CH. 10 'You don't want to see what waits on the other side' OR 'What girl doesn't love a matching set?'
For the next few weeks Rinami continued training nearly daily. Touch was her main focus but Sukuna also alternated between the other senses, as they all held equal importance. Touch however came first, because until she mastered the others, she needed to use touch in order to successfully use the other techniques. By the end of the few weeks Rinami had made astonishing progress.
Now, as long as she was maintaining direct skin to skin contact she could realize the senses of the other person. What they smelled, saw, felt, heard, or tasted. This went for feelings and emotions as well, and this was also the only part of her technique that she had also learned how to not just pull in from someone else, but also to manipulate within someone else. It still wasn't an advanced skill and she needed a lot of work on it, but she had learned that she could definitely do it. She just needed more practice and to get stronger at forcing it out.
Today had been another strenuous session, and exhausted, Rinami had dropped to the couch and fallen asleep for a bit. She was woken by the feel of a light breeze on her skin. Flitting her eyes and then finally rubbing them open, she sat up and looked towards the doors to the balcony. One hung partially open and she knew that Sukuna must be out there.
She got up and padded over to the door. From the doorway she stood and watched him for a moment. His back was turned to her and he stood hands on the balcony railing, staring out over the cityscape before him. She always wondered what he thought about when he did this. He'd always stand there so calm and contemplative. But Rinami wasn't fooled, she knew that behind that calm was a raging inferno. The only thing she didn't know was what fueled that fire and what it burned for.
As she walked over to him, he turned around and flashed an approving smile at her as she approached him.
"Good to see you up. Though I would say it was well-deserved sleep. You've been training hard and it's paid off. You should be proud- I certainly am"
As Rinami reached him, she returned the smile, grateful as always for the seldom received praise from him. Stretching onto her tiptoes, she placed a hand on his cheek and tilted up to greet him with a kiss. Startled she stopped before her lips could touch his.
"Wait. Sukuna, what's really going on?"
Rinami backed away from him, a bemused look on her face. "Your mouth says that you're proud and your face looks pleased, but you- that's not how you really feel… you're actually-"
She didn't see him move. The next thing she knew the hand that had been touching him had been removed and its wrist was now being tightly squeezed in one his hands, held in the air near her head. She herself had been turned and pushed back against the balcony railing. Her hair swinging wildly into the open air over the balcony's edge.
"You just used your powers on me?" His eyes were black and narrow as he leaned forward, pressing his face into hers. Rinami turned her head to the side, once again painfully aware of the debilitating power of his presence.
"It wasn't really intentional. I did it without thinking – I'm sorry" She murmured, her heart panicking in her chest. It was the truth, she hadn't even thought twice about it, she'd been touching him and wanted him to let her in. Her powers had activated almost automatically, pulling his feelings in without any other prompting from her.
"Careful." Sukuna threatened, leering over her, his eyes full of venom. His other hand squeezed her cheeks and pulled her face towards him so that he could look her dead in her eyes. "You're crossing lines now and I promise you don't want to see what waits on the other side."
In the next instant he was gone, leaving Rinami to slump to the ground in front of the railing, rubbing her sore wrist and trying to piece together exactly what had happened. Was he more angry about her peeping or that she found out that he was worried about something? She bit her lip and laid her head back against the railing, working to steady her beating heart.
Sukuna didn't return to the penthouse until later that night. Plagued by restless sleep Rinami heard him at the foot of the bed, presumably watching over her. Disinterested in interacting with him, she feigned sleep, honestly hoping that he'd just waft away back to wherever he'd just returned from. She truly didn't feel like dealing with him right now.
"You're not fooling anyone. I know you're awake"
Sukuna's voice held only the slightest trace of amusement, but otherwise it was flat and dead-pan. Rinami didn't so much as budge. He could say whatever he liked, she was going to ride this one until he forced her out of it.
They both remained in their respective positions for what felt to her like forever. Finally with no warning, she felt the pressure of his presence disappear. Relieved, Rinami finally exhaled. She wanted to relax her tense muscles and sit up, but she didn't completely trust him not to still be sitting there waiting for her to drop her guard. So instead, she snuggled in deeper and tried to will herself into real sleep. She found that this time knowing that he'd come and gone, her sleep came easier to her and her restless night finally ended.
She awoke the next morning and trudged to the kitchen to warm up breakfast. Sukuna sat in the armchair, his eyes focused directly on her, and Rinami got the profound feeling that he'd been that way for some time, possibly waiting just like that for her to exit the room.
Completely ignoring him, she headed directly to the kitchen to see what was in the fridge.
"Ami…"
His voice was low and cool. Rinami didn't break her stride and continued her trek towards breakfast.
"Ami." Less cool this time. She could hear the hostility now. Well she had reached the refrigerator now too. So what would it be? Eggs sounded good. Maybe some homemade pancakes?
She reached in the refrigerator and grabbed the egg carton. As she pulled it out and turned towards the counter, she bumped directly into Sukuna, now standing immediately behind her, glaring. Startled, she dropped the eggs and took a step back. Bummed, Rinami frowned at the broken mess before her. There goes my breakfast plan…
As she stared in pity at the yolk spill, he took a menacing step forward, bumping into her.
"Ami."
This time there was no mistaking the threat in his voice.
Rinami raised her head to give him a once over.
"If you're going to put your hands on me again, make sure to grab the other arm this time. The first one still hurts. Plus, what girl doesn't love a matching set ?" She said it sarcastically, while glowering at him from her place near the fridge.
Sukuna paused, and she could see something light under his eyes. Slowly he grabbed the wrist he'd had yesterday and lifted it to inspect it. The circular bruises around it were much darker now, although she assumed they would go away in a day or two.
Sukuna carefully dropped her arm down, meeting his eyes with hers and not breaking contact.
"You used your powers on me Ami." He said it straight forward, but there was no anger or malice this time. It was a statement, maybe even a small hit of a question in it.
He stood staring at her saying nothing else.
Rinami swallowed as she matched his gaze. She reached out and took his hands in hers.
"Yes, but I already told you it wasn't intentional. Besides I used them on you but not against you. There's a really big difference you know?"
His mouth remained a straight line, but his eyebrows raised slightly as she lifted his hands in her own and pulled them towards her. "A difference, huh?"
Rinami looked away and bit the corner of her lip. "I think so" she mumbled quietly.
She turned back to him, determination in her voice. "Yes. I think so. I wasn't trying to use them at all, but I definitely wasn't trying to hurt or harm you or even trick you. So yeah, I'd say there's a difference!"
She looked intently at him. It felt like such a silly thing to be having a fight about, but here they were. She really hadn't meant it, but it had been so automatic that she couldn't guarantee it wouldn't happen again. Was he going to go off any time that it did?
He stood silently, his eyes remaining on her face. Just as she was preparing to give up and go back to breakfast, he gave a slow nod. "Alright then. If it comes down to intent, I'll accept the difference." He lifted her bruised arm and lightly kissed her wrist, his eyes never leaving hers. "I can make it up to you…" A sinister curl formed at the corners of his mouth.
Rinami tried to feign interest, but she couldn't completely shake the feeling of irritation that she still had with him. Flashing a sweet smile, she gently pulled her arm away and side stepped around him.
"Maybe later. Right now, I still need some food and I've got to clean this mess up." She paused as she looked down at the broken mess of eggs. "Honestly, I was thinking I might not be up for training today. Maybe a day off wou-"
"That works. I've got something's to tend to anyways." He cut her off and brusquely swept out of the kitchen.
Sighing Rinami, closed the fridge and went to gather paper towels. As she got them, Sukuna returned with a towel and taking the items from her, he quickly cleaned up the floor. After he finished, he stepped towards her, and through Rinami stiffened at the approach, he simply put his lips to her temple and then pulled away.
"I'll be back later tonight. Don't feel the need to wait up"
And then he turned and was gone. Rinami backed up to the counter, placing her hands on it and looking upwards with a huge exhale of relief. For the first time since they'd arrived here she was actually looking forward to the time apart.
*8*8*8*
As Sukuna left the apartment with Rinami he went to the rooftop to meet with Uraume. Irritated and annoyed by the recent encounter with Rinami, this seemed like the perfect time for a test run of the setup that Uraume had been working on.
He swept up past Uraume, his red eyes flashing.
"How quick can you get it set up? I want to test it out"
Uraume looked up at him. "Right now?"
He turned to face her. "Yeah. Is that gonna be a problem?"
Uraume darted off while Sukuna dropped down in one of the deck chairs and thought about Rinami's words while he waited for her to return.
She didn't take long.
She returned and knelt down on a single knee in front of him. "Sukuna, we can do it now. Jogo, that fire type curse is currently fighting with Gojo as we speak. If we move now and time it correctly, we can open the portal right after the fight ends and you can test it then."
Uraume paused. "You're certain that you want to test it right now?"
Sukuna only looked at her. His eyes cold and sharp.
"Of course, Sukuna. I'll start getting it set up right away."
"Satoru Gojo, long time no see!" With a smirk, Sukuna threw up a hand and waved it at Gojo, the other hand slung casually in his pocket as he stepped into the outdoor clearing.
Gojo turned from the direction that he had just watched the Volcano-curse spirit escape to, and saw Sukuna as he emerged from an opening that had seemingly appeared out of nowhere.
He groaned and rolled his eyes at the sight. Throwing one more glance back at the lost cause of the escaped spirit, Gojo turned, and scoffing, gave his full attention to Sukuna.
"You must really be an idiot. Showing your face here like this."
Sukuna grinned. "Is that so? I'm really just here testing a few things out, that's it."
Gojo squinted, peering at the space between the two of them. It appeared clear, but he could sense that it wasn't quite as it seemed. Stepping forward, Gojo got about 10 feet from Sukuna and then put his hand out. He could feel resistance. A barrier.
"So, you've put up a veil of some kind?"
Sukuna shrugged. "Like I said, testing a few things out"
The corner of Gojo's mouth curled and he sneered. "Yeah? Sounds kind of pussy to me."
Darkness crossed over Sukuna's eyes, but he said nothing.
With a loud sigh, Gojo stuffed one hand in his pocket and scratched the back of his head with the other. "Okay. I'm guessing the time it would take for me to dismantle your barrier wouldn't be worth it. So- you've got me here. What do you want?"
Sukuna smiled, "Nothing at all in fact. Just consider it a reminder that I haven't forgotten my promise. Now's not the time, but it's coming soon. I'll be seeing you sorcerer."
Sukuna began to turn back towards the portal.
"How did you get her to turn? What did you do to her?"
Sukuna paused and faced Gojo again, an evil smile on his face. "What's that now?"
"You heard me asshole. How did you do it?"
"Oh, are you talking about Rin?"
Gojo growled and stepped forward, momentarily forgetting about the veil separating the two of them.
"I didn't do anything." Sukuna continued. "She loves me you know. She had a choice and Ami's where she is because it's where she wants to be. She belongs to me."
Sukuna laughed, a mocking tone in his voice. "Although..should I maybe thank you for being so gutless and passing her along for the taking? Or should I share with you what she felt like and what you missed out on? I'm sure you'd like to know. The feeling of taking her first time was pretty exquisite and when you mix that with her touch technique…. Wait, no, that wasn't the first time…let me see, I think that must have been the 2nd… no the 3rd or 4th time when she unleashed that. Anyway, It's absolutely mind-blowing. An experience you can't get anywhere else". Sukuna paused, enjoying the pissed off look on Gojo's face and the struggle with indifference that he was attempting to paint on it.
"Suku-"
"Really Gojo, I can't thank you enough. Only two people that could have had her, and you handed her over to let me be the one. Actually I'll go head and say Ami and I both thank you for that. I promise I made the best of it and took exceptionally good care of her, you don't have to worry. " He grinned, showing pointed teeth and flashing a wink at Gojo for good measure.
"Now that I think about it…" Sukuna rubbed a finger against his chin and feigned consideration "I guess both you and Geto were just too cowardly to step up. Shame for you too Gojo, I can't think of too many women who would actually put up with your shit for so long, and yet you let your best friend talk you out of the one woman who would…"
Gojo rolled his eyes "It's impressive how much you can shit talk when you're behind a barrier that keeps me from getting to you Sukuna. As for Rinami, if anything you say can actually be believed, then it would seem she made her choice. How she could side with you, I don't know. Though I would like the chance to ask her. Any chance she's somewhere nearby listening to you totally trash her character?"
Sukuna laughed "You say trash but that's far from it. I happen to think she's extremely valuable. You dropped her without so much as a second thought because she had no use to you. The all mighty, oh so powerful Satoru Gojo…. But thats because you didn't actually realize the extent of her powers once her technique had been fully formed"
Gojo narrowed his eyes at Sukuna "You're talking in riddles. Rin's always been powerful. Her 'touch' technique has caused problems for her because of it-"
"Touch, touch, touch" Sukuna cut him off "You focus solely on touch because it's the most noticeable and inconvenient, but her full technique is the 6 senses, and the reality is that with mastery of all of them, her true power would be enough to match even the great Gojo"
Sukuna smirked. "Have you ever considered that the 6-eyes technique relies on the power of the eyes? With Rinami's sensory technique, Once it's been mastered she can control the sense of sight. That includes manifesting her sight to others and controlling and manipulating the sight of others. I wonder how such a technique would impact your 6-eyes? And as far as your limitless technique, let's think about that... With the power to 'touch' someone without needing to actually physically touch them…. Hmmm, kind of sounds like a Limitless loophole to me." Sukuna raised an eyebrow and shrugged in jest.
Gojo laughed. "Okay Sukuna, well if you believe it to be true. I guess her power would first, have to be that great; Second, have to be mastered; and third, she'd have to be willing to use it against me"
Sukuna smiled "Brilliant as always Gojo. One of the 3 is complete and the other 2 are just about there. I'll let you work out what's what. Give it a little more time and you may not be as interested in that chance to see Rinami as you think". Sukuna turned and with one hand in pocket, gave Gojo a small wave from behind as he walked into the portal. "Don't worry. As promised, we'll be seeing you sooner than you think, Jujutsu Sorceror"
Gojo stared after the closing portal. The smile falling from his face. They had clearly been underestimating Sukuna and his plans for Rinami. This could be bad.