Sukuna's POV:

I didn't understand her actions, and I couldn't see through her powers. There was nothing predictable about this woman.

Her skin tone was slowly returning to normal after having been drained from healing the brat, and her breath was finally evening out.

She clearly wasn't a curse of any sort, but she didn't seem fully human.

I sat here observing from afar, fighting back the urge to ask for time with her. I hated asking him for anything.

A nuisance was all he was, and now I was somehow dependent on him.

The boy broke me out of my internal debate, "She's already almost healed..."

I couldn't tell if he was talking to himself or hoping for a response, but the glaringly obvious observation left me annoyed.

"Sukuna," he started again. "What was the devil mark on her? Who do you think gave it to her?"

To be honest, I'd thought about this quite a lot myself. I couldn't even remember the last branding I'd seen. Those times seemed so distant now.

But I guess some things never change.

"There's more to the world of sorcery than you'll ever know, kid."

"So you know?" he asked. "But I don't even think Gojo knew."

I rolled my eyes. I knew more than that blindfolded mess ever could... but I also wasn't convinced he was completely clueless about Y/n.

"It's from the dark days," Itadori's statement was probably innocent, but it struck a nerve, so I made my point. "There are higher ups and clan leaders like Gojo, but there's more behind the scenes."

"Like?"

"People with generational wealth and power who prefer to stay out of the spotlight," I explained. "Families who have been carving the pathway of sorcery for centuries.

"In the dark days, they hunted and killed anyone with irregular bloodlines or unexplainable cursed techniques. Purifying is what they called it.

"If they wanted to keep you alive for whatever reason, you were branded devil. So if you ever escaped, they knew how to find you eventually."

He rested back in his chair, still staring at her sleeping body, "So she's not a pure sorcerer? I don't get it. I mean, neither am I. Neither is Nanami. Nobara."

Honestly, I didn't fully understand it either. I didn't think anyone from the dark days was still around. And even if their lineage did make it through, I definitely didn't expect them to still be purifying.

One thing was for sure though.

"At the very least, someone's afraid of what she's capable of," I noted.

"Are you?"

I couldn't help but smirk a little to myself.

The only part of her I feared stemmed from my inexplicable feelings for her.

Her powers though? As raw and untapped as they may be, they couldn't touch me.

Not yet.

"No," I answered.

Still, I didn't mind chaos. Unlike this world of order and hierarchy and bloodlines, and a force such as Y/n would easily send the delicate structure of sorcery into a spiral.

I had seen so many fall victim to the dark days, labeled as devils, suffering a fate too torturous for me to bother to recount to Itadori.

And deal with that existential crisis? No thanks.

Plus having to explain that Y/n already seemed more dangerous than most I had come across during my time.

I'm surprised whoever found her didn't just kill her right away. Branding someone like her was risky.

You never keep someone alive who may come back to haunt you later.

It had been quiet for a few moments. I could tell the brat was obviously trying to wrack up the nerve to ask me something, so I impatiently waited for him to get his shit together.

"You like her, don't you?" he asked softly.

My jaw tightened as I leaned back in my throne, fully taking in his bold question.

The brat ought to learn we're not buddies.

But sometimes, as I gazed at Y/n, I could barely even think straight. And right now, all I could focus on was how much I missed her.

"Switch me," I demanded.

He chuckled a bit, "I'll take that as a yes."

I couldn't explain it, but every part of me was drawn to her. She was beautiful, of course. And the stories of her prowess didn't come close to living up to her true nature.

Still, that wasn't it at all.

We were forged by the same fire. I could see it in her eyes, feel the heat that radiated from her passion.

A wild fire, leaving behind a scorched earth wherever she wandered. Sure the destruction was magnificent, but fearful humans seem to forget that fire always leaves soil for new growth.

She was creating a whole new world without even meaning to. So they thought of her as a devil, but, more accurately, she was building up to be a goddess.

A creator of worlds, no less.

And I wanted to be a part of it. I wanted to be a part of her.

"Y/n and I are the same," he filled the silence. "We're just a means to an end to them."

I listened carefully, wanting to know if he was finally understanding.

"She only matters to them as long as she keeps me alive. I only matter to them as long as I keep you, well, unalive? Is that what you'd call it?"

Close enough, I guess. I knew what he meant.

He cleared his throat before declaring his next statement, trying to assert his seriousness, "You can't hurt her."

"I would never," I reassured.

"Maybe not physically," he said. "But I'm talking about if she begins to truly trust you. You can't hurt her."

I paused to reflect on his words. I knew what he meant the first time, but the way he spoke, he truly cared about her too.

"How do you feel about all of this?" I asked.

"Like I wish we had never come across her at the Zenin compound," he answered honestly. "She would've found her way out of there eventually, but I don't think she'll ever escape here."

"Even though she's going to keep you alive?" I asked, trying to see how much he was paying attention.

He shook his head, "I'm not dumb Sukuna. Sure, Y/n will use her technique on us occasionally. But what they're actually doing is keeping her busy and distracted until they figure something out."

"She's not here to keep me alive," he finished. "But it's a nice cover story."

So he was understanding... Gojo wanted Itadori alive, of course he did. But even more so, he wanted to chain Y/n up and use her.

Not like the despicable Zenin kid did, but use her technique and power.

Sorcery is a delicate balance, and Gojo's cursed abilities wouldn't always be enough to keep the other clans in line.

So keeping Y/n fixated on this brat, it was giving him all the time in the world to figure out how to use this whole situation to his benefit.

If I had to guess, it's the whole reason he agreed to help rescue her in the first place.

Power does strange things to humans.

"Do you think Y/n already knows that?" he followed up.

"I do."

"I want to save her too, Sukuna," he confessed softly.

I nodded to myself, mulling over this unlikely turn of events. Me and the brat, huh?

"Count me in."

•••••••

hehe the crossover you never expected :p