Deep in the heart of the world there was a sea, Koukai. This was not a sea of water, but one of land. It was a land of forest and swamp, desert and rock. Where things lived, it was rich with life—plants, animals, youma, youjuu, all in great numbers. The combination of the harsh terrain and the roaming monsters made the area inhospitable to human development, so very few lived here.

There was a place where people lived in this sea that wasn't a sea: the easternmost of the five mountains at the center of Koukai, Houzan. Here lived the nyosen, permanent caretakers of the mountain and its more temporary residents. Houzan was little more than a maze, with twisting, branching paths one must navigate to reach the inhabited center, and inside between different locales. This was a holy place, so near to the home of Tentei Himself. Holy as it was, it seemed to be in a perpetual season of spring, flowers constantly blooming everywhere one looked. And so holy were the nyosen, unageing and undying.

But there was an exceptionally holy place on Houzan. Up the slope from those inhabited areas was a tree. To one who did not know what one was looking at, it would seem a sad sort of tree. There were no leaves, and the branches stretched in a way that one could see as morose. A resident of this world would recognize this tree as holy. But this tree was greater than a yaboku, where were birthed plants, animals. This tree was greater even than a riboku, from which came humans. So rare, so great, was this tree, it was the only of its kind in existence. This was the Shashinboku. Here were born the nyokai, and, more importantly, the Kirin, that most holy of creatures.

Beneath the tree was a strange creature. She—for the creature was clearly female—had the feathered wings of a bird, the face, arms, and torso of a woman, and the legs and tail of a tiger. This was a nyokai, by the name of Kasshi. On her face was a rapturous expression of pure adoration. This face—protective, loving—was directed at a ranka hanging from the Shashinboku. It was large for a fruit, golden in color. Every once in a while, Kasshi would reach out to gently stroke the ranka. She had kept this vigil, never moving from her spot, for quite some time now. Her wait was soon over.

The ranka twitched. Kasshi let out a gasp of surprise. Just to make sure she wasn't mistaken, she waited. Before long, the ranka twitched again. It was time, almost exactly ten months since Kasshi herself had been born. But just to make extra sure, she waited for it to twitch one more time. When it did, she turned her head towards the nyosen below, and shouted as loud as she could. "She's coming!" Those who heard her ran to gather others, creating quite a fuss down the mountain, but Kasshi didn't mind them. She barely even noticed them.

It happened rapidly now. The ranka twitched, twitched, twitched. Soon it was a constant motion. Kasshi watched with bated breath, feeling pressure build up in her, her whole existence collapsing on a single moment. She didn't even notice the nyosen gathering, Enrin and Oukou. She didn't care. Her purpose for life was coming, and she couldn't wait to lay eyes upon her.

Suddenly, the ranka spilled open, and a new creature poured out, covered in the fluids of its birth. Before she could hit the ground, Kasshi caught her. The creature was gasping in her first breaths, twitching much as the ranka had before. Without even looking, Kasshi grabbed a towel from a nearby nyosen. Carefully, gently, she wiped clean the panting Kirin. For this was a Kirin, a special Kirin, enough so that the nyosen had burst into chatter as soon as the creature was revealed. She was four legged, looking much like a deer, but with the mane of a horse sprouting from the back of her long neck.

But what made her unique was her color: this was a red Kirin. The body was a pale red, almost pink, with a mane the deep crimson of cold fire, so short in her young age that it was barely visible. The hoofs were black, matching a few scattered spots elsewhere on her body and a long patch on her back. Red Kirin were rare; not so rare as black, but rare all the same. There would be much talk of this for years.

But Kasshi didn't care about that. She couldn't stop staring at her Kirin, the most beautiful thing she had ever seen—the most beautiful thing she would ever see, she was sure. She hugged the small Kirin—so small!—to her chest, gently stroking her. Kasshi's body was shaking, matching her little Kirin. And flooding through Kasshi was the most rapturous feeling of happiness, of contentment, greater than she could have imagined, so powerful she was dizzy with it. And peace. She could finally start to fulfill her purpose, her duty.

And so Kyourin was born into this world.


I started writing this earlier this week, and it's already 20k words in, so I thought I would post it. It's my first fanfic, so be kind. And may I say how much it annoys me that this is under anime, not books :/

When I make up names for this, I come up with characters for them. I speak Japanese to a good-enough-I-know-how-stupid-I-sound degree, so yeah. I'll always put the kanji for my invented names at the bottom of the page the first time they show up.

Kasshi: 赫子