whattail

Player's Name: Xar
Contact info: plurk @xardogn
DW: n/a

Character: Konoe
Canon: Lamento: Beyond the Void
Version: Game
Canon Point: After Rai's good end
Age:assumed 21ish
Gender: Male



History: Konoe was born to an unnamed mother and his father, later revealed to be Shui, a famous Sanga (a sort of bard/musician who uses music to make people stronger) Shui sent his wife and son to a village named Karou because a rival was after his position as the leader of Ransen's Sanga, and was soon after killed by them, also for associating with a black magician at the time, named Leaks. Leaks, upset about the people who showed up to kill him, thought that Shui, his only friend/implied love interest betrayed him and forcibly removed them his own emotions, shoving them into a vessel which happened to be Konoe before he was born.

This caused Konoe to grow up being able to empathize with other cats/ribika, and his face grew to look exactly like Leaks. He lost his mother when he was very young to the Sickness, a strange disease that has a high mortality rate for female ribika. He lived in thier house alone, defending his territory until he was around 18 years old when the story starts.

Konoe suddenly has a strange dream of snakes winding around and entering his body, and has it four nights in a row. On the fourth night he realizes that he has strange black markings on his legs and arms, and his ears and tail have turned black, liked the cursed cat in the legend. Afraid for his life, his desire to run away is further spurred on by the fact that he was selected as the next sacrifice of the village. Their world is being eroded by the Void-sections of nature that literally reject ribika when they try to touch it, resulting in horrible wounds-and food supply is scarce. The village has taken to placing a torch outside of the house of the ribika selected as a sacrifice, to be killed and then eaten by the rest of the village.

Konoe runs, managing to escape the village when the mysterious Poet, a cat who doesn't speak, just sings appears and guides him to a safe place. It's there he continues to try and find Ransen, the biggest ribika city where his friend lives. At first, he encounters a mysterious boy in the forest after touching a ring that allowed him to see the owner’s death to bandits, who mocks him and tells that his master wants Konoe to entertain him. Leaving no answers, the boy, Firi disappears, leaving Konoe confused.

He gets waylaid by some bandits after returning, only to be saved by a mysterious silver haired ribika. Commanded to run, he ends up lost next to a swamp, when he remembers the legend he hears about ribika from the village Kira. They are black cats with markings on their arms and Konoe thinks he can get information on his own curse. He enters their territory and meets Asato, a Kira cat who is about to kill him until he sees that Konoe has black ears and markings like him. He takes Konoe to see the chief who, while cold to the fact he is an outsider, explains the markings are just ink and that they are not connected to the curse. He permits Konoe to stay with Asato for the night.

Asato lets him stay and is very curious about Konoe and quickly warms up to him despite them both being awkward. The peace is quickly dashed when a shade of a devil appears, driving the cats of Kira into wanting to kill Konoe for being an outsider. Asato quickly defends him, holding off the village ribika while commanding Konoe to run away. He does and gets away from the village, only to end up where he first started.

With nothing else to do he starts heading for Ransen again. He manages to run into the mysterious white haired ribika from earlier, who starts a fight with him. Konoe manages to injure him, but Konoe is then defeated. However, the white-haired cat seems interested in him because he was strong enough to stand against him and actually injure him. Konoe is angered by this, but he's eventually forced to tell the cat who he is and that he was headed to Ransen. The white-haired cat reveals his name to be Rai, and he's a bounty hunter. Before they can talk further, they are waylaid by the same bandits as before, but this time it is a Sanga and Touga pair.

Sangas and Tougas are both warriors, and when they are working together are practically unstoppable unless by another Sanga/Touga pair. Tougas are simply fighters, who are strong physically and can be anyone as long as they train hard enough. Sanga are special and must be born, and each has their own song. They are essentially bards, and power up their Touga with their song.

Rai tells Konoe to get away and leave them to him, but Konoe doesn't want to keep running away from battles and stays to watch how Rai fights. He is strong, but is faltering against the pair, since the Sanga is making the fighter more powerful than Rai can handle. Seeing this, Konoe jumps into the fight to go after the Sanga. Unfortunately, he isn't quite able to accomplish this, instead gettng attacked by the Touga himself. About to die, Konoe suddenly hears a song from inside him, opening his eyes and realizing it wasn't a dream-he really was singing. Konoe was a Sanga.

Konoe quickly sent his song to Rai, who with that extra power was finally able to turn the tables and defeat the pair, before turning his attention to Konoe and asking him what just happened. Konoe of course doesn't know, so Rai explains to him that he is a Sanga, and that he also wants to train Konoe because he wants a Sanga himself.

Konoe isn't very happy about this new development because his plans were to figure out his own curse, but also sees the value in sticking with Rai for the moment, especially because he saw Rai have a moment of gentleness. He does, however tell Rai about the curse on his body and that if he wants him as a Sanga, he's going to have to deal with that. Rai accepts this and takes him to Ransen.

There they eventually found an inn to stay at, since most places were full because of the upcoming festival. After a minor inconvenience of having to man the front desk while the owner of the inn went off somewhere, Konoe and Rai discussed their next move, which was to find the local shaman in the forest somewhere and see what he knows about the curse.

They then leave to go out looking for information on the backstreets, only to be attacked by another Sanga and Touga pair of twins, who were sent by a man named Leaks to harrass Konoe. Not wanting to start a fight in the middle of the city, Rai and Konoe flee from the fight, and suddenly run into none other than Tokino, a close friend of Konoe's. He quickly leads them away from their persuers and lets them rest at his house for a bit while Konoe explains what he can of his situation.

After resting for awhile, Rai took Konoe out to the forest to practice being a Sanga. At first, he struggles trying to sing, but then remembers the white flame in his heart, that often appeared when he was around the Poet, and he is finally able to summon his song at will. This exhausts him, but he still practices swordplay with Rai.

The next day, Konoe happens to enter the forest and meets the Poet again, who starts singing to him about the shaman and where he is, finally pointing in the right direction. Rai finally finds him, as he'd wandered off, and Konoe tells him what he saw. Rai is skeptical, but he follows Konoe anyway, only to find that the Poet was right and there indeed was a shrine where the shaman lived.

Entering, Konoe asked the shaman about the curse on his body, but the shaman was rather vague in his answers. He was able to say that Konoe was being cursed by four different devils, and that a larger, evil entity was following his every move. The Shaman also noted that while that was true, Konoe also had a divine protection from another unknown source and that the shaman could not see his future-literally, because based on his decisions, many things could happen to Konoe. Leaving them with the parting words of 'I look forward to seeing how your song shakes this world' the shaman directs them to the Field of Four Colors, where he says more answers will lie.

Rai and Konoe return to Ransen to pack up and head out to the fields, with Konoe telling his friend goodbye and that he doesn't know when he'll be back. They then strike out on their own, making camp at night. All of a sudden, both of them sense something is about to attack, and thinking its another of Leaks' pursuers, Rai quickly gets up to fight them. Instead the attacker turns out to be an injured Asato, whom thinks that Rai is trying to kidnap Konoe.

Fed up with both of them, Konoe finally gets them both to stop trying to kill each other and treats Asato's wounds. It turned out that he was on the run from his own village for both leaving and letting Konoe escape, and since he had nowhere else to go, he wanted to stay with Konoe. Rai very reluctantly lets him come along, even though he's not happy about the whole deal. However, at that point Firi appears, once again mocking Konoe for his ignorance and inviting them to come to the village ahead, as Leaks has a show planned for them. Asato attacks, but he promptly vanishes again. Rai states that its probably a trap and that Leaks is most likely this shadow following Konoe, but Konoe says there isn't much they could do about it now.

The three journey on through the night and reach said village at the edge of the Field of Four Colors, which is mostly abandoned do to the short food supply moving everyone to the city. Still, Konoe happens along a nice cat who allows them to use one of the abandoned houses to stay the night, since the mirrors they were looking at in the field only shone during the daytime.

The rest of the night is spent uneventful, but when morning comes, there is a strange knocking sound and the group discovers all the cats in the village have been killed and revived as zombies, who were now hunting them down. They escape the house and fight for a long time, killing the rest of the zombies before realizing it was a song that caused all this.

It was then that Leaks and Firi, his Sanga, appeared in the town, finally making himself known to Konoe. He declares that he is the one who did this to the town, and once again affirms the statement that he is doing all of this just to mess with Konoe. Angry, Konoe then attacks the group, but both Leaks and Firi vanish into the forest.

Rai and Asato both leap forward and chase after Leaks' disappearing trail, and Konoe quickly loses them both. He searches for a bit, but instead is accosted by the same twins as before, the Sanga and Touga pair. He knows he cant stand a chance against the two of them, but all of a sudden, Konoe senses Rai's presence, who appears next to him ready to fight. As the twins attack, Konoe himself starts to sing to power up Rai, who also leapt forward to fight. He does well for a minute, but then becomes pushed back. Konoe realizes his song isn't as strong as the other Sanga and puts more power into it despite the pain, and eventually, Rai is able to break through and stab the Sanga through with his sword. The fight is over as the Touga of the pair stopped fighting to go to his brother's body, but for some reason, Rai is smiling and ready to keep wreaking havoc. It's only after calling out to him that Rai finally snaps out of it, and they let the Touga go, carrying his brother's dying body.

Asato then appears out of the brush, missing the whole fight. Konoe asks Rai what happened, despite him being bothered by Rai's seeming bloodlust, and Rai said that he lost Leaks and came back. Since nothing else could be done, the party continued on to the Field of Four Colors, where there were four stones set up in a circle, reflecting light in different colors. Rai got Konoe to stand in the middle of them, but nothing happened at first. Then, Konoe noticed the crests on the rocks were similar to the ones on his arms and legs and suddenly everything went black.

When he opened his eyes, Konoe was in the middle of a world of darkness, but the lights he saw earlier in his nightmare when the curse appeared were there. Each light, in turn took the form of four devils, human figures with horns and draconic tails, and introduced themselves to Konoe before asking him the same question they did when they first appeared : what do you feel?

Froud-the devil of joy, Verg, the devil of pleasure, Kaltz, the devil of grief, and Razel, the devil of wrath all asked in turn, and when they were done, Konoe woke up, having passed out in the middle of the stones. Rai and Asato were concerned and asked what happened, suddenly noting that Konoe's ears and tail were back to their normal color-he was no longer cursed.

They don't have time to think on it more until the devils suddenly appear in their respective stones, expressing disappointment in the fact that none of them succeeded in driving Konoe to lose control of his emotions, in which case they would've eaten him. Leaks then appeared as well, saying he was disappointed none of them were able to capture Konoe before suddenly draining them of their powers, causing the devils bodies to disappear and fade away. Leaks then turns his attention back to Konoe and warns him that the person closest to him will eventually also share his curse. He then tells Konoe to keep being entertaining and vanishes, leaving Konoe there in the field.

Though confused about what to do now and still with a feeling of forboding, Konoe still felt releived that the curse seemed to have disappeared from him, and the three made their way back to Ransen to figure out the next move. Arriving after a day or so, they realize that Ransen is in the middle of a festival and that everyone is dressed up in strange demon costumes to welcome in the brief winter. Rai suggest that they go to the inn they stayed at before, because the owner owes Konoe for stepping in for him. Konoe agrees and they find the same inn again, finally catching a glimpse of the owner.

Suddenly, Rai stops and drives a knife into the counter, telling Konoe to find somewhere else to stay because he wasn't staying here if this man owned the inn. Bardo, the inns owner is apparently someone from Rai's past whom he hates. Konoe, getting fed up with his attitude said they weren't going to find another place and that he was going to stay here, in this inn. It is enough to very reluctantly convince Rai to stay, not wanting to be seperated from his Sanga, but goes immediately up the stairs to get away from Bardo. Bardo returns the knife by throwing it and the key at Konoe, before he finally returns upstairs to square out who gets what rooms. Asato immediately wants to room with Konoe but so does Rai, and finally after Konoe gets annoyed at their fighting again, ends up with Rai because as Sanga and Touga, it makes sense.

They retire to the room for now and Konoe goes out at dusk, deciding to drop by his friend's place to show he was back. Tokino is glad to see him and that he is free of his curse, and gives him a few kuims, Konoe's favorite fruit to celebrate. Returning to his room with Rai in it, he explains where he was, to which Rai said not to get his friend involved and that he should not linger on the past. Konoe also gave him one of his kuims, Rai reluctantly eating it.

After waking up in the morning, the two go downstairs only to find the festival is in full force, leading a strange energy in the air, partly due to excitement and the costumes. Bardo tells him a bit about the festival before Rai drags Konoe outside to go explore. Unfortunately, Konoe immediately gets swallowed up by the crowd and loses both Asato and Rai in the bustle of people. He ends up near an alleyway, where he is soon accosted by familiar figures: the devils.

They appear in front of Konoe to inform him that Leaks had not actually killed them, but merely drained their powers to a fraction of what they were. Konoe is suspicious at first, but the devils say they don't lie and that they wanted to team up with him to take down Leaks and get their powers back. Before Konoe can say anything more, Rai and Asato appear and attack the devils, causing Konoe to tell them to stop. Rai does not trust the devils, but Razel makes Verg show proof that they are weakened, pulling out his heart and showing how its shattered. Konoe reluctantly agrees to let them stay around, all of them keeping an eye on each other so no devil tries to eat Konoe before they get their powers back.

They return to the inn and Konoe asks Bardo for another room in exasperation, which he manages to have. With the demons settled away, Konoe expresses his desire to go out and see more of the festival. Rai follows him so he doesn't get in trouble, and after Konoe says he wants to see the whole festival, Rai tells him to climb up on a roof with him and watch it. They sit there for a time, Konoe asking about Rai's hometown of Setsura, but Rai eventually clams up when Konoe asks him if he always likes fighting. Once inside the inn, his group and the devils gather to eat, where Bardo tells them of the library that's open on the last day of the festival. The devils suggest that they go there for information on Leaks and the rest of them agree before retiring to their rooms for the night.

As they are settling in Rai finally tells the story of his right eye, how he lost it to a demon he was hunting, but in return, gouged out both of his eyes, implying it may have had something to do with his insanity. Unable to figure out how to respond to Rai saying that they should get to know each other better, they both slept to the next day. Rai was gone from the room so Konoe got ready and exited, telling Asato-who was on the roof-that he was going to again go look at the festival from on the ground.

In the meantime he gets distracted by a cattail plant and immediately tries to pounce on it like a cat, planting himself against the building in front of Rai, who'd been watching him. After making fun of Konoe for his little show, Rai told him to come along otherwise he'd keep getting in trouble. Together they walked through the streets until evening, where Konoe gets led astray by a very nice scent. Finding it wafting out of a bag of incense from a rather shady stall, Rai warns him not to take it, but Konoe buys it instead. Rai tells them to head back to the inn, but Konoe suddenly decides to walk along the river, happening on another couple of cats who had been hiding out using the incense.

That's when Rai tells him the incense most likely has catnip in it, which makes ribika drunk and acts as a slight aphrodesiac. Realizing the feeling inside of him was because of this, Konoe also realizes that Rai is affected too when the other seizes him and begins licking him, eventually breaking down into the two making out with each other. Konoe protests because he's pretty sure Rai hates him, but Rai tells him its his fault for buying the insence and that when they are feeling like this, anyone will do. This gets Konoe mad enough to bite Rai's nose, so Rai finally stops and the two of them go back to the inn.

They spend the rest of the night and next day uneventfully, because the following night is the one where they can get into the library. However, as the devils and cats convene in the inn dining room, they have a problem: only a small section of the library is open to the public, and what they wanted to look for was under guard. Pondering this dilemma, Bardo suddenly interjects he knows how to get into the library, but only if they tell him what's going on. Konoe agrees to tell him after, and then Bardo proceeds, rather badly to explain how to get in, since the lock on the door to the back of the library is broken.

After much arguing, the group makes their way into the section of the library that was open before sneaking out to the back. The devils take care of one of the guards, and then the group enters the library. Razel uses his flames to light up the dark room, and the rest of them split off to look for any information on Leaks. Konoe finds a few books on the history of Sisa, including the tales of a Sanga who was so powerful he could make flowers bloomed where he walked, but finds nothing useful against Leaks.

All of a sudden the light goes out, and the devils tell them that Leaks' pursuers have arrived once again. The group agrees to split up and draw the enemies into the forest where they can fight without hurting townsfolk. They escape into the library and then to the forest being chased by the cats, with Asato going with the devils and Rai and Konoe splitting off to chase another.

They run for a little bit, teaming up to finally take the enemy cat down, only to find Firi in its place. He again tells them he is Leaks' Sanga and wants Konoe to keep struggling because his master finds it entertaining. To this end, Firi summons a bunch of soulless cats, who all begin attacking Rai and Konoe at once. Konoe begins to sing and Rai is able to hold them off for a little while, but the numbers begin to overwhelm him. Konoe gets the idea to help out and suddenly stops singing, only to try and attack Firi to stop the song. He doesn't succeed and gets pretty heavily injured in the attempt, but Rai in his rage, manages to defeat the rest of the pursuers. Firi calls some more after that, despite the fact that both are exhausted, but suddenly there is a bright white light and the Poet is suddenly standing in front of them. His presence manages to drive Firi off, and then he begins to lead Rai and Konoe somewhere in the forest. Rai questions whether they can really trust this Poet, but Konoe refuses to listen and follows. The figure leads them back to the rest of the group, who tell them they too have defeated their opponents.

Because of their injuries, Rai and Konoe go back to the inn to rest, holding off explaining everything to Bardo until the next day. It's decided that they have no choice but to wait for more information or the devils to pick up on his location. The next day Konoe explains everything to Bardo and then is taken out on town with Rai, who is now searching for information on the demon that took his left eye.

They head to a shady looking bar where Rai talks with someone while Konoe waited, only to leave after getting what he came after. He then promptly tells Konoe to go back to the inn, which makes him angry and he runs off. It's only late in the day that he's back in his room and Rai enters. Konoe smells the hint of perfume on his clothing, suddenly strangely jealous about what exactly Rai was doing, and frustrated that his partner won't confide in him either. He spends the rest of the night not talking to Rai, and in the morning, he is nowhere to be seen.

Konoe goes downstairs to go looking for Rai, but Bardo warns him that 'something' is happening today. Confused, Konoe leaves and notes there are strangely enough, less cats on the street and a strange energy in the air. Regardless, he goes to the bar they went to the day before in search of Rai or at least information on him, only to be accosted by some of the patrons. He rudely tells them off, but a group of them end up attacking him, overwhelming him with sheer numbers despite the fact that he was fighting back fiercely. All of a sudden they stopped as one of Rai's swords came down to nearly take their head off-he'd heard the ruckus and come in to see what it was.

Dragging Konoe out of the bar, he told him he's an idiot, especially for going to a place like that, to which Konoe retorted he could do whatever he wanted to. However, when Rai prompted him to leave again, Konoe refused, which led Rai to finally say that he was heading to meet with a prostitute at a brothel. They enter the brothel, Rai requesting the same person as last time and immediately heading up to her room. Konoe follows, to discover the prostitute in question is a female cat named Mana, whom Rai had come to question the last day.
She angrily tells Rai off for coming to bother her while she is working, as he had only come to ask questions, and she threw a bottle of perfume at him. Konoe realizes this is what he smelled on Rai’s cloak and that he hadn’t actually been doing anything. Mana at first refuses to answer Rai’s questions, but when he says that he’ll pay double her rate and never talk to her again, she finally agrees.
Mana reveals that she was a previous sacrifice for the demon that Rai was hunting, and told him how the sacrifices were blindfolded and moved to a cave next to Mirror Lake, which was north of Ransen somewhere. Rai is satisfied with her answer and tosses her a gold coin, way more than he told her he would give. Mana is ecstatic, but as Konoe starts to leave, he discovers that he’s feeling strange. Mana immediately notices and smiles, offering her room for ‘dealing with it’ and promptly leaves him and Rai alone. Konoe admits he’d been feeling off and feverish since the beginning of the day.
Rai again calls him an idiot and tells him that its mating season, which should start about Konoe’s age. Since Konoe raised himself, he didn’t know about it and its symptoms, leading to his current situation. Rai then says they have to deal with it or Konoe would continue to feel worse. Konoe agrees mostly because his body is telling him so and Rai promptly blindfolds him before they proceed to have sex, since both of them went into rut at the same time, indicating a strong bond. After they finish their act, Rai takes Konoe back to the inn, where he continues to rest, still feeling strangely feverish. He sleeps fitfully through the night and awakens to find that he indeed has become sick and feverish. Rai is in and out of the room, but it is later during that night that Konoe feels Rai checking his fever and then grooming his ears to make him feel slightly better. Konoe feigns sleep so Rai doesn’t go away, and manages to sleep until night, when he finds that Rai is standing by the window.
Something is wrong, and it takes Konoe a minute to figure out why until Rai tells him there’s danger and jumps out of the window. One of Leaks’ pursuers had found them and Rai left to fight. Konoe forces himself to get up and watch the fight. Since Rai seems to be in trouble, Konoe starts singing to help him, allowing Rai to defeat his opponent, but also makes him pass out from the effort. Rai himself loses control and mutilates the body because there is no one there to stop him, only coming to his senses after he’s done. Froud, the devil of joy appears, laughing at him and telling him there is another shadow inside of him, and that Rai loves to slaughter people. Rai is upset and lashes out, but Froud reminds him of Konoe in the room before vanishing with the body. Rai goes inside to find that Konoe has indeed passed out on the ground from exertion and puts him back in his own bed, annoyed that Konoe had thought to sing when he didn’t need to.
Konoe gets up the next day, but Rai is gone from the room completely. Not knowing where he went, Konoe goes downstairs to ask Bardo, who says he doesn’t know where either Rai or Asato have gone. Then Bardo brings him aside to tell him to stay away from Rai-Konoe asks why and he replies that he was a dangerous person to be around, since Bardo apparently did know him from when he was little. Konoe just replies that he can do whatever he want to that and leaves the inn. Wondering what to do next, he decides to head to Mirror Lake, since Rai still isn’t talking to him about what happened other than the passing mention during the night that his eye aches whenever he has nightmares.
Konoe then leaves and journeys to the lake north of Ransen, hoping he could possibly find Rai there-or at least figure out what the other cat is trying to do. He notices that strangely enough despite the lake looking like it was made of water, the surface was solid even as he hit it with his hand. Konoe then decides to walk across the lake to the rocks on the other side where the cave probably was, only to be struck with a sudden burning pain as he crosses about halfway.
Konoe collapses as his body is strung out with pain, and with an arm thrown in front of his face, he sees with distress that his arms have the markings on them again-he continues by looking at his reflection in the lake, only to find that his ears and tail have indeed gone back to the color of black. He’s seized with despair and revulsion, as well as the pain still coursing through his body, and in the haze notices there is a ring by his body that wasn’t there before.
He reaches out to it, seeing words engraved on the metal, thinking it possibly is a spell. Repeating it aloud to himself, he realizes it is a spell, and all of a sudden a dark shadow and pain is consuming his body. Konoe loses consciousness quickly after that as Leaks is able to possess his body.
The magician uses Konoe’s body to wreak havoc on some people in Ransen before visiting people with whom Konoe had had trouble with before, simply to mess with them. Leaks visited the cats who had assaulted Konoe in the bar, easily defeating them and laughing at their weakness before knocking them out quickly. He then heads to the brothel where he breaks in to see Mana, the prostitute cat that Konoe and Rai had talked to. She’s startled as he arrives, not noticing that Konoe is possessed. Leaks knocks out her client and proceeds to ask her strange questions, like why was she here, doing this when females are protected and she could have whatever she wanted?
Mana replies that here she had control, and she could fulfill men’s dreams and fantasies. The world views females as a commodity and their only purpose to bear lots of children. Here, as a prostitute she could at least have some pride. Leaks replies to that with another question of what she thought love is. Mana gets angry, saying he can’t just barge in there and ask that, demanding what exactly his purposeis. She then says she doesn’t know what love is, because she believes it doesn’t exist. She then turns the question on Leaks, realizing that what she really wanted to know what love is. Leaks acknowledges this fact before knocking her out and leaving, going after his final prey.
Rai in the meantime, noticed that Konoe hasn’t come back to the room for a couple of days. He assures himself that Konoe doesn’t need a babysitter and he can do whatever he want, but is still for some strange reason worried about his safety. This is cut short when the door opens and Konoe enters the room. Rai tells him they are going to Mirror Lake, only for him to notice that something is very wrong. Konoe doesn’t speak, but merely walks up to Rai, pinning him down to the bed with absurd strength. It is at this point that his cloak slips off and Rai sees that the curse on Konoe has returned. He demands to know who that really is, and Leaks replies that he has taken over Konoe’s body.
He asks Rai if he cares about Konoe, if he knows about the shadow growing inside of him. Rai is uncooperative, but Leaks quickly tests his feelings by telling that unless Rai gives up the shadowy power inside of him and let it control him, he will kill Konoe right at that moment. Rai hesitates for a bit then finally acquiesces, allowing Leaks to drain a shadowy power from his right eye before getting off of him and disappearing into the night.
The next time scene is Konoe finally awakening, tormented by memories of violence Leaks may have committed while in his body. As he struggles to gain a hold of himself, Konoe hears Leaks’ voice inside of his head, speaking to him. He asks what Leaks did, who merely laughs and refuses to answer. Leaks then tells him that they are connected, which is how he can talk to Konoe like this, and the end of times is coming, having to do with the song of the two moons. After telling Konoe to entertain him one last time, Leaks vanishes from his mind, leaving Konoe alone by a river.
Unable to figure out what happened, Konoe tries to head back towards Ransen, only to be stopped by Froud, who had been witnessing the whole thing. He tells Konoe that he has no place to belong, especially after what he did to Rai while possessed. Konoe demands to know what Froud saw, but the devil refuses instead offering Konoe the chance to accept his offer and come with him to his world, since he had no place to go.
Despite almost succumbing to despair, Konoe knocks Froud’s hand away, not trusting the devil’s offer in the slightest. Froud shakes his head, sorry he couldn’t cat him in his trap and tells Konoe he even invited a special guest, who he heard coming up in the forest behind him. Konoe turns only to see Rai with an angry look on his face. He grabs Konoe’s arm, asking him if he was Leaks. Confused, Konoe shook his head no, and then Rai put his body between him and Froud. The devil made a few more remarks about their relationship, but Rai ignores him and starts dragging Konoe back to the inn.
He doesn’t fight back at all, and merely lets himself be brought back to the room where he immediately curls up under his covers, hoping that Rai doesn’t see his curse has come back. Rai lets him stay like that for the rest of the night-Konoe feels him hover over the bed, but soon leaves after. He looks out to see three kuims left on his bedside table, obviously left by Rai. He stays that way for the rest of the night, trying to sleep.
Waking up in the morning, Rai is still there and finally grows tired of the childish act as Konoe peers out from under the covers, pulling them back to reveal that his curse had come back. Konoe is ashamed, but Rai tells him he already knows because Leaks had shown him while he was being possessed. Konoe is upset and asks him if he did anything terrible to him while he was there; Rai replies that it wasn’t him that did that, and he should stop worrying. He also states that Konoe is a precious Sanga and he wasn’t exactly going to leave him. Not knowing how to take that, Konoe just stares at him while Rai wonders why he’s being followed around by such a stupid cat. Konoe replies that even if Rai tries to leave him behind he will follow him because he’s a Touga, and Rai sighs, saying he knows this. He then tells Konoe ‘I’m going to Mirror Lake, don’t follow me’, knowing full well that Konoe will follow him, and that he’s given up on pushing the Sanga away.
Konoe does eventually pry himself out of bed to quickly follow Rai before he gets too far, and follows him towards Mirror Lake. Arriving at the edge, he pokes at the water again, Rai asking if they could walk over it. Konoe replies they can and they both cross the lake to the other side, looking for the cave. The rock face seems to be flat and devoid of any caves so both of them look around. This is when Konoe notices words reflected in the water and reads them out loud to himself. The rock face behind him suddenly shines and an entrance is revealed behind a blinding light. Pointing out the words to a surprised Rai, he said it must be the fact that Konoe has the power of song that he was able to use magic to open the place.
Konoe can already feel the residual emotions of all the sacrifices that had lost their lives in the cave, hesitating to go in because of his empathy. Rai tries to tell him to stay behind, but Konoe refuses saying he wasn’t going to leave Rai alone. The two then make their way into the cave, but they don’t get very far before Rai suddenly stumbles, catching at his chest. Konoe stops, startled and asks him what’s wrong. Rai says its nothing and he’s just a little bit dizzy, but Konoe notices that peeking through his shirt is a black mark, the same black mark that’s on his own body. The curse has spread to Rai. Touching the mark, he feels it is burning up, almost immediately begins to feel horribly guilty, apologizing to Rai. Rai tells him to calm down, that they didn’t know if it was the same curse, but Konoe could feel that It probably is. Either way, he helps Rai stand up and almost physically drags the bigger cat out of the cave, saying he was in no condition to continue. Rai continued to protest and get Konoe to let go on the journey back to the inn, but he was too weak to do anything about it.
They eventually made it back to the inn, where Konoe managed to put Rai to bed, now feeling feverish from the mark on his body. Konoe gives him so water, then tells him he is going to go out to search for information on the mark. Rai tries to convince him not to go, but Konoe says he’s not going to go risk his life and leave Rai alone. After that he makes his way downstairs to the kitchen, telling Bardo that Rai was sick. Bardo replies that he’ll try not to bother Rai in case his sickness gets worse, so Konoe leaves, satisfied that at least Bardo knew what was going on and could possibly take care of him in his absence.
Konoe makes his way to the shaman they had consulted before. He remembers the path from before, so is able to arrive there without incident. He enters, intent on asking the shaman about the curse and Leaks. The shaman is slightly surprised to see him back again in the same condition, but remarks that while the four shadows that tormented him before were gone, there was now a larger one looming over him, threatening to engulf his soul. He asks if Konoe knows what this presence is to which Konoe says yes, it is Leaks. He then tells the shaman about Rai’s mark and asks if it is the same as the curse that reappeared on his own skin. The shaman says yes, it is and that it appeared because Rai is the closest one to his heart and has a strong bond with him. He also remarks that this must have been Leaks’ plan all along, cause Konoe to remember the warning Leaks gave at the Field of Four Colors. It was there he said that his curse would spread to his most precious person, and Konoe curses himself for walking straight into Leaks’ hands.
He then asks the shaman about the end of times and the song of the two moons, if that was real. The shaman says the stars have been strange for awhile so that yes, the end of times was coming soon, and the song of two moons was actually a real prophecy of destruction that was known to some cats. Konoe asked if there was any way to stop it, to which the shaman replied that he wasn’t able to tell him that. He exists merely to see the future, not to intervene and change fate as it is set. However, he does say that perhaps he can offer Konoe advice on the matter, and then tells him that maybe this was the worlds longing for change, that ribika, like their human ancestors had grown arrogant and like them, were going to be destroyed. Konoe says he doesn’t care about that, he draws the line at the world being destroyed. He doesn’t care about what happened to the humans/Two Canes before them, or why Leaks was doing this, he didn’t want the world to end. The shaman says that his selfish emotions can’t change anything if fate is already set. Yet despite that Konoe says he doesn’t care, he hates what he hates and he will try despite everything. The shaman then smiles, saying that that stubborn feeling is what will carry through and become Konoe’s strength, leaving him again with the words of how he wonders ‘how Konoe’s song will shake the world.’ With some parting uncertainties, Konoe leaves the shaman behind, now pondering what exactly to do with this new information.
He returns to the inn, only to find an empty cup outside the door of the room. Picking it up, he enters, finding that Rai had already drank the water in the one he left, and quickly refills this new cup for Rai to drink from. Konoe lets Rai rest until morning, when he wakes up to find that Rai is now acting perfectly fine like he isn’t sick at all. He then asks Konoe if he went to go see the shaman, to which he says yes. Konoe then tells Rai that the shaman says their mark is the same, but unable to tell him the real reason behind why the mark appeared, merely saying it was because they are Sanga and Touga. He also says the thing about the song of two moons is also real, and that the shaman says the end of times is coming soon. Rai asks if he said anything about how to stop it but Konoe just said he didn’t know. Rai laments that they are at a standstill once again, but tells Konoe to get ready because they are going to the cave again.
Konoe suddenly realizes the others don’t know that his curse came back and asked Rai what they should do about that. Rai says that they don’t need to know right now, and would just cause an unnessary fuss, so it was better to just keep quiet until they figured out what was going on. Agreeing, the two of them went downstairs to try and leave the inn to go to Mirror Lake, but were stopped by the devils in the dining room. Rai tries to get them to leave before they figure out Konoe’s curse, but Bardo tells them to go to the dining room to talk and they reluctantly do, where Verg suddenly reaches out and rips Konoe’s cloak off.
The devils are all displeased that Leaks had used their magic that he’d stolen from their bodies, and try to harshly question Konoe about what happened. He isn’t very happy with their attitude, but has to say that it just appeared on him when he touched a ring. Kaltz mentions that Leaks is getting much stronger and it would be soon that they would be able to sense him. Konoe also asks the devils about the song of two moons, and what that is about.
Bardo, who is also there mentions that is part of an actual legend which involves snowfall before a lunar eclipse happens. If the story is true then something like that is going to happen pretty soon, since it is nearing Sisa’s mild winter. The group is still somewhat skeptical of a fairy tale being true, but they let it rest because it won’t be useful until one of the devils themselves could detect Leaks.
Rai and Konoe then head onto their original destination, which is Mirror Lake, having been stopped the previous day but the appearance of Rai’s curse. The two make it there and cross the water without incident, Konoe reciting the spell to open the cave. They go in again, Konoe still being able to sense the latent emotions of everyone who died there, but they proceeded anyway. By the time they got to the end of the cave which was littered with bones and an old, rusted sword, Konoe notices that Rai is acting strange. He reaches out to shake him, but Rai suddenly turns and attacks Konoe, driving him to the ground.
Looking at his face, Konoe can see that Rai has once again succumbed to his bloodlust and was biting Konoe and making him bleed. He desperately tries to fight back, but Rai manages to pin him to the ground. Through his flailing, Konoe accidentally touches the sword. His empathy takes over, causing him to have strange flashes of memories: of a small white haired cat hunting and laughing as he covered himself in blood, the same white haired cat and his dead parents who were both laying in a pool of blood, and finally a familiar white-haired cat using the sword to fight against a demonic dragon in the very cave they were in. Konoe realizes they were Rai’s memories and is nearly overwhelmed by the emotions, but all of a sudden there is a flash of white light and the Poet again appears before Konoe.
He sings another song, telling Konoe that he forgot something at Karou, his home village. Something that his parents left behind for him. After the song is done, Konoe is suddenly dragged back to reality, where Rai is still over him, but no longer lost to bloodlust.
Rai gets off of Konoe and distances himself from his partner, telling him to immediately go back to Ransen and find a new Touga, as he’s a precious Sanga and can’t be with Rai anymore. Konoe tries to argue with him, but Rai keeps insisting that he doesn’t deserve Rai as a partner anymore until Konoe finally slaps him. Konoe then tells Rai that if he left, he’d quit being a Sanga, because it didn’t mean anything if it wasn’t Rai. If he was a precious Sanga, than Rai was his precious Touga, and he didn’t want to leave Rai alone anymore.
Rai tells him that he’ll just endanger himself and everyone because of this bloodlust starting to eat away at him, but Konoe tells him he doesn’t care. He was Rai’s Sanga, and that if Rai ever lost control and was gone for good, he would put an end to it himself. He finally admits all the feelings that he was denying himself, that he actually genuinely cared for Rai and didn’t want to lose him. Rai seems to calm down after that, almost as if being released from a huge weight. Hearing Konoe mention how Rai probably only sees him as a Sanga, Rai actually denies that fact finally, saying that while they were talking, he forgot that Konoe was a Sanga.
Finally resolving themselves, Konoe and Rai go back to the inn together. While they were inside the room, Konoe finally remembers what the Poet tells him, saying he needed to head to Karou and that the mysterious figure told him so. Rai is very skeptical, but Konoe tells his partner to trust him, that they can’t keep doubting everything and that the Poet has always helped them out before. Rai finally agrees, and as the next day dawns, they go on a journey back to Karou.
Konoe first initially wonders how they will get there, since he doesn’t actually know the way out and that the forest around Karou is very dangerous and being eroded by the Void. Rai scoffs at his unpreparedness, but shows Konoe the path that merchants use, which is a strange road where no monsters will attack. He says that no one knows how it got there, but its seen by the tufts of yellow grass lining it, and it would take them less than a day to reach Konoe’s home village.
Along their walk, Firi suddenly interrupts again, looking more restless than usual. At first he warns the pair away from continuing to Karou, and as Konoe demands why, Firi just suddenly says that it probably wouldn’t matter, and that Leaks’ plan was accelerating and soon no one would be able to stop it. He disappears before the two can ask any more questions, and they have no choice but to continue onto Karou.
As soon as they get in range of the village, Konoe immediately senses something is wrong. There’s a strange smell in the air and as he rushes forward, Konoe discovers that his hometown is in the process of being eroded by the Void. He sees bodies of the villagers overcome by the Sickness, laying around with random body parts missing. He is almost overcome with anger at the sight of seeing his peaceful hometown like this, but Rai snaps him out of it and asks him why he came here.
Konoe focuses, walking slowly around the devestation and poisonous plant life to reach his own house, which was untouched by the Void. Entering the little house, he finds the ring his parents left him in a little bag, the thing that the Poet sent him here to find. He takes one final look at the place until he and Rai leave, silently going back to a tree on the outskirts of Karou.
Rai mentions it’s too dangerous to walk back to Ransen as the Moon of Light is setting, so they make a temporary camp at the base of the tree. Konoe, still wrestling with his complicated feelings about Karou, looks at the ring and wonders why the Poet told him to come and get this. With Rai watching, he touches the ring to use his empathy, and sees the emotions of the wearer.
He hears a beautiful song, then sees a regal cat sitting in front of the banner of Ransen. Then the memory changes to something darker, as he sees a figure reaching out to embracing the huge darkness that he summoned. He recognizes this figure as Leaks, and the person wearing the ring was watching in grief that he couldn’t stop him.
Konoe suddenly snaps out of it, with Rai asking him what he saw. Slowly, Konoe recounts the memories, and Rai says the first part he saw was probably the Lord of Ransen and that his dad was probably a Sanga like him. Konoe remembers his mother telling him his father loved to sing, even if she never mentioned anything about him possibly being an important Sanga. As for the second part, neither of them could figure out what it meant other than Konoe’s father had met Leaks at some point, leading him to be even more confused.
As they look at the sky, it begins to snow just like the song of two moons predicted, and they both curl up closer to each other. Exhausted from the empathy and the realization that his hometown will be buried and never exist no more, Konoe realizes he’s crying. He tries to cover it up but Rai surprisingly says nothing, and instead offers him his warm tail. Konoe clings to it as he cries himself to sleep over the loss of his home, no matter how much he hated it.
Eventually they wake up the next morning, Konoe letting go of Rai’s tail, rather embarrassed at his show of emotion. Rai doesn’t seem to care and they make their way back to Ransen with relatively little difficulty, only to notice something is wrong by the time they finally get there. For some reason the Sickness has suddenly struck a large number of cats in Ransen, where it had previously been seen very little. Recalling Firi’s words about the Void suddenly spreading and getting worse, the two see this as a premonition of something very bad and return to the inn.
There the devils say that Kaltz is very close to finding out where Leaks was-he was south of Ransen by Karou, just where Rai and Konoe were, but can’t pinpoint him exactly yet. Stuck with nothing they are able to do, Rai and Konoe sit out on the rooftop. Rai suddenly mentions Setsura, his village where he was born. He seemed to say it in solidarity to having seen Konoe’s hometown. Konoe himself expression confusion in the fact that he hated most of the cats who lived there and in the end, it was still his home and it felt like something had been lost; that he belonged nowhere anymore. Rai tells him a little about his past, and Konoe puts his forehead against Rai’s shoulder, telling him that he will never leave Rai, that Rai is his precious partner and wants to be with him. Eventually Rai asks him for a song.
Konoe remembers the previous time when he’d suggested singing a song to Rai to calm him down, to which he’d replied they weren’t in battle so it was stupid. Surprised as he had changed his mind, Konoe still started singing and humming along to the melody until it was time for them to go to sleep. They went back to the room and had sex, confirming their feelings for each other, and then sleeping until morning.
Konoe wakes up suddenly, because Rai is staring out of the window and something is very wrong. There is a red light coming through it, and they look out to see that an eclipse of Sisa’s two moons was beginning to happen. They quickly join the devils on the roof, who say this was the sign that Leaks had been waiting for. The complete eclipse happens and all of a sudden, they can hear a horrible song flooding the city.
Dead cats begin to appear all around Ransen and start attacking anything they can find, and Konoe realizes the song is coming from the moon. Leaks is using the moon to spread his song all over Sisa so everyone will be destroyed at once. Kaltz says that he finally has an exact location on where Leaks is and is ready to teleport there. Rai and Konoe manage to convince the devils to take them along, however reluctantly, and are soon teleported to Leaks’ hideout.
As soon as they arrive, Konoe notices a huge tree that should’ve been clearly visible from when he was in Karou; but it seemed like it had been under fierce protection before then and only now were the devils able to break through. A bunch of Leaks’ minions poured out of the tree, including the twin cats from earlier whom had been revived and combined with twisted dark magic.
Konoe also notices that both Rai and Froud are missing, but the devils have no idea where either of them were. However, Verg and the other two suddenly start fighting the crowd of minions with their magic, with Verg yelling at Konoe to just go and find Leaks. Konoe is hesitant to go without Rai, but his hand is forced when the devils forcibly clear a path for him as their enemies keep reviving over and over.
He runs into the tree fortress, where he runs up through different doors, sensing like he was being guided to where Leaks was. He finally makes it to a big room that was overflowing with the disgusting life that the Void creates. There Leaks and Firi greet him.
Konoe draws his sword, demanding that Leaks tell him what the hell he was doing, only to have Leaks laugh in his face. He says that he’s going to drown Sisa in darkness and reform the world into a perfect one without feeling, and there was nothing Konoe could do to stop the song.
Konoe then asks him why him, why torment him of all people with the curse, and Leaks tells him a story about how he ripped his own emotions from his body and placed them in a yet unborn child. The child would then grow up with excess emotions, being able to easily empathize with other people, but that it would soon die because emotions of two people were too much for one person to handle.
Konoe condemns Leaks for involving an innocent child in all of this, but the sorcerer seems amused that Konoe doesn’t get it yet. He asks Leaks who this child was, but for some reason he feels like he already knows the answer, and doesn’t want to.
Leaks replies by saying that yes, Konoe knows already and takes off his mask, revealing his face. It’s the same as Konoe’s-rather, Konoe has Leaks’ face, and he was simply the vessel for all the emotions Leaks didn’t want.
Devestated at the revelation that he was just a construct and that he didn’t actually exist, Konoe falls to his knees, unable to do anything or defend himself. He questions his sense of self, and when Firi draws near him to throw a dagger at his back to kill him, Konoe calls out with his heart to someone, anyone that could help him.
Rai, in the meantime had been dragged into battle with Froud, who had spirited him away, revealing himself to be the selfsame demon that had took out Rai’s eye and tormented him all this time. Rai quickly goes into a frenzy trying to beat Froud, only to suddenly hear Konoe’s voice. This snaps him out of the throes of his past, finally discarding his old sword and beating Froud with his normal ones, telling him he wasn’t chained to his past anymore. Froud expresses his utmost joy in having been killed by Rai, but Rai ignores him, heading for the portal that Froud had created to emerge just as Firi was trying to kill Konoe.
He throws one of his swords, stopping the blow and waking Konoe out of his despair. Konoe is happy and relieved to see Rai, though he was covered in wounds, but is afraid that now its been revealed that he is just a vessel, Rai wouldn’t care about him anymore.
Leaks makes suggestions to this point, even offering Rai a chance to reverse the past and have a happy, loving home with his parents, and never be tormented by his bloodlust like now. The price is of course forgetting about Konoe, and for a moment, Rai almost looks like he considers it.
Rai just tells Leaks instead that trying to convince him to redo the past was useless; it was over and he was done being controlled by it. He tells Konoe he’s his own person and his Sanga, finally drawing his sword and attacking Leaks. He’s stopped by a barrier, but with Rai’s presence, Konoe gets himself together enough to stand up and try and help.
Leaks still doesn’t take Rai seriously, commanding for Firi to finally sing as Konoe tries to do so himself. Firi looks scared for a moment, but then begins to sing, dissolving his body to power up Leaks himself. Konoe yells at him, disgusted that he could do that to someone who practically worshiped him, but again Leaks says he doesn’t have any emotions like pity. He also tells Rai that it didn’t matter if he let go of his past, he still has the curse on him, and he was going to use that.
Leaks’ song amplifies Rai’s curse, making him lose control over to his bloodlust for the final time. Konoe draws his sword, remembering his promise that he made to Rai that he was going to end it. As he acknowledge that this was probably the last thing he’ll ever do, he runs towards Rai, who also lunges at him, and they both end up piercing each other through the chest.
After a gentle look to each other, Konoe is suddenly enveloped in white light and the Poet appears to him. He finally takes off his hood, revealing his face and voice. He tells Konoe he was always trying to help him out but since he only existed as a soul, he couldn’t talk to Konoe unless it was in a song.
He asks Konoe if he has the ring from Karou, and as Konoe shows it to him, the Poet smiles, and puts it on his finger. He then says that he was going to teach Konoe a song, one full of a certain feeling that has been lost in Sisa. He says that made this song for a certain person himself, and that Konoe’s feelings will certainly reach his partner. He also says that indeed, Konoe is a vessel of Leaks’ emotions, and if he continues like this he will die. The Poet then goes on to say that if the vessel overcame the host, then possibly he could live a bit longer, though he will suffer greatly. He asks Konoe if he could stand this, to which he replies that he wants to live with Rai, even if it was just a little longer. The Poet then smiles and fades away before Konoe can ask him anything further, fading back to the room that he and Rai were in previously.
Konoe opens his eyes, realizing that he and Rai are actually fine for some reason, and were just laying on the ground. They both get up, Rai telling him to sing as he once again draws his weapons. Leaks suddenly looks mad and uneasy, telling a cat named ‘Shui’ he needed to stop interfering. Rai attacks, though there is a barrier still up, and Leaks song was invading Konoe’s mind. He was having a hard time concentrating, as the fire that Leaks conjured up was burning him, but he remembered the Poet’s words and began to sing.
His song powered up Rai as Konoe realized what feeling the Poet was talking about, and that he must have originally wrote this song for Leaks himself. Leaks’ reaction is one of fear, demanding how he knew that song, but Konoe keeps singing despite the enormous pressure from the sorcerer. Something snaps inside of him, but Konoe keeps singing despite the pain of it practically ripping his body apart, and he sees Rai able to finally break down the barrier and stab Leaks through the chest.
Everything fades away into white again, and Konoe wakes up on the ground, bleeding and unable to move. He recalls that he broke himself to sing that powerfully and wondered what use it was when he was just going to die here, only to be enveloped by white light again.
He sees the Poet one more time, who reveals that his is Shui, and also Konoe’s father. He tells Konoe he is so sorry that this had happened to him because of Shui, but that his is happy to have been able to help him even for a little bit. He then tells Konoe he looks like his mother, only to for Konoe to say that’s a lie; his face was Leaks, after all. Shui only smiles and says she had the same look in his eyes as she did. He also says that Konoe, as a vessel did finally overcome the host and he gets to live, though he will have Leaks’ memories always with him, and the knowledge of all the horrible things he’s done. But Shui says a final goodbye and Konoe wakes up to find that he is fully healed. He immediately gets up, only to realize that Shui was right, and that he had all of Leaks memories. He tries for a moment to get a hold of himself and not lose his entire identity to Leaks’ memories, but finally notices Rai next to him, covered in blood. He rushes over to him to find that Rai was alive, just injured, and that the both of them were okay. He tells Rai that Leaks is inside of him now and they didn’t need to worry anymore, especially since the curse on both of them had disappeared.
The devils suddenly appeared, having regained their power, and Konoe is immediately on the defensive. Verg tells him to relax, because they didn’t want to eat him anymore now that Leaks was basically inside him, saying that it would be too nasty. They bit their farewells and vanish, leaving Rai and Konoe to themselves.
In the next three years, Rai’s bloodlust kept appearing less and less, and while Konoe continued to have nightmares and terrible feelings from Leaks’ memories, Rai being with him slowly healed the damage to his heart. They had become a fearsome Sanga and Touga duo, infamous in the underground as bounty hunters.



Personality: Konoe is a loner, not really liking to connect and interact with people. Since he was young, he always had the ability to empathize with people and feel their emotions, which lead him to not be as disconnected as he wants to be. However, living alone for most of his life has led him to be self-reliant and slightly anti-social, with only one real friend, Tokino. He doesn't even like having Tokino worrying over him and doesn't like the fact that his friend saw him when he was sick. Relying on people is something he hates to do, especially if they become troubled by his presence.

Because of this he adopts a somewhat 'live and let live' attitude, though he is disgusted by the sacrifices his villages make. He feels sorry for the other sacrifice he sees because of his empathy because of this, but does nothing to stop or interfere with this.

His tendency to close himself off from people leads him to be fairly awkward when communicating with people, and he has a hard time expressing himself and talking about things, especially feelings. He mentions this several times during all of his routes, how he doesn't know how to help the other person, but he tries to get his point across the same. He has no qualms about insulting or talking back to people to the face if he doesn't like what they are doing, especially seen with Rai. Rai likes calling him a 'stupid cat' and Konoe often returns with insults of his own.

This leads him to trouble because he also is a rather impulsive person despite his control over his emotions, and makes decisions in the heat of the moment. This often gets him running off unintentionally into danger. He's easily frustrated by other people when they don't make their intentions clear to him.

Because of him being a loner for the most of his early life, when Konoe does finally start getting feelings for Rai, he tries to deny or hide it, stating how he doesn't know exactly why he's jealous of their actions or being rude to him, just that he is. Despite having his empathy, he's not very good at handling emotions or figuring out the intentions of others, probably because he's had very little experience with interpersonal relationships. When Rai begins to show affection to him, he gets embarrassed and tries to push him away, leading Rai to believe that Konoe hated being touched by him. He also hates people controlling and messing with him, which he expresses angrily about the main villain of the game doing exactly that.

However throughout the game because he forms bonds with more people, he slowly starts to come out of his shell and interact with them more. Despite his live and let live attitude he is a nice person to others, not wanting to trouble them at all. He also begins to understand his empathy more and how people really work, and becomes more emotionally mature as a result. He is of course still very stubborn and awkward, but more prone to opening up and accepting help, especially when he views the destruction of his hometown and seeks comfort in another person instead of isolating himself.

When people are drawn into the struggle that weren't originally involved, he's understandably distressed and blames himself for their hardship, because he can feel what they feel and thinks he is the cause of these feelings.

To people he considers friends, he's very openly affectionate to, and willing to do anything he can to help them. In Rai's route, he tenaciously sticks through Rai's bloodlust and acts as an emotional support for him, promising to kill him if he ever loses control. He doesn't like being left behind or forgotten, and still has some childlike/catlike tendencies. He's always been very curious about things he doesn't know about, whether its Sanga or humans themselves.

All in all, he's pretty stubborn, awkward, rather aloof ribika, but still holds a lot of emotions and compassion inside of himself because if he loses control of his emotions, he loses control of himself.

Fears: His biggest fear is fire, so much so that he refuses to get near it or keep it in the same room as him. It's unknown why but might have something to do with the fact it marks sacrifices. He's also afraid of losing control of himself, the curse on his body reappearing, losing himself in his nightmares that come from Leaks' memories inside of him. He's also of course afraid of losing his friends and Rai, especially Rai to his bloodlust, and also hurting innocents.

Weaknesses: He's stubborn, impulsive, has a really bad sense of direction so he gets lost easily. His tail is a weak spot, if its grabbed and tugged harshly, its very painful. He's also rather awkward when talking to people, and his empathy/reading memories in objects can be a weakness because both of those things pretty much incapacitate them, and he has barely any control over when it appears.

Mundane Strengths/Abilities: He's pretty adept at using a sword, and is a good fighter, like most male ribika are. Ribika are much faster and more flexible than humans, allowing Konoe to climb trees and other structures very easily and pull off manuevers like using a tree as a springboard for an attack. Ribika also have sharp claws and teeth, which he can also use as weapons. Ribika bodies can also go for a long time without much food and often don't require much to eat.

Sensitivity/Magical Ability:

Empathy: Konoe has the ability to empathize with another person's emotions. He has no control over when this is, but it most often happens with strong, powerful emotions, and its not just limited to normal people. It appears as a bad pain in his chest, often incapacitating him as he feels the other person's emotions just appear inside of him.

Reading objects: he can also do empathy with objects, if they hold powerful emotions and memories from their owners when they were being held/worn. It's most often seen in jewelry, but can be anything. Once Konoe touches it, he will be able to see the most recent, most powerful memory of the objects owner that got imprinted onto it.

Magic: Due to circumstances, Konoe essentially has another person's memories inside of him, and has the ability to use magic. If someone hands him a spell to read out or perform, he can cast it, but isn't really interested in using it himself. He just sort of has the vague knowledge of how to use it, and has a strange power inside of him.

Sanga: Konoe is also a Sanga, which are basically one half of a pair of fighters that acts as the support. Sangas use songs, often with instruments, or going so far as using pain or completely destroying themselves, to perform magic. Konoe himself has his own song passed to him from his father who was a very powerful Sanga, and when he 'sings' it, he can power up his 'Touga' or basically the person physically fighting with inhuman strength and speed. Different songs can perform different acts and Konoe can put more power into his song, but its unknown if he himself uses any other song than that one. He mostly just changes the tune depending on what is happening/needed. His song resonates from his body and inside the 'Touga's' heart and body, though sometimes he has actually physically sang himself, but not during battle. Sangas also have power in their voices to use magic simply by reading things out loud, though it is also unknown if this is because of Konoe's connection to Leaks.

Supply List: He has a generic almost scimitar looking sword, but its nothing really special. He'll probably also have on him a pouch with some medicinal herbs and dried nuts, as well as a few fruits.

Game Transfers: n/a

Sample RP post: http://anameme.dreamwidth.org/353.html?thread=7265#cmt7265