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Aoyagi Ritsuka

Real Name: Jordan Becker
True Name: Loveless
Age: 12
Room: M35
Roommate: Suou Tamaki
Hair Color: Black/Dark
Eye Color: Dark/Purple
Height: 4' 8
Weight: 68lbs

Backstory
Ritsuka was born in Japan, near Tokyo (or so I assume, given that the places they visit resemble the Tokyo area) and is currently a 6th grader attending a normal Japanese elementary school. However, his life is anything but normal. Two years prior, Ritsuka lost his memories and experienced a drastic personality shift. Once an outgoing boy who achieved average grades, he has since become a cynical and distant child who excels at school. He began going to a psychiatrist to uncover the cause of his amnesia, but so far nothing has resulted of this. In the meantime, he takes photos of everything and almost everyone he meets so he will not forget them or be forgotten when his old personality reasserts dominance.

Ritsuka does not know why he lost his memory and changed personalities, but when this happened, his mother turned abusive. However, Ritsuka's innocence and unconditional love for his mother caused him to remain silent and take the punishment as it came. He felt guilty that he couldn't bring the old Ritsuka back for her , despite her constant requests to do so.

Since Ritsuka's father was always absent, his older brother Aoyagi Seimei stepped in to save him. Ritsuka looked up to Seimei as his father figure and as the only one who would save him. Then one year later, Seimei was brutally and mysteriously murdered, presumedly burned to death. Seimei's burnt corpse was found in Ritsuka's old elementary school, sitting in his little brother's seat. Without Seimei, no one was there to protect Ritsuka as his mother's violence escalated. Before Seimei died, he revealed to Ritsuka his true name - Beloved. However, at the time, Ritsuka didn't understand the meaning.

Enter Agatsuma Soubi, who meets Ritsuka one day after school claiming to be Seimei's friend and fighter. Soubi tells Ritsuka about the strange world that hides beneath the surface of the real world, a world of fighters, sacrifices and spell battles of which Seimei was a part. A Fighter is a person who uses the Sacrifice's power to conduct spell battles with words, and Seimei and Soubi were an unstoppable duo until Seimei's sudden death. Soubi tells him that when Seimei died, he bequeathed Soubi to Ritsuka, and reveals that Ritsuka's real name is Loveless, one without love.

Although Ritsuka is slow to believe Soubi, it doesn't stop the older man from following Ritsuka around, trying to get the boy to act as his master. Ritsuka hates giving orders or controlling other people, so he refuses, but slowly begins to give in as he realizes Soubi cannot act without orders. As the pair battle with other Fighter and Sacrifice pairs, Ritsuka begins to uncover the truth about Seimei's double life as Beloved and is given clues regarding his murderers, the Seven Moons. Thus, as untrained and ignorant as Ritsuka is regarding the world of the spell battles, he accepts his role as Soubi's Sacrifice so he may uncover the truth about his brother and his lost memories.

Personality
More than anything, Ritsuka is motivated by his desire to uncover the truth about his brother's murder and his memory loss. He lives with the fear that, inevitably, his old self will return and erase the person he is now, taking away the memories he has built up since the incident, but he also wants to return to that personality to make others happy.

Ritsuka is very innocent and naive in some respects, but he is also very mature in others. He doesn't know much about sexual love or relationships, but he endures his mother's beatings because he loves her and knows if he leaves her, she'll have no one. He is also a pacifist, possibly stemming from the brutality of his brother's murder. Yet, despite what others say, he believes that Seimei was a kind and loving person and refuses to believe otherwise. Although doubt is beginning to creep into his mind, Ritsuka only saw the kind side of Seimei and wants to believe that everyone else is lying. For that reason, he is quick to defend him, or even his mother, if people bad-mouth them.

Although Ritsuka acts distant, it is really because he is afraid if he gets too attached to people, he'll only get hurt when his other personality comes back. Still, he can't help himself and becomes friends with people like Yuiko, Yayoi and, of course, Soubi.

Ritsuka's feelings toward Soubi are complex - on the one hand, it's good to have someone who will protect him, but on the other he's not sure if he can completely trust him. He desperately wants to trust Soubi, to believe in what the older man says, but past experiences have made him wary. Ritsuka is also confused regarding whether or not he returns Soubi's "feelings" or if those "feelings" are even real. While Soubi professes to "love" Ritsuka, it could all very well be nothing more than a command that Seimei left to him.

At Landel's
Since people lose the more fantastic parts of their anatomy when they arrive at Landel's Institute, Ritsuka awakens without his ears and tail, but has no memory of how he lost them, causing all sorts of issues for the twelve-year-old. He has no idea what is going on, but follows his nurse out to the hallways, only to run into a Aidou Hanabusa - another inhabitant. They mutually annoy each other in the library when Ritsuka finds out that Seimei is still alive - and he's at Landel's.

He finds his brother and after the initial shock wears off, he falls into the happy routine of his childhood - cuddling with Seimei like old times. He meets Ichimaru Gin, who was having a conversation with Seimei at the time, and several others on the bulletin board before being taken to his room. There he meets his roommate, Suou Tamaki, and learns about Tamaki's several unfortunate love related mishaps.

Ritsuka joins Seimei for the night while Tamaki leaves to find his friends, and the two brothers spend some time together trying to catch up. Seimei is furious at whoever stole Ritsuka's ears, and asks Ritsuka to take his own ears to prevent the same thing happening to him. Ritsuka, of course, refuses, but Seimei still manages to wrap Ritsuka around his little finger as usual. They share a rather uneventful nightshift together (the only major event being Ritsuka's brush with a Phantasm that ends their time exploring).

The next day, Ritsuka meets with Aidou at breakfast only to have Alucard interrupt their conversation. Ritsuka leaves at Aidou's request and meets with Tamaki, Kyouya and Hikaru before being joined by Seimei. The second shift, he spends in the Music Room with Kurosaki Hisoka. Lunch is spent with Hinasaki Miku briefly until Miku leaves to talk to her own friends and Ritsuka is joined by Seimei again. It is then that Seimei says that they shouldn't spend too much time getting to know others at the Institute - they're there to escape, not make friends. With these words weighing heavily on him, Ritsuka goes to the showers and meets Kiriyama Kazuo. The Hitachiin twins join them later after teasing Tamaki, but the shift ends before much else happens.

Nightshift 23 rolls around and Ritsuka goes to find Seimei at his room, only to discover that his brother is gone - taken for the Experimental Trials. In a panic, he runs to find help and meets up with Elena, Reno, Rufus, Schuldig, Crawford, and Dean Winchester. Elena and Dean agree to help him find and rescue his brother, and the group splits.

murasaki_kaze	Latest page update: made by murasaki_kaze , Apr 28 2007, 3:17 AM EDT (about this update About This Update Edited by murasaki_kaze 397 words added 3 words deleted view changes - complete history)
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