Application
CHARACTER NAME: Tachibana Riku
SERIES: Onmyou Taisenki
PERSONALITY:
Riku is the most ordinary boy you will ever meet. Everything about him is pretty down-to-earth and simple. When he is sad, he'll be sad. When he's happy, he'll be happy. There aren't any walls that block off certain parts of his emotional being from others, seeing as how there isn't much to hide in the first place. Complicated doesn't describe him at all. He is optimistic and perky, to where it's almost hard to ring him down.
In the beginning, Riku exhibited all of the aspects of a young boy his age. Shy, quiet, and timid, he wasn't the sort of person you would expect to be a Clans Head. Until after he met Kogenta, his Shikigami, Riku didn't know how to fight for himself. After meet Kogenta, he grew into a much stronger and greater person, gaining the ability to stand on his own two feet with more confidence. He learned how to fight for those he loved and cared about, always ready to help others in need. He is quick to trust and always willing to give the benefit of the doubt to others. Sometimes this can be his downfall, but he manages, with help from Kogenta and others, to get right back up again.
Able to forgive misdoings, he believes that the past is the past and that what we should live in is today. For the life of him, Riku can't hold a grudge, his heart just won't allow it. He loves too much and too greatly to hold such dark and hate-filled emotions for too long.
Of course, even the most ordinary people have the most extraordinary secrets that they hide from others, even themselves. Riku has a darker side to his more positive personality. There have been accounts of Riku going off into a frenzy of madness, spurred on by great betrayals against his trust. While Riku may have a big heart, he wears it on his sleeve, leaving it highly vulnerable to attack and pain. A boy of 12 can only take so much pain and betrayal before blowing a casket. In his state of temporary madness, he loses all sense of reason and thought, following impulses that lead on to bad decesions. He can be hypocritical at times and is extremely bad at coming to deal with personal issues. While ready to jump at the chance of helping others, helping himself is something that he fears, not wanting to face his past. He prefers to deny that there is something wrong with himself, going about with life while letting the issues sit and boil over.
For someone so young, Riku is mature. He handles stress moderatley well and knows how to handle situations (sometimes). Considering what has been happening to him during his time asa Tojinshi, he knows how to differentiate the time to be a 12-year old boy, and a responsible Toujinshi and Ten-Ryuu Head. Although, there are times that the child in him will outshine the adult, which is to be expected. No matter what may happen, in the end Riku is still a child.
BACKGROUND:
Riku was born in the Heian Era of Japan. His original name was Yomei, but when his mother sent him a thousand years into the future to protect him from the Chi-Ryuu raid on the Ten-Ryuu headquarters, he was given the name Tachibana Riku by an old man named Tachibana Sotaru. Sotaru found him one day in his shrine and had raised him ever since.
Both the Ten-Ryuu and Chi-Ryuu groups are factions of the Toujinishi. Toujinshi have the ability to form a contarct with a Shikigami using a Drive. The Toujinishi uses In the craete attacks for the Shikigami to use in battle. A long time ago, Shikigami were used to kill off youkai (demons), but now they are used to fight other Shikigami and Tojinshi. If a Shikigami loses, the Toujinishi will lose all memories of being a Toujinshi and the Shikigami will be sent to Naraku (Hell). The Chi-Ryuu and Ten-ryuu are rivals and constantly fight each other. The Chi-Ryuu's goal is to release all of the Kimons. In doing such those actions will let in mor youkai into the human world. The Ten-Ryuu fight to stop this.
Long ago, before the Ten-Ryuu and Chi-Ryuu fought, they worked together. The Chi-Ryuu would fight to destroy the youkai, while the Ten-Ryuu would seal the Kimons. Soon, tensions grew and rumors spread. Chaos began to leak and soon enveloped the two groups, piting them against each other. They have been rivals ever since.
1200 years ago, before all of this, Japn was divided into numerous states that spurred many battles. Shikigami were bought into the fighting and many were sent to Naraku, while children lost their parents. The loss of the Shikigami sent the seasons into chaos and the land was`ravaged. Then came a long a boy; no one knew where he came from or who he was, but he took on the name Kuu Utsuho. He befriended the youkai and the children of the lost adults followed him. Few of these children were Gasshin and his sister, Usubeni, and Taizan. The Shikigami granted Utsuho the power of the Yondaiten, thus Utsuho went about restoring the land to its former glory. He created the Fukumaden, a haven for the youkai.
When word spread of utsuho's power, people came to claim it. The Toujinshi government came and sealed Utsuho and his followers into Fukumaden. The Ten-Ryuu and Chi-Ryuu now both had the power of the Yondaiten. Taizan was the one who ratted out the village to the government. Only Gasshin and Taizan were able to escape the sealing and fled into the Fukumaden, where they were caught and sealed.
Fast forward 200 years later, and along come the Jin-ryuu. Decendants of Utsuho's followers, they worked to undo the seals on the seal that held Utsuho in the Fukumaden. During this, the Ten-Ryuu had been using provisons from the Fukumaden to become wealither, while the Chi-Ryuu weakened.
Raihou, the current Ten-Ryuu head, was weak and became heavily influenced by Utsuho. He formed a coup with the Chi-Ryuu, but was found out and imprisoned. Enraged, the Chi-Ryuu attacked the Ten-Ryuu base with the help of Raihou who escaped. Raihou formed a contract with the Shikigami Byakko no Kogenta, forcing him into a Daikoujin, a form where Shikigami are expressed in their original form. Kogenta attacked the base and killed many people. It was then that Riku's mother sent him into the future, with the Head's Drive.
Both of Riku's parents fled into the Fukumaden when the base was destroyed. There they found Gasshin and raised him for a time. Riku's mother gave him her Drive, telling him t repent for Ten-Ryuu's sins and find Riku in the future. Gasshin then travels to Naraku to find his sister's Shikigami to form a contract with him. From there he finds Taizan and reunite with the Jin-Ryuu out on top. The Jin-Ryuu try to undo the seal many times, but fail. They seal themselves, along with a man named Zenjou, in the Fukumaden and wait a thousand years for the Ten-Ryuu head to appear. Gasshin goes under the guise of a Ten-Ryuu named Masaomi to befriend Riku and trick him into destroying the Kimon and undoing the seal, something only the Chi-Ryuu and Ten-Ryuu Head can do. Taizan goes under the guise of the Department Chief of the Ten-ryuu Subjugation for the Chi-ryuu. But, unlike Masaomi, Taizan is aware of Utsuho's growing malice and plans to use it to create a world ruled by Toujinshi.
Before Riku's arrival, a Chi-Ryuu Toujinshi named Mikazuchi became very successful, due to the use of the Sakashiki with his Shikigami, Akane no Itsumu. Through Sakashiki, he became influenced by Utsumo. Mikazuchi ursuped the roles of Chi-Ryuu head from its rightful heirs, founding a powerful Chi-Ryuu organization. Creating four Kimon around the country, and one great Kimon in the center, he used them to control the country's profits and resoucres.
Now at present day, Riku is in Middle School, with his friend from age three, Momo. During a fight at his grandfather's shrine, spurred on by a Chi-Ryuu, Riku forms a contract with the Shikigami, Byakko no Kogenta, to save his grandfather. At first, Riku only knows one In, but with a little bullying on Kogenta's part, they go out to search for more. The Chi-Ryuu become aware of the new Byakko user and send Toujinshi out to defeat Riku. Each time Riku defeats them, his and Kogenta's bond growing stronger.
Soon, Riku meets Asuka Yuuma, Toujinshi of Byakko no Rangetsu. Their battle overwelms Riku and they are saved at the last minute by Masaomi. Soon, Riku meets Ten-Ryuu Toujinshi, Saigo Teru and his Shikigami, Akane No Isoroku. They quickly become comrades.
Later, Yuuma's younger brother, Souma, becomes fed up with Yuuma's ass-kissing to Mikazuchi and becomes a Ten-Ryuu. Riku takes him in and they also become friends. Riku then confronts powerful Chi-ryuu, Izou, whom he defeats without using the destructive In Kogenta had shown him earlier. Then, after his grandfather tells him to go to the Taihaku Temple in Kyoto, before disappearing on a journey, Riku meets Nazuna, the prietess of the temple. Here, Riku finds the Moon Cresent Jewel. This is the first sign of him being the Ten-Ryuu head.
After a powerful battlewith Yuuma, and another with Izou, Riku returns home to where his grandfather fixed their shrine, enabling Riku to travel to the Fukumaden. During the next few weeks, Riku travelsthere in search of the Toujin Stones, stones used to stabilize the Fukumaden, beforethe Chi-Ryuu find them. During one trip to the Fukumaden, Izou challenges Riku yet again, crazy with desperation. He uses a Toujin Stone to turn his Shikigami into a Daikojin, forcing Kogenta to mercy kill him in his own Daikoujin form. The Fukumaden breaks down around them and Kogenta and Riku are lost.
When Riku awakes, he is attacked by a Jin-Ryuu, only to be saved by the mysterious Ten-Ryuu Yakumo. After a talk, Riku returns to the surface. Soon, Yuuma comes to Tachibana Shrine to challenge Riku. During the fight, Riku begins to experience memories of his past, remembering new In. Rangetsu is near losing until Yuuma manages to use Daikojin. Riku then rejects his contract with Kogenta and losesthe battle, thus losing his memories.
After a talk with Masaomi, Riku travels to Naraku to retrieve Kogenta, along the way remembering his past. After a touching reunion, they both renew their contract and head back to the surface.
TIMELINE: Episode 25, after he and Kogenta leave Naraku together.