#BaekHo | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

aheckinmess · 2 months ago

Text

Quiet Strength

(Part 6 of Cursed, Not Cute.)

Read on AO3.

Tags: Dad Sukuna, Ryomen Sukuna, Ryoumen Sukuna, OC Child, Satoru Gojo, Child Satoru Gojo, Protective Sukuna, Sukuna is Bad at Feelings, No One is Surprised There, Angst, Fluff, Mostly Fluff/Comfort Because I Needed It, Tiger Spirit, Baekho, We Love Her, Headcanon of My Own Fic, That She Attached Her Spirit to Besu Because Their Levels of Sass Mesh So Well Together, Sukuna is Not Impressed, But He'll Get Over It, Gojo Still Has Yet to Learn Proper Self-Preservation Skills

Word Count: 1,640 words

Summary: While Besu and Gojo battle a brush with death, Sukuna finds himself having a dilemma about what to do regarding his daughter's growing compassionate ideals. So, when she comes rushing in asking for his help with Gojo, he determines there's only one decision he can make to show her where he stands on the matter.

Chapter 6: Quiet Strength

Sukuna felt a shift in the atmosphere, no doubt from Besu’s cursed energy. When he felt Satoru Gojo’s added onto it, he waved it off as the two sparring. Normally, he might feel more concern for his only daughter, except that he was having a dilemma on her behalf.

He paced across the luxurious den with his eternal scowl in place, disfiguring his tattoos as Besu once again had his damn emotions in a twist. The more she grew, the more Sukuna was forced to acknowledge that she was growing into a woman with her own ideals. Ideals that didn’t fit with his destructive mold. Ideals that he’d originally hoped would be in line with an heir befitting the terror of his name. Instead, Besu clung to her compassion as viciously as Sukuna devoted himself to his destruction.

If he weren’t so focused on what he should do, he might have detected the second wave of desperation coming from Besu’s cursed energy only a few blocks away.

Instead, when Besu’s shouts echoed through their vast mansion, he huffed from the top of the stairs, irritated at being torn from his musings.

“What do you–Besu?” The reasons for her childish screaming through the halls immediately became clear when he saw a bloodied corpse in her arms. Sukuna’s mind worked just as quick as his body as he rushed over to her. “What the hell happened?!”

Possibilities played through his mind. Had his daughter finally fulfilled her purpose as his wanton successor of savagery? Or was it something as simple as the boy doing something reckless and stupid to cause her to look so afraid and adamant as she presented Gojo to him?

When Toji’s name fell from Besu’s lips, Sukuna could only gape at her. Revenge boiled in his veins but lowered to a simmer when she handed over Gojo. Suddenly, Sukuna could only see her as she’d been at seven, terrified and begging her father for help.

His heir. His daughter. His world.

Her maroon eyes pierced his chest more precisely than any dagger ever could.

“Dad…please don’t let Satoru die.”

Sukuna shouldn’t have been so torn by the decision as his daughter swayed forward and he caught her with his second pair of arms. He wanted to heal her and ignore the bothersome Gojo brat, but Besu remained a weak spot in Sukuna’s armored psyche and it was clear her injuries were not as life-threatening.

Plus, he’d been the one to suggest she find friends in the first place because he’d promised it would be beneficial to her to have allies. And he’d be damned if he ate his own words.

“You little shits.” Sukuna growled, before turning to Gojo, who barely clung to life.

“You would speak so callously of Toji’s slayers?” Baekho’s form drifted into the mansion - or had she always been sitting there behind Besu? - seeming duller than usual. “I will care for the cub. You take care of young Satoru.”

“Don’t tell me what to do.” Sukuna hissed, lashing out as fear gripped him by the throat. “Remember your place, beast.”

“You’d do well to remember yours, young Ryomen.”

“Young? Tch. I’m over a thousand years old.” He snarled, using reverse cursed technique and watching the boy’s injuries fade as blood still stained his skin.

“And my spirit was here at the beginning of time to watch the birth of this world. You are all young to me. Now, shut up and heal the boy.” Baekho snarled, touching her nose to Besu’s forehead as her stripes glowed and Besu’s injuries disappeared. “Besu will need ample rest. She will not be waking for some time.”

“Why not? Was this your doing?” Sukuna hadn’t felt so feral since he’d executed his month-long war for the takeover of Japan. Few matched him in terms of strength, but hearing that his daughter might not wake up brought out a different sort of unhinged rage within him.

“No. Her power has expanded and evolved.” Baekho replied calmly, nudging her muzzle under Besu until she could heft her onto her back. “My own rage allows me an increase in power, turning my spirit and energy red. However, it would appear that the culmination of young Besu’s rage and my own amplify that power even more between the two of us. Coupled with your technique that you’ve taught her, your cub is a force even Toji was unable to match.”

“You mean my technique that Besu has yet to execute properly?” Sukuna sneered.

“I mean your technique that Besu used to deal the killing blow.”

. . . . .

Besu woke up feeling like she’d been hit by a truck. After blinking a few times in the dim light, she remembered that “truck” was Toji Fushiguro. When she grunted and turned to see her father asleep on a couch across from her bed, it suddenly didn’t matter.

“Daddy?” She whimpered, muscles groaning under every attempt at movement.

“Mmm…? Bechan!” Sukuna jumped to her side in a moment, sheltering her from the harsh danger of the world as he pulled her against his chest in a hug that squished together all of her broken pieces. Every broken part of her felt stitched together and whole again. “Are you okay? Does anything hurt?”

“Everything feels sore.” She said, closing her eyes and feeling much like she wished she had as a child - protected and prized by her father. But her eyes flashed open as she looked up to him with a frantic question. “Is Satoru okay?”

“The boy is fine.” Sukuna rolled his eyes. “I’m told you fought Toji Fushiguro and came out the victor.”

“Baekho was responsible for our ability to come out victorious. Satoru and I weren’t able to land many hits. It was only when he was hurt that I felt capable of doing any real damage.” Besu sighed, her eyes falling to her deep blue quilt.

“Baekho herself told me that you used my technique to deal the final blow.” Sukuna said, forcing Besu’s eyes up by lifting her chin with his finger. “You’ve grown so much.”

“I know. I am sorry I have not grown into the daughter you’ve desired I would become.”

“No, you haven’t.” His words choked her, disappointment squeezing the breath out of her. Was that why he was squeezing her so hard? Had he finally overcome his sentiment from her childhood and decided to dispose of her before she could ruin everything? “You’ve grown into something better.”

The world as she knew it crashed around her feet, scattered in an ocean of tears as her father’s words urged her closer to his chest. She knew the moment couldn’t last, that this tender moment didn’t fit the King of Curses and he’d quickly usher her away when he felt too awkward about showing emotion.

“Don’t think this changes anything.” Sukuna’s muscles tensed before relaxing again. “But we’ll talk about it later. For now, you must rest. Baekho says your power has grown and it took a lot out of you.”

“But what about Satoru?” Besu frowned.

“Yeah, what about me?”

Gojo’s lanky figure reclined against Besu’s door frame and every worry she had disappeared in the glistening blue of his eyes.

“Satoru!” She bolted upright and forced herself to her feet.

Big mistake.

Sukuna caught her when she toppled forward and smirked as he ushered her back into her bed. Besu also didn’t miss that Gojo went from leaning in the doorway to the center of her room by the time she was in bed.

“No need to kill yourself on my part.” Gojo shook his head, keeping a wary eye on Sukuna as he did. Similarly, Besu watched her father eye Gojo speculatively.

“You can stop glaring at each other, you know.” Besu huffed, before the absence of another stole her breath.

Baekho! Where are you?! Are you–

I am here. The tiger chuffed in her mind, relaxing Besu with her familiar rumble. You are not ridding yourself of me that easily.

“I think I have a right to glare at the boy that put my daughter in a situation where she might have been killed.” Sukuna said.

“It wasn’t my fault! Besides, I thought the great and mighty King of Curses would have trained his daughter better.” Gojo snorted.

“Hold your tongue, brat! If it wasn’t for Besu, I’d have let you die! Hell, I’d have dealt the final blow and been done with you!”

Gojo opened his mouth to respond, before Besu sent him a glare that capsized his attitude, rendering him silent.

“I see your brush with death may have humbled your spirit, but you’re still ignorant in the way of self-preservation.” Baekho swirled from Besu and the bed, floating between the group as she stretched her back and claws.

“Yeah, well…” Gojo shrugged and shoved his hands in his pockets. “I figure you all can grant me some patience, seeing as I nearly died.”

“Not as much patience as I’m granting you to stand so far away from me.” Besu finally found her voice, reaching out her arms in an unspoken need.

Gojo smiled, softening instantly before he spared a glance at Sukuna and stepped over to wrap Besu in a hug.

“I’m glad you’re alive too, ya know?” Gojo whispered. “I was terrified I’d find you waiting for me in the afterlife.”

“Oh, please. You’d have been waiting for me, first.”

“No way! Or…well…maybe. But only because I was actually on the offensive! Plus, you had Baekho!”

“I’m just hearing excuses…” Besu laughed.

“Ha! Maybe I should have let you do all the work then!”

And as the two bickered, Sukuna watched, a now-familiar warmth in his chest. Because even though his daughter stood for everything he claimed to be weak, he could doubt it no longer.

His daughter’s strength rivaled even his own.

22 notes · View notes