Shaman King

Author's note and disclaimer: My friend and I will be doing a joint Shaman King Fanfic, but we decided to throw away our old OCs because they are just horrible. So this is basically an introduction to our characters. I'm still waiting on her to write me back with her character, so it might be awhile. Please be patient. Even though the chapter's title is "Shiloh" my OC hasn't been given that name yet.

I do not own Shaman King.

Shiloh

All I remember is darkness. Everything was quiet as the snow fell from the sky, I could hear the birds chirping from miles away. The bitter cold hardened my heart and flesh and the freezing winds forced my eyes shut. I realized I had no memory of my family or friends, I had no idea who I was—my name, my identity was unknown. It was just me and the streets; I either begged for food or stole money to buy food because no one wanted to give to filthy child like me. I curled up in a corner at night to keep warm because I refused to dumpster dive for blankets. Even if I did, I doubt there would have been any left for me in the metal tin.

One night something strange happened, I was freezing in a corner one night; I was scared and angry. I remember thinking that I didn't want to die like that, that I would have given anything to not freeze to death. When suddenly a warm sensation rose from my chest, it was a small light no one else seemed to see. The light wrapped itself around my body, hugging me tightly as it pushed the cold air away from me. It kept me warm as I slept and sometimes it would deflect the rocks and garbage the neighborhood kids threw at me.

I had nightmares. Sometimes I could remember them, but the others were fuzzy. The ones that were vivid, always had a woman though. Her appearance was blurred and her words were kind and warm and she would be smiling and laughing. However, the moment I thought the dream was nice enough for me to wish to stay there forever; my mind would turn on me. She would be on fire. She screamed for me to run before they caught me. I would wake up in a puddle of sweat, screaming for someone to help her. Food was so unappealing because all I could smell was burning flesh and I would see it as it melted off her bones.

The police tried to put me in a home with a bunch of other kids several times, but I always ran away. I don't know where my pride came from, but it kept me from getting the help I needed. Eventually, like the others, the police gave up. That just gave the other kids more fire; they beat me up a lot if they ever caught me off guard and always from behind because they were cowards. Majority of the time though, I fought back—hurting them a lot worse than they could ever hurt me. Their parents finally told them to stop messing with me and their disapproving glares were directed towards me—like I was the one that started the fights.

I made friends with animals—cats, dogs and rodents—animals who didn't have homes either. I preferred animals over humans, they were nice to me; they didn't hurt me. It got to the point where I spent most of my time in the forest just on the outskirts of town. I took baths in the river, foraged for fruits, fished and hunted. If it was too dark for me to go back to the city, then I camped out under the stars.

That's how I met Kitsune; she was the spirit of the forest. She came to me after I made several poachers leave before they killed anymore of my friends. She was a giant spirit, almost as tall as the trees, with fierce red eyes; her fur was white as snow, the tips of her ears, paws and tails were dipped in black and freckled white. Her face and chest had pink, black and blue markings. She never spoke. Which I thought was odd since the other spirits that came to me—both human and animals—could speak. Some of the animal spirits that could speak helped us communicate better before I figured out that she wanted to become my guardian ghost and fight to protect her land better.

It took us a few years before we could perform simple spirit unity, but that didn't stop us from protecting everyone and the forest. When we finally did perfect spirit unity I almost lost my mind on how wonderful it felt. The power that surged through my veins made me feel invincible. I felt alive for the first time in years. We got carried away with our unity, she would give me her fox ears and tails and we would travel to the nearest campsite and scare the people so bad they would leave with terrifying tales of the demon fox girl who haunted the forest.

One rainy day Kitsune led me to a chest deep inside a cave where she died thousands of years ago. Inside the dusty box was a black crescent moon pendant on a long silver chain, age never touched it over the years. I was still learning the ropes, but I could feel the power pulsating from the object. When I plucked the object, it's energy and my own fused and it grew. The crescent moon became a giant blade and attached to it was a ten foot staff. Amazingly, it was light enough for me to cut down dead trees and seriously frighten off some nosey humans.

One day another Shaman, as the spirits informed me, entered our forest and threatened to steal my pendant and Kitsune. We fought until there was only one left standing, with minor damage to the woods and the animals. I was injured with bloody gashes and broken bones and extreme exhaustion. I had never fought another Shaman before; my energy was almost completely gone. It took me almost a month to fully heal, even with Kitsune's help.

It was around that time when we met. A girl, around my age, came waltzing through the forest. None of the other animals attacked her and I was too tired to do so. But she approached us with a warm smile and a gentle hand. I couldn't help myself. I was drawn towards her light.

Author's note: My friend and I still haven't worked out all the details yet. I think I'll be uploading all of our progress onto here. I don't know yet. I'll have to talk it over with her first and see how she feels about it.