To Deserve an ounce of Selfishness.
The terror that swells up within him when he manages to swipe a clean slice through Sukuna’s right cheek is nearly heart stopping. Tears are quick to fill his eyes, blur his vision, when blood slowly drips from the wound that he’d caused. “Now, now, accidents are going to happen every once in a while.” Choso doesn’t move a muscle even as he’s scooped up off his feet into muscular arms that have never not once instilled any sense of fear into him until this very moment. “I’m not upset with you, mishaps are a part of growth, there’s no need for tears. Your ability to use your Cursed Energy and my teaching you to handle it is the same as teaching a Infant to walk for the first time. Stumbling is nothing to be mad over and nothing to fear punishment for.”
Cradled in his arms, the Blood Curse User manages to get his tears under control before any real sobs take hold, still cradled there just as tenderly to watch Uraume dress Sukuna’s injured cheek.
Yuuji is presently partaking in a nap. As he usually is when Sukuna and Choso practice together.
“See, good as new, you’re quite strong even for someone still so small so a simple slice to my cheek is a far better outcome than I’d imagined.”
Choso can’t help it. “What’d you imagine?”
“Oh, a lost limb or a few dismembered fingers.” Sukuna smiles down at him, carrying him down the hall back to the Garden they’d just left after he’d accidentally injured the older Curse, training was thoroughly completed for the day but that didn’t mean they couldn’t enjoy the pleasantness of the garden. “Now, if that had been the case, though, I can say I still wouldn’t be cross with you for taking an arm or a few fingers from me. In that case, you’d still have to be thoroughly punished, to ensure you were more careful in the future.”
“I should still be punished.” He doesn’t truly wish to be, Sukuna’s never truly punished either him or Yuuji in all the time they’d been there, but he deserved whatever painful ramifications came for his failings. “I hurt you, and you’ve been so nice to us, so I should still be punished even if it wasn’t as bad as you say.” Sukuna says nothing to his soft resigned declaration. “I’ll take whatever you think is necessary to compensate for the injury I caused.” They find a place to rest next to a medium sized pond filled with numerous colorful large fish. “All I ask is that Yuuji doesn’t see.”
Choso’s mind shows him a thousand and one images of what his precious Baby Brother might see as Sukuna properly chastises him as he sees fit for the assault made by his careless hand. Surely, the rumors everyone knew about Sukuna weren’t just the ravings of mad people whose minds had left them, so far the man has been quite the contrary in his treatment of them. Perhaps this was the push that broke the illusion the King Of Curses was casting for himself.
“I see.” Something heavy settles in his gut when the Curse nods once as a firm acceptance to his request for Consequence. “Well, I’d intended to overlook this slight hiccup, but if you wish for punishment for blemishing my cheek then I will deliver. Just remember, you asked for me to move my hand accordingly, I will not show mercy while chastising you, so you’ve got no one to blame for what's to befall but yourself.”
His mind provides images of limbs being torn from his person, twisting and yanking, the popping of joints as his arms are dismembered and then his legs. His eyes are carved out by sharp claw shaped nails. Choso admits that his mind can go to some dark places. Blood spilled everywhere, he’s barely clinging to life, waiting for the moment for Death to claim him or his Keeper to heal his wounds so he may be granted another day of Life.
Really, Choso’s mind can get concerningly morbid, he blames Father.
Now, Sukuna is what Modern Humans would call a Child Abuser when it comes to his views on Reprimanding Children, an accident is never something he would truly punish a Little One over, but if said Little One were to break his rules he found nothing wrong with a good solid Spanking. But one breaking rules or outright misbehaving is a far cry from one having a minor (or slightly major) accident while learning something new.
Those rumors and stories that are spread that bring those gruesome images to the child’s mind aren’t without merit, Sukuna is known for such things and worse, but the children hadn’t given him any reason to retaliate with untold violence so why waste shedding blood without a purpose for the action in the first place.
It is as they say, the Golden Rule: Treat Others As You Wish To Be Treated.
In this instance, and the one he’d thought of with missing a limb or two because of an Accident being had while Training, scaring the child into never wanting to continue learning to Perfect the Technique by getting needlessly angry and harsh is far more harmful in the long run. Sukuna can regrow limbs without breaking a sweat and a simple slice to his cheek is but a mere papercut to someone of his Stature. So sure, punishment can still take place, but not all reprimands have to make the little one shed tears of pain and anguish.
True to his word, not an ounce of mercy is given, Choso’s dark thoughts of blood and carnage are quickly washed away. Shaking his head, as best as his current position of restraint permits, he kicks out as he cackles wildly. Four Hands made things so unfair from the start. All it took was one to hold his wrists captive and his arms above his head, another to undo the clasps on his new tailored top, and that left two hands–a total of ten fingers–to do whatever they so pleased to.
Scratching first at his little armpits, nails itch and scratch over the delicate skin, while he’s squealing for mercy even with the knowledge that none will be shown. Fingers replace the nails, wiggling and poking and clawing, Choso’s surprised the scream he let out at that moment alone hadn’t woken Yuuji from his afternoon nap from the sheer Loudness of it’s echoes. Down his ribs those fingers crawl, digging into the right nooks and crannies with just the right pressure at just the right moment, he rocks from side to side as squeals break into his screams of laughter.
All in all, it’s this moment, one that is silly and playful and protective and tender, a moment that’s only theirs. Choso and Sukuna. Choso and the closest thing he’s ever had to what he supposes a proper parent should be like. No sign or sound of Baby Brother in sight, this moment, the silliness and care it contains, is meant for Choso and Choso alone. As he’s screeching and squealing with the cackles of an insane man, laying safe and warm in Sukuna’s lap, unable to see the tortures he most definitely feels being inflicted on his poor abused tummy due to the well placed arm blocking his line of sight. His fingers curled tightly in the sleeve of the kimono in his view, fifteen fingers tormenting his tummy in ways that has him bouncing every few moments and arching into them every few intervals, head thrown back because the realization that the most he can do is grasp onto the man’s sleeve and cackle like a hyena has dawned on him.
It’s in that moment, that Choso feels the guilt of leaving his other brothers behind begin to fade, he’ll never forgive himself completely for what he knows will become of them. But he’s finally getting the attention he’s always given but never gained in return, his tummy is tingling by the time his atonement is concluded and tears prick at the corners of his eyes, someone’s taking care of him, Choso’s always been the one seeing to the needs of others and he loves that he has his Brothers and would never trade them for the world, but now he has someone who’s seeing to his needs and….
Choso is a selfish person.
He never stops thinking about the ones he left behind those months ago, when he and Yuuji disappeared, or the fate that they surely met in response to Father’s Disastrous Ire when those sent out to find and return the two that had gone missing come back empty handed.
Choso likes that he can act as young as he still is now. That he can have a bad moment or a bad day and raise his arms for someone to comfort him and someone is there to meet him with that desired comfort. Likes that when Yuuji gets sick from playing out in the snow for too long, Uraume is the one who prepares soup and tea and remedies, while Sukuna asks gently about his own wellbeing because Choso was out in the cold just as long as Yuuji was and though yes because of his halfling nature it’s rather more difficult to catch the same illness as Baby Brother had that doesn’t mean that if he’s feeling unwell he won’t be tucked in nice and warm with Baby Brother for soup and tea and sleep until he feels better again. Choso’s always been the caregiver for as long as he can remember but he’s never known what it feels like to be on the end of those Receiving the Care being Given.
Sukuna takes over the role that Choso has played since he can remember first Remembering anything, Uraume in the background too, they just get to be…them. He, Sukuna, gets Yuuji down to take his daily nap, the Curse rocking the Babe in his arms until he drifts off, a few times Choso himself is subjected to the treatment upon being caught spying on them once or twice. Sukuna makes not a sound as he gently sets Baby Brother, now fast asleep, down among the blankets to rest. He’s swiftly scooped up before he can think of the need to escape, lulled to sleep just like Baby Brother had been to the gentle swaying motion of the rocking and the soft hum of a lullaby too old for him to know the name of, the last image he sees is the King’s soft smile as he’s being tucked in next to Yuuji for a rest too.
He gets praise and cheers for every achievement of his own, comfort and soothing when he gets injured, Choso is selfish in that he knows he could return to protect his other Brothers but he refrains because he doesn’t want to lose what he was never permitted to have while being there to protect them.
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