Work Text:
Mahito smells the copper in his blood even before it spills out, even before the cold of the snow that's dissipating as the illusion of a forest slowly fades away, even before the wolves growl at him as one final warning when they leave –even before he stares at the monster that's standing in front of him, looking at him like a mere peasant, and staring into his soul
He was an undeniably insane curse, feasting on the twisting faces of his victims, enjoying with the disgrace and the pain in the screams of humans. His putrid energy would crawl and destroy a person from the inside out, tearing it apart and breaking their weak brains until all that left was a shattered puppet
He made everyone feel disgusted by themselves, to want to take their lives to be absent from such fate as a malformed amalgamation destined to live in agony
To him: they were beautiful, his creations, like a piece of art in a museum, pretty to look at until it was time to dispose of it, and throw it in the trash for it's fate would be left unknown.
Most curses killed to survive, he killed to enjoy, to taste human suffering, to send the world into it's downfall
Mahito hadn't created the rotten cursed being in front of him, however
That twisted thing had not been created by his hands
No... he did
His hands created him, molded him to shape and shattered him from the inside. His laughter got into his brain, his curses pulled his mind into a dangerous territory. Mahito had burrowed himself, lived in his conscience, he had pushed and twisted everything he encountered, every memory torn apart, every happy moment haunted by his looming presence
He had made him go insane and change, but for once, he was not proud of it
Mahito had sealed his fate by his own selfishness
So he crawled, and he desperately gripped onto the idea that he could escape
Reality is, he couldn't
He'd scream, mindless sounds of panic coming out of his mouth while he tried escaping, but his legs wouldn't respond, they felt so foreign, like they weren't part of him, like they were someone else's, for he feels his body isn't his anymore
The teenager, if he could be called that by this point, slowly approaches him with a look that could and will kill him, he's got that ensured. The raw panic that overcame his entire being was unmatched, he could feel his soul shaking, trying to find an escape that was nowhere, for he's got no place to run, he's got no trick up his sleeve
He's completely left at the mercy of him
"I'm you" Yuuji's mouth bleeds, the torn off flesh exposes his teeth, but he doesn't care, he can't feel it anymore. There's buzzing in his brain, it's not letting him hear anything else that isn't this moment, he's uncaring of anything that isn't him and the curse. He hears his own heart thumping in his ears, it yearns for this
He doesn't want anything other than this
This is everything he wants, all of it
His eyes go dark, and his fist raises in the air, bruised and scratched, bloody and trembling. The trembles are anger, however, and not fear
Mahito's breath comes to a halt in a painful gasp, eyes opening even wider at such a sight in front of him that seems to mark his definitive end, his freedom.
Oh how foolish for him to think that way
The fist connects with his face, and it stings.
It burns, the area of impact becoming disfigured for a moment, all undesirable shades of brown and purple threatening to start appearing in their due time, and the distinct noise of cracking under his injured skin. Another one comes right after that, the opposite side tackled as it receives a similar treatment — the distinct copper taste decides to return to his mouth, and it tastes like rust
A third punch sinks into his face, it forces two teeth out of his mouth, and they go flying somewhere. A gross mixture of drool and blood flies as well, for the hits the teen provides are fast, and they don't even give him time to assimilate the pain he's in
Three or so more punches continue swelling up his face in a rhythmic manner, but his limbs fail him, for they don't want to move, they focus on his hazy vision laced with tears and red that can't focus on the monster in front of him
The monster that's not using cursed energy right now
He's not exorcizing him, and that's somehow the worst part, that he feels everything, but it has no intent to kill
His ears ring, eyes wide open and unable to do anything more than whine incoherent gibberish. If Yuuji is even saying something, maybe screaming at him infuriated, he can't hear him, he doesn't bother to
His nose breaks, seeping blood into his lungs. His teeth break and chip one by one. His skin swells and turns dark, little red cuts forming on the top, and his eyes cry out desperately
"Can you feel it?" Itadori grits his teeth, asking to the curse, wanting to hear a yes, anything. Mahito can't answer, he refuses to, and this tips off the patience of the guy who is kneeling down on top of him, grabbing onto both of the curses' arms with force.
"Answer!" His voice drowns, a shaky tone holding in a sob. "Do you feel this?"
Then, his nails puncture his skin, and drag
Mahito only gives a chocked scream as his skin starts being ripped open
It's the answer Yuuji wanted
His nails dig deeper, fingers coated in pure, fresh red. He soon starts dragging his skin along, creating long crevices that extend down his entire forearm, and that allow even more blood to seep out, pulsating flesh exposed for the world to see.
He's uncaring of the nerves burning up, the blood vessels cut off letting the liquid completely free
No, he's completely conscious of that, for his fingertips press inside the wounds, and now his fingers find themselves under his skin.
The curse's entire body trembles, and he screams, his nerves are torn and sending shockwaves of pain on his whole being, in a way he didn't believe he could. A slice, a cut, a burn on his flesh was never painful, it was a show of the strength of his opponent, and a mere promise of a good, entertaining fight
This is not a fight, not when only one person is hurting and the other one doesn't
He should be laughing, yet he's not
His skin feels like its being ripped apart, arms on fire as he keeps pulling, stitches coming undone with the sheer force on his hands. The human skin stains with rotten red, a distinctly darker shade of red than normal human blood, and maybe that's what makes him feel good for having this blood stain his hands
He can tell it apart from a person, and in turn, he's not killing one, he's giving a curse what it deserves
His nails keep dragging all the way to his hands, the thing that has taken everything from him, that's the cause of his insanity, everything lies in here.
He only limits himself to continue the tearing along his palms, leaving open wounds in the middle of them, making two fingers fit inside his skin and press into the nerves as far as he possibly can; he wants to flip his hands inside out so they can't hurt anyone anymore, but he won't do that just yet
He gets up, removing the pain temporarily from his hands, and giving him the hope that it was over
Itadori feels a tug at the corners of his mouth when Mahito screams as he stomps on his sliced leg.
It spills out blood and stains his clothing, the flesh grossly sticking to the sole of his shoe, leaving strings of red once he lifts it just to stomp again. The curse wants to pull itself back away but he can't, even when he's not being held physically, he can't move
His arms don't answer to him, they spasm and tremble on their own, shaking to their own pace and their own way, for his cursed energy doesn't manage to heal them fast enough. He can't choose on what injury he focuses on first, his mind is already hazy, and his throat is hurting, yet he continues to scream when his bones are heard cracking
His knee gets bent backwards, and it caves into itself, the visceral sound of the muscles tearing and the bones crushing as his calve touches his thigh is unmatched
The visual is haunting
His leg is completely bent inwards, foot almost touching his chest, and Yuuji's hands tremble after doing so, like he didn't expect it to look so vile in his mind; whatever he imagined, was too far off from what he was seeing. His choppy breath makes him stare at it wide eyed, only to push it even further, wanting to see just how far it could go
He pushes the doubt to the back of his mind, and moves on
Despite the hiccup, he extends the leg just a bit, only to twist it sideways and rip it off completely
He feels more relieved now that he can't look at it
Mahito's raw flesh is exposed, bleeding and seeping into the dirt below, a bone sticking out where the rest of his leg used to bit, jagged at the edges from the pressure it had been put on a second prior, and skin torn with an awful look to it, some pieces hanging on by a thread. The severed limb is placed aside, like a tool in a surgery, it's carefully put within range of him, but yet far enough to not reach it in his state
A bit more determined, Itadori repeats the same grueling process with the other leg; he bends, twists and pulls. It's even slower this time, now that he knows it works he makes it so slow he can hear every individual bone and tendon break with the unnatural movement, joint popping out of place and the muscles spasming as he tears it all away, placing it besides the other one
Yuuji stares at his face while he does all of this, he's vigilant of every turn and shift in his pained expression; the thing has turned quiet, limiting himself to silent, chocking whining that gets all caught up in his throat.
He's helpless... isn't that ironic
The teen almost has this look of... of wonder to him; he didn't think such a disgusting, self centered being could feel so sorry for itself, but it turns out he can, and it's a show he wouldn't miss for anything
He returns to his arms, and starts pulling his skin off
The curse's skin is looser than a human's, so the ordeal to separate them, while easier, is just as painful.
"Junpei is calling" The voice no longer sounds as shaken as before, and he follows by pulling hard and removing a large chunk of skin from his left forearm, the raw pulsating and turning hot, for it's now in direct contact with the outside, and it burns.
Mahito screams again, but he's powerless
He wants to separate, he wants to run or something, anything other than this, but he can't... he's wasted all of his cursed energy tonight, and all he has left is barely enough to try and close many of the wounds in his body, something that's just prolonging his suffering more... and more
He's digging his own grave, he wants it or not
Itadori starts peeling at the skin on his palms, following in his previous promise, the red underlining in front as he tears away the flesh in his fingers. Oh how joyous he feels to destroy something that meant so much harm for so long, something that killed, hurt and disfigured, now being disfigured itself
He's the most powerful man, having a curse plead and cry to him, it feels like a revenge that's been due for too long
"Do you feel it? Do you ever hear Junpei scream when you sleep?!" He breaks his wrists, the bone shattering and peeking out the flesh, puncturing the muscle. "Do you feel him do this?" And in one pull, he tears off his entire hand. It barely has the shape of a hand anymore, skin dangling from it's fingers and bones
He repeats it with the other hand, and stares at his creation
Mahito's entire body trembles, his arms are covered in blood with his hands missing, anything below his knees torn off, looking like a useless puppet, strings cut and unable to move or do anything. His eyes have been staring at him for the entire duration of this procedure, terrified and wide, his screaming caught up in his throat and drool on the corners of his mouth; his hair is splayed out on the floor, bloody and dirty
He sees himself in it
This is how he felt when Junpei turned, he tried reaching him, but his limbs, his body didn't respond, his pleads caught up on his throat.
When Kugisaki died, he did everything to reach her, but he just couldn't, he was useless, a mere spectator of the carnage happening right in front of him
When Nanamin died... he was a limbless puppet that couldn't even say a word
He's really him
He's always thought the curse doesn't feel, that's why he resorts to teaching it the physical way, how it is to feel everything
Yuuji's breathing turns harsher, like if it had been a struggle to get to this point, pushing against his set boundaries and shattering them upon every action he makes. He's scrubbing off the blood of the innocent by covering it in the curse's blood until he can't see it
Something in his brain, a spiraling thought, it calls for him
Could he... could he do that?
He deserves it.
He hovers over Mahito sitting on his knees, his eyes not looking anywhere in particular, but they are fixed on the curse below him, hands lingering in the air with the intent to do something, yet nothing good at all. His palms lay and rest on top of his chest, he feels it rise and fall back down with urgency under his touch, every choke on his own saliva makes his whole frame shudder and jump slightly, the quiet humming of his lungs is felt thought the rotten cursed energy that smells horrible
His lifeline is right here, in his chest
The curse makes it's last ditch effort, his arm, half skinned and missing his hand, lifts up and tries to do something — he had no plan, he couldn't disfigure him, he couldn't open his domain, his cursed energy is basically null by this point, but doing nothing would be a death sentence. He groans and whines random things, his face swollen and blood threatening to pool on his mouth
Doing something would also be a death sentence
Itadori may have done it on impulse, but one hand leaves his chest, forms into a fist and destroys his arm. It's the first time he's used cursed energy the whole time, and the feeling of sheer pain seems to spread through every fiber, every nerve and every blood cell that explodes and splatters on the ground
He screams again
Yuuji won't take any chances, so seeing his willingness to keep fighting despite everything, he punches the other arm that, shockingly, had just started to regenerate some of the skin dangling. The mess keeps growing, the tint of red intoxicating and seeping into every crevice in the ground
Mahito's chest rises up and down with a lot more urgency, lifting and falling despite the pressure from Itadori on top of it. His fingertips search for the bone indents, locating the structure that protects his most precious organs, it still feels rigid, it hasn't been damaged much.
His fingers start digging themselves into said indents, impulsively
He looks forward — his eyes, barely human anymore, can divise the big city in the distance
Shibuya is in flames
It's been in flames for a while, all the destruction and chaos caused by the curse and the volcanic being that apparently called itself Jogo, the city decaying and falling apart alongside all it's inhabitants. The fierce battle replays in his mind, the battle he didn't control, the screams of the people echo in his brain yearning for something to be done
They are crying, sobbing playing over and over on a loop, young, old, without distinction.
He feels the sins crawling on his spine, clawing at his skin, the poor souls in his ears telling him everything was his fault
He hears a muffled scream, but what matters are all the whispers, they are spilling out from his head, calling like a holy prayer
Yuuji hears them, Yuuji is doing this for all of them.
His vision is turning red, maybe it's his mind playing tricks on him.
They have all the time in the world, the mass destruction came and went, the curses died, Gojo-sensei was sealed, there's nothing more, everything is said and done, the play is over, everyone has to go home now.
When he looks back down at his prey, he finds a mess
His hands broke his bones, and now his chest is ripped open. Organs, muscles and so much blood pours out from the exposed part, now out in the open for anyone to see, air tensing up his nerves and the weak pieces of bone and calcium lay on top of everything. Mahito doesn't even have words anymore, everything is caught on the blood that's intending to choke him, he has no energy to keep fighting
He's succumbing to the wounds, little by little
Yuuji can only stare, like it's an otherworldly concept the inside of someone's chest cavity, something he had seen poorly illustrated in his Biology books only once or twice while he was in middle school, but now where it was right in front of him, it didn't feel real. The mush that his fingers glide over is pulsating, it's doing it's process right in front of him
Despite everything, every part of his body keeps working to keep him alive, and it's fascinating
This is the body of a curse, he can't help but wonder if the body of a human could even get to this stage, or if it would just give out and not give any show to those curious enough to rip it open
Seems like Shoko might have the answer if he asks
What would Ieiri-san do right now?
She'd dissect him, piece by piece, step by step, uncaring of what the living corpse could do or think
It's a plan he likes
He wants to see everything, just his chest cavity isn't enough, he wants to feel the ribs crack under the pressure of his fingers, he wants to have every organ on display for him to watch them move and continue their system until death catches up to them, hold them and grip them until they pop and splatter everywhere. It's animalistic, it's instinctual what he's thinking of doing, but by this point with the state of Mahito's messed up body that's somehow sticking onto living like a plague, he doesn't care
He's cruel, but this is mere consequence, and Yuuji is his Karma
His fingers, with too much ease to rupturing his skin and pushing apart all the muscle and flesh, start dipping into the grime further and further, now he comes to direct touch with something that seems triangular
His liver? Probably, not like he paid much attention in Biology anyways
Mahito lets out another scream, a wailing or something, he's feeling every touch and every grab at his nerves burning up from the injuries; he's not numb yet, and that's the worst fucking part of it all. A curse's body doesn't work the same as a human's, tho if he replicates it down to every organ and every nerve, it feels like one.
But Yuuji finds his incoherent pleading repetitive, the thrill to hear him voice out his pain is starting to tire him
If he's not going to use his mouth to speak and beg for the souls he's killed to forgive him, to apologize and curse himself into the deepest pit of hell, then he doesn't need to keep pretending he wants to
Yuuji leaves the liver in it's place, and now he gets closer to his face, swollen, bruised and bloody in all the right places, eyes bloodshot red, staring like he's a feral animal, pupils shaking.
He's done it
He's made Mahito fear him
It almost brings a smile to his face, but he holds it back, he's sure his expression devoid of any emotion is a lot scarier right now
His fingers place themselves on his top and bottom rows of teeth, locking on his jaw, grabbing it with force. There's something telling him to snap it, that he should just split his head open from this point and get it over with, but the shaking movement of his tongue inside his dental cavity, showing the pain he's feeling with every twitch between the back of his teeth, is distracting him
His fingers reach inside, and grab onto his tongue, painfully starting to tint it red with pressure
This is what he gets for trying to kiss him earlier, the gross fuck
He rips it out with one pull, it's slimy, wet and gross, but the excruciating pain the curse must be feeling is worth it. He sees his teeth painted red as he will soon start choking on his own blood. He's sure he won't miss this thing, no more snarky disrespectful comments to his victims, no more emotional torment with gross remarks, he's finally unable to use his words as a threat
Another one of his weapons, gone.
The tongue is thrown somewhere, probably covered in dirt, and rendered useless. He returns his hands to each row of teeth, teasing him with small pressures threatening to completely open his jaw as far as possible to rip it away, loving every tear falling from his bloodshot eyes that beg for mercy nonverbally
He had his chance to apologize, and he wasted it, so he doesn't even deserve to have a mouth and scream, at all
A vile noise of a loud crack, as his lower jaw is dislocated to the left, hanging wide open as blood begins to spill out from his inability to swallow all of it. Mahito is horrified, and when he tries to scream again nothing comes out, in between the warm, copper tasting blood, the pain and the fact that something must have gotten pulled in his neck, because all of a sudden he feels like his remaining body is so heavy it might not even move on his command
He can't move, at all
Yuuji stares at his helpless face just a moment longer, before he returns his eyes to his open chest and stomach. It looks like maggots are crawling out of it, as a curse he's going to rot much faster than a human, even before he gets a chance to do anything, so he has to hurry up, he wants to feel it
He starts with his liver, which he had left pending before. It's drenched in red and it feels wet in his grasp, he feels around it, and he feels it; to think he was grossed out by bugs at some point, only to end up here, it shows how much of a turn he's taken. When he's taken enough of a liking to it's shape, he rips it out in one motion, exposing it to the outside completely
To think a body could make up something like a complete set of organs wasn't something he had any curiosity for until now, that he tore apart and saw every piece for what they were
The voices return, no longer in one symphony, but they feel individual and unique to each one of them, but they quiet down soon enough. Yuuji feels their praise, feels like they call for more, and he grabs something random to see if that pleases them
The moment Mahito's face twists yet again as heavy choking breaths pass through his disfigured mouth, is when he pulls out his pancreas, and the audience bursts into laughter
Audience...for they are watching this whole thing go down, and they enjoy it
He raises the organ up, holding it with shaky hands, and the people love it, they go wild for it because this is the revenge the souls are yearning for... it's the perfect closure for this. He squeezes it and blood pours out, down his hands and arms, and back down to the body that it belongs to
It's liquid gold, warm and viscous, with a dark red color, it mimics the one of a human perfectly
Yuuji doesn't know at what point this thought passes by his mind, or how it burrows itself so deep that, in a couple of seconds, he pulls the fleshy thing over his face, and lets the blood pour out, drip after drip, right into his mouth
One time, while browsing on his elementary school's library, he remembers a distinct painting on the further pages of a textbook
It was an uncensored scan of a historic painting of Sakuma Morishige drinking the blood of his enemy's decapitated head, red dripping and falling from the corners of his mouth as an act of power, showing off what a respected Samurai could do. It had some information about his life below, how he was an important samurai under Oda Nobunaga, and how he had been killed in action defending the Marune Castle in 1560
The image left a lasting impression on a 10 year old Itadori, inviting all his friends to look at page 249 of the book together only to wince and make faces, but ultimately always return to it to feel more 'brave and mature' than other kids their age. Somehow, the little boy of pink hair that had been shielded from all the gore and horrible things of the world was... shown it
He never told his grandpa, and the book mysteriously disappeared after they returned to check it out a third time between classes.
But the imagery of such a vile act as drinking someone's blood after killing them was...seen as a powerful move, as a show of courage and determination —it had a purpose, it was a ritual for everyone to see.
So when Itadori Yuuji squeezes the blood out of his pancreas and drinks it, he feels like Morishige, he feels like he's defended what little he has left, the people, the souls in sorrow, his friends, his grandpa, his sensei, everyone.
The crowd loves it.
They chant, like a prayer, over and over asking for more, for worse, for losing himself further and further in to his instincts. Their hands claw onto his arms, onto his every limb, allowing him to keep drinking and drinking until nothing more comes out, and when they can't quench their thirst, they satiate their hunger
Itadori eats an organ
He sinks his teeth into the flesh, he tears off bit by bit like an animal, and eats it whole.
It's disgusting, but he thinks of it like Sukuna's finger, a necessary evil to give rest to those who can't
The texture is nauseating, squishy and wet, almost melting into his mouth but with that gross chewy texture that feels like weak rubber — something, maybe the slightest bit of humanity peeking through the crowd to call to him, tells him this is wrong
The little kid screams "SPIT IT OUT!" inside his mind, the visceral cries of someone so innocent resounding and echoing inside his brain so harshly it almost gives him whiplash. His thoughts go blank in a different manner than before, it's not all red, it's all white now
His body seems to force him out too, because a second later, he promptly starts vomiting everything he just ate onto the ground —only a splatter of pink and red mush left on the pavement that proves that he might enjoy this on his twisted mind, but his stomach knows better
It knows better when more maggots start crawling out the body and the chunks of organ he just threw up
Yet, Yuuji turns back to Mahito, and he finds his shaky pupils staring at him with so much fear and contained pain in them from being ripped open...it's like it pulls him right back in
He doesn't know what happened to the kid wailing, but he's became silent. Dead silent.
He feels fueled again
Breathing heavily to recover, his hand puts itself over the curse's eyes.
"Stop...looking at me..."
Itadori mumbled, it was so quiet, shaky yet so angry it came from the deepest part of his resentment, and it gave him the strength to dig his nails and drag them right across both of his eyes. They squish and almost pop under his fingers, coating them in slimy liquid and blood, maybe tears mixed in there, but there's no longer a fight or a complaint from Mahito, there's barely anything
It bled so much for such tiny things that Yuuji would be shocked, if the whole scene wasn't already drenched in red and black
The crowd keeps being loud, cheering him on when he finally tears apart his eyes to a point of no return, confirming that this thing is still giving fight, with his lungs still expanding in and out, and his heart beating inside his chest
Yuuji can hear it perfectly, he can hear the heartbeat and it makes him sick
He looks back down at the mess of his open stomach, all kinds of undesirable colors on the flesh, it's still moving and the bones that are fractured are sharp on the edges. The honey colored eyes are soulless, devoid of anything but the slightest hint of burnt caramel that bubbles and turns black as it gets charred with every minute that passes
A fire left unattended, burning until it's nothing but ash
Disgusting, dark ash staining everything it comes in contact with, wrecking structures, destroying everything in it's path
Contained or not, the fire's only purpose is to burn, other things or itself.
Itadori's breath gets heavy, and he wants to kill the maggots escaping the curse's body, the things crawling out of a monster trying to escape just like Yuuji may have once done himself, but they can't pretend they don't have anything to do with him now —they were selfish, just like him, feeding off his flesh for their own survival
Maybe he'll be merciful, let the few that escaped keep going, as for the rest, he has no considerations for them
The people roar, they scream for him to take action, and Yuuji starts grabbing flesh and meat and organs with his two hands, and shoving them into his mouth desperately. The blood soaks into every crevice of his teeth, it pours down leaving streaks down his chin, and the vile sound of the chewing and ripping of muscles and flesh is vile, it's not any less vile than before but... maybe he's gotten used to the taste already
Ancient tribes did this, hunting down giant animals that killed hundreds and eating them in a feast, it had many uses... maybe it could be a ceremony, an honor for those who passed on because of the beast laying besides him, unmoving
He's not doing this for himself, he's doing it for all of them
He gets it now.
He starts eating his intestines with urgency, ripping it in chunks with his bare teeth, pulling and pulling the endless tube of flesh until he was finished with it; they don't taste any different to the rest of the things he's tried, but it feels fulfilling —he's killed Mahito's hunger for blood and suffering by literally eating his stomach whole
Yuuji only takes a second or two to breathe, heavy and quick draws of oxygen before he dives back in, uncaring of the gross worm-like creatures falling from his hands turned into fists holding a lung that bleeds profusely, even more than the other one's he's held. He breathes one more time before forcing himself to bite it, to eat it and to devour it like a rabid animal
Junpei.
He rips said organ in half and almost swallows it whole
Nanamin.
He takes the other lung, he doesn't take pleasantries, he just bites it, again and again until he can swallow it without throwing up
Kugisaki.
He rips the kidneys off, and grossly shoves them into his mouth, despite the large size he doesn't care if he gags, he just eats them even if it means choking on their blood
Gojo-sensei is there, he's in the audience, he's smiling at him, so are his dead friends. Everyone smiles at him, they say he can do it. They don't look at him, their eyes drowned in shadow at every angle and yet, he doesn't need their stares to know that they want him to do this
It's his own cleansing, purifying his soul from the sins he's committed, the red liquid burning his esophagus, running down his throat with a coppery taste that feels so belonging he'd be amazed if his mouth tasted anything different. The sides of his mouth reddened with blood and friction from the flesh, an allergic reaction just waiting to happen as a human isn't meant to eat something so... so close to their own bodily organs
Nothing of this is normal, but it's not like anyone ever cared about his normality anyways
There's maggots, clawing onto him, onto his arms like they've found their new supplier... they also know his faults and his killings, they want him to finish the job as much as the souls want him to
Yuuji is rotten, and the maggots are willing to eat away at his remains as a favor
The theatre lights light up from somewhere, he's on a dark stage and the audience are attentive to his every move: families stare with their hands together praying he does it, they smile and they call to him. The bright beams of warm, yellow tinted light shine down on him like a holy glow, and that familiar sound of crackling fire is somewhere, setting the scene
He's a performer, and this is the final act
Everyone's hopes and dreams are laid for him, the floor full of red rose petals showing their admiration, the glory of such a showing of art and gore. Itadori looks back down after finally managing to swallow down all the organs, and Mahito is staring right back at him
He thought he'd gotten rid of his eyes
His face is back, the only thing is that his chest is full of the same blood red petals, hollow except of one single thing sticking out
His heart, red, beating
Mahito stares with a smile, like he's taunting him, saying he doesn't dare to finish the job he's started
There's no words coming out of his mouth, despite it moving, he only hears static and the cheering of the audience
But then there's music.
Tip toe
His eyes shake, Yuuji's face contorting in shock and surprise when that curse he thought he had killed just kept grinning like a taunt
Through the window
The shaking as his smile opens gives him the cue that Mahito is laughing, despite being there, buried in petals laid to his mercy he's still laughing in silence, whats leftover of his chest moving up and down with every muted breath he takes. Like a silent film, he's not tied to anything, so his movements are exaggerated to a point that they are... funny
By the window, that's where I'll be
There's always tragedy in comedy, and there's always comedy in tragedy
Come tip toe, through the tulips
There's rage bubbling and spilling out from Yuuji, the maggots crawling away between the petals, infesting everything with rot and black. The edges of his vision turn red, and then his hands are placed on his skull
Mahito never stops smiling
With me
The attendees yell, the distinct voice of Kugisaki echoes.
"GET HIM!"
Junpei's mom smiles
"Make him pay"
Many people, their faces blurry and their voices distorted like a mob
Itadori's eyes are open wide, pupils shaking and moving on their own, bloodshot scleras with visible red veins at the edges, and a fire burning again and again until it coats his irises with fog and ash. His mouth is open enough for his loud breathing to be heard, and despite everything, the curse dares one last trick
It mouths. 'I. dare. you.'
Ohhhhh
His hands don't measure their strength, and as Mahito's heart takes another stable beat in order to prepare to say something else, his frontal lobe makes a vile cracking noise, fleshy and soft once the bone snaps, and the squishing sound of his brain
The crowd goes wild with laughter
Tip toe, from the garden
Children, mothers, fathers, adults laughing like he's putting on a funny face, like this is but mere jokes being told for the whole family. The song grows louder, it covers Yuuji's mental fog and static with a beautiful voice
A faint smile, barely visible like a ghost, makes itself present in the face of the bloody 15 year old that has maggots crawling up his legs.
By the garden, of the willow tree
Mahito's face is of frozen shock, his smile dropping, his eyes becoming wider and shaky, it's like he remembers he's supposed to fear the monster with blood on his teeth and his jaw. Blood seeps and pools on his scleras, dripping down the sides of his face and soaking onto his hair that's turning matted and colorless
And tiptoe through the tulips with me
Yuuji pulls his head forward by his long hair, making him face the audience.
They point at him, and the entire theater laughs again
Knee deep in flowers, we'll stray
He looks so weak and pathetic again, teeth missing, cranium caved in, jaw dislocated, nose broken, eyes missing, unable to move or show that he still wants to keep living. He bleeds from every crevice and every cut, every bruise and every bit of skin taken off from friction or damage
He let's his mangled head hit the ground harshly again, and his shaking hands dive right back into the sea of petals on his chest and stomach
The teen rips without a care, it's flesh mixed with skin, stitches, petals and maggots that don't manage to escape. He doesn't care if the food moves or crawls inside his mouth, it doesn't matter — Good food tells a story, and this one might have the greatest to tell
We'll keep the showers away
He's destroying him, no longer holding a sense of order or even wish, his mind has dove so deep it stops registering everything that enters his mouth as different things, it's all just copper mush of revenge
And if I kiss you in the garden
The people clap in sync with the music, loving every second of his breakdown. The way Yuuji's chest expands and shrinks with urgency, the raw of his look, his mouth partially open as he breathes heavily trying to drink and stomach down everything he's feeding himself like a hungry tiger
In the moonlight
When he feels he's eating more flowers than meat, his pupils scan him, anything that he's got left untouched, and he finds it
It's not the maggots moving the petals around, it's his heart, beating with so much force and desperation it feels like the representation of Mahito's own feelings, visible to anyone when it shouldn't be
His hands instinctively grab it, and they feel the heartbeat, stretching the thin flexible skin, getting quicker and quicker
Will you pardon me
It's surreal
Did Itadori ever think he'd hold anything resembling a beating human heart with his own two hands? It didn't even occur to him, a thought so visceral and sadistic, something so animalistic like the lifeline of a body, right here
Mahito's body is growing cold, but his heart radiates warmth like a sun, it's wrong
This thing
Deserves the deepest pit of hell
His organs devoured over and over again, his body contorting and revolting under his grasp like Prometheus, in eternal torment
This disgusting worm crawling and squirming in the filthy mud
"Do it" The distant sound of his grandpa's raspy voice calls from the densely packed audience, all prying and expectant like carnivore vultures and hawks
If he's anywhere in here, Itadori's rage doesn't let him see it.
And tiptoe through the tulips...
When he hears a chuckle, a disgustingly low voice on the inner parts of his brain, he remembers who he's became
Yuuji isn't acting, Sukuna's vessel is
...with me?
He rips Mahito's heart out.
The attendees scream in a loud cheer, giving a standing ovation as the room fills with light from cameras flashing, everyone placing their full attention and gratitude on a kid
A kid just dismembered and cannibalized a human looking living thing
Gojo's iconic laughter is somewhere, blindfold over his eyes but grinning like an animal, clapping like he enjoyed it. Kugisaki is over the moon, hair disheveled, a clash with her usual tidiness she so proudly kept, but did it really matter? She was ecstatic, giggling uncontrollably like this was the best performance she'd ever seen
Junpei can be spotted in the crowd, running to his mom who is also laughing, hands on her thighs with the biggest grin ever, pulling her son into her arms to tell him it's over; the teen watches Mahito's body, before smiling just as brightly as the sun
Nanami stays still, but despite his stoic demeanor, the short and sparce chuckles make themselves present, like he's holding in his laughter —only to lower his head and laugh to himself. Even someone as stoic as him finds this just like a joke
The blurred faces of men and women in fancy attire, almost pushing those people he recognizes to look odd in their modern clothes, they clap. Yellow roses and flowers are thrown into the stage, euphoric, enthusiastic, the piano turning out of tune, the flashes of the cameras becoming fewer and fewer
Then, he moves the now stilled heart to his mouth, and slowly bites into it
The thin skin is pierced, and the distinct taste of fresh blood soaks everything. The squish sounds disgusting as a river of blood pours from the corners of his mouth down his neck, the last fresh bright red liquid from that monster coats his arms, his jaw and his knees
A sound.
A laughter far louder, right as that familiarly uncomfortable feel of disgust pools onto his left cheek —a sense of dread, and burning
"I guess you and I aren't so different after all" The low voice of a curse that had patiently stood dormant this entire time, now pops out his sharp smile and one eye, staring down at Mahito's destruction.
Sukuna is amused
Yuuji has pleased Sukuna, for once.
Itadori bites again into the heart, taking another portion, yet slowly lowering his head, eyes lost without focus merely pointed at the ground, his skin paler than the snow, and his jaw shaking slightly. His face no longer expresses rage or joy, sadness nor happiness —there's nothing
"You impressed me, brat; maybe we can get along at this pace.
Isn't it so nice to eat a curse? Could you imagine what a human would taste like?"
Sukuna's words are like poison, venomous and vile. He latches onto his soul, onto his everything to try and move him at will like drawstrings to a puppet
A faint sigh, somewhere close to a small sob is barely audible from the mouth of the teen, swallowing the last piece of the organ that was already fairly small. The curse he's the vessel of appears confused at first, just about to grin and mock him for already having lost his bloodlust so quickly
Yet, the sob develops into a giggle.
Sukuna's intrigued
Another small giggle shakes his chest slightly, his fingers, coated in red start curling inwards on their own as his gentle giggle devolves further and further. By the second, his whole frame rocks back and forth with every breath of air he takes to fill his lungs
Until Yuuji Itadori bursts into laughter.
He grabs onto his hair, soaked in red, tips losing their volume to lay flat and wet against his forehead and eyes. It's like the sound of his maniac laughter comes from the deepest part of his soul, and it matches perfectly with the one of the audience
Sukuna's mouth forms a smile
Mahito looks funny, Yuuji thinks once he lifts his gaze from the ground
He looks so funny, so hilarious
He looks so funny all dismembered, skinned, beaten up, twisted, sliced, bleeding out
His face is so funny like that, bloody and disfigured
His body looks so funny once it grows colder and rotted
He understand it, the appeal of something that was once something resembling of a person, twisted until being unrecognizable
There's a beauty in the grotesque, he's the painter delivering the most breathtaking performance of his life.
There's no mercy in sorcery, after all
The maggots multiply by the minutes, decomposition feeling like time passes by quicker than ever, the evil birthing and spilling out of the curse, squirming in misery for having to purify and destroy such a being. And yet, as gross as it is, it doesn't ever stop being funny
For the first time, it feels like Sukuna is laughing with Yuuji
The two laughters echo, they sound alike, a curse and a teenager laughing so hysterically it's like a match made in hell. Their tone and their intention feel intertwined, tempo's and intensity matching so perfectly like a united symphony that they might just sound the exact same
The laughter is on the same key, identical. Perfect.
Yuuji's movements match those that Sukuna would make if he could be seen, if he could laugh in front of everybody who seem just as animalistic as he is finding the humor in blood and gore like this
Uraume would've loved this
Sukuna loves this.
"Don't you wonder what human flesh tastes like?" The curse mutters in between the laughter, the sharp grin plastered on the teen's skin. "A human heart, a human lung, the human skin even; all of those taste so much better...
They don't rot as fast... they taste fresh...
You could eat them for days..."
"I...I do wonder..." Yuuji catches his breath, still his giggling interrupting his sentences.
"I do wonder how your heart tastes, Sukuna"
The King of Curses falls silent
The human never stops smiling, it's almost grotesque how much his reddened teeth and gums show, eyes bloodshot red with every little vein threatening to pop at any moment. His pupils stare at the curse's eye, almost out of sight but yet he still finds him
"Do you taste just as good as a human, Sukuna?
Or you taste just as gross as him?"
He huffs, entertained by his sudden lack of speech
"Let's bet on it, huh?"
If Ryoumen wanted to say something, it went unheard as Itadori looks back at the remaining of the body, and dives right back in.
The heavy red fabric, the curtain of the theatre starts lowering, it truly marks the end of this rendition of such grotesque art. The attendees clap as the lights start growing dimmer and dimmer, their faces falling into shadow away from his view, nobody can see him anymore once the gold fringes cover the stage, almost reaching the bottom, leaving him in pitch black
Yuuji. Keeps. Eating
A hungry little tiger, an animal, a cannibal; possibly in Shibuya, possibly giving the performance of his life. His hands can feel the body, his teeth can rip meat apart, tear it from the source, but he's drowning in darkness, –the copper liquid making his throat inflamed and burn, the bones are sharper than ever opening abrasions on his fingers wherever he could touch and he doesn't feel right
Gulping down flesh doesn't seem to be helping, at all
He needs to breathe, but every time he does so a laugh bursts out in its place. It isn't accompanied by Sukuna however; whatever child-like curiosity he had for his situation seemed mysteriously gone, just like he was –gone
When exactly the sharp mouth and judging eye disappeared is beyond him, but despite the anxiety bubbling up under his skin because he can't see, his instincts drive him to keep digging under himself, he just needs to feel and to taste
Even if there's nothing, even if there's just him
It's fine
What else could he be anyways? If not a sinner?
"YUUJI!"
...Yuuji?
The fact that someone even called him, specially by his first name, makes his vision return in an instant
His eyes lack the cloudiness, he feels the concrete under his knees, he feels the wind fail to move his dry, crusty hair and he realizes he can breathe again, he regains control over his own bones and muscles. This luxury to take in oxygen and to be able to see ahead of himself seems short-lived however, because everything dawns on him
Everything.
In front of him he can see bloody blue hair splayed out, because his mouth is wide open, about to take a third bite of Mahito's decomposing neck. He suddenly lacks the strength to do such a thing, like his jaw locks itself refusing to cooperate with him until he backs up slowly, slow enough to find
Red, red and black
The teen has to sit up straight for just a second, shaking pupils staring down where his grin has been disposed of, now there's not an ounce of joy present –if that was even joy earlier.
Mahito looks... disrespected, even.
His head is caved into itself, seemingly the innards of his brain having just begun to spill from his ears but not making it very far. His eyes are ripped in half with a scratch right across both of them like the one of an animal – his nose is broken and bent in a way it shouldn't, not to begin with his jaw which is completely dislocated to one side, some teeth and tongue missing and being replaced by blood
His neck has been eaten from one side, the most recent injury as its the only one looking fresh. His entire chest and abdomen are exposed, no skin or muscle left at the very front; it's littered with broken bones and big chunks having been ripped out at a time, most if not all vital organs missing from their rightful places with their connecting veins and nerves still visible
He has nothing up to his shoulder joints, a splash of red and chunks of muscle scattered on each side –even some full pieces of skin are visible, saved from the punches loaded with cursed energy. Down his legs are missing from the knee down, these are the only to survive unscathed except for the cut on one of the ankles, as they were placed aside and forgotten of, maybe for the best
The body smells absolutely foul, its rotten already in all the worst ways possible. Only such colors and textures could be seen in a body rotting for weeks, putrid everywhere you could look. it was actively changing right before his very eyes, twisting into even more horrifying leftovers of something that once looked like a human, a viscous post-mortem liquid spilling out
And the most important detail: it's infested with maggots
Moving, hundreds of maggots making undesirable patters, circling and crawling, burying themselves underneath bright red and almost some greenish muscle and skin; almost molded to the shape of the body, eating away just like he was –but they don't seem to have thoughts like he does
They don't care like Yuuji right now, they can't think after all
"Yuuji?..."
Oh, there's somebody, guess he was too focused on his body starting to shake uncontrollably and yet being stiff as a robot at the same time
His head turns, like a wooden doll, slow and steadily, taking heavy breathes that don't alleviate the feeling that everything is spinning
Against the dark night sky, filled with stars, in the perpetual silence stands Fushiguro, Fushiguro Megumi
He's staring at him
He's not laughing
And he's not clapping
His eyes are terrified
"W-What ha-"
Itadori doesn't allow him to finish his sentence, because he starts vomiting again. Its violent and uncontrolled this time, revealing each and every one of his sins with the grinded bloody mush, some which was halfway through digestion. It spills on the floor with a splatter, vile sounds of gagging and choking in between
The worst part is that his vomit is just as littered with worms, maggots and putrefaction like the main body is. Some are left squirming between his teeth, under his tongue and just a few on his throat and he fucking hates it.
"YUUJI!" Fushiguro seems to come back to his senses and rushes from where he stands to go aid his friend. He can tell the smell is the one of a curse's body, not exorcized properly to vanish, but dead enough that it can rot to the bone in just a day or two –it gives him subconscious relief to know its not human
Yuuji feels like he could faint, and now his breathing and puking gets interrupted by sobs, crying that rocks his whole frame in a dramatic way; erupting with desperation like it rips through the muscle and skin on his chest. He doesn't feel like himself anymore, now barely being able to witness the horrifying truth soaking into the concrete below him
"What happened?! Did Sukuna do this!?" His friend tries finding an explanation, something while he acts as support so the sorcerer doesn't just fall and lay on his own puddle of vomit. It has the opposite effect however, because Itadori's words become unintelligible behind the cries and the breaths that take too much air and let out too little
Megumi is in disbelief and thinks to pull him into a hug, anything that could calm him down. "Are you hurt?! Calm down!"
Yuuji pushes his help away however. His eyes wide open, haunting as he dares to look at him with the look of someone who has seen horrors beyond anyone's comprehension –or done horrors beyond their comprehension
"...S-S-Sukuna...di-" "I fucking knew it was hi-" "D-Didn't do... anything..." His words feel restricted, throat closing up on itself as a result of his manic feast which caused so much damage maybe he'll start rotting soon if he doesn't act fast enough
His hands are turning grey and disgusting before his very eyes, or are they?
"...I did it...
I did all of it..."
"You are just a disappointment"