Chapter Text
"Alright, you got everything you need?” Nobara asks.
Yuji double checks his bag. “Yeah, think so.”
“Blankets? Water? Chew toy?”
“Yup.”
Megumi is sulking in the kitchen with a mug of coffee. “How about rat poison?”
“Megumi,” Yuji scolds him.
He holds up his hands. “All I’m saying is, you’d be saving a lot of time if you just dropped a brick on his head.”
“Yeah, well, that’s why I’m going instead of you. I know he’s got it in him to change!”
Megumi shoots a pleading look at Nobara, who shrugs.
“Just let him do his thing,” she says. “When he comes back and nothing’s changed because Sukuna’s a heartless piece of shit, he’ll see it your way.”
“No, come on, all he needs is a positive influence,” Yuji insists.
“Sure.”
“A male role model.”
“Yup, loud and clear.”
“This is the best idea I’ve ever had!”
“Well, that’s not saying much,” Megumi mutters under his breath.
A little offended, Yuji grumbles, slings his bag over his shoulder and grabs his coat, ready to leave.
Megumi chases him. “Look, Yuji, I’m not worried about you failing, that’s not the thing. If anyone can do it, you can. I’m— I’m worried about you succeeding.”
“Huh?”
“It’s just that.” Megumi sighs. “It’s because of Sukuna that we met in the first place. When you come back to this time, we might be nothing more than strangers.”
“Then I’ll just get to know you all over again.”
“But what if I don’t listen? What if I’m an asshole and I find you annoying?”
“…Do you find me annoying?”
“No, but this is a different version of me we’re talking about!”
“Relax, Megumi. No matter what happens, deep down you’re gonna be the same super cool guy as always.” Yuji thumps him on the arm. “Anyway, this isn’t about us. It’s about everyone else. Just imagine how many people we could save if Sukuna was less of a dick.”
“Yeah, imagine,” Nobara drawls.
Damn, Yuji is starting to get a very unsupportive vibe from these two. Well, he’ll show them. He used to help supervise little kids at their club activities at school and everyone loved him! He was a “nice young man”— those were the teachers’ exact words! He’s got this in the bag.
“Well, here I go,” Yuji says, taking one last look at the apartment he shares with the two of them. They embrace him tightly, which takes him by surprise and makes him laugh. “C’mon, you won’t even notice the time passing! I’ll be back to update you on my progress before you know it!”
“We’ll miss you anyway,” Nobara says.
Megumi doesn’t say anything, but his grip tightens a bit.
Finally, they let him go. Yuji steels his nerves. This mission is going to last a long time, but he swears to himself that he’ll give it his all. He won’t get lazy halfway through. He’ll bring his best to every single day.
Yuji wasn’t expecting the sky to be so clear. It’s pretty enough during the day, but once night rolls around, it’s downright mesmerizing! He stands there for almost an hour gawking up at the fine silt of stars and cosmic dust curving around the earth.
And it’s quiet, too. Yuji thought he knew what quiet was like, but this is a whole new level. No trains, no cars, and hardly any people. The silence is smothering. Sometimes hours will go by with nothing but the sound of wind threading through trees and birds calling.
There are downsides. The amount of bugs flying around is just crazy, and there’s a ton of big, creepy ones, too. Yuji’s not afraid of bugs or anything, but there’s only so many weird creatures you can handle crawling all over your body before you start to get freaked out.
It doesn’t take him all that long to find Sukuna. When he does, despite everything, his heart twinges with sympathy.
There’s a cedar tree at the top of a hill that seems to function as an execution spot. There are countless bodies hanging from the branches, all in varying stages of decomposition. Some have been there so long that they’ve mummified, the bleached remains of their clothes shimmering around them like funeral shrouds. Some are fresh and difficult to look at, their faces bloated and their skin waxy. Yuji circles the tree. Most of the bodies are female. He wonders what their crimes were, if anything at all.
There’s a particularly new one hanging low— new enough that the blood is running fresh and red down her body. Yuji follows the path of a droplet as it slides down her arm, swells up at the tip of her index finger and detaches, dropping to the ground. Into a pile of guts.
With morbid fascination, he steps closer, then springs back when the pile moves. It takes some time to bring up the courage to kneel beside it and comb through it with his hands.
And there he is. Unmistakable with his four arms and four eyes. It’s Sukuna, ejected from the body of his mother upon her death, covered in viscera and twitching feebly in the cold. Born from nothing, into no one’s waiting arms. Yuji’s prepared for this, thankfully. He whips a towel out of his bag and picks Sukuna up.
Sukuna’s strong, yeah, but there’s no way he could’ve survived this point in his life on his own. Who would’ve come along to rescue him, if not Yuji? He looks around, trying to find some random approaching stranger. Sukuna doesn’t cry and his eyelids are slack over blurred eyes, so he must be very weak.
Oh, well, this is where things begin to change, then.
“I’ll take care of him for you,” Yuji tells the corpse.
Yuji did a lot of research to make sure his time in the Heian era went smoothly. He’s perfectly prepared to face the lack of technology and the language barrier and any other problems that might arise. (If he ever decides to go back to school, he’ll definitely get an A in history at the very least.)
He warms up a basin of water and gives Sukuna a quick bath. He washes the dirt and blood and viscera off him, slowly revealing that familiar face. Once he sees it, he can’t help but smile.
Is it weird that he finds this version of Sukuna cute? Well, he’s a baby and you’ve got chemicals in your brain that force you to find babies cute. It’s no big deal. It’s not like he’s saying the adult Sukuna he knew was cute or anything. Cute is probably the last word anyone would use to describe him.
“Maybe you are the way you are because you got knocked on the head when you came out?” he asks. He peels a long string of something orange out of Sukuna’s wispy hair. “How about that? You think you got knocked on the head?”
Sukuna doesn’t show any sign that he can hear Yuji because he’s still too weak. Yuji prods him, trying to rouse him. Man, his nose and ears and eyes are so small, and his head looks like a dumpling. He’s pretty substantial for a baby — maybe ten pounds and heavy like a boulder — but still. It’s a long shot from the towering man Yuji once fought.
There’s still some gunk stuck between his fully developed stomach-teeth, so Yuji gently pries the mouth open to get a better angle at it. As he’s doing this, the teeth abruptly snap shut without warning, pinching Yuji’s fingertip hard enough to break the skin.
He hisses and shakes his hand off and sucks his finger, surprised by how bad it stings. A coppery taste floods his mouth. He’s bleeding and there’s a red smudge on one of Sukuna’s stomach-incisors.
Energized by the taste of new blood, Sukuna finally manages to open his eyes.
They’re the same eyes Yuji knows, but they’re much cuter now that they’re in a little baby’s head. Yuji can’t even find it in himself to be mad about getting bitten.
“Morning,” he says. “You sleep alright?”
Sukuna’s stomach-mouth chitters, searching for more blood. Hmm, poor guy must’ve been feeding off the viscera he was born in. Maybe he chewed his way out once his mom died? That’s probably why he’s even a cannibal in the first place! Well, Yuji is definitely going to educate that out of him. From now on, Sukuna’s going to have to put up with plain old formula. Yuji's not even going to bother finding a wetnurse, because he already knows what’s going to happen if he presents someone with a four-armed, four-eyed baby and asks them to hold it.
It’s too early to get chased around with pitchforks, so Yuji prepares a bottle from his bag and feeds Sukuna the way he learned in that one parenting class. By the time it’s over, Sukuna’s skin has warmed to a healthier pallor and he’s become strong enough to close his tiny hands into fists around Yuji’s sweater. His grip is disturbingly strong. It's kind of scary how quickly he's bounced back from the brink of death.
Yuji wraps him up nice and warm, then moves on to the next phase of his journey. Finding accommodations!
He scores a nice little cabin in the wilderness, which is exactly what he wanted. It’s a fixer-upper, though. It’s made out of thin wooden planks that look old and weathered, and they’ve buckled a little under the strain of the constant rainfall. The roof has a few holes that keep leaking water and there are several gaps in the walls that allow cold air through.
But it’s nothing Yuji can’t fix. The roof comes first, because the damp is making everything ten times worse, then he fixes the walls, then the floors. He hunts for meat and trades it at the village way down at the bottom of the hill for new blankets and tapestries to brighten the place up.
Sukuna is completely silent throughout all this. He never cries, even to signal that he wants something, which would be worrying if not for his incredibly attentive eyes. He stares at everything and is clearly wide awake and lucid. He stares at Yuji’s face and his hands as he’s working, stares at animals, stares at leaves swirling through the air.
Yuji tries his best to encourage this curiosity by taking him out on walks and giving him things to hold and talking to him all day, but he’s not sure if it’s working.
When they’re around other people, Yuji keeps him hidden in a sash. He doesn’t want anyone to freak out over the way Sukuna looks when he’s still so young and impressionable. Thankfully, Sukuna doesn’t move around much either, so getting up close to people isn’t a cause for concern.
(Can’t do it forever though. Sukuna’s going to start growing fast. What was he, seven foot tall? Maybe more. Yeah, Yuji’s not carrying all that.)
In total, it only takes a week for Yuji to make their house a home. He’s lit and extinguished the fire so many times that a sort of permanent warmth has blossomed within. The wood is tough and new and ready to protect them from anything. It’s really something to be proud of.
“I can completely focus on you now,” Yuji says, curling up on the bed beside Sukuna. He held Sukuna through the colder nights, but even though it’s warm now, he might just go ahead and keep doing it because it’s like having a hot water bottle. “What do you think’s going to make you grow up to be a nice guy? You need a little affection, right? Maybe I should get one of those ladies to sew you a cuddly toy. Hm, then again, maybe you’d just eat it.”
Sukuna stares at him.
“You totally would, wouldn’t you?”
Sukuna continues staring.
It’s still so crazy how small he is. Yuji can only fit one finger in his hand. Wonder when he’s going to start using his cursed technique?
"There he is," Nobara says. "Wow, so much changed since you've been gone!"
Yuji gets excited. "Wait, really?" He looks around, trying to spot the differences. Maybe his little act of kindness sparked a chain of events that snowballed into a perfect scenario where everyone he loves is still alive and all the curses live among humans in harmony?
Well, their apartment looks the same as he remembers it. Their living room is kinda messy and there's a couch in the corner with all their laundry piled up onto it. Even his old coffee mug that he totally forgot to clean up is still sitting there on the window ledge. But maybe the changes go beyond what’s visible to the naked eye?
"No," Nobara says flatly. "Absolutely nothing has changed. Sukuna still killed, like, thousands of people. He was still a grade-A prick to his last breath." She goes back to her phone.
Yuji is disappointed, but he won't allow this to get him down. He's only been with Sukuna for a week, after all. Change doesn't happen overnight! This was always going to be a long term mission.
Now that Yuji has returned to his own time period, he has created a reality where someone found Sukuna under that execution tree, washed him and fed him, only to abandon him immediately after. It sounds cruel, but Yuji forces himself to dismiss the guilt. As soon as he returns to that time period, this reality will be erased and replaced by a new one. One day, the story will go as follows: Sukuna was found under a tree and adopted by a random guy of no importance who raised him with kindness and taught him to respect all forms of life. Sukuna died peacefully surrounded by family and only ever used his cursed technique in self defence.
Sounds great! Yuji heads into the kitchen to refill his bag with formula. He's also going to need some more detergent for laundry, and a few matchsticks, because making a fire without them is a huge hassle. It’s winter in Sukuna's time period, so all the wood in the forest is damp with frost. Terrible. Oh, while he's here, maybe he should order some clothes for Sukuna?
He gets distracted scrolling for cute outfits that might accommodate four arms, so he doesn't notice Megumi entering the kitchen. Yuji's doubled over on the ground, so Megumi almost trips over him.
"Damn," Megumi says, almost spilling his drink. He sighs. "Getting ready for another visit?"
"Yup. Might order some clothes. Think you can keep an eye out for the delivery?"
Megumi scoffs at the idea. "Sure, I guess."
Maybe now’s a good time to ask about the joint adoption thing again. ”You know,” he begins carefully, “you wouldn’t have to take time out of your day to wait for anything if you just let me bring Sukuna here. It’d be way easier.”
Megumi is shaking his head vehemently. Before he can even say anything, Nobara calls to him from the next room. “Is he saying that shit about bringing Sukuna here again?” she shouts.
”Yes, he is saying that shit,” Megumi says.
”Kick him in the nuts right now.”
Yuji springs up. “I wasn’t saying anything!” he lies angrily. “And besides, even if I was saying anything, it wasn’t for you to hear, Nobara!”
Megumi has his foot back like he was actually going to kick him. He corrects his posture. “Sure.”
Yuji fumes quietly to himself, but he understands why they’re hesitant. They don’t see Sukuna quite like he does! And also, Megumi's still got all his scars. Physical and mental ones.
Yuji has stared at the ones on his face long enough that he has them perfectly memorised. They haven't budged even an inch. Yuji is certain that, if he spends more time with Sukuna, the day will come when those scars disappear. Same for Nobara. She'll have both eyes back.
It’ll snowball. The kindness he shows Sukuna will definitely snowball. It’s foolproof. Definitely.