Disclaimer: Kinnikuman Nisei/Ultimate Muscle is the property of many, many companies, none of which I own.

Note: Sometimes, it's good to feel deeply for a character. Right now, I just wanted to write for Gazelle Man and no other. I'm not really concerned with how this will turn out. I just want to give the man a little history.

Ain Ghazal: Accounts of a Gazelle-man

By Son Rhandi

Prologue

"Mister Daggerhorn? Mister Daggerhorn?"

The antler-bearing fellow awoke with a start. Rubbing the sleep out of his eyes, he looked up to find a dark-skinned man clad in a cyan scrub suit and white coat. "My name is Dr. Muhmad. Please come with me."

"Would you mind fillin' me in, Doc?" He asked while straightening the collar of his olive green field jacket. "I must have dozed off."

"Well, of course. You've been here since --what?-- 7 last night? You're probably exhausted. Anyway, step into my office."

Daggerhorn took a seat in a comfortable armchair facing the physician's desk. The doctor sat down and folded his hands. "So, Doc, how'd it go?"

"When your wife began to go into labor yesterday, she also began hemorrhaging. It wasn't anything serious at first, but after 12 hours of labor, we discovered severe internal bleeding. We ended up having to deliver the child via cesarean. A healthy, baby boy."

"What about Shika..?"

The doctor removed his glasses and sighed. "After all those hours of labor, the stress on her body… She just lost too much blood. We did everything we could."

Daggerhorn stared back at him blankly, mouth slightly agape. "It's little consolation, I know," Doctor Muhmad continued. "But she was happy in her final moments, happy that she was able to see her son…" He stood and began for the door. "…You'll have to excuse me, Mister Daggerhorn. I have other patients to attend to. Please feel free to stay here if you need to be alone right now."

He shut the door behind him and that was that. The strong-chinned buck hung his head low, his ears drooping at the sides of his head. Shifting to stand, he stuffed his hands in his pockets and looked to the ceiling, his expression unreadable. Exhaling deeply, Daggerhorn left the office and wandered to the nursery.

_____________________________________

He placed a large, white hand on the plate-glass and peered through at the tens of bassinets on the other side. All the babes were wrapped in either pink or blue blankets, and not a one of them showing enough for him to pick out his son.

"Excuse me…"

He turned around. A plump nurse was in his sight. "Do you need help?"

Daggerhorn smiled sadly. "Yes. I would like to see my son. Family of Daggerhorn."

Nodding, the nurse entered the infant ward and navigated down the ails of bassinets. Bending over slightly at one of them, she scooped up a bundle of powder blue, then exited.

"Here you are," she announced cheerfully, carefully making the transfer from her arms to his. The muscular buck held his child in his inexperienced arms and tenderly looked him over. The blanket enveloped his body, ending at the very tip of his nose. The matching wool hat covered down to his eyebrows. Well, eye ridges… And between the two Daggerhorn could see two barely open slits, his son's eyes.

He took a gentle finger and eased down the part of the blanket covering the babe's face. His son opened his mouth for a wide, toothless yawn and smacked his crinkled lips a bit. His face was still a bit wrinkled and pale, even by gazelle-men standards, but the dark family markings were showing through already. Dagger cast a glance over his shoulder to the nurse, who had her attentions elsewhere, then turned back to his son. Cushioning him deeper within the crook of his arm, the large buck peeled off the wool cap with his free hand, and was awestruck.

His little ears were already perked up, shifting in either direction, taking in the unfamiliar sounds of electronics floating all around the hospital. The rest of his head was already a rustic red, a little misshapen, but that would correct itself, in time. And then, he opened his eyes, that baby, and looked back at him with a certain familiarity. Large, black doe eyes…

His doe's eyes…

Suddenly overcome, Daggerhorn buried his face in the small blue blanket. "You're beautiful…" He whispered in a choked voice. "Enkidu, my little Enkidu… I'm happy she could know…" Hot tears of joy and grief ran down his cheeks. "I'm so happy your mother in Heaven could know… the beauty of her son…"