Stay by My Side, My Baby

Chapter I: Stillborn

You are my sunshine

My only sunshine

You make me happy

When skies are gray

You'll never know, dear

How much I love you

Please don't take my sunshine away

---

It started with a small inquiry.

"Yuuji," Gojo-sensei asked while pulling down his blindfold. "What is that in your stomach?"

That small question changed Yuuji's life overnight. Not that he's unfamiliar with the notion. It used to be a... not particularly small finger that changed his life, but now... now it's something entirely other.

Sukuna is the one behind this, Yuuji is sure, even though the curse always ignores or deflects the boy's questions and screams and cries. There's no one else that, as far as Yuuji knows, is capable or will benefit from this.

No one else wants the child that's growing in his belly.

They weren't sure what the bundle of cursed energy forming within Yuuji was at first. Gojo-sensei spent some time observing him, trying to make sense of what he's seeing. Yuuji had never seen him more serious, sharp eyes laser-focused on one point of his student's middle. And when he reached out, as if trying to touch whatever it was he's seeing, Sensei's hand draws back as quick as a lightning. Sukuna's cursed energy suddenly spiked at the older man's proximity, sharp and true like the tip of a sword finding a weak point, almost breaching the infinite barrier surrounding the human god.

Don't touch, the warning said.

Yuuji's happy-go-lucky teacher had never looked so grim.

Gojo-sensei was obviously suspicious of something, but he refused to share his speculation. From the looks he received from Kugisaki and Fushiguro, Yuuji wasn't the only one who found this frightening. Yuuji was dying to know what was happening, but at the same time, he wished to be oblivious, as if whatever the problem was, it'll disappear just from him not knowing. It wasn't until he was brought into the infirmary where Ieiri-sensei conducted some tests that they finally figured it out. It was a finding that led Yuuji to do his natural business on several different pregnancy test sticks and then an ultrasound for good measure.

The child of Ryomen Sukuna was growing in his womb. An impossibility that should've stayed contained in stories and not in reality.

The thing was barely a month old when they found its existence. It took Yuuji twenty-four hours to truly digest what he was told. Because the idea is ridiculous. Improbable.

He's a man. There's no way-

"Yes," Sukuna drawls on his cheek as they both stared at the twin red stripes on a stick that momentarily pulverized Yuuji's sanity to bits. "Way."

And the King of Curses watched, uncaring, as Yuuji destroyed everything he owns in a fit of rage. He sighed in exasperation as Yuuji cried and sobbed and screamed and begged.

"I don't want this!" Yuuji wailed. His life is ruined even more than it already is.

"Too bad," Sukuna answered calmly. "What you want doesn't matter to me."

The curse refused to answer questions. He wouldn't divulge how he managed to alter Yuuji's body, or what he's planning to do with the child. For once since they've known each other, Sukuna manifested his eyes under Yuuji's without saying anything. Not even one insult or sneer.