I've had nothing to do lately, so I started working an the background stories for my favorite group of roleplay characters. If you've roleplayed with me recently you'll recognize some of the characters in my stories. You'll recognize more if you pay attention.
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Rei Nerio hummed to herself as she walked down the long dirt road that led to the village of nekos, or cat demons, she was on her way to visit. She paused for a moment and shielded her shimmering black eyes with her hand as she checked the sun’s position in the sky. She decided it was around noon and lowered her gaze to look at what lay before her. A soft autumn wind stirred the dirt around her straw sandals and twitched her long, thick ebony braid. Rei had just recently turned twenty-two, but despite her age, she was fairly petite and looked as if she was in her late teens. Her small frame appeared even smaller because of the baggy outfit she wore that was traditional garb for priestesses in Japan.
Rei looked behind her to see her guardian, Kuro. He was tall by any standards, towering over Rei at what she estimated to be six-and-a-half feet. He had shoulder-length black hair with bangs that he had allowed to grow to be about half the length of the rest of his hair and were either pushed to the side of his face or hanging in front of his left eye. He wore a long purple jacket that he kept open no matter what the weather was like. Under his jacket he wore what appeared to be a light purple shirt from a Japanese boy’s high school uniform with a slightly darker purple coloring around the edges. His pants and boots were such a similar shade of black that they seemed to be one article of clothing. Kuro also wore a pair of silver cross earrings that Rei knew represented his dead wife and daughter, Rin and Mizuki.
“Rei, it is really necessary to protect those pathetic demons?” Kuro grumbled. “I mean, if they can’t protect themselves what’s the point?”
“Kuro, you know as well as I do that most, if not all, of their fighters are fighting in that war that’s going on between the demons and the demon slayers are taking advantage of that,” Rei said in her melodic voice. “And I know you hate demon slayers as much as I do.”
The guardian nodded. Guardians were the souls of dead serving penance for sins they committed in life. Either that or they felt guilty about something they had done in life. Kuro was the first type. Guardians were bound to a person upon their birth and would be bound to them for the rest of their life. While they were bound to a person they shared some thoughts, emotions pain and a life source. People would serve as guardians for a certain amount of lifetimes before their sentence was up. There were certain benefits to having a guardian, such as an enhanced magical ability or an increase in speed, rate of healing, or intelligence. Guardians were divided into two types: Heaven and Hell types. Heaven types were souls that felt guilty about something when they died. Hell types, on the other hand, were usually forced to become guardians, although there were a few rare exceptions. Each type of guardian was divided further into two classes. Heaven types were divided into Healers and Defenders. Hell types were divided into Attackers and Ultimas. Healers were the weakest and Ultimas were the strongest. Defenders and Attackers were in the middle. Kuro was an Ultima Class guardian.
The small village soon came into view. It was inhabited entirely by nekos, of which few were able to fight. Rei and Kuro were visiting in order to protect them from the demon slayers that had recently begun attacking them. The buildings in the village were mostly shacks and many of them had been destroyed in past raids. As they approached, Kuro seemed to get more and more uncomfortable.
“What’s wrong, Kuro?” Rei asked.
“I have a bad feeling about this, Rei,” Kuro mumbled.
“What do you mean by ‘a bad feeling’?”
“I just have a feeling that if we continue with this that our lives will never be the same again.”
Rei laughed. “I doubt anything bad will happen. You worry too much!”
“Perhaps, but it is my job to protect you,” Kuro said as he turned into a black Chinese dragon about the size of a small snake and curled around Rei’s neck. Guardians had the ability to shift between how they looked at a time in their life and a type of animal. They could adjust their size when they were animals as well. Healers, however, were always very small and couldn’t adjust their size.
As Rei walked through the village streets, many nekos stared openly. Not many had seen a human before. At least, they hadn’t seen one that wasn’t trying to kill them. A tall neko approached Rei boldly. She had long brown hair and matching cat ears on the top of her head and a tail. She wore a purple kimono with pink cherry blossoms on it.
“Are you Rei Nerio?” she asked.
Rei nodded. “I am. You must be Ausa, correct?”
The cat demon nodded. “It’s a pleasure to meet you. Thank you for coming on such short notice.”
“It’s no problem. I just hope that I will be able to help.”
“I’m fully confident in your abilities. Tell me, aren’t you on your way to becoming a master sorceress?” Ausa inquired as she began leading Rei to a small house in the middle of the village.
“Yes. I’ve almost finished my training.”
Ausa nodded with approval. “If memory serves me correctly, that’s quite an accomplishment for one as young as you are. And that’s considering your guardian is one of the most powerful. Your name is Kuro, yes?”
Kuro nodded. “Thank you for your praise, but I’m not that strong,” Kuro said.
“If you say s—“
Ausa was cut off abruptly by panicked screams coming from the other side of the village. “Demon slayers!” someone shouted.
“They’re back already?!” Ausa gasped.
Rei quickly drew her sword; a black katana that had once belonged to Kuro named Shinigami, Death God. “Ausa, start getting everyone out of here! Kuro and I will take care of the demon slayers!” Rei said. A noticeable air of urgency was in her voice.
“But—“ Ausa protested.
“GO!” Kuro snarled, making himself much larger.
Ausa nodded and ran off.
“You ready, Kuro?” Rei asked.
“Ready as I’ll ever be,” Kuro replied as he and Rei raced off towards the demon slayers.
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 Kyokiri · Fri Jun 22, 2007 @ 09:51pm · 4 Comments |
