The sound of someone calling your name makes you jump.
"Hey, our site is over here. What are you interested in across the street?" Fushiguro is getting impatient with you already.
"Nothing...Sorry," you mutter, making sure to look down as you pass him up the sidewalk path to Mrs. Hama's house.
"Stay within sight, the sun is setting. Curses grow more bold at nightfall, so keep your guard up." Fushiguro warns.
Itadori flips a switch for the living room light as you begin looking around. There is a dark stain on the floorboards. Mrs. Hama's blood. You swallow hard, tearing your eyes away from the gruesome reminder of her death. She may have been eccentric, and overprotective of her property, but the thought of her being attacked so horrifically in her own home like she was... It sent a chill up your spine. She was just another helpless old lady living alone. Probably widowed. Maybe she had children. And grandchildren.
You glance around for any photographs hanging on the walls. They were mostly vintage portraits. Dark haired girls with somber expressions in cultural attire. After seeing a few from different angles, you recognize the model is the same for each picture. Mrs. Hama in her prime perhaps. She was very pretty, but there is a hardness to her gaze that makes you feel uneasy. Like she was upset at having strangers in her house.
Though you have no idea what you're going to find, you each begin scanning through the various rooms of the house with uncomfortable silence, aside from the various opening and closing of doors and cabinets.
"What are we looking for?" you dare to ask Kugisaki, who is standing nearest to you, rifling through a bedside table.
"Signs of cursed items, activity, and records she may have made about seeing or hearing something out of the ordinary." She sounds bored, like she could do this in her sleep.
"Do people normally do that?" you ask.
"No, hardly ever. It would make most of our job pointless anyway if victims of curses left a note that said, 'There's a weird creature living in my basement. I'm going to fuck with it 'til it eats me. There's cake in the kitchen.'"
"So...we're just snooping? Prying through her things?"
"Disturbing the vibes of the house is one way to almost guarantee some cursed activity. In short, you piss off the house, you wake up what it's hiding." She wrinkles her nose, kicking at what looks like sand tracked in and ground into the bedroom carpet.
"She sure was a lousy housekeeper for an old lady. Why don't you make yourself useful and check another room. I've got this one." She opens up a closet door and holds one of Mrs. Hama's dresses up in front of her reflection in the mirror.
"Hideous," she comments, and tosses it over her shoulder onto the bed. You leave her to her snooping, unsettled by her casual nature during this grim assignment.
You scan dining room. It's modestly decorated. She had one of those china cabinets for fancy dishes, kept closed and locked tight. Dusty porcelain sat unused behind the glass. Tiny figurines of cats, horses, and frogs stare blankly back at you between the dishes. Standard old lady knick knacks. Unsure of what else to investigate, you look around the kitchen. Noticing she had left a shopping bag on the countertop, you take a small peek at the contents. Eggs that probably shouldnt be trusted, some questionably warm soy milk, and rock salt.
Average household things. Your chest tightens again. Death comes when we least expect it, you remind yourself. Nobody knows when it's going to happen...
"Why don't you look outside..." Ryomen offers, pulling your eyes to the peach tree visable through the window above the sink.
No further convincing needed, you push open the sliding door to the yard and step onto the patio, breathing deeply. The sound of cicadas droning seamlessly in the warm summer evening is familiar and comforting. It's peaceful. Wind stirs the peach tree branches, dropping one of the fruits with a soft thud.
"You want one?" you offer outloud, knowing the answer already. Ryomen is always hungry.
Approaching the tree, you reach for one of the low hanging fruits and pluck it. Ryomen eats contentedly from your palm. Anyone else who sees you might think you were only holding a peach and nothing more.
"Whatcha doin out here?" A voice chirps from behind. Itadori is standing outside the door, he must've followed you.
"Oh! Just...uh, checking out this tree." you stammer. Ryomen chooses this moment to spit out the pit. Yuji definitely notices that. He smirks.
"Snack time again? It's okay. I remember how my appetite changed when I fused with Sukuna. Are those any good?" He joins you at the base of the tree and pulls a peach off for himself too.
"Yeah...Sukuna likes them," you respond evenly, switching to Ryomen's honored title instead.
"Really? I thought the only thing that guy enjoyed eating was blood." he grimaces then bites the fruit.
"Damn...These are insanely good though."
Once again you can't help staring at his mouth as he ate. Itadori hasn't mentioned your kiss from the previous day at all. You briefly pine at that memory, wondering if he thought anything of it. Maybe it was too much and it scared him. Or maybe he was scared of something else. Rather, someone else. You take a few more peaches, stuffing your pockets full for later. You didn't want Ryomen badgering you about his hunger since apparently he was picky about his fruit.
"So I haven't seen or sensed anything here yet," Yuji says cautiously.
"Yeah, I mean, I'm not sure what I'm really supposed to see or feel, but this place just seems empty," you agree.
"I used to have to walk home from work up that road," you indicate with your head over the wall.
"I actually...had a few encounters with Mrs. Hama when she was alive."
Itadori's expression softens,
"Oh. Is it weird for you being here now?"
No, it's weird because of what happened across the street, you think to yourself bitterly.
"Sorta," is all you can manage.
"This neighborhood has seen alot lately by the look of it. Looks like that house burned down recently." He stands on his toes to peer over the back.
"And did you notice there was a wall that had been smashed in by a car or something about a mile back too?"
Oh, there was that too. That was also you. Dear God, the guilt is pressing in all around you. Why are you suddenly so destructive?
"Stop that." Ryomen commands.
Your left hand slips into your right, squeezing with pressure. It's a bit rougher than necessary, but Ryomen's attempt to comfort you is still sweet.
"Don't you dare feel shame over protecting yourself. He had it coming."
His words calm you. He's right after all.
"You good? You just got really quiet..." Yuji looks concerned.
"Itadori. Can I...tell you a secret?" you ask in a quiet voice.
"Sure you can," he turns around to face you.
"Consider me a vault." He pantomimes locking his lips with a key.
You inhale deeply, ready to unburden your soul to him. But what comes out instead is a blood curdling scream.
"AAAHH! WHAT THE FUCK IS THAT THING?!" You point behind Yuji at the horrific creature peering at you from over the back wall. It looks like wet skeletal remains, dripping with its own skin. Its hands claw the stone of the back wall as it pulls itself over. It lands in a heap at the exposed roots of the tree.
"Oh, shit! That's gotta be our curse for sure!"
Itadori leaps back, narrowly missing being grabbed by the bony hand snatching at his leg. He shouts back toward the house,
"Yo! Fushiguro! Kugisaki! Get your asses out here!"
The curse turns its hollow eyes skull toward you, it seems to be looking right at you. It hisses and groans with rage. Moving with more purpose now, it pulls itself across the grass with its legs dragging behind. When its hand blindly finds a peach on the ground, about as rotten as the one who held it, it gobbles it up with a wet squelch.
"Itadori? It's...eating..." you're not sure what else to warn him of, but this doesn't exactly give you a great feeling.
It raises its head, right in your direction. You notice in horror that its beginning to look alot less like a rotten corpse by the second. As if watching the decay process in reverse, the skeleton begins to bulk with muscle and skin.
"One...left..." it said, rasping deep from its rotten throat. It pulls itself upright now, wobbling on still forming knees.
"One...left!" It rushes right at you now.
Ryomen raises your hands up to defend your center. When the curse reaches to grab you, you knock its hand aside with your forearm then kick up as hard as you can. The hand disconnects at the wrist and flies across the yard, while your foot gooshes through its belly. The spirit tilts its head down at its injury, then slowly back up at you.
"SOMEONE PLEASE ASSIST ME!" you cry desperately.
"Duck down now!" Itadori's voice breaks through your own screams. Obediently, you withdraw your bloody foot and tuck down, covering your head. Yuji leaps into the curse from behind, delivering a kick that easily splits the top half from the bottom half. A massive wave of Itadori's cursed energy follows after the impact. Both portions of the cursed spirit fly in opposite directions, then lay motionless on the ground.
"Well I see you didn't need us afterall." Fushiguro and Kugisaki join you outside, panting from running, but looking rather disappointed that the fight had ended so soon.
"No way! I kicked its ass good. There's no way it's gonna...Hey, where, uh, did it go?"
The sound of messy chewing and slurping directs your eyes back to the peach tree. The top half of the cursed spirit was still moving. And greedily stuffing rotting peaches from the ground into its mouth.
"Ohh, that's so nasty," Kugisaki complains.
"Why is it eating? The stomach isn't even attached anymore."
"Because ... it's hungry?" Itadori offers.
Fushiguro, however, sees what none of you do,
"No, it's recharging itself. It's going to attack again!"
No sooner than he'd made the warning, the curse regenerates its lower half, growing and shaping itself like clay. When its legs are reshaped, it rises to its feet, no longer wavering. It seemed to have gained strength from eating. Its body appears to look less rotten as well.
"Cursed fruit," Fushiguro says.
"I've heard of this. If the tree must be cursed, then so is the fruit. It can heal itself with it too."
What? That didn't sound good. Especially since you had eaten from this tree several times before. You feel your stomach lurch and glance at Yuji, who also looks fairly green now. You give him a look that you hope says 'I am so, so, so sorry.'
The curse reaches up to the tree branches for more fruit.
"I think that's enough for you!" Itadori strikes his target directly, separating an arm from the curse with a punch to its shoulder. Again a brilliant burst of his energy follows the blow. In return, the curse carelessly plucks another fruit, stuffing it down without chewing. Its arm regenerates immediately. It doesnt seem to mind that it was maimed, it just turns around and keeps eating. The bony shape of its body begins to fill out, regenerating and becoming more solid as it eats.
"Don't let it get stronger!" Kugisaki pulls a hammer from a holster at her hip, then two nails from a side pouch.
"Resonance!" She chants, hammering her nails through the severed hand that you had ripped off the curse in the beginning.
The beast roars in pain as its corresponding regenerated hand starts to smoke, dropping the half eaten peach it had started.
Fushiguro summons Demon dog white.
"Tear that thing up!" He commands.
The dog attacks the curse, ripping away its leg at the hip with ease. Though upon spitting out the remains, the dog retches violently and vomits.
"Shit! That thing's blood must be toxic. Return demon dog!" He recalls his shikigami to recover in safety.
The curse turns its attention to Fushiguro then Kugisaki now, identifying its attackers. Then looks to you, then back at them.
"Two...more...?" It asks aloud. With its face nearly healed, it speaks clearly.
"Two ... more...Two...more... THREE MORE." Its voice is thickening as vocal cords reattach and heal.
Its head turns to you slowly, eyeballs filling in the sockets and muscles thickening in the holes of its cheeks.
"Wanna...party?" It asks, with its tongue forming at last.
The voice is familiar. Bile rises in your gut and you fight throwing up from pure shock.
Lee.
It's Lee. There is no doubt in your mind.
It looks as if he's trying to make up his mind who to go after first. Lee had killed eight people when he was alive. You had heard their cries and seen their faces in his cloud of cursed energy before his death. You knew what he was capable of before he was cursed, and this new form he had taken seemed impervious to pain. Was it the tree that was doing this? Or had Lee really been so corrupt that he wasn't completely destroyed?
"Is that...a human curse?" Itadori asks.
"Seems like it. Sorry everyone. I know this is our least favorable kind of target." Fushiguro apologizes.
He gives you a look of sympathy,
"You should really stay back from this one. We're going to be at a much higher risk now." his eyes shift back to the curse. Lee was still sizing up his options against four attackers, but his eyes light up when he sees you again. The thick smell of alcohol fills your nostrils. You gag and cover your nose with the neck of your shirt.
"A miasma of his cursed energy. This one must've died in a really horrendous manner to be so strong in death." Fushiguro theorizes.
"OR maybe he was a fucking piece of shit who got what was coming to him."
Now everyone was looking at you, not just Lee.
"Umm... Do you know each other?" Yuji asks, pointing fingers at you and Lee.
"Ah...Sort of."
" 'Sort of?' " Lee echoes,
"You killed me."
Hearing the accusation from the victim himself makes your pulse race.
"In self defense!" You declare unwavering. Everyone was still staring at you.
"Like I said, he deserved it! And he would've killed me too if I hadn't."
"That's right," Lee agrees darkly.
"Whoa," Kugusaki breathes, sounding impressed.
"One left..." Lee repeats, staring at you, then turning to Nobara, he licks his lips grossly.
"Plus one more...How I missed this."
Now pieces start falling together in your head. Lee's cursed energy in life had stayed behind in death, probably nurturing itself on the 'cursed fruit' as Fushiguro had called it.
Then Lee must have killed Mrs. Hama. Just like he had killed his own grandmother. You remember watching it in his memory before you burned his evil to the ground.
"Ryomen," you grit your teeth tightly, directly your thoughts so only he can hear you.
"Sit this one out okay? I want to finish what I started."
"HAHAHA! YES! Use what I've taught you! And take this with you into battle..." Heat surges through you again, your heartbeat feels heavier, more resonant in your chest. And sweet adrenaline fills your entire being. Ryomen's cursed energy.
Your nails, now elongated, cut into your palms. Glancing down at the pinpricks, you see his familiar black bands at your wrists barely visable beneath the sleeves of your uniform.
You crack your neck.
"Fuck you, Lee. And your stupid murder legacy. You can die twice for all I care."
He elevates from the ground, flying directly at you with a horrible scream. You catch him in midair, claws digging into his shoulders deeply. You close them into fists, removing chunks of his flesh in each hand and sending his black blood spurting.
Again he refuses to register his injuries, focusing only on you. You hear Itadori call you again,
"Duck now!"
Again you withdraw and tuck as he collides heel first into Lee from behind. A blow of cursed energy follows the contact, sizzling the skin on Lee's back down to his bones.
That he couldn't ignore so easily. Cursed energy is more effective than physical blows. You focus your own energy, this time instead of in your hands, you pull it to your mind, trying to visualize it in your third eye. Then you point a finger directly at Lee, who was just beginning to stand up again.
"Burn," you mutter.
He ignites like a torch.
"What the hell did you do?!" Fushiguro demands. His anger seems out of place. What did he expect you to do? Cursed energy is the best way to dispose of a curse. It wasn't your fault that Lee had kept himself so drunk he was flammable even in spirit.
But Lee didn't act like a man on fire. He stood calmly, smiling at you, unbothered by the flames consuming his features.
Kugisaki takes her shot while he's immobile, hammering three more nails, this time through where his heart would be. He flinches hard, this time dropping to the ground.
Fushiguro inhales deeply, stretching his arms to align his energy.
"Soul purge, eightfold handle."
A blue ring surrounds Lee, extinguishing the flames.
"I exercise you. Go in peace." He announces. When the smoke clears, there is nothing left of Lee standing. Ash blows through the blades of grass and nothing more.
"'Go in peace?!'" You practically screech at Megumi, you can hardly believe your ears. "Didn't you hear one word of what I said?!"
"I did. And nothing you did was of much help. Kugisaki, give me a hand here, will you? Let's take a look at this tree.
With a few hammer knocks, the surface layers of bark fall away easily. Fushiguro reaches into the black hole of the trunk, and withdraws something.
"Thought so...Someone planted one of Sukuna's fingers here."
"Nice find, Fushiguro!" Itadori cheers, throwing a thumbs up that is not returned to him.
His eyes are dark when he passes you on his way back to the house.
"Let's go. Our work is done."
You burn silently, still seething with your anger at being treated like you were useless again.
"We need to retrieve my finger..." Ryomen reminds you, determination edging in his voice.
"I know, but I can't just steal it from him." You're aware that Fushiguro is supposed to give it to the higher-ups so they can lock it away with the rest of their special grade cursed objects for safekeeping. Then you'll probably have an even harder time acquiring them.
"Any ideas?" you ask, knowing he probably did. His silence did not reassure you at all. What was he planning?
.
.
.
Fushiguro would be appearing around the corner at any minute, his footfalls growing louder on the hallway floor. You stand at the corner before Yaga Masamichi's office. Ryomen had guessed correctly that this would be where Fushiguro would take the cursed object first. He is in full control of your body, watching Megumi's shadow just barely creeping up the floor. He pauses, letting the boy pass, then steps behind him, making your footfalls in the same stride as his. Fushiguro doesn't hear you come up from behind and grab his shoulder.
He whirls around, obviously expecting to be intercepted before he can deliver the finger safely. His fist swings up. Was he really going to hit you? At the last second, he changes his mind, freezing in midair then he furiously grips the front of your uniform.
"What do you think you're doing?" he hisses in a whisper.
Your hands grab him roughly at his waist, shoving him back around the corner where you had been hiding in wait for him. He loses his footing and trips backwards, surprised by your physical strength. Then, shocking you both, Ryomen forces your body to follow Megumi's to the floor. He presses your lips together, not hesitating to taste the inside of Fushiguro's mouth.
He grips your shoulders, ready to shove you off of him, but hesitates again. He's breathing hard and his eyes are glaring right into yours. Why doesn't he push you? Your hands find his waist again, hiking up the edge of his uniform jacket to touch his warm skin. Your fingertips dig into him, making small deliberate circles. This makes him inhale sharply and groan against your lips. His eyes close briefly.
"Ryomen..." you start,
"We shouldn't-"
"He can stop us. He's reasoning with himself right now. And meanwhile..."
You feel a small bulk through the fabric of Megumi's shirt pocket. Ryomen's mouth manifests in your palm, tearing the fabric in his teeth.
"No!" Fushiguri, realizing what was happening much too late, shoves you back hard, knocking your head to the wall with a thunk.
Ryomen smirks, holding up your hand. His second mouth is holding his severed finger between taunting teeth.
"Don't...!" Fushiguro pleads, his tone urgent with desperation. Ryomen swallows the finger whole in his second mouth. His presence dissipates from your body, returning to your mind.
"Sorry," you offer uselessly, turning to bolt as quickly as you can back to your room. Fushiguro is still standing dumbstruck as you vanish from sight. You hear him swear to himself with frustration.
"Idiot!"
As your feet pound the floor and your heartbeat hammers in your ears, you keep repeating to yourself,
"What the fuck did I just do? What the fuck did I just do?"
All the while Ryomen laughs maniacally in your head.
.
.
Sleep doesn't come easy. You toss and turn with guilt for what feels like hours.
"I hate feeling like this," you confess.
"What happens if he tells someone we took the finger?"
"Oh, he won't. Because that would mean admitting he lost it. I don't think he's the type to admit his failures." Ryomen says calmly.
"And I'm not the type to sleep with a heavy conscience," you huff.
"Would you like some help with that?" he offers. You nod, longing for the void of dreams. Ryomen warms your body and slows your heartbeat, gradually making your limbs feel like lead. You're barely able to murmur your gratitude to him before sleep finally claims you, heavy and deep.
With you sleeping soundly, Ryomen sits upright in your bed, eyes focused unblinkingly at the door. Waiting.
Megumi Fushiguro wasn't the type to admit his mistakes. He was the type to correct them. And it wasn't long before the barest sounds of footsteps on the other side of the door announced his arrival. Using his jutsu technique, he slinks up through the floor, growing up from his shadow that had slipped through the door crack.
"Ah, I thought that you might come by, Megumi-chan. Did you bring me anything else to eat?"
Fushiguro says nothing, but makes a sudden movement Ryomen wasn't expecting: leaping on top of your body and covering your mouth with his hand. His eyes are fierce with determination.
Ryomen, startled by the young man's boldness, had both of your arms behind your head in repose. Now with the weight of Megumi combined, this leaves your body helplessly exposed with your arms pinned up. Megumi straddles your body, pinning you on either side with his knees spread apart. Ryomen pants in alarm through your nose, starting to buck his hips to dislodge his rider. Megumi holds firm though, using his advantage of surprise. He brings his face close, speaking low so Itadori won't hear through the shared wall.
"You listen to me and you listen good, Sukuna. I'm more than familiar with you already. I know what your goal is, and you should know that nobody here will allow you to reassemble you power fully."
He pulls out a rectangular slip of paper with something written in bold sweeping calligraphy. He presses it to your forearm, still pinned by your head. Ryomen's scream is muffled beneath Fushiguro's palm as the paper burns you at the touch.
"Remember this feeling. These sutras will only hurt you. And I'll be carrying them with me at all times from now on. So anytime you think you can do what you want, like you did today," his voice trails off and he presses the sutra to your skin once more. It sizzles against Ryomen's presence and he screams again with anger as well as pain.
This fucking brat dared to attack him, to challenge him directly and to boast that he could be subdued by a mere human's efforts. It enrages him, but the sting of the sacred sutra was hard to ignore, especially twice on the same spot. The stench of char from the burn hung heavily in the air.
"Do you get it?" Megumi demands. He doesn't remove his hand from your mouth, staring with commanding eyes directly at Ryomen, who begrudgingly nods in agreement.
"Good. We understand each other. And what happened today won't be happening again. Ever." He adds the last part emphatically as he withdraws his hand. Ryomen is panting raggedly and rolls to clutch your arm to your chest with resentment.
"Nasty cunt!" he spits.
"Using spiritual talismans is tactless and requires little skill."
"And yet it works marvelously. Just like sneaking up on someone and picking their pockets when they're distracted." Fushiguro responds.
Ryomen laughs deeply, still nursing his burn.
"So you admit you were distracted...How interesting. Though I have to wonder if your interest is in myself or my vessel." He drags your tongue across the burn, giving Fushiguro what would almost pass as a meek expression.
"Can you tell the difference between us?"
"Of course I can. Even without your markings or cursed energy, I know you by the way you look at me."
"Heheheh, and how do I look at you, Megumi-chan?"
The sorcerer steps backwards toward the door, apprehensive and alert of every moment Sukuna is making.
"Like you want to devour me..."
Ryomen chuckles again, deeper than before.
"Then we do understand one another," he rumbles as Fushiguro retreats from the room.
When the last portion of his shadow slips beneath the door, Ryomen gets up out of bed. He stands before the bathroom mirror, eyeing his injury with resentment.
"Little shit..." He attempts his reverse curse technique to repair the damage. Nothing. Because the injury wasn't caused by cursed energy. Sacred talismans weren't easy for him to recover from.
"Fucking brat!" The little bastard had done his research apparently.
Ryomen returns your body to bed, lying on top of the sheets. He stares up at the ceiling, growling with frustration. He's unable to surpress his agitation, so he slips your hand down the waistband of your pants.
"Megumi," he chants softly, with purpose.
"I will consume you. Just you wait. Just you fucking wait.. "