Well, This here is a Collaboration effort between myself and my best friend/proofreader Wanderlost. We will be taking turns writing the updates. This first update is written by myself. We hope you enjoy, and now without further ado... Retribution!
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Where am I? Who am I? What am I? These questions flood your head every night. There are no dreams, only questions. You swim in an endless black ocean with nothing but your thoughts to keep you company. Nothing but your thoughts, and that voice.

“Why do I exist?” The voice says. It shares your voice, a voice of compassion that hides your true emotions. The voice is all around you. “That was your next question wasn’t it?”

You don’t respond. You never respond. This voice is persistent, plaguing you even during your waking hours. It’s not that you’re crazy; it’s just what you are.

“How does it go again? Where am I, who am I, what am I, why do I exist, why do we exist, and what is this place? Am I right?”

He’s right, but you’ll never say it. It’s easiest to pretend he isn’t there.

You ponder the questions one more time. “Where am I?” You whisper into the air. “Physically I’m in bed, mentally I’m in swimming in an ocean of doubt.” The voice snorts as if annoyed. “Who am I? I am Kei. What am I? I am a half-youkai.” You remind yourself that you aren’t human, that you never will be. Forever trapped between human and youkai, never to be accepted by either.

“Hey, kid, why do you ask yourself these things every night? They don’t get you any closer to enlightenment or whatever you call it.” There is obvious disapproval in his voice. In your voice.

You ask because it is what you have always done. You continue with your nightly mantra. “Why do I exist? I am unsure. Why do we exist?” We meaning youkai in general. “I don’t know that either.”

A faint light appears on the horizon, the light of the rising sun. “Well kid, looks like your time is up.” You say nothing as you stare at the sunrise. The sun acts like a clock in your dreams, much like it does in reality. When it rises here, it rises in the waking world. The voice sighs before saying, “Kid, I know you aren’t going to listen, but I’d be stupid to not warn you. Continue denying your heritage and your emotions will boil over, causing you to destroy everything you care about.”

Your heritage, the heritage of killers. You are half human and half youkai. Your youkai half is greatly feared by those you know.

“A youkai of revenge,” it continues, “must get revenge, no matter how petty it seems to others. We must also inspire feelings leading to vengeance in others. By not doing this, you smother the power on which you live.”

You’ve heard this speech before, a thousand times. You’ve never listened to it. For ten years now you’ve been fine. Hell, you’ve been better than ever for the past three years since the Myouren Temple showed up. Byakuren has given you a place to stay when things at home get out of hand. They’re like a family to you.

“Okay kid, time to wake up,” the voice says with a sigh.

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“GOOD MORNING!!!!” A familiar voice screeches.

Groaning, you open your eyes and check to make sure your ears aren’t bleeding. You look at the source of the voice and say, “Good morning Kyouko.” For the past two years, you’ve woken up and she’d be the first thing you see. Not a bad sight. Her teal hair and floppy brown doglike ears, her smooth skin and unwavering smile help drain the tiredness from your spirit. Unfortunately it doesn’t do much for your aching body.

You force yourself into a sitting position. You work the kinks out of your joints as you stretch and while as you do so you see a large clump of bruises on your left arm. Kyoko seems to notice as well. “Kei,” she says hesitantly staring at your arm.

“It’s nothing.” You stop her before she can say anything else. You’d rather not have her worrying about you. “Do you mind stepping out so I can get dressed?” She frowns but nods and walks out of the room. “Damn it,” you mumble as you climb out of bed.

You don’t want anyone to worry about you so you try to do your best to hide your problems. Unfortunately you can’t hide the biggest problem, your father, or, rather your step-father. Your real father was a youkai of revenge that raped your mother. As a result, her husband, the man you call father, despises you and all youkai. Your mother, on the other hand. loves you with all her heart, just as she does with your half-sister.

You run your right hand across the bruises. You returned late after dinner last night because you were reading about revenge youkai at Kosuzu’s shop and lost track of time. When you returned home, your father was waiting for you. His hatred of youkai has him paranoid that you’re plotting something and he is determined to find out what, even if it means beating you. The purple flesh on your arm is only the most recent of his “interrogations”.

You worry about your mother and sister so you do your best to keep it a secret. In fact the only two that know what your father does to you are Byakuren and Shou. You told Byakuren yourself; in fact you tell her almost everything. She’s kind of like a second mother to you. Shou, on the other hand is training you to fight saying that you can’t let people walk all over you all of the time.

You shake your head and put on your old brown tunic and an old pair of slacks. You slide your feet into the rough field boots and slip on your gloves. Most of your clothes are at the temple now, along with a good chunk of your belongings as tonight will be the last night you spend in this house. That’s okay, the temple is only on the outskirts of the village, so it’s not like you’re moving to another village.

You take one last look around the room for anything you might have forgotten. “Oh right,” you say as you scold yourself mentally. There mounted on the wall next to your bed is the one thing you’ll need today more than anything else. Shou is taking you hunting so it’s best if you take it now.

-Choose one
[] A bandolier of throwing knives
[] Two daggers, one serrated and the other plain
[] A simple short sword that Murasa dragged up from the bottom of the lake
[] Long sword, a gift from Shou when you started your training
[] Long Bow, it’s nothing special, your dad let you have it when he got a new one
[] Short Bow, Nue seemed fond of this but let you have it after a while
[] Spear, Shou used to carry this around but decided it would serve you better
[] Hand Axe, it may not be fancy but it gets the job done
[] Write in (Be reasonable)
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-Traits

Traits are things Kei excels in or is lacking in. Pick ONE that he is BEST in. ONE he is GOOD in. ONE he is LACKING in. And lastly ONE he is WORST in


-Strength = The amount of physical force you can exert and how much you can carry.

-Danmaku = Effectiveness in spell card duels.

-Magic = Proficiency with all types of magic.
-Will = Mental resilience and stubbornness.

-Intelligence = Knowledge and capacity to learn.

-Mobility = Athleticism and evasion.

-Charm/Intimidate = Persuasiveness and first impressions.

-Endurance = Damage resistance and capacity for strenuous activity.