5 Ryoumen Sukuna
*****
Yuuka snuggles comfortably to her biggest plush toy – an angry pink tiger with red eyes and a crown that is appropriately named King – she breathes in its lavender scent and closes her eyes to dive down to her subconscious. Not fully though, more like sinking her head into the ocean to see what's underneath.
Yuuka opens her eyes and she's back to the demon lair to come and talk to her somewhat (dangerous) prisoner. She's gotta greet it as its jailor after all.
Familiar scarlet liquid greets her eyes beneath her bare feet, its wetness clinging to her soles like the smell of iron sticking close to her lungs as she inhales the air inside wherever she is. Yuuka looks up and she's greeted once again by two sets of crimson red, beset in the face she often sees in the mirror to take stock of her reflection. Only this one is sharper, arrogant, wilder, ever so malicious, dressed in a simple yukata. The tribal markings that etched across the youthful face lent to the credence of something ancient and not quite human.
Huh, it looks like it could be my twin sister. My evil twin sister.
"Why do you have my face?" Yuuka crosses her arms over her chest, managing to somehow look down at the being who is literally sitting at a mound of bones.
I swear to Omnia that if this is some sort of demon mindfuckery of appearing as a representation of my literal inner demon, I will show this thing what my true inner demon is like.
The cursed thing mirrors her actions, tilting its chin up to look down on her. It was eerie and fascinating to see an identical face make such an arrogant expression, Yuuka notes to herself that it is somehow at home at the other beings face when such an expression on her own would be out of place.
Maybe it's the eyes and the tattoos.
"Don't flatter yourself brat, it's not like I had a choice in what I look like." The being grumbled in the same gruff tone as it had before.
Tsk. What a brat, and the audacity to call Yuuka a brat is unreal that it's laughable. Ahhh… to be young, arrogant and all powerful, but no worries, this Auntie Yuuka shall help this young caterpillar in the ways of the immortal and the long lived. Like for example, not antagonizing someone who might be way out of its league.
It better be grateful that she's got a long patience and not easily angered. Yuuka wouldn't call herself nice, but she's pretty nice compared to other self-proclaimed immortals.
Yuuka chooses to ignore that all for now to question the being's intelligence.
"Isn't this place the subconscious, one where you can change anything as you please as long as you think hard enough?"
As she ends her question, Yuuka dodges the cutting air sent to her neck without fanfare, only raising an unimpressed eyebrow at the cursed being to show her disapproval.
"Now that wasn't very ni—" She tilts her head to the right. An aerial slash passes by. "–ce."
"Insolent human, how dare you question–"
Okay, that's it, maybe she doesn't really have much of a patience.
Yuuka sends her own cutting air towards the creature in a similar manner before dashing towards where the brat dodged, ultimately punching it in the cheek to send it flying against one towering bone rib pillar in this plane.
Not letting them recover, she zooms once again to drill her foot onto its stomach, only to find that the creature managed to block it with its crossed arms in time. The bone pillar they landed on stood no chance against her supernatural strength, and she most certainly broke the curse's arms by imprinting her foot to it.
"I should be the one saying that to you, brat." Yuuka digs her foot in mercilessly, a wide smile still on her face. "Do you still not get that I'm far from being a feeble human?"
Just to prove her point, she lets go of her hold of her natural presence, letting her flames mingle with it. It's heavy, she knows, something that is yawningly ancient and grand in both the most terrible and awe inspiring way. She knows how it feels to mere normal humans because their feelings echo back to her. Let's just say that to them, she feels like a hollow void that stares back, the all consuming abyss, like nothing and everything all at once. It's an understatement to say that her sheer presence is overwhelming, making them both wish to run away from her or run towards her.
It's been a long time since she let her natural presence out so it was freeing to her. Exposing it to mortals can either lead to their death or madness.
Omnia did say that they have their essence in her, and catching a whiff of her natural aura is like being exposed from the TRUTH, you know, like a small glimpse of the secret of the universe. Mortals can't comprehend it, hence they either go mad or die at the exposure.
(Yuuka wonders how the thing reacts, surely it wouldn't die by just that, it's not human after all. Plus, it would be such a shame, she'd lose her free entertainment by accidentally killing it.)
The cursed creature turns ashen white, eyes going wide in panic and surprise, tribal marks becoming prominent, and a growl reverberates in the creature's chest in warning. Akin to a cornered animal, it lashes out with a powerful swing of its legs and Yuuka lets it hit her side but she stands unmoved, her smile widening like a predator baring its teeth.
"Now, now, be a good child and listen to your better. Younglings really, always quick to cast judgment and pick a fight even when already warned." Yuuka rolls her eyes heavenwards in exasperation. "Just because they have lived for centuries or more uncontested, they act so arrogant and all-knowing."
From underneath her, the creature hissed pupils a pinprick in the marble of crimson.
"What are you?"
Yuuka sighs. "Hadn't I told you earlier that I don't know." She crosses her arms on her chest and leans in closer. "I have a theory or two, and I'm not really keen on finding out if it's true, just know that I'm not as mortal as I appear. But for now, I'm Itadori Yuuka, granddaughter of Itadori Wasuke." Then she squats down, going near the being's face. "What about you rude stranger whom I share my body with?" She tilts her head to the side, letting it glow unnaturally with her Flames. "What's your name and title?"
And because Yuuka wants them to answer and not just stare at her from fear, she inhales and wrangles her presence to the unassuming human that she is pretending to be. That seems to trigger it and with a heave, the curse tossed Yuuka to the other side of the domain, righting itself and easily healing the broken arms and ribs Yuuka gave them.
She lands gracefully, without a sound, not even disturbing the red liquid beneath her feet.
Yuuka can feel the unease and the lingering fear that settles on the creature's form, but like any other self-absorbed long lived being, they cling to their pride and bravado like a safety cloak.
Awww… how cute.
The being observes her from its pile of bones, arrogance still rang clear in its deep voice.
"I am Ryoumen Sukuna, the King of Curses."
Oh wow, it really does have a title, and a KING! A king to the curious blobs. Hm, but that still doesn't really answer the question of what pronoun Yuuka should use for it.
In that one go she had on another world filled with exciting animals and beasts, there's a kingdom that refers to the female heirs as princes rather than princesses, so the 'King' title doesn't really give her a clue. Or maybe they're like Yuuka, who refers to herself to whatever her biological body corresponds to, or what she feels like being. Then again, she doesn't really care what others refer to her as, as long as they see her for herself. She's too old and insane for such normal things.
"Ahhh…" Well, how should she put her question? Yuuka can tell that this King of Curses is very old fashioned, their clothing and speech pattern speaks enough. Like who the hell calls people a "wench" these days?
"How should I refer to you as?" Wait, that can be misconstrued. Try another one. Look, now it's looking down on Yuuka like she's stupid. "Like, like, what pronouns should I use for you. 'Cause you're in my biologically female body yet your voice is deep as hell. I just wanna know if I should refer to you as he or she or they or whatever else you want."
Ryoumen Sukuna rearranges its face to neutrality, but there's understanding in its eyes.
"I am a man, and you may refer to me as such."
How arrogant still.
But Yuuka can work with that. She has tons of experience with those kind.
"I see, I see. Glad that's clarified then. Now coming back to my first question, why do you look like me? And what do you mean earlier that it's not like you have a choice about it?"
Sukuna sighs, flashes towards his designated throne and sits there to look down on her from the bottom. Yuuka has to admit, it's cute how he's trying to act like what happened earlier was nothing, but there's a certain cautiousness to it that the inner predator in her is enjoying.
Yuuka breaks his 'I have the higher ground' moment by simply jumping up to one of the gigantic ribs to sit there, legs swaying under her, all looking cute and innocent with her frilly sleepwear.
She could only grin at the irritation passing on his face.
"Your sense of self is commendable for that one."
That kinda answers it then, so it's all about Yuuka's mental strength and probably her spiritual strength too. Because Ryoumen Sukuna is an entity, a soul, that she's letting into her shell like a housemate. But it was still Yuuka's body despite them sharing it, so her body recognizes him as sort of a part of her mind instead of entirely being a separate entity, the recognition shows since Sukuna has four red eyes and tattoos all over him yet still appearing like her.
It's all so confusing, but to summarize, her body recognizes him as a sort of but not really part of her own psyche.
"Well that should be a given, it would be really embarrassing if I'm still unable to define myself after living for several millennia."
"If you really had lived for that long, how come I have never heard of you?"
"Oh, that's because I'm not originally from this plane of reality, I'm new around here, and either way, you would still not know who I am because I tend to 'die'–" Air quotes. "–and take different 'roles' as a human."
Sukuna is thoroughly unimpressed by this.
"So you just run around and pretend to be a human?"
Yuuka shrugs. "Basically, but it's also my role to not interfere too much with the tapestry of the 'Child of Destiny' in that particular plane." She blew on a pesky bang that keeps falling down her face, Yuuka frowns because she would need another haircut for that. "And oh yeah, I also keep the balance and harmony for the t̶̮̟͋̋r̸̝͈̀̌e̸͕̩͌e̶̡͒."
"For the what?"
"I won't repeat it again. You won't be able to hear it or understand it anyway. Anyway, that's basically my job but not really. I only ever went to forty-nine planes thus far but I always have to go back to the fourth one. This one is the forty-ninth if you're wondering."
"You are capable of traveling through different planes and dimensions?" The skepticism runs thick in his mouth and Yuuka finds it hilarious when she proves him wrong someday.
"Yep." She said, nonchalant to Sukuna's growing ire, still swinging her legs back and forth like a child she's pretending to be. "I am capable of it, but I really like the 4th plane's power dynamic and it took a really long while for the balance to stabilize in that plane so it won't collapse." Yeah, because for hundreds of years, that Checker Guy was so incompetent that he needed Sawada Tsunayoshi to be born first so that the child could find a solution for a problem that he could have solved hundreds of years before. Really, Kawa-something and his very dead brethren didn't even try hard enough to find a different solution, this is why they're all extinct now, aside from that arrogant earthling.
(And because of that, she got so used to the power involved in that world that it became the major thing she uses out of all the things she can do. Plus Flames are fun to use unlike all the straightforward clear cut abilities out there that does what it's supposed to be. Like what type of Flame can replicate stuff including like her own cells, it's always fun to prove her creativity of her Flame use to her colleagues back then, they sure did not expect for her cell propagation to be so strong that she can literally regenerate any part of her body, or that she can literally come back from the dead.)
"Really, that one long-lived earthling was so stupid, it's all his fault that I was stuck there for a looooooong time and come back there when there's so much more to explore in other realities. I even have to write myself a role into the tapestry just so that it could hurry along."
Yuuka's descendants were the core part for that, though she had no clue that the Child of Destiny would eventually be her own descendant, she just thought that her descendant would be a powerful ally that helps the Child of Destiny to achieve their goals like all the other realities did. She had no clue because she wasn't really listening to what Omnia says that much anymore.
The reason that it also took so long is because time is relative to each plane, it's different for every single one, so in the inbetween of the process of rebalancing the fourth plane, she goes around other planes to help in conserving worldly harmony. It just so happens that the fourth plane's time was very slow. And at least she got to try a new way of dying via anti soul-flame radiation thingy, it's certainly more unique, and because of that the Higher Powers That Made It Be, forcibly extracted her there for her shell to die and then shoved and awakened her into another, in Yuuka.
The only hesitation with her physically dying in her new shell is because they might throw her into another one before she can even step into the role she wants to play, you know, as a punishment for trying to die on them and maybe partially succeeding. Now that's no fun at all.
And what about her Grandpa if that ever happens? She doesn't like the thought of him being alone or sad.
Sukuna scoffs, derision on his snarling mouth. "Maybe you should blame your incompetence instead."
"Hey! I resent that!" Yuuka huffs and fills her cheeks with air. "You can't blame me when I'm just supposed to watch from the sidelines or manipulate things from the shadows! They banned me for directly interfering after that third plane!"
"And why is that?"
Flushing at the reminder, Yuuka pouted and started rambling. "It wasn't my fault that the balance destroyer was so annoying and punchable." Sukuna raises an eyebrow. "I kinda… erased him..." The eyebrow rises even higher. "From existence. Like CTRL ALT delete him, oh wait, you don't know what that means and it's not even the right example. Like I, ahh… eradicated him from the very core of reality. Not only was his physical body or life extinguished, it's his very existence itself. No one remembers him, not his family or the lives he affected because he was never born, never was a thought in his parents to be conceived, he never existed in every sense of the word. A manner of death that reality itself knows not that he existed."
*****
The gravity of what the girl is saying caught up to the curse. Her utter nonchalance to the ability of erasing a being's existence hammers home that Sukuna is most likely talking to some sort of God. An old and insane one. A powerful one.
And he fucking believes her, that show from earlier was not even the tip of that depth of power, a primordial unfathomable creature guised in a sweet looking package. The primal part of his being – his survival instincts – the one he'd never felt before prior to becoming a curse, had quaked at her mere presence and told him to run.
Just what type of being is she? For he, a being that can walk among Gods, to quail in fear from being under her scope of her scrutiny.
"I'm the only one who remembered he existed. Not even THEM, but they knew something was amiss, so they sorta punished me for it."
He had never felt so small and helpless by someone's presence alone. Not to mention that she doesn't even bear any ill will.
(This is the first time in his life that he felt truly afraid. What even is she?)
But of course, Sukuna can't show any vulnerability, especially from a creature that seems to go by whims of flimsy.
Unpredictability and might is an awful combination, is this what it feels like to be on the other end of the stick?
"Are you trying to intimidate me?"
"No. Does it sound like I am?"
"No." The King of Curses settles his chin on the palm of his hand. Casual as he pleases. "But you make it sound like it is."
The creature that calls itself Itadori Yuuka blinked its wide amber eyes at him, lashes long and thick, fluttering against the apples of her cheeks. What an awfully inappropriate exterior.
"I'm sorry." She says in a beat, voice high and childish. And genuine. "I was just trying to be honest to the guest I'm hosting."
Those awful cherubic cheeks flushed pink. "I'm just trying to make nice with you, since you're going to be stuck with me for a while."
There is no lie in her words, and it irritates Sukuna to no end because this being is making no fucking sense!
If Sukuna was in her position, he would have eliminated the foreign soul that tried to occupy his own body, but no, this one wants to make nice with him.
How foolishly absurd. He can't wrap his mind around it at all. It pains his pride to bow down to another being, especially from someone who dallies as a human little girl, but he can use this. He can use this creature's foolishness to his own gain, making her believe what she wishes to believe.
Her idiocy will be her downfall and Sukuna would take advantage of it 'till he is set free.
"What do you mean by that?"
And to do that, he'll make no comment on her daftness.
"You know, because it's my fault that you're stuck here with me because I felt like eating your cursed demon finger or whatever, to see what happens to this body." I'm sorry, what? "That would be like kidnapping or keeping you captive unwillingly, and I didn't expect anyone to come by just eating a stale finger. And one of my life's motto is FREEDOM WOHOO! And I don't like taking it from other so the least I could do is be nice to you since–"
"So you're telling me that you ate my finger because you want to see how your body reacts to it?"
Yuuka blinked owlishly, "Pretty much, yeah. Though I didn't expect a free bodymate to come with it."
"...Bodymate?"
"You know? Like a roommate, but instead of a room we now share a body."
All thought left Sukuna as he openly gaped at the smiling girl, unabashed to what she just confessed to.
Because what the fuck kind of reason was that?! Just for that?! Just to see what happens?!
She's absolutely fucking insane!
"You're fucking insane!"
The girl, the creature, chortles at this in amusement, her high pitched and sweet laughter echoing in his domain and taking great amusement to his reaction. How annoying and unsettling.
"I… hehehehehe" She giggles in a way she shouldn't. "I know," she snorts, caught in her mirth. Sukuna is heavily unimpressed.
"I know right!" The creature that calls itself Yuuka crows, a grin etching on her cherubic face, almost feral on its width.
(Sukuna would never admit to feeling chills running down his spine. No, that would be insulting to feel fear from the smile of a little girl.)
At the sight of that, Sukuna almost wishes that he was never unearthed in the first place, that he should have rotted away in paper talismans to collect dust and be just another monster written in legends.
What the fuck have I gotten myself to.
"Ah, oh yeah."
The bubbly girl snaps her fingers together and Sukuna feels his current visage morph, panic overriding his mind when he feels the invasive warmth of something molding him to something else. It wasn't painful but it was unpleasant that he feels like leaning into its false security and sense of haven. When it was over, he growled at the perpetrator.
"What did you do to me?"
The girl raises a placating hand.
"Down boy," She made a twirling gesture with her hand and soon came face to face with his reflection. "Why don't you see for yourself."
What stares back at him was a somewhat familiar face. Something long forgotten in the recesses of his mind long since he abandoned his humanity.
But the strange thing is, he still eerily resembles Yuuka, albeit older, definitely masculine and angular in all the ways the girl is not. Yet the likeness is there, from her hair, her skin, the shape of her nose, lips and a ghost of his shape mirrored in a demure softness that her femininity and youth could be faulted to.
Yuuka leaps down from her perch to land beside his throne, even closer the disturbing resemblance falls on the uncanny territory.
"That sure is strange. I only pasted on what your soul remembers your image was supposed to be yet..." She trails off. "What are the chances that you could be my distant ancestor?"
Sukuna snaps out of his stupor. "Slim." He crosses his leg over the other and he pushes the face coming way too close to his own. "But the chance is not 0."
The girl finally leans back.
"So you slept around a lot."
"I don't see the point of stopping myself from the most basic carnal pleasures."
The creature laughs again, finding great amusement in his statement.
"Right, right. I already guessed as much." The girl sobers up, a smile still remaining on her face. "I'm so glad that I didn't get rid of you right away. I am so right that that old finger is gonna be my gateway to fun!"
Her whole body shook, those wide brown eyes staring at him with intense interest, like a pair of blackholes it sucked him in, and if he looked even closer, he could see his own reflection distorted in their endless depth.
"I'm really glad that I didn't kill you." She says, grinning unrepentantly. "Anyways, I should really get back to sleeping for real now, I still have school tomorrow." She gives a little wave. "So bye for now!"
Then the girl was gone, silence once again enveloping his domain.
A disembodied voice destroyed its notion quickly enough. "Oh yeah, I won't let you have free reign to do stuff until you behave yourself, Mister! Until then, you're stuck here! That's all, byeee and goodnight!~"
He waits to see if there is more to it but when blissed serenity greets him back, Sukuna could only let out a sigh as he sank into his throne of bones. Sukuna feels his age in his bones all too suddenly. That was one whirlwind of events just when he woke up.
"What the fuck did I get myself into?" He asks out loud with a weariness he is not used to.
Damn, the curse's mind flashes to the effusive girl he met earlier, in all her pink and bubbly glory.
Well, at least I'm not stuck in a boring entity. Dullness would be the least of my worries.
*****
"That turned out well in my opinion." Yuuka told the ceiling with an ever present smile, watching the glow in the dark stickers and the constellations they made in her darkened room.
And it went well because no one ended up dying between them, that says as much that they can get along somewhat. Despite the rough start and how she had to reveal her non-humanness to the creature, it ended pretty well if not for a new question to crop up with their resemblance with each other.
But that is a question for future Yuuka to probably answer, for now, she has to sleep because sleeping is a great luxury that she often indulges in. She doesn't really need it, but it's more out of habit by now, a ritual to end her day.
And besides, she's still a growing girl, no need to stunt her growth even though she can supplement that puberty with her Flames. It's still best to go natural to cover the bases and sleeping is a great mood lifter any given day.
Plus, sleeping means dreaming! Dreams meant freedom for her mind to take off and let her imagination free! It's where she gets all her bright ideas after all.
Ahhh… I can't wait for Sukkun to see what the world is now, I bet he'll have wonderful reactions like earlier.
Giggling to herself, Yuuka closes her eyes and lets sleep finally claim her.
