CHAPTER 2
"Wait M'Lord!" Tima cried, "You are not well enough to travel,"
Though Sukuna, inhabiting this weakling's body, ignored her as he marched through the light snow. The cold bit at his frail skin, but pain meant nothing to him.
He stopped in his tracks a few feet from the open gates of the walled palace behind him and surveyed the outside. It was far from the high towers and technology of the present, it much more resembled the land of his first life, before transforming into a cursed object, though it was still very much different. White and dark brown stucco and wood logs made up the walls of the japanese-esque building and green tiled roofs protected them from the cold.
The once cobbled streets, now covered in a glaze of wet ice and snow, branched in different directions. It was empty, likely the inhabitants of this city hiding from the cold like maggots.
Sukuna heard the woman's footsteps catch up to him and he groaned in frustration.
"Please Lord Misha," She called, teary-eyed, "The cold will worsen your condition. I beg of you."
She gently grabbed ahold of his shoulders endearingly. Sukuna grunted in disgust and threw his palm against her face in an arrogant slap, anger boiling against the cold. Tima stumbled back and held her hand against her face, eyes wide in shock at the sudden outburst.
"Don't touch me you vile—," A hacking fit of coughs overwhelmed Sukuna's voice. He doubled over as blood spat from his lips.
The woman grabbed hold of him again, and Sukuna was too busy violently coughing to strangle her. She led him back into the palace walls, his arm over her shoulders. When the hacking finally subsided, Sukuna spoke up, "What is the year, woman," He rasped.
A few moments passed with no answer, and Sukuna glared up at her in contempt. Tears rolled down her face and mucus formed at her nose. She stopped abruptly under the canopy overhanging the outside walkway that wrapped around the building, then turned and began taking him in the under direction.
Sukuna tried to pull away from her, but her grip was unbearably stronger than his, and he was barely able to force himself to stay conscious.
"Woman…" He wheezed, "Where are you taking me?"
"To your brothers," She replied flatly, "Horu and Ginzo should be in the mess hall. They'll know what to do." Her voice cracked in desperation for a short moment.
"Do about what?" Sukuna croaked.
"You were always so kind, the illness must be spreading to your mind," She sniffled, "And you're forgetting things," She brought a hand up to her mouth to silence her sadness.
Another minute or so of silence passed as she practically dragged Sukuna against his will into a wide building emanating loud voices on the palace grounds. It was warm inside, and the smell of meat wafted through smoking incense.
Sporadically populated tables lined in rows leading to a large kitchen, like an ancient version of the school cafeterias from Itadori's memories. Sukuna spat on the ground at the thought of that brat.
Tima eyed him worriedly at that as she set him down at a wooden table in the center of the mess hall. Across the table from him were two young men in thick, warm robes, about this vessel's age, with plates of food laying in front of them.
"Misha!" One of them greeted warmly, "Glad to see you're well enough to join us here bro,"
Sukuna glared at the loud boy. The other, with a scar striking through his brow and crossing his cheek, took Sukuna's hand and shook it warmly, "What'dya feel like eatin' lil' bro?"
This humiliation. Carried by a woman. Greeted as if I am some underling.
Sukuna's body shook from rage, so angry that he couldn't even think straight. He had never even been remotely humiliated like this in his hundreds of years of existence.
He pierced his eyes into the boy in front of him, "I am going to splay the guts of everyone in this damned place." He declared
The boy who shook his hand reeled back in surprise and his smile immediately dropped.
Sukuna raised his hands—thumb, index and middle pressed together, and pinky and ring fingers interlaced.
"DOMAIN EXPANSION"
But of course, nothing happened. Sukuna had grown so used to his cursed technique that it was second-nature to him, and in his anger he had forgotten that he had been stripped of it.
Both boys stared at him bewildered at their brother's sudden strange actions, and Sukuna found himself flared with even more anger at this horrid situation. But he lacked the strength to even say anything more, trapped in this disgusting body.
"Lord Ginzo," Lady Tima rushed around the table and began to whisper into one of the boys' ears, the one with the scar. He nodded in silent understanding and worry and watched Sukuna's vessel carefully.
The other younger boy, who must be Horu by process of elimination, listened in. Sukuna felt even deeper humiliation at this point. How dare these humans whisper about him directly in front of his face. Though that anger didn't last long as Sukuna's vision blurred. His face hit the table with a dull thud and he fell unconscious from exhaustion.