The Darkness Has a Name

The cool summer night air rustled the leaves of the trees on Ohtori campus, creating a pleasing background noise to add to the crickets that broke the silence that blanketed the area. The moon cast a thin light on all objects, a thin sliver visible in the inky sky. A bat flew across the courtyard, but did not make a sound. It was as if all sight and sound were muted. Which is what he wanted.

He was cloaked in a black outfit that was loose enough to break his outline, but tight enough not to hinder movement. Keeping close to walls and other large objects, he slid from shadow to shadow closer to his goal. His eyes took in the surroundings of the small dorm building. Large bushes provided both cover and padding if he had to leave via a second story window. He pulled a flat crowbar from his shirt and went to a side window. He jammed the end of the crowbar in, pushed, and was rewarded when the window opened smoothly without a sound. After entering, he looked around.

The room was sparingly decorated, as if to just keep an appearance of habitation. Seeing nothing of value, he then moved quietly into the hallway. Ten rooms, all with open doors, all with little or nothing to catch the eye. Climbing up two flights of stairs with no luck, he began to despair. All this room and absolutely zero to steal, he thought as he opened the final door. It lead to the roof, which could have passed for a concrete football field in size. He walked towards the middle, where a tatami mat and a table broke the monotony of the gray surface below them. The table held a sword on a display rack and a small plant. He bent down to examine the sword further. It was a fine blade, four and a half feet in length, the steel glowing a soft blue as it reflected the moonlight. He smiled as he reached for his prize.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you."

He spun around to see someone standing at the door to the stairwell. Even in the dim surroundings, he could see the blond hair tied back in a thick ponytail. He cursed to himself as the person walked closer. The stranger walked smoothly and quietly, as if he wasn't afraid of anything.

"Who are you?"

He stammered, "I. I."

"I know. You're just misunderstood, bad childhood, something like that, right?"

He nodded. He could remember his father standing over him with the stick in hand, yelling about how poor they were and how it was all his fault. But how did the stranger know that?

"I'll tell you what. How about you leave this campus, never to be seen again, and I won't bring you in."

He looked closer at the man. The face was calm, sincere. "Y-y-you're serious?"

"Yes, that I am. So, are you going to take me up on my offer? I'm being generous."

He thought about it. Sure, he could get away without getting in trouble. But he was furious about spending all this time for nothing. He decided that he would get away, but not before taking something. He grabbed the plant off the table and ran for the end of the building. He leapt over the edge, expecting to land in the bushes. What happened next, he never expected, and later, never forgot.

The back of his shirt suddenly jerked back, stopping his forward momentum. He fell back and down in an arc, slamming against the wall on his left arm. Oh no, I must have caught on something. He looked up to see that it wasn't a something, but a someone. The stranger had his shirt in a deathgrip and was dragging him back up with one arm. He then felt himself being picked up and whipped across the roof, dropping the plant halfway across. He hit the railing on the other side with his shoulder, and he screamed as he felt the ligaments holding his arm in socket snap. That did it, he thought. This guy is dead meat. He rolled to one side and pulled out a knife, ready to stab his assailant. What he saw next froze his blood as fear began to creep in behind the anger.

The stranger was bent over the table, meticulously examining the plant, the pot, the soil. After a minute, the stranger finally stood up and faced the would-be thief.

"I gave you a chance to leave. But no. You had to try and steal from me nonetheless. Do you know how much this plant is worth? No? Well, I'll tell you. It's worth more than you are, you pathetic excuse for a human being. It is older than you and I put together. It has been in my family for more generations than you have brain cells. It takes years to make a work of art like a bonsai tree. It is flexible, and can be trained. After long months of effort, the tree will look more and more beautiful. But now."

The thief got up at this moment and charged, holding the knife in his good hand. A split second before striking, he looked at the face of his target. Where there was once serenity and peace, rage and mirth seemed to meld into a hideous grin that revealed white teeth that shone in the moonlight. The eyes, once blue, now seemed to flash between blue and blood red. Even the blond hair was somehow darker. He hesitated a moment at this visage of hell, and that was all it took. The stranger blurred and vanished. His good arm was grabbed at the wrist and twisted behind him. The stranger turned him forcefully and pushed him towards the tree, not releasing him for a moment. The thief was astounded at the iron grip that held him. He was strong by his own right, but he was nothing to this powerhouse that kept him in control. His head was forced down to look right at the tree. He saw that a miniscule branch had broken off and was lying on the soil beneath.

"Now, you see what just ten seconds of stupidity has done? It has taken years of labor and made it worthless. The tree will heal, I'll see to that. But I assure you. It will have healed long before you forget this night, this lesson, and long before you forget the pain." A blur of motion and the thief found himself on the ground, his face pressed hard into the concrete. He felt the stranger twist his arm slightly, then saw red as the bones in his forearm shattered, two knifes of red-hot pain. He rolled away and looked at his arm, at the bones sticking out, red tatters of flesh sticking to the jagged ends. He screamed at the stranger, at the one who did this to him.

"Who are you? You're not human!"

"No, I'm human. You're the one who's not." The stranger jumped into the air and came down hard on the thief's right leg with both feet. Another red flash as another bone was broken, another knife of pain. "Humans can walk upright. You are doomed to crawl. Now crawl away from here, you animal."

The thief then struggled to push himself with the one good limb he had left, resulting in a jerky wormlike movement. He cried out as he slid along the rough cement, his flesh peeling away in a bloody trail.

"Will you just look at that? You're not an animal, you're just a slug. Oozing along, leaving your slime behind for me to clean up. I guess I'll have to take you out of here as I don't like slime on my carpets. If I had some salt, I'd use it on you, you slug. But I don't. So I guess you'll live." He picked up the thief by the ribcage with both hands and looked him straight in the eye. "However, I have one last thing. Since you are a slug, it's best that I help you be the best slug you can be," - he shifted hands to grab his prey by the throat with one bloodied hand - "you gutless" - a hit to the stomach from the other hand brought up a mouthful of blood - "brainless" - a strike to the head blurred the vision - "and, oh yeah, SPINELESS slime!" He felt himself being held up horizontally in the air, and brought down swiftly. He felt a knee to the small of his back, a snap, and he hit the floor on his back, looking up at the sky. He quickly passed into unconsciousness, as the stranger then whispered into his ear one last time before the night went completely black.

The thief woke up in the hospital, in a nice warm bed. He looked around to see a police officer sitting beside him.

"Ah, you're awake. I'll signal the doctor." The officer pushed a button on the wall and a doctor came in.

"So, you've finally awakened."

"Where am I?"

"You're in the hospital. You're very lucky. The Ohtori Academy security chief found you making his rounds and brought you in before you lost too much blood. However."

"What?" He tried to sit up and couldn't due to the pain. Then he remembered that night. The stranger. The tree. He screamed and held his arms over his head as if to ward off an attacker.

"Hold him down officer. I'll give him a shot of morphine to kill the pain."

A shot in the arm, and a brief struggle, and the thief slumped down onto the bed again. He turned his head to look at the doctor. "What happened?"

"Well, you've been out for two weeks now. We were able to put your arms back together, but the damage to your leg was too great. We had to amputate at the knee. You also have four broken ribs and a stress fracture along the side of your skull. You'll be here for a while."

"Fine. Will I be getting a prosthetic leg or at least a crutch?"

"Well, you see, we have some bad news."

"Tell me, I can take it."

"I better not today. You've been through enough"

"TELL ME!"

The doctor sighed. "Okay, here it is straight. You've got a broken spine and a severed spinal cord right above your hip. You'll never walk again."

The thief then closed his eyes and began to cry. As the doctor and officer left the room, he could still hear the last thing the stranger said to him as the tears flowed down his cheeks..

"The darkness has a name. The name is mine - Jiyuu Mouki."