Youko

Chapter 2 (Part 3 of 4)

Well, eventually, our sweet little normal human girl made it to her aunt and uncle’s house in Perez Park. Perez Park was a strange place for Kasumi, since she had grown used to the steel and concrete of the city she didn’t expect to find a forest in the middle of it. To her dismay, however, it was infested with at least ten kinds of evil… Let’s see what happened when she met up with her aunt and uncle in Paragon City…

***

Kasumi looked up at the nice home in the city portion of Perez Park. She was at the dot on her map, but she had to verify that she was at the right place. Our little adventurer dug out a small slip of paper and looked at it:

357 East Forest Avenue

None of it meant a darn thing to Kasumi, but she recognized the numbers on the house as being the same ones on the piece of paper. “Well, this must be the right place…” she concluded as she stepped up to the door. Just as she was about to knock on the door, it opened and her uncle was standing there. Much to her surprise, he looked like a rough-around-the-edges samurai wearing a modern suit. “U-uncle Toshiro!” Kasumi cried out as she embraced her uncle happily. “I’m so glad I found you!”

“Ah, Kasumi!” Toshiro said as he held her and led her into the strange, modern house, “I’m glad to see you again! I guess you found our letter. Did you come all this way by yourself?” Toshiro said with a kindness that most certainly did not match his rough appearance. Once they were both inside, he kicked the door shut behind him.

“Uh-huh! It took me a while, but I finally managed to make my way here! This world is very strange! Have you been in the flying steel birds they call ‘airplanes’?” Kasumi said excitedly as she looked up at her uncle, her eyes sparkling.

“So, how ever did you manage to get the king to approve your coming here?” Toshiro asked her.

“Well… err…” Kasumi said nervously as she looked away. “I… sort of… um… didn’t.” She confessed.

“Hahaha! That’s typical of you!” Toshiro said as he tousled Kasumi’s hair. “So, I imagine you’re looking for a place to stay, eh?”

“Eheh, yes, that would be nice. I can’t speak this land’s language, so it’s been rather difficult so far.” Kasumi told her uncle.

“I guess we’ll have to teach you. It’s really not that hard to pick up. And you’re a smart one, you shouldn’t have a bit of trouble with it!” Toshiro laughed as he led Kasumi to the couch and set her down on it before sitting down on the couch across from her.

“Toshiro, who is it?” Sakura called down from upstairs.

“It’s Kasumi, dear! She’s come all the way from Etsuika just to see us!” Toshiro replied.

“My goodness! Kasumi is here?!” Sakura exclaimed before running downstairs. Well, she ran part of the way. She tripped on the hem of her robe and took a tumble down the stairs. Upon coming to a stop at the bottom, she stood up and brushed herself off, unphased. She had always been like that for as long as Kasumi could remember, clumsy as could be but tough as nails. Sakura ran over to the couch and sat down next to Toshiro, “Welcome to Paragon City, Kasumi! It’s good to see you again!”

Kasumi stood up and bowed to her before sitting back down. She pulled the sheathed Kaze no Ha out from her sash and set it down beside her, “It is nice to see you as well, Sakura.” Kasumi smiled.

“So, what brings you—” Sakura began but suddenly recognized the Kaze no Ha and exclaimed as she leapt to her feet and over to the sword, “My goodness! Is that the Kaze no Ha?!” she asked excitedly.

“Umm…” Kasumi said, “Yes, it is…”

“What?!” Toshiro said as he stood up suddenly, “That’s the Kaze no Ha?! You’ve got it now?!” Toshiro asked, “Can you use it? Err… I mean what with the magic spells and whatnot on it. I know you’re a mighty fine hand with a blade, seein’ as I helped train you…”

“You stole the Kaze no Ha?!” Sakura asked suddenly.

“Err… Yes, I can use it.” Kasumi told them. “As for stealing it… Umm… I sort of stole it and sort of didn’t. You see, Kanatsuki’s spirit appeared before me and said that she wanted me to have her sword.” Kasumi explained.

“Wow! Incredible! And they let you run away with it?” Toshiro asked.

“Um…” Kasumi backed up into the couch, “Actually, I was threatened with death and then chased out of Etsuika…” she grimaced, “So… umm… now I’m here!” she said with a smile.

Toshiro burst out laughing, “Hahaha! I should’ve expected you to take it! Nobody else deserved it, that’s for darn sure! Good job, Kasumi! So, what brings you to Paragon City?”

“Yes, what brings you here? Surely you came to Paragon City for a reason.” Sakura inquired.

“Actually,” Kasumi said as she picked up her sword and rose to her feet, “I’m here to help you two and everyone else!” she told them with a smile. “You won’t believe it, there was this big guy with yellow hair who could fly and sparkled and he treated me like a little kid! Like a normal little kid!” Kasumi said, beaming as tears of joy streamed down her cheeks.

“Well now! I’m glad to hear it! This city needs all the help it can get!” Toshiro said, “We’ll be glad to give you a room here.”

“Welcome to the family!” Sakura said as she hugged Kasumi.

“We’re already relatives…” Kasumi replied.

“Welcome to the family!” Toshiro said as he embraced them both.

***

My, my, my… Our little girl is an entirely different person when she’s with Toshiro and Sakura. Who would’ve thought that she was so friendly? But my goodness, Sakura and Toshiro are a little strange, are they not? Why would anyone send these two out to go try and help save a city?

Anyway, it’s good to see our dear sweet little Kasumi happy for once.

Chapter 2 (Part 2 of 4)

One can imagine our sweet little Kasumi’s surprise when she finally made it to Paragon City and found it to be literally infested with many evil creatures and many more even eviler people. She was just as surprised when she found that she no longer stood out. In fact, here she was borderline ordinary. See this scene for example, which occurred as Kasumi was passing through Atlas Park to Perez Park…

***

“Hey, sword-girl! Hand over that magic sword else we’ll bust a cap in ya!” A Hellion—as Kasumi found out they were called, since they kept calling themselves that—shouted at Kasumi from amidst his gang of comrades.

“Huh?” Kasumi looked over at the gang innocently, not understanding a word they said other than “sword” which she heard a lot. Now, what the heck was a “sword”?

Suddenly a large man wearing tight blue and red spandex that stretched over his rippling muscles stepped between Kasumi and the Hellions. He had wavy blond hair and wore a small blue mask and there was a large white star on his chest. The man had a flowing cape that was decorated with stars and stripes that were red, white, and blue. The amazingly handsome man held a fist at the Hellions tauntingly and said, “Beware, ordinary thugs, for The Incredible Super Amazing stands before you!!!” He then somehow flexed all of his muscles at once and said, “Gaze upon my amazingness and be stricken with fear!”

The Hellion who had shouted at Kasumi stared at Super Amazing, his mouth hanging open as he was blinded by Super Amazing’s sparkling white teeth. His gun fell from his limp hand and he suddenly bolted away in fear, screaming and calling for his “mommy”. The other gangsters had run away long ago…

Super Amazing turned to face Kasumi and smiled at her, his teeth sparkling abnormally. “My dear girl, you must be more careful wandering around in these parts. It’s not safe for normal people.” He said kindly as he picked her up and flew her back to City Hall.

When Super Amazing set the shocked Kasumi down, she fell to her knees crying, for several reasons. She hadn’t understood a lick of what Super Amazing had told her, but she understood his tone and intentions. He thought she was human! A normal, honest-to-goodness ordinary human! Tears of joy soon mixed with tears of sadness, for she was now back where she had started…

Here's the beginning of chapter 2. Sorry for the long delay over the weekend. XD Anyway, things start to pick up from here on, so stay tuned!

Chapter 2 – Welcoming (Part 1 of 4)

Trembling, Kasumi held onto the armrests of her seat for dear life as the plane descended toward the runway of the Paragon City International Airport. She had seen the enormous towers in the city, and how big the plane was, so it was only natural that she would be worried about the plane hitting one of them. After all, there were so many of them…

“Hey, take it easy, samurai-girl.” the handsome guy sitting next to her said in Japanese, which Kasumi spoke, “We’re totally safe. The pilots fly these things for a living. They know what they’re doing. At least, they’ve done it quite a few times and haven’t screwed up yet, so we should be fine.”

“Y-you people are crazy, riding in these giant contraptions…” Kasumi stammered, her face pale.

“Haha, but we made it all the way across the world in only ten hours. Let’s see you do that in a ship.” the guy grinned.

“H-how big is the world?” Kasumi asked.

“Well…” the guy said. He had had to put up with questions like this the entire flight, so he was used to it be now… “It’s really, really big. Voyages around the world in ships many years ago would take upwards of a year or two. We covered the same distance in under half a day. That’s how fast planes are.”

“Oh wow…” Kasumi said in awe.

The plane touched down on the runway and pulled up to the boarding ramp. After the plane had stopped, Kasumi happily unbuckled herself from her seat and stood up, “Thank you very much for your company, and answering all of my questions and being so patient with me, sir!” she then bowed to him and said, “Please take care.” Kasumi then hastily made her way off of the plane.

Once she was off the plane, Kasumi was startled to hear everyone speaking a language that was foreign to her. She couldn’t understand a lick of what anyone said, other than the occasional “United States” and “Paragon City”.

“Whatever. I don’t need to worry about that. Right now I should go find my aunt and uncle. I’m going to need a place to stay…” Kasumi said as she ran out of the airport.

Once outside, Kasumi’s knees buckled and she stared at the city in awe. People of all sorts were flying around between the tall towers, there were men and women with strange powers fighting other, mean-looking people who also had powers sometimes. But, most of all, Kasumi noticed the noise. Everything made noise. The wheeled contraptions that people rode in made noise, the city itself made noise, the people made noise, it seemed as if even the very air made noise.

“Ughh…” Kasumi groaned as she put her hands over her ears and walked into the heart of the city.

After she had been walking for a few minutes, a group of five men in red, orange, and black clothing surrounded Kasumi. All of them were carrying weapons of some sort, but none of the weapons particularly impressed Kasumi, least of all the small L-shaped ones that all of them seemed to carry. “Hey you, we can smell the magic on you and your sword, now hand it over before we decide to kill you.” One of the guys said, though Kasumi didn’t understand a word he said. He wore a small red oni-mask with horns and big fangs on it. He carried a T-shaped weapon, but it didn’t appear to have any blades or tips on it anywhere, so Kasumi had no idea how one would fight with it…

“Leave me alone. I don’t feel like fighting right now…” Kasumi told them and they readied their weapons. Kasumi sighed. Apparently there would be no getting out of a fight today. She reached for her sword and suddenly disappeared for a split second. There was a flash of light and Kasumi appeared behind the masked man with the T-shaped weapon, her sword drawn. With a gasp, the man fell to the ground in two halves, landing in a growing pool of his own blood, a look of horror frozen on his face.

The men with the L-weapons then pointed them at Kasumi and pulled a trigger on them. There was a burst of fire and Kasumi was running. The young woman ran around the corner of a building and hid there. She had heard old stories about weapons like this. They were the reason that the samurai had died out, because they couldn’t compete. Supposedly, you just had to point it at your enemy, pull the trigger, and if they got hit they would die. Simple enough. Just don’t let them point the gun at you…

Kasumi suddenly jumped out when she heard the men approach. In that first instant, two men fell to the ground in several parts, leaving two men left. “Hyaaaa!!!” Kasumi cried out as she dashed toward the remaining men. One man pulled out a large maul and the other drew an axe. Both men raised their weapons to bring them crashing down on Kasumi, but the young swordswoman slashed the hafts of the weapons with one horizontal strike, reversed the slash and severed their hands with the next strike. The men screamed in pain as they tried to stop the bleeding. “Farewell.” Kasumi said before decapitating them both in one swing. There was a huge pool of blood on the ground, but Kasumi never even looked at it.

The young swordswoman left the alley and sheathed her blade, which she had managed to keep clean, despite all of the killing she had done. “What a dangerous place… These men just jumped out of nowhere and attacked me…” Kasumi said as she continued walking.

Our young swordswoman hadn’t made it to the end of the block before another group of men ambushed her. Right away they came after her with their knives, axes, and mauls drawn. There was a sudden flash as Kasumi drew her sword and in the same swing slashed four of the men, gutting them. The wisest of the group of men turned and ran for his life. Again, Kasumi sheathed her sword and began walking again.

An hour later, Kasumi was storming down the street, her eyes fierce and her sword drawn. “Grrr… fools… Does everyone in this city have a death wish?” she growled with frustration as she made her way into the middle of the city. After all, who wouldn’t be frustrated if they were attacked by weak thugs every few minutes? Kasumi honestly had no idea how the people in this city managed to survive going outside, since most of them were unarmed and didn’t appear to be sorcerers, just normal people.

One thing that Kasumi noticed were all the weird people in the city… There were many, many people that looked like real demons. Some of them even looked genuinely evil and Kasumi had to restrain herself from attacking without knowing the circumstances or without provocation.

Eventually, after what seemed like an eternity of cutting up bad guys, our little demon made it to the city hall in a zone of the city called “Atlas Park”. Seeing that the place looked relatively safe, Kasumi finally put her sword away and entered the building…

Well over an hour later and after much trouble due to language barriers, Kasumi exited the building with a map of the city and directions to her aunt and uncle’s home. “Well now… that was certainly a bit of trouble…” Kasumi said to herself as she left city hall and made her way out to her aunt and uncle’s home. “Now let’s see here…” she muttered as she looked at the map. It was really going to take some doing to get adjusted to things in this city, but Kasumi was confident that she would manage somehow.

Chapter 1 (Part 4 of 4)

One day, when Kasumi was about sixteen years old, Toshiro and Sakura were gone. Their belongings, everything, gone. Kasumi looked all over the land for them but they were nowhere to be found. However, Kasumi did find a clue in the form of a letter in a secret place only she knew about. It read:

Dear Kasumi,
We’re very sorry that we had to leave you so suddenly, but work has called us away to Paragon City. We have to do what we can to quell the ever-growing evil and save the people of the fair city of Heroes. Should you ever decide to leave Etsuika, look for us in Paragon City in the United States, we both would be very happy to see you again.
With love,
Toshiro and Sakura

And that was all it said. Naturally, Kasumi kept the letter a secret, after all, if you left Etsuika on your own without permission, you were as good as banished from the land.

After reading the letter, Kasumi found herself unable to get the names “Paragon City”, “city of Heroes”, and “United States” out of her mind. Thoughts of these strange lands plagued her for weeks upon weeks. But, as those weeks passed, a grand plan began to form in Kasumi’s mind…

***

‘There it is…’ Kasumi thought as she walked down the dark hallway of the shrine. At the back of the shrine on a small display was a sheathed sword. “The Kaze no Ha…” Kasumi breathed in awe as she approached the magnificent sword. The Kaze no Ha was the legendary sword that Kanatsuki had wielded when she had to fight off those who didn’t want the people who become the Etsuikai to leave. She had also used it to slay the many demons and monsters that inhabited Etsuika before her people did. It was said that there was no blade sharper than it, and it could cut through anything. Supposedly, it was impossible to steal from its owner, since she could summon it at will and it would appear in her hand. The Kaze no Ha was said to be indestructible and it never lost its edge or rusted, no matter what kind of abuse it was put through. Legend said that it was forged by the gods themselves, a gift for the Japanese that was similar to the sword that Japan was created from. Also, legend said that only a special, virtuous woman could draw the blade and that nobody else could draw or even wield the blade until fifty years after her death. Nobody had carried this blade since Kanatsuki’s death a hundred years ago…

Tentatively, Kasumi approached the legendary blade. The Kaze no Ha would be hers. It was only collecting dust here, and Kasumi needed it. She knew exactly what she was going to use it for, too. Paragon City needed help. Kasumi was going to be that help.

When she was standing over the sword, Kasumi reached out with trembling hands to the sword. She was looking at a true to life legendary weapon of a legendary Hero. Kasumi stopped, her hand still a foot away from the handle. Our little Hero took a deep breath and opened her eyes, clasping the handle of the sword in her right hand. As she grabbed the sword, she saw a ghostly blue image of a beautiful woman with long, flowing hair appear out of the sword and take Kasumi’s hand in her own. The spectre leaned up to Kasumi and kissed her on the lips. An intense chill suddenly burst through Kasumi’s body and the spectre said, her voice soft and beautiful, “My dear Kasumi, I sense something terrible within your body. But, there was something terrible in me as well.” the spectre smiled warmly, though Kasumi only felt cold and couldn’t stop shivering, “I love you. You shall be the one to take up my sword and my fight.” Kanatsuki’s spectre then flew into Kasumi’s body and Kasumi felt as if she had been turned to ice.

After a moment, Kasumi regained her senses, though she was still stunned. “My god… that was strange… but… Kanatsuki gave me her sword. She wanted me to have it…” A puzzled look then appeared on Kasumi’s face, “But, what did she mean by ‘I sense something terrible within your body’?” Kasumi asked herself. Suddenly Kasumi fell to her knees, a horrified look on her face, “Oh no! I’m cursed! Somebody cursed me somewhere sometime and Kanatsuki sensed it! That must be what my parents were hiding from me!”

Suddenly the door of the small shrine opened loudly behind Kasumi and a man shouted, “You!! What are you doing in here?!”

'Ah! Discovered!' Kasumi thought in a panic as she leapt to her feet, the Kaze no Ha still in her hands.

“What are you doing with the Kaze no Ha?! Put that down at once or your life is forfeit!” The man shouted as he reached for the handle of his own, normal sword.

Swiftly, Kasumi drew the Kaze no Ha and turned to face the man. The magnificent, gleaming blue blade of the sword seemed to glow in the dimly lit room. The blade was incredibly light, and it truly felt as though it was an extension of her arm.

“O-oh my g-g-god! She’s drawn the Kaze no Ha!!” the man screamed as he turned and fled.

“Whew. I had hoped that would happen!” Kasumi said as she sheathed the sword and tucked it through her sash. “Now then, time to get the heck out of here before that man gets back with help!” Kasumi said as she ran out of the shrine and into the forest. An ancient Greek philosopher had once said that whenever you took a step forward, new potentials opened up. Kasumi had just taken that first step, and she could already see her potential like the sun rising over the horizon.

***

Right, so the stupid human that said that stealing is never right can take a hike. But then again, Kasumi didn’t really steal it, did she? Kanatsuki gave it to her, so there’s not really a problem. But of course, nobody would believe that story even if she told them, not that they’d even care to hear it. Stupid selfish humans…

Anyway, our little stealing, demonic, Hero angel ran away into the woods with her new sword, on her way to put the second part of her plan into action.

*Sigh.*

I’ll just summarize that part of her adventure…

***

After stealing the Kaze no Ha, Kasumi fled to the western mountains and made her way through an old cave that she had found earlier that went all the way through the mountains. She wasn’t as stupid as people thought. She had planned this theft months ago, and she was totally prepared.

Upon arriving on the other side, where there was a small boat ready to sail, loaded up with just the essentials. Kasumi spent a few days to rest and prepared for her voyage. When she was finally ready, Kasumi set sail for Japan.

A few weeks later, Kasumi arrived at Japan and took what supplies she could from her ship before setting out on the third part of her adventure. This is where she knew things would be up in the air…

On her first day in Japan, Kasumi found out all that she needed to know. She had asked a person about Paragon City and the United States and how to get there. After a few funny looks and uncalled-for comments, the person realized that Kasumi was serious and told her that she would need to get a plane from Tokyo. He then gave her directions to Tokyo and commented on how it looked like she was too poor to be able to get a flight.

A lot of people underestimate how clever Kasumi is and how far she will go to achieve her goal. During her voyage to Japan, there had been a storm and the Kaze no Ha had fallen overboard. It was then that she learned how to summon it to her. With this knowledge, a plan began to form in her mind. She asked Kanatsuki if her plan was acceptable and Kanatsuki said that sometimes you had to do unpleasant things for the greater good. This was one such case.

Upon arriving in Tokyo, Kasumi was nearly run over by several dozen different cars and almost got hit by three different trains. One can only imagine her surprise at seeing these “monster” charge at her and try to run her over! Kasumi did some looking around and was found by a sword connoisseur. After a few demonstrations, he offered her an absurd amount of money for the Kaze no Ha, even though he didn’t know what it really was, which was what Kasumi had been hoping for. Kasumi sold her sword for ¥2,000,000 (in cash, which was strange to her) and after about fifteen minutes, summoned her sword back and made her way to the airport. After getting to the airport, Kasumi asked to go to Paragon City. The ticket person was very helpful and told Kasumi everything she needed to know about the trip. Kasumi then gave him all of the money, which shocked him, especially when she asked if it was enough. He told her that there was a lot of extra money and she just told him to take it, since she didn’t need it anymore. After all, she could just sell her sword again… Needless to say, the man was overjoyed and began crying he was so happy. Said something about it being a wonderful day to come in early.

With the help of a few other people, Kasumi managed to find her flight. When the ticket-taker tried to take her sword and it wouldn’t come out of its sheath, she told him that it wasn’t a real weapon, that it was just a prop, so he let her bring it on the plane. Kasumi got on her flight and she was shocked when the plane started flying. Naturally, she got a lot of strange looks and many asked her if she was cosplaying or something, which only confused her more.

Eventually, Kasumi arrived in Paragon City USA, the City of Heroes.

Thank you. I'm glad you like it. =)

Chapter 1 (Part 3 of 4)

By now, you have probably wondered why Kasumi is always visiting her aunt. Well, there is a good reason for that. No, her parents aren’t dead, but… Well… Take a look at this scene here…

***

The morning following the feast, Kasumi went home, wearing the loose white clothing that she wore just about all the time. Her eyes were red from crying all night and her hair was a mess, as usual.

“Mother? Father?” Kasumi asked weakly as she entered her home. Standing in the building, she shivered. She did not like it here…

After a few minutes, her parents both came out from their bedroom. “Yes, what is it, Kasumi?” her father asked.

“Mother? Father?” Kasumi asked, tears in her eyes, “Am I a freak? Why am I so different?”

“And just what would you be?” her father asked, his eyes narrowed as he looked down at her.

“I… I don’t know… I’m just different… Like an animal…”

As soon as Kasumi said the word “animal”, her father cuffed her hard, dropping her to her knees. “Don’t be ridiculous! You are no such thing! You’re just—”

Kasumi’s mother interrupted him and said, “Sano, dear, please wait in the other room. I’ll talk to her.”

“Fine. You better not do that thing, Fuyo…” Kasumi’s father, Sano, said sternly as he went back into the bedroom.

“Kasumi… Sometimes people are a little different looking and other people can’t accept that, so they’re mean to them…” Fuyo told Kasumi.

“But why? Why am I different from everyone else? Isn’t there a reason?” Kasumi pleaded. She just had to know for sure. She knew there was something wrong with her, she just didn’t know what.

“Dear, you’re a very special person.” Kasumi’s mother then said softly, “You will find out in time, when you are ready. Until that time comes, just be yourself. Just know this, you are not a bad person. Don’t ever let anyone tell you otherwise.”

“But mother… I…”

“Hush. You’ll be fine. Don’t worry about it so much…” Fuyo said as she held her daughter close. As she held her daughter, tears ran down her cheeks.

***

As you can see, Kasumi’s parents, particularly her father, leave much to be desired. Her mother, while kind, isn’t very helpful. Her father, on the other hand, appears to be a cruel man. On top of this, both seem to be hiding something from her. All of this are the reasons that she is always living with her aunt and uncle, she feels better with them because she feels normal when with them. In fact, Kasumi was raised more by them than her birth parents, which really isn’t that bad, considering that her aunt and uncle are very nice people. Her uncle, Toshiro, was a samurai of sorts and had a very strong moral compass, which he passed on to Kasumi. Her aunt, Sakura, was a sorceress of incredible power and was very compassionate, which Kasumi also picked up from her. Unfortunately, Kasumi was still Sano and Fuyo’s daughter, and as such, she took after them as well, their… ahem, less desirable traits. But, you already know about that, how she becomes berserk in fights and how she hurts people when she doesn’t mean to.

Here's the second part of the first chapter. Things are a little slow right now cause I'm just trying to introduce Kasumi. Anyway, to all three of the people reading this, stick with it, it gets better (in my opinion, anyway).

Chapter 1 (Part 2 of 4)

As our little girl grew into a little young woman, she really began to be alienated by her peers. In her teens, Kasumi was the very best swordsman her age in the land. However, that came at a bit of a cost… You see, she naturally looked a little feral. Long wild hair; fierce, dark golden eyes; strange black patterns around her eyes; pearl-white, sharp teeth; pointed ears; and a body that was like an animal’s, the way it was toned to near perfection. Nobody wanted to be around her since they were all afraid of her and what she was capable of. Also, of what she had done… She had a reputation for hurting people because of the way she would get too into something and forget about other people. Naturally, this didn’t do wonders for her attitude, and she grew up being a shy person. When in public, she didn’t even bother trying to make friends with people; she was nice, but nobody seemed to notice or care. However, when she was alone, she was just about always crying… Perhaps we should take a look at a particular point in our little angel’s life where she finally worked up the courage to bare her heart to someone special to her…

***

Kasumi was trembling terribly as she walked up the road to a nearby home, where a special someone was at the moment. She had gone to great lengths to make herself presentable. Her long wild hair had been brushed extensively and done up real nice. Our little angel had recently bathed in the nearest hot spring and had gotten all nice and clean. Her aunt had been so nice as to lend her a beautiful blue kimono that suited Kasumi very well.

Gracefully, Kasumi made her way up to the house. It all came down to this. Her cheeks were bright red as she approached.

“Oh?” A pretty woman doing some garden work outside said as she noticed Kasumi. “Hello there. My, aren’t you pretty. Are you looking for Daisuke?”

“Ah!” Kasumi said, her cheeks on fire, “Ye-yes, ma’am! Have you seen him?”

The woman smiled and called for Daisuke. A moment later, Daisuke, who was a very handsome young man about Kasumi’s age, came out of the house and stepped up to about five feet from Kasumi. “G-good afternoon, D-Daisuke!” Kasumi stammered.

Daisuke looked at her impatiently.

“The festival this—”

Daisuke interrupted her, “I’m sorry, but only lords and ladies are invited.” He looked her in the eyes and then said, “And you are not a lady, nor will you ever be one. You are not refined or elegant enough.” Each word seemed to strike like thunder.

Kasumi looked up at Daisuke weakly, trembling. Tears slowly formed around her eyes and she tried to say something, but no sound came out.

Daisuke turned to walk back into the house but the nice woman with the smile was blocking his way. She looked down at him, her eyes sparkling fiercely. There was a sudden whap as Daisuke was slapped hard on the side of the face. “You ought to be ashamed of yourself. Kasumi went to all this trouble to get all dressed up and make herself pretty, and you won’t even give her a chance. It seems that you are the one who isn’t refined. The heart of a young woman is a delicate, beautiful thing, but you cannot seem to appreciate that.” She then turned to Kasumi and said with a smile, “Would you please come to the festival tonight? I would be happy to see you there.”

“Ye-yes ma’am…” Kasumi nodded.

“And don’t worry about this empty-headed son of mine. He for one will not be attending.” The woman then smiled to Kasumi, “Well, please take care. I’ll look forward to seeing you tonight.”

“Yes ma’am.” Kasumi bowed before running back to her aunt’s home.

That evening Kasumi made her way down to the feast hall excitedly.

Just as Kasumi arrived at the feast hall where the celebration was, she was surrounded by a group of people about her age. All of them were dressed nicely, though they also wore menacing expressions that contrasted their outfits. Kasumi immediately knew what was going on and turned to run, but her escape was cut off by Daisuke. Angrily, Daisuke struck Kasumi, knocking her down and leaving a bruise on her cheek. Just as Kasumi was getting up, someone splashed her with a bucket of water, soaking her thoroughly. Someone else then kicked her back down onto the muddy ground, getting her and her kimono all muddy.

“That’ll teach you even you, won’t it, you stupid dog?” Daisuke taunted her, “Now get out of here. I never want to see you around here again.

Tears streaming down her wet face, Kasumi scrambled to her feet and ran away. She never returned home that night, but her aunt found her and brought her to her own home. Kasumi was so humiliated that day and her precious kimono was ruined. But even worse, it was made painfully clear that she would never be accepted there…

***

Our poor little Kasumi… everyone hates her so, but she isn’t as bad as everyone makes her out to be. Unfortunately, very few people seemed to understand this.

Chapter 1 – Kasumi Kusanagi (Part 1 of 4)

Deep in the heart of Etsuika lies a small city. It’s been there for over a hundred years and has grown much over the years. However, rather than becoming a metropolis and center of commerce, it became a refuge, a haven of sorts, for people who wanted to live peacefully without worries. It is also a center of history of Etsuika, with many historical artifacts there…

Whether it was fate or not that a certain young girl with a violent streak lived there remains to be determined. But, our little girl somehow managed to work her way into the heart of the resident master swordsman. After months of ceaseless begging, the swordsman finally cracked and took the girl in as his last apprentice. For years, the young girl trained passionately with the sword. Let us take a look at one of her training sessions where she and her master were practicing with one of the schools in the city…

“Hyaaaa!!!!” Our little girl yelled as she lunged at her opponent, her wooden sword held with unfaltering confidence. Her eyes were ablaze like fires and her long, wild, blue-black hair billowed out behind her.

“Ahhh!!” Our little girl’s opponent cried out in a panic as he parried the quick blows from our little angel, retreating quickly.

“Ha!” Our little girl struck at an opening on her opponent, breaking through his defense and smashing her sword into his ribs, knocking him off his feet.

The boy fell to the ground, crying as he held his ribs. It was clear by the look on our little girl’s face that she didn’t think she had hit him that hard… A few people rushed over to help the boy up and soon carried him off to bandage him up.

“Kasumi is a demon!! She tried to kill Kyo!” One of the other young students there said as he pointed his sword at our little demon, Kasumi.

“Am not! I… I didn’t mean to hurt him…” Kasumi sobbed as she held her sword tightly.

“Are so! Lookit her pointy demon ears!” Another student said as he pointed his sword at her ears, which were pointed, the ends of which stuck up out of her hair a little bit. However, pointed ears weren’t exactly uncommon in Etsuika, especially in families that practiced sorcery. Though it was a point of pride to have “human ears”, a sign of “pure” blood.

“Somebody beat her! She’s just a little demon girl!”

“I’ll get her!” A boy said confidently as he approached Kasumi.

Trembling fearfully, our little demon readied herself.

The two suddenly leapt at each other and there was the clack of their swords striking. Many more clacks followed as the two children fought back and forth. However, it was very clear that Kasumi had the upper hand. Out of nowhere, Kasumi felt something hard strike her on the back of the head. It felt like a wooden sword, but her opponent was too far away to strike, and he hadn’t moved. Kasumi looked over her shoulder and saw a grinning boy standing there with his sword held firmly with both hands. They had cheated… Our little angel’s vision swam and she collapsed on the hard floor. Her master returned just in time to stop the boys from beating her to death with their wooden swords…

Hmm… It seems our dear little Kasumi isn’t too well liked. Growing up, she was called all sorts of nasty things. Feral, vicious, monster, beast, demon… Just to name a few of the most common ones. Why’s this, you ask? Well, Kasumi is a tad bit violent, not to mention she looks a little feral… She’s always loved fighting and back then she was always training or sparring. When sparring with other people, which was rare, she was very competitive, she often wound up hurting her partner, which led to people starting to be afraid of her…

After much urging from one of my friends, I've finally decided to post one of my characters' stories here on the forums. I suppose what I'm looking for is constructive criticism (either post it in this thread or PM me). Oh yeah, everything in here that isn't CoH stuff (just a few things) is totally made up. It's rather long (about 25 pages in Word), so it'll come in the form of a series of posts. I'll try to post once or twice a day. Well, here it is. Enjoy. =)

Heart of the Beast

Prologue – Etsuika, The Land of the Way

At the beginning of the Meiji Era of Japan, when carrying a sword became illegal, guns began to replace swords in the military, and the Way of the Warrior began to die out. However, a large group of people refused to let go of the past. Many of these people tried to preserve their way of life in Japan, but the new Meiji government wouldn’t have it, and so these rebels were wiped out. Seeing this, the others who wanted to preserve the old ways came up with a plan. They would leave Japan and create their own world. A world of honor, chivalry, and duty. These people soon left the country and settled on a large, bountiful hidden island in the Pacific Ocean. They called this place Etsuika.

Over the years, they developed along their own path, their culture undisturbed by the Westerners. Etsuika became a mystical land, its people living in harmony with nature rather than trying to conquer it. Eventually Etsuika became its own little world, nothing outside mattered anymore and almost all of it was forgotten about as contact with the outside world was forbidden. Like feudal Japan, Etsuika was ruled mostly by lords. Naturally, these lords had disagreements that had to be settled. This is where Etsuika really shined. Having never forsaken the weapons of old, the techniques matured well beyond mastery, creating many invincible warriors.

Not only did they develop their martial abilities to near perfection, Etsuika’s people developed their minds nearly as much. Not with science and math, as the rest of the world did, but rather, with deeper knowledge. Philosophy, poetry, literature, and what most people would call magic. Etsuika produced many highly skilled sorcerers and scholars, all of whom were very wise, knowledgeable, and powerful.

As the years passed, the Etsuikai became less violent as their original leaders were replaced with new leaders who had studied philosophy intensively. Plato’s Republic, in particular. Their rulers were philosopher kings, rulers who were the wisest, smartest, and fairest people in the country, and who lived amongst their people.

From the very start, both men and women played important roles in Etsuika, and there were many female rulers, warriors, and sorcerers. This can be attributed to the courage and wisdom shown by one of the founders of Etsuika, Kanatsuki, a woman who led the people through some of the darkest days.

This brings us up to the present day, the year 2005 A.D., a hundred and fifty years after the formation of Etsuika.

Oops. Double post. XD

Nice piece of writing here. I look forward to seeing more of it. =)

OMG OMG OMG!!! Youko's costume is finally going to be closer to the way it should be!!! Agh!! I need more influence! 2 mil isn't enough at 36! XD But... now I need more costume slots! Aarrrggghhhh!!

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2) Don't want true newbies blowing all their INF changing their sock colors. Though just playing the game, you don't find out about the Icons store until you're old enough (in game) to decide if you want those new socks or enhancements.

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S... they don't care if veteran players blow all their influence on socks?

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There is more screenshots of the I4 costumes and other things at http://www.gamespot.com/pc/rpg/cityo...p;subj=6120092
It's looking very good =)

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OMG!! Thank you very much for this link! *Cuddles with new screenshots.*

((Nice story. Any more? I'm kinda curious now to see what happens next. =P ))

*Sighs.* Too bad all idiots aren't as smart as you. Good work, Burnsie. This guide is pretty good even for people who have been roleplaying for a while. Some guy told me the other day to not do emotes in normal chat but to do "/em scratches her head and looks around." and rather than "/local *Scratches her head.* What is this place?" Very frustrating.

Nyah nyah! I won't!!

Just kidding! Please don't kill me!

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From PC Gamer March 2005 pg. 18:

Paragon City-- Breaking news erupted in the City of Heroes universe today as the mighty champion Statesman (aka Jack Emmert, lead designer and co-founder of Cryptic Studios) made a startling announcement: Player-versus-Player (PvP) combat is coming this spring.

In the free downloadable update "Issue #4: The Arena", the city's heroes will be able to test their abilities against one another in specially built stadiums (seen currently under construction in "Issue #3"). Combatants will be able to face off against mano-a-mano or in super-teams of up to eight heroes. Battle zones will be instanced for the participants, and will be set up to replicate familiar environments such as city ruins and Atlas Park. A security level of 14 will be required for admittance.

Another astonishing revelation: The arena will also house themed conflicts that incorporate mission objectives and even bestow temporary powers onto those bold enough to enter.

Even the most seemingly mundane powers will be useful in PvP battle. For example, Statesman tells us that "taunting" another hero will force them to attack you... even against their will. Likewise, an opponent who becomes "confused" by a Controller-class hero will be unable to tell friend from foe.

The "Issue #4" update will also introduce amazing "body scaling" technology to Paragon City's protectors, allowing them to tweak the size of waists, arms, and cheekbones... among other body parts. And direct from NCsoft's arists in Korea comes new costume-design elements inspired by anime and manga.

But what about the rumored crafting and skill system? "I was so terrified that we'd produce something that wouldn't be right," says Statesman about the delay. "We designed a whole system and it just didn't cut the mustard. So it's my fault."

In happier news, Statesman is gazing towards City of Heroes' first anniversary this April. Though details are shrouded in secrecy, Paragon City's first superhero promises a huge celebration and special events to mark the occasion. --"Snapper" Chuck Osborn

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And there you have it! Whew. A lot of typing. XD Anyway, it looks good and I can't wait for it!

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We hear that the USA PCGamer got lots of nice information about Issue4 and I htink they mentioned some stuff about PvP and CoV. Something like a two page spread of screenies and details.

Any chance we can have some of that sweet lovin' passed to the devoted forum dwellers in the next few days please?

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I got the PC Gamer with that info in it today. =P It was pretty good. 2 screenshots and some SUPER juicy info. It was only one page though. =( Don't know if its ok for me to post what the article said so I didn't. But, it is very cool and I'm pumped about "Issue 4: The Arena" now.

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I've soloed the cape mission several times pre-issue 3 and loved it. The mission was perfect that way and gave a real sense of accomplishment. I did it last night with a 20 scrapper and didn't know that it had been changed. I was looking forward to a tough, rewarding fight. I must have killed only about 10 guys. It was pitiful. I didn't even break a sweat. I was terribly, terribly disappointed.

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Now try soloing it with a Mind Controller, or a Dark Defender, and think about what that would have been like pre-Issue 3.

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Point taken. I just feel that with my difficulty setting above Hard-Boiled the mission should have been a little harder.

Quick question: Can a Mind Controller or Dark Defender solo that mission as it is now with it on the lowest difficulty setting? If so, then it should stay as it is now for 1st and 2nd lowest difficulty settings, but the three higher settings should have the pre-I3 settings for those of us that liked it the way it was.

*Sigh.* Of course, it is far more complicated than that, and being by no means competant in game design, I can't think of all of the problems that would arise.

I've soloed the cape mission several times pre-issue 3 and loved it. The mission was perfect that way and gave a real sense of accomplishment. I did it last night with a 20 scrapper and didn't know that it had been changed. I was looking forward to a tough, rewarding fight. I must have killed only about 10 guys. It was pitiful. I didn't even break a sweat. I was terribly, terribly disappointed.