What makes me broken is my expectation and my obsession, not you.

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SHE MOVED WITH GRACE USUALLY foreign to beings of her kind, yet that same grace belied her true nature. She was stubborn. She hated being touched and she didn't like many people. Her hair was nearly as black as the heart she wanted the world to think she had. In the eyes of some she was a monster, but monsters come in many forms, and some monsters aren't really monsters at all. Sometimes monsters are just fairies that are scared to be loved. And sometimes they're the ones that deserve love most.

She wanted to be seen as a beast. From the moment she learned that she would be unchanging to the tides of time, those that she once called kin shunned her, and monster had become a familiar slur thrown towards her.

Yet he couldn't see her as such, for in his eyes she was a gentle flower that the harsh winds of the mountains had abused.

And so, if she was a monster, what did that make him?

He was a storm, and storms devastate, but every time he hurt her, she held her breath and bore the hurricane; repeating to herself一 "One more chance. One more breath. Just one more, and I'll fix him."

Until one day she couldn't hold her breath anymore, and she was half a stormy evening, one tear stained night, two minutes and five seconds away from breaking down.

And she realized, she couldn't fix anyone, not until she fixed herself.

She couldn't fix his view on the world, couldn't shown him how beautiful this place he scorned was. In that she had failed him, he who was so gentle with her, as if the knowledge she could ruin him was inconsequential.

Sukuna had always treated her like broken glass when he himself had been shattered.

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THE SADDEST WORD IN THE WHOLE wide world is the word almost.

He was almost in love. She was almost too good for him. He almost stopped her. She almost waited. He almost lived.

They almost made it.

His life was filled with 'almost's, surrounding him at every corner. 'What if's haunted him, plagued his mind until it rotted it, until he could no longer take the pressure and he'd succumb to the bliss of unconsciousness. They were there when he didn't wish to think of them, the scenarios of 'what could have been' playing nonstop in a secluded space of his memory.

His body severed and power fractured, yet nothing else felt more like torture than that which his mind's eye conjured. A sort of self-punishment, inflicted upon him by his own consciousness. But a coward he was until the end, refusing to face those halcyon days long gone.

A distraction. That's what she was. A distraction that he, however, could not bring himself to get rid of. How foolish of him, to still pine after her, like a naive child. And yet; and yet he loved her all the same, even after all this time, even after all that transpired between them, even after her betrayal (if it could be called that, now that he understood her reasoning).

It would seem, that in his eyes at least, that she would remain all the same as the first time they had met一 a treasure so unattainable that it broke something with him as he thought of her, but still all those pieces of himself still yearned so fervently for all that was her.

(Foolish dreamer with unattainable ideals.)

His past is catching up with him, he thinks as he watches through his vessel's eyes the sorcerers' preparations for their venture into the Makai. He doesn't understand, however much he ponders, the intentions of the yokai with their actions. No reasons were given, no explanations and no details as to what this meeting would consist of. He'd say that it was typical of them, this lack of regard towards humans. Not a lot has changed in the past few centuries, it would seem.

He watched as the Six Eyes wielder gave the three first years a crash course on the world of demons with the limited information that sorcerers had. It wasn't much, admittedly. Just the basics with a bunch of speculations sprinkled in, as well as a few guidelines for when they will interact with the yokai. The little that they had was accurate, though there were a few instances where it was completely erroneous, such as一

"They are led by the two inuyokai half-brothers."

一and who was he to let them live in misinformation?

"Wrong." His word echoed in the classroom, all eyes swerving to the side of Itadori Yuji's face where one red eye was slid open above a small mouth.

"Huh?" His vessel uttered. "Sukuna?"

The small mouth scowled. "Who else brat?"

Confusion rang in the air. They never expected him to give his input on the matter, having concluded he'd leave them to either sink or swim. Of course, had it been any other situation, he'd have left them to their devices, but given where they were going and who they were about to meet, this little "trip" will have too many consequences on his person. Best be prepared.

"It's led by a yokai council formed out of the four cardinal lords and their advisors. The one who guides their meetings in the Lord of the West, the daiyokai son of the Inu-no-Taisho, Sesshomaru of the Killing Perfection. The Shikon no Miko and her messenger are the neutral power of the council, the one all of them are forbidden from swaying towards a side, as they have all sworn on their honour and blood when they built the Makai. Her messenger, the daiyokai Kyūbi-ko no Shippo, is simultaneously her aide and guard." All of the information he was giving out was the bare-bone basics of the hierarchy of leadership. Things that they should know before attempting to put their feet in their mouths during the meeting.

"Good luck." Was all he said before retreating back within the confines of his vessel's mind.

"Haah?!" The girl yelled. "He just dumps all of that on us and then just fucks off?!"

He ignored her, projecting towards the kid a feeling of amusement. Their reactions whenever he deigned to present himself would never grow to be boring.

Yuji scratched at his cheek. "Uhm, I think he's laughing at you, Kugisaki..."

(Apparently, that was the wrong thing to say.)

"Why that damned-!"

Clapping his hands, the Six Eyes user laughed. "So the information the sorcerers have is wrong?" He smiled, mocking. "Who would have guessed."

Sukuna privately thought that the white haired sorcerer couldn't wait to hold this over everyone else's heads. (Even more privately, Sukuna wanted to be present when he did so. Alas, immaterial capability.)

Choosing to leave them to their own devices once more, the King of Curses stewed in his thoughts. (Here, within the confines of his vessel's mind, there wasn't much else to do.) He dreaded their visit to the Makai. Far too many facts and events were at risk of being found should the sorcerers venture out of their way to research.

He could only hope that the demons would keep a close eye on them.

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Brain rot level: Making Satosugu in the Sims to cope with everything after chapter 261.
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