Honshin
by Kamiya Shuusai

Chapter One - Yesterday, A Dream

Kurei sat up from his bed, still breathing heavily. Sweat droplets flowed down the side of his nose and cheeks. Kurei took a moment to compose himself. As he got up and dressed, one of Mori Koran's close body guards came to fetch him.

"Please come with me, Kurei-sama. Your father's orders."

Kurei didn't look up, and the man said no more. Soon they reached Mori Koran's room.

Mori Koran smiled at him and waved off all his guards, "Kurei, come with me today. The police commissioner of Japan is hosting a dinner party for some big politicians from America. They've all heard about my son and want to meet you. You better put on your best behavior today, or I will take away your scheduled monthly visit to Tsuki no Miya tomorrow."

Kurei's face was blank, his gray eyes dead without a gleam. He bowed to his father and said, "Wakarimashita, chichiue."

-----

Nightfall, Kurei and his father stepped out of the car in front of the police commissioner's mansion, accompanied by rows of men in black suits and sunglasses. High society men and women in fancy suits and gowns greeted Kurei. Faces whose name he did not remember and did not care to remember.

These strange people only see him because he was now Mori Koran's son. The son of a man with great power in the political circle, a man whose wealth they can only envy... A man who holds the underground world easily in his hands.

Kurei cared nothing about these people. In one night, many of them would walk up to Koran saying, "Oh, so that's your son, Kurei! What an adorable and handsome boy he is!!"

Meaningless people, meaningless words.

Mori Koran shook hands and sat down with the police commissioner, the American politicians, and other mysterious people whose names Kurei found only familiar. After a few hours of sitting under the brilliant lights socializing, Mori Koran finally gestured for Kurei to follow him. Of course there has to be more to a dinner party than the food and socializing to interest Mori Koran.

Kurei walked behind the men who talked to Koran earlier. The police commissioner led them down a dark hall and a series of stairs to the bottom level of his mansion. He opened, through a series of security procedures, two giant doors which Kurei thought of as the gates to hell. He always believed that nothing can move him anymore after the continuing traumatic tragedies in his life. His emotions matured and then withered in the years after he lost his mother. But what he found behind these doors still shocked him beyond words.

There were endless rows of liquidized tubes containing body parts, human organs, mutated creatures, and other indescribable horrors. The police commissioner was proudly introducing the sponsor who funded the entire project, Mori Koran.

For years, Koran has supported human experimentation for various purposes. Mainly cloning, a process which only the rich and powerful can afford. His underground dealings have passed on to many countries. Now he has attracted rising politicians from America who will soon nominated as a presidential candidates for their parties.

As an old man, the will to extend his life has surpassed the justice of any law for the police commissioner. His desire played right into Mori Koran's hand.

The politicians and the other mysterious men, scientists, most of them, stared at the cloning experiments in greed and awe. Mori Koran allowed them to look around his lab freely. One of the Americans said with a heavy accent, "Very clever, Mr. Mori. Using your country's own police commissioner's home to hide your laboratory. No one will ever suspect."

All the men laughed in agreement. Mori Koran asked the master of the house, "Have you made any arrangements for replenishing your supply?"

The old man said, "Don't worry, you can trust my efficiency. Thanks to your recent generous donation to the Kouya Orphanage, we easily managed to refill the warehouse that will sustain us for at least six month."

Mori Koran laughed pleasingly, and said, "Komatsu, this is my son Kurei. I want to show him around. How about we start in the warehouse."

Komatsu, the police commissioner, looked doubtfully at the little boy, "Mr. Mori, are you sure? Perhaps your son is a little too young to accept what he..."

Mori Koran interrupted him and said carelessly, "Don't worry, old friend. I want him to look around. After all, he has already been exposed to this part of the laboratory. Think of it simply as a training."

Komatsu nodded and brought Mori Koran and Kurei to a back room. "The Warehouse" as they called it was the true hell unmasked. What little Kurei saw in the outside room cannot be compared to what is contained here. The room itself was nothing more than a standardized ER in any hospital. Only the environment in here is animated by moving victims, and working doctors and scientists.

No one noticed their entrance, the surrounding of the passage where they stood was protected by a one way glass mirror. Yet they had the full view of the room.

If Kurei came here three years ago, he would've thrown up immediately. Now he knew better. Mori Koran only brought him to another test, and he took the challenge. He suppressed the feeling of disgust and walked past everything without any visible reaction.

At the other end of the room was the storage for those new "shipments". Little children in rags backed to the wall. No one knew when they will become the next body on that dissecting plate. This is Koran's favorite part of the tour. He enjoyed the visible, human fear he sensed from the children.

Each one of them stared wide-eyed at those working strangers who controlled their fate. Once in a while, one of Komatsu's assistants would approach in his white shirt and gloves. Everyone would crowd back to the wall until no space remained. Then he would randomly choose a child who would be taken away kicking and screaming and crying, soon to be silenced by the bloody knives.

Kurei stood behind glass wall and watched the room, he felt that Mori Koran wanted him to watch, and that he was watching his reaction. Kurei had none. But soon, his attention was drawn to a boy sitting alone in the corner, leaning against the wall.

Kurei couldn't understand what it was about this boy that attracted his attention. There was just something about the way he sat in silence, never moving. He seemed to be around Kurei's age, no more than ten. The way he positioned himself, sitting carelessly, could make you think that he was sitting comfortably in his own home. Neither fear nor helplessness, common to the other victims, radiated from him.

The boy looked up as if he felt Kurei's eyes on him. His brown eyes sparkled with a deep and strange sense of humor and he smiled at Kurei, through the mirror. Kurei suddenly felt he wanted to do something, and he made a decision he will never regret in the extent of his life. He walked up to Mori Koran and said, "Please grant me a favor, chichiue."

Mori Koran was rather surprised that Kurei suddenly spoke, but he played his role perfectly in front of outsiders. "Of course, Kurei. Anything you want."

Kurei pointed to that boy, "I want to spare that one. If I may be allowed to bring him back. He's quite... interesting."

This was obviously not what Mori Koran had expected but he complied nonetheless. He said in a generous tone to Kurei, "Of course it is time to get you a personal servant. If you've chosen that kid, then take him."

Orders were given and that boy was taken away at once. As he was walking out of the room, the boy looked up again, and Kurei could see his lips moving. He said, Arigatou.

-----

Doctors in white robes continued to work in silence and Kurei's day was over. He returned to Mori Koran's mansion without a word. Then, when he about to fall into the bottomless pit of his nightly dreams again, a knock came to his door.

The door opened and the boy he saw earlier today at the laboratory slipped in quietly. He smiled at Kurei, "I was told that I was brought here to become your servant, Kurei-sama." The he bowed down formally and said, "You saved my life today, yet I have no other words of gratitude for you. Only my eternal loyalty."

They stared at each other, and at that moment, there was a complete understanding between them that was beyond any form of communication.

Kurei asked, "What is your name?"

"I don't know." The boy answered. "I grew up in the orphanage and had never known anyone who would refer to me by a name."

After a long day, Kurei climbed back into his bed, and said a little wearily, "Then tomorrow, come with me, I want you to meet someone who will give you a name..." He lied down and slept.

The boy tenderly pulled up the blanket for Kurei and said, "I will guard your dreams while you sleep, Kurei-sama. Anata wa mou hitori jya nai." And then he quietly turned off the lights and closed the door behind him.



Anata wa mou hitori jya nai. Kurei closed his eyes.

With all recollection of dreams and nightmares behind him, he took another step towards tomorrow.


End of Part 1

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