To Aruyu, confusion reigned. Why had the God that protected his people done such horrible things to him? It was only the beginning of the boy's suffering, for as Tenkou courted him into servitude, events were already spiraling out of control elsewhere in the world. Then, he was young and naive, though it's difficult for any who know the Nakago of today to ever think he was a childlike boy full of curiosity and wonder. But, he was... until the soldiers came. But, before then, he was a confused but otherwise contented child, deep in a friendship with one other girl of the village, Taria, who didn't care who fathered him or that he was not fully Hin. The pair was rarely separated and she was the only other person in all the world that Aruyu would give his life for. His mother loved him unconditionally and Taria held no misgivings about his status as a Hin outcast.
The Emperor decreed that the Hin were to be slaughtered, mass genocide, and so the soldiers of Kutou came to Aruyu's home and burned it to the ground, killing everyone in the process. Aruyu will never forget that night, or the events that seemed to shift into slow motion. Aruyu awoke to the sound of screaming and when he pressed his face to the window, the sight that greeted him froze the boy where he sat. The entire village was aflame, screams echoing around him with disturbingly shrill desperation. Horses' hooves clattered along the roadways, shouts and orders barked from the Kutouese soldiers and the clang of swords against makeshift weapons as the villagers able to leap from their beds tried to defend themselves and their families. Surely this was a nightmare and nothing more... but it was no dream, he soon realized, no dream at all. The soldiers attacked in the wee hours of the morning, when they were sure that the Hin would be asleep and easily slaughtered. Matuta grabbed for her son's arm, determined to run away with him before the soldiers discovered their measly shack at the edge of the village's border. Perhaps the two might have escaped with their lives, if not for Aruyu spotting Taria. Unable to leave the poor girl to the mercy of the soldiers chasing after her, Matuta left her son behind for only a moment, racing to scoop up the frightened girl and run back to grab her son again. There would be no escape, however, for any of them.
Matuta tossed Taria aside as the soldiers advanced toward her. In horror, Aruyu watched as they grabbed at his mother and tore away at her clothing as they roughly shoved her to the ground, planning on brutally gang raping her there in the streets as the village burned and her only son stood by, helpless to do anything but watch. Now, he could hear her cries, screaming for him to run with Taria and get as far away as he could, but she was all he had ever really known, the center of his universe, as mothers usually are with young children. Aruyu felt a white-hot anger building up inside of him, and with a power he'd never felt before, he screamed for his mother and shoved a blast of energy toward the soldiers piling atop his mother. Those who witnessed it clearly saw the mark of a Seiryuu seishi on his forehead, the glowing blue character of kokoro. Aruyu barely had time for the consequences his actions to register before he passed out in both shock and horror.
When he came to, he found himself still alive, bound to the back of a horse, which was another shock. After murdering several Kutouese soldiers, he expected to be immediately killed. Then, the events of the slaughter of his people returned to him and his heart ached. For he knew then that not only had he killed the men attempting to rape his mother, but he had killed his mother, as well. To make matters worse, he felt the presence of Tenkou, the evil, hateful spirit his people thought was a God who would protect them. Too much for the boy to take, he watched the roads pass by him with vacant, glassy eyes. Nothing would ever be the same for him again. His mother was dead, his people slaughtered, a wicked spirit laughed at him and Taria was most likely gone as well. Whatever had he done to deserve this? Little did he know, it was only due to get worse. The soldiers brought Aruyu before the Emperor, announcing him to be a Seiryuu seishi. A what? Aruyu was not familiar with the legends of the Kutouese, and knew nothing about seishi or a Miko. He knew about Seiryuu, and that such was a God of the people who killed the Hin, but otherwise, he was without knowledge of the seishi. His people always worshipped Tenkou, and thusly it wasn't right and made no sense that he, the last of the Hin, was a seishi to a God he hardly knew about.
The Emperor spared the boy's life, for in order to summon Seiryuu, the Miko would need all seven seishi. The Dragon God made the choice, and everyone would simply have to deal with it, no matter how much hatred they still harbored the now dead Hin. But, it soon became evident that there would be a price, for Aruyu could see the lust and evil in the eyes of the Kutou Emperor. He became the new plaything for the evil man, who had desires for boys his age and longed for the beautiful body of a Hin. Night after night, the boy was subjected to rape and sodomy at the hands of the man who had slaughtered his people and night after night, he considered killing himself, to rejoin his mother wherever she was now. But one thing kept him alive. The voice of Tenkou whispered in his ears, demanding his live on, swearing that if he did not avenge his people that his mother would not want him and would spurn him in the afterlife. Fearing this more than anything, he endured his torments, feeling his heart blacken as each day passed and each night meant more pain, more suffering. Eventually, he felt... nothing. His mother always spoke of love and kindness were what mattered, were what made people strong. But, he soon realized that this was wrong. Love and kindness made one weak. Emotions left one open to the tormented delights of others. If he felt nothing, then no one could hurt him ever again.
Of course, even as he made these realizations, the Emperor found new ways to kill what little humanity remained in the boy. Deciding to test if Aruyu was really the Seiryuu seishi, Nakago, he brought him into the throne room and had a soldier bring out Taria, who had been captured with a few other women and spared after the slaughter to be used as a sex slave. He was told, rather simply, that if he were truly a seishi, to use his powers to save his friend. That's when it hit him. Seishi were some sort of powerful beings. His powers... that explosion, he caused it because he was a seishi. A Hin seishi. Oh the irony of it all. Of course, Aruyu was afraid to do this, because he could still see the dead eyes of his mother, staring at the empty skies above. If he destroyed everything, he would destroy Taria, too. But, if he did not, then the soldiers would kill Taria. There was no way to win. He ran to her, hearing her last words as his arms closed around her and the sword of the soldier ran through her back.
'I'm sorry I'm leaving you alone like this... avenge us. Avenge us!'
And then she was dead in his arms as everyone around him scrambled suddenly, feeling the white hot power of his anger welling up inside of him. Taria did not blame him for her death... but that didn't matter, he accepted it anyway. Everything shifted and this time, he did not lash out blindly. His targets were clear, the soldiers who killed Taria. An explosion rocketed through the throne room, screams echoing around him as surprised courtiers and soldiers cowered away from the boy suddenly. Rising to his feet, he approached the cowering Emperor and offered him the sword that had slain Taria, pledging his alliegence then to Kutou, to serve and protect. On his forehead, the blue symbol of kokoro glowed brightly, leaving no doubt to any who witnessed that day, that he was truly a Seiryuu seishi.
And that was the point in which Aruyu Gi died and Nakago rose from the ashes.
The Emperor's affections did not die after that display. But, Nakago had lost all feelings of fear or outward hatred. He allowed his body to be subjected to the man's lusts every night for years to come, no longer caring, seeing his body as nothing more than a tool for the keen mind that resided within his head. He was handed over to the Shogun, Koyuu Gi, for training in the arts of war and combat, an irony there, for neither knew they were related. The father training the son he didn't even know existed. Nakago learned that Koyuu had not been a part of the slaughter of the Hin people, and had even been against the attack. It relieved him to be under his command, for his hatred burned brightly for the ones who had been there. He never allowed this to show, of course. He had to bide his time. Taria's last words burned in his memory. Koyuu attempted occasionally to appeal to the boy's emotions, growing more and more disturbed as the years passed and the boy became a man and yet still possessed a preternatural sort of calm, refusing to answer his questions regarding his people and his parentage. Nakago sidestepped any hot or emotional issues with bland, flippant responses. He was no longer the small weak boy found among the Hin with a character on his head. He had grown to tower over the majority of his peers, excelling to the point that Koyuu felt he was a candidate for Shogun, along with another his age, Eichuu.
Koyuu decided to test the two, sending them both out to quell some of the rebellions that were plaguing the country. The Emperor was lazy and hardly cared a whit for his people, the line between rich and poor grew into great and disproportionate lines. Troubles soared in the country, and Nakago was being sent out to deal with some of it. But first, he had to deal with the Emperor himself, who was unwilling to allow his plaything to march off to war. Nakago ended the nightly couplings swiftly, then. Though he allowed them before to continue, lulling the Emperor into the belief that he owned the other, they were no longer useful and their purpose gone. He had a new goal, now, and set about it immediately.
Within a year, Nakago made a name for himself. His seishi powers were rarely utilized, however, for he believed in achieving such ends on his own, not having to rely on his powers to win his battles. His reputation only increased as each battle he walked away from with few, if any, casualties to his own men. His keen battle prowess and tactical intelligence quickly hefted him through the ranks and by the age of seventeen, he lead small armies all his own. Still, his only competition, Eichuu, seemed able to match the seishi battle for battle. Everyone wondered who would eventually become the next Shogun, for Koyuu had yet to choose a successor. Then came the news, Eichuu's armies had met with extreme resistance near the southern border and needed back up. Koyuu felt uncertain what to do, for the two competed so much that he feared a moral loss among his men. Deciding to pray to Seiryuu for guidance, he left his quarters to head for the Seiryuu temple. And that was when he learned the truth about Nakago. There in the temple, he summoned Tenkou, the evil spirit who had laughed at him when he was a boy and stayed with him after that to watch his progress and prod him to continue. Stunned, Koyuu could only watch and then walk away again. A Seiryuu seishi asking for power from another!
Up to this point, the other Seiryuu seishi had slowly begun to appear in Nakago's life. Soi first, though he did not recognize her as such. She was simply a small and frightened girl, then, being grabbed by a man in the middle of the street. In a moment of remembrance, Nakago directed his horse toward the pair and proceeded to knock the pimp unconscious. Soi (Kaen) looked up at him with both gratefulness and another, alien sort of look, admiration. Though she thanked her knight for saving her, he merely shook his head. To him, it had been nothing, except an odd moment of emotion that he was disturbed by. He left her to her own designs after that and forgot about the incident. She appeared later in the court of the Emperor as a servant, rescued from the brothel by none other than Eichuu. Eventually, the other seishi appeared one by one. But, Nakago was too busy with his own plans at the moment. A vice-shogun to Koyuu, and a man not to be trifled with, he felt his plans were slowly coming to fruition. The country was rift with strife and anger at the fat and lazy emperor. Everyone fought against everyone else. It could not have been going more smoothly. He would heed Taria's last words to him, oh yes. Kutou would be destroyed. Of course, now there were more subtle politics going on right under the man's nose. The competition between Tomo and Soi went relatively unnoticed, and if he did actually know it was going on, it was of no consequence to him. The Emperor still had a desire for the tall man and made such things known to him, though Nakago continually turned down such advances, no longer willing to give himself to a man he loathed with such burning hatred.
But, after witnessing Nakago summoning Tenkou, Koyuu attempted to bend the ear of the Emperor, to warn him of the danger that the seishi was to the country. At first, Shoukitei refused to believe it, for Nakago was a Seiryuu seishi and a loyal knight to the Kutou Empire. But, with each rebuttal, Koyuu had another reason to fear Nakago, and slowly whittled away at the Emperor's protests. Suddenly afraid, Shoukitei agreed to listen to the Shogun, and find a way to stop the seishi from destroying his country. Unfortunately, the pair also included Eichuu in the plot to destroy his rival, even as Soi had been using her newly awakened seishi powers on the man to weaken him and make sure that Nakago was placed as Shogun. Eichuu revealed the plot to Soi, who then ran to warn Nakago and also to reveal that she was another of the Seiryuu seishi. Seeing him injured, she offered her body to him, explaining that in this manner she could transfer ki to him, for that was her seishi power. Nakago took her then, though there was no love involved in the act (at least, not for him). Her attempts to find approval or love in him afterwards were thwarted. Nakago was a mountain, who refused to be moved by the emotions of a woman, but he did not realize that his dreams betrayed him to her, a single teardrop rolling down his cheek as within his mind he recalled the village he lived in as a boy, and the mother and friend who encompassed his entire world. Lost now, tossed to the winds that he still bended to, lest he break.
It wasn't till a few days later that Nakago was finally confronted by Koyuu and Eichuu. There was no actual violence, but the shogun soon learned the extent of the seishi's power. It was a last ditched effort on the shogun's part to redeem Nakago and somehow justify the man's continued existence. All it did was convince him further that the seishi was dangerous and needed to be put down like a rabid dog. However, he blamed himself for this matter, wondering if it was his failings that lead the boy down the dark path he tread now as a man. Koyuu sought out Soi behind Nakago's back and made the girl promise to watch out for the man he still did not know was his son (though at this point Tomo already knew this little secret and Soi found out soon afterwards). Soon after that, the plot began, and the Emperor summoned Nakago, ordering him to go forward to fight the Guerillas in the south. However, rather than do as ordered, the seishi sent his soldiers back to the palace and waited for the inevitable battle he knew was to come. He returned to the ruins of the village where he was born and when Koyuu arrived, he intended to fight on his own and not even use his seishi powers. The shogun made one last appeal to the seishi, hoping that he might be able to persuade Nakago to let go of his hatred and desire for revenge, but before he could finish his plea, Eichuu shouted for the battle to begin, impatient and desiring to keep his promise to Soi, that he would bring Nakago's head back to her. However... the man was soon shocked to see all the swords of his men pointed at himself. Tomo and Nakago had struck up a bargain earlier, and using his powers, the actor had created the illusion of Nakago on Koyuu. Eichuu, also fooled by the illusion, attacked the shogun in his fervor to see Nakago dead and though the two clashed momentarily, the willful and impetuous Eichuu was eventually slain.
After this, Koyuu asked that Nakago meet him mano et mano, and to this much, Nakago agreed. Tomo dropped his illusion. Now, thought the seishi, now he would show the shogun what he taught him, show him that the strongest are who shall survive. Their blades clashed, and for once Nakago understood what made Koyuu the shogun, his perfection welled up the distant emotion of frustration in the seishi but he continued to battle without resorting to anything other than sword and strength, refusing to use his seishi powers to up the ante. He knew very well that he could crush the man now, but he wanted it to be like this, a battle to the end that took his own skill and stamina and did not need to cheat using his Seiryuu granted abilities. Suddenly, he felt sick that he had even used Tomo's talents to turn the tides in his favor. Such a noble man he had to destroy, (and even more the irony that he fought his own father to the death), the color of his eyes, the sadness within his soul as he fought against the seishi. For the first time in years, Nakago began to doubt himself. But it was not enough. Koyuu saw the other's hesitation and began to back off, hoping the battle was at an end. He soon realized his error as Nakago's blade slashed down, tearing his armor in two. And the blonde -smiled- coldly then, the doubt in his eyes suddenly snuffed out as the rains above began to fall, as if the cold waters hissed the wick of a candle. Lightning flashed, blinding Nakago temporarily and Koyuu took the opportunity to strike back, though a voice from the recesses of his mind begged him not to kill the seishi, and though there was little time to think about it, he swore it was Matuta, the woman he had loved and mourned to this day when he could not save her. He could not stop his strike, however, slashing Nakago's armor as well, and then his eyes fell upon the Seiran pearl around the boy's neck as it was cut away and sailed to the side. It struck him like a bolt of lightning from the stormy skies above.
Nakago was Koyuu's son.
That one small stroke of the sword stole the last bit of humanity one might have found in Nakago. The pearl had been a reminder of his mother, the last bit of his soul. When it flew away from him and Koyuu stared at him as if he were staring at a ghost, hatred flared inside, the hatred of a little boy who'd had everything torn from him and all his innocence and purity destroyed in a matter of days, leaving the wounds open to fester and grow cancerous for years to come. Nakago raised his sword. It was not until after he ran Koyuu through, his anger actually lifting the man off the ground above his head, that he saw the mate to the pearl he'd just lost... around the neck of the shogun.
Koyuu was Nakago's father.
Even impaled on Nakago's sword, the man held no antipathy or hatred toward his murderer. He even smiled, and asked to hear the true name of his son before he collapsed by the lakeside, at peace in death. The seishi gathered the Seiran pearls as the soldiers muttered among themselves, but none dared to step forward to challenge Nakago, not after that. Since he had assassinated the shogun, he now took over the title and there were none who had his strength or combat prowess. To challenge him meant death and they knew it.
Though he had just killed his father, Nakago shed not one tear.
On the way back to the palace, Nakago thought about his plans and goals. He would return to the palace and pledge his loyalty again to Seiryuu and Kutou, and build his army and eventually take over the country and rule it as he saw fit. But... in the scheme of things, it seemed so puny. Was that -all- he wanted to accomplish? No. The idea began to formulate then. The ultimate goal. And all he needed... was the Seiryuu no Miko.
In the background of his thoughts, Tenkou laughed mirthlessly, fully intending to use the seishi for his own ends. The Four Gods locked him away long ago, how fitting it was that Seiryuu's powers be used to gain his freedom yet again. Little does he realize, Nakago is no one's puppet... but in order to gain his ultimate vengence, he'll let the wraith believe as he will. Until his usefulness is at an end.
Thus begins the current tale of Nakago...