Tropes~ Bully love interest, childhood enemies to lovers, coerced relationship.
Synopsis~ The July Sun and anger burn. Sukuna losses the last strands of his humanity, and death marks the Itadoris. You can't take it any longer.
Tw/Cw~ Death, War, WW2, dark themes, forced relationship, bullying, killing. Read at your own discretion.
Series Masterlist
Taglist Open <3
Author's Note~ Sukuna fights for the allies in this fic.
Divider by @/saradika-graphics
It wasn’t fair. You were still alive and Jin’s Widow was dead. Leaving Mr. Itadori with a chunky baby to corral. You shake your head. There was no use thinking of what you could not control. What you could control was the group of children you were here to instruct on how to make a victory garden. Sort of.
One of the children - Joe Us, said your name. “What happens if worms eat the seeds, miss?”
You let out a sigh. “Birds aren’t going to eat the seeds Joe.”
“Worms,” he corrected you, squinting his black eyes up at you.
“Well Joe, worms don’t eat seeds.”
“How do we know that? We can’t stick our heads down there.” He said, tilting his head. A few of the other children had stopped working and were listening. Great.
“Because we do Joe.” You said, turning back to the hole you were digging. By his little huff you could tell he wasn’t satisfied with your answer. But you had already explained why the sun set, why plants didn’t grow backwards, and you had been asked if you were pregnant, and then pointedly asked if you were married. You could not take it any more. At all.
“You know Joe,” said Davy-Ray, an eight year old who had once convinced the children’s group you led that Heaven was in Canada. “A giant worm ate King Herod in the Bible,” he said amiably,“Ate him right up.” Even though your back was turned, you could picture Davy-Ray with his hands in his overalls pockets and his chubby chest puffed out.
“Naw, you must be off your gourd,” Joe said.
“Sure as the Mississippi runs,”Davy-Ray said. “Now he said he was king of the world, so God sent a giant worm to swallow him whole.” He paused for a second. “You reckon he’s gonna send one to eat Hitler?’
You closed your eyes. It was going to be a long morning.
It was Three o’clock before it was time for you to head home. Your head pounded and the July heat didn’t help. The sun beat down on you, causing sweat to run into your eyes. It had been a miserable summer, you thought irritably.
The walk from the community center to your home was awful. Your blouse was soaking wet when you reached your doorstep. You opened the door and slid your shoes off. There was no point in calling out to your mother. She was visiting Mr. Itadori and helping with baby Yuji.
On the entryway table lies a letter. Your mother must have run to the post office earlier. The sharp neat script catches your eye. Dread flips in your gut. You had heard that Violet Ivanovna’s sweetheart’s letters took months to arrive. Why was it your luck that Sukuna’s letters found you so often? You pick it up, the sweat of your palm stains it.
You walk up the stairs to your bedroom, a heavy cloud following you. Every time you see his handwriting, it’s like he’s standing there behind you, watching you. You practically can smell his after shave, the clean scent drowning in the heat of his body. The press and weight of his attention never truly leaves you. Even in sleep you feel him, sinking into you, his flesh melding with your own. His hands etching your form, then sinking in and changing what he could.
You reach the top of the stairs and turn down the hall to your bedroom. You open the door and are halfway through it, when you hear a loud creak. You pause, inching back into your room, until only your head is in the doorway. You listen, but when you hear nothing else, you close the door. On your head. Pain shoots through you. You stumble backwards, your eyes and lips pinched. Idiot, idiot, idiot. Hot tears bubble out of your eyes.
You curl up on your bed. You clutched your head. Already, you can feel a dull ache starting. Sukuna’s letter is still curled in your fingers. You sit up, ignoring the pain. You tear it open.
Dear (A brownish stain - is that blood? Covered your name),
I am starting to grow tired of your silence. Do you know how humiliating it is when all the other men get letters from their women, care packages even, but I never even get a dot of ink? They think I’m a god here, what kind of god has a woman who doesn’t show him an ounce of care? But it doesn’t say much about me. It says everything about you. Didn’t your ma raise you better than this? Isn’t that what dames learn about, taking care of their man. You obviously fail in this aspect. I love you despite this. After we are married, I expect you will shape up.
I’ve thought about it. We’ll have two girls and one boy. I don’t want any more sons, I will explain this more at a later date. We’ll move towns, I don’t want to live too close to the Old Man and I don’t want Jin poking his nose in my business. I haven’t heard from him in a few months, but I know if I was within walking distance the ugly bastard would always be up in my business. I never liked that town anyway, everyone thinks they are owed access to your life.We’ll buy a house and I’ll go to university while working in Pop’s mechanic shop to support you and the baby. After I graduate with a degree in something that’ll make us a good bit, we’ll move on last time. How does the coast sound? I’ll get you house right on the water, and you’ll be able to smell the sea salt.
But enough of this sappy shit. I’m getting sick of you acting like you don’t love me. You played hard to get right up until the end and then you practically tossed yourself into my arms. I keep getting letters that you’re letting that jody keep you warm, that you go out with him practically every night. I am going to kill him when I get home. You can tell him that.
Yours, Major Sukuna Itadori
P.S. I better get two pictures now.
You shoot out of your bed like Poseidon rising out of the deep. The crumbled letter falls on your floor as you stomp to your desk. A dull throb in your head. You grab a sheet of paper and a pen.
Sukuna,
I will. never. be. yours. I hate you. I have always hated you. Since I was five and you pushed me the first time. I have hated you. You are a disgusting pig. I knew that when you shoved Will Jones’ head in a toilet, back in high school, and when you hazed Ron Dark when he tried to join the football team so hard he moved to live with his uncle to get away from you. You are a bully that expects the entire world to submit to you. You are utterly ridiculous if you think you are a god now. Ha. You are a demon.
It is a shame that Jin is dead and you’re still alive. I prayed God would kill you, unfortunately, death mistook Jin for you and took the better twin. It should have been you. If fate was just, you would be lying dead in a trench with your head the trophy of the enemy. But you are still alive and just as wretched as the day you killed your mother being born. How does it feel to have taken two lives just to exist?
I refuse to be another casualty to keep you alive. Stop writing to me.
Never Yours,
You hurriedly shoved the letter into an envelope. Damn it, it wasn’t enough to wait for tomorrow, you would walk over to the post office today.
“Letter for Major,” Kashimo hands his superior officer the letter, his eyes gleaming. “Looks like it’s from the missus.”
“Get out,” Sukuna grunts. His blood is pumping and if Kashimo doesn’t leave him alone in the next three seconds - he’ll wind up with a kick to his nether regions. Kashimo probably knows this, so he gives Sukuna another infuriating smirk and saunters out.
He carefully opens the letter. His hands etching the paper like it is the form of his patron goddess. He frowns slightly when he doesn’t catch a whiff of her perfume. But then he figures that it probably wore off on the way across the ocean. When the first letter of her frantic script reaches his eyes he sits back.
As much as he longs to tear through the letter, his nature won’t let him. He slowly reads each poisoned jab. Sukuna only stops when he reads about Jin’s death.
Jin dead. Jin couldn’t be dead, he had always been the lucky of the two. It wasn’t possible, she had to be lying. It was just one other thing trying to hurt him. It was absurd really, Jin couldn’t be dead.
She must have deluded herself. No, he knew it wasn’t right. He couldn’t focus on her for once. Jin dead. . . no it couldn’t be. But he remembers a night a few months ago. He had been asleep and had dreamed that he was riding the train to the city. He had seen Jin, he had passed through the train compartment until he reached Sukuna’s seat. He had glanced down at Sukuna and smiled. Not the forced one, but the one that he wore when they were eight running down the street laughing. Jin had made no move to touch Sukuna like he normally would. He merely said, “I get off here.”
Sukuna had woken up with tears - no, he didn’t cry, Sukuna Itadori did not cry. But it had felt as though he had said goodbye to his brother. But when he wrote Pops, the old man simply told him Jin was on a ship and his wife was expecting.
He kills a boy the next day. He hadn’t been a boy when Sukuna killed him, just another enemy attempting to jump into his foxhole. When he pushed the boy's body off his own, his eyes catch the boy's eyes, open and pleading. And he sees Jin. I just killed my brother, the thought hits him like a clap of thunder. I killed my brother.
You look in the mirror and straighten your back. It lasts only a second before you are hunched over. You killed Jin Itadori. It’s your fault. You know it is.
You can’t see Alfred tonight. Maybe ever. You are a killer after all. Maybe you do deserve that demon. Maybe you were made to be his demon bride. You shudder as another sob racks your body. You just can’t take it anymore.
Tropes~ Bully love interest, childhood enemies to lovers, coerced relationship.
Synopsis~As the first letters arrive, your dread grows. But surely he can't expect you to remain faithful to him if you weren't even going steady? Right? Meanwhile, Sukuna makes your name a battle cry.
Tw/Cw~ Violence, war, ww2, Sukuna, dark themes, forced relationship, sexisim, death, threats.
Series Masterlist
Taglist Open <3
Divider by @saradika-graphics
Jody ~ a man that sleeps with a serviceman's partner while he is away.
Dear, (the script was blotted there with what looked like a food stain.)
Pops says you're volunteering at the red cross. The potty old man wrote saying that you were going house to house collecting scrap metal. Stop that. We don’t need you. Enough of us are going over that we don’t need some dame risking her life and honor. There are a bunch of creeps that will try to force you to do things. The war will be over soon.
Stay out of trouble. I don’t want to have to come back in a year or two and bust some fellow’s face in.
Yours, Sukuna Itadori
You folded the letter and then unfolded it. Idiot. Stupid idiot. Why for heaven’s sake, did the fool think he had any right to write to you? And to beat all, telling you what to do in such a manner. Well, you weren’t going to let Sukuna Itadori control your life from hundreds of miles away. You were sick of living in fear, having to plan your life around where or when you’d have to deal with him.
You tossed the letter in the trash bin. Standing, you straightened your collar. It was a shame that every fellow your age was signed up or already gone to training. It would be nice to have a date without having to worry about Sukuna. Ever since high school, anytime a fellow showed a lick of interest in you, Sukuna would have a little chat with him.
Your mother called your name from down stairs. “Coming mother,” you yelled back. You adjusted the headband holding your hair back and started down the stairs.
Jin Itadori stood at the base of the stairs, his hands in his pockets, happily chatting with your mother. Your breath caught, for a second you had thought it was him. The smile froze on your face.
“Honey,” your mother said, beaming at you. “Jin here is going to drive you to the community center. Isn’t that so sweet of him!” Sometimes you really despised having such a sweet mother, a person who only saw the good in others.
“Yes,” you said, a painted smile on your lips. Jin Itadori was nothing but his big brother’s pawn. You knew why he was here. “It sure is kind of you Jin.”
He grinned. “It is my pleasure, ladies. And I will say Mrs.,” he said your last name, grinning down at your mother. “I thought you were (Y/n) for a second, you could pass for sisters.”
You could tell your mother was flustered based on the way she tugged the strings of her apron. You almost rolled your eyes, but a guilty pang went through you. When was the last time someone told your mother she was pretty?
“Well,” Jin said, giving you his arm. “We better hurry before I make you late.”
With a wave and a grin, the two of you left your mother standing in the entryway, waving.
The engine started with a purr and Jin glanced over at you. Gone was the charm that oozed off him before, a knit brow and pursed lips had replaced it. He eased out of the driveway, his eyes focused on the figure of your mother in the doorway. For a while the drive was silent. You played with the hem of your coat. How did he know when you went to work? From when you were a little girl Jin had always been the nicer of the Itadori brothers. He had even defended you a few times when Sukuna chased you with a snake or a frog. But nice isn’t the same thing as kind, as your father liked to say.
“I’m sorry,” Jin broke the silence. You glanced over at him. His adam’s apple bobbed.
“There’s nothing I can do.”
“About what?” Your nails dug into the leather of his car’s seat.
“What Jin? About what?” You wanted him to admit it. Someone to admit it. Someone not to gush about how romantic it was. Someone not to say how they always knew it would be you and Sukuna after they watched him chase you down the street screaming. Someone not to question why you weren’t jumping at the opportunity to be on the arm of such a promising young man.
“You know,” Jin says, making a sharp left turn.
“Look I know he has some rough edges but -”
“Shut up, Jin!” Your voice rose. “Just shut up,” your voice pittered out to as soft as a sigh.
“I don’t want him. I won’t ever want him,” a shot of bravery went through you. “And you can tell him that too.”
Jin remained silent. The rest of the ride passed quickly and before you knew it you were in front of the community center.. Just when you were about to close the door of his automobile, Jin looked at you and said, “Good luck.”
“You too,” you say. And you do mean it. Jin is signed up to fight for your country. You know Jin, you know that he signed because he believes in what he is fighting for. Unlike his twin.
Nine months later, Mr. Itadori’s got a gold star in his window and Jin’s widow is waddling around with Jin’s baby. You avoid her eyes. After all, you had wished death in the Itadori family. What if death had mistaken Jin for Sukuna? They were twins after all.
Sukuna doesn’t mention Jin dying in his letter. He only complains about you not writing to him. Though towards the end, he makes an offhand remark about how Jin’s stopped writing to him. You realize that Mr. Itadori must be keeping Jin’s death from Sukuna for some reason. You burn the letter after reading it.
It’s summer when you meet Alfred. He's not as tall as Sukuna and his frame is narrow, not Sukuna’s raw brawn. Alfred is sweet though. His eyes are kind and the color of moss. And he always has a slight smile on his face. You like him. Which is why when he asks you to go out, you say yes.
When the two of you enter the diner on east seventh street, you get looks, brows are raised and you can practically feel the whispers starting. Alfred shoots you a comforting smile, his hand comfortably situated on your upper back. A gentleman, you think. Sukuna had never really touched you. But his eyes went where his hands never could. You always could feel the burn of his eyes searching you.
“Guess not all the locals are as friendly as you,” Alfred says, his eyes darting at the openly staring patrons of the diner.
“We’re just not used to strangers.” Your smile is strained. You glance down at the menu. Your stomach has gone sour and nothing sounds good. Even Marge’s World-Famous Peach Cobbler. Sukuna loved pea- No, you refused to think about Sukuna. This is your life and you’ll be damned if you let him control it even overseas.
Dear (your name was written so hard the paper was torn),
What’s this about you stepping out on me? I didn’t believe Pop’s when he told me some jody was talking to my girl. But damn it, I got other letters telling me about you playing like some painted up.
I know you. He probably told you I stopped thinking about you, that I don’t look at your picture before I get up and when I go to bed, that I don’t have your name tattooed on my heart, that I haven’t loved you since we were five and wrestling in the mud. But he’s lying. It’s you, it’s always been you. I could have any girl I want. All I have to do is look and they come to me. You better thank God every day that I chose you. Tell him to go, because if he’s there when I get back I’ll kill him.
Answer my letters. I am tired of you acting like a spoiled brat.
Yours, Major Sukuna Itadori
P.S. Got promoted send me a picture of your -
You didn’t finish the letter. You crumpled it and tossed it in the trash bin. No, you changed your mind and jerked it out. You struck a match and lit a candle. You watched the flame eat at Sukuna’s thick dark script. Something hot and wet rolls down your cheek. You know what they say about you, two timer, breaking brave Sukuna Itadori’s heart while he was out fighting for the country. You knew. You thought you didn’t care, you thought you could carry on and pretend like you were all right.
You drop the letter as the last of the edges burns away. Something inside of you hardens, it steels itself. It doesn’t tell your eyes though. You burst into sobs. Somehow you end up on your bed, fists clinching the quilt your grandmother sewed for your twelfth birthday.
If they thought it was your fault now, imagine if they knew about you wishing Sukuna dead. If they knew about dead Jin Itadori and his widow and son, and how that was your fault too.
You buried your face in your pillow and sobbed harder.
Sukuna Itadori has discovered many things about himself since leaving home. He’s a natural, they said about him in bootcamp. His men think he’s a hero or he’s a kind of god of war. He isn’t, but he’ll let them think whatever helps them sleep at night. But what rots in his belly is the fact that he can’t go to sleep without thinking about her.
Her smile could turn lemons to lemonade. Sure, he had never been the direct recipient of it, but he knew one day he would be. When I get back, he promised himself. When he got back he would marry her. He’d kiss her with all he had. Have a load of brats, he knew women liked brats, and maybe it wouldn’t be too bad to have some kids that looked like him and her. He smiles up at the bunk above him, soon, when the war was over.
Tropes~ Bully love interest, childhood enemies to lovers, coerced relationship.
Synopsis~ Sukuna Itadori is the biggest bully in town. You should know - he tormented you from your childhood in the same neighborhood all the way until high-school. He became popular, the captain of the football team. When the war starts, the Itadori's invite you for dinner. There they ask you to accept Sukuna when he asks you out, this time. After all he'll be shipping out in a few weeks. What's one date?
Tw/Cw~ Sukuna is darkish in this fic. WW2, war, forced relationship?
Series Masterlist
Author's Note~ Does this count as dark? This Sukuna is lighter than canon Sukuna but he's still icky. Hope y'all like this! TAGLIST CLOSED UNTIL PART TWO IS POSTED!
Divider by @/saradika-graphics
You look down, avoiding his gaze. You could feel the weight of his reddish brown eyes on you. And you knew what was coming. Sure enough, a second later Sukuna was at your side. You clutched your family's mail in your hand. Of all places the post office! It was bad enough when he cornered you in secluded hallways back when you were in high-school, or on the walk home after working a shift at the soda fountain. But in the post office of all places! Where a few of your neighbors and your parents' friends were.
He says your name all low and controlled, like everything about him. You look up at him for a second before your eyes flicker back down to the stack of letters in your hand. You flick through them, eyes not really reading the names and addresses. He says your name again, a slight scoff coming from him.
“Come with me to the pictures Friday night,” he demands, because Sukuna Itadori never asks.
You don’t meet his eyes.”I can't, I'm busy,” you say.
“With what?” You can hear the snarl in his voice.
Last time you told him your cousin was in town and you had to show her around, he had shown up at your house the next morning and escorted you and her around in his brand new automobile. The time before that you had told him you had to work at the soda fountain, he had spent a few hours sitting at the counter during your shift then he had insisted on walking you home. And before that at your graduation he had asked you to come to a party for him and his twin Jin, you had had to go, he hadn’t left your side once and even had slung his muscular arm over your shoulders by the end of the night.
“I’ve got to wash my hair.” You know it’s a lousy excuse the moment it leaves your lips, but it’s all you got.
“Alright,” he says, his lips pulled tight. He looks over his shoulder, the muscles in his neck tight.
“I’ll see you later,” he says.
Your shoulders sink in relief as he leaves. How could you ever start seeing the boy who used to put gum in your hair and constantly mock you? What did he expect? For you to just forgive him, to let him take you out, even marry him? You had heard from Betsy Lawrence that Pete Corners had seen Sukuna looking at rings in the jewelry store. She had said while smacking her chewing gum. Grinning at you like you should be elated. You hadn’t reacted. You knew anything you said or did would be all around town by the next morning. And he would know.
You pulled your coat around you and left the post office. While you were glad Sukuna had left you alone, a ride in his automobile would have been nice. After all, it was early December.
The attack happens on Sunday, the war starts on Monday, and two days later it is not just Japan but the entire Axis powers. Just about every fellow old enough and able has already signed up. You're one of the first to hear that Sukuna has signed up. Your mother mentions that Mr. Itadori had mentioned that Sukuna had gone to register that morning when she dropped off some cookies. “Such a good boy,” she says, eyeing you. You keep stirring the green beans.
“Mr. Itadori wants you to come to dinner at their home tomorrow night” she says. You lift your head in surprise. Sukuna was going to the city tomorrow, you knew that because of Betsy Lawrence. And Betsy was never wrong.
“Alright,” you say quietly. Mr. Itadori was a kind man. His health was bad so everyone in the neighborhood tried to do the small things he asked for. What was one dinner? Besides, Sukuna wouldn’t be there.
The dinner was quiet. Jin was interesting and kind, but he looked so much like his twin, that you had a hard time looking at him head on. But Mr. Itadori kept the conversation going, talking about how the war would change the prices of things, how he suspected Mr. Jones of taking the neighborhood stray cat in, how he Mrs. Kilmeny wouldn’t stop pestering him to join her bridge group. You had to suppress a smile at that. Everyone knew how Mrs. Kilmeny was after Mr. Itadori after her husband had passed away two years ago.
Mr. Itadori sat back in his chair, eyeing you. “Jin you can go call Kaori, if you want to.”
“Really, pops!” Jin set up, his chair scraping against the floor. He was gone from the room before his dad could get another word out.
You sat in silence. Your hands folded in your lap. Mr. Itadori looked at you hard, his brows furrowed.
“I know my boy is rough around the edges,” he says. Your throat goes dry and you wish you were anywhere but here. He sighs. “I never let him have what he wanted, he was so stubborn, it was always a fight.” You blink, squeezing your shoulders together.
“It made him better, tougher. Jin didn’t get the same, but Jin was built different than Sukuna,” he pauses, but he keeps his eyes on you. You’re reminded of Sukuna and his predator eyes. “I know he’s been after you these past few years and I understand why you wouldn’t be interested, you’re a soft thing. But he’ll be shipping out in a few weeks.”
You wish you were home. You wish you hadn’t agreed to come to dinner. You wish you had never known the Itadori’s. You wish Sukuna had kept sticking gum in your hair, rather than trying to clumsily claim you.
“Just one date. Let him take you out, the fellow will be in Paris Island in a few weeks or so.”
Why is he doing this to you?
“Just one,” he says. “Give him a memory to take with him to his training and to the war.”
“Yes, sir,” you say. If you were stronger, smarter, you would have said no. But you had been trained to obey, to submit to authority. Maybe if you had known, but how could you have known?
“Who knows," he says, “you may even start to like the bastard."
You see Sukuna the next day as you finish your shift at the soda fountain. He looks at you, his face looks harder somehow. Like he’s grown up, like he’s stopped being a boy.
“Hi Sukuna,” you say quietly.
He looks surprised that you talked to him without his prompting. But then his face settles into a mask of smug confidence. He says your name like it’s a prayer to some ancient goddess. “What have you been doing?” Sukuna asks you like he isn’t used to asking you questions. And he isn’t, you can’t remember a time when he ever asked you your feelings on anything.
You give him a small smile. “I’ve been busy getting ready for the holidays. How about you, Sukuna? What have you been doing?”
He shrugs his massive shoulders back. “Signed up for the Marines. I’m going to basic training in two weeks.”
“Oh.” What are you supposed to say? Usually you would sit in silence while he would brag about himself.
Sukuna rubs the back of his neck. He says your name again, low almost sweetly. “Would you like to go out for milkshakes tonight?” He asks.
“I’d like that,” you say, blinking as you lie.
His pupils widened. Then a slow smile pulls his lips back. You’re reminded of a dog with a dead animal in its jowls. He steps closer, you freeze. Sukuna takes your chin in his fingers. His eyes are the color of dried blood, you notice.
“I knew you -” he cuts himself off, glaring at someone over your shoulder. You hear your Boss - Gladys making a little cough.
You look at him, really look at him. You wish he was dead, dead in the war. As soon as the thought crosses your mind, you internally wince like you touched a hot coal. How could you think such an awful thing? Even about Sukuna.
The date goes relatively smoothly. He picks you up in his automobile because the milkshake place is a town over. The ride is silent as you pick at a loose string in your sweater and he keeps his eyes on the road. But once you reach the ice cream parlor, still open in the dead of winter, he starts talking. He tells you about how Jin is signing up for the Navy, how Jin is planning to propose to Kaori. He pauses then and looks you over. He asks you what you think about marriage. You tell him what you think, you’d like a few years. He nods at that, like a rich man doing inventory over the things he owned.
When he takes you home, he kisses your cheek, all slow, his mouth lingers on your cheek. The heat of his lips sears your cheek. But you do nothing.
The next time you see Sukuna, he’s shipping out for basic training. You stand on a dusty platform with the rest of the residents of your town. You feel him before you see him. Sukuna Itadori looms over you, then his mouth is on yours. He dips you back in a kiss, and then he is gone.