Kurona's+Backstory

"I'm going to go get you something to drink." Rean stood up from his seat, always the graceful demon. I could tell he was getting tired of the man's rapid fire monologue.

We were in a small, ever so noisy inn. None of my family liked places like these. Loud chattering grated on all of their ears. I could stand it though. In fact, I enjoyed the noise. The man's rambling ceased rather quickly when my friend weaved his way to the corner with the jars of various liquids to drink.

"Fizzy Pop!" I called after the fire demon, who turned around at my voice. "I want a Fizzy Pop!" It was my favorite drink. It was always imported from other countries, but was easy enough to find. The only modern thing about the East, it seemed.

"You just had one at breakfast." Rean stated. I pouted at pouting's best, causing Rean to sigh and shake his head. I was so good at getting my demons to let me get Fizzy Pop.

The man had started to talk to me in the hallway on my way to the dinner room. My demons, ears pricked, had heard the man bombarding me with questions. The man had introduced himself as Len, and insisted that he have my lunch with me. Seeing no way to refuse politely, I had agreed. Rean interrupted, in his usual hot-headed way, and followed. Len had been nervous with my friend around. Apparently, the man rambles when he's nervous.

I embraced the short silence. But soon he asked yet another series of questions. This time waiting for my answer.

"Why do you travel with this group? None of you seem to be related. How'd you meet?" I grinned at him over my onigiri.

"Oh dear, that's a long story. I don't know if I should tell you..." I trailed off as the man tried to convince me. He had gotten me thinking though, which is a silly thing to do. I hardly ever think, but when I do, you would have to throw me into a lake to bring my mind back to Earth. Darn Rean.

Rean, the hot-headed fire demon that always jumps into things without thinking. Hiroyuki, the air demon who always had a kind, yet sad, smile. Rin, my dear older sister, who could heal someone's wounds or pierce them through with her water magic. Yuri, ever brilliant and calm, so unlike the concept of earth, which he controls.

The questions Len had asked went through my head. Why I travel with them? How'd we meet? Such simple questions with such complicated answers. I suppose to answer, I would have to start with my cousin's death.

//Kagome kagome,// //Kago no naka no tori wa,// //Istsu itsu dyaru,// //Yoake no ban ni,// //Tsuru to kame ga subetta,// //Ushiro n o shoumen dare...//

My cousins and I laughed as we finished our own version of the game for what felt like the millionth time. Even if it was the billionth time, I thought I would never tire of it. But I would, so very, very quickly.

"One more time?" Aoi, the oldest of the twins, asked me, a beaming smile on his flushed face.

"Yes!" I exclaimed, unaware of the figure on our mansion's roof. Soon after my answer, I gasped. "I mean... if you insist, Botchan Aoi." I did a graceful bow. I had forgotten my manners. Mother always scolded me when I forgot to act like a proper child of the Himeko Family. Especially since I was the only child of the Head of the family. Despite the fact that Mother was not here, I knew from experience that the walls had ears. More specifically, the servants had ears. The snitches also had mouths with which to tell Mother things I had done, said, and thought.

//You're a daughter of an established and noble family. Soon you will be engaged to a rich Botchan. And when you grow up, you will leave the house, live in your husband's, and give birth to sons. So, to keep your future husband's honnor, you must learn your manners.// That's what Mother always told me, but all she would talk about were the things I was doing wrong.

"You can drop the act, Kurona. We know you're not even **close** to being a lady!" Aoi teased in the way 9 year old boys will do.

"Be quiet, idiot." I snapped. Foolish, foolish girl that I was, my last words to him were a insult.

Clasping our hands together, my cousins grinned their identical grins. Again, we turned in a circle around one of my favorite flowers, spiderlillies. We began to sing the song that went with the game, incredibly loud and terribly off-key. What the words meant in some tongue or another, was;

//Circle you, circle you,// //The bird in the cage,// //When, oh when will it come out,// //In the night of dawn,// //The crane and turtle slipped,// //Who is it in front of behind.//

We had only just started the third line when Aoi collapsed face forward, his expression one of shocked pain. The spiderlilly's stem broke from my cousin's dead weight. The flower laid on top of him. The deep red seeming to be a second spot of blood. The flower meant for the dead indeed. Worst of all, an arrow was in his back. He had been standing right where I was a mere second ago. Aoi was dead, and he was killed by an arrow meant entirely for me.

Misaki ran off somewhere, presumably for help. I stared at my cousin for a few more moments. Then I screamed.

I screamed as if I had just woken up from a lonely and bloody nightmare, and realized that it was reality. I cried as I realized my recurring nightmare was coming true. My soul felt as if a piece of my soul was ripped away.

As I wailed and screamed in a way that would make a magic user's (casting a very powerful spell) scream pale in comparison, a hole appeared above my cousin. The black tear grew, and out stepped one, two, three, four people. Every one of them had jumped down with a grace that would make my traditional dance teacher hang her head in shame.

The first person to step out was a man whose hair was the cold earth, and had cherry blossom eyes that seemed to glow with a celestial light. Despite the bright color of his eyes, he had an air that was as cold and watchful as his hair suggested. The first one was calculating, calm, and collected. I always had a gift of character judgement, so I knew right away all of the "humans" personalities.

The second to step out was a woman. She seemed to be 19 years old, and looked like a Westerner, with blond hair and blue eyes. Like the rest, her turquoise eyes glowed and gave off that unearthly light. Her short hair reminded me of corn, and unsurprisingly, she had the personality as warm as everything about her suggested. She was the sun, and all the constellations combined.

The third I would soon learn had no name. Because he looked so sad and lonely, I would give a name that meant extreme happiness. He will go by that name for as long as he exists. I know because he promised as such. The third to jump from the "portal" had white hair the color of the clouds in the sky and eyes as clear blue as a stream after it just thawed from coming out of the blizzard season in the North.

The fourth was another male. This one younger than the rest, looking around 17. He represented his powers perfectly. Fire and magma for hair as well as eyes. Magma is the perfect way to describe the fourth to appear's eyes, burning with heat and unpredictability.

These four magnificent demons faced me, all in a straight line like they were from the military. They all bowed in usion. I had become their master, even if I didn't know it at the time.

3 days after, I attended Aoi's funeral.

In my village though, it's hardly a funeral, at least not in my opinion. Aoi's body, arrow and all, was tied up to a pole by the wrists, and left there for whatever scavenger to eat. It was a traditional funeral for those dead by unusual circumstance. A girl committed suicide for a love that was not meant to be? Feed her to the birds. A man dies in an accident? Let the man-eating rodents feast on his flesh and bone. A 9 year old boy is murdered while his 7 year old cousin, the one the arrow that struck him down was intended for, still lives? String him up to the sky and let him be seen by all.

My cousin, the live one, was holding Uncle's hand and wailing. Uncle, Father, Mother, and Grandmother were weeping and sniffing. Surprisingly, my eyes were dry. I had wept plenty, and my tears were used up. Plus, I didn't want to worry my new friends anymore than I had.

"This is all your fault." Turning to Uncle, I realized that he was addressing me. "This is all your fault, Kurona." Uncle repeated.

"What are you talking about, Uncle? You're scaring me." I watched as more tears grew in his eyes and his face became a dark red.

"You're just like them. Those things you called to kill my boys. Well, you're not getting this one! You're not taking Misaki, you witch! Demon, witch, murderess! Not my boy!" I think that was when Uncle's insanity and paranoia began.

The first attempt on my life was at dinner that night. Despite my uncle's outburst, the rest of the family (except Grandmother, who had refused to talk to Uncle for blaming me,) invited him to eat with us, dismissing his obvious hatred of me as normal. I must say, I'm still amazed at how fast my Uncle worked at killing me.

My favorite food, udon, was being served. Udon tended to leave big portions, so we only ate it when the whole family was present. It was also Aoi's favorite. I decided right then and there that I would change my favorite food.

So I didn't try it.

My uncle looked like he had just lost a gamble, which, not to my knowledge but my demons, he had. Uncle sent the noodle dish away, saying that it reminded him too much of his boy, Aoi. Later on, I would find out that my new friends had tested the udon, to find that it held a deadly poison.

The second attempt was shortly after the first, after I had finished my dinner. Now that I think about it, my uncle probably had planned that night out as soon as his son died.

I walked out of the room, then my forehead bounced off of the floor. I don't remember much of how I tripped. Apparently, there was a black string pulled taunt across the door frame. All I distinctly remember is the arrow just inches from my face. The arrow still had Aoi's blood on it. Uncle always was the dramatic sort.

My uncle was sending a very distinct message. Uncle sincerely agreed with me about Aoi's death. Uncle was going to kill me.

The third attempt was when I was lying in bed, awake. The revelation about Uncle's plan keeping me awake. At the time I was wondering if I should satisfy my uncle by letting him kill me. The other side of the argument was my demons "well being." They had told me about the place they had been to before they met me. It was called the Void, and the idea of them going back didn't sit well with me. I didn't know if my own death would send them back, but I was worried about them nevertheless. How would they manage without me? Would they be happy? Sad? Of course now I know they would be alright.

As I was in a state of childish inner turmoil, a hulking figure burst through the door. The light from the hallway made the huge man a mere silhouette. But I was terrified.

Mentally, I tried calling for my demons. They had tried to tell me how to say their names over and over again, and to concentrate as much as I could on only them. It was the first time I had tried it, and I still think it a miracle that it worked.

The man groaned in pain, and fell to the floor. The silver haired one held a small dagger, the tiny weapon covered in blood. It seemed that everything around me had become covered in blood lately.

The second that had stepped out of the tear that day pushed past and wrapped her arms around me.

"We'll take you away, Kurona. We'll get you away from you're uncle. No matter what." She soothed me, petting my long black hair.

"Will you really?" I was starting to hope. But as hope trickled in, so did thoughts that contradicted my hope. //I shouldn't hope, I don't deserve to have hope.//

"Yes Kurona." The one with the bloody dagger answered, sheathing the small weapon. "But you'll never see you're family again."

"Never mind that it'll be a hard life." Stated the youngest of my demons.

"At least she'll be alive." The woman snapped, covering my ears.

"The point is, Kurona, are you willing to leave this life in order to live?" The first of my demons that I set my eyes on that day kneeled down to be on eye level with me. He asked the question that had been in my head all night. My inner turmoil stopped when I came to a conclusion.

"Yes." That one word started my life. They nodded, and flew out the window with me clinging onto the demon with water eyes.

Someone snapped in my face. "Kurona-chan? Why are you blanked out? Can you answer my questions?" I glanced back at the man sitting next to me, who had another bout of odd silence. Len looked puzzled when Rean sat back down, handing me my Fizzy Pop. I uncapped the bottle, and grinned wolfishly.

"I'm sorry, that's confidential. Private, and really not something you have to worry about." I placed the money for lunch on the table. "We really have to get to work now, Len-san. Pleased to meet you, and sayonara." Rean and I rose from our seats, and followed the rest of our family out the inn door. Rin already having payed for the stay. I squinted as the sunlight blinded me for a moment. I took another step down into the road.

My name is Kurona. And together with my companions, Rean, Hiroyuki, Rin, and Yuri, we make up The Band of Traveling Mercenaries. Pleased to make your acquaintance.