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Nakajima Youko

"Real" Name: Yuuki Miaka
Room: F11 (roommate: Arisugawa Juri)
Age: 17
Hair Color: Red
Eye Color: Green
Height: 5"8"
Main Language: Japanese/ALL (universal translation ability)
Second Language(s): n/a

History
The first 16 years of Nakajima Youko's life were very much mundane and "normal." She had very strict and traditional parents, to the point that her father would not allow her to wear pants instead of skirts, but aside from that there was nothing out of the ordinary about her day-to-day existence. What did stand out, despite Youko's intense efforts to fit in and please everyone, was her hair--naturally red, despite her having two perfectly normal dark-haired Japanese parents, Youko's hair resulted in a lot of suspicion and rumours surrounding her. Youko tried to make up for this by being a "good girl" in every way possible--she never spoke up for herself or anyone else, and did everything asked of her by teachers, classmates or her parents, whether she really wanted to or not.

Everything changed for Youko during the second semester of her first year in high school; after many nights of nightmares about monsters, fighting, and a strange monkey-like man taunting her, Youko's peaceful existence was interrupted by the sudden appearance of a bizarre white-haired man in the middle of her classroom. He called her his master and bowed to her, insisting that she accept his protection--which she did, reluctantly and without understanding what it meant. All the windows in the classroom shattered moments later, badly injuring everyone in the room--except for Youko and the stranger. Terrified and confused, Youko fled with the man in hot pursuit.

They ended up on the roof of the school, where Youko and two of her classmates--her childhood friend and crush, Asano, and class outcast Sugimoto--finally got a sight of what was causing the windows to shatter: a massive bird, called by the strange man a "Kochou," was attacking the building, wanting to get to Youko. After throwing away the sword that the strange man--now introduced as Keiki--handed her and told her to use to kill the monster, Youko found herself picked up and carried off by one of Keiki's monstrous (and flying) servants. Not wanting to leave Asano and Sugimoto in danger, Youko insisted they be carried to safety as well and the group made their way to the docks.

The Kochou followed them even there, however, and this time it had to be defeated. Keikei had a "hinman," a strange misty being, possess Youko and once again handed her the sword--this time the hinman took over her body and she was able to kill the Kochou with a single sword stroke. Before more enemies could arrive, Keiki summoned a strange storm--called a Shoku--and the entire group (Sugimoto having steamrolled Youko into taking her and Asano with her) fled into the heart of the Shoku. On the other side was an entirely new world.

Further attacks by youkai on the other side resulted in Youko falling from the back of her flying mount and landing in the forest alone. After waking up and exploring a little, Youko settled in to wait for Keiki to find her, but he never did. In the morning she decided he wasn't coming and set out to find some help on her own.

The reception Youko got in the first village she came to, however, was not at all what she'd been hoping for--she was attacked and knocked unconscious. Bound and taken to the nearby town, Youko was thrown into a cell. There she discovered that Sugimoto had also been captured, and learned that her own appearance had somehow drastically changed--her hair had become even redder, her eyes greener, and her skin had changed to an exotic golden colour.

The town elder explained a few things to Youko and Sugimoto--though strangely, only Youko could understand the language being spoken in this place--starting with the fact that they were not in Japan, China, or anywhere else they knew. They were in the kingdom of Kou and they were what were known as "kaikyaku"--people who washed up on the shore from the other world. No way of returning to the other world had ever been found and the kingdom of Kou considered kaikyaku to be bad omens, so Youko and Sugimoto were sent on to the prefectural office to be sentenced and probably either imprisoned or killed.

Along the way they were reunited with Asano, and then the wagon transporting them was attacked by more youkai. One of the guards freed the three teenagers from their bonds before running off, leaving them behind as bait. Desperate to escape, Sugimoto tried to draw Youko's sword but found herself unable to free it from the sheath. Youko pulled it out easily, but the sheath itself was stuck under a wagon and could not be retrieved so she cut off the magic jewel attached to it and left the sheath behind.

Hungry and scared, Sugimoto and Asano decided to try to steal food and clothes from a lonely farmhouse, against Youko's protests. The owner came home in the middle of the attempted robbery, and despite Sugimoto grabbing her around the neck she spoke kindly to Youko and offered to provide them food and clothes willingly. The woman, Takki, even offered to help them get jobs in a large town where no one would notice them, and despite Sugimoto's suspicion and reluctance the three joined Takki on the journey to town.

Sugimoto's suspicions turned out to be correct, unfortunately, as Takki attempted to sell her and Youko to a brothel when they finally arrived in town. They escaped with the help of Asano and a friendly kaikyaku, but even the other kaikyaku turned on them when he discovered that Youko could somehow understand and speak the local language--in his jealousy and anger, he tried to turn them over to the authorities for a reward.

On the run again, the group continued to bicker and disagree over what they should do, until Sugimoto ultimately left Youko and Asano to go her own way.

Youko's state of mind was continuing to degrade all the while, as the strange monkey-like man she'd seen in dreams back home was now appearing to her in waking visions, taunting her. The monkey-man--named in the credits as Aozaru--told Youko constantly that she had no home to return to, that she could trust no one, that she was a fake who only acted like a good girl because it was easier that way, and on and on, until Youko began to develop a deep paranoia.

Asano later counseled they try to mug a family for food, but once again Youko found she couldn't raise her sword against people, though she couldn't trust their offer of food, either. Things continued like this until a rainy night attack by youkai sent Asano tumbling off a cliff into a fast-running river. Youko was then confronted by a sword-wielding Sugimoto, who had been gulled by the King of Kou into believing that she was a hero who was destined to save the world from the evil kaikyaku--meaning Youko.

Youko lost the fight, unwilling to hurt her friend, but the strange golden-haired woman known as Kourin, who served Kou-Ou and accompanied Sugimoto, stopped Sugimoto from killing Youko. Sugimoto instead left Youko with a grievous wound to her right hand, so that she would not be able to use a sword anymore (though Youko in fact healed from this wound like she did from her fall from the sky when she arrived in Kou).

Alone and wounded, Youko fell unconscious. She woke some days later in the home of a strange anthropomorphic rat named Rakushun, who managed to gain some small measure of Youko's trust by pointing out that he could have turned her over to the authorities easily while she was out cold, but he didn't.

When Rakushun's completly human mother returned, Youko learned that in this world children grew in large fruits known as "ranka," on trees known as "riboku," and that would-be parents prayed to the god Tentei for children. So Rakushun's mother had ended up picking a "hanjyuu" (half-beast) ranka, and that was that.

Rakushun explained more about the world to Youko, including the existence of the twelve kingdoms and their names, and told her that in the nearby kingdom of En both kaikyaku and hanjyuu were more accepted. Accepting Rakushun's own desire to go to En, since she couldn't believe that he just wanted to help her, Youko accompanied Rakushun on the long journey towards the port town where they could catch a boat to En.

Before they could make it to the port city another attack by youkai separated Youko and Rakushun. This was a major turning point for Youko--she rejected Aozaru's taunts for the first time and delcared that she would choose to trust people because wanted to, and if they betrayed that trust it was on their souls, not hers. She "killed" the vision of Aozaru, and the sheath for her sword suddenly reappeared--the visions had been from the sword, Suiguu, which reflected its owner's mind and desires as well as their fears.

Meeting up with a troup of Shusei--travelling performers belonging to no kingdom--that she had briefly encountered before, Youko made her way to the port town. She became friends with the troupe but chose to leave them in the port so that they wouldn't be dragged into her problems. It turned out to be the right choice, because the ship to En was attacked by youkai as well.

Once in En Youko was reunited with Rakushun, who had been looking for her in the port every day. He took her to the office where kaikyaku could get a government pass and money to live for a short while until they found work, then took her to meet a learned kaikyaku in a nearby rike--an orphanage and town gathering place of sorts. The kaikyaku there--named Heki-Rakujin--told Youko that only immortals and youkai had no language barrier in this world, and also that there were people known as "taika" whose ranka were caught in shoku and ended up in the other world, but who actually belonged in this one.

Youkai once again attacked Youko when she returned to town, but this time she was saved by a strange man who turned out to be En-Ou. He took her to safety and explained that she was, in fact, the new Queen of Kei--that Keiki was the kirin of Kei and could only bow to the rightful ruler. His own kirin, Enki, confirmed this and the two explained the consequences of refusing her throne--the kingdom of Kei would continue to be overrun with youkai and people would die en masse, ultimately leading to Keiki's death by "shitsudou," a disease inflicted by the gods when a ruler turns bad. Eventually Youko's own death would follow. An advisor to En-Ou also told her about En-Ou's and Enki's own histories, as both of them were also taika from Japan--though many hundreds of years before Youko's time.

Still unsure what to do, Youko was eventually convinced by Rakushun that, given two unpleasant choices, she should choose the one that followed her destiny.

Before making her decision, Youko was confronted at the rike by Sugimoto and Kou-Ou. They fought, but Sugimoto finally came to her senses when it became clear that Suiguu--the royal sword of Kei--could not harm Youko, and that Kou-Ou had known all along that it would be so. Suiguu showed a vision that revealed that Kou-Ou had been targetting Youko out of jealousy--En-Ou was a taika and his kingdom was prosperous, so Kou-Ou feared that a taika ruler in Kei would make his own kingdom look bad. Kou-Ou then tried to kill Youko himself, but Kourin--the kirin of Kou, who was very sick with shitsudou at this point--took the blow for her, and her death marked the end of Kou-Ou's plans because a ruler could not outlive their kirin by more than a few months.

With help from En's armies, Youko led a foray into Kei to rescue Keiki, who had been taken captive by a false Queen trying to use his presence to bolster her legitimacy. Once again Keiki bowed to Youko and swore his loyalty, asking her to accept his protection and the throne of Kei--this time Youko accepted with a smile.

Sugimoto, meanwhile, happily accepted Youko's offer of being sent home to Japan.

Youko was given the royal name of "Sekishi," meaning "red child" and officially took the throne of Kei after mopping up the various rebels tied to the false Queen, Jyoei. Not all was well within her court, however--the ministers had been effectively ruling the country since the reign of the previous (true) Queen and were reluctant to let go of power.

A conflict surrounding the topic of the Lord of Baku Province--Koukan--who resisted the usurper Jyoei right to the end, left Youko struggling to know who to trust. She had a lot to learn about her new world and country, and trying to please everyone was getting her nowhere. She summoned Koukan to the capital to explain his actions and determine if he really was planning his own coup, as many of her ministers suggested, but his carriage was attacked along the way and he disappeared.

A supposed plot on her life on the part of one of the few ministers she did like and trust left Youko reeling, and she ultimately decided to leave Kinpa Palace for a time and live among the ordinary people of Kei, so that she could learn about her country firsthand and stand a chance of knowing what decisions were the right ones to make.

Going by the name Chuu Youshi, Youko took up residence at a rike run by a wise old man named Enho. Only Enho knew her true identity, and only he and Keiki knew where Youko really was--the ministers were told that Youko had gone to En to study with En-Ou. Youko studied with Enho to learn about the world of the Twelve Kingdoms, and also learned that youkai were still plaguing the country, though in considerably fewer numbers than before Youko took the throne.

Youko began investigating certain strange events, trying to discover the truth about the assassination plot and Koukan. In the midst of all this she stumbled accross the murder of a young boy in the city of Takuhou, at the hands of the city's lord, and met the boy's friend--a kaikyaku by the name of Ooki Suzu. She learned that corruption was rife in Takuhou and in Wa Province in general, and that the people were extremely unhappy.

She also witnessed firsthand the cruelty of Wa Province's lord--Gahou--when she happened to be in the capital city, Meikaku, during an execution. A young woman threw a rock at one of the guards during the execution, and Youko rescued her. This young woman--a former princess of the fallen kingdom of Hou--was named Shoukei and would prove to be an important ally of Youko's later on.

On returning to the rike Youko discovered one of the residents dead, another injured, and Enho missing. In her search for Enho, Youko uncovered a group of rebels who wanted to overthrow not the Queen, but only the lord of Takuhou--Shoukou--because of his cruelty and corruption.

After speaking with Keiki and discovering that, given her shaky position in the Palace at the moment, little could be done about Shoukou or the greater problems in Wa Province, Youko joined the rebellion herself. Joining the rebellion served two purposes for Youko: she could get to Shoukou and capture him for questioning, and she could potentially rescue Enho, who had been kidnapped by Shoukou at the behest of Gahou. She was then reunited with Ooki Suzu, the kaikyaku whose friend was murdered by Shoukou, as Suzu was also one of the rebels.

While raiding one of Shoukou's many safehouses as a distraction for the main force, Youko ran into Asano--he was alive after all, and had been having an extremely difficult time since his parting with Youko. Unable to speak the language, he'd become mentally unstable and ended up working for the corrupt Shoukou in an attempt to destroy the world that made no sense to him. Disgusted with him, Youko verbally bitchslapped him and returned to her business.
Once they finally captured Shoukou's main castle the rebels were able to take Shoukou into custody, but because of Gahou's support of Shoukou they soon found themselves surrounded by the Provincial Army. Keiki, despite being Lord of Ei Province in name, was unable to mobilise the soldiers of his Province to help Youko because he had no "proof" of what was going on, leaving the rebels on their own.

Asano, finally coming to his senses somewhat, volunteered to go to Meikaku and contact another group of rebels there--a more organised group who had been aiming for Gahou himself in an attempt to get the Queen's attention. They believed she was not a bad ruler but only unaware of what was going on, so they hoped that a large-scale rebellion would open her eyes. Asano never made it to Meikaku, being stopped and killed on the way by Gahou's men, but it turned out that the other rebel group had already mobilised to help the group in Takuhou.

When the Provincial soldiers began attacking the townspeople in an attempt to lure out the rebels there was much debate over whether or not to help them, since they had refused to help the rebels, but Youko immediately went to their aid, even if it would only be her and the few servant monsters Keiki had sent with her for protection. Others joined in, however, and they were able to evacuate the townspeople within the castle walls.

Among the larger group of rebels was Shoukei, the former princess Youko had helped in Meikaku, and she, Suzu and Youko became friends immediately because of their shared hardships. Youko confessed her true identity to Suzu and Shoukei, as well as some of her concerns. After hearing about the situation, Shoukei suggested that someone within Kinpa Palace must be backing Gahou and Shoukou for them to be so bold. Further discussion quickly led to Youko's suspecting the former Chousai (the highest-ranking court minister) as the one behind Gahou and Shoukou.

Shoukei's suspicion turned out to be correct, as the Royal Army--which only Youko should have been able to mobilise--arrived outside Takuhou, sending the rebels and the townspeople into a panic. While Youko contacted Keiki and waited for him to arrive, Suzu and Shoukei revealed their own identities to the townspeople and rebels and managed to calm them down, claiming to be agents of the Queen and telling everyone that the Royal Army would come no closer, and certainly not attack, because the Queen had not in fact approved their being sent at all.

After Keiki's arrival--in kirin form he could travel incredibly quickly--Youko went to confront the Royal Army, taking them to task for mobilising without her permission and revealing that she knew that the former Chousai was controlling things behind the scene. Very much cowed, the generals of the Royal Army stood down immediately and tendered their resignations. Youko returned to the rebels to thank them for their good work and assure them that they would not be punished, as she had been with them all along.

Returning to Kinpa Palace, Youko did a very thorough house-cleaning. She arrested the former Chousai and appointed Koukan--the Lord of Baku Province and one of the supporters of the rebellion in Meikaku--in his place. She also put one of the rebel leaders, who turned out to be a general in the Baku Province army, in charge of the Royal Army and appointed Enho to an important advisory position in the court. Shoukei and Suzu were also granted advisory positions, and all of the ministers who had been loyal to he former Chousai but committed no actual crimes were put on notice. New Lords of Baku and Wa Provinces were put into power, and Shoukou, Gahou and the former Chousai were put on trial for their crimes.

Asano was buried, and his gun emptied and left to rust on his grave.

No longer trying to please everyone but instead willing to do the unpopular thing for the sake of the greater good, Youko also finally made her First Ordinance--the important first law put into practice by a new ruler, said to be a sign of what kind of ruler they would be. She eliminated prostration as a required sign of respect in front of people of higher rank--she stated that instead people could bow from the waist if they chose, and that respect would have to be earned through one's actions instead of one's rank.

Personality
Youko is one of the most dynamic characters in anime, and her personality goes through a massive shift between the beginning of her story and the end. I will be basing her personality on the *end* of her story arc, and therefore will not be talking about her earlier nature except in passing reference.

Self-doubt is one of the character traits that continues to plague Youko right through the end of her arc--she feels out of her depth in trying to rule Kei, and sometimes hesitates in making decisions because she doesn't trust herself to make the right one. At first this is a flaw as she responds to this doubt by trying to please everyone else, since she assumes they know better than she does, but by the time I'm taking her from she has managed to get this under control and simply turned it into a desire to hear the advice of others when she's not sure she fully grasps a situation. Youko doesn't necessarily follow all the advice she receives but she does desire input from others with more experience whenever she can get it. This is why she brings Enho, Koukan, Shoukei and Suzu into her court--they have proved that they have good heads on their shoulders and she knows she can rely on them to tell her the truth rather than what they think she wants to hear.

This discomfort with uncertainty also results in Youko's strong distaste for the custom of prostration--when people are bowed down with their foreheads touching the floor she can't see their faces, and so has no idea if what they're saying is what they really feel or if they're laughing at her where she can't see. Youko also has trouble dealing with people who can't or won't express their true opinions--Keiki's tendency to just sigh or be hesitant in speaking leaves her very frustrated and inclined to talk over him once he finally does decide to say something. This lack of patience with shy or reticent people does mean that, despite her genuine desire to hear the advice of others, she doesn't always give everyone the chance to actually say what they want to say if it seems to her like they don't really want to be talking to her. Despite growing away from her need to please everyone Youko does remain quite sensitive to what others think of her--she wants to know, but she gets frustrated and upset when it seems like people are lying to her or hiding their true feelings to spare her.

Youko wants to know everything about her country and the people around her--this intense thirst for knowledge will carry over into Landel's, because it's one of the ways Youko strives to make herself more comfortable with her surroundings. Just as she wants people to tell her what they really think, she wants to know where they're coming from so that she can judge the context of their advice or opinions for herself. She has come to hate taking anyone else's word for things--she wants to see things with her own eyes and judge the situation for herself, or she doesn't feel like she can really know what's going on.

In action as well as in seeking knowledge Youko has become a fiercely independent person. She isn't at all afraid to get her hands dirty--if something needs to be done and it's within her power to do it, she tends to want to do it herself. Delegating too much got her in all sorts of trouble, and she avoids it like the plague now. Unfortunately this independent streak sometimes leads to outright recklessness--Youko doesn't like to stay on the sidelines if a situation is happening right in front of her eyes, even if it means putting herself at risk. That staying alive and simply *existing* is the best thing she can do for her country is a concept she has a lot of trouble with, and it still hasn't sunk in. The way she came to her throne--having to fight for it every step of the way--has left her very much inclined to being a hands-on person in all ways.

Her recklessness is also compounded by her very compassionate nature. Youko has been through hell and so she has a lot of sympathy for others who are having a hard time but trying their best anyway. She even feels sympathy for those who take the easy road--allowing themselves to be victims because it's easier than standing up and fighting--because she knows that she was like that herself for a long time. The down side of this is that it means that Youko will put her safety on the line to protect just about anyone--she doesn't care if they "deserve" it or if her time would be better put to use elsewhere, if she sees someone in trouble beyond their ability to deal with, she will try to help them. The one type of person Youko has no sympathy for whatsoever is the type who hurts people out of malice or greed--this sort of injustice will get her riled up every time, and she'll do everything she can to stamp it out.

Youko takes things very personally--she has a lot of responsibility on her shoulders and she takes it very seriously, so when people around her are suffering she feels like it's her fault for not being able to prevent it. Generally she responds to these feelings by trying to do something to improve the situation, so it can be a productive thing, but when there's nothing she can possibly do--like when she was unable to heal the boy Shoukou ran over--there's no real outlet for her feelings of anger and responsibility and it can eat at her until she does find a way to deal with it.

Appearance
Though for most of her life she struggled to meet her father's standards for femininity, Youko is in fact a fairly androgynous person in terms of apprearance; she's just tall enough to be able to pass for a man (if one on the short side), and her body is very lean. In the layered and fairly shapeless clothing of the world of the Twelve Kingdoms Youko has no noticeable bust to speak of, and in fact simply wearing men's clothing in that setting is enough for people to assume she's a man by default. In the thinner t-shirts at Landel's Youko may be noticeably more female, but still very much on the boyish side--it's unlikely she even needs a bra, at her size.

Youko's most noticeable and remarkable feature is her hair--long and brilliantly red, her hair is the source of her royal name as Queen Kei: Sekishi, or "Red Child." Her bright green eyes and golden skin tone combine with her crimson hair to give her an extremely exotic look--no one would ever guess her nationality to be Japanese. (Youko's looks are non-Japanese in a way even beyond the usual anime standards--within her series she's very different in appearance from other Japanese characters, all of whom have dark hair and eyes and a rather different skin tone). What nationality she *is* isn't obvious, but she clearly isn't Asian, to look at.

Abilities/Powers
Youko is a Sen-nin, a type of immortal particular to the world of the Twelve Kingdoms. She can die if her head is cut off, her body is cut in half, or she's gravely wounded in a vital spot by a "touki" weapon--a special type of weapon created specifically for killing Sen-nin. She will also die if her kirin (Keiki) dies, whether through the illness of shitsudou or through violence, though she could conceivably outlive Keiki by a matter of weeks or months. As a Sen-nin, Youko can understand and communicate in any language--she has no language barrier at all, as it's put in the series.

The other major component of Youko's powers, aside from her natural Sen-nin abilities, is that she is possessed by a type of youkai called a "hinman," which takes over her body when fighting is required. Through the hinman's actions Youko is endowed with incredible strength, speed, agility and skill--with her own sword, Suiguu, in her hands she is capable of killing massive youkai with one stroke. When her eyes are closed, however, the hinman cannot act. The hinman, named Jyouyuu, is also a separate entity and can speak to Youko to advise her or otherwise help her, when needed. At Landel's Youko will still have the hinman (because without it she's a completely untrained high school girl and pretty much doomed), but it will be sealed in its "dormant" state, meaning it cannot speak to her or offer advice, and her physical attributes will be toned down to be more like those of a well-trained, but fully human, martial artist. She will still be stronger than she looks, but more like an athletic human male than like anything superhuman.

lohengrin	Latest page update: made by lohengrin , May 26 2009, 10:46 PM EDT (about this update About This Update Edited by lohengrin 3 words added 2 words deleted view changes - complete history)
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