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 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...
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...
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.
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.
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?
Yohko's eyes narrowed, "I don't know, Azusa-chan..."
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.
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..."
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...
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.
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...
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....
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.
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.
Asuza yelped and dove to the side, trying to find shelter in the trees from the incoming arrows.
"Yohko-san?" She called out anxiously, crouching low behind a convienient tree. She knew what to do when a Devil charged her, but this type of assault wasn't covered in her book.
She hoped her trainer had an idea...
The assault on the duo momentarily halted.
Only the sounds of soft humming once again began to fill the air, as the devil's swift footsteps came to an abrupt halt, causing the dry twings and leaves to the right of Yohko to crunch loudly.
"Azusa-chan...run." She issued her simple command almost as she turned, focusing on her ring and releasing a beam of green energy from it.
Barely waiting fir the beam to end, Yohko turned and ran towards where she thought the village was as fast as she thought she could maintain for a long time.
Asuza didn't hesitate. As soon as Yohko uttered the words, she got up and bolted in the general direction of the villiage they'd been heading to, temporarily banishing her spear.
Having grown up in the mountains, Asuza was remarkably fit for such a small, slight girl, and quickly vanished into the forest...
With a loud, gurgling cry, another arrow was released. Beams of jade and white met in a titantic struggle.
But, the white bolt couldn't hold up.
The jade beam tore right through the shot, and deep into the woods beyond.
Another gruggling sound, then a loud thump of a body hitting the forest floor.
Silence filled the woods as the two girls inadverently split apart in their panic filled dashes.
Azusa, heading north. The dark forest lightening as she saw the ever so faint flames of civilization. But...where was her trainer?
Yohko, heading east, into the darker forest. The forest was remarkably quiet now, her Youma Ring not showing any sign of devils out and about.
But...where was Azusa?
Asuza brightened a little as she saw the faint flickers of light up ahead. It would be nice to get out of the forest...but...where was Yohko-san? She looked behind herself, and the sight of darkened forest greeted her eyes.
She bit her lip. As much as she wanted to get out of the forest...she couldn't just abandon her trainer.
Making her desision, she bent down for a moment, and picked up a medium sized rock, with sharp edges. She then closed her eyes, trying to remember the direction Yohko-san had been facing.
She opened her eyes and turned. It had been...that way. East, wasn't it? She slowly headed into the darkening forest, stopping every few dozen feet to carve visible notches into the trees, marking her path back to the spot she had been in, just like she had done while very young, while she lived in the mountains...
The woods had grown mysteriously calm after the two girls had defeated...whatever it had been they had fought in the clearing.
Faintly, the sounds of a wolf howling at the slowly rising full moon were heard.
Asuza continued to walk, flinching slightly at the sound of the wolf howling in the distance. She rubbed nervously at her upper arms to ward off the chill of night air.
Walking up to another tree, she raked the stone against it, peeling away bark and wood shavings with a few moments work, forming a visible gash in the trunk.
She glanced back at the way she had come, double checking her marked path, and nodding to herself, satisifed that she could backtrack.
With that, she turned back to her chosen destination and hurried onward. She didn't want to be alone any longer than she had to...especially in the woods at night...
The dry ground underneath her audibly cracked underneath her feet, years worth of dry kindling and leaves snapping under her dainty weight.
Everything grew still at the sound.
A owl suddenly seemed to hoot right next to her ear.
Yohko stopped as soon as it became apparent Azusa was no longer with her, senses stretched from adrenaline and fear relaxing.
What?! Where was Azusa-chan?! Her thoughts became panicked for another moment before she asserted calm, time enough to be flighty later.
Looking around, she tried to get some bearing on her location or the direction of the village.
She shivered at a faint wolf howl, eyes unconsciously flicking to her youma ring.
She decided a wait a bit in case Azusa was nearby.
Yohko's youma ring was dull, its former shine lost in the darkness of the woods.
A gust of wind blew past her, chilling her through her silk dress as she waited.
The rustling of the bushes behind her suddenly broke the silence that had descended on the area.
Asuza froze as the ground crackled loudly, flinching. When the owl hooted, she shrieked in surprise, but cut it off, quickly covering her mouth, and looking around to see if she'd attracted the attention of something larger, and meaner than herself...
With wings all aflutter, the owl swooped low and plucked something off the ground before sweeping a small mouse in its talons and flying off into the dark night.
The sounds of water bubbling ahead were clearly heard, sounding terribly frightening in the silence.
Asuza flinched and hurried on through the forest. Though careful to continue marking her path, she was also careful to avoid any more excessively loud noises.
Ohhhh....I hope Yohko-san hasn't gone far.... She thought nervously.
Yohko whirled towards the bush, raising her blade in a defensive stance.
A brown blur burst from within the bush, all claws and teeth, and...
Wait...
It was a raccoon.
And adorable baby raccoon.
Which was cutely looking up at her, whiskers twitching occasionally.
Azusa found the path before her lightening considerably as she got closer to the source of the sounds of water bubbling. The various fauna and thick clumps of foliage giving way to a clean kept dirt path.
A tiny stream of water lead her further ahead into a small clearing.
Yohko blinked, sweatdropping.
"O-kay...now, where did Azusa-chan go?" Yohko turned and began walking in a similar direction to where she came from, angled a tad more northerly.
Asuza smiled to herself, a touch nervously. This had to be the luckiest break she'd had all night.
She began to follow the path, still occaisionally marking trees, just to make sure she could find her way back to the point where she could see the village
She stopped briefly on the edge of the clearing, looking carefully around in the dim lighting, straining her ears for the slightest sound. Without her trainer, she was pretty vulnerable. She couldn't afford to be taken by surprise again...
OOC: Yohko, keep going. *wants to know your every step and action*
IC:
Twenty yards up the trail there was a faint light flickering through a collection bushes and trees. The sounds of faint singing could be heard over the sounds of the stream's bubbling.
Asuza looked around nervously. The singing was unnerving her slightly...but she wouldn't just abandon her search.
She tucked the rock in her belt, and summoned her spear. Cautiously, she proceeded onward, continuing in the direction she'd been heading, hoping she wouldn't run into anything before she found Yohko-san....
The singing grew more clear as Asuza approached the clearing.
But something was off with it...
It sounded...warbling...
Or it could've been the stream of water bubbling.
Yohko continued at a slow pace, going maybe a hundred meters before stopping and searching the area a bit, looking back often to keep her eyes on her original place.
Hopefully she and Azusa-chan could find each other...
Asuza crooked her arm in one hand to hold her spear as she took out the rock to continue marking her path, going very slowly, so as not to alert whoever was singing to her presence. Once she had marked the route to the clearing, she slipped behind a tree near the edge of the clearing, hiding herself and peeking in...
Asuza saw a group of men all huddled around a campfire that blazed brightly. The foliage prevented them from seeing her as they continued to sing in their warbling voices.
It sounded...sad, though.
Just as her eyes were about to make out her features.
She heard a soft rustling behind her.
Spinning around, she spotted.
Yohko! She looked terribly paranoid, however.
Asuza jumped as her trainer emerged from the brush she nearlt shrieked in surprise, but was mindful of the situation just in time, and clapped a hand over her mouth. As she relaxed, she called out in a voice pitched to low for the men in the clearing to hear.
"Yohko-san?"
Yohko whirled on Azusa, blade beginning to rise, and a yell about to issue from her lips.
Which was quickly silenced by her own hand as her eyes focused on her apprentice.
"Azusa-chan! Thank Kami-sama we found each other." Yohko's voice was similarly hushed, but warm.
Asuza nodded nervously, smiling a little.
"Hai. This place is odd..." she commented quietly, gesturing at the clearing where the men gathered around the campfire still sang.
Yohko looked carefully, trying not to reveal herself as she watched the singers for a bit.
"Hai...it really is, what do you think we should do?"
Asuza looked pensive, but thoughtful.
"Well...they don't seem to be mamono...are they?...and we have to get to the villiage that contacted Chi-san, ne?"
Yohko nodded, her eyes flickering to the youma ring reassurance of theior presumption.
She peered at the men, trying to find anything strange about the, straining her ears to listen to their song.
The Youma Ring was...oddly enough...giving all manner of signals.
Glowing as if something intense was nearby.
But it wasn't a demon.
A glint of gold was reflected by one of the men's feet.
When Yohko's eyes alighted on it, the Youma ring went into overdrive.
Yohko's eyes widened, her fingers tightening on the sword.
"Azusa-chan...they aren't mamono...but there's SOMETHING in there that affects hte ring..."
Taking a deep breath, Yohko concentrated on the object, trying to get some feeling from the ring as to what it was, nevermind she'd never tried this.
Asuza tensed slightly, and raised her spear, looking at the men.
"What do we do, Yohko-san?"
Yohko could feel something gently tugging at her mind.
It was powerful. But benign.
Even...
That's when she felt herself painfully snap back into her own body. Something had blocked her probe.
The four men simulateneously turned towards the girls and shuffled into position so they were standing side to side.
All four of the men were clearly asian in what they managed to see.
But the majority of their faces were torn off, the jagged edges of the skin hanging signalling that it was quick, and brutal deaths the four faced.
In unison, the four men extended their left arms away from them while drawing their right hands towards them.
The one standing slightly ahead of the other three gargled something to the others.
The sound of something ...buzzing through the air was heard.
Four bolts of light appeared before the men.
Clearly highlighting a glittering box made out of gold. In contrast to the four, its power now seemed...infinitely purer.
And more powerful than the four demons.
Powerful enough to have cloaked them from the Youma Ring's senses by its mere presence.
Yohko almost hissed at the creatures, ducking behind the nearest solid protection.
"Azusa-chan, you know what to do." Her expression of nervousness and fretting betraying what she was feeling behind the colder teaching tone she used with Azusa.
Calming herself a bit, Yohko concentrated on the ring and it's energies, focusing it into a tight ball as she had once before this night.
Peeking out, she quickly raised her hand and aimed, letting the energy fly at the demon slightly in front of the others.
Asuza nodded sharply, forcing her nervousness down into a tight little ball in her stomach, and dashed a few feet away, and dove behind cover.
She took a moment, making sure the demons were between her and her trainer, and that the tree she'd hidden behind could provide protection until they closed to within range of her spear and Yohko's sword...and then waited for them to come...
The first of the men suddenly spun their heads, bones noisily creaking and breaking as they turned to face Azusa. Before her frightened eyes, their arms spun around so they pointed at her.
Their arrows flew towards the younger Devil Hunter.
The second and third of the archer's suddenly let their arrows fly to impace brilliantly against the sphere of power Yohko had launched, bolts of energy blasting off it loudly into the ground as all three attacks faded from sight.
The sounds of buzzing filled the air once again as the trio recharged, being covered by one of their own.
Azusa yelped and ducked behind the tree, as she spotted the incoming arrows. She pressed her
back against her cover and brought her spear up to the ready position, slightly nervous as the demons closed the distance...
Yohko swore, ducking into her cover. Her plan wasn't working.
Dammit...what to do...
Peeking around the other side of her cover, she concentrated and threw another blast, her breathing increasing slightly in pace with the exertion.
If this didn't work...well, they'd see.
A shooting star of power streaked across the clearing towards Yohko's attack, easily cancelling it out as it soared past to impact against the bark of the tree she was lying on, setting it aflame.
The demons that had been walking to Azusa suddenly jerked in place as they seemed to hit an invisible wall just five feet away where she was.
The golden chest glowed as they struggled past it to no avail.
The buzzing filled the air, but no arrows were forthcoming.
Azusa, noting that the demons had been prevented from going further, stepped out from her cover cautiously. When they were still unable to close, she realized that she had a golden opportunity.
Spinning her spear around to the ready position, Azusa lashed out at the nearest demon, careful not to extend her body past the point where the demon had stopped, only her weapon....
Azusa's spear flew through the air straight and true...
Through the body of the demon, who roared its death throes as a copious amount of blood flew to splatter against the girl.
All but two of the demons suddenly spun around to take careful aim at the girl, bolts of light appearing in their hands as they decided to take out the pest.
The remaining two kept Yohko at bay, alternating their arrows so one always remained as backup for the other.
Yohko's eyes widened as she turned, taking in the situation.
They were trapped.
Almost growling, Yohko glared balefully at the...things, trying to release her frustration and anger in her next blast, aimed for the demons attacking her partner, almost not heeding the creatures aiming for herself, but still trying to keep as far under cover as she could.
Azusa's eyes widened as she saw all the demons hands glow. She wasn't silly enough to think that she could stand up to that, or dodge it.
She bolted back for cover, diving behind a tree, then promptly dropping to a crouch behind it, listening intently with no small amount of panic to the building attack, getting ready to dive into the nearby brush if the attack ruined her cover...