Chiaki slowly came to wakefulness. Keeping her eyes closed, her body unmoving, she listened intently for sounds of the demon god lurking somewhere close by. Only the twittering of birds outside the little building filled the cool morning air around her.
Sitting up, the makeshift blanket fell to her waist and the cold air rushed around her raising chillbumps over her entire body. Grabbing the haori and slipping it over her arms, she stiffly rose to her feet. She wondered what fantastic physical feats Sukuna had in store for her today.
Sliding open the door, she spotted Sukuna's head above the end of the walkway. As he climbed the steps, more of his big body appeared exactly like the night she first saw him. On his right shoulder, boards were balanced and held with one of his arms. A bucket of nails with a hammer jutting out of the top of the pile hung on the lower arm of that side. On his left side, both arms held brand new red tiles for the roof to replace ones that had slid off and broken.
Where is he getting this stuff? He's probably stealing it from the nearby farms, she mused, crossing her arms over her chest to hold the jacket closer to her body to ward off the chill that was only partly due to the air temperature. She actually smiled at the thought he might be stealing items from the Zenin estate.
"Ready to work?" Sukuna asked, propping the boards against the porch in bad disrepair.
"I'm hungry. I need food. For strength," she added, quickly changing her demanding tone after he froze in his bent position while setting down the tiles. He was eye to eye with her in his stooped position, and she would swear she could feel the fires of Hell in his glare.
"I know, stupid woman," he muttered, jerking his chin to the right. "It's right there. Didn't you see it, idiot?"
Her face burning with humiliation from being insulted by the prick of a cursed spirit, Chiaki turned to see a wooden bowl filled with fruit beside the door. Although she wanted to drop to her knees and begin stuffing her face with fistfuls of the melon, grapes, and apples, she retrieved the bowl and daintily picked up a slice of the green honeydew.
"So where do you get all this stuff?" she asked, unable to contain her curiosity any longer.
"That's nothing for you to worry about," he replied in usual irritable growl, the bucket of nails clattering as he put it down. "Later you can forage for berries in the forest. I have a craving for blackberries."
"I love blackberries," she mumbled around a big bite of cantaloupe.
"Good. You'll be more motivated to pick a lot."
Sukuna stood up to his full height, placing all four hands on his hips. He stared down at the small woman standing on the dilapidated porch of the shrine he called home. She looked like a wild woman, her face unwashed and a little pale, her hair a mess from tossing and turning. She was almost serene in his presence despite her disheveled appearance, standing there shoving food in her pie hole.
"You're so strange," he said as if speaking his thoughts out loud.
"Thank you?" No matter how he meant it, Chiaki would take it as a compliment and not allow it to bother her.
"Not once have you begged for your life. You have even invited me to kill you a few times. Why is it that you care so little for your life?" he inquired, continuing to stare at her with blatant curiosity.
It's not that she did not care for her life, Chiaki just had no desire to satisfy his sick need to hear her beg for it. Besides, after what happened with Naoya, she honestly did not care if Sukuna finished her off. He would have been putting her out of her misery so to speak. She feared if the man knew she was alive, he would drag her back to finish off what he started or worse - force her to go through with the marriage. Gazing up at Sukuna, she knew she had simply traded one demon for another. Both prided themselves on holding her life in their hands.
"It's not that I'm not afraid of dying, it's just that..." She sighed heavily, sitting down on the step and putting the bowl of fruit aside. "Sometimes, I'm not sure I want to live."
"Too cowardly to kill yourself?" he asked, despite doubting that was the reason.
Chiaki inhaled deeply, the breathe slightly shaky at the end. She knew what it felt like to be so depressed, so mired in ones own tragic mind and heavy emotions, there seems to be no other way out of the pit than death. Although she had taken a few stabs, once quite literally, at suicide, she continued to tenaciously cling to life.
"I guess so," she agreed, seeing no point in arguing with him. She doubted he would take it well if she told him he was wrong.
Sukuna slowly lowered his face to be even with hers, his multiple eyes skimming over her pale but impassive face. The only facial movement that betrayed her with a fear reaction was the slight widening of her eyes. For a moment he looked into those obsidian irises that were like dual endless deep dark pits.
He believed he could see her soul. It was like a huge wall made of flawless rectangles of pristine white stone. There were a few holes here and there surrounded by black marks as if blasted with a cannonball. The breaches were made by disappointments, heartbreaks, and cruelty brought upon her by others. Humans truly are awful.
"If you're afraid, I will help you," he said, his voice low and guttural.
Chiaki wondered if he could see her trembling. She could feel his hot breath on her face each time he exhaled through his nostrils. Oddly, it did not smell like rotted flesh or coppery blood. One side of her mouth quirked upward. His multiple threats were beginning to sound as hollow and insincere as his laughter.
"Go ahead," she responded in a throaty whisper. "Then who would help you repair your humble abode?"
Sukuna chuckled lightly. "You are such an amusing pet."
The flicker of rage made her eyes come alive. They shone like polished marbles, reflecting his image back to him. He purposely touched a nerve to see the vivid reaction. It excited him to see such fury in her, almost as much as it did to instill sheer terror. Those dead empty eyes when she was calm did nothing for him, and this is what he longed for - intense negative emotion. He wanted to see her anger as much as feel her fear. They were like drugs to him, making him feel high and positively giddy.
"Breakfast is over. Time to get busy," he ordered her.
"Yes, Master," she replied, her eyes narrowing.
Boldly, Chiaki prepared to stand up despite his closeness not caring if her body brushed against his. To her great surprise, he moved back a few steps to allow her to stand without touching him. For the first time, she pondered if she should touch him - or if she even wanted to. Deciding against it, her bravado spent for the time being, she turned her back to him to take the bowl of fruit inside to save the rest for later.
Chiaki had never been one for heavy manual labor especially not construction. She could sometimes be a bit uncoordinated and clumsy as well. By taking her time and concentrating, she was able to nail down the boards to replace missing ones without hammering her thumb. In the time it took her to fix three planks, Sukuna pulled up and replaced the others. Afterwards, she took a few boards to the pile he was making to burn them that night. Maybe he would prepare another stew for her.
Afterwards, while he rested, she swept up leaves and tile pieces from the dirt area around the shrine with an improvised rake composed of sticks. Once done, Sukuna and Chiaki stood side by side admiring their work on the newly refurbished porch. Daring to steal a glimpse at the gigantic otherworldly creature beside her, she pondered the possibility of actually making a home of her own here with this humanoid cursed spirit.
What the hell am I thinking?!, her cautionary inner voice shrieked to bring her back to sanity. Besides, your days are literally numbered anyway.
Unsure if it was the midday sun or her own embarrassment making her feel so hot, her eyes immediately flew to the ground when he looked down at her.
"On to the next thing," Sukuna announced, reaching out to her.
Chiaki stepped back so fast to avoid the four grasping hands she stumbled but did not fall.
"What are you doing?" she demanded, managing to be offended as well as terrified.
"How are you going to repair the roof without being on it?" He glanced up at the sky. White fluffy clouds flitted across the backdrop of azure. "There's no rain yet, but you don't want to get rained on inside when there is do you?"
"Well, I - "
"Come here, woman," he commanded her, reaching for her again.
Chiaki bit her lower lip to keep from screaming as his massive hands, each bigger than her head, with talon like black nails on each fingertip, extended toward her. He could pop her head like a pimple by simply using the forefinger and thumb of one of those huge hands. The fingers of two of his hands wrapped around her upper arms. Her arms must feel like skinny twigs to him, easy to snap with a slight squeeze. The fingers of one of his lower hands encircled her entire waist. Maintaining a loose grip to avoid breaking any bones, he lifted her from the ground.
She could not help but marvel at the feeling of his hands on her skin. His fingers were slightly roughened, the palms smooth and dry. The overwhelming power within his hands seemed to reverberate with an electrical hum inside her body until it made her bones rattle. She held her breath while he raised her even with the rooftop until she could place her foot onto it. Careful to plant her feet on tiles that appeared solid and stationary, she glanced down at Sukuna as he bent to retrieve two of the red clay tiles and hand them up to her. Taking the heavy tiles from him, she gazed down at him questioningly as to what to do with them.
"They work like fish scales. Overlap them. Their own weight and gravity holds them in place," he explained.
Chiaki nodded. She placed the first tile over a gaping hole, sliding it under the existing tile which she fully expected to break but it did not, then pushing the second under that to completely cover the open space. Turning back, she saw Sukuna was ready with two more tiles.
After preparing to place those tiles, her mind filled with questions about Sukuna. What kind of human was he? What grievous acts did he commit to be doomed to walk the earth again as a cursed spirit after his death? Was it hate, greed, or arrogance that motivated him? Probably all of those things. How powerful was he as a human? Is eating humans part of his curse after death or does he do it because he wants to? On and on they went, popping up and circling around in her head like a vortex.
Chiaki was cautiously making her way to the edge of the roof when one of the old tiles slipped out of its place under her foot. Losing her balance and desperate to find it, she leaned backwards then pitched forward when the tile let loose entirely and slid downward taking her with it.
Oh, no! What if I only break and arm or a leg?!, she thought, panic setting in when she found herself helplessly flailing in mid air. If she broke a limb, she would be incapacitated and stuck with the slave driver, doomed to die a slow painful death. Her best hope would be to break her neck and get it over with.
Two arms, thick and supernaturally strong, the muscles like two oversized braided steel cords, hooked around her legs and back. Her body slammed against his belly, her head hitting his chest as he pulled her into him after catching her. It was like hitting an immovable brick wall.
"IDIOT!" Sukuna shouted, making her huddle against him although he was the source of the sound that frightened her.
His chest felt hot against her already sun warmed cheek. His heartbeat was like the thundering of a stampede of a hundred wild horses, vibrating her eardrum and deafening her more than his yelling.
"What the hell happened?" he demanded, setting her down on her feet.
"I-it, it w-was a-an, an a-accident," she stuttered, wiping at the sweat on her forehead that had started to run into her eyes making them burn. Regaining her composure enough to speak without stuttering, she said, "One of the tiles slipped."
Sukuna glowered down at her like an angry parent admonishing and a disobedient child. Pressing his lips into a thin line of annoyance, he picked up the tiles and began replacing them himself. Since she had gotten all of the ones closest to the highest point of the roof, he did not even have to leave the ground to patch the remaining holes.
Chiaki felt mildly annoyed he had not done that while she was busy fixing the others. Whether he liked it or not, she was done for the day. Going inside, she went to the cabinet to retrieve a new set of clothes. She was hot and tired and filthy. A dip in the river would be nice. She also grabbed a bowl for berry picking on the way back. She adored blackberries herself and would enjoy them.
"Where are you going?" Sukuna demanded when she stomped past him.
"I'm going to take a bath."
"Do you even know how to get to the river?" he asked her, making her halt at the edge of the forest.
"Dammit," she grumbled under her breath, realizing she did not. In her humiliation and annoyance, she had overlooked that crucial fact. "No! Can you show me?"
Sukuna chuckled. Chiaki stiffened at the sound which was actually genuine amusement. Of course the first time she hears him giggle sincerely its at her cost.
"Hold on, and I'll come with you. I could use a bath too."
Chiaki waited without turning around, clutching the sheet to planned to dry with and the flowered yukata to wear to her body. When he strode past her, stirring a small breeze in his wake, she almost jumped out of her skin. For him to be so big, he sure could move stealthily. Following him, she divided her attention between looking at his back to see where he was going and the ground beneath her feet to avoid tripping.
Upon hearing the sound of water, she rushed ahead. Dropping everything on the huge rock, she stripped off her clothes, not caring if he saw her naked body. Running across the ribbon of sandy bank, she dove into the wonderfully refreshing cold water.
Sukuna emerged from the forest just as she broke above the surface screaming from the bracing cold of the melted snow against her sun warmed skin. He stood there for a while, his robe draped over one of his lower arms while watching her paddle around with her head bobbing above the ripples of the swiftly flowing water.
Her lily white skin was pink, having taken on a little color from the sun. When he had her in his arms earlier, he noticed light brown flecks dotting her nose and cheeks. At the time he thought maybe it was dirt. He had assumed she spent all of her days inside, being doted on by hired servants; pampered princess who had been sent to marry into the elite and rich Zenin family. But she had ran away from the life he assumed she had been accustomed. She did not complain much about the hard work he was forcing her to do. And she actually did it pretty well.
Questions about this woman sprang to his mind unbidden. Who is she exactly, and where did she come from? What kind of woman is she really? Why did that damn Zenin asshole who often tossed him his used and leftover women not want her?
Sukuna was not often given to be curious about humans except how they would taste so his sudden inquisitiveness about one annoyed him.
Chiaki found footing on the river bottom and stood up to look over at Sukuna. He was just standing there, glaring at her and looking annoyed. He really hated humans. She supposed she had until she finished helping him fix up the shrine to live or until the seventy eight day time limit was reached.
Although he still stared angrily in her direction, he seemed to no longer be seeing her at all. What the hell is he thinking about?
"Are you coming in?" she yelled when he continued to stand on the bank without moving a single muscle. "The water is fantastic!"
Without saying a word, Sukuna commenced to untying his belt. Hooking his thumbs over the loose waistband, he prepared to pull his pants down.
Stunned, Chiaki did not look away at first. He had always left his pants on when they came to bathe, getting himself and his clothes clean. Her eyes riveted to those little lines that framed the edges of his muscular abdomen and disappeared under the edge of his pants. When he pushed down the waistband, revealing a tuft of pubic hair, she whirled around to put her back to him.
When she heard the splash of him jumping into the water behind her, she squeezed her eyes shut tightly. The water droplets rained down on her making her flinch as if he had touched her.
"Ahhh!" he sighed loudly with satisfaction. "You're right. This feels great."
Chiaki could hear him splashing around nearby and also feel the small waves he created with his movements brushing against her chest. She gradually opened one eye to see exactly where he was. When she did not see him in front of her, she opened both eyes and looked around.
Sukuna was behind her, using his two upper hands to gather water and pour it over his head while the two lower ones scrubbed to wash off the dirt and sweat. If he noticed her staring, he did not react because he continued to rub over his body, her eyes following his hands over his bulging, squirming muscles.
"See something you like?" he asked finally without glancing at her.
"I'm just fascinated," she admitted, her face growing red and her body hot despite being in the cold water.
"Oh?" he inquired with curiosity, ceasing his washing to look at her.
"You still seem so human...despite the obvious differences. You look real. You feel real. I have to remind myself you're a spirit manifested into a somewhat human form."
Sukuna moved toward her, not expecting her to hold her ground but she did. He was almost disappointed she remained still, her eyes moving up his body to his face, gazing up at him while he loomed over her menacingly. She did not shrink away or cry out as one of his hands reached out to touch her darkly blushed face.
"I am no longer human, but trust me...I am very real," he said his voice taking on the disconcerting purr that made her stomach clench.
His fingertips pressed to her cheek, the nails extending into her wet hair plastered to her head. The brownish freckles were even more obvious over the bright pink color of her skin. Her cheek was warm from all of the blood pooled there. Another one of his hands rested on her neck and shoulder. He could feel her pulse under his palm through the artery on her neck. Placing another hand on her chest, he could feel and hear her heartbeat in his ears. The impulses from her racing heart conducted through the muscles of his arm in erratic waves like the river rushing around his waist.
"What are you feeling?" Sukuna asked, his curiosity getting the better of him. He would not dare to make a guess as to what was going through her mind as she stared up at him with her big, dark eyes that seemed to want to draw him in and drag him under like the current of the river.
"Cold. Embarrassed. Afraid," Chiaki admitted, mesmerized by his numerous ruby colored irises studying her face. Although her rational mind told her otherwise, something within her wanted her to tell him everything she was feeling. "Intrigued." She swallowed to push down the lump in her throat. "Excited."
"Excited?" He purposely pressed his palm more firmly against her chest, pushing the heel of his hand between her breasts. His lips formed a lopsided smirk when he saw her spastically swallow again as if choking on her own confusion. "Excited by what?"
Just for fun, he had tried his hand at seducing women before. Some attempted to use sex as a bargaining chip for their lives. Others had been genuinely curious about fucking a cursed spirit. Disgusting bitches. He had eaten everyone of them just the same, gobbling them up bite by bite, kicking and screaming while they wondered where they went wrong because they thought their charms had been enough to change his mind.
Chiaki did not speak, her eyes switching between focusing on each of his. She pressed her hands to his belly above the slit of the mouth. She fully expected it to open, for those sharp teeth to puncture her skin and take a bite. His expression never changed, his eyes did not avoid hers. The skin was warm and soft over the hard ridges of his abdomen. He inhaled deeply, and she could feel his ribs expand under her palms.
"You're so warm. So alive. You feel so human." Her eyes moved down, sweeping over his body from side to side to glimpse at his quadruple arms. "But you're not." Her eyes rejoined his. "I have a strange request."
Sukuna smiled. Chiaki would swear it was sincere in it's obvious amusement at her behavior.
"Now, why doesn't that surprise me? You are a unique and very strange woman after all," he said, gazing down at her.
"Will you hug me?"
"Hug you?" An inquisitive eyebrow raised toward his hairline. Was she hoping to get eaten? It was too early to end her suffering especially since she was becoming so damn interesting.
"Is a simple embrace that difficult for a cursed spirit, a self-proclaimed god? Can you not fight the urge to eat me?" she challenged him, tilting her head back to look up at him.
"When did I call myself a god?" he questioned her, the smile fading from his face.
"When you took up residence in that shrine and decided to make it your own. You made yourself the god of that place," she answered matter-of-factly, her eyes steadily holding his. She inhaled deeply, her breasts rising in the water but not revealing themselves completely. "Guess that makes me your single devotee. Even if it is by force."
"You are so incredibly weird. Maybe that's why I'm keeping you alive. I just don't know what you're going to say or do next to surprise me."
"Embrace me, Sukuna."
"Are you trying to seduce me to change my mind? I'm still going to kill you," he reminded her.
"Seventy-eight days, right?" she questioned, giving him a smile.
"Seventy-eight days," he confirmed, putting his lower arms around her waist.
Lifting her up to her waist from the water, Sukuna's eyes remained on her face when his top set of arms enclosed her shoulders to pull her closer. He had embraced humans before but with the intention of breaking their backs to immobilize them or to pop their lungs like balloons to stop their damnable shrieking. He never truly considered what their bodies felt like in his arms only that they were soft meat bags with brittle bones he could easily crush then devour.
Earlier when he lifted her to the roof, he had noted her lightness. Her bones felt small and fragile, almost hollow like a bird's. Her skin was smooth like the silk of the kimonos he had stripped from rich ladies, but warm unlike the inanimate cloth.
Seeking his warmth, Chiaki snuggled into him, pressing her cheek to his chest. His pectoral muscle quivered under her skin in reaction to the cold water dripping from her hair. The heat radiating from his body reminded her of sitting beside a roaring fire and penetrated her muscles straight through to her aching bones. The heat against her belly grew, and there was a fluttering sensation like something moving There was an extra wetness, thick and viscous. Definitely not water.
Pushing back from him, she saw the pink tongue protruding from the open mouth but the teeth remained covered. Gasping and wiggling in his arms, in an instant she found herself dangling in front of him held by his hands grasping her shoulders. The tongue extended further to reach her, licking her body from side to side across her belly, grazing the underside of her breasts.
"Scream," he drawled, grinning at her maliciously.
Her mouth dropped open but no sound came out. The tongue moved back across her body in the opposite direction to give her another taste.
"No," she willfully bit out through her clenched teeth.
"Come on. I know you want to. Scream for me," he commanded her with vicious delight making his eyes sparkle like the finest gemstones.
Chiaki closed her mouth, her legs dangling limply in the air. Closing her eyes, she gritted her teeth to bear the languorously lapping tongue without screaming her head off. She stubbornly refused to indulge his sadistic whims.
"I will make you scream," Sukuna threatened her.
When she no longer felt the moist mouth muscle* stroking under her breasts and over her belly, she opened her eyes to look at him. He looked positively demonic the way he stared at her. He thrust his arms outward, tossing her into the ice cold water of the river.
Chiaki burst above the surface, screaming so loud and shrill it made the birds in the surrounding trees take flight.
"Sukuna you bastard!" she shouted at the top of her lungs, paddling with all her might to stay afloat since there was no footing for her.
Sukuna plucked her out of the water as he walked by to keep her from drowning in her blind panic.
"Told ya I'd make you scream. Come on, dumbass before you drown," he muttered, tucking her under his arm in a football carry.
Chiaki looked down, seeing a top view of his round butt cheeks.
"Oh, my," she gasped, averting her eyes. Though only having seen his behind for a few seconds, she had mentally noted there were no tattoos there.
"Ready to go berry picking?" Sukuna asked but it was a rhetorical question.
"Ugh," she groaned, yelping when he dropped her onto the sand.
"What's the correct response?"
"Yes, Master."
"That's better."
Picking herself up from the warm sun baked sand, Chiaki marched right back into the freezing water to wash it off. By the time she got back out, Sukuna had already pulled on his robe and tied it around his waist.
"Hurry up, slowpoke," he said, walking into the tree line.
"Hey, wait!" she yelled, trying to dry herself off. "Wait! Dammit!"
Fearful of getting lost in the woods if he got too far ahead, Chiaki wrapped the drying sheet around her body like a toga. She grabbed the berry picking bowl and scooped up her clothes in a ball, mixing clean and dirty together, to run after him. Running to catch up, she nearly smacked right into him when he squatted down without warning to check a promising briar patch. Crouching down beside him, holding out the bowl between them, she began picking from the loaded prickly vine growing around the bottom of a wide tree trunk.
Not a word passed between them as they gradually circled the tree in a duck walk, stripping the green thorn covered vines of its abundant fruit. Wind blew through the large canopy of leaves spread above them like an umbrella. The sun shining through the leaves created dancing circles on the ground around them.
There was something pleasant, enjoyable even, about this quiet moment. A peace she had not felt in many, many years washed over her. Allowing temptation and impatience to get the best of her, Chiaki tossed a plump blackberry into her mouth.
"Oh, my god," she sighed when the berry burst and spread its sweet juice over her tongue.
"You called?" Sukuna said, forsaking his last look at the briar patch for anymore berries.
"Here. Try this," she insisted, shoving a blackberry into his mouth instead of retorting with a smart ass comeback.
"Mmmm," he hummed in approval, straightening his legs to stand.
Chiaki stood up beside him, looking up. The late afternoon sun was still incredibly bright so she had to shield her eyes with her hand in order to see his face as he towered above her. She felt so small and weak. So afraid. She wondered if this is what small children felt like around adults. It was intimidating and frightening to have someone so tall staring down at her even if his impassive expression held no malevolence at the moment.
"Is it good?" she asked, reaching out to take his hand that he extended down to her.
"It's good," he replied, bypassing her outstretched hand to take the bowl from her.
With the bowl of blackberries in his hand now, Sukuna commenced to tossing them into his mouth as he walked away from her.
"Really?" she muttered to no one but herself. Picking up her bundle, she hurried after him. "Hey! Leave some for me!"
"Why should I?" he mumbled around a mouthful of fruit.
"I helped pick them that's why. It's only fair."
"And you think I care about fairness because...?"
"Silly me. I wouldn't dare make such a stupid assumption," she grumbled, pouting without shame.
"Yep, silly you."
When they reached the shrine, Sukuna pivoted on his heel, causing her to jump back in surprise from his sudden change of direction toward her. To be so large, he was unbelievably fast, nimble, and soundless.
"Here," he muttered gruffly, thrusting the bowl toward her. "The rest is yours."
Chiaki took the bowl that was still at least a quarter of the way full. She had expected it to be empty. When she looked up to express her gratitude, he had already crossed over the yard to the pile of discarded boards.
"Thank you!" she yelled.
"Get dressed why don't you? This isn't ancient Rome."
"Seriously? What an asshole."
Chiaki went into the shrine to get dressed. Once covered in the red cotton yukata covered in white hibiscus, she went to the treasure trove of items for a knife. She cut up the remaining fruit from breakfast to combine it with the remaining blackberries. After retrieving a fork, she went outside to share the fruit salad with Sukuna.
He had stacked the pieces of wood into a funeral pyre with the uneven tips pointed upward, the boards leaning against each other at the top to maintain the circular bottom of a cone shape.
"When did you build this?" she asked, standing beside him.
"While you were getting dressed of course. Watch this," he said, opening one of his hands. A flame came to life with a whoosh, filling his palm with waving yellow and orange tendrils of light. He threw the flames at the wood as if it was a ball, setting them on fire instantly.
"Oh, wow," she murmured, hypnotized by the blazing fire. "That must burn with the intensity of a thousand fires of Hell."
"A hundred maybe, but not a thousand," he countered in a way that made her think he was trying to make a joke. "What's that?"
"What's what?" Her eyes followed his line of vision down to the bowl. "Oh, this! This, Master, is an offering to you."
Chiaki bowed her head and extended the bowl toward him to take it.
"I can't help but think you're being a sarcastic bitch," he said without accepting her offering.
"Does it matter?" she asked, looking up at him. He was staring at her skeptically with his arms folded, all four of them. She shuffled a few steps closer to him, skewering a piece of each kind of fruit on the fork to hold it up to him. "Here. Try it. I know your favorite is human flesh, but you might like it anyway."
His fingers nearly swallowed her hand to grasp the fork and pull it away. He stuck it into his mouth, stripping off the fruit to hand it back to her. His eyes followed her movements as she poked a blackberry and put it into her mouth using the same fork.
"You're not afraid I have poisonous saliva? What if my spit is like acid and begins to break down your flesh starting with your tongue and the inside your mouth? I could suck you up through a straw then." He made an exaggerated sucking sound.
Her chewing paused, dumbstruck with the awful prospect that his revolting suggestions might be real threats. Then she remembered how the tongue from his abdomen mouth licked her like a human lollipop. Surely the saliva would be same since it came from the same body. Nothing had happened to her after that. She still felt fine. No feeling ill. No dissolving skin.
"Wouldn't I be puking or passed out or maybe even dead if your spit was poisonous? If you had acid saliva wouldn't I at the very least have skin burns or some kind of sores after you licking me at the river?" she inquired, enthusiastically stabbing an apple piece.
"Damn," he muttered, snatching the fork away from her to eat the apple before she could get it into her mouth. "You're so much smarter than the others."
"What kind of dumb women have you been eating?" She took the fork he held out to her. "You know, they say you are what you eat."
Sukuna threw back his head and laughed, an authentic sound of enjoyment, startling her so badly she almost choked on the piece of melon she had just eaten.
"Now who's the dummy?" he chuckled meanly.
"Touché," she said, handing him the bowl and fork. She turned to walk away.
"Where are you going?"
"I'm exhausted. I'm going to bed."
"Aren't you hungry?"
"I'm more tired than hungry. Besides, shouldn't you go hunting for your own food tonight?" Chiaki could not believe she actually just suggested he go eat a human being. What the hell is happening to me? A shiver rippled through her entire body. "Good night." She turned back to him and bowed, adding, "Master."
Author's Note: *I have to admit I laughed at this phrase, moist mouth muscle, when it popped into my head then I typed it out and laughed harder because it was so stupid. I thought about changing it but decided to leave it in for grins and giggles. It was intentional I assure you. Please don't blast me for writing one of the dumbest lines ever. I mean really, can it be worse than some lines in other books like ones about a seriously abusive and troublesome relationship masquerading as a fun and playful S&M relationship? You know the one I mean. ;)
