Chapter 30

At the domain…

"It's two o'clock, you know what that means!"

Yua was watching it all from a distance with Shin. Satoru had returned from a large grocery run, they finally restocked on noodles and other things Suguru has been eating like no tomorrow. But now…

"Is dad…"

"Yep" Yua said rather bluntly. "He's coddling Pops."

Before them in the nursery was Satoru, gently rubbing himself in a clingy manner to Suguru, the thing is, Suguru didn't mind it the least bit and was purring at the affection! Yua doesn't dare come between them in that matter, at the same time…

She gave off a sigh.

"Mom?" Shin asked of her, but before he could finish speaking, he gently guided her outside to talk. When the door closed he turned to his mother. "This isn't right." He protested. "I mean, dad was NEVER that affectionate with you!"

She forced a smile. "Oh Shin, you need to understand. I wasn't his first love."

He bocked a little from that, but Yua nodded to it. "Then why did dad…"

"Partly, when Suguru did come back, he was in his old mindset, believing humans were monkeys and need to be taken care of. However, before he was ever in that mindset, Suguru and your father were inseparable friends, talk to Dr. Shoko and you would understand. They did everything together, Suguru was also the first person to let your father really… cut loose and be who he is."

"Still…"

"You're upset that I wasn't given the same treatment aren't you?"

He nodded to that. "How is it fair that he waits on Pops hand and foot, and yet not return that curtsey to you?"

Yua snickered. "Remember who your father had at his disposal?"

Shin paused, but then looked confused. "You mean that he kept using Oji?!"

"More like abused Oji."

"Mom!"

"In all honesty, I didn't mind it. I'm not that affectionate as a person either…"

They went silent, Yua decided to move away from the nursery so the two could have their moment, Shin followed along but wasn't pleased with what he heard.

"Still mom, you should give yourself more credit and respect than that!" he protested. "I mean dad didn't do this with you! Sure he cuddled you but that was it."

"He also stayed at my side after the miscarriage. He switched body frames with Sukuna to take care of me better, he held me until I regained myself again. You can talk to Sukuna about that too, when a Tooru woman falls like that, not many men would bother to stick around. They left in droves when this happened, for a damaged Tooru was no good to them."

"Don't you dare say that!"

She paused to his outburst. "Shin…"

"Mom, dad needs to treat you better still, after all. Even when that happened, Pops stepped up and took care of us and you didn't even accept him yet!" he said. "I've seen Pops act more… comforting to you than dad! At this point, dad is only useful to have kids, and he even fucked that up"

"Part of that was the curse…"

"And are you willing to take that chance again?" he asked bluntly. "As of this point, I think we need to put our faith and trust in pops more than dad if you want to expand the family."

She nodded, even though she knows it was the curse at work on Satoru, part of her still believed what he did was self-inflicted.

"We need to wait and see with what happens with Pops, I want to make certain these children are born healthy and happy before anything else." She said.

Shin sighed and nodded to that, they walked in silence for a moment until Shin began to bite his lower lip. "I… think my ability can go a little farther." He said to her. "But, I am at a point where I cannot see the way… I was wondering…"

"Did you want to ask Sukuna for more lessons?"

He shook his head. "I was wondering… with what he did with dad in body swapping… if he can do that with me?"

She came to a stop. Shin did too as he looked to his mother with determination in his eyes. "You want to body swap with Sukuna?" she asked in slight disbelief. Granted, Rook had already expressed his interest in the notion as well…

"I know it is stupid, but I think if I see from a different perspective…"

"But do you really need to swap to do it?" she asked.

He hesitated at first, but then, nodded to her. "Yes" he said. "I strongly believe I need to."

There was a look of determination in his eyes, only recently has Yua noticed a look of frustration on Shin's face. That or perhaps the encounter with Kenjaku startled him. The way he described it was that Kenjaku was eying him like a hunk of meat… worst still, he was looking at him as a potential new shell.

So with that in mind, Yua understood his notion and determination to grow stronger. "Let's speak with Oji when he returns." She said gently.

For all she knows, Sukuna will shoot down the notion instantly. Or he maybe curious to see what Shin wants to do and where the technique could go. But at the moment, he's out hunting with Rook…

Speak of the devil…

The two of them had just returned. They left by 7am this morning, but by the looks on them, they had success… at the same time Rook needs to understand that despite having jujutsu, getting blood out of clothing is not easy!

"Hi mom!" Rook called as he was caked in it, at the same time she heard sizzling. "Uh, I got to go change, this blood is eating away at my clothing." As he turned to leave, Shin snorted a laugh.

The entire back end of Rook has been eaten away, so the whole domain got a glimpse of his ass!

"He's oddly proud of himself…" came out of Sukuna.

Yua nodded but looked to him oddly. "So, how was it?"

"Dragonewts, wyverns and other creatures closely resembled TO dragons but not a dragon… Lady Tiamat is just as curious as I am." He said bluntly. "He's already eaten the livers of those we hunted, thus why his flesh doesn't burn. Wyvern blood is very acidic, if anything it should have killed him."

She nodded to this, meaning something drastic is becoming of Rook.

"Oji… I have an odd request"

Shin found his courage and spoke up, he explained the position he was in and wanted better insight. When he mentioned switching with him, it made Sukuna freeze.

"Me?" he asked curiously. "Why? Also, you do understand you gain these features of mine, yes?"

He nodded to it all. "I don't mind," he said. "But, I think being you will help me understand that aspect of my power I have yet to tap into. It's weird I want to think of this technique as something that isn't mine, but needs to be broken down… does that make sense?"

"More so than you think"

Yua was curious as Sukuna considered the notion. "Rook and I have finished hunting for the time being. I see no harm in altering forms for one week."

"REALLY?! THANK YOU OJI!" Shin lost himself for a moment and hugged him!

Sukuna even froze to this and remained rather still as Shin released him and rushed off.

"I'm not use to that,"

"I know, thanks for enduring"