Chapter 32

Hanami finally awoken.

All along it had been asleep in the winter, wrapped up in powerful branches and roots to ensure its protection from the cold. But, as the snow melted, it began to drink the fresh water pooling under it. 'Spring' it thought.

It's cocoon opened to the world for the first time in months, how fortunate it found a human village erased from the world. It took the cleared land for itself and rebuilt nature on top of it, now, this land belongs to Hanami, and it will be one of the many towns that will soon be reclaimed once more!

As it stepped out onto the warm earth, a moment of pause came over it. He stood there, as if it were waiting all winter.

Sukuna's vessel.

Yet there was something odd about him, Hanami could feel it just by staring at him. The energy was unnatural, dare even to say… nature like. The demon vessel stood and began to approach.

'You seek to join me? We are kin now aren't we?' Hanami asked.

"Not in the least bit,"

Something was wrong, what was this look in his eyes?

But then, it began to sense the energy he emitted. 'Jojo… Dagon…'

"Your friends were helpful to me, and soon you will be as well."

Hanami knew then and there it must escaped! Casting their hand out, they sent out a wave of flowers as a distraction and a deterrent, yet, before the petals could even reach the vessel, they caught fire!

He changed his appearance instantly, and now appeared to be on fire!

'Jojo…' he thought. 'You took Jojo's strength… he was to become the new humans along side Dagon and I!'

"You will never be human, nor will I be one again,"

'Then join me!'

"I refuse," The demon vessel was oddly composed, he remembered the last time he battled him, the boy was but a novice, yet quickly learning. Why is his strength beyond anything they has felt before? Even more so than Sukuna himself? Every part of it began to scream to run, don't engage in battle against him. And yet, felt compelled to stay.

"What of Sukuna? What does he say of this?"

The boy smiled. "He's no longer part of this conversation… he has been defeated, and now, his strength is mine. And soon, yours will be too."

He meant every word of it.

This boy wasn't just speaking for the sake of it, the tone of his voice, the way he approaches, and he will do what he says to the best of his ability…

There is no choice.

All the energy it gathered, summoned, saving during the winter has to be used now to escape. If not, Hanami fears they too will fall like the others have.

Their arm extended, the ground erupted with roots and took aim at the demon vessel. Hanami made certain to surround him from all sides and prepare a curse bud as well to drain him of his energy and bide more time.

Yet even before the roots could land a strike, they burst into fire!

Hanami stumbled back, the boy didn't make any sort of attack. He just kept walking forward!

"Impossible…" Hanami said. Summoning another flower field, this time they put more energy into it to knock out the boy. But once more, it burst into flames before it could even reach him. "Not even Jojo was this strong with his fire… how are you…"

The boy didn't say anything, but he took a deep breath and calmed down, his fire went out as he appeared more like Sukuna. "You are intending of harming near by villages and towns… I won't allow you to do such a thing." He said in an eerie, calm voice. "Instead, you will bring balance to me…"

'More roots, more demonic trees, I need them now!' Hanami thought. They began to expel more of his curse energy and ensured that it was set on the demon vessel, he has to pierce him, hurt him just enough to escape, and yet even without the flames around his body, his brute strength smashed away the roots. His speed outran the demon trees as he effortlessly cut them down with his talon hands! "What… this is impossible!"

"No, this is just good training on his end…"

Hanami froze, slowly they turned and saw Sukuna behind him! He waved oddly at him. "Hey, what's up?"

"SUKUNA! HELP ME!" it pleaded.

"Wrong guy, and he wouldn't have given a shit about you anyways"

Hanami turned, only to be caught in the grasp of the demon vessel! His grip was nothing like before, despite Hanami's body being extra durable, they could feel the air getting choked out! "You ready Yuuji?" he heard the Sukuna clone ask.

The vessel nodded.

Hanami tried to break free, but despite its hand attempting to crush the arm of this boy, he didn't flinch, let alone appear to feel the pressure his limb was under. Instead, his teeth turned jagged, and a hungry look came to his eyes…

#

Suiryu watched on as the curse spirit named Hanami was shoved head first into Yuuji's mouth, from there, he devoured it rather effortlessly. 'Not even Sukuna did this, and yet he does so with such ease…' he thought to himself. 'Yuuji is far more unique than even I realized…'

With a deep gulp, the curse spirit vanished into Yuuji. He muffled a burp before he paused oddly. "Huh… I don't feel any different." He said.

Suiryu approached and looked him over. "Hmmm," with a quick inspection he found nothing out of place, there were no odd growths to be found or anything out of the ordinary. Just for kicks, he even poked Yuuji's stomach and found nothing out of sorts. "I don't see anything off either… perhaps it's delayed?"

"That or maybe I just absorbed it that quickly?"

"Wishful thinking bro," Suiryu muttered. "No, I think we need to wait on this, the last two were more powerful than this one was, but we cannot let our guard down the say the least."

He began to think things over once more. 'Earth elemental, if anything I can see Yuuji become more like Hanami than anything else…'

"Urp! Excuse me…"

"Let's head home then, perhaps something will happen on the way back…"

"I hope not,"

Suiryu snickered. "Like it or not, something will happen. You just have to keep an eye out for it. Besides, that's three elements down, three to go and this can be put all behind us,"

Yuuji nodded.

The trek back home wasn't that bad, in fact, they sprint ran most of the way until it was within walking distance. That was when Suiryu noticed Yuuji struggling. Peering down, Yuuji's legs were becoming more like weights to him. He was forced to lift his feet up off the ground until he began to stomp as he walked. "What the hell… my legs are feeling heavy!" he protested.

Then he saw it.

Coming off the curse marks.

Suiryu suddenly grabbed Yuuji and rushed him back to the school. They just made it to one of the open green areas when Yuuji's feet hit the ground. He wasn't able to move. "Suiryu!" he shouted.

His feet tore through his shoes, and began to sink deep into the earth. His curse marks began to grow up and out like tree limbs from his body, then, as quickly as Hanami summoned the tree roots to attack, they came out and around Yuuji, surrounding him in a ball of wood!

"SUIRYU!" he shouted in panic.

He couldn't do anything to help, he stepped back and watched on as the roots came around his brother and domed over him protectively. He sat in wait for it to finish, until an opening was made. The wood parted enough to offer an entrance into the odd formation. Cautiously, Suiryu stepped into it. "Yuuji?" he called gently.

He was in the middle of it all, from the waist up, he could see his brother, but everything from the waist down was embedded into the earth.

"Oh God… this again…"

"It's not bad, at least you are protected… you won't get wet if it rains," Suiryu said offhandedly.

But his brother was already defeated. "I thought I could still move around… I'm planted…" he muttered.

Taking a closer look, Suiryu saw the curse marks had become branches, his brother's skin on his face and arms appeared almost wooden, there were some markings on his chest that seemed like stone. His eyes were a dark, green and pierced his very soul! "Shit bro…"

"Just… leave me here…"

"Well, I could do that, or I could grab you some stuff and hang out for a while… I mean… I could stay here"

"Why would you want to?" Yuuji muttered. "Suiryu… there's no point in making me feel better…"

"Great, here we go. You know what? How about you REALLY tell me what the bug up your ass is about? You better tell me or this time around you WILL get bugs up your ass!" he said in a warning tone.

Yuuji sighed. "Ever since this whole thing happened… the reviving of Sukuna… which brought about stronger curses, and more of them… empowering them… at the same time what happened in Shibuya… how Japan became a demon realm… it was all my fault…"

Suiryu sat there and listened as Yuuji poured his heart out, everything that happened when he was the demon vessel he blamed himself for. He sighed aloud as his brother finished. "Okay, let's set the record straight here and now, and you are going to listen good this time or I will drill this into your head… literally!" Suiryu took a deep breath. "What happened with Sukuna, yeah, that was your fault," he said bluntly. "As noble as your intentions were, they were stupid, at the same time. Had you not done it, everyone around you would have died. There's the good with the bad on that aspect. Now, stronger and more curses, not quite your fault, chain reaction with Sukuna's revival. But I still say look at it this way. Had his cult found and made a vessel for him before you… Japan wouldn't be standing as of this moment."

Yuuji peered up at him. "What makes you so sure?" he demanded.

Suiryu smirked. "Even at one finger, upon his revival. Sukuna would have laid waste to the world around him and his minions would have allowed him to do whatever he wanted to for shits and giggles. Satoru, as strong as he is, can't be everywhere at once. Yeah, he could stop him at one finger's worth of power, but at the same time, how would he know where he would be? How many fingers did Sukuna's followers have? How many would they have gained? There are variables that you don't see, as well ones you cannot account for. So shut up about that already!"

Yuuji sneered and then sighed.

"Now, Shibuya… How dare you get knocked out and be forced fed Sukuna's fingers while unconscious, you should have know better!"

"Wait… you're blaming me for that?" he demanded.

"You've been blaming yourself this whole time, you hear how stupid it sounds now?"

Yuuji froze. "Damn it, how do you do it?"

"Learned from Grandpa," he said and smirked. "That old bastard knows how to spin it to make it sound like you're the bigger moron." Suiryu then paused. "The rise of the curses wasn't your fault either. That was Kenjaku. He brought that upon Japan, not you. But the elders blamed those who failed for that. It was hell for a while. I know since I've peered into your head too. But do you know why things have settled down since?"

"I thought we got rid of quite a few of them…"

Suiryu shook his head. "Yua," he said plain and simple. "She returned to Japan, when she did, it brought back the dragon. Curses know to avoid him, and now. That dragon is in you. I can feel this part of you, you are worried since you have become the new king of curses in a sense, that it will continue to awaken the stronger curses and empower them. But that's not the case."

"What do you mean?"

"The world would have gone to hell if that's were true, the both of us being here would have made the curses so strong, and nearly impossible to deal with. Question is, why isn't Japan burning now? Yeah, you got Sukuna's power, so do I. But we are also connected to Ryujin, are we not?"

"Perhaps that's why he hasn't been able to leave me, his strength has been going to us?"

"I can't answer that, if the dragon doesn't even know why like hell we're going to be figuring it out," Suiryu protested. He took a deep breath and sighed. "I know this isn't going to fix you any time soon, but for fuck's sake man, talk to me!" he protested.

He saw how stunned Yuuji was.

"Just because I look and sound like the bastard that didn't give two shits about you, doesn't mean I don't give a damn to your well being, mental and physical. You have always been there for those around you when they needed help. I am going to make sure that it is returned…" he paused. "So, what do you want to spruce this place up? Pillows? Blankets? Posters?" he asked.

He got a chuckle out of Yuuji for once, about damn time too. "Some pillows and blankets would be nice please… I feel hungry too but don't know what I want…" their surroundings trembled for a moment, Yuuji appeared stunned as suddenly he looked refreshed. "What the hell… I'm full now?!"

Suiryu smirked. "Part plant remember? Looks like you got what you needed to feed yourself. Okay then…" he stood up once more. "I'll go grab your stuff, I'll be back…"

"Suiryu… don't forget, we were suppose to see the brothers tomorrow, remember?"

"Shit, I forgot about that… Okay, I'll go and explain what happened. I am sure they would understand." He said offhandedly.

He went to the dorm and gathered a few things for Yuuji. He was just taking some of the sheets off the bed, when a book suddenly fell to the floor. "Huh?" he peered down and simply saw journal written on the cover. "Hm, looks like he's been writing…" Looking about Suiryu made sure no one was around as he opened the book, from there he read… and continued to read… until he felt this was something more than a mere writing of one's thoughts…