My Name

Something was telling me to run. To stay away from that place. To take the only chance I had and leave the world behind. It was not my responsibility. Not mine. I had nothing to do with those people. But I couldn't. I couldn't do it. I never was able to. And that's something I hated about myself. But no matter how much I hated this part of me, I can't change it. It was ingrained in the very depths of my soul.

So I ran. I ran to that place where I knew I would regret going. Every fiber of my body screamed at me to turn back, to go the opposite direction. But I didn't. Allowing the slightest amount of cursed energy to seep into my body, my feet grew light, and they skimmed across the roads of Tokyo as I sprinted through the city.

I could see the manifestation of cursed energy spiraling in the sky. A special grade curse. One that had just been born. I could tell by its lack of control over the cursed energy running rampant in its body. Wait. No, that isn't its own cursed energy. That energy signature was familiar to me. And that wasn't good. Not good at all.

As I got closer, I sensed a different energy signature. A jujustu sorcerer. A relatively skilled one, but one that I failed to recognize. That was good. One was already bad news.

Finally, I found them. They were battling in an abandoned park-the slides, the swings, the see-saw all rusted and broken. A perfect place for a horror movie ironically. The special grade curse was a hideous four-limbed creature that vaguely resembled a human. Its iron-rusted hair covered its "face" and impossibly long arms dangled to the ground. Its knuckles made a horrible scraping sound as the curse dragged them across the floor. The jujustu sorcerer, a young teenage boy with spiky dark blue hair, wore a long-sleeved shirt adorned with golden buttons. Perspiration ran down his brow, a testament to the sticky situation he found himself in.

But I wasn't interested in them. I swept my gaze across the park. A growing worry rose up in my throat as I didn't see her. Where is she? Did she get caught in the fray of the battle?

I shook my head, slightly cursing myself that I had gotten so worked up. Control yourself.

Then, a flicker of white caught my eye. I dashed across the park, jumping over the splintered wooden bench and sliding under the playground to bring the white outline into full view.

"Kira! You're okay," I whispered. "Good girl."

Kira nuzzled her nose into my cheek and gave a reassuring purr.

"Hey! Get out of here! It's dangerous here!"

I turned towards the direction of the voice and saw the special grade curse coming in my direction with the jujutsu sorcerer following closely behind.

The curse's tongue lolled out from its mouth as it screamed at me. "Food! Food!"

"Hey kid! Run!" the jujutsu sorcerer shouted again.

I shot out from under the playground set and scrambled towards the exit. The curse barreled through the swings, its claws barely missing me.

"Divine Dog!" A large wolf crashed into the curse, and the two creatures began to fight. I looked down at the white cat in my arms. Even though she bore the appearance of a cat, Kira was a special type of curse. She has the innate ability to camouflage her appearance as a household pet. Curses like Kira had to be good at hiding, or else they would be easy prey for the stronger curses.

I hid Kira into my jacket. If that special grade curse wanted to consume Kira, it would have to go through me.

"Kid, get out of here! It's not safe," the sorcerer yelled at me, but his eyes never left the battle between his shikigami and the curse.

I registered his words, but I hesitated. If I left the playground with Kira, the curse would come after me without a doubt. It was in a curse's nature to pursue strength. It would not be that easily dissuaded, especially those who had set their sights on its prey.

I didn't move. It would only bring more trouble to run. The teenage boy shot a glance at me, annoyance in his gaze. "Kid, I told you to leave. Don't you understand th-"

He didn't get to finish as the curse threw the black wolf off its back. A long arm collided with the sorcerer's body and sent him crashing into the barbed fence surrounding the playground. Finally removing its troublesome opponent from the picture, the curse cackled as it stalked towards me.

I saw the saliva dripping out of its hideous mouth, and I felt Kira struggle in my grip. I backed up slowly, trying to think of my next move.

"Hush, Kira, stop moving."

The curse was getting closer, dragging its long arms across the dirt ground.

"What to do next?" I murmured. "Trouble seems to find me wherever I go."

Time had run out. The curse grew impatient and sent long barbed wires my way, intent on skewering my body with holes. I dodged to the right, running as hard as I could to avoid the attacks coming my way. I survived its attack unharmed. Not being able to use cursed energy is quite a pain.

The curse laughed again. It was playing with me like how a cat played with its prey before dealing the final blow. There was only so far I could run before the curse's interest waned. That would be then when the curse ended the game and took its prize.

Suddenly, a bird call caught both of our attentions. An owl-liked bird shot down from the night sky and grabbed the curse in its talons. The jujutsu sorcerer is still alive. My gaze swiveled back to where he had fallen and saw the sorcerer pick himself up from the ground. He grinned fiercely at the curse.

"You will pay for destroying my Divine Dog." He looked up at the sky at his shikigami. "Nue!"

The bird-like shikigami dropped the curse from the sky and hurtled down after it, its powerful wings striking the curse as they both pummeled into the ground. The curse let out an anguished cry as its body was sliced into pieces. Nue proudly returned to the sorcerer's side, its yellow eyes searching for its master's praise. The sorcerer gave the bird a light pat on its head before returning it to the shadows.

"We're done here," the sorcerer announced.

Kira peeked her head out from my jacket, meowing in relief. The sorcerer walked towards the defeated curse, carefully cradling his right arm.

But before he could finish the curse, the sorcerer stiffened and collapsed onto the ground. Kira let out a small, frightened growl. Black blood oozed out of his wound from a cut in his shoulder. It was a potent poison. I could tell by the sickly sweet smell in the air.

Kira meowed loudly again, and my gaze landed on the curse. Its ruined body started to twitch. I sensed the cursed energy inside it writhe and turn as it regenerated its wounds. The curse got back onto its feet and made its way to the fallen sorcerer, a beastly smile decorating its face.

I glanced at the two, a part of me relieved that the curse's attention was no longer on me but another part of me seriously not wanting to be a part of this mess. Especially when I don't have a lot of time left myself.

I turned to leave, but Kira put a paw on my chest. I frowned. Seriously?

The curse's hand struck forward, its target the sorcerer's heart. The sorcerer wasn't moving, and I sighed. So much for staying as inconspicuous as possible.

I took my hand out of my pocket.

A sharp clang tore through the air, and it was followed by the high-pitch creaking of metal. A cat meowed. The sorcerer opened his eyes, surprised that he was still alive. Then, his eyes widened, even more surprised by the scene he saw before him.

"Kneel."

The curse's arm struggled in my grip as its mouth went slack in horror. It could feel the overwhelming archaic aura I emitted demanding its utter submission. The curse's legs gave way, and it collapsed onto the ground. I slowly lifted my right hand, the ring on my index finger sparkling under the moonlight.

"Cursed Technique: Umbral Haze."

Black tendrils of darkness wrapped around the curse and tightened their hold on its limbs. The sound of creaking metal intensified, and the curse was pulled apart alive. Blood splattered the ground as the last of its cursed energy dissipated.

From its corpse, a finger dropped onto the ground, and I pocketed it. Not giving the dead curse another glance, I turned to the exit and suppressed a yawn.

I carefully withdrew my aura and called to Kira. "Let's go."

Kira meowed in reply. It was an unhappy meow. A defiant one. I paused and turned around. The cat was sitting on top of the sorcerer's chest. Kira patted the boy with her paw and meowed again. Kira's amber eyes bored into mine, and I held her gaze. I knew what she wanted me to do.

"Fine."

I sighed and relented. I picked up Kira and knelt next to the sorcerer on the ground. It was true that the sorcerer got hurt because he was concerned about my safety. This was something I owed him, and even though I really didn't want to get involved in this mess, I disliked owing anyone a favor. Kira knew that, too, that cunning little cat.

I brought my finger to my lips and bit down on it. Using my cursed energy, I controlled the blood to flow out of my finger and coagulate in the air. The poison in the sorcerer's body had invaded most of his organs, accelerated by his continuous usage of cursed energy. The only option I had was to completely purge the poison from his body.

"Oi, Megumi-kun, how's it going? Do you have the finger yet?" A bright, annoying voice rang through the air. A tall, white-haired man with a black blindfold over his eyes strolled into the park. Another jujutsu sorcerer. A very powerful one. Boundless cursed energy circulated in the his body, his reserves one of the greatest I've ever seen.

"Oh? What do we have here?" the man asked. The sorcerer's figure flickered, and suddenly he was holding the fallen sorcerer in his arms. I blinked. He's fast. Very fast.

"What are you doing to Megumi-kun?" The smile remained on the man's face, but his voice had grown cold. Dangerous. I could sense a boiling anger growing deep within him as the man examined Megumi's wounds. Kira hissed at the man, hackles raised.

"Healing him," I said, petting Kira's back to calm her.

I slowly picked myself up, showing the man that I meant no harm. This is bad. I had sensed another sorcerer in the facility, but I didn't think he would be so strong. I was slightly regretting helping the boy. I wasted my chance to run.

"With that?" The man gestured at the blood and laughed. "That's a good joke! You're a funny one, kid."

Despite his easy-going attitude, I felt a strong aura exuding out of him, his gaze sharp even with his eyes covered by the blindfold. This man was too strong. I didn't want to risk fighting him. I still had those things to worry about. It was best if I could avoid an outright confrontation.

The sorcerer sized up the boy, and he found that he couldn't see through him at all. Not even with his Six Eyes. The boy had an abundant amount of cursed energy, enough to be on par with a first grade sorcerer, but something didn't sit quite right with him.

Concentrating my cursed energy to a point, I sent it into the blood and shaped the blood into a sphere. My blood reacted with the concentrated cursed energy and slowly turned snow white. The man watched the process in quiet astonishment, his curiosity clear on his face. I didn't have the spare energy to care though.

"For him." I pushed the white marble towards the man with a strand of my cursed energy. The man caught the marble in his hand and brought it up to his eyes, or rather, his blindfold.

"Reversing cursed energy into positive energy," the man exclaimed. "Amazing! You're such a talent!"

The man fed the marble to Megumi, and almost immediately the wounds started to heal. The teenager's eyes fluttered open and focused on the man. "Gojo-sensei!"

"Good to see you're alright, Megumi-kun!" Gojo greeted the boy. "Looks like I had to come to your rescue again, huh?"

Ignoring his teacher, Megumi turned and saw me standing next to the remains of the special curse. "Sensei, be careful. He's strong."

Gojo tilted his head, the smile never leaving his face. "Don't worry, Megumi. I'm the strongest."

I studied the duo for a few seconds before turning around and started to walk away. Kira padded after me, meowing softly. I was hoping that my goodwill towards the two sorcerers would give me a pass out of the situation, but it looked like I was asking too much. Gojo teleported in front of me, blocking my path.

"Hold on, little kid. I don't believe I caught your name," Gojo said. "I'm Gojo Satoru."

I gave the man a curt nod. "Okay."

I stepped to the right, and immediately Gojo mirrored my movement. He wasn't going to let me walk away. I gave the man a questioning gaze. What does he want?

"Don't be so quick to leave! My dear student said you're strong," Gojo said. "Megumi-kun doesn't give out compliments that easily, so I just want to get to know you better!"

Then, he moved. Reacting almost a beat too late, I blocked his punch with my hand, the impact pushing me back several feet. With that short confrontation, I was high on alert. I didn't touch him. He's mastered the Gojo clan's Infinity?

I clenched my hand into a fist; my hand was still shaking involuntarily from blocking his blow. His strength was immense, even greater than that special grade curse. It looks like a fight is inevitable. I increased the output of cursed energy in my body, steadily raising it so that I could match Gojo's strength.

"Oh? You were still holding back your strength?" Gojo seemed to have become more interested in me. His aura grew sharper as he took his other hand out from his pocket.

"Leave me alone," I said. I don't have any spare energy to waste, especially not with him.

"Sorry, but the higher ups won't have it if a special grade item goes missing in Tokyo," Gojo said.

A special grade item? I pulled out the finger that I had picked up earlier.

"Bingo!" Gojo exclaimed. "One of the King of Curses, Sukuna's twenty fingers."

Sukuna. So he goes by that now? He was a very powerful curse, but the man in front of me was quite strong too. They were both opponents I did not want to get involved with. I tossed the finger over. "It's yours."

Gojo caught the finger and handed it to Megumi on the side. "Don't lose it again, Megumi-kun."

"You were the one who lost it the first time!" Megumi retorted.

As the two bickered, I took the chance to sneak discretely past them, but a voice stopped me in my tracks.

"Where do you think you're going?" Gojo said.

That did it. I was done wasting my time with the sorcerers. I was going to leave, by force if I had to. I moved my left hand over my right and touched my ring. I didn't plan on using the last bits of my power here, but they were giving me no choice.

But before I could do anything, I felt a piercing pain in my head. An involuntary gasp escaped my lips as my body was overcome with pain. I collapsed onto my knees, and I clutched the left side of my face. They were starting to move. They were unhappy with the blood I had given away. They didn't like to share. They wanted every last drop of my blood, and they wanted even more. I could feel them crawling beneath my skin, every movement burning my veins like fiery needles pricking every cell of my body. I let loose an agony-filled howl as I felt my control on my disguise give way.

Gojo watched as the boy's black hair turned snow white, a shade of white even more pure than his own. His pupils changed color: the right one a crimson color of blood and the left a hazy red. Something moved in the boy's left eye. Gojo's eyes widened behind his blindfold.

"Red eyes, white hair, the appearance of a 10-year old boy. Looks like we found the one who escaped from the higher ups," Gojo commented.

"Gojo sensei, those things in his body. Are they…?" Megumi asked tentatively.

"I would like to deny it, but unfortunately it's true. Typical that the higher ups would use such a disgusting technique," Gojo muttered grimly. His smile was gone.

Through the pain-induced haze, I barely made out Gojo's figure coming toward me. I hissed at the man, warning him not to come closer.

"Don't struggle," Gojo ordered. "You're coming with me. Don't try to resist."

There was nothing I could do as the man squatted down in front of me. I raised my arm and tried to strike the man, but Gojo easily caught my wrist with his right hand. And with his left, he pressed two fingers onto my forehead.

"Sleep."

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------The boy's body ached as he lay on the ground, bleeding. The stone floor was hard and cold at his back, and noise came through staticky and broken like a voice through a bad phone line. He could vaguely hear footsteps thudding toward him accompanied by shouting. Still, his vision refused to focus, and the only thing he could identify around him was the grey expanse of the room encompassing him.

"Ototo-san!" The boy felt someone pick him up from the ground and wrap their arms around his broken body. He was as light as a feather, his limbs thin as sticks. His eyes were empty as he failed to identify who was calling out to him. He barely held the strength to continue bringing in air into his lungs.

"How could they do this to you? How could they? Why are they so heartless?"

The boy blinked as droplets of water landed on his cheek. They were ice cold, though the cold failed to bring out any reaction from him. His own body was getting colder by the second, the frost seeping into the very fiber of his bones. He had never felt so cold before, so empty.

"I'm sorry, Ototo-san. This is all my fault. I wasn't strong enough to protect you." The voice cracked. "I really tried my best. I tried my best to get stronger. I did everything I was supposed to do, and I did even more. Everything everyone else did I doubled, tripled it! I was the best out of everyone, and I thought it would be enough."

A flicker of white entered the boy's vision as he felt something tickle his face. The weight on his back disappeared, and warmth enveloped his hand. His numb fingers were slowly spread apart, and calloused fingers touched his. Darkness started to creep into his vision.

"But it wasn't enough. It never was. They always had an excuse to push me away, to force me away from you. They always said next time, but there was no next time!" The voice was quivering, close to a soundless sob.

"Please don't be scared, Ototo-san. I'm right here, I'm finally next to you. No one is going to hurt you ever again. I'll always be by your side. Just please, answer me. Don't fall asleep, okay? We still have so many things to do. Right?"

The boy knew the voice was speaking to him. He wanted to answer, but as he parted his lips, nothing came out. He tried again, yet only a small dribble of blood ran down the side of his lips. The effort took everything out of him. Unable to hold on any longer, he allowed the darkness to consume him.

"Ototo-san?" The grip around the boy's hand grew tighter. "Ototo-san!"

"Why!? Why is the world so unfair? Why is the world like this? Can someone tell me why?" The voice screamed, pure pain lacing the sound. Short, quick whimpers of soul-wrenching grief filled the room. A still boy with lifeless eyes laid quietly before a weeping, kneeling girl. It was as if time had stopped, leaving only the two of them alone in a colorless world.

"The world is cruel, and the only morality in a cruel world is chance." A third voice suddenly sounded, shattering the stillness of the room. "Do you have the strength to take that chance?"

"Strength? You ask me if I have the strength?" the girl retorted, a cold, bitter fury in her voice. "My strength comes from the moments that brought me to my knees. If I had to, I will tear through everyone with my blood-stained teeth."

"And who are you? You talk about strength, yet you refuse to show yourself?" the girl questioned. "How do I know if you're not a fabric of my imagination?"

The voice answered with an emotionless chuckle. "Just because you don't see something doesn't mean it isn't there. Some of the most wonderful things in the world are invisible. Trusting in invisible things makes them more powerful and wondrous."

"What you're saying, I don't understand, and I don't want to understand. The visible, tangible things I can see give me meaning," the girl rejected.

"Yet you are willing to give your answer to something that is invisible," the voice countered. "How curious."

"Humans are curious creatures, killing their own kind to satisfy their own desires," the girl agreed. "But that is the world I live in, and my strength is too insignificant to change it."

"So then," the voice asked, "what kind of world do you desire?"

"I want a world where my brother is alive. I don't care about anything else." The girl raised her head, two lines of tears streaking her face. "Can you give me that, powerful and wondrous invisible thing?"

"If that is what you desire, all things can come true, but it will come at a cost," the voice responded. "Are you willing to pay that cost?"

"Anything," she whispered. "I dedicated my entire life to my brother. I'll give anything for him."

"It shall be done," the voice said. "You will have the world you desire, but you will not be there to witness it. That is the price you must pay."

"As long as my brother can witness it, I am satisfied," she declared. She leaned forward and gently pressed her lips on the boy's forehead. "Make me proud, Ototo-san."

The girl stood up and wiped her tears away. "I'm ready."

There was no reply, but, after a brief moment, the girl felt a penetrating cold enter her chest. She felt something shatter within her, something fundamental to who she was break into countless pieces. The girl's body crumpled to the ground like a puppet cut from its string.

"Your soul..." the voice spoke again, "in exchange for his. An equal transaction."

A translucent orb levitated in the air before sinking into the boy's chest. The boy's figure flickered once, twice, and then his eyes opened. But they had no pupils, only pitch-black irises.

"A damaged soul, huh?" the voice mused. "Troublesome."

The space above the boy distorted as a black shadow materialized into the room. The voice hummed quietly as the wisp raised his hand and beckoned at the boy. The boy's body floated upward, hovering in front of the shadow.

"The contact must be completed," the voice declared. "No matter the cost."

The shadow flickered and then dove into the boy's body. A moment later, a glimpse of red flickered in the boy's eyes before brown pupils took its place. The boy blinked and looked around. His gaze landed on the girl on the ground.

"Onee-san," the boy whispered. He dropped down from the air and gathered up the girl. "Thank you, Onee-san." His figure shook as he mourned quietly.

"What is your name?" The familiar voice sounded once more. The boy jolted in shock before looking around the room warily. He then realized that the voice had originated from his mind.

"Who are you?" the boy asked. "What do you want from me?"

"Do not worry. I will not harm you," the voice assured.

"I know," the boy answered. "You brought me back to life."

"No," the voice said. "Your sister back to life, not me. I merely lent her a hand."

"I see." The boy stood up with his sister's body in his arms. "I don't know who you are, but will you help me?"

"As long as it is within the means of the contract, I will lend you my strength," the voice promised.

"Good," the boy nodded. "You asked for my name, didn't you?"

"Correct."

"From this moment forward, I will no longer bear my family name," the boy announced. "My name is Rey, and I pledge that my name will strike fear in every single one of those who dare to stand in my way of revenge."