Chapter 18

"Even though I am gone, I'll always be here. Clam your mind. Calm your fears. Our paths now, will bring us apart. But I will always live on in your heart. May I return, and our paths meet in a new land, I will find you, and become your friend again…"

It echoed in his head now.

Sukuna couldn't get the damn song out of his mind, like an ear worm it played over and over again, and yet the voice he heard singing it… it wasn't Yua's.

"Why… why… why… WHY!" he shouted at himself. The thought of it all was maddening to him. How come this damn song won't leave his head?!

"Tooru what curse did you put on me?" he muttered, it has to be it, it has to be a curse she put on him. It's the only explanation!

"HEY!"

He paused but turned to face Suiryu. Before he could utter a word, he was punched across the face! Sukuna hit the ground hard and yet was stunned by Suiryu's strength. The brat wasn't even trying. "What the hell did I do!?" Sukuna demanded.

"That song… HOW do you know that song Yua was singing!?" he demanded. "You do know what a death song is right?"

He froze, but then smirked. "Oh? Something wrong with her?" he asked curiously. "Why would she be singing a death song?"

BAM!

Another punch across the face, this time it was harder than the last one. Sukuna felt his teeth getting loose! "That's what I want to ask you about… what do you know of it?" Suiryu demanded. "Yua's family possessed a dragon, a death song is sacred to the dragon. Just from what I heard, that was a dragon's death song. So, that begs to question… How do you know of it? The Toorus did because of Ryujin, how do you know it?"

Suiryu got uncomfortably close.

Normally, the brats wouldn't bother him at all, he would ignore them until they went away, yet… this aura he's summoning, it affects Sukuna down to his core! He felt it for the first time in many, many years. That pit of despair and fear building up inside of him, and yet, it's being brought out by this knockoff no less!

"How would I know it was a dragon death song? Do I look like I give a shit about it?" he snapped back.

Suiryu glared at him. "Then, how do you know it?"

"I don't!" he snapped back, just as a sharp pain came to his chest. "GAH! What the hell…" his heart was beating feverishly. He couldn't understand why or how it was happening, yet his heart… was racing! "What the hell is this sensation?"

Suiryu peered over him once more, yet kept staring at his chest. "Tch, I'll let this go for the moment, but I will get my answers from you… straight from your mouth no less. Until then, you better think about it and try to remember how you know it…" he turned and left after that, but why did it piss him off so much?

Sukuna sat himself up off the ground, but he was questioning his own logic too. His mind feel as if it is at war with itself, refusing to yield his demonic side, and yet, there's another part of him that has come into play, refusing to leave and becoming more dominating as time passes. "Whatever the hell it is, I'll put and end to it before long… I perhaps need to alter my plans… and maybe make a friend…" he muttered to himself. But the smile that followed…

He has to push his plans along.

But how can he when that damn song won't stop coming into his head!

#

Suiryu was fuming now.

How could he not have known that? Why wasn't that in the memories he possessed? What the hell is going on here?!

"Suiryu?"

He paused as Yuuji approached him. "You okay?"

"Do I look okay?" he growled.

"You look pissed off."

"It's because I am! Yua… Yua was singing a death song…"

Instantly Yuuji froze, he vanished then and there only to return moments later, relieved to say the least. "Nothing is wrong with her, thank God…" he said and sighed. "But… she was singing one?"

"That's not the concerning part. Sukuna knows of it too,"

Yuuji was confused. "Wait? He knows a death song?"

"No, he knows YUA'S death song, but there is more to it than this. How could he have known… that… or…" suddenly he sneered. "Fuck!"

"What?"

"It must be the reason. Sukuna devoured most of Yua's clan when he came into power right? If her family has a death song, they must have sung that before he killed them. Which is how he knows it."

Yuuji paused to consider the idea, that was the most plausible at the moment. "Why aren't we asking why and how Yua has one?" he said. "Suiryu, that's for a dragon, isn't it? The death song, grandpa even said so… if that's the case… why does Yua have one?"

"Ryujin."

"No, it's more than that… I mean, did he sing one when he merged his soul into yours?"

He shook his head on the notion. "He never sang anything. But then again, perhaps when I did sing before grandpa, that was Ryujin's song too… still… it makes little sense to me."

"I know it doesn't make much sense, but we maybe should ask mom about it?"

He would consider it, however at the moment. Mom has her hands full dealing with their entitled great uncle. There are dragons trying to sneak their way to earth to kill Yuuji and himself… well… they could try but it would be a quick defeat on the dragon's end.

Yet, with what he just learned with Yua and Sukuna, something didn't add up in his mind. "There has to be more to this… also… you felt it too, didn't you?"

Yuuji nodded as he tapped the left side of his chest. "Yeah, it's powerful, I didn't think it would be that strong, but it's there…"

"Who or what put a binding vows on Sukuna's heart? It only came to pass when we revived it, right? Before I sensed nothing, you didn't even notice it. All the times we encountered him, there was no binding vow on his heart. But ever since it revived… they appeared. Question now is, who or what did such a thing and why?"

"It's never easy to figure this stuff out…" Yuuji muttered. "We will look into it later, for now…"

"Yeah," Suiryu said with a grin of his own. "Let's go find Yua."