Mortal - Suguru x Fem!Reader

Red String

It was a cold December morning, yet it was not the weather that made it grey. All colour had been drained from your days the moment you crossed the threshold of your new home; your empty home. Despite Suguru's warnings, or perhaps because of them, you rented an apartment in downtown Tokyo. You got a job in the cafe where your friend worked and began gathering money with no particular goal in mind. At first, you thought you could use them to get out of the country, to leave Japan, its spirits and all the memories that haunted your bleeding heart behind. Yet each thought of running away was accompanied by doubt and worry for everything you would be leaving behind. And every time your eyes caught a curse latched on one of the unsuspecting people visitingyour cafe, your heart hardened a bit more. Soon, you could not stand seeing them being fed onby what they could not see. Your cramped apartment was loitered with books on the occult, anything you could get your hands on that refered to curses and how o eliminate them. Some names kept popping up: Gojo, Zen'in and Tengen. You recognized the first from Suguru's strange mutterings, yet the second was proven to be the one of the most use to you. A few members of that ancient clan, born without powers and forever banished from hom, were now dealing weapons infued with cursed energy, weapons you could get your hands on. After purchasing a discreet knife you got to work, exorsising the small curses you noticed plaguing the people you could approach.

Soon the world had moved past the sudden rains of autumn and was preparing for the frigid days of December. Christmas lights illuminated the streets filled with happy families doing their holiday shopping. Tomorrow was Christmas eve, and all those shoppers crowding the street would be home celebrating the holiday. And there, among them, marching down the street was you. Your gaze was downturned, unimpressed by the glamorous displays you passed by. You could not risk looking at another couple, cudled up together and happily smiling at each other. Not today. Not again.

Even though your eyes could only glimpse the passerbys' feet, there were still a few curses you could spot hanging from them. Your changed body, able to perceive the world as sorcerers do, was just another scar left behind by your time with that man. As if your broken heart as you organized your father's funeral was not enough. Yet you could not deny the simple fact that for your first time in your life, you were finally free. The bruises your father had forced on your skin had completely disappeared, and you could make your own decisions, liberated from the fear of another beating. All thanks to Suguru.

No. You did not miss him. You could not, SHOULD not miss him.

You clenched your fists at your sides.

He was gruesome, and bloodthirsty and if he had not spent that time with you he would have only thought of you as nothing more than trash to be discarded with the rest of your kind. You were too disgustingly human for him to honestly love you.

Yet he did.

That final look in his eyes before you left the temple had never left your memory. As if it was not just your heart that broke but his as well.

Yet again, to Suguru it could just as easily have been that love was the same as transfixation.

You released a heavy sigh, a small cloud forming in front of you as your warm breath met the chilly atmosphere. You lifted your eyes to the sky; and that's when you saw it.

A veil. That's what Suguru had called it. The blackish translucent was coming down in the form of a dome over an old house. Without thinking you rushed to enter its area before it barricaded your kind from it. As the veil met the ground you realized what you had done.

You clutched your side pocket. Ever since leaving the shrine, you kept a pocket knife hidden on you at all times. After knowing the truth of what creatures lurk in the dark you could not very well go back to the bliss of ignorance. If a veil was summoned, a curse had to be nearby. And if a curse was nearby it was probably feeding. Some part of you probably had grown bold in the time you had spent rebuilding your life and ushered you to help whatever unfortunate soul could be meeting its end under the faint light of the moon. Too bold. Too foolish.

You braced yourself, knife ready to strike. Your ears bathed in the uneasy silence, ready to pick up the slightest noise. A distant howl of the wind. Your beating heart ready to jump out of your chest at the drawn-out stillness that reigned around you like the calm before the storm. Your steps, too loud for your liking as you dragged your trembling feet a little further towards the broken elevator to sneak a peak into the dark hallways on the ground floor of the house. A soft crunching.

You stopped. You turned your head to the side, breaths turning louder. A blue deer-like creature was holding onto the carcass of a young man, its front hooves replaced by a pair of clawed paws that shredded the meat before bringing it to its fanged snout.

It turned its head, its six eyes blinking twice at you before its growl echoed deep within your gut. Its iron claws scratched the walls of the hallway like knives as it pulled itself up to stand on its two back feet, its back crouched to fit under the low ceiling. You stepped back, your trembling arms raising the knife in front of you. You caught a glimpse of the entrance; gone. Your heart clenched. You bit your lip, a desperate plea for the tears to wait.

The creature towered over you, saliva dripping from its hungry jaws as it sniffed you. Your hand gripped the knife harder. You cried out as you jumped to stab the creature in the eye, the only place on its called body you could think would make a difference. And it did. Just as the tip of the knife touched the curse's eye

the blade shattered.

The metal pieces crumbled onto the floor around you, your hand still holding the small hilt. You gazed at the man's half-eaten corpse. How much of him had been eaten while he was still alive?

You should had used the knife to slit your throat.

You closed your eyes and heard the creature snarl one last time.

"Why are you here?", a soft voice asked from behind the veil of darkness.

You opened your eyes. Suguru was standing in front of you, its hand clutching a small black orb. His face was pale, his tone devoid of any emotion. You trembled at the sight of him. "Why are you here", he had asked because he was the one who had threatened you to leave Tokyo. How unfortunate he had to fulfil his promise to you so soon.

"Are...are you going to kill me now?", you asked instead of replying.

His breath hitched; in the silence, you heard it clearly. His fist crushed the orb into bits.

"Why did you do that?", you asked.

"It did not deserve to exist", he gritted his teeth, "Not even under my service". He walked closer, covering you to the wall. "I ordered you to leave", his breath caressed your forehead, "Told you to stay away from Kyoto and Tokyo"

"I...I told you...", your voice came out as a whisper, "You don't control me"

"What were you thinking of doing with that pocket knife?", his voice remained flat.

"I...I had to defend..."

"Only cursed gear can harm curses like that idiot", he said over your forehead.

"Yeah well I was not just gonna stand there and-", as you lifted your head your eyes and terror met his, so clearly reflected in his gaze.

"Why are you so brave?", he said softly, brokenly, "You're just a weak human"

You searched for an answer, but all you could think of saying was "Humans are not weak".

"You certainly aren't", he pulled you by the waist and crashed his lips onto yours, his other hand holding your nape.

"Suguru-"

"Please, save it", he said against your lips, kissing them again, "Hate me later"

He kissed you again and again, and against your better judgment, you let him. You let him, because his tears were sliding from his cheeks onto yours, his hands desperately clinging to you as if he needed you to breathe. You let him, because though those hands were red with blood no one could wash they had still saved you again and again, hugged you when all you had known was others' hands being raised against you. You let him, because your heart would not let you pull away no matter what your brain screamed at it.

"I love you", he said in your ear after he pulled you into a tight embrace, "Just for today, let me love you"