CH. 6 No matter which way it went OR You having regrets?

Rinami sat softly down in a large couch in the living area of the new apartment and pulled her legs up to her chest. They'd been in their new location for nearly a full day and she still hadn't been able to put together even an inkling of Sukuna's final plans and how she could possibly fit into them. Things had been a whirlwind and she'd been in too much of a daze to ask. She sighed and closed her eyes. Lies. She was lying to herself. That wasn't the reason. The truth was she was too scared to ask. She wasn't sure if she was more scared of him or more scared of the answer, but either way she was scared just the same.

She was stirred from her thoughts by a light breeze drifting through the room. She lifted her head and opened her eyes. Turning, she saw that Sukuna had opened the large French doors and was standing at the entry to the expansive outdoor balcony. With him, standing on the balcony and staring directly at Rinami, with pink-red eyes cold with unbridled hatred, was a small youthful looking person with short, blinding white hair, patterned with an ellipse of pink across the back.

Rinami returned the gaze without flinching. Looking closer she wasn't sure if it was a man or woman, an older child or a very young looking adult. Who exactly was this person? Slowly she unfurled her legs and sat up straight on the couch, leaning forward in preparation.

"Now, now. Settle down." Sukuna laughed and patted the person on the shoulder. "Ami this is Uraume. She serves me."

Rinami shifted her focus to Sukuna, but Uraume didn't take her eyes from Rinami.

"Mmm" Rinami nodded. Makes sense. We wondered if he might already have followers doing some of his dirty work for him. If she's his right-hand, it also explains why she's looking at me like I'm the scum of the earth.

Feeling immediately exhausted of the whole ordeal, Rinami turned from both of them. "Great. I'm going to lay down for awhile." She murmured. She could hear Sukuna chuckling as she headed down the short hall to their new bedroom.

Behind her she could hear their conversation continue.

"You should kill her. She serves no purpose. Say the word Sukuna and I will gladly-"

"Uraume." Sukuna's tone had taken on a sharp edge. "I've told you once already, Ami is not to be touched"

"Master, she's worthless and keeping her around is making you soft… "

Rinami had paused in the doorway, trying not to eavesdrop, but taking her time to slowly close the door. She heard a loud thump from the living room. Straining her ears she could just barely make out Sukuna's throaty growl.

"Let that be the last time that I say it to you"

"Yes Sukuna, of course."

Rinami sighed and silently closed the door. Turning and throwing herself on the large bed, she grabbed a pillow and threw it over her face. She'd already crossed the point of no return by throwing in her lot with Sukuna. She refused to get in any deeper than she already was. She wanted no part in anything going on in that room. Yeah, it was already too late, but she'd take as much deniability as she could still scrape together.

She stayed that way on the bed, wrestling with her own frustrations until sleep finally claimed her. Even then it was restless- uncomfortable and littered with nightmares.

She awoke sometime later to find Sukuna sitting on the edge of the bed, his back turned to her. Stretching and sitting up, she slowly crawled over and placed her chin on his shoulder, wrapping her arms around his chest from behind.

"What are you doing?" She asked softly, leaning into his neck.

He turned to look at her, his red eyes traveling across her face. "You were making a lot of noise in here, I came to check on you."

"Oh…" Rinami pulled away from him and sat back on the bed.

"Nightmares?"

She bit her lip and lightly nodded. "Yeah, a few."

He turned on the bed so that he could see her, and studied her face in the pale light for a few moments.

"You having regrets?" His face was serious and his eyes gave nothing away.

Rinami met his eyes and then looked quickly away, turning her eyes instead to the room's large paned window and staring at the bright moon shining through the opened curtains. Nightmares or not, she'd slept longer than she'd intended to.

"Where is Uraume?" She asked off-handedly, making zero effort to disguise her attempt at avoiding the question.

Sukuna gave a light snort and laid out on the bed, his head facing her, a faint grin on his face. He held a lengthy pause as he watched her stare out the window, before he responded.

"Uraume's gone"

Slowly he reached over, his fingers gliding easily over the contours of her body. Up over her bare arm, across her neckline, down her cleavage and then her belly. His hand rested at the waistband of the sweatpants she still wore, and he smoothly took a finger and hooked it under the edge, giving it a light tug as he continued to grin up at her.

Her mouth dry, Rinami ran her tongue swiftly over her lips and swallowed before she turned to him, nervousness in her eyes.

Sukuna sat up on his other arm, the other hand with its finger still nestled in her waistband. He leaned in close, his red eyes dancing.

"Did you just lick your lips at me?"

Rinami's eyes flew open.

"Wha-? No!"

"Ha. That's not what I saw."

His red eyes never leaving hers, Sukuna leaned in close and flicked his tongue across her trembling lips. As Rinami let out a gasp, he simultaneously slid down her pants with the hand that was holding them, while gently pushing her down onto the bed, shifting himself slightly over the side of her. Running his hands leisurely over her long legs, he pulled her pants the rest of the way off, before climbing over and straddling her on the bed. Once again, running his hands lightly over the skin on her arms, Sukuna grabbed and pinned both of her hands above her head, easily holding them in one of his hands, as he leaned down and once again, ran his tongue across her lips. Reflexively Rinami lifted her hips and attempted to arch against him, but his body on top of hers held her firmly in place.

Sukuna looked down at her, his mouth a straight line, his face contemplative.

"I've gotta say, I kind of like you like this…" He leaned down and bit her ear, whispering roughly in it, "helpless under my control."

A tremor ran through Rinami's body from her head through her toes and Sukuna sat up laughing, his hand still holding her hands down.

"Now. I asked you a question, and I think you still owe me an answer."

He looked at her passively. Rinami considered -only briefly- playing dumb and pretending that she had no idea what he was talking about, but what would be the point in that? It was obvious, and it would just be delaying the inevitable. He wanted an answer so she would have to give him one.

She stared back at him, meeting his eyes, but unsure once again if this really counted as 'fairplay'. Was any answer she gave when he had her in this position really going to be an honest one? As she searched the depths of the eyes that met hers, she had to be honest with herself that her body definitely lusted for him- but deeper in those eyes…. Rinami closed her own and took a calming breath.

Her heart was aching with a need for him. It wasn't just physical. It felt that way at times because the physical was so overpowering, but it really was so much more than that. She opened her eyes again. She loved him. There was something deep in his soul that she was connected to, and in spite of everything, love continued to hold steady and take root within her.

Locking eyes with him, she inhaled deeply.

"Yeah, there are some regrets. But honestly, I would have regrets no matter which way it went, and when it comes down to it- I'd rather be with you and have them, than have them and not have you."

She shrugged as best as she could with her arms above her. It was the most honest answer she could give him. He could accept it or not.

He was silent as he continued to look down at her, obviously weighing the conviction of her words. As he opened his mouth to reply, she swiftly cut him off.

"I love you."

She flushed and gave a small, nervous chuckle. "I just needed to say it out loud. To make it clear."

Sukuna seemed momentarily taken aback, then he gave a chuckle of his own and leaned forward. "Yeah." he said quietly and then kissed her soundly on the mouth. As his tongue urgently explored her mouth and his free hand began to explore other parts of her body, Rinami closed her eyes and allowed herself to get swept up in his touches.

"Surrender yourself to me."

She heard him murmur it in her ear, just before his mouth urgently latched on to her neck, and his hand slid deftly between her legs.

"Yeah"

It may have been her last intelligible word of the night, as she nodded her assent, and he let go of her hands and took her in his arms. The moonlight bathed on them and as Rinami let go of herself and gave in to him, she found herself haunted by no more bad dreams that night.

Unbeknownst to Rinami she had absolutely called it right. When she hadn't shown up at the school that day, an internal alarm ran through Tokyo's JuJutsu High. Not only was Rinami known for being dedicated and punctual to a 'T', but with the recent worries about Sukuna running loose, everyone was already on high alert. The concern about her not showing up on time was compounded when not only did she not answer her phone, but it was found to be shut off and untraceable.

The decision was quickly made that the early festivities of the exchange would continue. They didn't want to alarm the students or cause a panic. It was determined that Gojo would stay at the school along with Utahime, Yaga and the president of the Kyoto school, Gakuganji. Ijichi, Nanami, Mei Mei, and Kusakabe had each been tasked with locating Rinami as quickly as possible.

As the initial round of the competition ended and the scouting team reported in empty-handed on her whereabouts. A sense of panic did ensue at the school and the remaining competition was cancelled for the day. A major reason for this was so that Gojo could assist with the search, however before a second search team could be sent out, rampant reports of cursed spirits wreaking havoc began coming in. A special grade in one area, followed by a number of lower grades in another. Suddenly spirits were popping up all over the place, in and out of Tokyo. and the search for Rinami was forced to take a seat on the back burner as resources were stretched thin while all attention shifted to dealing with the multiple threats. While it didn't take a significant amount of time for these nuisances to be handled, the sorcerers did lose valuable time early on that was much needed in assisting in the search for her.

By the time the search was able to resume. The Kyoto team had been forced to return to Kyoto and would take over their search from that city, and any leads to her possible whereabouts in Tokyo had already grown cold. No traces of her or her cursed energy were anywhere to be found. Locating Rinami at this point would prove to be exceedingly difficult- especially if it was worst case scenario and she was already dead, or if for some reason she had disappeared and it turned out she just didn't want to be found.…