Uraume life has always been cold.
Since he can remember, everything has been cold and lifeless. Everything had looked gray, as if light had been sucked from everything.
His parents never showed any affection, and from a young age, he deciphered that it was due to his appearance. His pale skin and white hair were not only abnormal, but his parents also believed they were a bad omen.
His father always disciplined him for everything. When he was a toddler, he was disciplined for wanting to play outside. His father had said that he could never be seen by others, even if people never really frequented their home.
His mother never spoke to him or interacted with him more than necessary; the only instances they had even been in the same room were during meal time.
Then, when he had started seeing weird creatures appear outside, inside the manse, and even on top of his father and mother, he was called crazy and a freak, and was told to stop making things up.
His life was cold. No maternal love. No paternal care.
And if it wasn't enough, since birth, his parents had believed him cursed. He had always been cold to the touch. The rays of the sun failed to warm him, and the cold winds failed to disturb him; he hadn't even known he was cold, for him, it was just normal. The simple reason why he knew what heat was was that when he was younger, he had placed his hand over a flame in the hopes of feeling something.
He had burned his hand, or so they told him, but he hadn't felt said burn injuries. The only time he felt something was when his hand had been over the flame. It had been…warm. It had felt nice. But he never had the chance to experience it again.
Uraume had always suspected that all this was due to something inside him. Whenever he went to sleep, just before drifting off, he felt it. The feeling of something twisting and moving inside of him, not his stomach, but inside of all of him. Whatever it was, it didn't affect him.
Even if his life had been cold since he could remember, it had been the only one he knew.
And then the storm had arrived.
The initial winds had damaged parts of their home, but it had held. Uraume had thought that the storm would pass over like all the others. But it hadn't.
For days, it had rained. Eventually, food had run out. Once more, his parents had blamed him for the misfortune; whatever crumbs they managed to find, they would eat alone. Not long after, Uraume had been starving.
Then the roof was destroyed, and they were left vulnerable to the elements, with winds that picked up trees like it was nothing, and raindrops that felt like small stones hitting their bodies. At that moment, Uraume had known that he would not survive the storm.
In what he had thought would be his last moments, he sat down, held on tightly to his knees, and closed his eyes, waiting for death to claim him.
And when close to Death's door, the cold that had always been sealed inside him exploded outwards.
Ice engulfed everything in an instant, the floor, the remaining walls, even his parents had been covered by the sudden burst of ice that exploded from him. He had no knowledge of what it was at the time; all he knew was that he was too weak to do anything about it.
He had already been resigned to his death; this turn of events would not change that.
But then He arrived.
He didn't see him arrive, only felt him.
It had felt like when he burned his hand. Heat. But this one wasn't hurting him; in fact, it felt as if it was giving him strength, but even though he felt better, he still had fallen unconscious.
When he had opened his eyes again, the rain had stopped, and the clouds overhead had been split down the middle, and standing there was Him.
Taller than anyone he had ever seen, he looked like a giant to him. Black tattoos covered his four arms and part of his back. His hair was a red-pink, and his face, although deformed on his right side, was home to four blood-red eyes.
He had tried to speak, to ask who he was, but he had been too weak still to even say a word.
The man had said something, yet he couldn't hear him. He had pointed to something on the floor a few steps ahead of them. His parents, covered in ice and most likely dead.
They were his parents, taken care of him, but all he could think in that moment had been…
Good riddance.
Uraume was certain he wouldn't miss them. He hadn't even flinched when he saw the mysterious stranger cut their bodies into pieces. Nor when he had cooked them, and offered some pieces to him.
Even when he was eating what had been his father, he didn't feel anything.
He had learned his savior's name. Sukuna. For some reason, it just felt…fitting. He had asked him what would happen to him, but in reality, he didn't care if he died once the stranger, Sukuna, left.
Uraume hadn't felt anything his entire life. Life was cold, dull, gray, and lifeless. Nothing had ever mattered to him.
"You'll come with me." Uraume's eyes had widened as he looked up to see Sukuna standing tall. "I'll take care of you now, Uraume."
Although the storm continued to rage on in the distance, in that moment, for the first time in his life, he felt some small warmth originate from inside him.
The following weeks were strange.
The rain only lasted a day longer before finally abating, and at that moment, they began moving. Sukuna-sama said that, unless eating or sleeping, staying in one place gained you nothing. And so, they travelled, and surprisingly, Sukuna-sama was very talkative.
He explained everything they encountered while walking. When they passed trees, he lectured him on which ones were best to gather timber from. When they passed a river, he showed them how to fish with a pointed stick. And when he went to hunt, he took him along and tried teaching him to look for tracks.
Everything was completely different from how his life had been just days prior. Yet he devoted his complete attention to his teachings.
One day, he gathered his courage and spoke for the first time since his parents' death. He asked him why he was doing all this.
"Sukuna-sama?" he turned his head slightly as he lifted a tree trunk on his shoulder. They were out in the woods gathering wood for the night's fire. "Why are you doing all this? Why…why did you take me along?"
His question brought Sukuna-sama to a stop. He turned to look at me fully and crossed his lower arms over his chest as he brought his upper hand to his chin while looking up in thought before finally looking back at him and answering with a serious face.
"I guess you could say I saw some of me in you." his four blood-red eyes bore into his pale blue eyes, willed with complete honesty and understanding. "Thus, I'm helping you."
"But why?" his head could not wrap itself around the thought that he was doing this out of the kindness of his heart, not because he looked unfriendly, although that was something that he had considered, but because everyone wants something.
The only reason his father hadn't killed him was that he had been his only child and thus his heir.
Once more, silence befell them, but this time, Sukuna's-sama eyes gained a distant look before focusing back on him. He turned around and began walking again, the tree on his shoulder not bothering him. I thought he wouldn't answer me and chided myself for asking too much, but before he was too far away, I heard his response.
"I want to do something good for once in this life."
It had been barely audible, but he heard it.
That day had been just a bit more colorful than the others.
After that talk, he felt he could trust Sukuna-sama. He decided he wanted to contribute more to their daily lives. He tried helping him carry logs, sticks, or animals, but he was still too weak, so he decided to help in other ways. He began cleaning their clothes whenever they came across a river and cooking the meat that Sukuna-sama managed to hunt.
It turned out that he had a talent for cooking. He had been picking up different plants and leaves and making spices with them, which he then had added to the meat.
That had been the first time Sukuna-sama had complimented him.
"This is truly amazing, Uraume!" he had said offhandedly as he finished another piece of one rare bear that had wandered in front of them. "From now on, you should do all the cooking! You clearly put me to shame."
"Of course, Sukuna-sama."
Sukuna-sama had said that in jest, but he took it as if it was an order; after all, Uraume was trying to be useful in a way to repay him for all he had done for him. And still, it seemed that Sukuna-sama still had plans for him.
"Okay, now that you have more meat on your body and don't look like one step away from death its time to start your training" He declared firmly, standing with both pair of arms crossed over his chest and stomach, behind him he had some type of bags that were filled with something.
"Training, Sukuna-sama?" Uraume asked, confused, but it made sense. When he woke up in the morning, Sukuna-sama was always already up, finishing what he called 'his daily routine'.
"That's right, we'll divide your training in two, just like mine, one focused on your physical abilities and the other on your cursed energy and techniques," he explained, yet he had to ask once more…
"Cursed energy?" This was the first time in weeks he had heard of that, but if Uraume had to guess, that would be how he cut down all those trees without touching them. His question seemed to floor him as he looked incredulously at him.
"Wait, I haven't explained cursed energy to you?" he shook his head, and Sukuna-sama scratched the back of his head as he let out a big sigh. "Ok, it's like this…"
And that was how he came to know of Cursed Energy, Jujutsu Society, and all that it entailed. It looked like his guess of Sukuna-sama being a sorcerer wasn't far off.
His training began simple enough. For his physical training, it was just push-ups, sit-ups, running a few leagues, jumping, and some light sparring with Sukuna-sama to finish it off. Then they would eat, and travel some before picking somewhere during the evening to stop and begin his Jujutsu training, as Sukuna-sama called it.
His Jujutsu training had consisted of manipulating the cursed energy in him, making it flow through his body, manifesting it as dark blue flames on his hands and feet, and making some ice with his cursed technique.
Training wasn't so bad…or so he thought.
Once he started getting used to the training, Sukuna-sama always increased the difficulty. Was it getting easier to do all his push-ups and the like? Add more weight and more repetitions. Was he getting more blows in during their sparring? Sukuna-sama holds back a little less.
Is concentrating on using his cursed energy easier than before? Now he has to constantly be using it while he avoids attacks from Sukuna-sama until it's second nature. Did he feel close to mastering his cursed technique? Wrong, now he had to create without being the point of origin. Also, create long-lasting ice to store food.
Every day, he closed his eyes completely exhausted, and even then, he was still training. He was tasked with sleeping while using cursed energy, and without freezing everything around him.
Yet, every day, he opened his eyes to see Sukuna-sama finishing his training. It was in that moment, that morning, after all those training sessions and exhausting nights, that he felt something he had never felt with his father or mother.
Admiration. Appreciation.
Gratitude.
Uraume admired Sukuna's-sama resolve. He admired his strength and his resolve. Sukuna-sama had shared his goal to be the Strongest in History. Uraume had argued that he was already the strongest, and Sukuna-sama responded by saying that even if he were the strongest, he wouldn't stop training, for complacency was a weakness, and he admired that more than anything.
Uraume appreciated all Sukuna-sama did for him. All the skills he taught him, all the ways of thinking on the spot, and all the training he gave him. Uraume knew that Sukuna-sama was one of a kind, not just because of his unique characteristics, not his eyes, his arms, his tattoos, his hair, or height, but by his selfishness. Everything he did, every decision he made, was selfish, and Uraume both admired and appreciated that.
But most of all, Uraume was grateful Sukuna-sama had saved him. One random day Sukuna-sama had confessed that he had thought of killing him in that moment, that it would've been a mercy and not have him suffer of dying of hunger or thirst, but he said that he couldn't do it, that after so long he felt the need of something he hadn't had for a long time.
Companionship.
In the end, it had been a selfish desire of Sukuna-sama that saw him live longer than he would've managed alone. And it was thanks to that desire that he now lived with Sukuna-sama. It was thanks to that desire that he now had someone who taught him skills, who was helping him reach his potential.
For the first time in Uraume's life, there was someone who cared for him, no matter how selfish their reasons. He was his father's sole child, and he never cared to do anything but give him leftovers and scold him.
The day he realized this was the day life was no longer dull. Life had become colorful, no longer just different greys.
And it was all thanks to his master, Sukuna-sama.
The man Uraume decided he would follow to the end of the world.
No matter the circumstances.
Some time later
Uraume threw a punch followed by a kick; the former was evaded while the latter was caught. The world became a blur for Uraume as he was flung across the opening. He repositioned himself, landing horizontally on a tree and jumping back into the fight.
Cursed energy covered his fists as he threw punch after punch. Left hook. Dodged. Right swing. Deflected. Bring back the deflected fist in a backhand for backhand, caught by the wrist. He releases his technique upon the appendage holding his wrist, his Ice Formation only gets as far as the elbow before his ice is destroyed.
A kick to the stomach sends him careening again, and this time he is unable to right his form as he crashes into a tree.
"Agh," pain blossoms on his back, and spit flies out of his mouth, but he's already moving as a giant fist blows apart the tree that had been behind him. A second fist heads his way, but he ducks below it. Finding his opening, he throws a powerful punch at the unprotected underside and-
BLACK FLASH!
His cursed energy became as black as a moonless night, the flow of his cursed energy becomes easier, his senses sharpen, but as he tries to follow up on his attack, his fist is unable to move as it is being held, and being covered completely by a second hand.
As his eyes begin to widen, an X-shaped cut appears on his chest, and he is thrown like a puppet once more.
"Good! Good! That was a nice Black Flash! You were really getting into the flow of the fight." Sukuna-sama comments as he flexes his lower left hand, some steam seeming to emit from where he hit it. "I felt a sting this time, you're getting stronger each time we spar."
Sukuna-sama called it sparring, but to Uraume, it felt like he was fighting for his life. Sukuna-sama doesn't hold back anymore when sparring, at least physically, if he used his Cursed Technique, Uraume wouldn't even know he had been killed. His liege said that he had to get used to fighting sorcerers more powerful than him, to get used to the constant flow of battle, and to never freeze against stronger opponents, just in case he wasn't around, which Uraume found preposterous, as he never left Sukuna's-sama side.
"Thank you for your words, Sukuna-sama, but it is obvious I still have a long way before being able to actually harm you," Uraume said as he bowed. When Sukuna-sama spoke, it meant that the spar was over.
"Don't feel down like that Uraume!" Sukuna-sama exclaimed as he approached him, "That is the most damage I've received in almost nine years, and you made me use my technique, even if it was powered down immensely! That shows the power and potential you have!"
"Now do you want to try to use Reverse Cursed Technique?" he asks as he points to his chest, where a large skin-deep X continues to bleed. He nods and begins to concentrate. After each spar, Uraume has used his damaged state as an opportunity to try and learn RCT to heal his injuries, and although Sukuna-sama explained how it worked, Uraume still couldn't grasp the technique. And it seemed that today wouldn't be it either.
After some minutes pass with no breakthrough, Uraume slumps down, sweating, and disappointed in his failure, yet Sukuna-sama doesn't comment on it and just places a hand on his chest, before he feels the cut heal and close, leaving no sign of ever existing behind.
"C'mon," Sukuna-sama helps him up and lifts him onto his shoulder. "Rest while we get back to camp," he says before he begins walking back to camp, or more specifically, where they left their supplies.
Uraume leans slightly on Sukuna's-sama head as he closes his eyes and just enjoys the soft breeze. He was close to achieving RCT; he knows it, but there's still something missing. He has two emotions, making curse energy like Sukuna-sama said, but a step is missing. He is so close yet so far.
"We're here," his thoughts are interrupted as Sukuna-sama stops in the small space they call their 'camp' for now. Crates and tents can be seen on the small clearing, a small and extinguished campfire, and some wooden plates scattered about. He sets Uraume down before he opens one of the crates and reveals ice-preserved meat. "Let's make some food, shall we?"
Uraume nods and cooks some of the meat they've saved from previous hunts. This time he chooses some deer meat, seeing as they still have the most of it among the different meats, and it would be a shame for it to go bad.
Time seems to fly by as he cooks. They eat the cooked meat calmly, and Sukuna-sama is seen taking some pleasure out of each bite, while he just hums softly as his only indication of liking his own food. Soon enough, they finish and set their plates down.
Sukuna-sama stands, picking up his plate with him, and begins putting it inside a different crate. "Okay, Uraume, let's begin packing up, we should begin mov-" Sukuna-sama stops talking. He turns his head west as his face takes on a serious expression.
Sukuna-sama instantly stands up and moves in front of him, his massive form hiding most of him from view, but Uraume leans slightly to see what's going on.
"Uraume, stay alert." He warns while closing and opening his fist.
"Sukuna-sama, wha-" he tries to ask, but then he feels it. Cursed Energy. Someone is announcing their presence and is moving fast towards them. As he tries to ask his liege for more information, a sound is heard and a figure comes out of the woods, followed by another and another. And another. And another.
Before he knows it, they're surrounded by dozens of different people. By his estimate, it could be almost a hundred of them.
And at the forefront is a woman. She is tall, or at least taller than he, her hair is long and brown, her eyes are pink in a pool of black where they should be white, but her most noticeable feature is her clothing. Or lack thereof.
Her body is completely nude, but where her boobs and crotch would be seen instead you can look right through them, as if she was invisible there, making her arms and legs look like they're connected by an invisible force. But as he looks closer, it looks as if the very air is twisted to make that illusion.
"You're a hard monster to find, Ryomen Sukuna." His observations are interrupted as she speaks loudly and proudly; however, he is confused. Sukuna-sama never mentioned his last name; never even said he had one. He only told him his name. "You wouldn't believe the trouble we had to go through to even narrow down your location," She said, but Uraume was lost in his thoughts. Had he lied to him? He felt his gut twist at the thought, but before he could delve further, as if reading his thoughts, Sukuna-sama responded.
"I'm not exactly hiding, and I can't believe how popular the name those peasants came up with got," Sukuna-sama simply said, and in doing so, he put his thoughts at ease.
"I think it's fitting," she said with a smirk, before her expression became serious. "You really thought you could get away with killing members of the Fujiwara Clan?" Her voice had dropped, and some pressure began to feel as the other sorcerers began to leak their curse energy.
"Does it look like I care what the Fujiwara Clan thinks? They're just a bunch of overprideful morons" Sukuna-sama said as he released his cursed energy, making several of the sorcerers' flinch or take a step back, and getting rid of the pressure that had begun to form just a moment ago.
Uraume noted how every sorcerer began to sweat slightly, with the exception of the sole sorceress. A feral smile came to her face as she interpreted his teacher's actions for what they were.
A challenge.
"Well, you should," she took a stance, the air seeming to shift and twist with her movement. "After all, they sent us after your head, and let me tell you…"
She let out her Cursed Energy, trying to match Sukuna's-sama output.
"…the Sun, Moon, and Stars Squad has never failed a mission. You will die today."
Sukuna-sama only smiled wider, as he widened his stance and his lower two hands made a hand sign each.
"You've got my blood pumping, please try not to be a disappointment, and also I want to ask you for a small favor…"
His cursed energy pours out in waves, completely drowning the sorceress' own. Her eyes widen at the action.
"…my student is watching, so please make me look good."