Name: Fuu
Character Age: Appears to be in her 30's; in truth she is over 50 but long-lived.
Gender/Sex: Female
Height: 5 foot 3 inches
Hair: Short, cropped, black hair.
Eyes: copper-colored, a common hue among the people of the region she was born.
Distinctive Markings: Multiple scars on her body, most often covered by clothes, she has no piercings. She often wears a head piece that contains a sharingan implant but this is often hidden due to a henge.
Additional Information: She often uses a henge to hide her identity, choosing to look unkept and even smaller than she actually is. Avatar should most accurately describe her present appearance unless otherwise specified.
Bloodline: Yamanaka - True Yamanaka Path
Chimera: Uchiha (Sharingan "Implant")
Physical Description:
Five foot three with short, cropped, black hair and tanned skin. She has copper-colored eyes, a common eye color for those living in Southern Wind Country. She has a slight build, never physically strong, she depends primarily on her illusions to get her out of a tight spot. She is not like most Kunoichi in that she does not make concerted efforts to attract men or sexualize herself. Perhaps this has something to do with her social deficits but more likely it is because she has a modicum of self-respect. So words like "busty" or "juicy ass" or "thic" do not apply to the Oracle. She does not wear low cuts shirts or desperate for affection short skirts that scream 'daddy issues' even if she should have a few of those issues. Rather, if anything, she makes efforts to avoid the male gaze. She is not 'ugly' by any stretch of the imagination, but when compared to her Kunoichi peers she could be best described as rather "plain." She prefers to wear comfortable, fitted clothes such as collared shirts and comfortable slacks of moderate quality. Pockets are a plus, they can hold all sorts of wonders such as pens and baubles of interest she has found in her travels such as an interesting rock or the discarded wing of an unknown bug. The only adornments she generally wears are a pair of silver rings, both of which being her contract summons, and a thin silver necklace that is often tucked beneath her collar that has a single charm, that charm being the symbol of the Oracle Order. The piece is quite old and has sentimental value to her, it is the oldest object she personally owns.
She is almost always seen with a brown or tan leather satchel slung over her shoulder. Inside this bag is a single book, in fact it is one of any books she owns, the one with her being merely the most recent tome. The rest are in her personal home library, essentially a humble bookcase (in fact several) that house all of her transcribed books. The books are unusual, with a thin, pale leather, few would recognize the books for what they truly are made of - human flesh. Indeed, these books are made from people and these books have a sort of 'almost life' to them, unclasping to her touch and changing to the proper page on their own. A portion of a human soul is tethered to these books via a means of a dark magic she will not admit to if asked. If discovered, she would admit the truth but add that not a single one of them was kind. She feels nothing for cruel men that suffer cruel fates. These books will defend themselves, or rather attack an unintended reader (think of the chomping books in Harry Potter).
The other unique facet is the fact that Fuu often wears a "found" artifact. It is a crude sharingan implant from she estimates a little over one-hundred years ago considering the metal work. The band appears to be made from a sturdy, dark leather with a buckle that fastens securely behind the head, A metal ring, somewhat like a thick rim for a pair of round eyeglasses would encircle a single quivering eye. The eye rather characteristic of the Uchiha Clan, a dark, almost coal-like iris. When activated, the iris would become crimson red with a black, comma-like pattern called a tomoe. This transformation is the dōjutsu kekkei genkai of the Uchiha clan that appears selectively among its members, obviously the former owner of this eye had such a blessing. Fuu can only speculate the true origins of this peculiar artifact, but she had obtained (stole) it from a wealthy businessman in Soons Haven named Aburabuta Hirotomi.
While it would be infrequent to mention due to the fact that many of these scars are unseen. Her body, beneath her clothes is covered in scars. Many of these scars have long-ago healed, she had obtained most of them as a teen and young adult. A more relevant mention is the fact that due to the persistent risk she is under, she is often using an illusion (commonly transformation) to conceal her appearance and make her appear different. Her goal is to blend in, to pique as little interest and possible and to be forgettable. For this reason, her appearance frequently changes depending on need, whim and circumstance.
Personality
During Fuu's early childhood her intelligence set her apart from her siblings and early peers. Her limited time in a traditional family and a childhood spent learning rather than socializing blunted her early development of the concept of friendship, community, safety and family. Her teen years are marked with abuse, early losses, forced pregnancy, and no peer group. Her concept of romantic relationships is at best transactional or a power-play, she does not believe in the concept of love or friendship because she has never experienced either. Unable to attach to her own son, her rejection of her son had terrible ramifications on his psyche and contributed to his development into the sociopath he was predisposed to become.
Despite an obstreperous formative years, she would find a semblance of friendship in the Cabal, particularly with Kaito which proved to be short-lived. He died of lung cancer, refusing to live a life that was as something besides a man. A choice that Fuu did not make, choosing to forgo her humanity in exchange for freedom. Because of this choice and Kaito's choice, she has lost her identity. She was not a woman, she was a hybrid which was something that did not belong among men or among Ancients. The only constant in her life is the fact that she is an Oracle, a fact that can be recollected in some of her earliest memories. She often titles herself as an Oracle, never using her clan name in introductions, in fact she has mostly forgotten that she had a surname. She was just the Oracle Fuu, the Oracle Michi.
Other friendships existed but she was too damaged to realize it at the time. She never felt safe, always trapped by something or someone and afraid that she would be sealed back up in some small room again. She assumed that their persistent tolerance of her was due to the assets she provided, entirely intellectual of course. Even when she was engaged to Senju Kazuki for a period of time, the concept of an emotional connection was an abstract notion that neither had the emotional depth to pursue. She felt something of course, but there always had to be some sort of plan. Some sort of angle. She planned to die, taking everyone that had ever hurt her with her in a single, unapologetic bang. Only, there was a true sentiment there. She could not go through with it. Not the suicide, the part where the few people important to her died. That being the strange, foreign word: importance. She would rather suffer the existence of her enemies than cause harm to her friends, but she could not face either so she left. A self-imposed isolation that lasted years. She never knew that happened to the people that she once called cohort or associate, she did not have the self-awareness then to call them friend. She chose to believe they lived their lives normally, perhaps even happily in part thanks to her absence.
She is serious but a more accurate statement is that she is socially awkward. She was isolated as a Oracle hopeful during her youngest years and while she was imprisoned during her youth as a potential Soverign candidate and prisoner she missed a number of milestones and social interactions normal people experience. She never had a boyfriend. She never had a period of adolescent rebellion. Most of her life was about succeeding or surviving, not about friends. Due to her upbringing she does not yearn for this but that is only because you cannot desire what you do not know. Maslow put it best when he found a hierarchical relationship between certain needs being met before higher needs needed to be actualized. At this present time she seeks a sense of safety and security. While she is free from Nao's influence she does not feel that way, she is a wanted woman by more than one party and this pervades her thoughts. She is always looking over her shoulder, hiding in the shadows.
She is bitter and she is scared. Bitter because her life was wasted in more ways than one. Scared because she does not feel that there is anybody that she can trust.
Glomming Court Influences: She can be manipulative when necessary but she prefers to take a truthful approach so her lies are often short-lived. As a Glomming Court Ancient Hybrid she cannot lie but half-truths can be told and due to the duplicitous nature of Glomming Court Ancients she does do this unnecessarily sometimes without realizing. She is viewed as a Glomming Court loyalist by some because she is a Glomming Court hybrid. in truth she fears Lord Mikaboshi. He freed her from Nao's curse and changed her in the process. She does not think Mikaboshi is 'good' and feels threatened by him. She feels indebted to Mikaboshi because he liberated her when nobody else would and she has a sense of honor, she will repay him one day.
Friends: She does not define anyone as a friend besides Kaito (dead). Kaito was her longest friend, in the end they are presently on good-terms. She turned on him and attempted to force him to hybridize in an attempt to save his life. She was aware of the effect Ancient hybridization had on her own body and while it was only a hypothesis, she felt that it might keep his illness (lung cancer) at bay. Kaito died from his lung cancer several months after the war with the Daimyo ended. She lost contact with Sennin Kazuki and Sennin Roku. She regrets this but will not admit it.
Multiple Personality Application:
At first it started as a game in the basement of the Sovereign Academy. "If I could be any person, who would that be?" At first it was frivolous things such as a princess or a dragon but as time went on and the hunger grew sharper. It was progressive of course, she stopped thinking who and instead considered what. Someone strong. Someone who was not afraid. Someone who was more clever than she was. She started to define how this her would respond and acted in accordance. How this her would be 'better.' She would give this persona a name, 'Fuu.' It was not her true name but rather the name the Oracles has given her, she had forgotten her first name and the Sovereign had given her another. That was one of the first steps, revoking their identity. When they did this she made a new one.
She took on this personality as needed, it represented her almost inhuman or rather inhumane ability to monitor and record despite the carnage. Her ability to think analytically and without passion. It represented her role as an Oracle and for a time this was not a secondary persona but her primary persona. It was better than who she truly was. It was dangerous to be who she was. To express her fears and her aspirations. To pursue her ambitions. So she let her true self sink away, it was always there screaming just beneath the surface.
This persona does not serve as a kill switch but it gives her the ability to do what this young Oracle was not normally capable or willing to do. She always has control over this or she liked to believe it. In truth she forgot that this was only a facade, it became a true part of her. She was always cognizant of what she is doing and why, to claim otherwise would be a lie. With her hybridization into a Glomming Court hybrid, her previous passions and her true sentiments came out, that she portrayed was a lie. In truth, underneath it all she was always angry and she was always scared. She would not have said anything if she was working under her created, uncaring persona but deep down beneath it all she felt everything. She had been treated as intrinsically worthless most of her life, used only for the information that she could share. A fact that a part of her almost agreed with, that was why she was willing to risk her life to tell Sunagakure secret truths at a risk to herself. In the end they did not use that information and they came for her. They would keep coming for her and she would have to die. She would die and it would be for nothing!
Still her persona pushed it down... deep below her calm surface.
She was able to do so until the shadows replaced a part of her soul. Then she felt things, things so much more intensely than before. She could not choose to be stoic, not like she could before. She was a serious person by nature certainly but her expressions were lies. She could not lie. But the persona she created, in one sense or another existed in her somewhere. It has been who she was for so long. So it was there, somewhere deep down...
Timeline
193 PP She was born, her birth name unrecorded because the city she was born in fell during the war against the Daimyo and the Oracle library that she was apprenticed to was razed.
196 PP She (3) demonstrates unusual intelligence for her given age. There is potential promise as an Oracle. She is assessed by the order over the next several months and the process begins to allow her to join the Order.
199 PP Her (6) family was offered the opportunity to allow their child to study as an Oracle. Her parents accept, she is given the name "Fuu" and she never sees her parents or her siblings again. During this same time, tensions with the Daimyo Ishii Shiro are on the rise.
200 PP Her home town was one of the earlier cities to vanish during the silent war.
201 PP The Library fell, Fuu (8) and four slightly older apprentices were taken to the Sovereign Academy in Sora.
201 PP In the first several weeks three of the other four Oracles died during the first phase of reconditioning. Fuu would be in the pit for 3 months before she was taken out.
201 PP Shortly after leaving the pit, Fuu made her first escape attempt, ended in failure - one of the other children sold her out for a meal. Fuu was put back into the pit for four months this time to serve as an example to others.
201 PP - 205 PP Fuu would be in the second stage of the reconditioning process.
203 PP Fuu was never changed into a hybrid; the older Oracle had died in the process so Michi was the last Oracle of her specific Order. Regardless, she was 'graduated' as number 14.
205 PP - 2010 PP Fuu was sent to the Palace of the Glorious Immortal where the palace library served as her prison. She was to serve as a scribe and record events, relevant information and the information that she had previously learned. She was to translate books written in the various dialects of Runic Terran that were recovered from the defeated libraries and submit the tomes to the Daimyo.
207 PP Fuu tried to run away but was caught and punished severely for her transgression. She would try again later the same year to the same effect.
210 PP Unable to conceive with his third wife Ishii (nee Takahashi) Etsuko (27), Ishii Shiro chose a surrogate option. Ishii Shiro (33) had his first born son with Fuu (17), Shouki.
211 PP Fuu attempted to escape for a fourth time, this time with her infant son Shouki. She was nearly killed during her capture.
213 PP Shouki's nature began to emerge, he was an intelligent child but his features resembled the Daimyo that Fuu resented so she would also resent her son and reject him. She would attempt to leave a fifth time, this time abandoning her son in the process. She would escape for several weeks this time, but eventually she would be tracked down and recaptured.
214 PP Shouki starting hurting small animals. Ishii Shiro introduced his son to Jashinism, shortly thereafter Shouki also began to engage in self-harm.
210 PP - 215 PP Attempts to conceive a second child were met with failure, primarily miscarriages that correlated with her escape attempts and the physical trauma suffered during the escape attempt or recapture. Security was greatly improved over these years.
214 PP Fuu was to begin educating Shouki in "all things Oracle", a notion she rejected but was not given a choice in. She would serve as essentially a tutor for her son.
215 PP Daimyo Ishii Shiro remarries and has a second child with his fifth wife, Ishii (nee Hashigaki) Fujiko (25), Susumu.
218 PP Fuu was to begin educating Susumu in "all things Oracle", there was no dismissal or decline. She would serve as a tutor for them both.
220 PP Ishii Fujiko (30) died giving birth to the Daimyos' youngest child, Ishii Sango.
221 PP Ishii Shouki is sent away to Tea Country where he would further his training and prepare to become the next Daimyo.
224 PP Fuu was to begin educating Sango in "all things Oracle".
227 PP Fuu escaped, this time finding herself with the Cabal, a group of misfit adventurers hardened by circumstance and a shared hatred towards shinobis as an institution.
227 PP Shouki was sent in pursuit of Michi, he would find her and drag her back to the Palace of the Glorious Immortal. Rather than be forced to remain in the Palace, she was sent back to the Cabal with Shouki marked (sealed) by Nao.
227-229 PP Ishii Shiro is one of several benefactors of the Cabal.
229 PP The Cabal attacks Sunagakure, the plan does not go as intended however because Shouki was supposed to return to the Palace after delaying the Kazekage's return to the depths. The Sovereign would not arrive until several weeks later, the staggered delay gave Sunagakure the time needed to fight back.
229 PP Fuu meets varied members of Sunagakure's higher echelon and a tense association eventually evolves into a working relationship.
233 PP Fuu was transformed into a Glomming Court Hybrid to escape Nao's seals. She started to call herself Michi.
234 PP Kaito is diagnosed with lung cancer and is given "months" to live. Michi attempts to save Kaito by having Mikaboshi hybridize him. He refuses, preferring to die a man than living on as something he is not.
235 PP Michi becomes engaged to Sennin Senju Kazuki, it is a match of convenience she pursued as a means to draw the elite of Wind Country to one place and finally kill them all.
236 PP Michi gets cold feet, she was not willing to sacrifice Sennin Senju Kazuki for her revenge, while incapable of admitting it to even herself, she had real emotions towards him. She seeks out Miroku Akkuma, a known low-life that festers near Sunagakure and hire him to kidnap her fiance on her wedding day. She was not going to divert from her plan and was prepared to die, she was just not willing to let Kazuki die with her.
237 PP Due to social tensions, the wedding never happens, Sand and the Diamyo's forces continue their tensions, several skirmishes occur.
239 PP Kaito lives longer than expected but ultimately dies to his cancer.
240 PP A few months after Kaito's death, Michi leaves Sunagakure, she researches the lost city of Babylos.
242 PP Michi makes herself a home in Soons Haven.
244 PP The final battle between Sunagakure and the Sovereign takes place. Michi was not present for this battle, but she is aware that the Daimyo was defeated and taken from the battle site. Michi has already lost contact with those she knew in Sunagakure.
245 PP Michi is hired by Aburabuta Hirotomi to verify various artifacts.
246 PP Michi stole a Sharingan Implant artifact from Aburabuta Hirotomi, framing the secretary.
246 PP Lady Ishii Mako is named Daimyo of Wind Country, usurping her husband Ishii Shiro (69) who was still MIA. The Merchant Lords officially have Ishii Shiro's status deemed "deceased".
- Ishii Susumu (31) protests Mako's claim to the throne as heir apparent but lacks the support of the Merchant Lords and the Sora court.
- Ishii Susumu is imprisoned in Sora, where he remains to this day.
- Ishii Susumu had found Michi briefly in Soons Haven prior to his incarceration, he made wild claims regarding the legitimacy of the throne and the ill-intent of Tea Country that fell on deaf ears. She refused to help him.
246-249 PP Michi continued to work for Aburabuta Hirotomi, leaving his employ voluntarily in late 249 PP.
251 PP Unknown to Michi at the time, after she left Aburabuta Hirotomi's employ, he would share the fact that he was working with a former Oracle with the assumed dead Ishii Shiro. Shouki would find his way to Soons Haven and Michi would start a life on the run.
251-255 PP Michi lived a nomadic life for the most part but ultimately Shouki appeared to tire in his pursuit of the Oracle. She would resettle in Soons Haven in late 255 PP under an assumed name and frequently used henge to hide her appearance.
259 PP A seismic event (possibly) drew a sandworm from the ground, causing damages in Soons Haven. She would discover a forgotten religion underground.
Positions
Oracle: Member
Part of the original Oracle Order that fell during the silent wars that felled the five kings. she was an apprentice when she was taken and the Great Library of Tante fell. She is a part of the old ways.
Cabal: Member
After Fuu escaped the Daimyo, she scraped by selling her knowledge. She would eventually cross paths with Kaito, the leader of a small band of adventurers. She offered her a fair commission for the verification of various artifacts. Eventually she would be offered a position among them which she accepted readily. The members of the team would eventually square off against Sunagakure and do astonishingly well against them despite the numbers not being in their favor. Ultimately however, the Cabal would fall. Some of them killed, others imprisoned and others pardoned. Fuu was never technically pardoned but she had also aligned herself with Sunagakure early on during the invasion.
Sovereign: Member
She completed the Sovereign program and was sealed by Nao. She was never made into a created hybrid because there was a risk that she would not survive the process and she was the last Oracle of the Order Tante. Her role was never intended to be for combat, she was locked away in the Palace of the Glorious Immortal.
ANBU: Target of Observation and Emulation
Fuu was never conscripted into the ANBU Branch, however she observed the ANBU Branch intently and they have observed her. Over the past few years she had earned not only their attention but also their ire. Her association with the Oracle Order, her potential wealth of information, her association with the terrorist group known as the Cabal, her association with the Sovereign and the Diamyo has placed her under the magnifying glass. As such Fuu has learned through observation how the ANBU work but she has garnered no benefit beyond the emulation of their skillset. Similarly, she has not gained the respect of civilians and shinobis alike as she held no recognized rank in this branch.
She has no particular aspirations to become an ANBU beyond the fact that she might be able to learn something among their ranks. In truth she is apprehensive being associated with this branch. She feels that she has earned the ire of two Sennins associated with the branch: Sennin Roku and Kazuki.
Shinobi Rank: Jounin
She is recognized at this level on the basis of skill and potential threat alone.
Fuu was never conscripted into Sunagakure as a Sunan shinobi, however she is considered to be a security risk. She has recorded a number of their secrets and it is likely she has observed much that has not been transcribed. In addition to this, she was also a veritable oasis of information regarding Sora, the Daimyo and the lost Orders. While she is not a recognized member of Sunagakure, thus not the recipient of the respect and authority that comes with the rank but she is considered to be an S Rank threat. One that they would not willing wish to see leave Wind Country or return to the Daimyo. So her 'position' in Sunagakure is tenuous at best. She knows if she tries to run, she will have yet another enemy. She believes that she is frequently being followed, she is likely not wrong but she is good at hiding. They know that she has not left the country and that she has not reconnected with the Sovereign, however the exact place where she rests her head can only be speculated.
Hybrid: Glomming Court
Mikaboshi would make Fuu (later known as Michi) into a Glomming Court Hybrid to free her from Nao's seals.
History
Homeland: Fen
A small, coastal city in the rural portion of South Wind Country. The city was an agricultural center that celebrated a mild climate and plentiful rainfall. Few lived in Fen because the earth was good for growing but not good for building. The soft earth made for poor foundations and frequent coastal flooding might have rejuvenated the soil but caused severe damage to homesteads. Urbanization never fully happened but the natural beauty of the setting made this doomed city a popular tourist destination for those that wish to 'get back to a simpler time.' The people were highly religious, believing that hard work and natural remedies were a way of dedicating themselves to the powers that be. Legends of the first men and the power of Primus to contest the very gods was a legacy that ran deep in this community that claimed that many of them (likely flasely) carried the blood of the One King in their veins.
The city fell early in the war, the community so small that the limited records describing the city could construe this to a misspelling of another community. A population of about 900, when the village crumbled, they were not missed.
Historical Bloodline: Yamanaka
Fuu was born into the Yamanaka Clan in 193 PP, as such she shares the genetic profile and propensities of this secretive clan she has also realized the bloodline limit of this clan fully. Known as the 'Mind Clan', it was unsurprising that the Yamanaka side of her family had close ties with the Oracle Order. Yamanakas possess a sharp mentality that not only enables them to cast powerful illusions, but also have the unique ability to project their consciousness outwards to directly manipulate the wills of others. These were useful skills, desired among Oracles. Her parents were intellectuals, her mother a quick-learner and a professor, her father a Yamanaka and psychotherapist. Their beautiful minds was what attracted them to each other and it was as if she was genetically predisposed to become an Oracle. Becoming an Oracle as a position of prestige in the eyes of the Yamanaka Clan elders so it was encouraged that she join when she shown promise as a potential Oracle candidate. She was the youngest of three, her brother and sister were also rather clever children but they had their mothers quick learner genetic traits more so than their father's. They did not apply to become Oracles, only Fuu did as a young child of 3 in 296 PP. Her mental fortitude was apparent from a young age, she had the uncanny ability to see through lies and illusions in her earliest years. As she matured, so did her mental prowess. She would be accepted into the Oracle order as an apprentice at the age of 6 in 199 PP amid growing tensions politically in Wind Country and she would eventually become an Oracle as well as a masterful illusionist.
Orders: Oracle Apprenticeship
The Orders were a vast network of civilian and shinobi men and women who owed fealty to the Kazekage, not any one of the five Wind Country Daimyos. Their ways went back to the first men and an Oracle served as intellectuals, as learners and as scribes. Young children, often under the age of eight were made into apprentices. Their apprenticeship would last for several years, during which time they would learn the 3 Ds - dedication, discipline and discovery. Studies were rigorous and the instructors were stern. They needed to read, retain and reiterate vast passages consistently to earn the title of Oracle. While brilliant by society's metrics, Fuu was markedly average in terms of the Order. She was called Fuu, meaning "Wind" because the Order would be her identity, her real name irrelevant but recorded as all named were in archives that would be razed years later when the Daimyo's men came for the Orders.
The Fall of the Orders
The Orders fell during the silent war waged by the Daimyo Ishii Shiro and his inhuman army. The Orders knew that Ishii's men were coming for them months in advance, they had closed their gates and fortified the best that they could but all it did was delay the inevitable. The Oracle Order of Tante was razed, members of the Order still inside. The youngest of them, the apprentices were secreted away in the dead of night so that the battle could be fought and won or lost. They were to seek refuge in Babylos, the great tower had gone dark in 200 PP but their walls were impassible, their automatons were undefeatable, or so they believed. Serving as the heart of the Order, they just needed to get the children there. Only, they never made it.
The children and their proctor were captured, the proctor too old to be of any use was killed. The children taken to the Sovereign Academy in Sora.
The Oracles of the Order of Tante would fight back against the Sovereign, but they would ultimately fall in 203 PP. Their apprentices lost two years earlier, the remainder of the order was systematically executed.
The Sovereign Academy: Step One
Fuu was eight in PP 201 when the Library of Tante was first razed. She and the four surviving apprentices, six died during their capture, were brought to Sora. They were prisoners and they were sent to the pits. The pits would prove to be the first part of the conditioning process where they stripped away their humanity, where only the strong or in Fuu's case the clever survived. It was not a place where she could afford to be kind and for the sake of her own survival, she had to destroy her own sense of mercy. She lived, but only because the others died. This was as intended, there was no objective end result that would have allowed everyone to leave that pit.
Historical Kinjutsu: Grandeur Phantom
She was nearly eight years old when this limit was realized. It started during the time she was locked away in the Palace of the Glorious Immortal. Indeed, her time in the Palace and later the Sovereign Academy was not terrible in comparison to the fate so many others endured. Sovereign Training was done to the young. To the ones that would not be missed because most would not survive the process. She was durable enough to endure but she also possessed the mental fortitude to withstand their attempts but it would only be a matter of time before she either cracked or died like all the rest.
It started as a game in the basement of the Sovereign Academy. "If I could be any person, who would that be?" At first it was frivolous things such as a princess or a dragon but as time went on and the hunger grew sharper. It was progressive of course, she stopped thinking who and instead considered what. Someone strong. Someone who was not afraid. Someone who was more clever than she was. She started to define how this her would respond and acted in accordance. How this her would be 'better.' She would give this persona a name, 'Fuu.' It was not her true name but rather the name the Oracles has given her, she had forgotten her first name and the Sovereign had given her another. Number fourteen.
That was one of the first steps, revoking their identity. The irony was, her true name and identity was revoked years ago. They gave her instead an impersonal number, but as humans we always needed to assign meaning so even her name had a meaning. It meant that there were at least thirteen others besides herself, Eventually her name would become thirteen and twelve, that was because she had outlived two of her predecessors. They told her this, that was how she knew. It was quite cruel telling a child this but this was simply a matter of life.
She endured all the same, strong enough in body to survive despite always believing that she was weak perhaps she was stronger than she had credited herself. Her mind was another matter, being intelligent did not mean that she was stable. She was, stable that is but sanity can be rocked if given enough time. They started simply of course, making her hungry and cold. She was not alone of course, she was with others and then they would toss a few slices of bread or a threadbare blanket down the hatch and the children would claw at each other until one emerged victorious. At first the children would hold onto the morals their parents taught them if they did not already knew the way of the world. In fact that was how one could tell the streetrat from the recent orphan. Parents often raised their children well, and they suffered for it. At first she did what all 'good' children did. Proclaim that they could... should share but she quickly realized that was not going to happen. She that part of her was tucked away. She was not proud of it but she fought to survive like the rest.
That would prove to be the first step of many, to reduce a child to a beast. Her true self was reduced to such, but she had a semblance of intelligence. They thought it was because she could resist them but she was not that much stronger than the best. She just lied. She was barely holding onto her sanity so she made herself into a new person first inside her mind and through a shear force of will, a powerful intellect and necessity. She took on a new personality as needed, it represented her almost inhuman or rather inhumane ability to monitor and record despite the carnage. Here it demonstrated her ability to impassively do as requested but to maintain cognition throughout. Her ability to think analytically and without passion was . It represented her role as an Oracle and for a time it was the key to her survival. It became her primary persona over time, she forgot who she was. This 'person' she created was better than who she truly was. It was dangerous to be who she was. To express her fears and her aspirations. To pursue her ambitions. To feel or at least express her anger and her passion. So she let her true self sink away, it never left entirely. It was always there screaming just beneath the surface.
This persona was never a 'kill switch,' if anything this was a less violent side. It gave her the ability to do what this young Oracle was not normally capable or willing to do. She always has control over this or she liked to believe it. In truth she forgot that this was only a facade, it became a true part of her. She was always cognizant of what she is doing and why, to claim otherwise would be a lie. With her hybridization into a Glomming Court hybrid, her previous passions and her true sentiments came out, that she portrayed was a lie. In truth, underneath it all she was always angry and she was always scared. She slept better before she was changed, even with her autonomy at risk and death being dangled in front of her she was able to how you say... fake it until she could make it. Now she wakes up screaming. Her abandonment of Shouki bothers her, she regrets something she never regretted consciously before. His death creeps into the back of her mind as well. Even her former association with the Diamyo, before she ran. She saw the interaction differently. Shouki was born from an act of violence but there was a passion involved. It was not simply a physical act, if that was true there would be dozens of other bastards like hers. Emotions were always something she overlooked when her persona was in control unless she was actively looking for them.
She had made new enemies as well. Egos are fragile, none more than a Sunan in power. It seemed to be a trait. She would not have said anything. She should not have said anything, it would have been better for her. If her persona was in control, that lie that seemed to now lurk in her shadow rather than her head, she would not have told them what she did. But she felt betrayed. She felt as if she had no value in their eyes. She had been treated as intrinsically worthless most of her life, used only for the information that she could share. A fact that a part of her almost agreed with, that was why she was willing to risk her life to tell Sunagakure secret truths at a risk to herself, it was all she was good for. In the end they did not use that information, even that had no value and the Sovereign came for her. They would keep coming for her and she would have to die. She would die and it would be for nothing and she knew it!
She tried to push it down, push it away to the darker places. To her shadow where the 'better' self seemed to dwell. Her persona, or rather shadow had no space so she lashed out. What she said was the truth but it was not a truth they wanted or cared to hear.
She was able to do so until the shadows replaced a part of her soul. Then she felt things, things so much more intensely than before. She could not choose to be stoic, not like she could before. She was a serious person by nature certainly but her expressions were lies. She could not lie. But the persona she created, in one sense or another existed in her somewhere. It has been who she was for so long. So it was there, somewhere deep down...
This persona saved her a number of times, something she has appreciated. It helped her keep her sanity, at least what threads remained when she was captured by the Diamyo a second time and they failed to reprogram her. It helped her not cry when her son died although she does now when nobody is looking. She failed Shouki probably most of all, her fear was why she abandoned him with that monster. All he ever knew was what Shiro taught him. He did not have a chance. It was not his fault. His father was cruel and in a way she was too. It was her fault as well wasn't it? What was fake was becoming so very real. It had consumed her until Mikaboshi had split her in twain. Ironically, she was likely a 'better' person with this persona.
And that was how her shadow became her second ego. Rarely a neat little package. Rarely works out. Ironic that the one thing she wants is to be able to place that mask back on.
The Sovereign Academy: Step One, Part II
She was one of the few to escape the pit after three months. She was a survivor, weakened and fatigued by hunger and scraping against those just as desperate. She would see her opportunity to escape when she was taken from the pit, a part of her might have been broken, but she never withdrew. She would run, but she was just a small child who was hungry, tired and cold. She would be captured and she would be thrust screaming back into the pit she had just survived. Faced against a fresh group of children who had their vigor still, she would have to survive this hell a second time. They were not as quick to pull her from this pit, they were making a point. Four months this time. She would later learn that she was sold out by a child that was hungry, a meal was all she was worth and it did not do that child much good, they died within the month, before Fuu was withdrawn a second time from the pit.
Sovereign Academy: Step Two
This as the conditioning process. Another term would be brainwashing, a multi-year process of re-education to ensure subservience and loyalty to the Daimyo. This involved a mixture of techniques including conditioning, isolation, propaganda, and dehumanization. The children were numbered and even that number was not their own, the numbers changed as their predecessors died. She started somewhere over one-hundred but by the time she 'graduated' she was number fourteen.
House Scribe
Michi would make other runs for freedom over the years, but she would be quickly thwarted. It never stopped her from trying but it took some time to recover from the consequences of her transgression. Fear was a powerful motivator, as was pain. Upon graduation, he was not imbued with the essence of an Ancient by Nao because she was the last surviving Oracle apprentice. She was taken to the Palace of the Glorious Immortal in Sora where she would be chained (literally) to the library. Her role was simple: archive, write and complete the collections. To translate works and to copy choice passages into a consolidated time. In some cases, to rewrite history as something more palatable for future readers.
The opportunities for escape were rare and were met with violent ends.
Mother of Monsters
The house master was Daimyo Ishii Shiro, having reached middle age with no known heir and having difficulties conceiving with his present wife, he would force himself on Fuu. She would eventually become pregnant and bear a son, Shouki. An unusually large child, a nod to his Akimichi heritage, he had a lot of his father's features as well as a few of hers. She never could find herself capable of loving the boy, even as an infant. The circumstances of his creation a part of this as well as arguably untreated postpartum depression. She would find that she ignored the child for the most part if and when it was left in her library cell. He survived infancy but he was unloved. She would make an attempted escape when Shouki was about a year old but they would be caught. She was no longer allowed to see Shouki, not until he was older at least. She did not really miss him.
When Shouki was 4, they would let him stay in the library during the day under watchful guard. Fuu had an additional role - educator. She would teach her son all she knew. She would teach her son of Oracles and of their ways, not that she had ever completed the process herself but she knew of it. She was a dutiful child herself once upon a time and Shouki was quick witted, sharp and bright. Frustratingly so. There was no saying 'no' to Ishii Shiro, her reluctance was not a consideration.
There were attempts to produce a second heir, however miscarriages prevented any other children from reaching term. Eventually when Ishii Shiro moved onto his new wife, she was no longer needed in this capacity and Ishii's fifth wife produced Shiro a legitimate heir. Fuu knew what that likely meant for her own son, first born bastard meant nothing in Wind Country and even less in a line of succession. When Susumu, the future heir apparent turned 4, he would join his older brother for classes. She remembered the lies told to her son, not that she every bothered to correct them. He had not been told that his position as heir would be undermined by the birth and life of his younger brother or much later, the birth of his even younger sister.
They did not tell Shouki when they sent him away to Tea, to the King Makers he would foolishly call them back then.
It was not until Shouki was nearing graduation from the academies of Tea that he would learn that his younger brother Susumu would be their heir apparent. His reaction to this news was hardly unexpected. Shouki tried to kill his younger brother and he failed due to the intervention of Journeymen nearby when the incident happened. Shouki would be ultimately sent back home, a danger to his younger brother and Shouki was a terror. He always had this violent propensity, from when he was quite young in fact. He damaged furniture and walls, hurt the servants and unfortunate pets that were foolish enough to enter his grip. His violence always was more than an act of piety, it was an act of curiosity, of pleasure. His various violations extended past the palace to the local community. An eligible bachelor, he rarely lacked for company but he was just as interested in the carnal options they offered as he was in seeing what could make them scream. It was always that moment he saw a change in their eyes that he loved best - the moment where they went from angry or indignant to truly afraid that simply stirred something in him.
The Cabal
Michi would finally make another audacious escape in 227 PP and this time they would not find her. Not initially in any case. As a young, newly 'free' woman she made a living, scraping by using her knowledge or lore and literature to support a meager lifestyle. She had no desire for wealth, only freedom. Eventually she would be found of course, by an adventurer named Kaito accompanied by a few friends. They were seeking lost and forgotten artifacts and they were seeking a local lore expert to learn more about their extraordinary finds. She supplied them with whatever information they sought for a reasonable price, eventually they took her under their employ, offering her the one thing she truly wanted -- a chance to see the world and expand what she already knew. She was a coward for avoiding the Daimyo and for never returning for her son. She never shared what Shiro did to her. What he was doing. She watched as the storm which isolated the various cities gave him the opportunity to consolidate his power and she never intervened. She knew the the Daimyo was getting stronger uncontested. She knew what happened to those missing children, she was after all technically one of them but nobody lamented, nobody knew and nobody was looking for them. She never tried to undermine the Daimyo even when she noticed his influence spread. Perhaps if she had, things would have been different, but she was scared. She was always scared.
She would remain with the Cabal for several months, that is until she was ultimately found by her son. Shouki would physically overpower her, nearly killing her in the process before he dragged her back to the Palace. As far as the rest of the Cabal knew at the time, Fuu had been attacked by a wild animal and was dead. They never knew the circumstances of her reacquisition. Fuu spent several weeks in the Sovereign Academy, by the end of it all, there were no secrets left once again. They would attempt to reprogram her, but older people are harder to "fix." Nao upon learning what he could about this Cabal suggested that they both return, sealing Fuu thrice in the process before sending them both away. There were simply things that could not be said, even in private. The seal did not allow it. All the Cabal knew was that she was alive and that there was a additional member interested in joining. His physical brawn made him an easy addition in spite of his Jashinist ways that unsettled some.
Ishii Shiro would frequent the Cabal, giving them work and he developed an amicable relationship with the Cabal. Eventually their collaborative projects would culminate with a shared 'hate' - Sunagakure.
The Anarchists
A rare moment of autonomy, Fuu would perform her duties as ordered only to meet several Sunan shinobi that would change her life forever. Over the course of numerous interactions she had transitioned from recording their ultimate demise to working alongside them as they tried to save their world.
The initial attack was a success. The Cabal overtook the city and they were going to destroy it. Fuu dutifully recorded their dying days. That was until she saw what she believed was 'hope.' A vigilante named Kasha that was defending the weak despite the anarchy. She pleaded with him to run after seeing his dedication to justice with her own eyes. A true hero is a rare things, she would know. She shared what she knew of an escape with him in hopes that he would take it. That perhaps in time he would be the hero Sunagakure needed. She would also gift him with something -- her ring. Her ring was bound to the Bird Contract, she hoped that it would protect him so that they would meet again.
The Betrayal
Both Kashi and Fuu would survive. Sunagakure would even survive. Most of the Cabal would be captured. She would be a criminal that was not actively hunted but still sought. So she hid. She watched. That was what she was supposed to do and she did it. She was sharing her findings with the Daimyo. She had no choice, she was compelled to do so but she also tried to get help. She sought out heroes. She sought Kasha and fed him information also. She sought a mysterious foreigner that seemed to stand out from the rest, Senju Kazuki and did the same with them. The information she shared would prove useless and irrelevant, they did nothing with their findings. The Daimyo would grow suspicious of her over time and a part of her knew it. She knew she would be called back so she prevented her return the only way she knew how -- she picked a fight with Kasha. She was beaten, but she did not mind the pain. She had won in another way or so she believed. Her timing however was poor, the Sovereign had come for her and nearly killed her in her weakened state, Nao already knew of her treachery and she had outlived her usefulness. Kasha was able to drag her to safety. Safety was the Obsidian Palace. When she regained consciousness she gave what little else she knew to a pair of Sennins and attacked herself to ensure that she would not return to the Daimyo but she knew that her days were numbered and that she would be dead within the week. They wanted her dead and those seals would compel her to her doom.
Hybrid: Glomming Court
To release Fuu from the power of Nao's seals, she needed to die and die she did by the hand of Mikaboshi. She would be reborn a Glomming Court hybrid at his hand.
Defeated [Betrayal], the Sennins left alone, unconscious in the Obsidian with a pair of guards at the door. Deep Court Lord Mikaboshi took this as an opportunity and he procured some information from Fuu as well, transforming her in the process into a hybrid of the Deep Court. Doing so severed the hold the seals has over her and he then granted her freedom from the Obsidian. In doing such, Fuu, now known as Michi owed the Lord a great debt she would one day repay. She shared with Mikaboshi what she knew of the Sovereign and was brought to speak before the Sennins and Kazekage. She did not have kind words for them. She felt betrayed because they did nothing with what she shared and continued to do nothing. What she knew was now old and getting more outdated by the second. She rebuked them for their lack of resolve and perhaps made enemies doing such before she left but she decided it was time to take matters into her own hands.
She gathered two former allies -- Kaito and Naganisa and brought them before Mikaboshi. Her intent was two-fold -- to reveal the Sunahoshi beneath the mask and to empower her allies as their strength was waning.
Return to Babylos
She would sneak out of Sunagakure, she went to the badlands in search of a treasure. A construct from Baylos, a city of forgotten wonder. She was going to sell it to the highest bidder once she found it, the technology was fantastical but it was old. She could not only replicate it but improve upon it. She just needed the funds to do so. That was where the bidders came in, she would repay Mikaboshi and release Katsuo in a single gesture if she could provide a residence for the Ancient amalgamation of shadow. It would not work out, she would be double crossed. The buyer wanted both her findings as well as her, there was a price on her head and a value in learning what she knew. She would fight her way to freedom and make her way back to Sunagakure in time to learn two things:
First, her son was dead. But he would not remain dead.
Second, there was World Martial Arts Tournament about to start, hosted by Tea Country.
Historical Kinjutsu: Grandeur Phantom → Chimera (Uchiha)
Michi, at one point Fuu was a Grandeur Phantom. It was truly a symptom of madness. Then Fuu asked herself a question in the depths of The Pit in the Sovereign Academy. "If I could be any person, who would that be?" Hunger quickly changes the answer. At first it was frivolous things such as a princess or a dragon, but as time went on and the hunger grew sharper her want would change. She stopped thinking who and instead considered what. "Someone strong. Someone who was not afraid. Someone who was more clever than me." She would give this persona a name, 'Fuu.' It was not her true name but rather the name the Oracles has given her, she had forgotten her true name, having been renamed twice already. The Oracles had named her Fuu and the Sovereign had given her another -- Jūyon or number fourteen.
This persona was never a 'kill switch,' if anything this was a less violent, less impulsive side of her. This alternative persona gave the Oracle the ability to do what a young child, a young teen would was not normally be capable of. Initially she believed that she had control over this portion of self, but in truth this facade became a true part of her. It manifested itself in an uncanny manner and ultimately consumed her true personality. When she became a Glomming Court Hybrid through the influence of the Glomming Court Lord, Mikaboshi, her previous passions and her true sentiments surfaced. Underneath the unwavering, analytical facade, she was always angry, she was always scared. It influences the mistakes that would follow. Her betrayal of Sennin Senju Kazuki's trust, her ultimate abandonment of Sunagakure. This emotional, tangled mess that wanted revenge. That was vexed by the notion of peace when she wanted blood. In time, her sentiments would cool, this passionate portion of her true persona would fade but it would take years. Years of peace, a failure caused by lacking coping mechanisms and a lack of needed therapy defined the years that followed.
A lot stayed the same, never deviating, never changing. Always trodding along the same, known, beaten path. But as unchanging and consistent as the world might seem, a lot can change in two decades. The Genjutsuist had a repressed aspect that would eventually die, her honest sentiment. While she continued to seek to understand the world around her, she failed at every turn to understand herself. There was a portion of her that was screaming, that was rife with fear and intensely lonesome. That wanted to die. It was a dangerous and harmful part of her that she simply ignored and in a way that worked. She neglected her heart for the sake of her mind. There was no inclination to save herself or to better herself. She simply depended on the dichotomy of the internal person. The problem with matters of the heart, of trauma, and of regret is that these are subjective experiences. Michi had made the frequent, repeated error of denying matters of the subjective and only addressing what was objectively known.
The Oracle only recognized the objective elements. Her time alone left her heart and the social part of her mind famished and while she experienced the various wonders that Wind Country had to offer, these experiences did not come free. At the expense of such knowledge, she again lost a portion of herself. She did not miss this portion of herself that she lost. In fact, she did not even notice when it was gone, she was so busy pretending, living a lie that when it became synonymous with truth, it just made things easier for her.
Michi had left Sunagakure after the war was fought and won. The Daimyo, Ishii Shiro was defeated in battle, recovered by his longest Sovereign, Ishii (Number One). The Daimyo, his greatest soldiers and Sunagakure's greatest enemies were driven out of Wind Country and a an era of relative peace would follow. Michi did not have a reason to stay when the war was over. Everyone had their lives to attend to and she simply did not fit into any of their lives. The recently hybridized woman was a torrent of emotion and she lacked the means to express this. Had she done things differently she could have fit into Sennin Senju Kazuki's life had she tried harder. Had she possessed the emotional depth and awareness to try, she could have made it work. To admit when she was wrong, something that she could never do - an Oracle was never wrong. She should have been honest. Talked about how she felt. Admitted that she felt something at all. She should have invested something into her mental health but she did not do either and she would eventually leave. She would assume that those she left behind lived out their lives. That they were still living them. Living the lives that they fit into and she would live the only life she was fit for.
And like war, peace also can change someone. She fixated on her work, her studies. The Grandeur Phantom would flourish and her true nature would starve, ultimately die of ignorance and neglect. The created person became the only person. Life would go on and the years would pass her by. She was long-lived because of her Deep Court nature, so she would age slowly but she would watch those around her age, grow old. It was good, better in fact that she was numb. She would watch as the neighbor's children grow into teens and even young adults. Adults would grow old and grey, eventually pass. She would even see the first signs of age in her own son. She saw him rarely, he had the grace of a rhinoceros on steroids so he was rarely missed or so she (wrongly) believed. Fear made her pay less attention, think less analytically. Fear had value that she would never understand. She still fled, she still hid, but for the most part she led a quiet, albeit humble life in Soons Haven. She avoided adventure, excitement and the impulse to align herself with some foolish endeavor or man in Soons Haven. There was always a political plot, an attempt to undermine one another and had she decided to involve herself, it would have been a fascinating mental exercise. She did not bother, she kept out of it. Without passion, there was no reason. She just was.
And life would be thus, for nearly a decade in fact. The monotony of records and learning, a solitary existence that she never felt quite fulfilled in but she endeavored all the same. Perhaps it was out of habit. No longer in need of this other person, that persona, ironically the true person, would ultimately fade away.
It was probably about 14 years ago in Soons Haven that her life would be yet again changed. She was seeking work, nothing grand. The journey back to Sunagakure was dangerous, not just because of the vast expanse of inhospitable terrain and apex predators in sweltering heat and minimal resources. It was the swarms, as a lone traveler she would have been easy pickings if they came upon her at the wrong time. Probability was not in her favor and ever-prudent, she chose to stay in Soons Haven. Soons was home to the Merchant Lords, to a thriving trade center and economic hub of Wind Country. Soons was also the place where Michi had decided to eck out a life. A humble one, a simple two room homestead near the Teardrop Oasis. Nothing came for free, taxes were due, repairs were needed and life needed to be lived. She was confident that she could find work and she had no problem finding a particularly generous benefactor.
Aburabuta Hirotomi was an aristocrat, alleged son of Aburabuta Yutaka. Aburabuta had no legitimate heir, Hirotomi was the fatherless son of a model and lived a comfortable life. His means certainly were in excess of what his mother earned and when Hirotomi came of age, he took the Aburabuta name and claimed to be Aburabuta Yutaka's rightful heir. Aburabuta Yutaka is believed dead, he has not been seen in decades and he was an incredibly wealthy man, his time in Soons Haven was defined as a presence of excess, gluttony and of course greed. There was never any proof of a biological relation between Yutaka and Hirotomi, but the young man made a name for himself without the assistance of his alleged father. One of the wealthiest men in Wind Country, the businessman had his fingers in various legitimate and illegitimate ventures.
Michi was well aware of Aburabuta Hirotomi's reputation as a criminal element in Wind Country, that he traded in gems, art and artifacts officially but he had involvement in the seedier side of Wind Country also. It was hard to separate fact from fiction, but it was not her concern. She was also well aware of his reputation as a generous benefactor. A talented person could easily be set for months if they completed a simple job. These rumors of course left out the fact that few survived long enough to enjoy the temporary wealth Hirotomi afforded them. Hirotomi did not deal well with theft, betrayal and failure. In spite of these risks, Michi was not able to overlook the significant opportunity, convincing herself that if it looks too wrong she could simply walk away.
That was easier said than done.
Everything about Aburabuta Hirotomi was impressive. From his estate, the lush green grass on the big lawn was alone enough to bankrupt a dozen families. His estate, a multi-story building made from wood of all things was a standout in a sea of smaller stone and clay domiciles. Guards and waitstaff met her at the door, a strangely courteous yet threatening experience. The building a veritable maze of rooms, each grand. There was a waiting room for the waiting room, she was not even sure how that worked. Eventually she would be addressed by Hirotomi's assistant's assistant, a well-dressed middle-aged man with the barest hint of a foreign accent she could not quite place. He would explain that their needs depend on the resume, Michi's was fairly extensive but hardly a brow was raised when she submitted the multi-page document. Previous experience in the Cabal served as a reference, they had done work for the Aburabuta family in the distant past, primarily artifact recovery and verification.
She was given work - simple enough. Verification of several artifacts that had been recovered over the past several months for a significant sum in recompense. It seemed like simple work, nothing that she would have a moral issue with until she came upon some of the artifacts. A majority of the artifacts were frauds, this was easy enough to verify. The markings were incorrect translations, the dyes were from centuries later, but there were a few that were real. Obviously stolen items, but the Oracle would not be able to discern where with the limited information she had. Some belonged in a museum. A few artifacts, distressingly, seemed alive. A mote that she recognized as a trapped soul inside a sealed jar that screamed for release, a hand that had a life of its own despite the fact that it had no man attached. The artifacts would become even more gruesome after that, until one day she would come upon a queer antiquity. It was an eye, a physical eye with the optic nerve still intact. The eye was held in place, somehow still quivering, by a set of six metal prongs and what could be best described as a harness that would fit around one's head. [OC: think mad Moody's Eye] At the time of discovery, she did not think much of this artifact, it was an obvious doujutsu implant.
It was obvious that Aburabuta Hirotomi was not a good man. Michi did not care, she was not there to make a value judgement. She was there for a paycheck and as the rumors claimed, Aburabuta paid incredibly well. She was going to verify the doujutsu implant just like the rest. Make sure it was legitimate and then document what she had learned for her benefactor's eventual consumption. She had considered stealing it but it would have been foolish to try and steal the doujutsu implant, but the temptation was ever-present. She was under the watchful eye of two guards the entire time she reviewed the artifacts, she was searched whenever she entered or left the artifact room, she was not allowed to bring anything in with her and she could not take anything back out with her, not even notes. Even the clothes she wore were provided by the staff and left behind in a changing room at the end of the shift. Hirotomi was too careful, she knew that would be caught and she was uncertain of the powerset of those paid to watch her. If he was getting his money worth and he was even half as generous, she knew that she was outclassed. That was until providence was in her favor - the secretary had been caught stealing. She had risked her life as well as that of her family's for a handful of gold coins. Certainly, it was enough to buy a home in southern wind by the sea but would it be enough to compensate living the rest of her life in fear?
She was chakra sensitive, that much was apparent. One of the guards was obviously overpaid, she cut him in half in a single fatal blow. The other, however, was well-paid. He would draw his sword, this strange, eerie blue samurai sword that seemed to move unnaturally. His partner felled, and he distracted by the woman who he would ultimately slay, but not before taking a few disastrous blows of his own. Beaten, bloody and still alive, it was Michi's opportunity to well... you know, take it. Not just the artifact on the table, but the man's life. An offer for healing, not a complete lie. Just the healing was not intended for him. He should not have placed his faith in the Oracle as she turned his own blade on him and finished what that secretary could not in the slanted battle and heal the dead woman enough for her to rouse and run away. Technically saving her life, she would escape with a secret she did not even know she had.
That secretary would be falsely blamed for the theft of both the gold and the eye, she would be hunted and the eye would never be recovered. She would die horribly but if anything, she had a minor reprieve to enjoy a fraction of the ill-gotten gains. Michi would escape with the strange device and ultimately don it. Her business with Aburabuta Hirotomi would conclude from there. She would complete her assessment and studies of the strange device and she would conclude quite simply that it was an alternative means besides surgical intervention to gain the power of the Uchiha sharingan. The device was ingeniously made, possibly by a Journeyman but certainly if so, not legally. There was no mark of the Order or signature on the metalwork, but the metal was most assuredly Takahashi Steel. The ring resembled a hick-rimmed eyeglass with a set of prongs holding the eye in place. It was quite strange how the eye refused to rot despite its likely protracted age. She wondered what sort of magic was used to preserve the eye, she had several recorded tactics but they failed to be as effective as whatever was done in this specific case.
Using the eye did require more than simply wearing a morbid lens over one's left eye. The optic nerve also moved on its own accord and it would, once fastened to her face painfully plunge themselves into her lower lid. She would feel her natural eye get pushed forward as if the optic nerve was attempting to pop out her eye. In future placements she would habitually place her palm over the device whenever she attached it. A habit, a battle against futility because a palm could do little for her if the device decided to rip her natural eyeball free. The burning sting would resolve after a few minutes, it never got better. After a few bleary moments, her vision would recover from the array of flashing lights. Things would look different, just a bit wrong through the eye that was not her own.
However it would just end there for a time. An additional, uncomfortable eye over a normal eye. A waste really, but Michi was well aware that the device was much more due to the labeling and the little information she was given by Hirotomi's offices. She would have to learn what activates the eye which would prove to be troublesome, even frustrating. This kekkei genkai is stimulated by powerful emotional experiences and Michi had the sentiments and the emotional depth of a parking lot puddle. She did not have someone as far as she was aware that was precious to her, she hated her son and the expression was mutual, she was estranged from most of her former allies and had no friends. The signal, the chakra-laden response from the brain of the emotionally charged Uchiha would affect the optic nerve effectively transforming the shinobi's eyes into the Sharingan. She had no powerful or close relationships, so she would be challenged at this juncture.
Literature describes the Sharingan as an "eye that reflects the heart" and her heart was not happy nor was it sad. An emotional journey would be required to earn this power and to achieve that she had to simply think. To remember and to envision a lie. A lie where she was happy, it was the cruelest vision she could give herself because she would wake up from this delusion and it would be gone, she would be alone with her formative years spent. In this state of objective loneliness, profound loss of a life she could never have, she would finally see red.
Bird Contract
Name: Kana ((Application))
Description: A large black crow with eyes as black as coals and feathers as dark as midnight on a moonless night. Specifically this is a Great Sunan Crow, a dangerous scavenger bird that one would be more likely to associate with carrion-consumption than an ally in battle.
Height: seven feet in height and twelve feet in length, but the tailfeathers reach another three feet. The wingspan is about thirty feet from tip to tip.
Weight: 220 lbs
When she looks into a mirror see does not see her own reflection. She has none.
Personality: The personification of jealousy and immuration, Kana is the antithesis of what one would expect of an avian summon. Kana means 'mirror' because Kana is a reflection and like a true reflection it did not reveal a perfect copy of the avian summon's physical form but rather the shadow aspect of the contract. She made a good partner for Fuu, they were kindred spirits in a way. They were both displaced, they did not belong and they were constrained by things that were beyond their powers. They both envied the freedom, the success, the happiness and the friendship others enjoyed but they did not.
History: Kana is the product of 'the perfect storm'. Fuu had contracted herself with the Bird Contract years ago. It was an unnatural union, the Contract was bound to an artifact - a silver ring with a hidden blade that thirsted for her blood. Every Cabalist received one and with the ring was a creature that gave them power. She gave hers away, even with the ring she was not powerful enough to make a difference but that ring was still a part of her. It had drank much from her over the years and apparently when the ring left, some aspects of the avian creature she was contracted with remained. It was just the shadow, its reflection. She could hear it sometimes, it spoke but it was trapped near her feet where it stayed until one day everything changed. Mikaboshi had pulled away some of Fuu's essence and replaced it with his own making her a Deep Court hybrid. Deep Court Ancients are inhuman and that made her partially inhuman as well. Ancients were elementals for the layman and the Deep Court were made of shadow. Her shadow, or rather their shadow, broke free.
Other info:
- Fuu was a grandeur phantom, she is no longer (refer to last bullet)
- Fuu was contracted to the Bird Contract unnaturally via a ring that had old, runic symbols that was magical.
- Fuu did develop a relationship with the Bird Contract summons but she gave the ring to Roku during the Cabal incursion.
- Fuu became a Deep Court member and this caused her shadows to 'take life' and form, including the fragment left behind by the Bird Contract.
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