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Sukuna knew something was very wrong when he picked up Yuuji's call at approximately 11:13PM. He heard screaming faintly in the background before hearing Yuuji’s voice yelling at someone to run away. He heard Yuuji shout his name into the phone and then the line went dead.
He faintly remembered Yuuji leaving earlier, saying something about the occult or some other nonsense before running out the door with his backpack on and a granola bar hanging out of his mouth.
It was three seconds after the line went dead before Sukuna was formulating a plan. Three minutes until he was running out of his room with his steel toe boots securely on. Thirteen minutes until he was roaring through the streets towards the school with a metal baseball bat strapped to his back and all the sharp objects he could find in the kitchen shoved into the deepest pockets of his thickest leather jacket. He had brass knuckles on one hand, something he hadn't had to wear as of now, but something he had purchased because frankly, they looked cool.
It took 33 seconds for Sukuna to slide into the teacher parking right in front of the school and leap off, letting his bike fall onto the concrete as he sprinted towards the front doors. He felt bad for his girl, knowing he'd be buffing scratches off her for weeks, but as much as he loved his bike he supposed he loved Yuuji more.
He better have, as he kicked open the school doors fully knowing that there was a possibility he was on camera and he really didn't want to spend another night in a cell for something as stupid as a little breaking and entering. But 30 seconds of heavy kicking and slamming his whole body at the door the hinges finally splintered off from the wall and he went rolling into the school, ignoring the splintered wood and bleeding cheek from some kind of cut. But it didn't matter. Within minutes of Sukuna sprinting through the halls headed towards where he knew the occult club hung out he heard the screaming and the loud sounds of something stomping around and breaking who knows what. He could sympathize, wanting to do some vandalism on a good day to the shitty classrooms he was forced to sit in for hours, however his little brother (by three minutes) was in danger and Sukuna was not messing around when it came to family.
He sprinted up the stairs, the noises above him getting louder and louder, and he finally saw the carnage and destruction that made up previously organized classrooms and hallways. He followed it, running fast, the baseball bat an annoyance on his back and steel toe boots slowing him down. Finally he saw it, the gaping door to the roof, no longer a door but rather a giant hole in the side of the building. He sprinted up the damaged stairs, before launching himself out of the hole and onto the very uneven roof, chucks of concrete lifted and ripped out, holes gaping, Sukuna able to see the classrooms through the thick roof.
It was here that he saw it, whatever it was, the most disgusting mass of flesh and something else, one of his classmates half submerged in whatever the hell creature that was standing there. He could hear groans and stomps coming from behind him and seeing them in front of the creature, telling him that beast was not alone, and Sukuna didn't even worry about it, not when his brother was there, punching at the other creatures that were surrounding him, desperately trying to get at the girl slowly sinking into the mass of flesh. He snapped himself out of it, knowing he had wasted time watching his little brother desperately kick and punch the creatures, sending them flying one by one. Sukuna felt pride well up in his chest along with concern, and more importantly, excitement. Three seconds, one step and then he was whipping his bat off his back, sprinting towards his twin, and slamming the metal into the first thing he saw.
“Sukuna!” He heard his brother shout, relieved.
“Yuuji!” He smirked and flashed his canines before launching himself off the closest creature until he stood close to his brother. “What are you doing slacking off?” Yuuji grimaced.
“They keep coming.” He said as Sukuna slammed his brass knuckles into the creature that threw itself towards Yuuji, a never ending sea behind it. Yuuji kicked another one, and then pulled something out of his pocket.
“They want this, I think.” In his hands was something wrapped in cloth, a seal pressed against the white fabric. It was small, something thin and long, probably barely over two inches in height.
“What the fuck is that?” Sukuna kicked at one of the ‘things’ sending it flying into the creatures behind it, ignoring the moans and screams the hoard kept emitting.
“I don't know,” Yuuji said, “we were just playing around, it was sitting in a box outside the school, a talisman or something, so we decided to try to open it.”
“It doesn’t look open to me,” Sukuna said.
“The minute we touched the seal I felt a wave of something, and next thing I knew,” he gestured at the monster slowly devouring his club member. “I don’t know how to attack that thing, without hurting her.”
“Just pull her out,” Sukuna said before moving. Three seconds for him to grab the talisman, rip off the seal and fling his hand into the air. “You assholes seem to like this huh!” He yelled, and then smirked at Yuuji, throwing him the bat, before using the closest creature as a springboard and heading back towards the school, back towards the largest part of the hoard.
Yuuji yelled his name but Sukuna just grinned and kept running, whipping out the meat cleaver he had taken from one of the rarely opened kitchen drawers and slicing through the writhing mass of flesh. He felt alive, one hand holding onto whatever the fuck the wrapped bundle was, using his shoes to slam into the creatures, cutting them in half with a swipe of sharp metal. He laughed, slicing the feet off of the thing holding Yuuji’s friend, before continuing back towards the school. That was until he felt a pulse of power run from his hand through his body freezing him in place. It was a cold feeling, sliding across his skin, through his veins, flowing through his body like blood. Three seconds later another pulse, this time through the air, almost freezing the creatures in place as what looked like darkness rose from the ground like waves, writhing back and forth.
Sukuna looked down, opening his hand to see the wrappings had shifted, something peeking out of the cloth. He ripped off the fabric, and there in his hand was a finger, long and thin, almost white in color. He felt it pulse again, before it started to vibrate, Sukuna feeling it through his bones. And then it was gone, the talisman disappearing, and Sukuna looked up to see all the creatures gone. The roof was empty, Yuuji on the ground clutching his classmate, the girl looking unharmed other than unconscious.
It was then he felt it, an overwhelming presence, and he turned around to see a man sitting casually on the railing of the roof, the part that had somehow survived. The man was tall and thin, clothed in all black, his hair stark white in comparison, a black blindfold covering his eyes.
“Hey-o,” The man smiled and waved at Sukuna. Sukuna looked at him, sizing him up, before staring back, keeping his face neutral. “You really did a number on these curses huh!” The man's voice was annoyingly chipper and Sukuna couldn't help but internally groan.
“Curses?” Yuuji's voice timidly asked, his classmate lying with her head in Yuujis lap.
“Ah yes, sorry! Cursed spirits!” The man announced. Sukuna already didn’t like him. “Creatures created from the negative emotions of humans, among other things, but you don't need to know all that yet!”
“Yet?” Sukuna growled at the same time as Yuuji spoke.
“But why were they here all of the sudden, and so many of them?” He asked and the man smiled broadly.
“Ah yes! Well, you can just ask your brother over there about that!”
“Me?” Sukuna asked.
“Sorta.”
“Stop playing games.” He growled and the man sighed.
“Well you're no fun.” He pouted. “Anyways, you can come out now.” He said and Sukuna and Yuuji looked at him blankly. “Come out Megumi,” The man said in a singsong voice and then Sukuna felt it, an energy run through his body starting at his feet and slowly through his body as if it was his own blood pumping through his heart. He looked down to see his shadow shift, widening until it seemed to wrap around Sukuna before he felt arms clinging to him, soft hair pressed against the junction between his shoulder and neck, tickling his cheek.
“Gojo.” A deadpan voice said, and Sukuna felt the arms let go of him before a figure moved forward, darkness surrounding his feet, tendrils creeping up as he moved, shifting around him. He was a boy, maybe as old as Sukuna if not younger, who was walking towards the man.
“Megumi!” The man said, delighted. “You haven’t changed a bit.”The boy scoffed.
“Suspended time will do that I supposed.” The man, Gojo, the boy had called him, smiled wide. Sukuna knew he would feel no guilt if he was to rid the world of that smiling buffoon.
“Who are you? Where did you come from?” Yuuji asked, shocked, looking at the boy and Gojo.
“This is Megumi!” Gojo announced. “That lovely little finger that you happened to find is his.” Megumi stood still, shadows still writhing and moving, caressing his figure, clothing him in darkness.
“But where did he come from?” Yuuji asked and Gojo pointed at Sukuna. “Your brother there somehow happened to absorb Megumi’s finger, so it seems, and now your brother has this lovely boy,” Megumi scoffed,”as his shadow.” Megumi turned around, finally, eyes locking with Sukuna’s. It was then Sukuna knew he was fucked.
His eyes were the brightest shade of green Sukuna had ever seen. The shone, lighter than emeralds, a color Sukuna had no words to describe, as they pierced through him. He was fair, almost translucent, and his hair haloed around him, messy and weightless, wild but somehow flattering. His nose was slightly pointed, his mouth small but his lips were plump. He was thin, his body covered in black clothing that Sukuna guessed wasn't made of fabric as it moved like his shadows did. He couldn't help but focus on the curve of his neck, pale skin poking out from his high collar, skin tight across his collarbones, his shoulders thin and his arms long and elegant.
He was elegant, royalty, meant to be worshipped. The most beautiful person, the most beautiful thing Sukuna had ever encountered, and there he stood, staring at Sukuna with an unreadable expression in his eyes.
Gojo broke the silence.
“Unfortunately, we’ll have to take him and seal him back, he’s not allowed to be out and about.”
Megumi hissed before disappearing in a flash of black, only to reappear behind Sukuna, holding on to him again, body half hidden behind Sukuna’s wide frame.
“Why?” Sukuna asked and Gojo shrugged.
“Rules.” He said. “Gotta follow the jiujitsu laws you know. Can’t upset those higher ups!”
“No.” Megumi said, hugging Sukuna closer, Sukuna looking down to see desperation in those green eyes. “I don't want to go back. I refuse.”
“Megumi” Gojo sighed. “This is what happens when you wipe out an entire clan and destroy, you know, entire civilizations,” Gojo gestured. “You have to be punished.”
“Why didn’t you just kill him then.” Sukuna says, wrapping an arm around Megumi’s thin frame. Megumi looked up at him with surprise in his eyes, but he nuzzled into Sukuna all the same.
“Unfortunately he’s a little too powerful for that,” Gojo’s face suddenly became focused. “Isn't that right, Megumi.”
“I refuse.” Megumi said, Sukuna starting to feel rumbles of power underneath his feet, the shadows around Megumi whipped back and forth, frenzied. “I won’t go back, you can’t make me.” Gojo cracked his knuckles.
“Why do you insist on doing this the hard way Megumi?”
“You can't take me.” Megumi said, clutching Sukuna’s arm. “I have a bond now. Are you going to kill him then?” Yuuji gasped.
“Wait, what?”
“I was absorbed.” Megumi said, looking up at Sukuna. “I don't know exactly how, but he is part of me now and I am part of him.” Sukuna’s eyes widened before narrowing, a smirk on his lips.
“Sukuna.” He said and Megumi nodded, testing the words on his tongue, Sukuna could see him mouthing it before looking up.
“Sukuna.” He said and Sukuna nodded, taking his other hand to squeeze over Megumi's hand that gripped him tightly. Megumi relaxed, leaning even more into him.
“Megumi” Sukuna said and felt Megumi’s shadows start to wrap around him gently, almost absorbing him.
“Ugh.” Gojo whined. “This complicates things now doesn’t it?” Megumi smirked.
“Don’t tell me you’re going to kill an innocent person.”.
“I guess I’ll have to bring you all back with me.” He said, looking at the girl in Yuujis lap. “And maybe find her a hospital.”
The minute Gojo dragged them to whatever facility he said he was taking them, the man inside, tall and imposing, took one look at Sukuna and Megumi and then there was nothing.
When he came to, Sukuna was in a room, covered in seals, completely in the darkness. And Megumi was whispering in his ear.
“They think that if there are no shadows I have no strength.” Megumi said. “They are wrong.” Sukuna groaned, his head throbbing from the sucker punch that knocked him out. He felt Megumi tenderly touch his head, even though he couldn’t see him in the pitch black.
“What do we do now?” Sukuna asked and Megumi fell quiet.
“Wait.” He said and they settled into an uncomfortable silence.
“Why did you pick me?” Sukuna asked and he felt Megumi shift beside him.
“Your soul.” He said. “I felt the shape of your soul. I could see it. I could feel it.”
“What does that mean?” Sukuna asked and he could hear the smile in Megumi's voice.
“You are the same as me.”
It felt like hours, though it could have been minutes, before something happened. He heard voices become louder and louder before stopping in front of the room.
“Itadori Sukuna.” He heard an ancient voice call out. “We have come to tell you your fate.”
“That’s fucking dramatic.” Sukuna called back and felt Megumi snicker. He heard gasps and murmurs from outside.
“To one who holds your future in his hands, you don’t seem to show any respect.” The voice said. “Be careful boy, nothing is set in stone.”
“Can someone just tell me what the fuck is going on?” Sukuna said, exasperated and he heard a sigh from outside the room.
“We have come to a decision. We will allow Itadori Sukuna to remain alive, only with a blood pact from the curse Zenin Megumi.” He heard Megumi hiss. “Zenin Megumi shall agree to harm no human, jujitsu sorcerers included, and will no longer have access to his shadow domain. You both will collect the remaining fingers of Zenin Megumi and when you have collected all ten, Itadori Sukuna and Zenin Megumi shall be erased from this world.”
Megumi grabbed Sukuna’s hand.
“Do you trust me?” He said quietly.
“Yes.” Sukuna said back, not knowing where the feeling in his chest came from, but knowing he needed to trust Megumi.
“I agree to the pact.” Megumi said, squeezing Sukuna’s hand.
“And you, Itadori Sukuna?” Sukuna sighed deeply, feeling Megumi's hand ground him.
“I agree to the pact.” He said, and felt something cold wash over him, leaving tingles in his wake.
“I have marked you.” Megumi said quietly. “Now you are mine and I am yours. And I do not let what is mine be hurt.” His voice was hard as rock.
“Itadori Sukuna,” he said, “when we have collected my remaining fingers, you and I shall raze this pitiful place to the ground.” Sukuna saw his eyes glow through the darkness. It took three seconds for Sukuna to reply.
“Zenin Megumi, if that's what you desire,” He raised Megumi's hand to his lips, “Then I will create it for you.”
‘Yes,’ Sukuna thought, ‘this boy deserved to be worshipped.’
A new god for a new world.