Work Text:
Come on, let's dance
to the edge and tumble down again...
Let's struggle on to the edge of death
'til nothing is left
(Dance straight to the end)
You are my special
-"Specialz", King Gnu, English translation and cover performance by YouTuber NateWantsToBattle
On October 9th, 2024, in the sixth year of the Reiwa era, a pair of twin boys was born to Kitora Tomoe and Ryuji.
The elder twin, born nine minutes before his brother, was named Sukuna; the younger, Yuji. When people asked their parents where they got those names, the couple would laugh and say it just felt right.
The boys were identical twins, with the same rounded faces and soft, spiky pink hair. Complete look-alikes except for one thing: Yuji's eyes were a deep golden brown, like honey, while Sukuna's eyes were a deep, dark red, like drying blood. The working theory was that Yuji's color was the original one, matching his father's and grandfather's; Sukuna’s genes, the doctors reasoned, had mutated after the embryo had split in two, when he and Yuji became separate beings.
Their parents had explained this when they were about seven- or eight-years-old. Later that night, Yuji and Sukuna were in the bathroom, getting ready for bed. Yuji, good boy that he was, was brushing his teeth in front of one of the two sinks. Sukuna had plopped himself up on the counter in between the sinks, back against the mirror; Kaa-san didn’t like when he did that but Yuji’s mouth was too full of toothpaste to chastise him.
“Did you hear that, little brother?” Sukuna asked, kicking his feet as they dangled off the counter. “They think we’re two different people. What a joke!” He then reached out and poked Yuji hard in the cheek.
Yuji did his best to scowl around his toothbrush, then spat out a gob of toothpaste in the sink. It left a minty fresh taste on his tongue. Even still, there was a slight metallic taste in the back of his throat. He could never get rid of it, no matter how hard he brushed.
“Aren’t we?” he replied.
Sukuna rolled his eyes. “Of course not, you stupid brat. We’re twins. That means we’re the same.”
“Then that means you just called yourself stupid, nii-san,” Yuji muttered. But even as his reason protested his brother’s words, he found his heart believing them. Twins were a bad omen, an accursed thing; they split each other’s powers, stealing from the other to try and make one of them strong. But all it did was leave both of them weak and enfeebled. That’s what had happened to Maki-senpai and her sister Mai, isn't it -
Yuji’s thoughts came screeching to a halt. He stood frozen in front of the mirror, mind blank. What had he been thinking? What did he know about twins and power and strength? Who was Maki-senpai? He didn’t know a Maki or a Mai so why - ?
Sukuna smacked Yuji on the back of the head, bringing him back to reality. Yuji looked over to see that, somehow, in the time his mind had been wandering, Sukuna had dropped down from the counter and finished brushing his own teeth.
“Come on, stupid. It’s time for bed.”
Yuji followed Sukuna into their shared bedroom, and let his brother grab him by the wrist and pull him down onto Sukuna’s bed. The twins each had their own bed, but most of the time Sukuna liked to sleep together (until he didn’t, of course, and he would push Yuji off the bed in the middle of the night, leaving Yuji to stumble his way to his own). On colder nights like tonight, Yuji didn’t mind when his brother burrowed into his side, closer and closer until it felt like he was trying to wriggle his way inside Yuji, to bypass the veil of flesh they’d each formed once they separated in the womb.
(Yuji had dreams, sometimes, where he and his brother did share a body, nothing between them but the barest barrier keeping their souls apart. His brother was cruel in those dreams, crueler than he was in real life.
Once, Yuji dreamed that Sukuna had control of their shared body, and he'd taken his hand and pierced their chest; he'd wrapped his hand around Yuji’s heart and ripped it out, leaving nothing but a bloody cavity, an empty, aching hole.)
(Sometimes when it rained, Yuji felt the same kind of ache in his chest)
“Hey.”
Yuji turned to face his brother, whose red eyes seemed to glow slightly in the dark.
“Yes, nii-san?” Yuji whispered back.
Sukuna stared at him for a while. Then he huffed a laugh. “Good night, brat. I hope you have interesting dreams.”
Yuji wrinkled his nose, but nodded. Sukuna always did that - wished him interesting dreams, not good ones. Tou-san explained that some people had quirky personalities, and that must be part of his brother's. Even so, Yuji always felt like there was more to his brother’s words than that. Like he was hoping Yuji would have a particular dream.
Did he know about Yuji’s heart dream? Did Sukuna dream about that too? If they were one person, not two, then maybe -
Yuji breathed in deeply. He was tired. Sukuna’s body was pressed close to him, a warm, solid presence. Despite how rude or mean Sukuna could be, Yuji knew he would never truly hurt him. They were brothers.
“Good night, nii-san.”
~~~
Sukuna, former King of Curses, was thirteen years into this dreadfully boring new human life when something exciting finally happened.
He had remembered his previous life, both as a human and a curse from a thousand years ago, relatively early. He could admit, at least to himself, that it had initially been a shock - he hadn’t thought he’d be able to reincarnate, at least not as a human. And to his further surprise, he and his twin had been born only a scant few years after their deaths, in the year 2024. Of course, the flow of time in the human realm and in the hells of King Enma was vastly different; Sukuna had likely suffered a million years or more of torment for his previous sins before being cast back into the cycle of rebirth, that in itself considered a form of punishment. And who knows, maybe he’d lived a hundred lives as mere insects before slipping into human form once more. He didn’t remember those, so it didn’t matter.
Overall, he hadn’t missed much, at least in terms of human events; much of the Shinjuku event had been blamed on a terrible combination of terrorism and earthquakes. The relationship between Japan and the United States had soured when rumors of American soldiers trying to kidnap Japanese citizens surfaced, but those tensions were put aside when another force threw the whole world into chaos: the coronavirus. Sukuna wished he’d been around then to see people’s terror and despair firsthand when they began dropping like flies. He had no doubt some delicious curses based on people’s anger and fear towards the virus, isolation, vaccines, and even the country of China, had been born.
A creaky bedspring on the other side of the room pulled Sukuna from his thoughts. He lay on his bed, smack against the window on the interior part of the room. His form was tall and lanky for his age, feet grazing the edge of the mattress. His brother - his twin - had a similar situation with his own bed.
His brother. What a contemptible thought. What sort of trick were the gods trying to pull, making Sukuna and Yuji Itadori, of all people, twins? Sukuna should have devoured him in the womb like he'd done his father.
(Or, perhaps he'd been wrong? Sukuna had assumed that Jin Itadori was the piece of himself he'd destroyed, the soul he'd consumed before birth. But what if -)
Then again, this brat had defeated him in the end, hadn't he? He'd been the victor and Sukuna, the victim. On his way towards the afterlife, Sukuna had told Mahito that his defeat had made him rethink things. Perhaps, if he received a second chance, he'd follow a different path. And lo and behold, here he was.
He couldn't allow the patchface to make a liar out of him, now could he.
And so Sukuna played the role of a dutiful son and faithful brother, a chance he'd denied himself centuries ago - for the most part, at least. He still viewed most other lifeforms as beneath him, and it gave him great joy to inflict violence on others, particularly Yuji. The brat didn't seem to remember anything from their life together before, though his body seemed just as sturdy as back then.
(No one in their family bore stitch marks on their forehead, they should be safe -)
Just as well, perhaps. The brat deserved a reward for defeating him, and wasn't this kind of relationship what the boy wanted when he trapped Sukuna in his domain? Perhaps in this life, Sukuna could learn to feel the things Yuji had tried to teach him. The novelty might disrupt the unending boredom.
Another creak from the other bed. Then, the sound of feet settling on the floor. Sukuna turned his head to see his twin’s form rising from the bed. The full moon shone bright into their bedroom despite the curtains, and so Sukuna could clearly see the odd look on Yuji’s face as he moved toward Sukuna’s bed.
“Sukuna,” Yuji rasped, voice strained.
Sukuna raised an eyebrow, not bothering to move. “What do you want, brat? It's late. And you sound so disrespectful - what happened to nii-san?”
Yuji didn't answer. He continued to stare at Sukuna in silence. If Sukuna had been anyone else, he would have been unnerved. As it was, he was merely annoyed.
“Well? Out with it, little brother,” he demanded.
Yuji nodded, as if he'd made a decision. He pulled back Sukuna's covers and slipped into bed with him, pressing close to Sukuna's side. The bed was just barely wide enough for them both; Yuji was teetering on the edge, and it would take hardly any effort to push him off.
Sukuna let him stay, curious as to what Yuji was thinking. He turned around on his side, to better face Yuji. “I thought you said we were getting too old for this?”
“Sukuna,” Yuji repeated. “I won't let you do as you like this time.”
With those cryptic words, Yuji reached out and laid a hand on Sukuna's chest. He fisted the fabric of Sukuna's yukata, nails poised like claws against Sukuna's heart.
“What do you think you're doing, brat?” Sukuna asked, voice low. His heartbeat was slow and steady beneath Yuji's hand - nothing this brat would ever do could scare him - but he was confused. Yuji pressed his hand harder against Sukuna's chest, nails scratching at his skin beneath the fabric. Almost as if -
Sukuna gasped, eyes widening as he looked at Yuji in a new light. Yuji's expression was like stone, an almost blank look in his eyes. His grip tightened.
Almost as if he wanted to rip Sukuna's heart out.
“Oh,” Sukuna breathed, before a delighted giggle burst from his lips. “Oh, little brother. Did you finally have some interesting dreams?”
Yuji gave an almost imperceptible nod. “I did.” A pause, then, “You stupid King of Curses.”
Sukuna slipped his hand out from between the covers and grasped the back of Yuji’s neck, drawing him closer. They were chest to chest now, entangled. Sukuna dug his nails into Yuji’s neck, not quite hard enough to break the skin - not yet.
“And what are going to do with this new knowledge?” Sukuna hummed. “We're twins in this life. That means our souls are one.” One soul in two bodies, now, instead of two souls in one body. What a delightfully karmic joke the gods had played on them.
Yuji was quiet once more, but it seemed contemplative. “We are brothers in this life,” he agreed after some time. “But honestly, nothing’s really changed. You're still my responsibility. I'll be your jailer again, if I have to.”
“So arrogant,” Sukuna mused. Now his nails pierced Yuji's skin, allowing drops of blood to well up underneath his fingers. Yuji didn't seem to care. “And how will you be my jailer, now that I have my own body?”
Yuji leaned in, until his forehead was nearly pressed against Sukuna’s. “I won't let you be lonely in this life, Sukuna,” he whispered, breath ghosting along Sukuna’s lips.
“But.”
Yuji’s hand pulled away from his chest, rising higher until it curled around Sukuna’s throat. His hold was loose, but the supposed threat was there.
“But I won't let you hurt anyone. You're a human now, not a curse. I'll teach you how to act as one.”
Sukuna grinned, showing all his teeth. “Stupid brat. Don't you know by now that humans are the worst monsters? Don't you remember? Curses come from humans. That detestable patchface was born of humans’ fear of each other. And I, too, was a human once, before I became a curse. See how that turned out.”
Yuji scowled, the first true emotion in his face beyond his quiet anger. But he said nothing in reply, so Sukuna continued, “And so what will you do, if I decide I want to hurt someone? If I kill a person, or many more? How will you respond, Yuji?”
The hand around his throat squeezed tighter, enough to hurt. Sukuna's heart rate sped up, though not out of fear. It was excitement that was making his blood rush faster. Finally, something exciting was happening in this life.
The moment stretched onwards. Sukuna delighted in Yuji's pinched expression, his stiffened posture, the fury boiling in his honey-colored eyes. But eventually, Sukuna chuckled, sliding his hand away from the back of Yuji's neck. He placed a finger on his brother's lips.
“Rage looks good on you, little brother,” he murmured. “But don't worry. There's no need to fret. I've decided that it's time to learn something new, after all.”
Yuji frowned, seeming surprised. He pulled his head away from Sukuna's finger enough to ask warily, “What do you mean?”
“I mean you won. To the victor goes the spoils. So I'll let you take the lead, in this life. I'll let you teach me how to be a human. And haven't I been a good pupil so far, sensei? I remembered my true self a long time ago, and yet, for all that I am, haven't I behaved myself well? I certainly haven't killed anyone yet, at least.”
Yuji laid there, clearly mulling over Sukuna's words. Searching his memories to compare Sukuna's actions as a child, as his twin, with how he was in their previous lives.
“I guess you're right,” Yuji admitted.
“If you're still so worried, let's make a vow,” Sukuna suggested. In this insufferable new life, neither of them seemed to have more than the usual amount of Cursed Energy, not even enough to see curses. So a Binding Vow wouldn't have the same effect. Even so, Sukuna assumed the placebo effect would be enough for the brat to believe Sukuna's words.
Yuji nodded. “Alright. Then accept my vow, Sukuna: you will live normally. Peacefully, as a human should. You will not act as a curse, or cause death or unnecessary suffering to anyone - including myself. If you can do that, then I will let you live. We will be brothers, and live a good life together.”
Sukuna surged forward, pressing his face into the crook of Yuji's neck and shoulder. He pressed his teeth against Yuji's neck and bit down on the delicate skin until it tore. Yuji hissed, but didn't pull away.
“Deal.”
Their Binding Vow, sealed in blood. Just as it should be.
Sukuna pulled his face away, licking his bloodied lips and grinning at Yuji. His brother eyed him warily for a moment, then slowly slid out of bed. Once he was on his feet, however, Sukuna snapped his hand out, shackling Yuji’s wrist with a grip hard enough to bruise.
“I thought you weren't going to leave me alone,” Sukuna crooned. “I'm feeling very lonely right now, little brother.”
Yuji looked down at him, expression disdainful. It was a good look for him, Sukuna decided, though for it to be directed at the great King of Curses was insulting.
“I also said I wouldn't let you do what you want,” Yuji retorted. He raised his free hand and began to peel Sukuna's fingers off his wrist. Sukuna allowed it, though he gave a final warning squeeze.
(The disdainful look on Yuji's face remained)
Once freed, Yuji returned to his own bed. The blankets rustled and the mattress squeaked as he settled in. Silence fell over the room. Then, after a long moment, Yuji spoke, in a world-weary tone,
“Good night, nii-san.”
Sukuna threw his head back and laughed. He laughed long and loud, uncaring for their parents in their room down the hall.
Finally. His entertainment had begun.