arkcumnite

“A-Are you hurt?” She tried to sound serious, demanding that he answer her, but her concern was evident- fearful that her father might have gotten hurt.

Something tightened in Sukuna's chest -just slightly- at the question. Of course that would be her first concern... Just like you, her beautiful mother, always worried about him.

“No, brat,” he finally answered with a lazy smirk, one sharp nail brushing aside her bangs before ruffling her hair, “it’s not my blood.”

Her eyes narrowed, processing this information until she pointed a small finger at his forearm where a vivid red pattern stood out against his black tattoos.

“Does that mean it belongs to someone else?”

Sukuna's laugh was dark and low, edged with something dangerous, “Someone who fucked with the wrong pers-…”

“Bad language tax,” she replied automatically, but the reprimand was distracted, secondary to her question.

“Put it on my tab,” he sighed, “but yeah… your old man had to take care of a bad guy.”

Her ice cream cup clinked softly against the table as it nearly slipped from her tiny hands just as she gasped. Her entire little body stiffening, the mug wobbling in her grip. Her eyes went huge, mouth forming a perfect O. She whispers under her breath loud enough for him to hear, “Papa… is a superhero???”

Sukuna laughed at that, “Not even fucking close,” he said, red eyes shimmering with amusement, “but the bastard had it coming.”

She gasped dramatically at the swears, then immediately giggled- as if what he just said didn’t even phase her, “You said more bad words,” she whispered, “Mama's gonna be mad.”

“Your mother has heard worse,” he said, mouth quirking up at one corner.

“If you’re not a super hero, then what are you, papa?”

Sukuna's eyes darkened, “I'm the thing heroes fight against,” he said simply. “the monster that lurkes in the shadows.”

She frowned, “But monsters are bad,” she declared, “and you’re not bad. You protect mama and I.”

The certainty in her voice -the absolute, unwavering faith- made Sukuna's chest tighten again... The very feeling he'd thought long dead until you had somehow revived it, and this small extension of himself had brought fully to life again.

“The world's not that simple, kid,” he said, more gently than anyone who knew him would believe possible.

She nodded, “Like how you tell me stealing is wrong, but then you stole the last cookie yesterday?”

Sukuna’s expression went blank, not expecting that to be her example of how the world isn’t simple, “That's… different. My house, my cookies.”

She gave him a cheesy grin before laughing- this moment where she was confronting the violent reality of who and what her father was. “I think,” she announced, reaching out fearlessly to touch a particularly vivid splash of blood on his shirt, “that you're like the dragon, Sylus, in my book!”

Sukuna raised an eyebrow, genuinely curious, “How's that?”

“He’s scary and breathes fire and everyone's afraid of him,” she explained, tiny hands flying in the air now with pure excitement, “But!! That’s because he is protecting his treasure.”

Her eyes never left his, “We're your treasure. Me and mama! So you have to be scary sometimes to keep us safe! You’re a special kind of hero!”

Something dangerously close to emotion threatened to close Sukuna's throat. This child -this impossibility- making sense of him in ways adults never could. Accepting the violence and the blood as just another aspect of protection…

“Sure, something like that…” he managed, voice wavering ever so slightly.

She nodded once, decision made, “Then it's okay.” She patted his cheek with small, sticky fingers, leaving a smear of pink ice cream among the blood. “But mama is going to be mad about the shirt. It's white… erm, well… was...”

Sukuna snorted, the tension of the moment broken by her practical observation, “Your mother's seen worse.”

“Worse shirts?” she asked innocently.

“Worse everything,” he muttered, straightening to his full towering height, “now finish your ice cream while I clean up.”

As Sukuna discarded his shirt he looked back at his little girl…

A hero. What a fucking joke…