Karasu Kurokawa (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
moderndaydragon) wrote2014-01-30 07:12 am
moderndaydragon) wrote2014-01-30 07:12 am
Entry tags:
History
Brief Overview
Karasu is a character from an AU version of Yu-Gi-Oh! that attempts to keep the feel of "Season 0" intact through various means, such as reducing Yami's "screen time" to make Yugi more prominent and taking a few steps back from Duel Monsters to mix in other (and often lethal) games.
While the first part of the history roughly follows Season 0, manga and anime (albeit with a few very specific differences), once it begins to go into Duelist Kingdom is where it splinters and goes off into either a modified version of the canon plot or a completely unique plot of its own (like attempting to stop the creation of new Items). On top of this, the far past of Egypt has also been given changes.
Karasu specifically is a reincarnation of Kisara and the BEWD both, using the idea that Ba and Ka were merged completely enough to solidify the two forms of the same soul.
In-Depth Explanation
➣ Ancient Egypt
In her first life, Karasu was a young girl named Kisara who was born to a poor family in Egypt. Her appearance shocked and terrified her parents; white skin and hair, in such a place as this, could be nothing more than a curse. Fear is what drove them to care for her until she was a young child; as such, when slavers came by, fear is also what drove them to sell her to them, her exotic appearance fetching them enough of a price to pull them out of their poverty.
Kisara, being a quiet girl, gave little resistance as she was dragged away from her home and out into the sands. It was one dark night that let her first glimpse her destiny: a young boy, for a reason unknown to her, caused a distraction in the slaver camp by setting one of their tents afire so that he could swipe the key and come to her. She was freed from her cage by him, the boy taking her hand and pulling her onto a horse for the two to flee. She clung to him tightly during the trip, feeling comfort in the first boy to extend a hand to her and help her, and though they barely spoke a word to each other even when the horse paused to rest, she felt a faint bond between them. Tragedy struck very quickly, however, as the village the boy brought her to was already in flames; the traders, having recognized him and taken advantage of his pause to beat him there. Leaving Kisara behind, the boy rushed to try to help; Kisara, feeling a desire to protect him, blacked out as a blue dragon appeared, driving off the slavers and bringing what was burning down to be smothered by the sand.
When Kisara awoke, it was at the edge of a different village, alone with nothing but a long cloak; the one the boy had been wearing before.
From then on until her adolescence, Kisara fended mostly for herself, performing as a singer or dancer to earn what little she could and resorting to thievery only when it became absolutely necessary. The cloak that the boy had given her served well enough to protect her from the sun, and though it wasn't an easy life, it was at least a life. A life that changed drastically when the Thief King and his underlings fell onto the village she was in, Kisara taken prisoner by the King himself after a brief struggle and taken back to Kul Elna.
There, she became the "bird" of the Thief King, protected from the others by the fact that only the Thief King himself was allowed to lay hands on her. For him, she sang and danced, though the city itself unnerved and unsettled her. The feeling of death hung about the place, though the handful of thieves under his command never noticed, and the spirits residing here cried out at her endlessly in her dreams.
Eventually, it became too much. While the Thief King was out, Kisara tricked one of the remaining thieves into freeing her from her shackles, spelling him in a song enough to knock him cold and leave. Though she had no idea of direction or where to go, she dashed out into the sands, running until her very legs gave out and the light of the day begin to creep across her. Though she tried to continue forward, the heat eventually drove her to unconsciousness, passing out in the middle of nowhere.
Her next memories were blurry and confused, finding herself stumbling into a city begging for water only to be knocked cold again by a stone's throw slamming against her head. Once she awoke properly, she found herself in a cool cell, a small bucket of water provided for her to gulp down. Though more awake now, she was also more confused, trying to find what she could see or hear from the bars until a man came for her. With little other choice, she followed, but what she was taken to was something terrifying; some sort of deadly arena where what people she would guess as prisoners were pitted against each other.
It went very wrong, very quickly, however. The High Priest himself showed up before too long, and the three who were fighting -- unable to resist -- turned on all of them, apparently intent on killing the man now that he had put himself in a vulnerable position. The Priest was brought down into the pit, only barely able to catch one of the ropes and her arm as she, too, was knocked off her footing. Seeing that it hard partly failed, the prisoners set lose their Ka on the two, causing a rush of fear and anger to flash through Kisara's mind. This man... was not one she would let be harmed.
Though the woman blacked out, it was then that the dragon awoke. The blue creature struck out, shredding the Ka that dared challenge it -- and then the masters who dared trigger it. By the time Kisara and the Priest were hauled back up, the dragon had disappeared, and the truth of her strength had been made known to him; the beautiful dragon before and the beautiful woman on the floor were one and the same, her Ka the true form of her pure soul.
Once again, Kisara awoke in a strange place... but this time, she felt different. The grime of the sands and the arena had been washed off her, leaving her clean. The bed was much softer, more comfortable, and the dress that she had been placed in felt... strange against her skin, for a woman so used to coarse clothing. Her stirring summoned a servant, who explained once questioned that Kisara had been taken in by the High Priest Seth; unknown to her, it was because her other form had stirred in him that memory of that small girl and powerful beast so long ago that he made such a choice, despite an argument from Akhenaden.
From that point on, Kisara was thrown into lessons, teacher after teacher attempting to educate her in what all she would need to know. Though she tried her best, the strangers demanding much from her and the sheer volume of what needed to be learned left her often confused, exhausted, and her head spinning. Seeing the difficulty, Seth took over a few of her lessons himself, most importantly teaching her how to read and write. Kisara responded far better to the High Priest than most others, and though he had little time to spare, he gave what he could to helping her. In return, Kisara pledged herself to him, swearing that she would be at his side and her Ka would be his, no matter what would happen.
As time went on, Kisara and Seth became closer, until the day that one of the Thief King's own men called Kisara out. Foolishly leaving the palace in hopes of avoiding anyone inside being harmed, she is instead subdued and captured from her refusal to release her Ka; the attempt to return her to the Thief King is thwarted once Seth -- who had followed her -- appears with the palace guards, prompting Kisara to relent in order to protect him.
Eventually, Akhenaden's possession drives him to attempt to sacrifice Kisara so that her Ka will bond with Seth; when Seth refuses and Akhenaden strikes out, Kisara takes the blow and sacrifices her life to protect his, quietly begging him to take her Ka and reminding him of her promise from before.
"I... will always be by your side... no matter what form it may be..."
Though Seth's following possession drove him to fight the Pharaoh Atem, Kisara's spirit manifested once more, purging the darkness that tainted his mind and drawing him close to her. The last words from her rang in his ears, spoken with the last life she had in her.
"If your eyes see the world as dark and dry, then I will give you mine to see it as bright and wonderful."
Though her consciousness was lost after this, her own love, Seth's desire, and their connection drew her soul -- now permanently fused with the Blue-Eyes White Dragon's -- onto the Wheel of Reincarnation with his, allowing her another chance at the life she had willingly given for him.
➣ Modern Day
Karasu was born to Bard and Hana Kurokawa. Bard, an American visiting Japan, had fallen in love with Hana during his trip and ended up moving there permanently and taking his wife's name. While Karasu's birth had been somewhat confusing and straining thanks to her odd appearance, Bard had eventually accepted it, and his daughter became the most beautiful thing in the world to him. This led to some jealousy from Hana, her distaste growing thanks to both Bard's shifting attention and having no answer for her daughter's strange condition.
Things only got far worse when the accident happened. A nasty car crash had left both Bard and Karasu hospitalized, but while Karasu recovered quickly, Bard had only worsened in condition -- when Hana came to visit him during his last day, all he would ask about was his daughter, who Hana had left at home to rest. When she finally relented and told Bard that Karasu was all right, Bard simply smiled, then closed his eyes, falling unconscious. He didn't wake up after that, and a day later, he passed away quietly from his injuries.
With no sign as to why Karasu had survived with just as severe injuries, and with her husband having been more interested in their daughter. The relationship between the two of them worsened steadily as Karasu grew older, and while there was never any outright hostility, by the time she entered middle school, it was as if they were strangers living in the same house. Complicating matters was the fact that she was as much made fun of for her appearance as admired, and troubles with school mates from that and her seemingly delicate state had left her feeling completely alone.
When Hana proposed she move to a different city for high school, Karasu was all too eager to jump at the chance. It was a week or two before the start of said high school that she officially moved to Domino City, getting set up in an apartment with an account of her own that her mother regularly kept filled.
Thanks to her previous experiences, she remained quiet and withdraw even as she began to gather attention in Domino High. Mostly brushing people off (if politely) and turning down any invitations, the only person that was able to get through to her was Yugi. His attempts were useless at first, the boy being rejected like anyone else (if still gently), until Yugi attempted to offer her a game. Karasu's interest was immediately perked, and though hesitant, she accepted his offer of playing it together. Through the game, she opened up without realizing it, finally noting at the end of the game that she felt "odd" around Yugi, but... that it wasn't a bad kind of odd.
Surprisingly, Karasu very quickly became friendly and cheerful with not just Yugi, but Jounouchi, Honda, and Anzu, too. When questioned about it, she somewhat embarrassedly admitted that having friends again was the nicest thing she could really imagine -- despite being closed off, the loneliness had eaten at her, and even just a short time with the rest of them had already served to make her really happy. She ended up bonding with them rather quickly because of it, and was soon as close in the group as the rest of them.
➣ Season 0
Karasu's history mostly follows the manga of Season 0, with spots from the anime thrown in and other things rewritten.
She was not present for Chapters 1 or 2 -- Chapters 3 and 4 proceeded mostly the same, with Chapter 4's only real difference being that Karasu sensed something very off, even though she couldn't see anything any more than anyone else (being trapped on the floor and too scared to move). Chapter 5 had her immensely skeptical of Kokurano's powers, though she couldn't quite prove it -- none the less, she avoided a reading herself, and encouraged Yugi that he didn't need to believe Kokurano. She got feelings about people sometimes, after all, and there was no way he was real!
In Chapter 6, Karasu acted as the class representative instead of Anzu, asking questions and helping to direct everyone (and everyone is pretty sure the chair that went flying at Jounouchi was from her). She and Yugi worked together with everyone else to figure out what games to actually involve, with Anzu managing to help get them a good spot. She ended up surprising everyone while helping building it -- despite her thin, delicate look, she was as strong as Jounuochi was, and had no issue hauling things around. When Class D came to cause trouble, she tried to help Anzu argue, but wasn't able to do anything more than anyone else to stop them. When Yugi was hurt, she took him to the infirmary, leaving the others to handle everything and watching over him. When Yugi disappeared, his other side triggered by her distress, she went after him, but only managed to find him once the Punishment Game was done and Yugi was left confused. Relieved that he was okay, and finding out that the slab was gone, she called her classmates and brought Yugi back to their spot, joining everyone else to work on finishing it up just in time for the festival.
During Chapter 7, Karasu was another one who stood up with Jounouchi and Yugi to protect Honda, which drew a considerable bit more attention. Even once things were settled, the rumor that she was a lesbian (and more than a few hopeful fanboys thinking she and Anzu were together) took a few weeks to die out. Mostly with Jounouchi's "careful" application here and there.
Karasu wasn't present with the group for Chapter 8, but played a major role in Chapters 9 & 10. She felt immensely drawn to the Duel Monsters game that Yugi's grandfather introduced them to, getting even more excited than Yugi himself. The excitement trailed off once Grandpa Mutou brought out his Blue-Eyes White Dragon card, Karasu staring at it as if in a trance -- Jounouchi had to shake her a bit to get her out of it, the off-hand comments about her matching it going unnoticed and the fact that she was reaching slowly for it a bit creepy. Feeling oddly shaken, but not sure why, she tried to brush it off, laughing a bit nervously. The nervousness only got worse when Kaiba interrupted, Karasu watching him with an odd look as he insulted Jounouchi and tried to bargain for the card from Yugi's grandfather. When Kaiba was sent away, she felt oddly conflicted -- on the one hand, she could easily feel the love Sugoroku had for the card, so she didn't want him to lose it, but on the other, it almost felt as if it somehow was supposed to go with Kaiba. Trying to shake it off and not mentioning it, she instead asked Yugi for help with putting together a deck for herself.
Noticing Yugi was distressed later in the day, but not able to get an answer out of him, she instead followed him when he went to confront Kaiba. Seeing Yugi abused was enough to make her yell at him, despite how little effect it had, and she was about to take him to Jounouchi when something changed. It was like a switch thrown, somehow... not only did Yugi seem completely different, but he felt completely different too, in a way that she couldn't place. Despite "Yugi" attempting to send her off, she refused, and followed him in to watch the game between him and Kaiba. Something about the game felt... sinister, and she felt like there was a pressure preventing her from saying much, along with something else beginning to burn in her chest. The burning only got worse as the duel went on, to the point that she was struggling to breathe by the time that Kaiba cheated and brought out the dragon. It was a strange feeling, like some sort of split in her consciousness, and when he commanded the dragon to attack, it was as if her own voice had been layered in her head -- one from her and one from elsewhere.
"I don't want to."
Much to her shock, the dragon on the board acted as if it hadn't even heard Kaiba. When "Yugi" began speaking again, she felt an odd sense of correctness from it, thoughts her own yet somehow not mixing in with her own feelings of affection for Sugoroku. The result was the dragon destroying itself, unwilling to so much as harm this "Yugi". But even as he played the card to revive it, there was a drastic change. No dragon appeared from the graveyard as Monster Reborn was played, but even as "Yugi" called for it, the burning in Karasu's chest became unbearable, causing her to collapse on the floor with an almost inhuman snarl. The last thing that crashed into her mind before she blacked out were "Yugi"'s words:
"Blue-Eyes White Dragon, awaken from your seal!"
When she came to, she was back in her house, tucked into bed and left dizzy and confused, having no memory of the last part of the duel -- or, indeed, that "Yugi" had turned her against Kaiba for his punishment game. Yugi, seemingly back to normal, didn't appear to remember anything either when she asked, but it left Karasu uncertain and confused -- not to mention somehow awkward in her own body. Her senses had all sharpened somehow...
In Chapters 11 & 12, Karasu was with everyone while they tried to locate Jounouchi. When he didn't bat and eye to Yugi being hit, she completely lost her temper, yelling at him even as she broke into tears in front of them. When hearing Yugi's faith in their friend, her own was revived, something inside of her stirring in response to the feeling of wanting to "save" him, if she could. She was one of the first to arrive after splitting up, once the other Yugi had managed to help Jounouchi, and ended up crying again once he was awake. Even as she tried to apologize for what she said, he simply silenced her by patting her idly on the head, causing the tears to flow harder. Shortly after that, she talked with Jounouchi in private, revealing her own home life and offering an open door to him any time he wanted. If he ever needed somewhere safer or quieter to stay, he could come over to her house at any time, and she'd even go make him a key for just that.
Chapter 13 & 14 went mostly the same; in Chapter 15 and 16, when Jounouchi was being strangled, Karasu was unable to free him for fear of using too much power and breaking the Professor's arms, leaving Anzu to bean him with the globe and get him off. When everyone scattered after the Professor wouldn't stop coming, Shadi stepped into her Mind's Room. While he was interested in the odd purity of it, what drew his attention the most was the strange door on the far wall, nearly rotted and almost off its hinges but bearing Egyptian symbols. Shadi's curiosity nearly resulted in his damnation -- even stepping close to it was enough for the door to open, unleashing the dragon hidden inside of it on him. He was only barely able to escape in time, reeling from what had happened. Knowing he wouldn't be able to control her, but also knowing she would be too dangerous, he instead put her to sleep to wait until his match with the other Yugi was finished.
Chapters 17, 18, and 19 went on the same with Karasu incapacitated, but when the spell was broken on Anzu and the Professor, Shadi's sleep spell on her wore off as well, and she joined everyone else for the confrontation in Chapter 20. Despite the fact that she sensed the difference in Yugi, she didn't respond to the other two, just keeping it to herself and explaining what Shadi had done to her.
Chapter 21 also went the same, with Karasu just having a small chibi dragon as her pet. Chapters 22, 23, 24, 25 also proceeded normally, with minimal involvement.
Between Chapters 25 and 26, Karasu was given an invite by Kaiba to come by his mansion. Skeptical, but wanting to at least give him a chance, she took the offered car to meet him there. To her surprise, Kaiba was acting completely gentle and friendly, polite and apologetic about what had happened. Feeling relieved, and more than willing to give him a second chance, she spent most of the day with him, though his questions about the Blue-Eyes seemed to confuse her, as well as his disappointment after she had finished eating -- not knowing that Kaiba was both testing her resistances as well as what she remembered. As it got late, Kaiba -- knowing that she lived alone -- suggested that she stay over the night, since no one here would mind. Before bed, though, there was one last thing he wanted to show her.
Taking her into a side room, he introduced her to an odd, glass "room". Promising it was some sort of cool simulation, Karasu entered, and was quickly trapped in it. The mimic of the "illusion of death" he suffered was triggered, and Karasu's terror and feelings of distress awoke that dragon inside of her. Unfortunately, that was exactly what Kaiba had wanted, and even as the illusion snapped off, the restraints hidden in the floors snapped up, catching her by the legs, neck, and muzzle to prevent her from doing anything. Feral and unthinking, she attempted to rip them out and break the containment unit, and came very close to succeeding until Kaiba snapped at her to stop in a panic. Much to his shock, it worked perfectly, causing the dragon to immediately become docile. After a few more orders to test just how far this obedience went -- and seeing that it seemed to be complete -- Kaiba disengaged the restraints and carefully put his hand on the dragon's muzzle. The response was almost dog-like in its affection, confirming that this creature was completely at his command -- something that Kaiba was far too happy about.
Chapter 26 proceeded as normal. At the start of Chapter 27 and into Chapter 28, when Kaiba awoke from his nightmare of the dragon devouring him, he soothed the fear by patting Karasu's head (who had been ordered to sleep around his bed like a guard), reassuring him that he was in charge. She remained still as he was tended to, then was ordered to obey the handlers as they took her off to Death-T while he went to travel there with Yugi and Jounouchi. He called on her again for the duel against Yugi's grandfather -- rather than simply frighten him with the holograms, Kaiba instead made her menace him until Yugi agreed, and Grandpa Mutou collapsed with a heart attack. To rub it in further, Kaiba revealed that the real dragon he had was, in fact, Karasu, only mocking their attempts to get a reply from her before they were sent into Death-T.
Chapters 29, 30, 31, 32, & 33 proceed mostly the same, with the exception of Karasu with Kaiba the entire time, curled around a modified chair and with her head in his lap. Occasionally, he prompted a roar into a microphone to startle them, or bragging about controlling her and showing her off when he appeared in Murder Mansion. Honda's "death" in Chapter 34 caused her to react badly, forcing Kaiba to exert his will again to calm her down -- and doubly again when she reacted to Yugi's confession about "another him" and received support from Jounouchi and Anzu. During the other Yugi's Capsule Monsters battle with Mokuba in Chapter 35, Dark Yugi evolved one of his creatures into a capsule version of the Blue-Eyes White Dragon, intent on putting his faith into their friend. He was rewarded almost immediately, able to feel Karasu's true heart through it, weak as it was. Through her help, he defeated Mokuba, taking Kaiba's irritable challenge and moving on (and leaving the unhurt Mokuba, Kaiba having not triggered a Penalty Game for his brother).
Chapters 36, 37, 38, 39, 40 went along the same, intense lines, though Karasu was curled up around and behind Kaiba's chair as Kaiba's attempt at intimidating the other Yugi and did the honors of swiping out his monsters for her holographic counterparts (often getting far too close to actually nicking Dark Yugi, but with a barely-held restraint he could clearly notice). When remembering his grandfather, Karasu's own heart spoke out to Dark Yugi as well, a faint, weak, but desperate plea for help. Unwilling to give up on either of them, and with all of their hearts behind him, Dark Yugi managed to summon Exodia, winning the duel and smashing Kaiba's heart for him to put together. Without its "master", the dragon seemed to come to its senses to some degree, moving over to press its muzzle against Dark in exhaustion and relief. With Mokuba calling off the guards threatening their friends, the dragon remained docile as Dark Yugi brought her over to listen to Mokuba's story. Once it was finished, Dark commanded the dragon to sleep, letting Karasu finally collapse in exhaustion and relief.
It was only once she woke up again that they spoke about what happened -- with the dragon fully awake and her aware of it, Karasu admitted everything that she could remember, from the first duel to her noticing the changes to her body. Much to her relief, their reaction was the same as to Yugi, and she was able to rest peacefully until she recovered.
Chapter 41 and 42 also proceed mostly the same, with Karasu staying beside Anzu and trying to help what little way she could as well as just cheering Jounouchi on.
(Chapters 43-53 go here)
➣ Duelist Kingdom
TBD.
➣ Battle City
TBD.
Karasu is a character from an AU version of Yu-Gi-Oh! that attempts to keep the feel of "Season 0" intact through various means, such as reducing Yami's "screen time" to make Yugi more prominent and taking a few steps back from Duel Monsters to mix in other (and often lethal) games.
While the first part of the history roughly follows Season 0, manga and anime (albeit with a few very specific differences), once it begins to go into Duelist Kingdom is where it splinters and goes off into either a modified version of the canon plot or a completely unique plot of its own (like attempting to stop the creation of new Items). On top of this, the far past of Egypt has also been given changes.
Karasu specifically is a reincarnation of Kisara and the BEWD both, using the idea that Ba and Ka were merged completely enough to solidify the two forms of the same soul.
In-Depth Explanation
➣ Ancient Egypt
In her first life, Karasu was a young girl named Kisara who was born to a poor family in Egypt. Her appearance shocked and terrified her parents; white skin and hair, in such a place as this, could be nothing more than a curse. Fear is what drove them to care for her until she was a young child; as such, when slavers came by, fear is also what drove them to sell her to them, her exotic appearance fetching them enough of a price to pull them out of their poverty.
Kisara, being a quiet girl, gave little resistance as she was dragged away from her home and out into the sands. It was one dark night that let her first glimpse her destiny: a young boy, for a reason unknown to her, caused a distraction in the slaver camp by setting one of their tents afire so that he could swipe the key and come to her. She was freed from her cage by him, the boy taking her hand and pulling her onto a horse for the two to flee. She clung to him tightly during the trip, feeling comfort in the first boy to extend a hand to her and help her, and though they barely spoke a word to each other even when the horse paused to rest, she felt a faint bond between them. Tragedy struck very quickly, however, as the village the boy brought her to was already in flames; the traders, having recognized him and taken advantage of his pause to beat him there. Leaving Kisara behind, the boy rushed to try to help; Kisara, feeling a desire to protect him, blacked out as a blue dragon appeared, driving off the slavers and bringing what was burning down to be smothered by the sand.
When Kisara awoke, it was at the edge of a different village, alone with nothing but a long cloak; the one the boy had been wearing before.
From then on until her adolescence, Kisara fended mostly for herself, performing as a singer or dancer to earn what little she could and resorting to thievery only when it became absolutely necessary. The cloak that the boy had given her served well enough to protect her from the sun, and though it wasn't an easy life, it was at least a life. A life that changed drastically when the Thief King and his underlings fell onto the village she was in, Kisara taken prisoner by the King himself after a brief struggle and taken back to Kul Elna.
There, she became the "bird" of the Thief King, protected from the others by the fact that only the Thief King himself was allowed to lay hands on her. For him, she sang and danced, though the city itself unnerved and unsettled her. The feeling of death hung about the place, though the handful of thieves under his command never noticed, and the spirits residing here cried out at her endlessly in her dreams.
Eventually, it became too much. While the Thief King was out, Kisara tricked one of the remaining thieves into freeing her from her shackles, spelling him in a song enough to knock him cold and leave. Though she had no idea of direction or where to go, she dashed out into the sands, running until her very legs gave out and the light of the day begin to creep across her. Though she tried to continue forward, the heat eventually drove her to unconsciousness, passing out in the middle of nowhere.
Her next memories were blurry and confused, finding herself stumbling into a city begging for water only to be knocked cold again by a stone's throw slamming against her head. Once she awoke properly, she found herself in a cool cell, a small bucket of water provided for her to gulp down. Though more awake now, she was also more confused, trying to find what she could see or hear from the bars until a man came for her. With little other choice, she followed, but what she was taken to was something terrifying; some sort of deadly arena where what people she would guess as prisoners were pitted against each other.
It went very wrong, very quickly, however. The High Priest himself showed up before too long, and the three who were fighting -- unable to resist -- turned on all of them, apparently intent on killing the man now that he had put himself in a vulnerable position. The Priest was brought down into the pit, only barely able to catch one of the ropes and her arm as she, too, was knocked off her footing. Seeing that it hard partly failed, the prisoners set lose their Ka on the two, causing a rush of fear and anger to flash through Kisara's mind. This man... was not one she would let be harmed.
Though the woman blacked out, it was then that the dragon awoke. The blue creature struck out, shredding the Ka that dared challenge it -- and then the masters who dared trigger it. By the time Kisara and the Priest were hauled back up, the dragon had disappeared, and the truth of her strength had been made known to him; the beautiful dragon before and the beautiful woman on the floor were one and the same, her Ka the true form of her pure soul.
Once again, Kisara awoke in a strange place... but this time, she felt different. The grime of the sands and the arena had been washed off her, leaving her clean. The bed was much softer, more comfortable, and the dress that she had been placed in felt... strange against her skin, for a woman so used to coarse clothing. Her stirring summoned a servant, who explained once questioned that Kisara had been taken in by the High Priest Seth; unknown to her, it was because her other form had stirred in him that memory of that small girl and powerful beast so long ago that he made such a choice, despite an argument from Akhenaden.
From that point on, Kisara was thrown into lessons, teacher after teacher attempting to educate her in what all she would need to know. Though she tried her best, the strangers demanding much from her and the sheer volume of what needed to be learned left her often confused, exhausted, and her head spinning. Seeing the difficulty, Seth took over a few of her lessons himself, most importantly teaching her how to read and write. Kisara responded far better to the High Priest than most others, and though he had little time to spare, he gave what he could to helping her. In return, Kisara pledged herself to him, swearing that she would be at his side and her Ka would be his, no matter what would happen.
As time went on, Kisara and Seth became closer, until the day that one of the Thief King's own men called Kisara out. Foolishly leaving the palace in hopes of avoiding anyone inside being harmed, she is instead subdued and captured from her refusal to release her Ka; the attempt to return her to the Thief King is thwarted once Seth -- who had followed her -- appears with the palace guards, prompting Kisara to relent in order to protect him.
Eventually, Akhenaden's possession drives him to attempt to sacrifice Kisara so that her Ka will bond with Seth; when Seth refuses and Akhenaden strikes out, Kisara takes the blow and sacrifices her life to protect his, quietly begging him to take her Ka and reminding him of her promise from before.
"I... will always be by your side... no matter what form it may be..."
Though Seth's following possession drove him to fight the Pharaoh Atem, Kisara's spirit manifested once more, purging the darkness that tainted his mind and drawing him close to her. The last words from her rang in his ears, spoken with the last life she had in her.
"If your eyes see the world as dark and dry, then I will give you mine to see it as bright and wonderful."
Though her consciousness was lost after this, her own love, Seth's desire, and their connection drew her soul -- now permanently fused with the Blue-Eyes White Dragon's -- onto the Wheel of Reincarnation with his, allowing her another chance at the life she had willingly given for him.
➣ Modern Day
Karasu was born to Bard and Hana Kurokawa. Bard, an American visiting Japan, had fallen in love with Hana during his trip and ended up moving there permanently and taking his wife's name. While Karasu's birth had been somewhat confusing and straining thanks to her odd appearance, Bard had eventually accepted it, and his daughter became the most beautiful thing in the world to him. This led to some jealousy from Hana, her distaste growing thanks to both Bard's shifting attention and having no answer for her daughter's strange condition.
Things only got far worse when the accident happened. A nasty car crash had left both Bard and Karasu hospitalized, but while Karasu recovered quickly, Bard had only worsened in condition -- when Hana came to visit him during his last day, all he would ask about was his daughter, who Hana had left at home to rest. When she finally relented and told Bard that Karasu was all right, Bard simply smiled, then closed his eyes, falling unconscious. He didn't wake up after that, and a day later, he passed away quietly from his injuries.
With no sign as to why Karasu had survived with just as severe injuries, and with her husband having been more interested in their daughter. The relationship between the two of them worsened steadily as Karasu grew older, and while there was never any outright hostility, by the time she entered middle school, it was as if they were strangers living in the same house. Complicating matters was the fact that she was as much made fun of for her appearance as admired, and troubles with school mates from that and her seemingly delicate state had left her feeling completely alone.
When Hana proposed she move to a different city for high school, Karasu was all too eager to jump at the chance. It was a week or two before the start of said high school that she officially moved to Domino City, getting set up in an apartment with an account of her own that her mother regularly kept filled.
Thanks to her previous experiences, she remained quiet and withdraw even as she began to gather attention in Domino High. Mostly brushing people off (if politely) and turning down any invitations, the only person that was able to get through to her was Yugi. His attempts were useless at first, the boy being rejected like anyone else (if still gently), until Yugi attempted to offer her a game. Karasu's interest was immediately perked, and though hesitant, she accepted his offer of playing it together. Through the game, she opened up without realizing it, finally noting at the end of the game that she felt "odd" around Yugi, but... that it wasn't a bad kind of odd.
Surprisingly, Karasu very quickly became friendly and cheerful with not just Yugi, but Jounouchi, Honda, and Anzu, too. When questioned about it, she somewhat embarrassedly admitted that having friends again was the nicest thing she could really imagine -- despite being closed off, the loneliness had eaten at her, and even just a short time with the rest of them had already served to make her really happy. She ended up bonding with them rather quickly because of it, and was soon as close in the group as the rest of them.
➣ Season 0
Karasu's history mostly follows the manga of Season 0, with spots from the anime thrown in and other things rewritten.
She was not present for Chapters 1 or 2 -- Chapters 3 and 4 proceeded mostly the same, with Chapter 4's only real difference being that Karasu sensed something very off, even though she couldn't see anything any more than anyone else (being trapped on the floor and too scared to move). Chapter 5 had her immensely skeptical of Kokurano's powers, though she couldn't quite prove it -- none the less, she avoided a reading herself, and encouraged Yugi that he didn't need to believe Kokurano. She got feelings about people sometimes, after all, and there was no way he was real!
In Chapter 6, Karasu acted as the class representative instead of Anzu, asking questions and helping to direct everyone (and everyone is pretty sure the chair that went flying at Jounouchi was from her). She and Yugi worked together with everyone else to figure out what games to actually involve, with Anzu managing to help get them a good spot. She ended up surprising everyone while helping building it -- despite her thin, delicate look, she was as strong as Jounuochi was, and had no issue hauling things around. When Class D came to cause trouble, she tried to help Anzu argue, but wasn't able to do anything more than anyone else to stop them. When Yugi was hurt, she took him to the infirmary, leaving the others to handle everything and watching over him. When Yugi disappeared, his other side triggered by her distress, she went after him, but only managed to find him once the Punishment Game was done and Yugi was left confused. Relieved that he was okay, and finding out that the slab was gone, she called her classmates and brought Yugi back to their spot, joining everyone else to work on finishing it up just in time for the festival.
During Chapter 7, Karasu was another one who stood up with Jounouchi and Yugi to protect Honda, which drew a considerable bit more attention. Even once things were settled, the rumor that she was a lesbian (and more than a few hopeful fanboys thinking she and Anzu were together) took a few weeks to die out. Mostly with Jounouchi's "careful" application here and there.
Karasu wasn't present with the group for Chapter 8, but played a major role in Chapters 9 & 10. She felt immensely drawn to the Duel Monsters game that Yugi's grandfather introduced them to, getting even more excited than Yugi himself. The excitement trailed off once Grandpa Mutou brought out his Blue-Eyes White Dragon card, Karasu staring at it as if in a trance -- Jounouchi had to shake her a bit to get her out of it, the off-hand comments about her matching it going unnoticed and the fact that she was reaching slowly for it a bit creepy. Feeling oddly shaken, but not sure why, she tried to brush it off, laughing a bit nervously. The nervousness only got worse when Kaiba interrupted, Karasu watching him with an odd look as he insulted Jounouchi and tried to bargain for the card from Yugi's grandfather. When Kaiba was sent away, she felt oddly conflicted -- on the one hand, she could easily feel the love Sugoroku had for the card, so she didn't want him to lose it, but on the other, it almost felt as if it somehow was supposed to go with Kaiba. Trying to shake it off and not mentioning it, she instead asked Yugi for help with putting together a deck for herself.
Noticing Yugi was distressed later in the day, but not able to get an answer out of him, she instead followed him when he went to confront Kaiba. Seeing Yugi abused was enough to make her yell at him, despite how little effect it had, and she was about to take him to Jounouchi when something changed. It was like a switch thrown, somehow... not only did Yugi seem completely different, but he felt completely different too, in a way that she couldn't place. Despite "Yugi" attempting to send her off, she refused, and followed him in to watch the game between him and Kaiba. Something about the game felt... sinister, and she felt like there was a pressure preventing her from saying much, along with something else beginning to burn in her chest. The burning only got worse as the duel went on, to the point that she was struggling to breathe by the time that Kaiba cheated and brought out the dragon. It was a strange feeling, like some sort of split in her consciousness, and when he commanded the dragon to attack, it was as if her own voice had been layered in her head -- one from her and one from elsewhere.
"I don't want to."
Much to her shock, the dragon on the board acted as if it hadn't even heard Kaiba. When "Yugi" began speaking again, she felt an odd sense of correctness from it, thoughts her own yet somehow not mixing in with her own feelings of affection for Sugoroku. The result was the dragon destroying itself, unwilling to so much as harm this "Yugi". But even as he played the card to revive it, there was a drastic change. No dragon appeared from the graveyard as Monster Reborn was played, but even as "Yugi" called for it, the burning in Karasu's chest became unbearable, causing her to collapse on the floor with an almost inhuman snarl. The last thing that crashed into her mind before she blacked out were "Yugi"'s words:
"Blue-Eyes White Dragon, awaken from your seal!"
When she came to, she was back in her house, tucked into bed and left dizzy and confused, having no memory of the last part of the duel -- or, indeed, that "Yugi" had turned her against Kaiba for his punishment game. Yugi, seemingly back to normal, didn't appear to remember anything either when she asked, but it left Karasu uncertain and confused -- not to mention somehow awkward in her own body. Her senses had all sharpened somehow...
In Chapters 11 & 12, Karasu was with everyone while they tried to locate Jounouchi. When he didn't bat and eye to Yugi being hit, she completely lost her temper, yelling at him even as she broke into tears in front of them. When hearing Yugi's faith in their friend, her own was revived, something inside of her stirring in response to the feeling of wanting to "save" him, if she could. She was one of the first to arrive after splitting up, once the other Yugi had managed to help Jounouchi, and ended up crying again once he was awake. Even as she tried to apologize for what she said, he simply silenced her by patting her idly on the head, causing the tears to flow harder. Shortly after that, she talked with Jounouchi in private, revealing her own home life and offering an open door to him any time he wanted. If he ever needed somewhere safer or quieter to stay, he could come over to her house at any time, and she'd even go make him a key for just that.
Chapter 13 & 14 went mostly the same; in Chapter 15 and 16, when Jounouchi was being strangled, Karasu was unable to free him for fear of using too much power and breaking the Professor's arms, leaving Anzu to bean him with the globe and get him off. When everyone scattered after the Professor wouldn't stop coming, Shadi stepped into her Mind's Room. While he was interested in the odd purity of it, what drew his attention the most was the strange door on the far wall, nearly rotted and almost off its hinges but bearing Egyptian symbols. Shadi's curiosity nearly resulted in his damnation -- even stepping close to it was enough for the door to open, unleashing the dragon hidden inside of it on him. He was only barely able to escape in time, reeling from what had happened. Knowing he wouldn't be able to control her, but also knowing she would be too dangerous, he instead put her to sleep to wait until his match with the other Yugi was finished.
Chapters 17, 18, and 19 went on the same with Karasu incapacitated, but when the spell was broken on Anzu and the Professor, Shadi's sleep spell on her wore off as well, and she joined everyone else for the confrontation in Chapter 20. Despite the fact that she sensed the difference in Yugi, she didn't respond to the other two, just keeping it to herself and explaining what Shadi had done to her.
Chapter 21 also went the same, with Karasu just having a small chibi dragon as her pet. Chapters 22, 23, 24, 25 also proceeded normally, with minimal involvement.
Between Chapters 25 and 26, Karasu was given an invite by Kaiba to come by his mansion. Skeptical, but wanting to at least give him a chance, she took the offered car to meet him there. To her surprise, Kaiba was acting completely gentle and friendly, polite and apologetic about what had happened. Feeling relieved, and more than willing to give him a second chance, she spent most of the day with him, though his questions about the Blue-Eyes seemed to confuse her, as well as his disappointment after she had finished eating -- not knowing that Kaiba was both testing her resistances as well as what she remembered. As it got late, Kaiba -- knowing that she lived alone -- suggested that she stay over the night, since no one here would mind. Before bed, though, there was one last thing he wanted to show her.
Taking her into a side room, he introduced her to an odd, glass "room". Promising it was some sort of cool simulation, Karasu entered, and was quickly trapped in it. The mimic of the "illusion of death" he suffered was triggered, and Karasu's terror and feelings of distress awoke that dragon inside of her. Unfortunately, that was exactly what Kaiba had wanted, and even as the illusion snapped off, the restraints hidden in the floors snapped up, catching her by the legs, neck, and muzzle to prevent her from doing anything. Feral and unthinking, she attempted to rip them out and break the containment unit, and came very close to succeeding until Kaiba snapped at her to stop in a panic. Much to his shock, it worked perfectly, causing the dragon to immediately become docile. After a few more orders to test just how far this obedience went -- and seeing that it seemed to be complete -- Kaiba disengaged the restraints and carefully put his hand on the dragon's muzzle. The response was almost dog-like in its affection, confirming that this creature was completely at his command -- something that Kaiba was far too happy about.
Chapter 26 proceeded as normal. At the start of Chapter 27 and into Chapter 28, when Kaiba awoke from his nightmare of the dragon devouring him, he soothed the fear by patting Karasu's head (who had been ordered to sleep around his bed like a guard), reassuring him that he was in charge. She remained still as he was tended to, then was ordered to obey the handlers as they took her off to Death-T while he went to travel there with Yugi and Jounouchi. He called on her again for the duel against Yugi's grandfather -- rather than simply frighten him with the holograms, Kaiba instead made her menace him until Yugi agreed, and Grandpa Mutou collapsed with a heart attack. To rub it in further, Kaiba revealed that the real dragon he had was, in fact, Karasu, only mocking their attempts to get a reply from her before they were sent into Death-T.
Chapters 29, 30, 31, 32, & 33 proceed mostly the same, with the exception of Karasu with Kaiba the entire time, curled around a modified chair and with her head in his lap. Occasionally, he prompted a roar into a microphone to startle them, or bragging about controlling her and showing her off when he appeared in Murder Mansion. Honda's "death" in Chapter 34 caused her to react badly, forcing Kaiba to exert his will again to calm her down -- and doubly again when she reacted to Yugi's confession about "another him" and received support from Jounouchi and Anzu. During the other Yugi's Capsule Monsters battle with Mokuba in Chapter 35, Dark Yugi evolved one of his creatures into a capsule version of the Blue-Eyes White Dragon, intent on putting his faith into their friend. He was rewarded almost immediately, able to feel Karasu's true heart through it, weak as it was. Through her help, he defeated Mokuba, taking Kaiba's irritable challenge and moving on (and leaving the unhurt Mokuba, Kaiba having not triggered a Penalty Game for his brother).
Chapters 36, 37, 38, 39, 40 went along the same, intense lines, though Karasu was curled up around and behind Kaiba's chair as Kaiba's attempt at intimidating the other Yugi and did the honors of swiping out his monsters for her holographic counterparts (often getting far too close to actually nicking Dark Yugi, but with a barely-held restraint he could clearly notice). When remembering his grandfather, Karasu's own heart spoke out to Dark Yugi as well, a faint, weak, but desperate plea for help. Unwilling to give up on either of them, and with all of their hearts behind him, Dark Yugi managed to summon Exodia, winning the duel and smashing Kaiba's heart for him to put together. Without its "master", the dragon seemed to come to its senses to some degree, moving over to press its muzzle against Dark in exhaustion and relief. With Mokuba calling off the guards threatening their friends, the dragon remained docile as Dark Yugi brought her over to listen to Mokuba's story. Once it was finished, Dark commanded the dragon to sleep, letting Karasu finally collapse in exhaustion and relief.
It was only once she woke up again that they spoke about what happened -- with the dragon fully awake and her aware of it, Karasu admitted everything that she could remember, from the first duel to her noticing the changes to her body. Much to her relief, their reaction was the same as to Yugi, and she was able to rest peacefully until she recovered.
Chapter 41 and 42 also proceed mostly the same, with Karasu staying beside Anzu and trying to help what little way she could as well as just cheering Jounouchi on.
(Chapters 43-53 go here)
➣ Duelist Kingdom
TBD.
➣ Battle City
TBD.