You know that moment when everything around you slows down, and the only sound you can hear is the sound of your own harsh breaths and the beating of your heart? When the fist gets closer and closer and yet your body won't move.

That moment when you know you've fucked up.

Megumi opens his eyes. The blood coating the side of his face, his lashes, and dripping down to his lips, tells him that he's still alive, but man has he fucked up somewhere. He tries to lift his arms, the finger in his hands threatens to slip from his grasp. The finger bearer is dead, so what hit him?

"Oh, you're still alive?" The figure - a girl? - blurs in and out, but he can see the distinct hospital gown illuminated by the moonlight.

He coughs. His movements are unbalanced as he focuses on the voice. "Cho?" he asks, his voice raspy. A large glass of water would be wonderful right about now, and something to stop the burning in his lungs. Probably should do something about the bleeding too. Megumi groans. His head lulls to the side. His domain expansion is still incomplete, but now he understands why domain expansions can only be performed once a day. It feels as though he's been running for days non-stop while hauling Panda on his back. "You're safe, that's good," he says. The blades of grass itch his exposed hands, though still preferable to the oppressive pressure from the special grade's domain.

Cho purses her lips, tilts her head to the side. There's a glint in her eyes that makes her appear wiser than her age. Or maybe that's just trauma, Megumi reasons with himself. No one is ever quite prepared to see someone die in front of them. Sometimes, Megumi wonders how someone as kind as Kagome-san can handle seeing so much carnage and not even bat an eye. He falls back onto the grass, frowns at the unblinking stare Cho directs towards Sukuna's finger. "A cursed object," he says, wondering if he should put it in his pocket. He tries to lift his arm, but it still won't budge. He should ask Buyo Jr. to come out and stand guard. "Have you seen Yuji and Nobara? They're wearing a uniform like mine."

"Can't say that I have," Cho murmurs. She bends down next to him, her hand reaches out, touching Sukuna's finger. Just as quickly, she recoils back, her hand steaming. "Interesting." She smiles.

"Wha- what are you doing?" Megumi's eyes flutter. He's so tired. "Don't mess with this." His words slur as his vision blurs. "Two, Cho's." His nose wrinkles. The scent of disinfectant clings to Cho and her twin. A distinct smell that never seems to wash away.

"Megumi, you should rest." Cho pats his head and then smears the blood down his eyelids.

His face twitches at the contact, but the allure of sleep is greater than his confusion. "Rest," he repeats, nearly asleep when he hears Cho's soft murmuring. So soft that he wonders if it was a trick of the wind.

"Why is he so interested in you?"

Megumi wonders if he hallucinated Cho because when he wakes, it's Yuji and Nobara peering down at him and cracking jokes. "Where's Cho?" he asks, struggling to sit up. The blood coating his eyes is gross, nearly as bad as the metallic taste in his mouth. Good, he thinks. Sukuna's finger is still in his possession, but how long was he out for? The darkness of the sky gives nothing away.

"Tellin' ya, that little girl is dead," Nobara says. "What?" She glares at Yuji. "If she were still alive, then she would have turned up by now. She didn't end up where we were, and clearly, she didn't end up in the same spot as Megumi. Where else would she be if not dead?"

"I saw her," Megumi says. He saw her. At least he thinks he did. Gojo-sensei might not show it, but Megumi knows it would devastate him to hear that something happened to Cho and Megumi was there.

"Then where is she?" Nobara asks. She thrusts her arms out in a sweeping manner, hitting Yuji in the process. "Why would a defenseless child leave the side of someone she knows? Especially in the sorry state you're in. Seriously, Megumi." She rolls her eyes, planting her hands on her hips. "Just out here, passed out with Sukuna's finger in your hand? You're lucky that a curse didn't come by and try to finish you off."

Megumi groans, letting Nobara continue on with her tirade about how careless he's being. It's the closest he'll get to her, admitting that she is simply worried on his behalf.

"Megumi, I can hold on to that," Yuji says, his hand outstretched. "You look like you're gonna pass out again."

"Fine, just don't eat it." Gojo-sensei may not care about feeding Yuji the fingers, but Megumi would rather not chance it. The last thing they need is for Sukuna to get loose for even a moment. He shudders, thinking about the last time he fought the king of curses. If it weren't for Buyo Jr. Sukuna would have finished him for sure.

"Why would I eat it?" A mouth appears on Yuji's palms, eating the finger in an instant. "Huh?" Yuji's eyes widen as he turns his hand around, searching his palm for the missing finger. "That wasn't me!" Yuji points at himself.

"You're hopeless," Nobara says, shaking her head. "Let's get going. You should get checked out, Megumi."

"Those curses back there," Yuji says, helping Megumi to his feet, "they didn't fade away like the others."

"Were they demons?" Megumi groans. The pounding in his head grows louder by the second. What he wouldn't do to just sleep like a log for a week.

"I - no?"

"Were they or weren't they," Megumi says.

"They used a curse technique," Nobara pipes up. "So what if they didn't fade away?"

"You don't think that's even a tiny bit weird?" Yuji argues, "or that spider mark on them?"

"Says the guy walking around with the king of curses in his body," Nobara quips, looking over at her shoulder.

"Enough already. Let's just get back to school and tell Gojo-sensei in the morning." Megumi sighs. While he is thankful to have strong teammates, a small part of him is annoyed that he has to rely on Yuji to help him walk. Gojo-sensei wouldn't have even broken a sweat from this. He just needs to push himself further. Get stronger, not only for his own sake but to protect those around him.

Megumi glances to the left. A flicker of white appears and fades just as quickly. He must have been hallucinating Cho. There is no way that she would have sought him out after they had won the battle and just leave.

He was just going crazy.

A/N: Thank you everyone for your support! Forgot to mention this last chapter, but if there appears to be a little more to Sesshomaru's feelings towards Kagome it's probably because I've been shipping them for years lol. Hope everyone is doing well. I'm gonna look into getting some blue light glasses cuz my eyes have been blahhh lately.