3rd Point Of View
A sigh left the king of curses lips as he leaned back into his throne, staring at the ceiling with boredom. Everything was so quiet around the temple that it was almost pathetic. Most curse users were at the Shimutsui Village completing their last test and (Y/n) was still at the painters market with about two hours to go until sunset. When Sukuna allowed her to leave, he didn't think about how bored he'd be during her departure.
Sukuna tutted his teeth with annoyance, his fingers drumming against the armrest of his throne. Uraume watched him carefully from where she stood by the doors, her hands resting over her stomach as she waited for the correct moment to speak up and say something.
"Will you...be staying here all afternoon, my Lord?" Uraume hesitantly asked, finally deciding to talk to the king as opposed to standing in silence for another hour. He'd called her in an hour ago and has yet to give her something to do.
Sukuna lifted his head to glare at Uraume for her question, his crimson eyes glimmering with annoyance.
"Is there somewhere else I should be, Uraume?" Sukuna snapped as he sat up, making the woman avert her eyes to the floor with respect. The lady took a moment to think of her response.
"It's clear that you seem to regret not joining (Y/n) on her visit to the market." Uraume told the man, making him scoff loudly.
"Regret? I don't regret a thing!" Sukuna exclaimed, seemingly offended.
"...I'm just bored." The man then admitted, making Uraume purse her lips together with amusement. "This is why I do not enjoy when she leaves the temple. I do not like to feel bored."
"Boredom never concerned you before her arrival, my lord." Uraume pointed out.
"No, because back then I didn't know what it was to feel entertained." Sukuna muttered.
Suddenly, before Uraume could say another word, a sharp stinging sensation spread across Sukuna's cheek. It wasn't painful per se, but he would be a fool not to realise what it meant. Sukuna stood up the moment he felt the pulsating sting, a serious look talking over his eyes. It almost felt like he'd just been slapped? Surely not...
"Lord Sukuna? Is... everything alright?" Uraume asked baffledly, taking a step closer to Sukuna who's brows were furrowed. His hand lifted to his cheek with disbelief. Surely nobody was stupid enough to strike his queen? As if to answer his question, fear began tickling his bones, making him sneer angrily.
"She's afraid." Sukuna muttered to himself, getting angrier by the minute.
"(Y/n)? I do not feel it." Uraume asked with confusion, not realising that (Y/n) had mastered the art of directing her aura to one person- that person being Sukuna.
Sukuna kissed his teeth angrily, his fists clenching by his side with fury.
"The damn brat's gotten herself into trouble again." He growled before instantly warping away, his body engulfed within his red, furious flames. The warp happened within seconds, taking him to where he felt (Y/n)'s emotions originate from. The moment he'd warped, he realised that he was standing amongst a crowd of angry vendors and customers.
"Burn her now! While her men are still tied!" A elder woman beside Sukuna yelled, making Sukuna's narrow.
"Forget the ropes! Tsumiko's shadow binds are enough!" Another woman yelled. Sukuna watched as they yelled amongst the crowd, one after the other. Those two didn't yell simply threw rocks and hay. Sukuna walked forward amongst the crowd, towards where they were all aiming. Nobody noticed him as he pushed them aside. With every throw, he felt prickles across his neck and arms- as if he were the one getting things thrown at him.
It was as he neared the front of the crowd that he saw her. She had Jujutsu binding her arms to her side, circling her entire body and forcing her up against a large wooden pole. (/N) clenched her eyes shut as dirt scattered across her face. Sukuna's anger dangerously rose, bubbling like hot lava within him.
"What's going on here?" Sukuna seethed through gritted teeth. It was as his dark voice echoed throughout the crowd that everyone came to a halt, stopping their movements.
They all gasped as they looked over at him, backing away so quickly that they stumbled over eachother. They'd all been too angry to notice him but the four arms should have been the dead giveaway even from their peripheral vision. Everyone dropped what was in their grasps, not flinching with pain as rocks smashed against their own feet- too shocked to even process the pain.
"I-It's him!" A man stuttered quietly.
"R-Ryomen S-Sukuna!" Another stammered with shock, crumbling to the floor with suprise, unable to feel their legs beneath them anymore.
"M-my Lord!" A vendor exclaimed, the first of the crowd to address the man directly, taking a shaking step closer.
"I asked what's going on here?" Sukuna repeated, his furious eyes staring straight ahead, not paying attention to a single soul around him in the slightest.
"W-well, this wench has sullied your na-" The woman was cut off by the snap of Sukuna's fingers, turned to dust immediately. Those around that vendor gasped, dropping to the floor with a silent scream.
"Did she actually think I was talking to her?" Sukuna scoffed, his eyes staring at the pile of ash for just a second before his eyes returned back to (Y/n) who had finally opened her eyes and was looking at Sukuna with a frown on her lips.
"Then-" Another vendor tried to speak up but didn't get past her first word before Sukuna had finally spoken up again.
"Not you either." He growled, "I asked my queen. What is going on here? I won't ask a fourth time, little (L/n)."
At Sukuna's words, a rupture of gasps echoed across the crowd. (Y/n) wasn't sure if it was because Sukuna had called her his queen or because he'd just accidentally told everyone that she was a (L/n). Did he mean to say that or did it come out on accident? Did he even realise he'd said it? (Y/n) didn't have time to think about the answers to these questions because Sukuna's eyes went set on hers, waiting for the answer to his question.
"They...they blame me for the deaths of the three sisters who wished to become your whores." (Y/n) told him with a frown, making Sukuna scoff loudly- almost sounding amused.
"Do they now?" He mocked, "Even when it was I who set them aflame?" At that admittance, another round of gasps graced them all, the truth shocking them all. Sukuna's eyes then flickered to the two curse users who were on the floor, tied together by a piece of rope, back to back.
"I tasked the two of you with protecting her, no?" Sukuna asked with a raised brow, making the two men look up at him fearfully, already knowing their fate.
"Trust me, I know well that it is definitely not a simple task." Sukuna chuckled darkly, "But the two of you getting wrangled by common folk? Come on. That's embarrassing." With that, Sukuna snapped his fingers and set the two men on fire. Unlike the vendor, he let them burn for a few moments untill their death rather than turning them to ash instantly.
Sukuna watched quietly as they became two smoked corpses before his eyes travelled back to (Y/n). He then raised his eyebrow at her challengingly.
"Why are you still there? Come here." Sukuna ordered, making (Y/n) frown. Within the same second she warped beside him with her head cast down, no longer wrapped by the tendrils of Tsumiko's jujutsu. Shadows fell to the floor where she'd stood two seconds ago, now without a person to bind.
"Why did you stay there and let them batter you with their filth when you could have warped away at any time?" Sukuna asked the girl, lifting her head up so that she could look him in the eyes.
"I... didn't want them to take it their anger on your curse users following my escape." She admitted with a frown, making Sukuna huff as his eyes flickered with the two burnt corpses on the floor.
"Well, that seems like a waste of time now, doesn't it?" Sukuna asked dully, making (Y/n)'s lips purse as she averted her gaze. Sukuna sighed as he let go of her face, his hand now resting on the back of her neck as if to keep her routes and make sure she doesn't leave his side again. This was Sukuna's last straw of patience. The girl clearly couldn't be trusted to go anywhere without his supervisor. She was like a child.
"Now...as for the rest of you." Sukuna muttered darkly as he looked towards the crowd of people who's eyes were staring at Sukuna and (Y/n) without blinking, some too shocked to move.
"But my Lord! I don't understand...why are you protecting this imposter? Didn't you hear?! She claims to be your queen!" A man from the back of the crowd called out, making Sukuna grit his teeth.
"Yes, because I made her my damned queen, you fool!" Sukuna snapped angrily, "Did you really I'd allow some random whore to parade around claiming to be my queen long enough to be caught by measly common folk? If she's alive long enough to tell the world of her title, then you surely realise that it must be true, no?" Sukuna chuckled darkly as he raised a hand, fire encircling his palm, ready to attack.
"I'm not even sure why I'm entertaining you fools by explaining. You're all going to die anyway." Sukuna muttered darkly as he lifted his hand, ready to rain fire on every person in sight. That was until (Y/n) gently grabbed onto his wrist, instantly halting his actions. Sukuna turned to her with a raised brow.
"Don't kill them." (Y/n) pleaded, her eyes hopeful as Sukuna tilted his head.
"They were seconds away from killing you." Sukuna told her, as if she didn't already know.
"Only because they thought I was sullying your name! Don't kill them for their commitment to you." (Y/n) asked him with a frown. "You already killed your own curse users and the old lady that exposed my identity. Nobody else needs to die." At her explanation, Sukuna's eyes squinted with suspicion, tutting his teeth with dissapointment.
"Is that really your reasoning or is it because you don't want your precious painters market to come to an end?" Sukuna asked her dully, making (Y/n) chuckle sheepishly.
"Can we go home?" The girl then asked, ignoring his previous question which Sukuna took as an answer in itself.
"Very well." Sukuna sighed. As (Y/n) smiled, Sukuna's eyes flickered to her cheek which was begining to bruise.
"But first..." Sukuna mumbled as his hand reached for her face, pushing her face to the side so he could see the marking better. "You're going to tell me the person who did this to you."
(Y/n) winced with pain as Sukuna pushed her cheeks together, making her look him in the eyes again.
"You already killed her." (Y/n) told him with a frown, making him tut his teeth. Damn it. He knew he shouldn't have given her such a swift ending. Sukuna's eyes then travels to (Y/n)'s wrists that had just been tied by the shadow tendrils which were obvious somebody here's Jujutsu. "And these? Who is responsible?"
"I'm not sure what you mean..." (Y/n) mumbled, hiding her wrists behind her back so that Sukuna couldn't see them anymore. This made him chuckle.
"You're still brave enough to lie to me? I'll have to punish you for that later on. Come to think of it, I've yet to act upon the last time I promised to punish you." Sukuna murmured to himself, "Well, we'll sort out your punishment later. But for now, you're going to tell me who the user of that shadow jujustu is...and remember that I am not above torturing every person here one by one to find out."
Bedrudgingly, (Y/n)'s eyes flicker to Tsumiko who had fallen to the floor with fear, shaking with tears running down her cheeks. Sukuna's gaze followed (Y/n)'s to the black haired lady and smirked.
"And what is your name?" Sukuna asked with a raised brow, playing with her.
"F-Fushiguro Tsumiko...my Lord, please! I have a son to feed!" She cried.
"You still have a son to look after and yet you set out to avenge your daughters? Did you not realise how dangerous that was?" Sukuna asked as he stepped closer.
"P-please!" Tsumiko yelled, sobbing as she pleaded to Sukuna, making (Y/n) look away with guilty eyes.
"Yes, keep begging. We'll see how long it takes you to beg for death instead of life." Sukuna grinned as he snapped his fingers. Tsumiko disappeared within a burst of flames, only her ash was not left behind. (Y/n)'s eyes snapped to where Tsumiko once stood with suprise and confusion. Did he kill her?
"What did you-" (Y/n) was cut off by Sukuna who answered the question without needing to hear her finish it.
"I warped her to my prison. I decided that I want to take my time with her." Sukuna smirked, making (Y/n) frown.
"Now we may leave." Sukuna told her as he walked back to her, close to grabbing her wrist. But before he could, (Y/n) quickly avoided his grip.
"Wait." (Y/n) quickly told him as she ran forward towards one of the tables. She dug into the sleeve of her kimono to pull out her bag of money, placing a few gold coins on the table before picking up a certain painting as well as the four baskets that had dropped onto the floor.
"Seriously?" Sukuna asked as the girl approached him. She smiled sheepishly as she waddled closer, her arms pack with stuff.
"Well, I did pay for them." (Y/n) replied as she came closer, making him huff. Sukuna then reached out to grab (Y/n) again, but instead of grabbing her wrist, the handle of a basket was thrust into his hands. Sukuna looked at the basket blankly, not having had the intention of grabbing it. Before he could say a word another basket was being passed to another of his hands and then two more to two others, all four hands now holding a basket. Sukuna looked up at (Y/n) blankly, not even sure what to say.
"Well you've got four hands... I only have two and this painting needs both of them." (Y/n) muttered, her eyes flickering to the floor embarrassingly. Sukuna couldn't help but scoff as he shook his head, staring down at the baskets with disbelief. He couldn't believe he was allowing this- something that the villagers around him all thought too. Sukuna then looked up at them with a glare, making them avert their eyes to the floor.
"Let it be known..." Sukuna began to say to the villagers, capturing their attention with his loud spoken voice, "Their will be a ceremony celebrating my queen in three days. You are to come and show the same dedication to her as you'd show me. I will tolerate no disrespect. You will bring her offerings and gifts to this ceremony." Sukuna's words brought hushed whispers amongst the crowd. Lastly, before he warped him and he queen away, he said,
"Oh, and the those who's gift fails to bring a smile to her face...will die."
(A.N ~ Almost had my phone stolen yesterday. Luckily it was returned to me within two hours! Also... two chapters until mind-blowing plot twist?)
Chapter 79 Quote Teaser :
"Is that really how you see? Colours around everyone... all the time?"