The first time began while the young first years sorcerers, walked the streets of Tokyo during the dusk; they had exorcised a couple of low grade curses around a hospital. They had finished before than anticipated, so the girl decided to take the time off to do some shopping.
On their way back to the academy, the vessel of the so-called "King of Curses", could perceive as if something was following them, he also had a disturbing feeling of being observed; the young man didn't stop looking around him, but very surely the entities that emanated their evil presence were hidden under the shadows.
"Don't let your guard down; they're watching you." Itadori could hear the voice of who resides in him, warn him of what he actually suspected; he hadn't said anything since, his friends seemed calm, though he couldn't deny that the shadow user was equally restless.
The rosy continued on his way with his compatriots, if those curses really wanted to cause any commotion, they would've already done so; that reasoning gave him some reassurance, but he could feel that Sukuna was still alert; he decided to let him be without questioning.
The second time happened inside an onsen, the young students were sent to deal with curses of unknown grade; the assistant manager of the school -who took them there- managed to evacuate the area to avoid injuries and thus, they could carry out their work. When met with the negative entities, all these were attracted by the presence of Itadori, quickly they went toward his direction with suspicious intentions; Fushiguro and Kugisaki immediately went on his defensive, eradicating the first wave.
"Hey, I can defend myself, you know?" Itadori claimed slightly indignant; it's not that he was slow to react, but seeing all those curses directing at him so suddenly caused him a lot of surprise; it was like when insects are severely attracted to the light.
"It's not normal that they've been directed to only one objective, taking into account that said objective is accompanied." Kugisaki refuted.
"The place seems vast; we'd better split up to cover more ground." Fushiguro indicated to his companions, as he summoned more of his shikigami frogs. The curses didn't seem like something they couldn't handle on their own.
The trio split up into separate sides to root out more possible targets. The vessel went to the northern part of the building, where he encountered a wide section of hot spring water; despite entering cautiously, he was surprised by another group of the small curses, but he was able to exorcise a few, thanks to his divergent fist; but he didn't count on that others would hold him by the ankles and drag him into the water. Between several they held him and in front of him, he could see how a larger version of the curses emerged from the water; Itadori deduced that this was like a swarm of bees, that it had taken the onsen as its hive and this being, should be its equivalent to queen; once the boy was taken by the face by the leader, its eyes started to glow, causing him to go into a trance.
After entering in hypnosis, the rosy contemplated in another plane, how his body had been taken by Sukuna; although he couldn't clearly hear what was happening, he saw the King of Curses eradicate all the "workers", including their leader without much effort, but something didn't make sense: The current possessor of his body had a frowning face, his teeth were showing menacingly, and his posture was defensive.
Later Itadori returned to be able to have control of his body; he was too confused about Sukuna's act to hear the call of his friend, who threw a blow to his face to make him answer her. "Augh, I've told you there's no need to do that!"
"Well, answer when they talk to you, potato head."
"All the curses seemed to vanish at the same time." Fushiguro ignored the insignificant quarrel of his friends, to question the rosy what had happened on his side.
Itadori explained to them about the confrontation between Sukuna and the leader of the invasion; all of them concluded that the curse was able to create copies of itself, which when eradicating with the source, all the copies got exorcized too. They returned to where their driver was waiting for them to go back to the academy.
During the trip, Itadori contemplated disinterestedly towards the window, his mind didn't stop wandering the possible reason why, the King of Curses himself would bother to help him with the mission; something about his actions didn't make sense, the way he fervently eliminated the enemy, without saying something to him beforehand. He decided that he would ask him in the evening after dinner, if the special grade was willing to answer him.
After everyone had eaten and headed to their bedrooms, Itadori closed the door to his room; he ran a hand over his face, as he made his way to the bed; before laying down, he wondered if it was really worth questioning Sukuna, it bothered him the fact that the curse had helped them wasn't enough, but that little curiosity was eating him away.
He lay down and let Morpheus take him in his arms, little by little he stopped thinking a lot about what happened in the onsen; his room became completely dark, to be later replaced by a huge temple. He raised his torso and sit; he looked around until a deep voice questioned him.
"You don't usually visit me, what brings you here?" Said the King of Curses prostrate from his throne, with his face resting on his fist; he knew that the young man wasn't a rival to worry about; this visit was a bit unexpected, but he wasn't surprised that the rosy was looking for answers.
"I need to know what was that at the onsen." Ordered Itadori without thinking and without fear; he raised his body high and looked determined at the special grade.
"Just like that? Not a 'hello, how are you?' I thought you were someone more considerate."
"Answer at once, damn it!"
Sukuna rose from his throne without speaking to him again, he approached to the boy and took him by the chin, carefully watching his firm features. "I see that those vermin didn't hurt you; I'm glad to know."
"What is this all about?" Said the rosy, hitting the other's hand on his face. He was getting impatient.
The King of Curses snorted but still got straight to the point. "I only defended what is rightfully mine."
Itadori didn't have things clear; still he felt a little offended, about what Sukuna implied by "mine" -he wasn't owned by anyone-. But if you thought about it, that little possessive statement would explain why the special grade, would warn about other curses harassing him with the eyes; he didn't like the idea of other entities behind him, he had enough with the one already inside him. "If that will tend to happen often, do you have a solution to get them to leave me alone?"
Sukuna made a thoughtful face; clearly something was coming to his wicked mind, and he was seriously considering it. "There may be a solution, but it requires the consent of both."
Itadori raised a doubtful eyebrow; something in him told him not to go on with it, strangely it felt familiar, but at the same time different. "Anything to keep them away from me."
"A blood deal."
The inside of the rosy froze completely, many warning sirens began to sound in his head, concern ran through his consciousness; despite that, he was curious to know more about the aforementioned.
"If we do that, we will mutually share our curse energies; my essence will be on you, which will warn other vermin, to think twice before messing with us."
"Well, apart from consent, what else-? Aah, motherfucker!" Itadori fell to his knees at the intense sharp pain in his right wrist; he used his other hand to press down on the cut the King of Curses had made on him.
Sukuna chuckled as he took one last look at his vessel writhing in pain; he'd miss causing him harm both physical and emotional. He also slashed his own wrist, the hiss was clear between his teeth; he approached the rosy and with his hand intact, he held Itadori's cheeks to later trace on his face, the marks he had on his own with the blood that ran from his wrist.
While making the necessary strokes, the King of Curses added that with this bond, they would be able to feel what the other feels; in addition to that they wouldn't only share a body, but also a soul. He tore the clothes of the vessel and continued stroking, until it resembled the marks on his chest and extremities.
The special grade moved away to contemplate the young man marked with his blood, it seemed to him an amazing sight; his brown eyes made the bright red stand out even more. He removed his kimono -remaining in a simple loincloth- to reveal his own marks on his toned body; he directly looked at Itadori, because of the inability of reaction he showed, he couldn't help form a malicious smile and tease him.
"It's rude to stare, brat. ~"
"I wasn't staring!" He quickly turned his head away; an unexpectedly slight embarrassing blush matched his hair.
Sukuna didn't hold back his thunderous laugh for a brief moment; he eventually took Itadori by his left wrist to get him on his feet. He told him to use the blood he was trying to suppress, to do the same with him; the vessel slowly let the red liquid escape again from him; while doing the requested, he realized that the intense gaze of the special grade was fixed on him; he could admire for an instant how bright its color was, it made the entire domain look dull.
"Are you done…?" Sukuna asked in a slight sigh; he also was enraptured by the sight of Itadori, it was not something he hadn't seen before, but the contrast of firmness and delicacy seemed impressive to him.
Itadori cleared his throat before confirming part of his completed task; he continued to trace his arms, but his breathing became difficult as he began to feel the toned abdomen of the special grade; he tried to outline faster to finish as soon as possible, suddenly the domain became suffocating.
"Good. Now extend your arm until your wound touches mine." Indicated the King of Curses raising his limb.
The vessel obeyed, but before contact was made, his attention was drawn back.
"You realize that after this …? Nothing will do us apart, not even death."
"Tsk, I'm already condemned to die with you, what difference does it make to spend the rest of my future lives by your side?"
That statement strangely brought Sukuna satisfaction. Both slowly brought their wounds closer together, but when they made contact, an intense pain was generated in Itadori, which made him bend his knees; fortunately, a strong arm prevented his definite fall, by encircling behind his back.
"Hold on, brat-aaugh…" The special grade growled, who at the same time was drowning the pain caused by the bond that was being generated between them.
Apart from the blood running down their arms, their hands convulsed from the exchange of cursed energy between both beings; little by little it seemed that the wrists would become one and therefore, they would be linked in that way; the respective skins in that area slowly turned into different colors -from greens to blues and later purples-, this is how the bulging veins made it look, which because of their appearance, they were not going to endure the process for long.
In less than the King of Curses and his vessel realized, the ritual was over; they both fell weakened by the excess cursed energy drained. Sukuna turned his head until he made eye contact with Itadori, who also looked for him; both breathed altered while only gazing at each other without saying a word -the special grade didn't notice that a mark on each of his wrists looked fragmented-; they almost intertwined their fingers, but they decided to keep what little strength they had left in resting. Thanks to the union, they felt twice as tired as they really were this because of the reciprocity of their feelings.
Itadori suddenly awoke from that existential plane, breathing heavily to control the high temperature he felt; he could still perceive a slight burning around his wrists, when he took out both hands to minimize the discomfort, he noticed a black stripe on each of them; he assumed that the same as the black triangles under his eyes, those were the new evidence that he was even more attached to Sukuna ... Now forever and ever.
The End ~