Yukio Haikumo

Compatriot of the House of Yizhi
Cohai of the Nine Stars Ring

Description


~Lean and willowy, Yukio stands seventy inches of proud, Japanese male. The breeze sweeps back a bit of the twenty-ish man’s black hair that is allowed to flow to his shoulders. His angular features are well-set and not at all homely. Eyes so brown that they’re nearly black keenly observe his surroundings. A black windbreaker is tossed over one shoulder, a thumb suspending it there. The jacket hangs down past his sky-blue, collared Polo shirt and black cotton slacks. Dark-brown, suede loafers tread over the concrete or earth lightly but surely. With the outgoing smile on his face, grace and confidence in his gait, and a sense of knowing serenity and warmth in his gravity, Yukio seems to be a man for all ages.~

OOC: Appearance 3; Pure Breed 1

"Animals normally attack only in self-defense, you know. Wolves only bite when you manhandle them. Tigers only pounce if you bend over, expose your neck, and say 'bite me'! And have you ever seen a bird peck a man's eye out if he didn't really, really, richly deserve it?"

History


Youth

The haikumo-tsume always stood out as a world-class pride of the Tengu, even if only a select few knew who and what they were. This was a profession into and for which Yukio Matsudama was born and prepared. His parents were relatives, or Kinfolk, to the Tengu wereravens. Both were caretakers of the Gray Clouds Temple, secreted away in the mountain ranges of Hokkaido. Curiously, Yukio did not receive a “spirit-donor” Tengu parent so that he might too become Tengu one day. Auspice seemed to point against it. Yet when he was born, the Temple elders all noted the bright stars in the infant boy’s eyes. It seemed the Temple needed a new astrologer…

But what was done was done, and Yukio was given free run of the Temple and its grounds like all children there. Of the dozen other children he grew up with, he learned, most were “adopted”. All would likely begin training to become haikumo-tsume in their futures. But until then, the group was allowed to play games and explore the temple and temple surroundings at will. There were plenty of woodlands to explore in the mountains. And the temple itself was old, made mostly of stone, and so there lots of broad stairs and pillars upon which to clamber. Only classes on basic academics, such as language and history class, interrupted Yukio’s simple, lively days. On top of it all, there was a great roosting of big black birds -- ravens.

When he was a child, Yukio didn’t know why they were there. His parents just explained that the temple was holy ground and the ravens were honored guests, like kami. So provocative were these huge roostings that Yukio began to study ancient myths in his free time more than playing pointless games with his peers. He requested many simple books of stories and myths, and spent much time reading. Perhaps because of his precocious, curious nature, the Temple elders permitted his parents to take the boy on outings to the only human habitat within a hundred miles, a small, village-sized community called Asa. In Asa, population 800, Yukio got a taste of a larger world beyond the Temple. Though the Temple had its own gas-generated electricity and a few automobiles, it was largely disconnected from the rest of the world. When he and his parents returned to the Temple, the Tengu would watch for signs of malcontent. But Yukio always proved happy with life at the Temple, as blood of the gods as he was told. As he grew out of “playtime”, Yukio was given care-taking chores to perform for the temple. He accepted the charges as privileges, since the elders obviously saw him as an adult.

Training

Finally, when he turned fifteen, he was brought to the Temple elders. He was told the true purpose of the Gray Clouds Temple -- to train the haikumo-tsume. He would not be forced into this life, he was told -- he was free to become a temple caretaker like his parents. But the idea of becoming a goblin slayer like the heroes of old was too intoxicating to the youth’s mind. He eagerly agreed, and so he began to train. He was taught how to fight with a blade (kenjutsu) and how to defend himself without weapons (aikido). He learned many other traditional weapons, all under the tutelage of the warrior Tengu, Flies-For-Night. Flies was a fairly young man but with many years of experience as scout and warrior.

And Yukio also began to study more esoteric material. He learned lore of the shen from Torio, the old and wise loremaster Tengu of the Gray Clouds Temple. He also learned how to detect and follow up clues and leads from Torio, and how to use his head instead of his muscles. Torio tested Yukio’s courage by bringing Flies-For-Night into the study hall one late afternoon. Thinking he was to go train in combat instead of book-learning, Yukio rose. But the young Tengu shocked Yukio by suddenly springing forward and shedding his human form for the Tengu’s form: the huge, vaguely humanoid raven-warrior. Sounding a harsh kaw! Flies forced Yukio to step back, eyes wide. But Yukio did not freak out. He did not run. He just wanted to know more about these Tengu! Impressed, Flies left Yukio to Torio’s studies, which began to include some basics about the people to whom Yukio was related.

For seven long years, Yukio trained in the safety and seclusion of the Gray Clouds Temple. He impressed his teachers enough that at long last, the final test would be administered. They only told him his test would come that year. They did not say when or how, and so five months later Yukio was quite unprepared for this frightening examination.

He woke up one morning and left his parents’ small house to go to the Temple for his daily regimen of exercise and training. But he was dismayed to find, upon arrival at the great stairs, to see splatters of blood staining the steps. His katana on hand (as he intended to train with it that morning), he hurried up the steps. Keen eyes noticed the dwindling dribbles of blood, following them intently and warily. The blood left the stone steps of the temple and he was forced to examine the ground more closely. Soon there was no blood trail at all, and he was forced to follow by noticing broken branches and occasional, faint imprints of shoes in the earth or grass. The clues finally led him to the farthest reaches of the temple grounds, where a storehouse stood. This small structure, he knew, actually opened up into a stone cellar filled with barrels and crates of stored foods and supplies. He cautiously approached the door; ; finding it locked still, he picked the latch and snuck inside.

And so, summoning all his courage, he drew his blade and descended into the storehouse. He barely got to the bottom of the steps before a horrid creature leapt out at him in blind, furious assault. The creature was like a man, but instead of arms it had lashing, wickedly barbed tentacles, and instead of two eyes, it had 3 huge yellow, baleful eyes. Its tongue was forked and dripped with some acidic ichor, and it apparently had the craving for human meat. Yukio knew instantly that it was a goblin and he fought with shocked but dauntless intent. His sword struck true, taking off one tentacle before the other battered him into the wall. The bakemono leapt upon him, and might have killed him, but Tengu blood breeds cunning, and the bakemono managed to leap only onto a tanto knife Yukio drew at that moment. Staggering backwards, the goblin barely managed a slash that would have spilled its foul intestines, but failed to avoid the follow-up thrust that ran through its throat. Gasping at the stench and trying to regain his breath from the sheer surprise of having to fight for his life, Yukio tugged his sword free, reclaimed his knife, and cleaned both before braving the rest of the storehouse bunker. No other bakemono were within.

Then Yukio exited the storehouse, and Torio, Flies-For-Night, and his parents were all present. He blinked and before he could speak, Torio told him that they knew the goblin was dead in the bunker. He told Yukio that the blood was real, but it was only chicken blood. The bakemono he just slew was a captive demon, unleashed into the storehouse to test his wit and skill. But he graduated from the Gray Clouds Temple in that moment. Torio commended his success with a medallion carved from obsidian stone into a kanji-like glyph that stood for Tengu. Yukio was now a proud goblin slayer.

First Missions

So now it was time to be sent into action. Yukio was dispatched to the biggest city on the island, Sapporo. Flies-For-Night accompanied the young goblin hunter, more as an observer than aide. Yukio entered the city on no specific errand, knowing the urban sprawl would offer some wickedness in need of culling in no time. Within a few days of arrival, in fact, a horrible and mysterious murder occurred down in the subways late in the night. A homeless woman’s heart was torn out and her body cast on the tracks. Yukio investigated after the police did, who demonstrated less urgency about the matter than they might have had the victim been an “upstanding citizen”. After the police cleared out, Yukio investigated the scene, questioning other homeless people who were permitted to sleep in the station at night. They saw and heard nothing -- they were all asleep, so the woman was likely dragged off stealthily.

Then Yukio traveled around the city, staking out different subway stations. Flies-For-Night remained in the background, offering no hints or information. While Yukio rested in one station, watching, he discovered the next morning that another station he already visited was attacked. An unfortunate homeless man was likewise dragged off, heart torn out, and body tossed onto the tracks. Yukio voyaged back to that station and interviewed the other homeless folks’ scared chatter of the “heart-eater”. There was no direct evidence to suggest that the victims’ hearts were eaten, but it didn’t seem likely that the hearts were ripped right out of the chest cavity for any other reason.

Yukio decided to disguise himself as a homeless man, too. He went to one of the last stations he did not check out before. And there he waited the killer out, listening to the other bums’ terrified talk. It was three nights later, as almost everyone slept in the quiet station, that the goblin hunter’s patience paid off. Feigning sleep (although quite exhausted from his week long ordeal), Yukio kept himself mentally pumped up with the nervous excitement of his first real hunt. As he rested in the shadows, he saw a figure slip in from the tunnel. Somehow, the figure roused a middle-aged homeless woman and kept her pacified, leading her off the platform and down the tunnel…

And Yukio did not hesitate. He quietly slipped down after the stalker. They traveled down the tunnel only a hundred feet -- just like the last two times. The stalker, wearing a heavy brown robe, reached back its arm to deliver the fatal blow. Then Yukio sprung his attack. He leaped forward, the shorter wakizashi sword slashing out to cut the monster from behind. Withholding that blow, the killer spun around and received Yukio’s attack straight-on, the woman dropping back onto the track unconscious. The short sword cut deep through the figure’s broad chest, provoking a hiss of pain. The robe’s hood fell back, revealing a monstrous, serpentine-like head and flickering tongue. And the eyes -- they seemed to boil and pulse with some inner, baleful life. Yukio could not help but stare.

But his training and wit kicked in. Just as the bakemono thought it had two victims in one night, Yukio ducked the terrible, clawed blow and stabbed the sword deep in its side. This time, no reptilian hide slackened the keen steel, and Yukio blinked as his sword rammed from one side of the snake-man to the other. Shrieking, the goblin writhed, then fell and did not move again. Yukio reclaimed his sword and cleaned it. Flies-For-Night walked up behind, commending his victory with a smile. Together, they cleaned up the “evidence”, hauled the demonic body of the dead bakemono off to a furnace. The homeless folk in the station had awakened to the goblin’s death rattles and were glad. They knew the “heart-eater” was stopped and they could sleep safely again.

Together, Tengu and Kin returned to the Gray Clouds Temple. Yukio learned the price of a haikumo-tsume’s success: secrecy and silence. Too pleased with himself to care about fame or glory, he found all he needed from his fellow hunters. He was a proven warrior now. Over the next few years, Yukio continued to serve the Temple, now capable of performing most missions alone. Sometimes he returned to Sapporo, sometimes he patrolled the rural countryside near Asa and other villages.

Little Asia

Then the reports of one of the only Tengu to travel West and stay, a rather eccentric young Corvid named Nariko, filtered back to the Temple. It seemed that a Little Asia district in Kansas City was host to many shen. Nariko promised that they were predominately good-hearted and just. Indeed, Nariko reported that they attempted to build a multi-shen Court. But the experiment failed and the Court fragmented into a multi-Court loosely allied. The problem, she pointed out, was that this alliance a) included the local Kuei-jin Court, not to be trusted; b) the Shih were surprisingly organized into a “House” of demon hunters and other enterprising humans. This House could pose future problems, she said.

Thus, the Temple selected Yukio to move to Kansas City’s Little Asia. There he was to join this House of Yizhi, serving it in the way only a prized haikumo-tsume could. He was not to spill the Gray Cloud Temple’s secrets, but he was free to befriend the Shih and other hunters. At the same time, the Tengu ordered, he was to insure that this House did not offend Heaven by casting unwise judgment on all shen -- especially his hengeyokai cousins and Tengu relatives. So in this endeavor, glad and honored to be held in such esteem, Yukio promised all his zeal and wit.

Significant Other


The young Goblin Slayer met Tian Koyuki in late 2003 when he joined the Coalition and helped form the Murder. The two share their penchant for riding and digging up clues on the events going on in town. And they grew closer and closer. Pleasant dates became enjoyable "rolls in the hay", so to speak. To date, the pair keeps their relationship easygoing but affectionate. They couldn't swear true love to one another or anything like that yet. But perhaps one day they will mate and even marry.

Koyuki

Weakness
Blind Fidelity


His loyalty to his Tengu relatives is quite admirable. But unfortunately, he refuses to see the bad with the good. Among the cooler-headed Tengu, he doesn't suffer the Curse as other Kinfolk might. As a result, he is too quick to judge the wereravens as good. The fact that they can frenzy, the fact that they can kill, the fact that their secrets can ruin lives -- none of it enters into his calculations.

Likelihood of Corruption

Average.

Yukio nosedives into the occult as a trained goblin hunter. He investigates first, and therein lies the greater opportunity to corrupt the young man. Fortunately, with both Shih and Tengu allies, such corruption must be very subtle indeed to take deep hold.



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