In Your Eyes

Chapter 5

Notes for this chapter: Kemari (蹴鞠) is an athletic game that was popular in Japan during the Heian period. It resembles a game of football (soccer) or hacky sack.

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Sukuna was starting to lose his patience.

Days go by and the sorcerer tirelessly bothered him, tailing him around akin to a lost puppy. Thoughts of devouring the annoying kid crossed his mind but they were unfit to his taste. From their small frame, there's very little meat from them. Unworthy.

"If you don't give me an answer, I won't let go of you!"

He groaned in irritation but continued to ignore.

Uraume ran as the curse user entered a field of corpses and covered their nose before stepping in as well. The smell of death lingered in the air. Their vision scanned the area where decaying bodies were scattered. Sorcerers? The men's clothes were familiar and by the looks of their corpses, the battle happened several weeks ago.

Sukuna grabbed a random body. Uraume initially thought he was going to loot it but the curse user dumped it back and went inside a dilapidated shack. Uraume poked their head to observe him and gazed at the sky outside.

The night quickly approached and the mosquitoes from the outside grate their nerves. Uraume swore under their breath when their stomach growled. They've been eating nothing but raw fruits in the forest for the last few days. Uraume decided fuck it and went to the shack as well.

There they found Sukuna resting, leaning on the wall with his eyes closed. His face was peaceful despite maintaining the frightening air around him. Seeing him in such a state was still strange for Uraume, even after observing him from afar for days. However, they noticed that something was amiss. Despite their persistence, Sukuna did not act violently against them. His steps as he traversed appeared to have slowed, too, a sign of weakened stamina. They also took a curiosity as to how they never saw him eating at all.

A sound of protesting stomach that was not from them was heard. Uraume smirked, meeting Sukuna's gaze as the man opened his eyes. Hunger, their unspoken question was answered.

Uraume whirled around, eyeing the small shack. There was only one room with what seemed to be a small kitchen. The floor creaked as they walked, cobwebs on the corners and the ceiling. It wouldn't take a genius to deduce that the shack was uninhabited for several weeks or maybe even months. There was no way some food was stored in there or if there was, no way it was edible.

They went outside and wandered. They could at least make a fire in the shack to make food, getting tired of raw, unripe fruits. Uraume peered into the horizon, determined to gather what they would need before the sunset when it would be impossible for them to find something to eat.

They returned after a while carrying loads of vegetables and other herbs they took from someone's backyard, which the villagers who used to inhabit the land left when they ran for their lives as the battle occurred. Uraume found a well - not a dry one, thank the heavens, to fetch water to drink and use it for cooking.

Sukuna was woken up by their movements, pacing back and forth in the small enclosure. Delicious smell of the boiling soup soon stirred him awake.

"This will be done in a few minutes." Uraume spoke quietly, kneeling in front of the sunken hearth where a pot of soup was set.

"What are you doing?"

They turned their head to the man and gave him a look as if he asked a stupid question. "Cooking, what else do you think? I haven't eaten a proper meal for days. I have no idea how you live with it."