Moonlight On The River [ SukuFushi ]

Chapter 10: Fleeting

The walk back to the bridge is deathly silent. A terrible quiet.

There's only the raspy breaths of air Megumi manages; his tight chest, still burning and crumbling like his ribcage has caved in on itself. The clicking of horse hooves against rocky earth, the tip-taps of Kuro's nails, a scuffing of Sukuna dragging his boots through the dirt – close behind him, at Megumi's back.

Megumi has to stop to vomit a couple times.

The first time it's mostly water, just the muddy contents of the river. Then it turns to hacking up the soggy remains of their small lunch. A waste. Sukuna rubs his back, quiet. Each time, Megumi makes a noise straight from his throat and his entire body convulses with the effort of it, like a cat hacking up a furball but instead it's bile, viscous and stringy.

Still, everything is so fucking quiet.

Not to mention, it's cold. Kuro keeps brushing against his legs as they walk, in an attempt to warm Megumi's body up.

He still shakes though, tremors from cold river water soaking him to the bone, coupled with nighttime's plummeting temperature. The tremors continue even after Sukuna helps him take off his wet clothes and shrug into fresh ones, throwing on Sukuna's oversized coat for good measure. It doesn't help much. They need to get around a fire.

Sukuna is shaky too. In Megumi's periphery, he sees the man's hands tremble, just before Sukuna balls them up into fists, like it'll stop the quivering. Whether it's from the cold or the shock or the terror of what just transpired, Megumi doesn't know – it's most likely all three.

Megumi feels himself crawling into a numb state, catatonic. He walks beside Sukuna and feels unnervingly empty, disoriented. Like he's supposed to be feeling something.

Finally arriving at the bridge, they're met with the sight of four dead bodies. Megumi doesn't give them a glance when he stumbles by and retrieves his dropped medical bag. The bag has blood stains on it. Ones that'll take a while to rub and wash out.

In the background, he spots Sukuna crouching and searching through the bandits' jackets, sticking his hand in and out of pockets, patting down their bodies. He's never had any qualms about using dead men's things. Megumi doesn't say anything, just watches, still trying to catch his breath.

Bullets, a pack of cigarettes, chewing gum, a harmonica which Sukuna wipes off and blows into, shrilly piercing the air. He takes a pocket watch, belt buckles, the rings and earrings off of the woman – things Megumi can tell Sukuna plans to sell in town.

When he checks the man that spat on Megumi, Sukuna is none too gentle stripping him of his belt and clearing out his pockets.

Letting out an empty chuckle, he lifts a wad of paper dollars from the inside of the bloodstained jacket. "Looks like Buddy here didn't really need any of our money."

He stretches up to his feet and pockets it. "Suppose he won't be needin' it no more."

It's a way of explanation to Megumi, a prepared defense for stealing from the dead.

Megumi presses his lips into a line. He wonders if the money is from others the gang has robbed and murdered on the road. Wonders how many times Sukuna has done this before, for him to be able to recognize the warning signs. The thought makes Megumi feel sick, like he might start throwing up more water from his lungs.

He remains silent though. Sukuna looks at him then, carefully.

"Do you want me to bury them?" he asks.

Swallowing, Megumi turns back to the corpses – to the woman with a bullet through her throat and her deceptive broken leg. He wonders again on how many people they've done this to.