Today Gojo was out on a business trip, leaving me and Naozumi with his parents, who finally came back from vacation. Naozumi was busy asking about their fun trip, whereas I was sweeping the house. All was going well until my phone started buzzing on the dining table.

Ring ring ring!

Running to my phone, assuming it's Gojo calling, it turned out to be a different caller: Ijichi Kiyotaka, jujutsu high assistant manager. He never called me before... Something must be up.

"Hello?" I picked up, and the pit of my stomach dropped once I heard the words coming out of his mouth.

"I'm sorry to disturb you, but since Gojo is on a business trip, I sent his students to exorcise a curse womb that's close enough to be a special grade. I'm taking Kugisaki to the hospital—"

"WHAT?!" He sent Gojo's students to a dangerous mission?! If Gojo knew about this, he's going to literally kill Ijichi. "HOW CAN YOU SEND THESE POOR KIDS INTO A PLACE WHERE THEY CAN DIE?! HAVE YOU NOT CONSIDER THEIR TRAINING TIME?! THEY'RE NOT EVEN LEVEL ONE SORCERERS!!" My head hurts from thinking about their well-being. I'll kill Ijichi in Gojo's place. These poor kids still have a full life ahead of them. "YOU SHOULD'VE CALLED ME!!" I wouldn't mind taking on some mission since it's been literally years. Ever since I popped a baby, I never got to do any mission. It could be a good thing or a bad thing; it all depended on what it was. "TELL ME THE ADDRESS!"

"Y-Yes ma'am!" Ijichi cracked under pressure, immediately telling me where they were. He should be fired for putting their lives in danger. I don't care if that's their new life. They need to gradually build up their experience. People like us were rare... Throwing their lives into a pit of fire was bullshit.

"Mom, dad, watch Naozumi! I have to clean up someone's mess!" I ran out of the house after vaguely explaining my departure. I'm mad that they didn't just call me up. Handling a curse womb doesn't seem that hard, especially when my divine curse can easily target them. No matter how powerful a cursed spirit was, nothing can outmatch my purification ability— For Sukuna's case, I'm not too sure of. He's on another level.

Finally making my way there, my whole body tensed up. Sukuna took over Yuji's body, and there was a whole where his human heart should be. In front of him was Megumi's unconscious body. Was I too late? I'm going to kill Ijichi for making them go through this! And I'm going to try to kill Sukuna without actually killing Yuji in the process too!

I activated my cursed eyes. "SUKUNA!" When he turned around and made eye contact with me, his whole body froze in place like an ice sculpture. "You're getting out of control! First, you threatened my family! My son—"

"My queen, calm down. I wouldn't dare to hurt a child of yours. I just wanted to test you and your cretinous husband. You can forgive me right?"

A scoff left my lips as I felt hysterical from all of this. "No I can't, Sukuna... You've hurt the people I love and care for, and I will put you in your place!" My cursed eyes haven't lifted off his body yet. He's still paralyzed in fear.

"Baby girl, did you know you look—"

I put all my energy into my fist and punched him in the face, causing Sukuna's body to fly back into the wooded areas. Quickly jogging towards Megumi, I checked his pulse to feel that he's still alive. "Thank goodness!" It relieved the anxiety in my heart. If Megumi were to die too, the higher ups would be dead soon if Gojo's students died from this mission. I quickly healed him with my reverse technique and darted off to find Sukuna.

At the location where Sukuna's body was last found, there was a dent in a tree but not the physical body. "That bastard must've..." My voice trailed off when my surroundings suddenly changed. Was Sukuna using his domain expansion? I thought he'd be the type to use it for an escape.

"I don't want to fight you, but since you possess the divine curse I must use brute force so you can listen to me." His voice echoed in this Buddhist shrine decorated with skulls. It's a place for a demon to live.

"So using your domain just to trap me? Did you forget that I can counter this? You're not the only strong one in this too?" I shouted, looking everywhere to find where Sukuna was hiding. I also have to be cautious about my every mood since this was his battle ground. He can strike any second. My footsteps were careful and precise. I didn't want to slip up and be locked in here with Sukuna for all eternity. I'm not his and I will never be his.

Stepping up to his shrine, my head was quickly bashed into a pillar. My ears sharply rang from the fast collision, and my skull was probably bruised and bleeding as it stung. Sukuna did say he's going to use brute force. I'm not backing down easily.

Picking myself up, I clutched my bleeding head as I tried to concentrate on finding Sukuna. The throbbing sensation was killing me. I wanted to close my eyes for a few seconds so I wasn't disoriented, but I couldn't care for myself if Sukuna was around me.

"Baby girl, I thought you'd be fast enough to dodge my attacks... Was I too rough with you? I can tone it down if you want me to?" His voice vibrated in the air, stomping on my weakened state.

"I'm not like my husband. All my senses are trash now... I'm only good at cleansing." After five years of being a mom, my abilities to fight sucked ass. It's all rusty and old. I only saw myself as a reinforcement like Shoko. She doesn't fight, only heals. I'm terrible at fighting, but I'm great at cleansing anything.

"I thought you wanted to know what Nozomi meant to me."

Despite my heart racing from the repeated question I asked earlier, this felt like a trap. He said I already knew the answer and it was useless to keep asking; however, could there be some truth to it?

"You're a liar! Don't play around with me like that!" I still couldn't find him in his own domain. He hid himself very well, and it annoyed me because I didn't want to be here.

Woosh!

My eyes were covered by what felt like his arm, and my head was pressed against his stomach. I was in his grasp.

"Don't move or else I'll let this kid die without growing back his heart." Sukuna threatened, and I silently stopped resisting. Yuji means a lot to Gojo. I can't be the reason why he died because I didn't listen to Sukuna. He had me where he wanted me... that bastard.

"How can I be sure you're not lying to me?" I grumbled, clawing his arm which covered my eyes.

"If you keep clawing at me, I'm going to squeeze your pretty head of yours until it starts hurting even more than it already is."

Goddamnit! I stopped inflicting pain onto him and removed my hands back to my lap.

"Since you're a good girl, I'll let this kid survive. I can't tell you how, but you need to calm yourself down before I regret my decision." Sukuna chuckled in the air, still keeping me close to him. "You're not much of a fighter, you know that? You're strong in your cursed energy... You and Nozomi are the same, and you can't deny that because I loved her till the very end..."

Sukuna began his side of the story of their forbidden and lost love...

"I began loving her when I first laid eyes on her mysterious figure. Seeing her come to the shrine, I didn't try to hide my love for her. I tried making small contact with her until I was able to see her beautiful face." Sukuna's free hand caressed my face, recalling the times when he was human and happy.

My heart clenched in this position I was put into. I'm not his woman and yet, he's holding me like I am his...or what he longed to have. My chest tightened by my thoughts riding his bad deeds because he just wanted to be with Nozomi.

"When she finally let me see her face, I fell more in love with her. Nozomi was like a hidden gem. I didn't want her to be snatched from me. Days spent talking and hanging out with her, I couldn't help but propose to her." Sukuna's voice was delicate and raw, soaking in what humans called 'love'. A feeling he hasn't felt for hundreds of years.

A small yet sad chuckle slipped from his mouth. "Her rejection left a pain that I never knew I had. I was so mad until she explained that she was already betrothed to someone else despite loving me... So much anger rose up from me. I didn't want anyone to have her because she's my love." Then Sukuna broke out of character as he laughed at himself. "So this is what it feels like to be human huh? This lovey dovey feeling, sappy heartaches, and being able to actually feel emotions... Ugh, this is disgusting."

I didn't do anything but listen to him. He's giving me a moment of vulnerability and I'll take it as is.

"Back to what I was saying, her family found out about our little affair and locked her up. I heard it through a friend. Ahaaaa... I remembered it was so hard to breathe because they took what made me happy. I even begged on my knees for them to let me marry her, but they refused and kicked me out of their ground many times."

I imagined how it all happened. Feeling so broken because he lost a part of himself. He shared his first with Nozomi because he wanted to make sure that her betrothed knew he's not her first. Throwing away his pride and honor in front of the Kita Clan to marry a woman he loves from his blood beating heart. The humiliation must've been bad when my ancestors rejected him. I'm guessing they laughed at him and told him that he wasn't worthy to be with her.

Sukuna grunted as he continued, "After constantly visiting the clan, they lied to my face that Nozomi was pregnant and happy with her newlywed life. No matter how much I remembered her tearful expression from the last night we saw each other, it didn't make sense for her to love a man she didn't want... Later, I found out that she moved out of the village, and the Kita clan spread malicious rumors about me. AHAHA!" I knew that laugh was a turning point of his sanity to go dark. "I turned mad... I sold my soul to the devil and began killing humans and shamans. I turned into a monster and forgot all about Nozomi because she must've been happy with her new husband! Three years of losing connection, I knew she was gone from my life."

I didn't understand Sukuna at all. Yes, his tragic love story was sad, and yet I can't help but not understand why Sukuna didn't do better to find her. "You should already know that the Kita clan would've punished her to death if she were to escape the house to find you. She lived in fear and isolation; it's not an easy cycle to break out from. I'm pretty sure she was waiting for you all these years to find her because she still loved you. But you gave up on her when she never gave up on you. You never tried to seek her out and ask if she still loved you or not. You had so many chances to find her, but you chose to turn into a demon and forget about her." He made me annoyed. He let his thoughts take over his ability to find her and get a final answer from her own mouth, not his own head.

"It's not as easy as you think it was. I couldn't even leave my own house without getting targeted, all because I loved Nozomi. Do you even know how much a human can take before losing their mind?"

I carefully answered his question. "It varies person to person. However in your case, you broke immediately because gossip wouldn't stop spreading, and you snapped because of my clan and everyone else around you."

"Of course. Time was different back then, so I don't expect you to understand that well either... Continuing on, I killed many people. I still don't regret it because I hated everyone. If I suffer, they're going to suffer as well." Sukuna said it casually like he's actually happy about his action. It brought nothing but destruction. I assume he didn't blink twice when slaying humans and shamans. "When I was on my last battle, my blackened heart beated for the first time in four years..."

From where he's getting at, that means Nozomi appeared to unintentionally kill him. I cannot imagine killing Gojo because he strayed away. It really must've hurt Nozomi more since she didn't know it herself.

"I stopped attacking humans and shamans, and I ran towards Nozomi. I couldn't understand why she wasn't scared of me. Men, women, and children feared for their lives, whereas she didn't. Her eyes looked so happy and determined." Then Sukuna explained how Nozomi pulled him into a trap by using her domain expansion. "That idiot started crying when my skin began burning from her power. She cried clutching onto me, begging for this to stop." Sukuna paused for a moment, exhaling out quietly. "She explained through her crying eyes that my soul was supposed to be purified by her cursed energy and I was supposed to turn back to a human." He released me from his hold, and I slowly tried to crawl away since my head was killing me, but he placed both of his hands on the sides of my head. "I'll show you instead of talking about it..."

Instantly, I pulled back from his hands as I fell on my back. The emotional ride made my eyes water. I took in the memory he showed me and reflected upon it. "Nozomi died happily. She didn't hesitate to even sacrifice herself, Sukuna—"

"I can't let you leave, Ena." His hand pulled me sitting up as the pain still coursed through my head. He really could've cracked my skull. I don't even know how I didn't black out from the blow. I'm on the verge to, because it's slowly building up in my head and ears. My eyes stared at him then slowly rolled down.

"No... No matter how much you long for Nozomi, I am not her. You lost her a long time ago..." my eyelids started to droop, and my breathing became shallow. I can't bring myself to stay conscious. "I will be like Nozomi in a sense when she married a man she didn't love.... If you take away my loved ones, you're subjecting misery on me. Nobody's going to be happy." My head leaned to the side, tipping my body over. "If I didn't have her face, you would've killed me instantly because my ancestors made you like this..." Slowly my eyes closed and my body dropped. My consciousness slipped away like my blood leaking from my head.

"I've been given a second chance... and yet the universe repels me and my lover apart. You can reject me as many times you want, but I'm not letting you go... I will make you mine!"