Title: Kuchisake-Shonen: The Slit-Mouth Boy

Genre: horror, romance, hurt/comfort, drama, supernatural

Rating: T+ for language and strong violence

Pairings: JohanXJudai

Summary: Legend holds that several years ago, a suburban town was terrorized by a man whose beautiful face had been grotesquely disfigured with a Glasgow smile, also known as a Chelsea grin. Roaming the streets wearing a long red ski parka and carrying large scissors, the man would approach his young victims and, while removing the mask, ask if he was pretty. The victim's response, if it were the wrong one, would almost always lead to their violent death. Now, one by one, teenagers and young adults are disappearing again. As teachers and officials desperately begin to investigate, a panic begins to build as the man returns for some unfinished business and the town's dark secrets are exposed. But, the man's dark reign of terror might be over just as soon as it begins when he meets a young man who completely captivates his heart.

Me: All right, everyone! Chapter two of Kuchisake-Shonen: The Slit-Mouth Boy is finally up!

Lucy: In the last chapter, Johan met Judai, and he doesn't know that Judai is the Slit-Mouth Boy. And afterward, Judai killed an abusive boyfriend named Enri, who was beating his girlfriend Takana.

Me: What is going to happen in the next chapter?

Lucy: Please enjoy!

Chapter Two: Spending Time With a Slit-Mouth

The Boy's eyes glitter like damaged stars, blazing with hatred and feral hunger. The Boy is a predator, strong and lethal, beautiful and powerful as a panther. In his hand he holds a long pair of scissors, thin and painted with blood. Across his nose rests a snowy white surgical mask, and underneath—underneath is a secret he will never show the world. A secret so powerful, it would destroy the earth. The Boy turns his head, hair whipping like a sword behind him. And as he raises his arms to swing his scissors—

"His arm looks like a fish," Johan said, interrupting his train of thought.

Irritated, he turned his pencil around and scraped the paper with the eraser, washing away the arm of his drawing. Why he was even sketching this, he didn't know. A tall boy with a surgical mask holding a giant pair of scissors.

Now that he really thought about it, Johan had been working on this particular picture all through the past three classes. Several of his classmates had seen it, and they all agreed on one thing: the picture was completely and utterly horrifying.

They're just being babies, Johan told himself.

The picture wasn't that creepy, at least not the body. The eyes were the most frightening part about the picture. They were so alive. So wicked.

Johan couldn't get Judai out of his mind. He'd only known the other boy for, what, ten minutes? And even so, he felt a strange sort of connection between the two of them. Almost as if they'd been fated to meet.

His mask was frightening, even if he was kind. It made his eyes stand out like two stars.

Johan had to wonder what Judai kept under that mask. Perhaps he had been in an accident and was horribly disfigured. Or maybe he was born with a cleft palate and didn't want anyone to see it. Johan, honestly, didn't care what Judai looked like. He was a kind, simple boy. He seemed like he could charm any person in the world, make a friend with anyone he chose.

Even so, he couldn't shake the feeling that something was...different about Judai.

"Hey, Andersen," said Junko Marika, who sat three seats to his right. She leaned across the empty desks between them, snapping her gum. "Do you, like, have a pencil I could borrow?"

Johan couldn't say that he liked Junko a lot, but he was polite and said, "Yeah."

He dug through his book bag until he found a mechanical pencil. He handed it to Junko, who took it without so much as a passing glance, let alone a 'thank you'. It got on Johan's nerves, but he tried to focus on his drawing.

Why am I drawing this? he wondered. The night before, he had a strange dream. In the dream, Johan was in the middle of an alley. And on the other end of the alley was Judai. He carried a pair of scissors coated in blood. His surgical mask was white as snow. And in the dark moonlight, as he turned to look at Johan with his amber-bright eyes, a dark maw peeked out from under the mask. Judai whispered, "Johan. Boku was kirei?" When Johan didn't answer, Judai reached up for his mask and shouted, "Kore demo?" Then he ripped away the mask—and then Johan woke up, panting and covered in sweat, his heart beating like a jackhammer in his ribcage.

The door to the classroom opened, and Professor Cronos walked in. Unlike the other times, he was carrying a newspaper under his arm. His hair was unkempt and very messy, and he wasn't wearing his make-up. Not that Johan minded—the old man looked just creepy with his mascara, lipstick, and eyeshadow—but it gave him the feeling that something just wasn't right.

"Good morning, class," said the professor. "Unfortunately, I have bad news. We won't be talking about psychology today. One of our students, Takana Mariko, has been hospitalized."

Loud murmurs and questions rose from the class. Professor Cronos lifted his hand and called for silence. It took a few minutes, but when everyone stopped talking, Professor Cronos closed his eyes and said, "If you have questions, I brought this newspaper article. It covers everything you want to know." He set a transparent version of the newspaper on the overhead projector and clicked the button. It took a minute, and on the whiteboard above the professor's head, the newspaper appeared, blown-up and easily seen.

The newspaper clipping read:

SLIT-MOUTH BOY STRIKES AGAIN!

Last evening, Takana Mariko was found trembling in the park next to the massacred corpse of her boyfriend, Ubawara Enri. Miss Takana is currently in Domino Hospital, where she is kept under constant watch in the ICU. In a state of shock, she is only able to utter the phrase, "Slit-Mouth Boy... Slit-Mouth Boy!" No people were found near the scene of the crime, and the destruction on Ubawara Enri's body match the injuries of the other victims of the Slit-Mouth Boy. Police have no suspects as of now, leading some to believe that this serial killer may be more than just a crazed man. Is it possible that the Slit-Mouth Boy is indeed real? If so, how will we defend ourselves? "We should keep our children in after dark," says Chief Inspector Ryugi Otogi. "All teenagers should go immediately home after school, and parents are advised to pick up their children." Whoever—or whatever—this serial killer is, police have sworn to hunt him down and lock him in prison before another victim can be found.

The screen clicked off. Professor Cronos stood at the front of the class, lips pursed and pale. "So," he said after a moment of silence. "You all know what you must do, yes?"

"Go home after class?" answered one of the students.

"Yes," nodded Professor Cronos. "And don't talk to any strangers you meet."

"Why?" snorted one of the students in the far back. "This is just some silly urban legend, isn't it?"

"Indeed," Professor Cronos said, tapping his fingers on the desk. "It is an urban legend. The Slit-Mouth Boy is a legend mirrored off the legend of the Slit-Mouth Woman, or Kuchisake-Onna. LIke that legend, there are many different versions on what happened. Some say the Kuchisake-Shonen, the Slit-Mouth Boy, was from the same time period as the Woman. Others claim he's much older. But some others say he is very young compared to her. Either way, we don't know if he's real or not. What we do know is that someone has taken the legend and has been murdering people in its fashion. And I'd rather not have my students end up in a body bag."

A girl whispered, "What if it's not an urban legend?"

Professor Cronos heard her and answered, "If that's the truth, then he won't be stopped. All we can hope is that he is just that—a killer basing himself off the legend."

Johan glanced down at his drawing. The surgical mask, the blazing eyes, the scissors—how could he have not known? The boy he'd been drawing for the past few hours couldn't be anyone other than the Slit-Mouth Boy from the urban legends.

Beside him, Junko chewed on the eraser of his mechanical pencil.

Down below, the professor continued to ramble on about urban legends and the supposed serial killer. Meanwhile, Johan stared down at his drawing in horror. The man in the picture was none other than Judai Yuki, but it was also the Slit-Mouth Boy. But that couldn't be. Johan shook his head and closed his eyes. This is not possible, he thought. Judai's not the Slit-Mouth Boy. It's just a coincidence.

In the back of his mind, he wasn't so sure.

After classes, Johan went to the park.

It didn't take long to get there, but when he arrived at the bench he found Judai at yesterday, the brunette wasn't there.

A little saddened, Johan sat down on the park bench. Two women walked by, swinging shopping bags and chattering amongst themselves. A man in his eighties on the other bench read the newspaper. Johan looked away when he saw all the headlines about the Slit-Mouth Boy. He didn't want to think about the Boy, the one who was either a crazed serial killer, or a ghostly assailant. Johan kept his eyes closed tight.

When he opened them, another woman walked by. She was tall, with stringy black hair and silver eyes. Like Judai, she wore a surgical mask. Despite the warm air, she bundled herself up in a brown trench coat and a pleated skirt. Her high heels clacked against the pavement as she stalked by. Her movements were graceful and beautiful, yet her eyes were harsh and terrible. The woman glanced at Johan out the corner of her eyes, and they seemed to narrow. Johan found it easy to believe that the woman, whoever she was, was scowling at him under her mask.

Before he could ask her who she was, she walked briskly down the path and vanished.

Johan huffed and folded his arms across his chest. His eyelids felt heavy. He didn't want to fall asleep, but it was so peaceful here, with the scents and the sounds and the warm air, that he found his eyelids drooping...

"Johan?" A hand touched his arm.

He jumped as if someone had electrocuted him. He was both surprised and relieved to see Judai sitting on the bench beside him, wearing the same exact thing he'd been wearing the day before: red ski parka (despite the heat), white jeans, red boots, and of course, the snow-white surgical mask. His eyes glittered in the sun, and he appeared to be in good spirits. "Hey," he said. "Sorry I was late. I had some things to check up on." He patted Johan gently on the shoulder, as if he feared hurting him.

"It's all right," Johan said, trying to hide his relieved smile. "I thought you weren't coming today."

"Truth be told, I almost didn't," Judai admitted.

Johan blinked, confused. "Why?"

"Nervous," was Judai's casual reply. "You know, with the Slit-Mouth Boy on the loose, one can never be too careful." He stretched his arms above his head and made a loud noise that Johan recognized: a yawn. His surgical mask stretched until Johan could see just the tip of his chin. Then he fixed it and turned to Johan, his eyes crinkling as if he were smiling.

"Speaking of which," Johan murmured, "the girl who got hospitalized last night was one of my classmates."

Judai's eyes widened to a size Johan found incredibly frightening. His eyes then narrowed, and he murmured, "So, now he's after college students, hm? Wow, that's a new low." Then he patted Johan's knee and said, "I'm sorry about that."

"It's fine." Johan shrugged. "It's sad and all, but I didn't really know her all the much."

"So, nothing really lost?" Judai asked.

"No," Johan said. "At least, not for me." Then he turned his attention to Judai and asked, "What do you know about the Slit-Mouth Boy?"

To his surprise, Judai looked sort of pissed. His eyes darkened, and his surgical mask crinkled up. "Not much," he said, and his tone was a bit forced. "All I know is that he's modeled after the Kuchisake-Onna, Slit-Mouth Woman, and he does what she does—cuts people's mouth up when they don't answer her questions. I only know the urban myths, though. Nothing more."

Judai turned his gaze to the spot where the woman who'd glared at Johan had walked by. "It's still a shame that people have to go through that." Then he shrugged his shoulders and said, "But maybe those people the Slit-Mouth Boy kills have it coming."

"No one deserves to die," Johan said.

Judai lowered his head and whispered, "Some do."

Then he touched his fingers to his surgical mask and looked away.

In that moment, Johan realized what happened. Someone had hurt Judai. That's what he was hiding. The scars of a vicious attack. Someone—though Johan knew not who—had attacked Judai and disfigured him.

Johan reached his hand out to Judai's mask. Judai reeled away from his touch. "What are you doing?"

"Please," Johan asked. "What are you hiding under that?"

Judai shook his head. "No. I'm sorry."

Surprisingly, Johan didn't push it after that. He talked to Judai about his classes, since Judai kept asking about them. They wandered around the park, talking and laughing and sharing jokes. At some moments, Judai would tense and glance around, but there was never any direct target. And late at night, Johan would depart for night classes, and Judai would disappear, after taking Johan out for a coffee.

Over the course of the next few weeks, this was their daily routine. They learned almost everything about each other, except Judai never really talked about himself too much. He asked Johan question after question, and let him do most of the talking. It was strange, but Johan lived with it. One day, though he knew not when, and somehow, though he knew now how, he'd find out what happened to Judai, and what he looked like underneath that surgical mask. It was a mission, and he was determined to complete it.

Me: All right! So Johan has continued to hang out with Judai, but he senses something very wrong.

Lucy: And while we know that Judai is the Slit-Mouth Boy, Johan doesnt know. Although he seems to be catching on rather quickly. And who was that creepy woman who was glaring at Johan in the park?

Me: All this and more when we return!

Lucy: Please review!