3rd Point Of View
A couple of hours went by since the offerings ceremony began, dozens of civilians and supporters of Sukuna entering the temple with the soul purpose to please their newly appointed queen. At this point, (Y/n) was sat on Sukuna's lap. By the end of each hour, Sukuna forced her closer, unhappy with how far she was. At some point, (Y/n) had enough of him pulling her throne closer and decided to just give him what he wanted.
The girl decided not to comment on the pure irony of it all, considering that she literally now had her own throne, deciding that being perched on Sukuna's lap was possibly better than that of a throne- her own personal throne of sorts.
"You've got to stop doing that." (Y/n) told Sukuna as Uraume lifted the most recent gift and placed it in its rightful pile across the wall.
"Doing what?" Sukuna asked with fake ignorance, his eyes boredly looking over the gifts along the walls and floors.
"Sukuna, you know what I'm talking about." (Y/n) told him dully, her hand lifting to motion to the pile of ash at the middle of the room- the pile of ash that was once a person sixty seconds ago.
"I was clear, was I not?" Sukuna asked her, "A gift that does not make you smile will result in death."
(Y/n) huffed with frustration, her eyes glancing towards the servant who began sweeping the newest pile of ash along with the others, which now became a mountain at the corner of the room.
"You didn't even give me time to smile!" (Y/n) whined, making Sukuna scoff.
"As if another gold tea set would have made you smile." He muttered, making the girl turn to glare at him. Sukuna looked at her with a raised brow at her audacity.
"Do not look at me like that." Sukuna warned, "In case you've forgotten just how many tea sets you've received already, please, take a look to your left." (Y/n) ignored Sukuna's sarcasm and decided to follow his orders anyway. Along the wall of gift was a seperate section exclusively for all the tea sets that she'd been given. Most of Sukuna's supporters could only afford tea sets, therefore almost all of them came with such gifts.
"There are a lot, aren't there..." (Y/n) sighed, her eyes trailing over all the different styles of tea pots.
"But," (Y/n) suddenly said enthusiastically, "There are still so many great gifts!" As she spoke, she slid off Sukuna's lap and made her way to her new collection of items- specifically the exciting paint related gifts.
"Like these painting supplies! What a wide range of colours!" (Y/n) told the man giddily as she pointed to the paints.
"And these canvas holders and personalised paintings?" (Y/n) said happily, "And these scrolls and even those thousands of bouquets! How could I complain?!" Sukuna sighed at the girl's enthusiasm before looking over at Uraume who was now stood beside the open doors of the throne room.
"Are we done yet?" Sukuna asked boredly, resting his chin on his fist.
"There is one man left in line who has brought his offerings." Uraume told him, making Sukuna groan as he leaned back into his throne, rolling his eyes.
"Hurry and send him in. After him, there will be nobody else." Sukuna ordered.
"Yes, my lord." Uraume said as she left the room, going to retrieve the last man. (Y/n) hummed with content as she moved back to her throne- which earned a glare from Sukuna.
Before the King of curses could explain, footsteps echoed down the hall. They were loud and pompous, demanding attention as they grew louder. (Y/n) looked up with curiousity as waves of cursed energy began rolling down the hall- cursed energy that possibly rivalled Sukuna himself. It wasn't long before the man walked into the throne room, revealing his black hair and sharp features when he stepped into the golden sunlight.
"Hello..." (Y/n) mumbled softly, greeting him just as she'd done to everyone else despite the array of emotions she was feeling. Was it fear? No. But something that told her that this man was far more to what met the eye, because just like Sukuna, she found herself unable to see his aura- a neutral green, that held no true meaning.
"Hello, my lady." The man smirked, offering her a short and insincere bow of the head. Sukuna's eyes narrowed.
"My name is Kamo Noritoshi." The man said to her, making Sukuna's brow raise.
"Of the Kamo clan?" Sukuna spoke outloud, making Noritoshi smirk. "And what is a member of the Kamo clan doing in my temple?"
"To offer my services, of course." Noritoshi smirked, a smug and arrogant look taking over his eyes. Sukuna scoffed with doubt as he leaned forward, as if he were now on guard.
"Only those who support me have come to offer my queen their support." Sukuna told him, "If I'm not mistaken, the Kamo clan do not serve me." Noritoshi took a step forward with a huff of amusement, his eyes casually looking around the room with interest.
"Correct. In fact, we do not serve anyone." The Kamo member said truthfully, "But I happen to recognise and appreciate power when I see it." After saying this, Noritoshi turned his gaze back to (Y/n) who could not tear her eyes away from him, too entranced by the way he held himself so highly.
"Hear this, my lady." Noritoshi began, "When the day comes that those cursed spirits of yours can no longer be supressed by your cursed energy, I will take them upon my shoulder as if they were always my burden to carry."
At this, (Y/n) frowned. Burden? Cursed spirits? Her cursed spirits? The paintings. How did this man know about her paintings when even Sukuna couldn't figure it out for himself? And why would he believe th to be a burden? She may have made them from negative emotions but they would be good. Why? Because she was going. They would not be a burden to anyone and she was sure of it.
"W-what? How did you-" The Kamo member interrupted her before she could even say a single word more.
"They'll become powerful...and could quite possibly create something even more so. Without you to supress them, they will simply just blend in with the world of curses." Noritoshi told her, "But I will paint them in bold. I will ensure their thriving and success. That is my offering to you, my lady."
"You have a lot of damned nerve to-" Sukuna's sudden angry outburst was interrupted by (Y/n) as she lifted her hand, stopping him from standing.
"Wait..." She whispered, her eyes locked on the man from the supposed Kamo family. They were one of the most powerful families in the world with an inherited blood conversion Jujutsu that (Y/n) had read about in a few different scrolls. How could this man, who came from a world like his be interested in her creations that came from a world like hers?
"How did you know about them? Not even Sukuna..." (Y/n) was rendered breathless, unable to even continue her question. Noritoshi grinned at the question, as if he'd been waiting for it.
"Oh? There are ten of them, no? Almost every one of them as strong as eachother. You mean to tell me your infamous king of curses had no idea such power was sitting under his nose?" Noritoshi asked smugly, making Sukuna growl angrily.
"Answer me." (Y/n) demanded fiercely.
"Well, I happened to meet you before your collection became what it is today- back when you only possessed three cursed paintings." The man began to explain casually, "I saw you for the first time when you served me sake at an inn in Shimutsui Village, your former workplace, I assume."
"I was there on business for two weeks and I watched you sneak out at sunset every day to paint your paintings by the stables." Noritoshi said, "It took a almost a week before I realised that you were not just painting and that you were constructing life- or maybe death is the correct term?" (Y/n) gulped at the man's words, finding in hard to believe that he'd caught on so quickly. Just how powerful was this man?
"I saw your potential only after a week but could not act upon it due to my busy schedule." He said, "I planned to retrieve you after I finished my business in Gifu, but it seems somebody else has beat me to it." At this comment Sukuna stood up, anger bubbling up within his crimson red aura. Noritoshi finally turned his gaze to Sukuna with a smirk.
"Do not worry. I do not plan to take her from you." The noirette promised, "However, if the queen of curses were to decide to join me on her own then I guess the blame could not be placed on me, no?" Then the man turned on his head and headed for the door. But he did not leave before uttering one last taunting farewell,
"Good day to you both."
(A.N ~ Kenny always 1000 steps ahead...)
Chapter 87 Quote Teaser :
"Today is the day you find out the truth- the day that you see for yourself what it is that I've been keeping from you."