Have you ever thought about how different events from when you were younger could have changed your whole history? For me I was 13 when that happened to me. I was born to Renamori Akiko, the year before the signing of unconditional surrender of the Japanese Empire. My father had been from a long line of Samurai but had died during the final days leaving us alone as our nation was brought to heel. While he hadn’t been a supernatural my mother was. The scion of a Kitsune clan, she had taken us away from our ancestral lands when my siblings and I were three. I learned the reasoning when I turned 13… Seems my Mother had been spoken for before she met our father and left the family in disgrace. It wasn’t so bad though! We grew up in Washington State and were raised like good American kids during the 50s and did pretty well for ourselves. We ran a seaside tavern with my Mother’s homemade sake being particularly popular with other immigrant families who craved a taste of home. They didn’t know that she was a shifter though but they were lucky because thanks to her the town never had to worry about the encroachment of predators. What were vampires in the face of fox magic and Japanese steel?
We were loved by our community and I loved my Mother. I loved my siblings as well. We were inseparable and trained together in preparation for the day we would be able to fight. Yes my Mother was training future soldiers as Gaia demanded. Her children were guardians against the dark and even if the Kitsune weren’t the strongest of her children we were still weapons. So she taught us traditional Martial Arts and Kenjutsu and I was fascinated by watching her spellwork. Paper Magic, Elemental manipulation, Illusions, I felt like she could do anything. My hero…
Back on point though because we were discussing my 13th birthday. My siblings and I were triplets and it is traditional that we would go through our first change during this time frame. I grew up with full knowledge of the World of Darkness and the monsters that haunted it. I wanted to be like my Mother: strong, beautiful, regal, but feral in the face of my enemies. Well, that was not meant to be… My siblings went through their change learning to shift to alternate forms and even began to study magic. Me on the other hand… I was normal. It was the worst thing imaginable and it only got worse. Our extended family back on the home islands hadn’t forgotten about us and when they learned of my mundanese via divination I was summoned for an arranged marriage when I turned sixteen. I wasn’t blessed by Gaia and unlike those around me I would age and die like any other mortal but to my extended family I was still valuable for the purpose of breeding. Kinfolk make better partners than humans for the purpose of ensuring the offspring carry Gaia’s blessing. Kitsune had a worse though because as Gaia’s youngest children our pregnancies were difficult and only 1/10 mothers would survive even just having one kit. My Mother having three of us was a miracle and honestly if I died in childbirth it was a tactical choice. Better my life than the life of another fox…
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Well it was becoming the 60s and I wanted to go to college. If I couldn’t be a shifter I wanted to make my own way and like any other teenager of my era I rebelled. My Mother, bless her, didn't stop me, she only told me that if I ran I would never be allowed back just as she hadn’t been allowed back when she had us. She did, though, give me my inheritance, the wakizashi from the family Daisho as I was the middle child. Family legend states that my ancestor carved the blades from the fangs of an elder Dragon possessed by Wyrm-Madness. In the hands of a Kitsune the blades could sever spiritual beasts like paper but in mine it’s might was lost. I wasn’t worthy but my Mother believed that to not let me have it would be a disservice to our ancestors. So I would travel out of State for college never to see my family again.
If I had stayed and accepted my lot in life I would have been shipped back home to marry some pompous noble brat. I would live a luxurious life until I was forced to play Russian Roulette with my biology. I would have lived as long as it took for a kit to kill me in childbirth. Did I do the right thing? I chose my life instead of continuing my kind. It was selfish and honestly it didn’t save me anyways. I would die regardless as three years after leaving home my soul would be forever lost. A lot of folks would still be alive if I hadn’t been that selfish 16 year old girl as I would leave a line of bodies behind me as a member of the enemy.
Maybe I’ll tell the story of my death and resurrection as a bloodthirsty wyrm-spawn? I feel as if it’s a sad tale… One of a naive girl drawn to power that I mistakenly believed I deserved. After all I was a daughter of Gaia and was meant to be more than I was. I was foolish and look at me now? Maybe I could be better… Maybe I could be forgiven, which was honestly my reasoning for joining the Sabbat to begin with. I figured if I was a monster I wanted to be a monster who fought monsters. The Sword of Caine was meant to fight the worst of vampiric kind during the end of days. If I couldn’t fight alongside Gaia I would protect her my own way. As I said I was a naive girl drunk on my own self importance and power. My sin was Pride and even to this day I continue to believe I am the hero of my own story.