Chapter Text
Considering he only left his community during some days in December, he wasn’t that bad at finding his way around. That was impressive, especially if he took into consideration that he never visited the same church twice. The county their residence was in wasn’t the biggest, but it was wide enough for him to have different towns to visit when he needed to.
Wandering around wasn’t hard after all; his heart always managed to lead him. When it came to surprises, it was Uraume’s driving skills what took the biggest spot.
“You are back early,” they told him as he found the car parked right when their Messenger said it would be, “I expected a longer wait.”
“I prefer to go back home before midnight.” He didn’t enjoy much being out that late. “It’s better this way, for all of us.”
Uraume didn’t complain; they were more than aware of how the Emissary could react to their absence, and it was better not to risk. Also, Sukuna knew the schedule; he needed to be back before midnight, no matter what.
So he made sure of his stay in church to be short and meaningful.
He didn’t expect it to be just so… confusing.
“Is everything okay?” Uraume asked once they were back in track. The isolated town they came from visiting was nowhere to be found now at their backs. Their residence didn’t have easy access for a reason, so lonely roads always seemed eternal. “You seem off.”
“I am.” Both things at the same time, actually, but he didn’t want to get into much detail.
Winter escapes to local churches was a habit they both started a few years ago. They were never easy, just as it was never a mostly positive reason the one that brought him to them. That time, though… It was strange. It was different.
Never before he had brought the attention of the devotee away from home. And yet, that reckless youngster didn’t ignore his presence in there.
“Could you talk with Him?”
A strange beat took over his heart as he thought of the answer. He did, obviously he did, but explaining why did it feel so empty was the hard part. Maybe because it wasn’t an actual conversation, just a monologue that rarely turned into something more. Thankfully, he didn’t feel as terrible as he did before asking Uraume for a ride earlier that evening.
It was just… he couldn’t explain why.
It’s as if those emerald eyes had something to say about it, whatever that was.
“Yes, I did.”
If he had more time to talk with Him, he would have asked what it meant. The doubt would follow him back home, though. And there, he was used to living with lots.
“There you are.” Both him and Uraume got quickly spotted when they arrived.
The use of cars around was unusual, so its sound easily exposed the presence of someone in the parking lot. They only had one, which was more than enough considering how big the community was. A driving license… well, that wasn’t that common around. Only a few were allowed to have one, in case of an emergency.
The Emissary was one of them. That’s why he was paying attention to their arrival.
“It’s been years of you two sneaking out to go to the city in December. When are you going to accept I can be warned about it ahead of time? I won’t make a big deal out of it.”
“Are you sure about that, Kenjaku?”
The man, with a perfidious smile in his face, looked gentle but was actually on his nerves. He was right when saying it wasn’t new to him, however, that didn’t mean he was fine with the idea of Sukuna leaving the community.
That was a huge risk, even he knew about it. What he hated was to be watched over. And that was a lot to say, considering that he never hated anyone nor anything. Even if he felt like doing so, it wasn’t allowed. His heart didn’t permit such harsh emotion inside. It was just… well, only God could look after him, and Kenjaku knew it.
He knew it because he was the one that told him so. Then, why taking a role that wasn’t his to begin with?
“I am,” the man said, “but not making a big deal doesn’t equalize being fine with it.”
As he crossed one of the back doors of the Divine House, the biggest building in the community, he tried to leave the Emissary behind. Even Uraume walked next to him, trying to push his presence back. Sadly, that man was always everywhere. He was his shadow no matter the time of the day, and to that… Sukuna sadly couldn’t complain.
He needed him. After visiting that many churches during December and going back to his personal and singular spot in the world, he needed the one that could tell him what God wanted to tell him. He needed the voice of wisdom to remind him he was doing alright.
“I apologize,” Sukuna added without looking back at Kenjaku. “You know how I feel about these times of the year.”
“Ah, I do, my friend.” The Emissary’s hand landed over his shoulder and that made Sukuna recoil. He didn’t mind the touching, but he clearly preferred looking at his eye purply eyes before going ahead with the schedule. “I really do, you know that, right?”
Strict or not, he owed that man respect. No one gave it back to him the way Kenjaku did, too, and that was a lot to say considering where he was and who he was. Therefore, he should be more considerate when it came to breaking their own laws.
He shouldn’t be leaving the community without warning him first.
“I will tell you next time,” he said.
For a few seconds, Kenjaku didn’t flinch a muscle. His grin was still there, just like every minute of the day in which he was awake. His purple eyes were closed, making of that noble gesture something bigger. Whenever Sukuna felt like telling him off, he stared up to his forehead, where the mark that crossed his skin from temple to temple reminded him of why was it important to keep him close. It was impossible to ignore, even if his dark long hair perfectly fit on a bun on his nape still freed some bangs to the front to cover it sometimes. No matter what, it was there to work as a message that recalled of a relevance not to forget.
Especially after days in which he couldn’t talk with Him as he would like to, Kenjaku’s role in his life was more than necessary.
“Maybe you don’t need another time,” the Emissary said.
Breathing in deeply, Sukuna sighed but didn’t answer. As he started walking through the hallways of the Divine House, he hoped for the topic to come to an end. That was much to ask for, considering how persistent Kenjaku was when it came to follow the rules.
“It’s just a few times during December,” he reminded him. “That’s all I ask for, and He is fine with it. He agreed, remember?”
God applauded his will to meet with Him somewhere else. It was a special month. The so wrongly themed Christmastime was very dearly to all of them, so it was natural for someone like Sukuna to crave that proximity in a different place.
Kenjaku didn’t see it like that. For him, where else to meet with God than at his main house in the Earth? Sukuna would agree, if it wasn’t because he felt him so distant during those holiday times of the year.
“He did, yes,” the Emissary said. “Just—Don’t get too cocky, my friend, or He may not be anymore, okay?”
Rejecting the idea of starting a fight, Sukuna came into his private room in the Divine House. As Kenjaku stayed back, awaiting his return to keep on going, he shared a glance with Uraume to make sure they would close the door behind. Inside the room, he felt lighter and in peace. As he stood still in the middle of a room with no more than a few chairs, a long table and a couch, warmth began to take over him.
It was just then that he noticed he had been feeling cold.
Ironically, the less amount of clothes he wore, the better for his corporal temperature.
“It’s good to see you, Sukuna.”
Apart from him and Uraume, three Blessings awaited his arrival just in time. One of them, of female appearance and called Judie, welcomed him with loving eyes. Sukuna only had to bring his hands up for her to grab them and then kiss his knuckles. After a considerate smile from him, she began to take his clothes off.
The huge scarf was the first thing to disappear, exposing that he had nothing underneath the long coat he always wore when going outside in December. It was old, but barely used. Judie took it off after folding the scarf and placing it over the table.
Next to her, another Blessing came to him with the same love and respect.
“Good to see you, Sukuna,” he said too. Male appearance and just as caring, he waited for his hands to be up to kiss them too. His name was Gale, and he was one of the most recently welcomed to his group of vessels. He still behaved as if his role in life was to serve him.
Maybe because it was.
Both Gale and Judie took off his pants too, and then they both went on with his shoes. No underwear, no jewelry to remove, it was just him and his bare existence. A body marked with the ink that made him different. Him, and Kenjaku too. But the Emissary wasn’t in that room with them. Other than the two Blessings taking care of him and Uraume on the back, there was only one more person in there, and that wasn’t God.
“Good to see you, Sukuna,” Kaori said as she approached him with a light gray-almost white kimono on his back. It was a piece embroiled and created just for him, with holy fabrics and only meant to be worn in moments like that one. The woman that put it on him was one of the few that worked on it when they wove it for him. The Blessing that had been by his side from the beginning, and that took the role of dressing him very dearly.
Only her could skip such a relevant step like kissing his hands before touching him.
After putting on his kimono robe and using the navy belt around his waist to keep it in place, the woman walked around him and covered his neck with an, also, dark blue collar. Once he was ready, she held his hands tightly and kisses them just like everybody else.
“Good to see you too,” he said back, not only to Kaori but all of them.
He cared for each and one of them very dearly. They were everything to him in the community, and even if they could never be more than twenty, he made sure not a single one of his beloved breedable souls felt disrespected or unwanted. They were his for a reason; God wanted it like that, and all agreed that it was a gift to be in that room with him.
Not even Kaori took her privileges from granted.
“It’s soon to be midnight, Sukuna,” Uraume warned him.
Aware of it, he turned around to the door and awaited for the three Blessings in the room to come and share their goodbyes to him. Now it was his turn to show love back to each and one of them: with a kiss on their forehead, and a soft brushing of both his and the vessel’s, he took his time with all before letting them walk aside. Then, the Messenger opened the door to where Kenjaku was waiting.
Right in time, as usual, the man didn’t complain about any delay or wasted time. He was very aware of when was his time or when did he need to stay quiet, and right before midnight Mass, he had no right to talk to him.
“Sukuna.” Instead, Kenjaku just bowed and offered the way to go.
His Blessings were everything to him, and even Uraume had a special place in his heart that anyone could replace. And yet, it was the Emissary who walked right behind him, almost to his side, but never getting so ahead. That would be awful. Right there, at the Divine House, no one should be so reckless to walk side to side with someone like him.
The Son of God couldn’t share space with no one other than himself.
Everybody in that building knew that, and the fewer ones that weren’t in it did too. Because it was midnight Mass, and many people attended it to hear him talk even if it was sleep time. The only ones missing were the infants, also their mothers if or some specific Curses that were given the responsibility of looking after them. Other than that, the whole community was in that massive building in which nothing could be heard.
Only the breathing and sighing of those happy to see him.
The huge room looked wider than any church he had visited during every December of the past years. It was built soon before he joined, right in time for when Kenjaku told him only him would be allowed to sit on its throne in front of his disciples of every kind. Some were surprised; they even doubted the words of the Emissary would be real after all. They were expelled after that. The majority, though, was there that night.
Of all ages and kinds, they were all his family. And as the Father of all, they all listened and begged for his words to show the way one more night.
In complete silence, Sukuna walked barefoot to his throne made of the dark stone that delimited the rest of the Divine House. It was built around it; God placed it there for them to make a shrine around it, and Kenjaku only had to spread the word and invite him to sit.
So he did.
The darkness of his seat made a huge difference compared to the whites, light yellows and goldens of the stay. Even his people, all bowing to him, were dressing in light clothes, being Sukuna’s the only ones that wore dark blue. Well, his, and Kenjaku’s.
As Sukuna sat, he looked aside to the man on his left. He was wearing a navy gojogesa and a green and golden cloth around it. The only one allowed to do so, as God said.
It’s not that Sukuna cared a lot about it; as he stared back at the front, everyone was still bowing to him, waiting for a word to lift their heads up and look him in the eye.
Strangely, he knew there wouldn’t be a single pair of eyes in that room that would do so the same way that youngster at church tonight. As time went by, he couldn’t help but remember those emerald gems that feared nothing nor respected anyone. Not even himself. Not used to treating with people outside the community, the reckless attitude of that young man that wanted him was still confusing to him.
It was also mesmerizing. A fascinating discovery he couldn’t take off his mind.
Not even if he needed to, because his family was waiting.
“Sukuna,” Kenjaku called him from the side. On the right, Uraume was also paying attention to the reason behind his silence. “It’s time.”
“Yes,” he said, very aware of the delay he was causing by thinking of that imprudent soul that dared to treat him like a mere mortal. By picturing those bright eyes staring into his core, while all he wanted was to be answered by one above.
It was not the time to be reminded of the beauty of his face, the fairness of his skin or the innocence behind his rebellious voice. It was not the time to think if he was sent to him by someone else, or if he left way too soon.
Maybe Kenjaku was right, and he shouldn’t be leaving the community anymore. But both knew that wouldn’t happen. There for sure would be a next time.
“Welcome all to the midnight Mass of the House of the Rising Sun,” Sukuna voiced out loud. “Please, open your hearts to the upcoming words of God.”