Chapter Text
Megumi stood, staring at the person he once knew as Itadori. the King of Curses' eyes stared right through him, pinning him in place.
Of all things Itadori could have done, he had eaten the cursed object that he had specifically and pointedly told him not to eat. And he ate it- the idiot.
A deep voice, raspy and strained from unuse, spoke,
"Ah...are you alright? You don't look well."
The curse even looked worried- like that was going to fool him. After all, this was the King of Curses himself, incarnated in the body of a person Megumi had only known for a few hours. As if on cue, a dribble of warm blood tracked down the bridge of his nose.
The curse stretched out a tattooed arm, and Megumi instinctively stumbled back a few, unease settling even more firmly in his gut like concrete. The curse was going to kill him right there and then, was he not?
Frozen, he only watched with wide eyes as Ita- Sukuna stepped closer, settling a warm and calloused palm on his forehead. His aching headache slowly eased down to a slight nagging sensation, and the trickle of blood stopped as the gash on his forehead closed in a burning sensation. The curse stepped back and nodded in satisfaction.
"At least now, you won't bleed to death. Now, tell me. Where am I?"
Before Megumi could answer (as if he would have in the first place- he was still frozen), Sukuna's arm reached for his face and jerked it to the side, patting it all over.
"Hey, what are you doing with my body?"
A confused voice, clearly Itadori's own, spoke. Wait, so Itadori had survived the transformation? Sukuna used his other, available arm, to start and wrestle the other hand off his face, with no success. It seems that Itadori's grip was surprisingly firm.
"Brat, get your hand off of me! I'll just back off."
Yuuji's struggling ceased, and the other arm, the one Itadori was controlling, dropped, and Sukuna sighed.
Megumi watched in shock and fascination as the black tattoos slowly faded, and the crimson leached out from his eyes, changing into a warm amber. This time, it was Itadori who spoke, in his usual voice, muttering,
"Well, that wasn't as hard as I thought it'd be."
Yuuji furrowed his eyebrows, as if hearing something.
"Is it normal for Sukuna to be talking to me inside my head?"
He winced at something.
"I get that you're having an existential crisis, but could you not yell so loudly? It's giving me a headache. And- hey, I am not stupid! I have pretty decent grades in school! No, I’m not weak. Shut up."
Megumi watched in confusion as the vessel of Sukuna and the said curse argued. What was he going to do now? It was logical to exorcise Sukuna, but what would that mean for Itadori? He shook his head. The sooner Sukuna was gone, the better.
Just as he was about to do something stupid, like attempt to exorcise a certain special-grade curse and possibly kill Itadori, a familiar white-haired man appeared beside him, holding a paper bag dangling precariously from a finger.
"Uhh...Gojo-Sensei? What are you doing here?"
The man grinned widely at him.
"Hey. I wasn't planning on showing up here, but you kind of got roughed up, kid. I should totally show the second-years! Say cheese!"
Gojo whipped his phone out, twisting into impossible angles to capture the beaten-up first-year in just about thirty photos, before pausing to cackle like a dying hyena (at least, that's what Megumi thought he sounded like).
He slipped his phone back into his pocket.
"I got an earful from the higher-ups ‘cause the special-grade cursed object’s still missing. Thought I’d do a little sightseeing and stop by. So- did you find it yet?"
Megumi hummed.
"Hmmm..."
He turned to the scene unfolding before him.
Yuuji and Sukuna's loud banter stopped abruptly, and Itadori raised a hand awkwardly.
"Sorry, but I ate that thing, whatever it was."