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sukuna was pissed as hell.

not only did satoru leave during mid fight to go have dinner with the miko and fushiguro, the fight was practically like a game of chase, as satoru refused to stay in one place and escaped further and further away from the hayakawa village.

sukuna ended up deciding not to massacre the entire village, as he was too far from it anyways, hence why he was alone without any supervision.

it was nearly nighttime as sukuna had trudged towards the path of who knows where.

the demon king didn't recognize where he was going as he always just followed the priestess, who seemed to have a pretty good direction sense.

"fucking gojō. fucking shaman. fucking hell", sukuna muttered, kicking a nearby rock as it punted meters away from him.

the male then spotted another village, to which his scowl had turned into a grin as there was another chance at creating havoc.

though it had looked oddly familiar.

"oh young man, you're back! is lady kiyo not with you?", the chief of the village asked, to which sukuna had quickly spun around as he stumbled a few steps back from the old man.

"huh? what are you doing here?", sukuna rudely asked, to which the old man had chuckled.

"why it's my village. why are you here?"

"I...just looking", sukuna lied, seeing as the old man had just nodded and was holding a basket full of vegetables.

"would you care to join my wife and I for dinner tonight? I still need to go get something though", the chief offered, to which sukuna had just decided to go with the flow.

"sure", the demon king replied as he walked alongside the old man with his arms shoved inside his sleeves.

"so how are you and lady kiyo?", the old man asked, to which sukuna had raised a brow.

"what do you mean? she's healthy if that's what you're asking about".

"no no, I meant how's your relationship with her", the chief clarified.

sukuna hummed. "she's been pissing me off", the yōkai scowled, to which the old man was quite surprised.

kiyo didn't really seem like the type of woman to get angry and start yelling or uncontrollably crying, so he wasn't really sure what she did that made sukuna so discontented.

"oh really? how so?"

"how? well—"

sukuna paused.

"she...I'm not sure, but whenever I look at her, I feel like murdering her and the people around her", sukuna darkly answered.

"the people around her?"

"yeah, like her damn brother. he makes me want to repeatedly punch him until that cocky smirk's off his face. and don't even get me started on those brats. they think they can just saunter in here and help her with this and that. and the little ones! they're annoying as hell! all they do is cling to her like little ducklings and waddle behind her; every step she takes!", sukuna huffed.

the old man momentarily paused as the shop owner of the stall also looked up, stifling a chuckle.

"what the fuck's so funny?!"

"are you perhaps jealous, young man?", the chief asked, examining the small boxes of perfume and makeup as he wanted to surprise his wife with a present.

"jealous? of what? I'm the king of—I can get anything I want", sukuna scoffed, watching as the chief had left to go to another stall, where they were selling hair accessories and pocket-sized mirrors.

"then why don't you get her something to show your token of appreciation for her?", the old man suggested.

"huh? I tell you all my problems and that's the solution you give me? what kind of bullshit is this?"

"trust me. get her something and you'll end up feeling better. how about a hairpin? I assume lady kiyo doesn't wear makeup since she's a priestess and all", the chief said, holding up a dangling bead with a yellow flower at the base.

"too extravagant", sukuna rejected. "she'd probably be the type to wear something like this instead", the male said as he picked one up, meanwhile the old man had already paid for it.

"why did you—"

"consider this as some advice young man. treasure her before it's too late", the old man smiled, to which sukuna had only looked down at the hairpin, stuffing it in his kimono.

"don't know what you're saying old man, but I'm sure as hell am starving", sukuna mumbled, to which the chief had quickly picked out a hairpin for his wife before heading back home.

"then let's go eat now".

∞

"was it really wise to leave sukuna by himself?", kiyo asked, setting down the plates of sushi and bowls of miso soup meanwhile fushiguro had prepared the tableware.

"oh, it's fine! he's probably just out taking a walk and clearing his mind", satoru casually dismissed, glancing around as he noticed that nagi and the children weren't present.

"huh? where's junpei's mother and the two brats?", satoru asked.

"oh, nagi-san took those two to go eat out with junpei. I think she mentioned something about kugisaki finding itadori's old schoolmate or something like that", kiyo replied, kneeling on her mat as fushiguro seated beside her.

"speaking of old, remember this portrait of megumi when he was a child?", satoru grinned, pulling out a small sheet of thin paper and unfolding it for kiyo to see.

"oi! why the hell do you have that?!", fushiguro grunted, trying to snatch it out of satoru's hand, only to barely reach it as the white-haired male kept holding it higher and higher.

kiyo lightly chuckled as she was glad that fushiguro wasn't like his father, who brought her worst nightmares into play.

fushiguro tōji — originally a zenin — was born without any special abilities unlike his child that he had soon left, without even knowing the gender of.

and for that, his hatred for those being able to use their special powers only contributed to the dejection towards those that became shamans, causing him to grow into a cold, confident man; killing those as long as he was paid.

his last mission was to murder gojō kiyo, ordered by the higher ups in secret.

for what reason no one knew, as kiyo was completely in the dark and tōji never questioned his clients' motives.

of course during that mission, tōji couldn't pass up the golden opportunity to challenge the "strongest" sorcerer: gojō satoru.

though the man did not have special powers, he was one of the most elite fighters of his time, successfully taking down satoru first as kiyo and getō were in the midst of escaping.

"kiyo, run to edo high. shōko should be there along with the others. I'll fend him off first", getō instructed, to which kiyo was very hesitant, though her fiancé literally pushed the girl away as tōji had caught up with the two.

"aw lovebirds...how romantic. pity you didn't get to see your brother at his last breath", the dark-haired male mocked, licking his lips as there was a prominent scar over the right edge of his mouth.

"you...you're lying!! satoru's strong, he—"

"not strong enough", tōji calmly interrupted as he inched closer to the couple, pulling out two swords from the mouth of a demon that was wrapped around his waist and shoulders.

"KIYO, RUN!", getō commanded — summoning demons at his beckoning — though the girl could not do so.

kiyo bit her bottom lip as revenge was the only thing coursing through her mind.

"ah, yes yes! that's the look I like to see when fighting my opponents. utter hatred; the look of resentment!", tōji lowly chuckled, slashing through the demons that getō was controlling with ease.

at the time, kiyo was still a priestess in training. having to have only mastered her domain not that long ago, the girl had used every will in her entire being to summon her benevolent shrine.

though tōji was a human being, which meant that it was quite useless against the male as he was still in perfect condition to fight.

"kiyo, I told you! leav—"

getō was quickly struck down by tōji, who was unbelievably fast, perhaps even on par with satoru.

the two were no match against him.

"SUGURU! STOP, PLEASE! JUST LEAVE HIM ALONE!", kiyo cried as her domain had deactivated from her unbalanced wave of emotions.

tōji only held a disinterested face, walking away from getō's wounded body as he inches closer to the priestess, who only stumbled a few steps back with a tear-stained face.

"I guess the gojōs weren't all that, huh?", tōji grinned as he was about to slice off kiyo's head, only to be impaled with a sword from behind, with satoru leaning his chest against tōji's back.

"next time you kill someone, make sure that they're fully dead", satoru coughed out, madly grinning as blood was seeping from his head down to his pure white face.

tōji immediately spat his blood onto young kiyo, making her cringe a bit as she was beyond relived that her brother was alive.

tōji only scoffed as he felt his consciousness leave him, with his last thought being of his ex-wife and child: fushiguro megumi.

"—iyo! kiyo!!", satoru called out, waving his hand in front of his sister's blanked out face as she had snapped out of her trance.

"y-yes?"

"are you okay? you zoned out for a bit", fushiguro stated.

"oh...yeah...I'm fine. is the food to your liking?", kiyo asked, to which satoru had immediately nodded, with fushiguro giving the girl a curt one.

"that's good", kiyo smiled, ruffling fushiguro's hair as her gaze fell upon the boy's confused face.

"I'm glad you like it", kiyo whispered.