Chapter Text
Bored.
Sukuna, King of all Curses, was bored. He has never felt quite this bored in his entire history, in fact.
Before, his days had been filled with a certain white haired sorcerer...A particularly annoying one, who'd asked for ten seconds of his time. Who'd died by his hands...An enjoyable battle, something he still liked to revisit in his memories even now.
What he would give to enjoy something like that again.
Now it seemed like an endless chain of meetings. Monotonous, full of suck ups and fakers, like the one he was in now.
And then occasional killing sprees to cope, full of terror and screaming, pathetic humans. But it was boring, there was no pleasure to be found in these activities he had previously enjoyed when he'd ruled the world anymore.
The voices of the curses were suffocating, irritating, like flies buzzing incessantly around his head. Something felt like it was missing, the thing causing this inescapable boredom. He wasn't sure what, but something was lacking. He closed his eyes and entered his innate domain, which helped the headache he'd attained, but did nothing to soothe the emptiness.
After all, it was too quiet here, only the drip-drip-drip of the water, only the howling of distant winds, only the roaring of the empty void within that no amount of killing could fix.
That same sorcerer had used him as a chair. It had been infuriating at the time. Still was, in fact. What a thoroughly annoying brat, to use himself, the King of Curses, as a mere chair while chatting casually about kikufuku...
Maybe that was what it was, maybe he needed to re-experience the battle. Surely this would help the boredom, the monotony, the absolutely dull series of moments that was his life now. Maybe he needed some excitement, maybe this would fill the void in his chest, similar to the feeling of missing his heart. Perhaps it would satisfy him more to see it a second time.
"Uraume." He came back into the world and the curses silenced themselves instantly, beads of sweat forming on their faces. "Find me a cursed technique. Something to go back in time."
Some of them gasped, Uraume, his servant,'s eyes widened, taken aback by their master's odd request.
Hesitantly, Uraume asked, "You are aware, sir, of the dangers-"
He silenced this with a glance. "I didn't hire you to question my decisions, Uraume."
Another hesitation, then they bowed and left the room.
It took Uraume months to find one, during these months Sukuna was known to be short tempered and irritable and all curses avoided him as much as they could get away with.
The technique involved projecting one's cursed energy into the past to view it. His body would lie in the present while his energy and mind went back to the past for the desired amount of time, although it was noted that there might be issues in sanity associated with staying too long. He would go long enough to witness the battle once more, then return.
"You do recognize, sir, how dangerous this is?"
"Did I ask your opinion? Leave me. I'll wake up in an hour or so." Sukuna growls.
"As you wish." The servant bowed and left.
And then, he was off.
Where am I? This was the first thought to strike his mind as he glanced about. Certainly not at the scene of the battle, as he had hoped. A feeling of wrongness was resonating through Sukuna as he glanced down and saw...
Shit, this was bad, he was actually here. In the past. There was no mistake, somehow, he'd managed to not just send his energy and mind into the past as a spectator, but also his whole body. When was this? Where was he? He seemed to be on a sidewalk, perhaps in Tokyo or some other large Japanese city, judging by the crowds and the languages the signs were in. He remembered leveling it in the final battle, so this was certainly not when or where he'd wanted to go. There was a dizziness in his head, making everything a bit hazy.
Already he was attracting the curious stares of passerby, he sent vicious glares their way to get them to move along. One of the onlookers, a child, burst into tears.
Annoying.
Glowering angrily, Sukuna stomped the streets. Perhaps he should have asked one of them the date...or even what city this was...But he refused to lower himself to that level.
Where was that bratty sorcerer anyhow? He wanted to resolve the unfinished business now, quickly, and return to the present, who knew what was going on as he slept...and what the consequences of a prolonged stay would be.
There was something there, a glint of movement from his peripheral vision...
It was instinctual, he didn't have time to think as he raised an arm, reinforced with his own cursed energy, to block the attack...
The attacker had come from above, suppressing their energy to take Sukuna by surprise. It almost worked, except that his instincts were superior and he always listened to them. Turning to face the attacker as they fell to the ground following a direct hit on his reinforced arm, he nearly choked in surprise. Because, speak of the devil, Gojo Satoru's familiar head of snow white hair glared up at him against the pavement.
The first thing Sukuna noticed was that the sorcerer was younger. More of a brat, just great. He sighed mentally. All the more incentive and ease in killing him.
Gojo rose an eyebrow, looking supremely annoyed and bored. "Anata ga dare desuka?"(who are you?)
Sukuna deigned not to answer. Or, so he would have liked to say, but the reality was that the sorcerer's voice brought back certain memories, memories of an angry, hatred filled Gojo...
What will your precious students think when they see you like this, bloody and beaten?
Ganbare, Ganbare~ Make your death entertaining for me now...
A sharp, earsplitting cry as Sukuna twisted the sorcerer's broken arm brutally.
"What do you know? You're a curse, what do you know about caring for people?! Caring about anyone?!" Ragged words torn from a throat raw from screaming, barely audible.
Keep it to yourself, Six Eyes. I only want to hear you scream.
So he'd said, but something about that face of defiance had bothered him. Still did. Perhaps this caused the boredom? The lack of enjoyment in day to day activities?
"OI! Can you talk, curse?" Gojo asked, advancing with his hands in his pockets. "You look like one of the smart ones. Say something." He tried a kick that Sukuna leaned to avoid.
He proceeded to glare, irked by this completely non-dead, non-injured Gojo who dared to question, as if he did not know, whether the King Of Curses could talk. "What's it to you, kouzo?"(brat) He drawled.
"You can! Why'd you hafta come here anyways? Maaaannn, this is making so much more work for me..." He pouted a moment, then straightened, done with the moping.
"Just wanted to know if you had any last words. Answer my question."
"You can't tell who I am, Six Eyes?" Sukuna demanded.
Gojo thought about it for a second. True, this curse had a phenomenal amount of energy, part of the reason Gojo had attacked in the first place, but so far, the curse had shown no sign of attacking him. Also, Six Eyes? Was he an assassin of some sort, an intelligent curse hired to kill Gojo for the higher ups or the Zenin Clan? And what was up with the kimono and pink hair? Gojo swore he'd never met this curse in his entire life.
"Nah." Gojo decided to say. "Who sent you, anyway?"
Sukuna said nothing, his head spinning again. He felt as if he was going to throw up. It was not a fun feeling.
Gojo sighed, "Well, not that it matters, I'll exorcise you either way."
"No one." Sukuna managed, privately bristling with the implication someone could hire him to kill Gojo; no one bossed him around.
"Are we going to fight?" Gojo cocked his head, hands in his pockets.
Strangely, Sukuna finds that he doesn't mind the prospect of simply observing the teen for now. He was in a good mood, despite the technique not working out the way he planned, despite the dizziness. "Pass. I've no reason to kill you right now."
"Huhhhhhhh??? If you're not here to kill me, why're you here?" Gojo demands.
Sukuna smirks, amused. "To observe, I suppose." The dizziness was gone again, that was nice.
"Ehhhhhh? Sound boring. Can't you do it out of my sight?" Gojo says, turning to the curse...only to find he had disappeared. Haiyai...(fast) Spinning three sixty, he doesn't see the curse.
Gojo groaned. "Well now what do I do now? The higher ups would kill me if they knew I let a curse that strong go...Speaking of which, I never got it's name." He made a stink eye at himself in the window of one of the nearby shops. "I can't even chase after him..." He sighs, turning to continue his walk to the sweets shop.
Sukuna watches silently as the brat fights Toji, wondering why he's letting the brat live for what had to be the 17th time this week. Gojo won't die here, he knows, but he feels the energies of the fight and decides it's probably because Gojo is amusing to him. The idea, the prospect. The irony of this situation, for example. He kills the boy's dad only adopt him, the real father come to life and kill himself after seeing his kid, such an amusing thing. It makes no sense and yet...
He snickers as he steps onto the battlefield, carefully stepping over the pool of blood dripping from a still standing Toji so as to not stain his impeccable kimono, watching the boy's chest rise and fall, his eyes the half opened, glazed of a druggie.
"Ometetogozaimasu."(congrats) Sukuna smirks dryly, approaching the teen, who gazes at him out of thick lashes with a drunken smile on his face. "You're a mess, kouzo."
"What, you wanna fight now?" Gojo's crazed smile stares up at him and his eyes widen, suggesting insanity.
Sukuna considers this. "No. It would take too much effort with so little reward. You'd die too fast, Six Eyes." He sighs dramatically waving a hand of black painted nails. This is the reason he feels no need to attack, he's certain.
"Seriously, why are you so attached to me? What a weird curse..." Gojo laughs, casually, throwing his arms up and letting himself fall to the ground in a puff of dust.
Sukuna freezes.
Attached.
He's not.
No way.
He simply wants the best fight possible, so he's waiting for the right moment. He wants to enjoy the fight, just killing the annoying sorcerer would be no fun. It's what he came for, after all, to cure his boredom. He is not attached.
Not at all.
Dizziness rocks him, his head is spinning like crazy, his stomach once more roiling in nausea. His knees are slipping out from under him but he manages to stay standing by awkwardly using Toji's body as a leaning post.
Why was his head pounding like this? He couldn't stand, he was shivering, shaking, he couldn't breathe, his chest hurt so badly he felt like doubling over but he grit his teeth and stood it, leaning heavily on Toji...
Until Toji started tipping over. Fuck.
Sukuna sank to the ground before he could fully fall, pushing Toji so he didn't land on him.
"You okay, curse?" Drawled a still half high Gojo.
"Fine." Sukuna grit out. The dizziness instantly tripled, his chest squeezed tighter. He groaned, holding onto his skull, it literally felt like it was going to split apart if he did not, there was a stake driving itself slowly through his head.
"You sure?" Suddenly Gojo was right there, wide bright blue eyes gleaming, half concerned half amused look on his face.
"Yes, kouzo!" Sukuna snapped, throwing one hand out at the sorcerer and immediately regretting it, his head pounding harder. His eyes began to blur and he swayed. "Now leave...me...alo..." The last thing he knew was the blood covered ground coming up to meet his face, and a woman's voice whispering, "Usotsuki."(liar)
Sukuna woke to the sound of humming. Off key, toneless, humming. He grabbed the pillow and flipped it over his ears; the humming, needless to say, wasn't doing wonders for his headache.
Wait. Pillow?
He threw the pillow off of him and sat up(a bit too fast, judging by the nausea in the pit of his stomach) to see Gojo Satoru of all people, sitting in a chair and tilting back and forth. The source of the humming was him, and he was smiling at Sukuna.
Sukuna, who was sitting in his bed. Sukuna, who had just woken up and undoubtedly was not presentable in the slightest. Sukuna, who definitely didn't care about that in the slightest.
Once more nausea rose. He swallowed it down with a sigh and admitted that maybe he did care...kinda...oddly, his headache felt infinitely better.
It was then he realized he was only wearing his hadajuban(underlayer of a kimono), susoyoke(bottom part of underlayer), tabi(split sandal socks)and momohiki(similar to sweatpants but worn under a kimono).
The sorcerer had stripped him of all but his underwear. The rest of his clothes were missing.
Sukuna suddenly very much wanted to dive under the covers...because he was cold. And not to hide the slight flush on his face.
Just like that, his head started aching again.
"Ah! You're awake! Terrific." Gojo noticed. "Now get out of my bed, I'm tired."
"You lie, Six Eyes." Sukuna said automatically. "You can use reversed cursed technique. You're not tired."
Gojo's eyes widened nearly imperceptibly. And, being Gojo, he whined. "But I worked soooo hard today..."
"Why am I still alive?" He demanded, pulling himself out of the bed.
Gojo shrugged. "Thought it would be fun to babysit a curse."
Sukuna glared. "The real reason, if you please." He said tersly.
Gojo looked wounded, his blue eyes widening once more with mock hurt. "What, you think I'm some Zenin freak who'll use you to study curses or something?"
"You have two seconds, and I'm tearing your head off." Sukuna growled. He felt dizzy again, what kind of sickness was this?
"Oooh, scary." Gojo mocked. Sukuna sent a wave of his cursed energy at the sorcerer, annoyed, which Gojo easily deflected. "I'm the strongest. You can't beat me."
Blood, dripping, staining white hair red, spreading across the floor. "I can and will." He said, but he was swaying a bit.
"Hmm. I doubt that. If you were gonna kill me, you would have already."
Gojo knows Sukuna is stronger, but he can't help the words, ingrained into him as habit already. The man has such an evil aura, even repressed as he can tell it is. How many had he slaughtered?
"You're insufferable." He lies back down, deliberately turning his back to Gojo. As expected, he complains, pulling on Sukuna's hadajuban. "Be glad I'm even letting you live." He grumps, turning to send a red eyed glare at Gojo.
Wait, when did he decide to let Gojo live? When?
"Fight me and prove it. Prove you're stronger." Gojo demands, meeting his gaze.
"I'm tired and I'm going to sleep." Sukuna ignores.
"What, afraid you'll lose?"
Sukuna persists in ignoring. "I'm not in the mood for this bullshit. Leave me alone, go away."
"Make me." Gojo sticks his tongue out, cocky. "I don't think you can."
Sukuna groans in frustration. "Would you just shut up!"
"Scaredy cat." Gojo snorts.
Sukuna has to find some way to get Gojo to go away, so he can escape. All the previous attempts having failed, he finds one more. "Go find Fushiguro Megumi. He's important."
"A curse is telling me to go get a specific person. Hmm, do I do it?"
"He's a child and you killed his father. Find him."
"Why do you care? You're a curse anyways."
"I'm not a curse. This is me repaying my debt. Now go."
"Ehhh????" Gojo says, but blessedly leaves anyway.
Finally, gone. Now that he thinks about it, he's actually quite tired...and his bed is particularly comfy...It smells like him too.
Sukuna falls asleep.