The Story of B

[Dracos]

Long before the grand attack on Nerv, a young man battled for sanity and survival against supernatural odds.  Twin fragments of a single mind battled for control and survival.  This is his tale...

The story of "B"

Fearless Leader

[Bean Bandit]

Bean Bandit glanced at the duffle bag on the ground, then slowly up at the water of the lake in front of her.

A slender, curvy girl with red eyes, spiky cyan hair, and a slash mark on either cheek stared back. This reflection while rather exotic, wasn't terribly out of the ordinary.

The fact that she was technically male, now...that was a little more interesting.

Bean watched the water ripple around her reflection.

Who am I?

I am Bean Bandit. Whoever that is. I can't remember.

I am Minagi Hakubi. Sort of. I wear her body, sometimes.

I am Jusenkyo cursed, making me both at once...and also not quite either...

She sighed, looking down at herself. She'd awoken a year earlier in a lab, with a woman and a man watching over her, and not a single memory in her head. She also discovered she was actually male. Hot water changed her back to her birth form. The woman and man, (Who as it turned out, were mother and son), had adopted him as part of their family.

And, by extension, the family they lived with. Bean had spent a year with the Masaki's.

She'd discovered her cursed form was an alien life form, called masu, and, with a gem from her adoptive brother, she discovered she had many new powers...in both bodies.

She'd played with the youngest girl, Sasami, growing close to her, feeling as though she had a little sister.

She'd talked to the teenaged boy, Tenchi, and made a friend.

She'd learned to fight with another girl, Ryoko, her cursed form's identical twin. In the course of tose lessons, memories of another time had begun to surface...along with fearsomely powerful fighting skills.

She'd been the target of her adopted brother, Ryder's jokes, and pestering. She'd been annoyed, but strangely amused at the same time.

She'd also felt unconditional acceptance from Washu, he adopted mother. She'd formed a bond with her...one that confused and elated her all at the same time.

And she'd formed a civil relationship with Sasami's older sister, Ayeka.

She had a family. And, for awhile...she was content.

Later, memories began to surface, of an older, darker version of her true form, wielding a sword, and spilling blood.

Memories of an earlier time...and of a time when she knew herself. She did her best to ignore them...but they persisted. Tugging on her mind, until she had to know the truth about her past.

Which in turn, led her to leave the Masaki home...the only one she'd ever known. She set out on a journey to discover herself...or himself, really. Which led her to the present.

---
She was standing in a small lake, enjoying the feel of the cool water around her feet, with a slight bit of resentment that she was unable to do this in her uncursed form.

She glanced a back at where she'd built a small fire, and noted that the water she'd set on the rocks was steaming slightly. She stretched, and blushed slightly as the breasts under her shirt shifted a bit.

"Time to go back to being a guy," she muttered to herself.

She waded back to shore, and picked up the warm water and dumped it over her head. Immediately, the girl grew several inches. Hard muscle replaced soft curves, and her hair shortened and lightened as he face shifted.

Bean Bandit ran his hand through his short, spiky blond hair, and looked off into the distance. "I'll be in Tokyo in a day or two. Can't forget to write home..."

He smiled sadly, remembering how Sasami had cried when he left. He leaned against the log, using it as a pillow, staring up at the sky, seemingly seeing the people who'd accepted him into their family with open arms in the stars.

"I'm sorry," he whispered to them. "I have to know who I was...before I can start again..." With those words, he fell into a fitful sleep...

[Anonymous]

Click...click...click...

The sounds of footsteps echoed through a tastefully decorated hallway. The gloom of the hallway parted to reveal a figure. Continuing on its trip, the figure was revealed to be an Asian man by the flickering light of a dying candle.

Dressed in a conservative business suit, his whole bearing was one of formality. A milky white scar ran from the top of his right temple all the way down to mid cheek, giving him a vaguely imposing prescence as well as he quickly walked along the stone floor.

Only to come face to face to the frozen expression of an indescribably beautiful woman who was shrieking in terror and pain as a knife racked across her face, destroying her beauty forever.

His eyes began to rove over the scenes of horror that had been carved into the oak door before him, having to go so far as to tip his head backwards to see some fo the scenes near the top. A shrine to the beauty of Death. It was magnificent.

He was just getting to a scene of a wolf ripping through a pregnant woman's sternum when the door began to slowly open.

His angular features twisted in anxiety for the first time as he spotted a figure calmly sitting in the darkness.

"...come."

The man quickly ran a hand through his slicked back hair before scurrying into the room, the door slamming itself shut in his wake.

The Asian made sure to keep his eyes on anything besides his superior, focusing on the bookcase placed on the side of his master's imposing form instead.

Light seemingly bended around the figure sitting behind a dark oak desk, for his part of the shadowy office was even darker than where the Asian stood. Making a show of cocking its head to the side, the hazy figure continued.

"Did you bring it?" Anticipation was clearly audible in its tone.

The man merely tapped the metallic briefcase he was holding in his right hand.

"Good. How went the injection?" The Asian's mouth finally opened for the first time in the conversation.

"The local spirits were easily bent to our will, my lord. None of the villagers had the mental or spiritual fortitude to survive."

"You must be pleased with the eradication of them even more so than I am."

"Yes, I personally slew half of those Chinese dogs myself." The Asian closed his eyes in rememberance as an expression of utmost bliss crossed his face.

The figure's laughter rang in the Asian man's ears, the distinctive rising and warping of the tone of his master's voice bringing him out of his daze.

"While I'm glad that you'd your fun, I must insist that you finish your report." From the general location of the figure's head, twin red lights flared in displeasure. "Or else."

"Forgive this unworthy one lord!" The Asian threw himself to the ground in supplication.

"Rise, insect." The figure's voice oozed with revulsion as the Asian rose on trembling legs.

"I...it...would appear that the surrounding villages have hired a devil hunter to check in on the village. Our illusion was not up to the task of concealing it all, I'm afraid."

"Hmm...no bother." The figure steepled its hands in front of it, the motion causing a cachopany of various wet and grinding sounds to assault the Asian's ears.

"W...w..hat...?"

"The village is useless to us now that we found the Black Tortoise. Let the devil hunters come, they can provide our little pets with some food, yes?" The figure darkly chuckled, with the Asian shortly joining in.

It was their time now.

And nothing would stop them.

The air before them gained a distinct red tint as it began to visibly warp, space itself howling in agony as it parted.

Both of the duo's laughter only increased in intensity when they gazed at the scene their 'window' presented to them...

[Anonymous]

OOC: *bump*

At times, it seemed to the duo that the trees were mocking them, clawing at the two with their pale, gaunt arms every time the November's wind mournfully howled around them.

They had been traveling for over a day now, trying to reach their elusive goal, Zhaoyang. The village had been established shortly after Second Impact, when the majority of China's southeast landmass had been claimed by the hungry oceans.

In the aftermath of the wide spread destruction, Chinese refugees from the country had come to Japan to seek sanctuary. At the time, their own government had been in shambles, and all it took was a simple verbal agreement...

The Japanese had regretted that decision in the days to come.

Now the village was squarely settled ten miles away from the main road that led up to Tokyo-3, the politicians were foaming at the mouth.

In these tense days, they could not do any overt action for fear of setting off the writhing chaos that was the Earth's political arena.

Ever since they had received that strange letter from the village chief.

'We have heard much about your ability, and will pay handsomely for your services.'

The letter had gone on for a while longer citing the fact that the local spirits had been uneasy for a while now, but the one thing that stood out most of all.

The smell of catnip could be faintly smelled on the letter.

So, here they were, tromping about the chilly woods, feeling completely lost.

A sharp crack rang in their ears behind them.

[Asrana]

Yohko whirled, eyes flickering to her ring in search of the tell tale glow that warned her of devils.

She settled into one of the stances taught by her grandmother, whatever made the sound might not be a devil, but it could still be dangerous.

[Bean Bandit]

Asuza tensed, shifting closer to her mentor, and looking around nervously.

"Miss Yohko? Is it...?" She trailed off, looking around, touching her hand to the metal glove she wore.

She may be an apprentice demon hunter, but she was allowed to get nervous, wasn't she?

[Asrana]

Yohko's eyes narrowed, "I don't know, Azusa-chan..."

[Anonymous]

The suface of the Youma ring's gem started rapidly flickering from its dull color to a glowing green.

A sharp crack heralded the fall of one of the deadened trees, which groaned, hawed, and hemmed before finally giving into Fate and dying a loud death.

Its death knell echoed throughout the forest before it all went deadly calm.

The forest began to darken as night approached.

[Asrana]

Yohko's eyes widened slightly, focusing only momentarily on the glowing ring before flashing back to studying her environment.

"It's a devil...somewhere around here..."

[Bean Bandit]

Asuza bobbed her head sharply and lifted up her glove into a ready position, waiting for a cue from her teacher.

She too, kept her eyes on the forested area, half expecting a Devil to leap out at them...

[Anonymous]

A soft humming noise filled the air, filling the air with the smell of burning ozone and causing the two girl's hair to rise.

The only sign they got to move was a powerful flash of light that erupted within the woods. Rocketing forwards it narrowly missed hitting Yohko by a hair.

Shooting past her, the arrow of light solid connected with a tree past her.

And tore a chunk out of the deadened trunk.

The sounds of another arrow being set up echoed through the forest.

[Asrana]

Yohko gasped at the near miss, right hand rising and activating her ring's magic. Energy flared as her traveling clothes disintegrated, the crimson and gold cheongsam seemingly to wrap around her form.

She ended the transformation with the embalzing of a ying yang symbol on the chest of her dress, "Sword of my soul! Appear!"

Holding out her hands, the broadsword appeared in another flash.

OOC: Haven't read the manga, so I'm going with the anime sword...

[Bean Bandit]

Asuza wated no time. Seeing Yohko transform, she raised her metallic glove and tapped into it's magic. She slowly rose into the air, flashing lights briefly obscuring her form.

Completing a full turn, Asuza dropped to the ground, now dressed similarly to Yohko, though her cheongsam was not nearly so revealing...in fact it looked quite similar to an oversized shirt, belted at the waist.

Her hands flared, and a long spear appeared in them....

[Anonymous]

OOC: *blink blinks in surprise* Hoooe.

IC:

Which didn't help either of the two newly transformed girls, because a couple of arrows rocketted towards them.

The sounds of movement was considerably dulled by the whistling of the two arrows as they swiftly approached the two transformed girls.

[Asrana]

Yohko swore, trying to find shelter from the arrows behind a tree, hoping Azusa would do the same.

They couldn't fight like this...not without knowing where the enemy was exactly.

They had to escape.