true form sukuna x blind reader. heian era. +18.
survive the night.
the reader is an ordinary woman.
you stepped out of his chambers. the suffocating feeling rose around you again, though you did not know why. his presence... it seemed to change with his moods, like a storm cloud gathering overhead. that was what he reminded you of. you could almost admire how capable of a teacher he could be, like the strange beauty of a cloud. not that you would know what one looked like, but your mother had loved telling you about them, about how there was beauty in the things most people feared, especially just before the rain came pouring down.
the heavy wooden doors slid shut behind you on their own.
you were alone again. only the sound of your own breathing remained. empty.
to the right. you had to turn right and make your way back. it was not difficult. just walk, you reminded yourself.
your palm left the door, and you took your first careful steps. one hand remained raised before you out of habit, ready to meet an obstacle before the rest of your body did. besides, there was still one more set of doors ahead.
step after step, your footsteps echoed through the silent corridor.
for some reason, your thoughts lingered on him. part of you wondered if it was the strange patience he had shown you, something you had rarely received from anyone. maybe it was the fact that, despite everything, he had seemed to believe you could be more than your blindness. that you simply had to prove it. or perhaps your mind merely searched for something to dwell on after his constant shifts between warmth and coldness.
your palm met wood. the doors leading back into the main hall of the shrine. you pushed.
the sounds beyond were subdued. not loud, but enough to tell you the shrine had not yet fallen asleep. a pair of footsteps somewhere to your left. at this hour, no one was supposed to wander the halls. that had been one of uraume's rules that morning. though... considering your duties had changed, perhaps the rule no longer applied to you.
you crossed the main hall. straight. then the familiar pillar. right. straight again. your quarters should have been just ahead. the other women were likely already resting by now. it was only you left wandering the shrine.
a quiet sigh escaped your lips.
before you could take the final turn -
a man's voice stopped you. young. far too cheerful for a place like this.
"you don't seem to know where you're going. there's a pillar one step ahead of you... unless you're planning to hug it goodnight." you stopped immediately. his voice had thrown you off. those footsteps... they had been his.
"my lord." you greeted politely, bowing your head toward the sound. whoever he was, he spoke far too comfortably to someone dressed in a servant's robes. you naturally assumed he stood above you.
the man laughed openly. a loud, shameless laugh. as though the king of curses himself was not only a few doors away. there was no tension in him. no fear. or perhaps... he simply knew this place well enough not to fear it.
"my lord?" he repeated with another amused chuckle. "you're new. i can tell." his footsteps circled around you before stopping directly in front of you. then... silence. your head remained lowered just enough for him to lift his gaze and see your face. your eyes. you waited. waited for the usual pause. the pity. the discomfort. the inevitable comment.
instead, his voice remained as bright as before.
"you must be lord sukuna's private attendant... considering the robes, hm?"
"excuse me?" you asked, genuine confusion slipping into your voice. "how could you tell?" so there was meaning behind the colors after all. and somehow... this stranger seemed to know exactly what they meant.
the man standing before you wore an expression just as puzzled as your own. how do you not know? it was written plainly across his face, though he never voiced it.
then again... you were new. still, it seemed unusual.
"the robes." he finally answered. "red is usually reserved for servants chosen by either uraume or lord sukuna himself for more... private duties." he paused, as though recalling something. "strange, though..." a crooked smile tugged at his lips. "the last girl met a bad end." another shameless chuckle. "be grateful your robes aren't blue."
blue. your thoughts immediately drifted to izumi. izumi's robes were blue.
"...why?" you asked. this time, you stood a little straighter. more confident. the young man still paid little attention to formalities. he did not seem interested in humiliating you or reminding you of your place. if anything... he simply seemed amused by the appearance of a new face.
he hummed thoughtfully. you could have sworn you heard him tapping a finger against his puffed cheek.
"blue usually means..." he trailed off. his tongue clicked against the roof of his mouth. pitifully. "you know..." just say it, you thought impatiently. "...ending up as a meal." a brief pause. "one way or another."
your expression fell. the change was immediate. the young man noticed it just as quickly.
"ah..." realization crossed his face. "don't tell me you'd rather have the blue ones?" he laughed again. "you can always swap." the joke. such a shameless joke. someone's death... reduced to something amusing.
...so he really did belong in this place after all.
"how do you know this...?" your tone sharpened noticeably. "do not mock me." the sudden bite in your voice made him pause. his brows lifted. he had noticed you were blind. that much was obvious. but he had also noticed the color you wore. red. and he respected what it meant.
"...all of us know that." he replied, far calmer now. the optimism had faded, replaced by quiet amusement. "i'm more surprised uraume kept that information from you."
silence settled between you. your thoughts had already wandered elsewhere. izumi. why her? was it random? had you simply been lucky?...gods above. should you tell her? of course you should.
your body moved before your thoughts fully caught up. you stepped forward. past the pillar. swiftly. so swiftly that, for a fleeting moment, it almost looked as though you had your sight after all.
the young man instinctively stepped aside to avoid colliding with you. his eyes followed your retreating figure in surprise. your footsteps were quicker than usual. confident. determined. they echoed loudly through the wooden corridors of the shrine. you were no longer navigating by touch. not entirely. the sound itself guided you. the echoes. the distance between each wall. the familiar rhythm of the corridors you had already memorized.
you passed open fusuma one after another. some rooms were empty. others housed servants preparing for the night. more than one pair of eyes followed the streak of red rushing past their quarters.
a ghost. no. just a blur of crimson. impressive. especially for a blind girl. only when familiar voices finally reached your ears did you stop. there. your shared room. without hesitation, your hand found the fusuma, sliding it open with enough force to startle everyone inside. the women looked up at once. several of them jumped at the sudden entrance.
the women looked at you as though you had grown another head. for a brief moment, no one spoke. then izumi's gentle voice broke the silence.
they had all noticed one thing immediately. uraume was not with you. you had returned on your own. a warm smile spread across izumi's face at the realization. you could not see the pride in her expression, but you heard the soft pat of her hand against the futon, loud enough for you to follow.
"come." she said warmly. "we've been waiting. tell us everything."
of course they were curious. you had spent the evening in the chambers of the king of curses himself. who would not want to know what had happened? you, on the other hand... had no intention of filling the room with panic. a small smile found its way onto your lips.
"i am." you answered quietly before swallowing the lingering unease and sliding the fusuma closed behind you. still... you needed to speak with izumi. later. when everyone else had fallen asleep. you would think of something.
the other two women were... not cruel. not exactly. they simply tolerated one another because circumstance demanded it. survival had a way of deciding who deserved kindness. you would rather keep what you had learned between you and izumi. for now. gods knew what might happen if the wrong ears heard it.
the evening settled into an oddly peaceful routine. the women helped undo your hair, carefully removing the ties before combing gentle fingers through the loosened strands. they helped you out of your... rather special robes, folding the crimson garments neatly before setting them aside for the morning. someone straightened your futon while another adjusted the blanket. the small gestures came naturally. without discussion. without expectation of thanks.
as you settled among them, you told them the basics. the path to the washing house. your new duties. meeting lord sukuna. even the stranger details. why not? there was little point hiding those.
izumi listened with quiet attention, asking only a few careful questions whenever something seemed unclear. she never interrupted. never doubted you. the other two women exchanged amused glances more than once. a quiet snicker escaped one of them. then another. they clearly found the entire situation bizarre.
...to be fair. so did you. it was difficult to make sense of a man who mocked you one moment, guided your hand the next, and then threw you back into the corridor as though he had grown tired of your existence. the contradiction lingered in your thoughts.
soon, however, conversation faded. one by one, the lanterns around the servants' quarters were extinguished. the shrine settled into silence. night had finally claimed the mountain. you lowered yourself onto your futon, pulling the blanket over yourself before lying flat on your back. your clouded, milky eyes remained fixed upon the ceiling. or rather... where you imagined the ceiling to be.
sleep did not come. not yet.
you were certain you spent hours lying in the same position.
occasionally, you turned your head. occasionally, your fingers rose to scratch your nose or adjust the blanket that had shifted during the night. sleep refused to take you. the weight of what you knew sat heavier than the thin futon beneath you.
telling izumi. that was the part that unsettled you.
the servants' quarters were quiet now. the small oil lamps had long been extinguished, leaving only the pale moonlight filtering through the wooden lattice windows and thin paper screens. the shrine at night was a completely different place. without the movement of servants, without footsteps and chanting, without the constant rhythm of daily duties, it almost felt abandoned. only the distant sound of wind moving through the mountain trees remained.
the moon had risen high above the shrine when you finally moved. almost as if something had possessed you. you sat upright suddenly.
izumi slept beside you on her own futon, her breathing slow and peaceful. the women had arranged their sleeping places close together, as servants often did, especially in unfamiliar places where loneliness could be just as frightening as danger itself.
your hand reached out into the darkness. searching. pat. pat. until your fingers found warmth. the familiar shape of her shoulder.
without hesitation, you began shaking her gently.
izumi immediately stirred. her body reacted before her mind fully woke, hand moving slightly as she shifted beneath the blanket. her sleepy eyes opened, searching for the reason she had been disturbed. the first thought written across her face was obvious.
"did something happen?" she whispered.
good. quiet. you both needed quiet.
"no-" you paused. "i mean, technically yes."
the answer alone seemed enough to wake her completely. izumi pushed herself up from the futon, sitting properly as the moonlight illuminated only one side of her face. her hair had become slightly messy from sleep, loose strands falling around her cheeks.
the room remained silent. the other women slept.
"izumi, i..." your fingers tightened around the edge of your sleeping robe.
"i found out something today, and before i tell you..." you swallowed."please do not panic." it was a foolish request. because the moment those words left your mouth, izumi became uneasy. her sleepy expression disappeared.
"i'm listening..." her voice was quieter now. her hand found yours beneath the blanket. a steady grip. a silent reassurance.
"when i was on my way back from sukuna's chambers..."you did not bother using the title anymore. who would hear? the room belonged only to the women.
"there was a man. he told me, just listen." izumi listened. she did not interrupt. only her fingers squeezed yours slightly, encouraging you to continue. you shifted closer. "the robes we are wearing..." your hand moved slightly, searching for the fabric. "i need to know which one of you possesses the blue one."
silence. heavy. long. izumi did not answer immediately. you could feel her thinking.
"i do..." her voice was hesitant. "and aoi does." the woman sleeping on the opposite side of the room. oh. so there were two. two marked. greedy, your stomach tightened. you nodded slowly before continuing.
"the robes have meaning." your voice lowered. "each color means something." you squeezed izumi's hand. "red means private servant." a pause. "and blue..." your fingers tightened. "blue is marked for death-"
you barely finished the sentence before
"what do you mean death?!"
the loud voice from across the room made you jump. it was unpleasant.
aoi had not been asleep. the panic in her voice was immediate. raw. her survival instincts had awakened faster than anything else. the blanket was thrown aside violently as she pushed herself upright. the other woman beside her startled awake from the sudden movement, confusion quickly turning into fear as she realized something serious was happening.
"what do you mean death?!" aoi repeated. too loud. far too loud.
the wooden walls of the servants' quarters were thin. every servant sleeping nearby could hear. your heart sank.
"how is it that you get the red one?!" the accusation came instantly. not confusion. not fear. accusation. you were suddenly the target.
izumi rose from her futon.
her voice was just as sharp. just as desperate. both women were no longer thinking clearly. fear had taken over. you had wanted to prevent this. you had wanted only izumi to know. but now, you pushed yourself upward, using the wall for support. they were never supposed to know.
"you blind fool!" her voice trembled. "how are you special?!" the words cut deeper because they carried something more dangerous than cruelty. desperation. "swap the robes with me!"
your hand immediately found the fabric of your crimson robes. your survival. red was not just a color anymore. it was protection. it was proof. it was the only thing keeping you from being thrown into the same fate.
izumi stepped between you and aoi. even now. even while terrified. she still tried to protect you.
"leave her be." her voice shook. "it's not her fault." you could not see them. but you knew. you could feel the tension. two frightened women facing each other. two people who wanted to live.
aoi's gaze burned into you.
"are you out of your mind?" her voice became sharper. "move girl." a pause. "give me the robes now."
as if you would. your fingers curled tighter around the fabric. no. you would not. survival was cruel. but it was survival. and it worked both ways. every single one of you wanted the same thing. to live.
"you are insane!" izumi's voice echoed. the fourth woman finally rose from her futon as well, clutching her own robes tightly. you could not see the color. but you understood. if hers were not blue... then she was afraid for a reason too. everyone was.
aoi shoved past izumi. the struggle became louder. too loud. the wooden frame of the room creaked. a sharp crack followed. then the unmistakable sound of ceramic breaking. a scream. your entire body froze.
the other woman reacted first. the sound of her footsteps rushed toward the door. then the fusuma slid open. she escaped. no hesitation. no apology. just survival. her robes clutched tightly in her hands as she disappeared into the darkness of the hallway.
the screams continued. too loud. too dangerous. someone would come. someone would hear. you had to run. but
your fingers tightened around your own robes. poor izumi. you could imagine it. she was hurt because of you. because you had told her. because you had dragged her into this. you should have kept silent. you should have known better. then
"don't you dare to move you hag!"
aoi's desperate voice cut through the room. she sounded too desperate, like an animal wanting to flee and bite at the same time - dangerous.
but you were already moving. your body reacted before fear could stop it. you rushed forward. into the darkness. the hallway welcomed you. the same hallway you had walked countless times. the same darkness others feared. but you did not.
your blindness had always been treated as weakness. a burden. a flaw. yet now, the darkness belonged to you. your palm did not need to search. your feet already knew where the wooden floor changed. where the pillars stood. where the turns were. where the shadows hid every other person.
behind you, voices faded. footsteps. panic. but ahead, you knew the path. for once, the thing everyone thought made you helpless was the very thing guiding you. - it was your weapon.
before - next
noteย : hmm, nothing is better than some feminine toxicity and an animalistic fight in the middle of the night, right under sukuna's nose... especially when you disturb his sleep. good luck.
+ iโm currently working on two fanfics at the same time, so updates may be a little slow. i really want to pour my heart into this one, so thank you for being patient with me.
