Chapter Text
“I refuse.” Yuuji knew what was coming the instant those words left his lips. A slim, bony hand caught the back of his neck with surprising force, yanking painfully at his pink hair until the boy gasped in pain, head forced upwards to stare into the face of his tormentor.
Kaori smiled sweetly down at her teenage son that knelt by her feet, her grasp unrelenting even as the boy struggled. “We’ve been through this, my peach,” she said, tightening her grip ever so slightly. “Do you want to learn the lesson again, perhaps?” Yuuji caught the thinly veiled threat. It had been directed to him many times before when he dared raise his mother’s ire. He had learnt it over and over again through teary vision and trembling hands as he carefully wrapped clean bandages over the bloody lashes on Nobara’s back.
“No,” Yuuji finally gritted out, desperate to keep Nobara away from his mother’s cruel hands. “No, please. I’ll do it. I will.” Kaori released her grip then, satisfied at Yuuji’s obedience.
“And what exactly is it that you will do, hmm?”
Yuuji clenched his fists into the silk of his kimono. “I will marry the emperor…and enter the Imperial palace.”
“Good boy.” Kaori patted Yuuji’s head gently, a mockery of true motherly affection because never once since birth, had she ever treated him as her son. Yuuji knew his mother hated him. His birth, his existence, was a constant reminder for her failure to marry into the imperial family herself. Instead, she was married into the minor noble family of the Itadori. Yuuji had heard whispers amongst the servants… His mother flew into a rage when she discovered she had birthed another son instead of a daughter who could inherit her wish to become empress. She had refused to touch or nurse him, a wet nurse had to be brought in for the child instead.
“I am so pleased, my dear Yuuji,” Kaori murmured into Yuuji’s hair. “My precious son, of my blood, rightfully where you belong.” Her delusional words made Yuuji’s skin crawl with disgust. His mother talked as if Yuuji would be appointed as an honourable imperial consort, when in reality, he was only the latest addition to the emperor’s vast harem. A lowly concubine. The Itadori were not a well-off noble family and it already had an heir in the form of Yuuji’s elder brother, Choso. The second son was not needed. So they effectively sold him to the imperial family in exchange for gold coins and a piece of land. That was all Yuuji was worth to his family.
“My lady, we bring Yuuji-sama’s kimono.” A servant bowed low by the entrance. In her hands was a heavy tray of neatly folded silks of every colour. The first of many gifts the Imperial Household bestowed upon those accepted to enter the emperor’s harem. Kaori’s smile widened at the sight.
“Excellent,” she said. “Dress him quickly. He must only be seen in garments given by the emperor from now on. Burn everything he used to own.”
Yuuji made a small noise of protest but quickly silenced it upon his mother’s sharp glare. He bit his lip, humiliation burning in his cheeks as servants entered the room and helped him to his feet, beginning to undress him right in front of his mother who watched with sadistic satisfaction. “I truly wish you only the very best in life, Yuuji,” Kaori offered her last words sweetly, and promptly left.
Yuuji’s mind went blissfully blank; he didn’t know how long had passed.
And then, before Yuuji could comprehend what he was doing, he ran.
He couldn’t run as fast as he liked, the layers of ceremonial silk that the servants had managed to dress him in restricted his movements and slowed him down, but Yuuji was always a fast runner. He knew every twist and turn of the Itadori estate and it didn’t take him long to lose the servants that ran after him. Finally safe, Yuuji climbed the last hurdle between him and the boundless freedom of the forest, and never once looked back.
It started to rain sometime after Yuuji escaped the manor. He didn’t know how far he had run, only that he had run for a long time and soon, night would fall. Everytime he stopped to catch his breath, or thought it was safe to find shelter, his pulse would run high again with anxiety and Yuuji would set off in any direction, as long as it took him away.
He came to a small river, thanking the gods for sweet, sweet water, taking what little cover he could from the only sakura tree that grew on its bank. Yuuji didn’t care that the rain was now pouring down in earnest or that his expensive silks were muddied and filthy. He knelt by the river, cupped the water to his dry lips and drank deeply.
“You shouldn’t be out in this downpour.”
The sudden words startled Yuuji out of his reprieve and he quickly clambered to his feet, head turning wildly to locate the person who spoke them. His blood chilled at the thought that one of his mother’s aides had found him already but there was no one. Yuuji was drenched to the bone... and completely alone.
“That kamon… The Itadori’s precious son, perhaps?” Yuuji could hear the amusement in the person’s voice, low and definitely male. A bandit? “Up here, brat.”
Yuuji lifted his gaze and his breath hitched. It was difficult to make anything out in the darkness of the evening with rain in his eyes, but in the dimness, atop a branch of the sakura tree, Yuuji could clearly make out the shape of a person beneath a bamboo parasol and brilliant ruby eyes. Four of them.
A scream ripped out from Yuuji’s throat but was quickly muffled by something warm and firm pressed against his lips. It took a further few seconds for Yuuji to finally process that something -no, someone- was kissing him.
“Irresistibly sweet, too,” the person muttered against his lips.
Something hot burned within Yuuji’s chest, rage and humiliation building at the sheer audacity of this stranger to...to kiss him?? Summoning all his strength, Yuuji shoved him back roughly and the person easily moved away, chuckling as he did so. “H-How dare you!”
“Ah, was that not an acceptable greeting to you? My apologies.” He didn’t sound apologetic at all and Yuuji bristled at the nonchalant tone. “I am Ryoumen Sukuna. It is a pleasure to finally meet you, Itadori Yuuji.” And then, the person grinned, all sharp teeth flashing in the dark.
This time, Yuuji truly felt pure, icy fear in every nerve of his body. Everything within his body screamed at him to flee, but his legs would not move, no matter how much Yuuji willed it. His heart pounded loudly in his ears. Yuuji has heard of yokai before, vile creatures of the night that fed on humans. The particularly nasty ones devoured the livers of children to extend their lifespan. And of all those despicable creatures, there was one yokai whose name was feared above all because none could match his thirst for blood and gore. The master of the Hyakki Yakou, the Night Parade of a Hundred Demons that once terrorized the streets of Kyoto with their viciousness and cruelty-- Ryoumen Sukuna.
“You’ve heard of me,” Sukuna commented as if he could read Yuuji’s thoughts, amused.
“Yokai aren’t real…”
“And yet, here I am.”
Above them, lightning flashed and the skies began to rumble. Yuuji shivered, teeth chattering and suddenly very aware of how long he had been standing in the rain. His fragile silk clothes were definitely ruined beyond repair now, as soaked as they were, and they stuck uncomfortably to his freezing skin. He needed to find shelter soon; if only he could escape from-
“You are an impulsive one, aren’t you?” Sukuna said, and suddenly, Yuuji found himself no longer assaulted by the rain, courtesy of a bamboo parasol held above him by the yokai himself. Sukuna had come closer to share it with him but Yuuji was freezing and even though there was a small space between them, Yuuji found himself leaning into the warmth that Sukuna radiated. “Poor thing, alone and lost in the rain. Will you accept if I offer you my assistance?”
Immediately, Yuuji recoiled in horror. “What are your intentions?” he demanded.
“Purely-”
“Yuuji-sama!”
Once again, Yuuji’s heart was seized with terror. He knew that voice, that was definitely one of his mother’s maids, and she was definitely close to their location. He couldn’t afford to be caught now!
Sukuna’s eyes glimmered with mirth. “Looks like there are people here to pick you up. Shall I return you to your family?”
“No!” Before he could stop himself, Yuuji’s hands shot towards Sukuna, desperately holding onto the yokai’s pristine white kimono. He couldn’t believe he was begging for a yokai to help him but anything was better than returning to his manor. To his reality. “No, please, yokai-sama. Please. Please, take me with you!”
Sukuna raised a questioning eyebrow. “What are you running from, brat, to choose a yokai as the lesser of two evils?”
“Please!” Yuuji was close to promising the yokai anything. He caught himself before he did, he knew how those stories ended. “You offered me your assistance. I accept! Please take me with you, I’ll go wherever you’re going, yokai-sama.”
Sukuna stared down at the human who had escaped in such a hurry, he had nothing else on him except for the ridiculous ceremonial robes that indicated a future consort to royalty. Pink locks that looked incredibly soft were it not heavy with rain, fell messily into amber eyes so fiery, Sukuna could not look away.
“Yuuji-sama! Where are you?”
“What if the place I take you to is hell itself?” Sukuna asked.
“...Yokai-sama, I was raised in hell.”
Ah, Sukuna could not possibly look away now. So he took the owner of those sweet amber eyes and bitter words into his arms, and whisked him away.