount of trouble, both for them and Sukuna himself.
Speaking of trouble - they always have the worst timing, too. Megumi's shoes click against the concrete as he approaches the building Sukuna's leaning against, followed by his Divine Dog. The little sorcerer looks quite angry, and Sukuna can't help but let a satisfied smile cross his lips. "Is he dead?" he asks as steadily as he can. Each syllable feels like a needle pricking his lungs, but hell if he's gonna let it show in front of a sorcerer.
Megumi slants his eyes as he comes to a stop in front of Sukuna, chin tilted up as he assesses the curse's status. He keeps his hands inside his pockets like he's boringly watching a play he'd much rather walk away from, and he’s damn lucky Sukuna holds him to such high regards; the curse would be honestly offended with this dismissive behavior if it were anyone else. "No," he answers curtly, before crouching mere inches away from the curse. "But I see that you are."
"You talk a lot of shit for someone who can barely walk.”
Prideful idiots pretending they're okay, the both of them.
But it feels good being the one having inflicted the injuries the boy sustained. The slash marring Megumi's porcelain face from jaw to cheek, especially, looks like quite the work of art. He should have slashed the left side, too, for some symmetry.
"I assure you I have enough strength left to kill you," the sorcerer states.
"Then why am I still alive?"
"Because I'm enjoying watching you bleed."
Sukuna is both surprised and damn proud of himself for drawing such a feral reaction from someone such as Megumi. He's hotheaded most of the time, sure, but he's compassionate. Even Itadori had, at some point or another, promised to kill the fuck out of curses and make them feel pain, but Megumi? Not once. He just… does his job. And Sukuna always kept a close eye on him, he would know.
"Why so silent all of a sudden?" Megumi asks sourly, "I thought you'd bark a little more."
Hngh, he should have slashed the kid's damn tongue off rather than his cheek. Now he can't do any of these. He can put up a mental fight, sure, since his head still works properly, but any action that may require him to move is just torture. But in such a situation, even strategizing and thinking up plans to stay alive seems improbable at best. If only he could exploit Megumi's kindness somehow; but that also seems like it's not gonna work, with how the conversation's going. Even if he could get Megumi to empathize with him, the kid can't use reverse cursed technique. Sukuna's running into dead ends again and again. God fucking damn it, he doesn't want to die, but what options are there?!
He forces himself to slow down his breathing. Gotta gain some leverage with the sorcerer's empathy until he's able to think of something.
"Do you know, Megumi," he begins, mind working a thousand miles a minute, "Why I became a curse?" The sorcerer doesn't reply, only frowning in response. Okay, that's good - better than completely rejecting the interaction. He can work with a stupid frown. " Sorcerers made me hunger for more power, when I was human. When I died, that and the grudge I held against everyone were the only things I could carry to the other side, and it's not like I had a choice. Do you have any idea," he hisses between his teeth, trying not to get too caught up in the memories but failing spectacularly, "How fucked up it is, having who you are , your very essence, twisted and broken until all that's left is the things you hated the most?"
Megumi's Divine Dog growls at Sukuna's aggressiveness, but the sorcerer raises a hand to shush it, then places it on its neck to pet the black fur around it. He doesn't look any less annoyed than when the conversation began, but at least he's listening, and his eyes did soften a little with his loyal puppy's intervention. Maybe Megumi doesn't like fucking with curses before killing them because his shikigami are, in essence, cursed spirits?
"Where are you going with this?" Megumi asks, and, fuck , where is he going with it? He doesn't know. He just wants to find a way to stay alive, but each second makes it less probable. His vision's slowly getting blurry and his throat is dry and sore with how much he's talking. He can't feel his feet, and his legs are going numb.
What can he do? He's practically already dead. No amount of reverse cursed technique can heal him. He'd have to be completely restored from the inside out, maybe even recreated, and with his cursed energy at a zero, it would have to be done by an outside party. Would Megumi's energy suffice? How would Sukuna even absorb it? Unless…
Unless it was the opposite…?
Sukuna glances at the Divine Dog, then back at the midnight eyes watching him intently in wait for an answer.
"The hatred I carry won't let me accept death," Sukuna risks, heart pounding in anticipation as he mentally reminds himself not to put the cart before the horse, "I wanna keep fighting, no matter what."
"Good luck doing that in hell."
Sukuna smirks, gulping down as the numbness in his legs continues to spread. Megumi's becoming just a sharp blur of black and white, a drop of paint on rice paper. He's running out of time.
"This is my hell, right here. Make me one of your shikigami, Megumi Fushiguro."
The sorcerer frowns. Sukuna can't see anything more specific on his expression because of his fucked up sight, but he doesn't doubt it's something grandiose. If he had to guess, Megumi looks like the muscles in his face dried up like stale passionfruit.
"You have terrible taste for jokes."
"You're right," Sukuna admits, "But I'm not joking. The Jujutsu world is upside down and the common man has seen what curses are capable of. More and more are gonna pop up from now on. It's gonna be complete chaos and killing me won't fix anything," he explains, "But if you keep me alive, make me your shikigami? You'll have more than enough power to maintain the balance. You'll make your justice come true, and I'll get to live and destroy things."
"As if that'd ever work."
"Why wouldn't it?"
"Because you're you! " Megumi exclaims, sounding absolutely baffled that Sukuna would even suggest something like that.
(He's not wrong. It is baffling.)
"Isn't a shikigami obligated to obey its master? I bet if you ordered your puppy to do tricks, it wouldn't even question you." Said puppy growls at him. Sukuna wants to growl back, but keeps his remaining energy to interact with Megumi.
"And you expect me to believe that you would willingly put yourself in that kind of situation?"
"I'm willing to."
Of course he is, albeit temporarily. The fundamentals of the Ten Shadows Technique involve the surviving shikigami inheriting the powers of the others, so what would happen if Sukuna was the last one standing? He can for sure find one or two loopholes in the whole obedience thing, and break free from Megumi's shackles. Not like the sorcerer's stronger than him to begin with. He won because he had help from the others.
"You're a regular curse. There was no ritual," Megumi says with a short, humorless laugh. "What kind of madman are you?"
"The kind that believes you're smart enough to find a way."
"People tried to kill me for less. You think they'd just let me roam around free, with you as my shikigami?"
You, you, you , he keeps repeating it like Sukuna's some damn animal people don't want shitting on their yard, and he's almost dead , he doesn't have the time for this damn charade. The fuck does it take to convince this kid?!
"Who's left alive that may question you? The Jujutsu world's gone to shit. Think about it, Megumi. If you have my power, you can do anything, save as many people as you want. What better than to use an evil guy to do some good?"
When Megumi doesn't answer, Sukuna doesn't know what to think. He can't make out anything on the sorcerer's face anymore so he lets his head drop to conserve some energy; he's just a blur anyway. It's getting real bad. Sukuna can't feel either of his legs. Thinking is starting to become difficult, too, probably due to blood loss making him lightheaded. What now? If he lives, he can always try again. If he dies, it's over.
"That's actually not a bad idea, now that I think about it," Megumi says, and Sukuna wants to grin at it, but there's no strength left within him. So his weak spot was evil people doing good deeds? Megumi should open a reformatory. "Imagine how much I can make you suffer if I keep you alive."
...uhm. What?
Megumi tilts up his chin. Sukuna can't even see his face properly but he just knows there's a smirk in there, and it actually sends a shiver down his spine. Since when is this kid able to be so ominous?!
"I think I know how to make it work. But you'll make a Binding Vow with me, accepting all my terms. You'll forget these as soon as we're done here, but you'll know a vow was made. I exchange, you get to stay alive. How's that sound to you?"
It sounds ironic, and Sukuna hates it. Karma really did catch up with him from when he did the same to Itadori, didn't it? Fucking hell.
"...what terms?" Sukuna asks barely above a whisper, doing his best just to stay conscious, because he knows if he slips out there's no coming back.
"It's just two, really," Megumi begins to explain, so calmly it makes the situation much more unnerving. "If I die, you die. If, by any reason, you're able to break free from the contract, you die. Of course, as my shikigami, you have no choice but to follow all my orders, but you already knew that."
No dead Megumi, and no breaking free… can he find a loophole in these? Definitely not now, but he has no option other than accept the terms. He'll have the time he needs later. He opens his mouth to speak, but no sound comes out, so he nods weakly instead.
So humiliating. So pathetic. If he really can't kill Megumi, then he'll force the kid to watch as he kills everyone else, when he's able to.
Sukuna does his best to stay conscious for as long as possible, but everything starts to fade away when he's enveloped by a blackness so dense it consumes everything.
"Hey, ghost kid!"
He doesn't want to look at the boy calling him. Why can't these kids leave him alone? He just wants some fucking peace. Staring at his sandals, he keeps on walking, concentrating on step by step to try and forget all the ghostly eyes watching him and tugging on his kimono.
' C o mE pL a y!'
'DaD d y, I 'm hUnG r y…'
'I c aN't Fi n D m y c a T!'
They always stick to him like parasites. Why? He doesn't want to see them. He doesn't want to be a sorcerer, no matter how much people push him into it. All he wants-
"Oi, ghost kid, I'm talking to you!"
The boy pulls him by the sleeve so swift and hard that he falls to the ground, raising up dirt. A pebble is thrown hard at his forehead, splitting open the skin to make blood run down to his eyebrow, dripping small drops onto his white kimono. The boy kicks dirt at him, while his friends laugh, and the ones who don't, won't lift a finger to help him.
' M y cAt! I w aNt m y c a t!'
"Shut up."
'I' m sO h u Ng r Y, i t h u Rt s …'
"Shut up!"
'P l aY w iTh M e !’
Rage bubbles inside him, so hot it feels like everything else is melting, while he grabs his head with both his hands. It hurts, like something's trying to break free from inside him, devouring him on the way out.
"Look," the boy yells, "The freak is doing weird shit again!"
Cleave. He wants to fucking cleave them, both the kids and the cursed spirits. All of them. He stays up, cursed energy escaping from his body in an uncontrollable sharp flow, until-
"Why's he making all these faces, pyon?"
...huh? He doesn't know that voice. It's so thin it sounds like it belongs to a squirrel.
"I don't know, isn't he dangerous? What's Master thinking?" another unknown voice asks, soft and female.
It feels weird. His sight is warping and going dark, like ripples on the water at night, and chit-chatter continues to get louder and louder around him, while a soft pressure keeps going on and off over his chest.
"He's good for hopping on, pyon!" another voice just like the ridiculously thin one says.
"Get off of him! If he wakes up-"
Sukuna swiftly sits upright; the world spins around him so hard he almost throws up, while a white blur rolls down his chest to fall on his lap. He does his best to focus on it, blinking a few times to see a tiny ball of fur trembling on his kimono.
"Hey, hey, big guy," comes another comically thin voice from his left, "If you hurt him, we'll fuck you up, pyon!"
...what the- what the fuck?
Sukuna looks to his side to see a tiny bunny biting and pulling at his kimono, with what he guesses is over fifty more behind it, glaring at him but shaking like they're standing over the epicenter of an earthquake. The one on his lap uncurls from the ball it's become to blink at him in confusion. Sukuna dumbly blinks back.
"...what the hell is going on?" he mumbles, one hand to his head and the other three holding him up as he tries to remember what happened that made him faint. He'd been fighting, and there was a lot of blood, and everything turned black, and-
And, he's not dead? So Megumi really did accept turning him into a shikigami? Why? Is he dumb? No, hold on a second. They made a Binding Vow, didn't they? Megumi asked for… it was… what was it? He's not an idiot so it must have been something important, right?
Sukuna shakes his head - he'll have time to think about it later. Right now, he needs to find out what the fuck is going on. If he's become a shikigami, and these bunnies are shikigami too, then that must mean-
"Good morning, gero," says a frog that hops into his field of view, "Welcome to Master's Innate Domain."