• Several hours had passed since the lab incident, and Isamu was sitting in his one-room, roof apartment that seemed more like a closet with a window than anything, about to dig into a cup of mac and cheese once that beat-up, old microwave finished heating it up. Today had been another day in hell. After the accident in his chemistry class Isamu had been getting nothing but comments and sarcasm from everyone, it seemed that the story traveled quickly and it seemed quite a few of the locals found it incredibly ironic that the boy from japan, a country with a brilliant science program that any one of them would sell their soul to get a job in, had caused a hazardous reaction in lab B. At least that window gave him a nice view, on the 18th floor he could gaze out at the many skyscrapers that littered the city.
    Hopefully, Isamu thought to himself as he looked outside at the ant-like people walking around on the ground, around the campus is as far as the story will go. I don’t know what I’d do if…
    A loud ding jerked the boy from his thoughts, his dinner was ready. He pulled the cup gingerly from the microwave, setting himself down in a folding chair and digging in with a dirty metal fork. A grimace crossed his face. The middle was still frozen. He shrugged and continued to eat the half cooked noodles and cheese, it was better than nothing.
    Once again, a loud sound jerked him out of his concentration, a knock this time. He stood up and opened his door to find three asian men standing in front of him. The two on the outside were at least a quarter of a meter taller than the middle one, and about twenty-five years younger. All three wearing suits, the two bigger men in dark, navy blue, the older wearing far more elegant, yet at the same time much more simple, dark silver attire, causing his gray hair, which hung down his back in a single thick braid, to seem even more white than it really was.
    Isamu eyed the two dark suits with trepidation, knowing that his hopes from mere moments ago were tarnished from the moment there was a knock on his door. No one visited him. No one, except for the man standing in front of him and his associates.
    “Isamu…son, how was your first day?” the old man questioned, his voice would have seemed normal to any outsider, but both the awkward boy in front of him, and the men on either side knew that voice, it was only when at a point of desperate, and sometimes murderous, fury that the patriarch used this voice, one toned as if intense meditation moments ago was the only thing holding him back from actions that both Isamu, and his Grandfather’s men, had seen and feared far more than anything they had experienced.
    “…you know…” a quiet voice slipping out of Isamu’s lips, directed more at the ground than at the man in front of him. He knew what was coming, it had happened before, and would most likely happen again.
    A sigh came from the old man, surprising Isamu so much that he looked up. “Yes, Isamu, I know what happened, and you as well know what is happening know. You know that the only reason I would travel this far in only a day would be for something paramount to the lives of my family, my wife and daughters.”
    Here it was, the lecture that was bound to come, hopefully it would end with minimal threats and intimidation from the men his grandfather brought, they were always there, they always tried to scare him into acting in accordance with the old man’s wishes and plans. It would be over soon.
    “I know what you are thinking, Isamu.” The voice of the old man suddenly far more tired, and far more cold than before, something that shocked Isamu. “I know you believe this is just another visit from your old grandfather, just another attempt to frighten you into the path I have chosen for you. You are wrong, Isamu. This visit is far more important than you could ever have predicted, so pay attention, as this will not be the usual speech about duty and dedication and worth.”
    What was going on? What was his grandfather thinking? He had never spoken to Isamu like this before, there had always been anger and distance between the two, but never had his grandfather harmed him in any way, never had he been anything but the brutal mentor that Isamu had slowly learned to accept as his grandfather and his teacher.
    “R-ryuu-dono…” the words trembled upon Isamu’s lips, suddenly afraid, not knowing what was going on, what was his grandfather here for, if not to lecture?
    “No,” the old man suddenly cut him off, and in the moments of silence he sent away the two other men, intending only his grandson to hear these words. “You shall refer to me with the name of my family, the name I was given and the name that I raised to it’s true status. You shall call me Chikarakan, or else ue-sama. You no longer have the right to use my personal name. I am here Isamu-jukeisha, to show what happens to those who shame me, and my name. Those who befoul the reputation of my family and my own hard work. I have given you chance after chance, I have shown you the ways you will prosper, I have taught you personally. After your own stupidity caused your fathers death three years ago, I thought you would have grown up, matured into the man that I needed you to be now. You know you were the only one capable of succeeding me as the family patriarch. You were the only one who could have taken this dynasty and stretched across the new centuries. It has been so long since simply uttering the name of a family would cause both immediate reverence and fear in people all over Japan, yet I succeeded. Do you know how hard I had to work to obtain that level of respect? Do you have any idea the things that I did in my youth to become what I am? And yet you stand there unwilling to even learn, you know, I told you many stories of all the monstrosities I committed, the horrible acts, the pure evil of what I had done in order to become powerful, and I ask none of that from you. All I asked from you was to learn, to become a man of substance, a man of knowledge in this new century, and you cannot even do this. I am here today, Isamu-jukeisha, to tell you only that it was you who killed our family name. It was you and your own worthlessness that-”
    A sudden movement and a flash of red seemed to tint the world, Isamu took several moments to realize what had happened as he felt the warmth dripping down his right arm. His left was holding the old man off of the floor, pressing him against the wall outside of his room and holding him at least a foot off the ground. His right hand still held the fork he had been eating with when they had arrive, and his right hand had that fork buried into his grandfathers throat.
    A soft groan and a spurt of crimson came from the mouth of the old man, now sounding as feeble as his age would have made him, “Isamu…live up to your name….” a pleading last request from a dying old man, a dying old man who had both committed crimes and atrocities that could never be spoken of, and provided such a wondrous life for his wife and children, for his family and friends, for Isamu.
    Tears were streaming down the cheeks of the large boy, finally surrounded by evidence of his own failure. He released the old man, who crumpled on the floor, bleeding himself into eternity. Isamu turned around and walked back into his apartment, back to the window, back to the view he treasured each evening, and looked out at the many ant-like citizens of the massive city.
    “ ‘live up to your name…’ ” a memory flashed into his mind as he repeated his grandfather’s last words.
    He was young, only seven or eight at the time, sitting in a room designed identical to the ancient lord’s homes, elegant artistry covering every wall, dragons and ancient gods of power surrounding him. His grandfather sat at in front of him, his hair much less gray and more like it’s original pitch black, his braid swinging lightly as the man spoke.
    “Isamu-kun, tell me, do you know what your name means?”
    The young boy shook his head, keeping his silence in the presence of his revered grandfather, just as his father had taught him, keeping his eyes on the wooden floor, only occasionally stealing glances up at the powerful man, and on one of these quick peeks he saw something that surprised him greatly. His grandfather was smiling at him.
    “Isamu, your name means ‘courage’” even more strange than the smile, the man now turned his head towards the floor as he spoke, “a request I made of your father, to bestow that name upon you, the first male in our family line since your father, my first-born son. Do you know why I wanted you to have that name?”
    Once again, the little boy shook his head, his eyes now glued to the man before him, who suddenly appeared far older than he truly was, the slight gray of his hair seemed to deepen, the soft lines on his face became firmer, the wise and unreadable eyes, for the first time in Isamu’s memory, appeared soft and loving.
    “I wanted you to have that name, because I wanted you to become the man I could not. As your father knows, and as you too will one day know, I have performed many horrible actions in my life to rise to the power you seem me in now. I wanted you to have an inspiration to live your life and gain even more respect and reverence than I, and to do that by gaining it in honorable ways. Become a great man, Isamu, and stay as pure and honorable as the child you are now.”
    The memory faded and the tears now poured down Isamu’s face, gazing out the window at the many people who would always hold him responsible for destroying his family name, for committing the same crimes as his grandfather, even after the powerful old man had done everything he could to prevent it.
    “Isamu….courage…is what I must have…” the words came out soft, spoken only to himself as he opened the latch on the window, determined to regain the honor he had lost his family, determined to give his grandfather his dying wish. He would be courageous.
    Isamu took one deep breath, and shifted his weight forward, falling out of the window, the wind whipping his face mercilessly as he plummeted the eighteen floors to the solid concrete below, and ending his life with a dull THUD!

    ~ ~ ~

    THUD! The sound reached Allison’s ears as she hid quietly in her large, walk-in, closet. As tears silently streamed down her cheeks, the sound of more blows landing on flesh shot through her ears. Daddy had been drinking again.





















    For this portion of the story, I used japanese honorifics and titles, and as I spent quite a bit of time looking up the specific ones I felt expressed the proper emotion, I will explain what each title means here.


    Dono: a suffix used to express great respect, an english translation might be lord, or sir.


    ue: a term used to mean "above" generally placed with other honorifics to increase the ammount of respect in the term, or in front of a parental title to express respect.


    Sama: a suffix used to express great respect, an english translation might be master


    jukeisha: a suffix used for convicts, meaning someone who has committed a crime. (in this context, the grandfather feels as if his grandson has committed a great offense by shaming his family name, and thus uses the term to show the boy that he is guilty of what is, in the grandfather's eyes, a capital crime)


    kun: a suffix used to express familiarity, or affection for a young or teenage boy.