CH 27. 'You can be sure it's gonna be good' OR 'Hope you got to say your goodbyes?'

"Huh?" Gojo was incredulous.

Sukuna straightened up and looked sharply over his shoulder. Then turning back to throw a condescending look at Gojo, he responded once more with a simple "No."

Gojo's jaw dropped. "I thought you cared about her? Regardless of what she said, you're really going to sit here and let her die?"

Sukuna's face went dark, his eyes black with anger. He snarled as he responded. "Actually, I'm going to do one better than that."

With that he quickly went from his knees into a standing position, immediately letting go of Rinami and allowing her head to drop recklessly to the ground.

As Gojo opened his mouth in angry protest, Sukuna sped over to a spot roughly 50 feet behind where he'd previously been kneeling.

Standing still, he leaned forward and hissed into the air.

"I know you're there. Drop the act and the fuckin illusion…" He paused, and when nothing happened. He roared "NOW, DAMN IT! Or my next stop is your precious fucking Tokyo school and once I'm finished with that I'll be heading to pay Kyoto a visit. And you know I'm not fucking around!"

As he finished, he watched as the world around him shimmered slightly. Rinami's body that he'd left behind dissolved, as did Gojo who had been staring and silently watching him. And then as Sukuna watched, Rinami herself appeared directly in front of where he now stood.

Her eyes were as wide as saucers and the pure unadulterated fear was evident in them. She stared at him- confused, frightened, and frozen in place.

As Sukuna turned to again survey the area that he had moved away from, he saw the source of ill-omen that he'd felt when he'd been there. Hovering in the air next to where Rinami's body had lain was a massive, stretched out, flesh-colored square. In the middle of it was a large eye. The eye's pupil had been shifting around, apparently looking for its lost target. Now that no one was within its range of opportunity any longer, the blocky corners that had been stretching out the square began to come towards the center and join together. In a matter of seconds all that was left was a single, seemingly inoffensive small box sitting in the middle of the ground.

It really didn't look like much, however. Sukuna had been around for centuries and he was very familiar with that item. The Prison Realm. If he'd sat there holding her body any longer, he would have been bound by it and locked away inside - no means of escape, even for someone like him…. A rage like he'd never felt before built up inside of him.

As he turned towards Rinami, his eyes were a depth of black that she had never seen before and her blood ran ice cold.

"Ami…Tell me you didn't just use your powers against me? You weren't actually trying to trap me, right?"

Sukuna stepped towards her, the cruelest smile she'd ever seen, across his face.

Before she could answer, he'd moved forward faster than her eyes could follow and he stood behind her, his mouth against her ear. "I'm really hoping I've got that wrong. Tell me I've got that wrong"

Rinami's mouth was dry and her mind was blank. She was trying not to hyperventilate, but his presence was so… so…. Overwhelming? Intimidating? She felt his hand cross over her shoulder, his fingers sliding under her chin and slowly squeezing at her neck.

She found herself at a loss. Even if she wanted to protect herself and use her powers again, she didn't think she could. He would kill her here and she couldn't lift a finger to do anything about it. Fear gripped her in place and she closed her eyes, unable to speak or move. Unable to do anything except stand in place, trying not to shake uncontrollably, and wait to die.

As she waited, behind her closed eyes she could see flashbacks of her time with him. Maybe this was how it was always destined to be. There was no way that it didn't end like this right? From the second he'd revealed himself and the moment that she'd decided not to leave and run, this was pretty much the path she'd chosen for herself. With this thought in place, she felt a little bit stronger. Just deserts, she supposed. She'd not only accepted it all, she'd willingly embraced him. Over and over. Given the chance she probably would again. She hung her head, embarrassment and shame flooded over her. She'd let down so many people and when the time had finally come for her to right her wrongs, she hadn't even been able to do that right...

What were all these thoughts anyways? Was this the equivalent of her life flashing before her eyes? Slowly she opened her eyes. She hadn't even realized his hand was gone from her. She looked up to find her environment had changed. She stood in a darkened cave like area. Her feet submerged in inches of some type of murky liquid, a variety of skulls and bones were piled up and littered all around. And there in front of her, on a massive pile of skulls was a grand throne, where Sukuna sat looking down on her.

He sat still, his arms folded, his face cold, slowly assessing her. Rinami didn't have to ask. She knew what this was. His innate domain. He's dragged me into the depths of his inner sanctum. Seeing him perched up high with this desolate, fear-inducing background, was just another slap in the face of reality for Rinami. She was seeing him in his element. This was the Sukuna that his enemies saw- assuming they even lived long enough to see anything. It was terrifying, and once again she found herself deathly afraid of the man that she loved.

After what felt like an eternity of staring at her, he finally spoke. "I'm not sure what to do with you just yet" In an instant he had appeared before her and grabbed her chin. "But you can be sure it's gonna be good." He gave her a mocking grin. "I want to make sure the punishment fits the crime." Taking his hand from her chin, he squeezed her cheeks tightly between his thumb and fingers, forcing her face towards his. Leaning in he growled hoarsely. "And I assure you, you won't get off easy. There's no coming back from this." He angrily pushed her face away, and as Rinami fell backwards her world went black.

As Gojo returned from Rinami's empty apartment back to the scene of the fight, he found exactly what he expected to – absolutely nothing. The area was precisely as he'd left it, except that it was now devoid of any living beings- Rinami and Sukuna both appeared to be gone. He wasn't even close to fooled though. He surveyed the area quickly and wondered precisely where they were and the quickest way for him to locate them and break her technique. Whatever she had planned couldn't be good and figuring this out before she could pull it off would be paramount.

His first thought was to disrupt the area- to maybe attack it with 'blue's' amplification, but he couldn't risk harming Rinami, and it would take something strong to get her to break her concentration and release the techniques. Realizing that his current situation wasn't working, Gojo determined that the best course of action would be to get out from under her technique. He floated up and back. As he began moving away, he could vaguely hear Rinami's voice, like a soft whisper on the wind "Time's up."

He continued steadily pulling even further outwards, trying to get out of the range of her technique. He figured once he'd extended beyond the reach of her power he wouldn't be affected any longer and he should be able to pinpoint what was actually going on down there.

He backed further and further away, to the point where the human eye would no longer be able to discern anything down in the area. How strong has she gotten? Can she seriously extend her power this far? This is insane. It didn't escape him how dangerous this really was. He was nearing almost a mile away from the area, and still, calling on the power of his six-eyes he could tell he was still under her sensory control. Finally, at nearly a mile and a half, he felt a shift. Straining and forcing himself, he focused back to the area, he could make out two people now, they were close together on the far side of the battle area.

Ok. He got it, now he at least had a good idea of where the two of them were, and with that he had somewhat of an idea of how to proceed….

He warped back to the area, landing in an area to the far direct opposite of where he'd seen Rinami and Sukuna.

Gojo lifted his hand and called on 'blue'. He figured using the attraction of blue would draw in Rinami and Sukuna. It wouldn't cause damage, but from far enough away it would definitely cause a disruption for her. There's no way it wouldn't, being pulled from wherever she was and lifted off of her feet and yanked involuntarily in towards him, would not only disorient her, it would also tell him exactly where she was, even if he couldn't actually see her. All he had to do was catch her off guard when he pulled her in and bind her before she had a chance to react. He could do that.

Before he could release his blue however, he saw the area begin to shimmer. He paused and as he looked, he saw Rinami standing in the clearance, Sukuna stood behind her, fire in his eyes with his hand wrapped viciously around her neck.

He had no idea what had happened, but he guessed that whatever Rinami had planned must have gone incredibly wrong. As he prepared to move and intercede, Sukuna looked up at him, and baring his teeth he growled, "We'll have to continue this later Sorcerer. She and I have some personal items to take care of"

With that, Sukuna grabbed some object from the ground, and threw a scornful look at Gojo as he tossed a now limp Rinami over his shoulder.

"Hope you got to say your goodbyes?"

As Gojo lunged to stop him, a large root popped up blocking his view, followed by a wall of flames. He spun to see two special grade curses interfering. The hell did they come from, and why? Obviously a distraction, but Sukuna wasn't one to need or ask for help, so why were they lending a hand?

As he turned back to Sukuna, Gojo found him already gone and Rinami along with him. He sped over to the area where they had just been and scanned it, but found no trace of either of them or their cursed energy. Furious, he turned back, ready to take his anger out on the curses that had stepped in, but they too had already disappeared.

"Shit. Shit. Shit."

NEXT: CH.28 'Safe travels' OR 'For you or for me?'

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