Taiki's History
Jan. 5th, 2020 04:02 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
longforgottenpromiseCW: A lot of death and also a suicide attempt
After the death of the previous kirin of Tai from Shitsedou the taika (egg fruit of the kirin of tai) began to grow on the tree in mount Hou. Soon the taika's Nyokai was born, she was called Sanshi and she took up her post to protect the taika, who she declared as Taiki.
However a shoku hit mount Hou and blew the egg fruit from the tree, sending it through to the world beyond. To Hourai (Japan) where it found itself in the womb of a human woman and born instead of the child they believed they would have. Thus Taiki was born on earth, a taika (12 kingdoms citizen wrongly born on earth) and grew up as a human child.
It had happened before, kirin becoming taika but they often did not survive long. They were either found within five years or they would eventually perish and a new ranka would grow. But Taiki survived as Takasato Kaname, lost for ten years on earth.
He was a strange child, always set apart from his peers. He had an aversion to meat, was afraid of blood, was often sickly. His mother cared for him but his strangeness often upset her. He both seemed older than his years but was timid and shied from conflict. His grandmother was strict and old fashioned and often punished him for perceived disrespect. So he grew, never fitting in but always kind and friendly. Feeling more at ease with animals than humans and feeling guilty about the pain he brought his family.
When he was ten years old he was punished by his grandma for not apologising to her for spilling water. He had spilled no water and lying felt so wrong to him that he would not do it. She sent him to stand in the yard in the snow until he changed his ways. He felt a warm wind and saw a pure white arm from behind the shed, a space far too small for a person. He stepped towards it, was grabbed and pulled through to Mount Hou. There they were delighted to find he was a black Kirin. A rare beast for usually kirin have golden or pale manes. Taiki's mane is burnished steel.
There he learned the truth. He was not a human at all but a kirin. He was from another world and it was here that he belonged. He met sanshi who he took an instant liking too. He was frightened but also understood that the reason he had never fit in was because he was in the wrong place. He learned that he was to chose a king and serve at his side.
However things were not smooth. He was a kirin and everything kirin do is instinctual.. Most Kirin spend their first five years in Kirin form, able to transform into human form after a couple of years and slowly able to maintain it for longer. Using the yellow sea as their playground they tame Shirei to protect them. By the time they can maintain a human form and are ready to chose a king they have several Shirei to protect them. Not so for Taiki. Despite Keiki's reassurance that changing form was as easy as lifting your arm, Taiki was unable to do so. In fact he wasn't really sure what he should be transforming into (he translates kirin into the more mundane form of a giraffe and tries to do neck stretches to help the change).
His attempts at catching Shirei of his own were equally unsuccessful and his feelings of inadequacy grew. He felt like he is disappointing the sages, who were so kind to him and he worried about what will happen if he cannot be a proper Kirin.
But he is old enough and Tai has suffered a long time without a king so despite him not having transformed yet or having any shirei the gates are opened and the pilgrimage begins. As people begin climbing the mountain Taiki feels that something terrible is coming, something terrifying.
He meets many people. One is Risai, a general from Tai who has a Kijyuu called Hien. He visits Risai a lot, enjoying her company and developing a bond with Hien.
He also meets a man named Gyousou. Gyousou terrifies Taiki and yet Taiki wants to be close to him. His eyes are the colour of blood. He is like a fire, warm and bright yet terrifying and dangerous all at the same time. Despite the fear Taiki often sought Gyousou out.
Soon it became obvious that a king was not going to be chosen this time and the gates were closed. Gyousou took Risai and Taiki into the yellow sea to catch Kijyuu. Whilst there they accidentally end up in the cave of a toutetsu. A powerful Youma. So powerful that it would not normally be able to be bound as a shirei. Taiki had ordered Sanshi to take Risai away but then Gyousou is hurt and cannot move. Taiki meets the eyes of the Youma and enters into a battle of wills. It takes the whole day, night and into the next day yet Taiki subdues the toutetsu and bounds him.
Gouran, the shirei is called. It is a formidable achievement for such a tiny and timid kirin. Gyousou admits that he was not as injured as he claimed, but he had instinctively known that if he had moved Taiki would have not been able to keep the concentration and they would have both been overpowered and killed.
People begin to leave the mountain. Gyousou and Risai are among them. Taiki feels he will miss Risai but when he thinks about Gyousou leaving it is a very bad thing. He goes to say goodbye and Gyousou admits that he is planning on leaving the army. He had been too prideful in thinking he could be king and he could do with a lesson in humility.
Taiki is devastated that he will never see him again but says his goodbyes. That night he is restless and he hears the sages speaking about how Gyousou would have made a great king. Not being able to take it anymore Taiki rushed out into the night, evading both Sanshi and Gouran, transforming into his kirin form for the first time and catching up to Gyousou.
There he transformed back and bowed before Gyousou, swearing his allegiance and proclaiming him king. He believed that he was acting against the heavens, that he was acting selfishly and that his actions were wrong.
Events moved too fast for him to correct his mistake. They returned to mount Hou, Gyousou was afforded all the privileges of king in waiting. They got ready to ascend. Taiki learned that kings that did their kingdom harm were punished by heaven, their kirin struck down with shitsedou and the king dying shortly after. Taiki lived in fear that he had condemned Gyousou to death and the kingdom to ruin.
Gyousou was confused about why his kirin was so terrified and unsure. After a nyosen suggested it might just be that Taiki was about to be once again taken from everything and everyone he knew Gyousou took the time to learn Taiki's earth name- Takasato Kaname. He took Takasato and changed it subtly to Kouri, the name of the mountain of the dead. A name so ominous that Gyousou hoped it would bring good luck. It became his nickname for Taiki.
They ascended, they were not struck down and they went to Tai to prepare for the coronation. Keiki came to visit and Taiki finally admitted that he had chosen a false king. Keiki left him weeping, but did inform Gyousou and then enlisted the help of the king and kirin of En. Together they showed Taiki that a kirin could not bow down before anyone who was not their king. A kirin could not swear a false oath. Though Shouryuu took it a bit too far Taiki was relieved by the lesson. Keiki and Enki explained to him that the ouki is more a feeling, an instinct rather than a visible thing.
The fear, the idea that Gyousou was fire, that was the ouki. Awe. Taiki had found his king. The coronation was held and Tai had a king once more.
There were troubles of course. Gyousou was a general and as such his methods were swift and effective, which did not sit well with a troubled court. He was known as a whirlwind or an avalanche. Swift change that the average minister could barely keep up with.
Taiki struggled as well. He was both a child, in that he was only ten years old and had spent most of that time in another world where he was treated like a child. Here he was an adult, a minister, servant to the king and the embodiment of the will of an entire kingdom. The ministers weren't sure how to treat him. They were gentle, not wanting to upset the timid and shy kirin. But others disagreed, he was a kirin. Furthermore he was a kirin who had subdued a toutetsu, stronger than he looked. He had to be ready for the struggles ahead. A regent was put in place, a man named Seirai who made the actual decisions of the province whilst also tutoring Taiki, trying to teach him all the things he should have learned on mount Hou.
As winter fell upon Tai Gyousou sent him on a month long diplomatic mission to Ren, to thank them for their help in bringing him back from Hourai. This was actually to get him out of the way whilst Gyousou purged the corrupt ministers from the government. Taiki met the king of Ren and Renrin. The King of Ren was a farmer first and formost. He learned about how a kings job is to govern and watch over their kingdom, to provide for the people and make a prosperous place to live. A kirins job is to watch over their king, support them but also draw them back when they go too far and keep them on the right path.
Taiki returned to Tai where Gyousou had moved his quarters so they were closer to his own. Taiki was thrilled as he had previously barely got to see Gyousou very much as they were both so busy. Gyousou also gifted him with a horse and riding lessons as Taiki could not bare to be carried in a palaquin.
A month later there was an uprising in Bun Province. The city of Tetsui ended up in revolt, Tetsui was a city that Gyousou had deep connections to, having once put down a rebellion there without having hurt a single citizen in his days as a general. He went to try and calm things down once more.
There were many rumours flying around that it was a trap, that Gyousou would be attacked. All the ministers told Taiki it would be fine, there was no danger. Others like Rousan and Asen told him the truth, claiming that as they needed the Taiho to mobilise the guard it was only right that he knew.
Taiki, believing that people were keeping things from him because he was small and probably stupid stopped believing those that tried to tell him good news. He believed the bad things because it was not being sugar coated. Asen especially was a source of news, telling him the rumours. He was the one who told him Gyousou had been attacked, Taiki wanted to help and Asen manipulated him via reverse psychology to send his shirei north to help Gyousou. Taiki did it believing he was disobeying Asen but wanting to do anything to save his king.
A while later he met with Asen again, Asen told him the king was dead. Taiki was horrified and didn't believe him but also trusted him. He was confused and terrified, slow to realise what was happening when Asen drew his sword. Taiki tried to run but Asen attacked him, severing his horn.
A meishoku is a super storm that is formed from the scream of a kirin. It is a primal last ditch survival instinct of a beast. All kirin are capable of them as they are capable of shoku. They are instinctual and devastating. Taiki, not having most of the kirin instincts others took for granted should not have known how to form a shoku. But in his moment of greatest pain formed a meishoku that destroyed large chunks of the palace, killed many of those not fortunate enough to have immortality and sent him hurtling through to earth.
Sanshi and Gouran heard his scream and travelled through the ley lines, diving into his shadow as he fell through the storm. Taiki landed on earth, naked, bleeding from the head, dazed. He stumbled through a door into his old house, currently in the middle of his grandmothers wake.
His taika shell had closed around him, the kirin part of him was in tatters and retreated deep inside him, taking the memories of the last year with it. Sanshi and Gouran were trapped in his shadow, not knowing what was happening. But it soon became clear to them that Taiki was in the hands of enemies. Perhaps connected to the coup. They were his jailers though they kept him fed and sheltered. The jailers gave his contaminated food, slowly poisoning him, though his taika shell was unharmed. They punished him for no more than simply being himself.
Taiki, now Takasato Kaname once more could not remember the year he had been spirited away. For him he had been in his yard and then he had been in his house, injured with longer hair but no taller. Now his younger brother was in the same class as him at school. He was interviewed by police, doctors but he had no answers for them. He was taken to many psychologists who tried to piece together what had happened to him but no one could breach the block in his memory.
He had no idea what had happened to him, but he felt that something huge was missing. Something so important it should never be forgotten. He dreamed often of mountains, of a palace. Faces that fled from his conscious memory the moment he woke. He was tormented with a longing to return, but he did not know where he was supposed to return to or why.
He did not fit in, he was desperately lonely and though people at first reacted to him with pity for his ordeal he was soon known as strange, a person to be avoided, mocked or hurt.
Then the accidents began to occur. A child would shove him down in the playground, tease him and hurt him. That child later would fall into a ditch and break his arm. He began to be known as cursed, people turned cruel both to him and his brother. His brother blamed him. His father blamed him. His mother cried and wondered if this was even her lost child or if a changeling had been brought back.
Years went on. Kaname learned to be boring. To attract no attention. To speak only when spoken to and as little as possible. He was known as strange and rude. But he knew he could not let anyone close. Because if they got close eventually they would say something harsh or a pat on the back would land too hard and then they would be hurt. Then they would die.
Because the accidents got worse. Because of course they were not accidents at all. Sanshi and Gouran, the demons who lived in his shadows. Demons Kaname could not sense or remember. They stopped all threats to their kirin.
Because Sanshi and Gohran didn't understand what had happened. They saw his parents as his jailers. They knew they couldn't kill them even as they slowly poisoned Taiki and raised their hands to him, as they were technically keeping Taiki fed and sheltered. But all others who beat him and cursed him they could get revenge on.
As they hurt more people Taiki was further poisoned and corrupted, this lessened his hold on him and allowed them to slip from his shadow for longer. Which allowed them greater acts of revenge.
Kaname took solace in art. His paintings were strange, he painted half forgotten things from his dreams. He saw in his minds eye a mountain. Sometimes he dreamed of a dog. Sometimes he even thought he saw the dog, out of the corner of his eyes. And sometimes when everything hurt he swore he could feel arms around him, holding him like they were all that were keeping him safe in the world. Most of all he had the feeling he had forgotten something, a promise he should never forget.
When Takasato was sixteen he tested into a prestigious high school. On a school trip at the end of his first year a student died after bullying Takasato. By this point his parents had all but disowned him. They allowed him to stay in their house but refused to call him name, calling him only 'that child'. His brother was cruel, the students at school ignored him out of fear.
Accidents followed him into his second year. A student teacher named Hirose took an interest in Takasato. After a student hit Takasato and was subsequently trampled to death in an athletics practice a mob of students attacked Takasato and tried to hang him.
Takasato did not fight back, making himself passive until they forced him to his knees and tried to make him bow down and apologise. Takasato yelled no and fought their arms off, the most emotion Hirose had seen him show ever. In the scuffle Takasato was thrown out of the window and Hirose was injured trying to break up the fight.
Hirose went visit Takasato in hospital to learn that he was only a superficially injured and could go home but though his parents had been informed no one had come to collect them and the hospital wouldn't discharge a minor without a guardian collecting them.
Hirose went to Takasato's house where his mother told him she wanted nothing to do with that child, he was free to come home but she would not go to collect him. Hirose, concerned about Takasato's welfare suggested that Takasato could stay with him for a little while until things calmed down, his mother agreed and permission was granted to Takasato to be discharged.
That night Hirose saw a strange pale figure who asked if he was an enemy of the king. He, half asleep, answered that he was not. He and Takasato speak a bit about lost memories and spiriting away. Takasato has done research on half forgotten concepts. Kirin legends from China, water demons, sirens. Jigsaw pieces that make no sense. Mountains looking down on the sea. They talk about going to the mountains in south America, to seek out far off places and live peaceful lives.
Takasato stayed off from school for a couple of days and considers withdrawing and leaving to save everyone from him. He and Hirose get closer, Hirose breaking through the walls that he has put around himself and learning of Takasato's dreams and fears.
Unbeknown to Takasato, a multi kingdom search for him has begun. Thanks to Risai and Yuoko and Enki seven of the twelve kingdoms have banded together and sent Kirin to earth. Sairin, Sourin and Kyouki go to China. Enki, Keiki, Hanrin and Renrin search Japan. None of them know it but as they follow the trail the golden threads of kirin energy they leave behind wrap themselves into Taiki's soul and begin to free to tattered remains of the kirin trapped inside.
Many of those involved in trying to hang Takasato were injured, eight of them were killed. The media started going wild. Eventually Hirose hears rumour that Takasato's brother has been absent from school and his father from work. Takasato has had no contact with his family and is worried.
They go to Takasato's house, to find their mutilated corpses. The police are called, Takasato is taken back to Hirose's house where he weeps and blames himself entirely. Hirose wonders if it was instead his own fault. In a way he is correct, once he took Taiki in Sanshi knew that Taiki had somehow escaped his jail to somewhere a little kinder. She had her revenge.
At the funeral none of Takasato's relatives want to take him in, though they soon change their tune when they learn that they would be able to claim his parents home and money. Still no one quite wishes to take on a cursed child and the matter is inconclusive, Takasato continues to stay with Hirose.
At the shrine a concrete arc collapses, killing many of the reporters. Near Hirose's home a car swerves and kills a bunch more reporters. Hirose tries figure out if it is Takasato doing all of this, if he has some kind of strange power. If his ego is what is killing them. He gets angry and Takasato says he is leaving and Hirose mocks him, but soon feels bad as Takasato tries to keep himself passive and calm. They make up.
Takasato is called into school where they tell him they want him to withdraw. Takasato agrees. They then wish to talk to Hirose privately but Takasato fears the teacher is in trouble for helping him and asks to stay, when they try and force him out he threatens to go to the media and tell them that the school forced him to withdraw whilst he had no legal guardian.
Takasato had worked out that though all the deaths and injuries had something to do with his curse, they never happened when he was there. So the safest place for Hirose, literally the only person to treat him with kindness in about five years, was right at his side. However it is not enough and Hirose is attacked in a classroom by a shadow whilst Takasato is trapped outside. Takasato fights his way in and yells that Hirose is not his enemy. The shadow shrinks and tells him that they are his protectors, before it crumbles.
The media has at this point decided that Takasato is an enemy and a monster. He and Hirose avoid the news and sit in the flat, despite the threatening notes from the neighbours. Hirose asks Takasato what he thinks of if he says king. Takasato says Taiou and they play a word association game to try and recover some memories. Kirin, twelve kings, covenant, King Tai, demons, siren, Haku Sanshi.
Hirose comes to the conclusion that Takasato is King Tai, Sanshi is the woman who spoke to him and the kirin is the monster who tried to kill him. He doesn't share this with Takasato though, worried in case he is wrong.
More reporters are killed. People throw rocks at Hirose's flat and threaten to storm in and attack Takasato. Takasato and Hirose are taken away by the police to a friend of Hirose. It is near the sea. They see strange creatures who call out for a Ren Taiho.
The building that Hirose's flat was in explodes. Youths set Takasato's old house on fire. Then they get the news that part of the school has collapsed. Hirose sets off to investigate and help but then has a terrible feeling, remembering Takasato saying something strange at the window and returns to the flat to find Takasato about to jump. After he fails at talking Takasato down he grabs him and threatens to jump if Takasato does. That is enough to make him pause.
Then a strange woman appears and tells Takasato that he must not die because 'if you die, he dies'. Takasato asks who she is and begs to know what is happening, who he is, why these things kept happening around him. She tells him that if he does not remember it is best he doesn't know. She opens the emergency door and Hirose takes Takasato back inside.
The woman and Hirose speak for a moment away from Takasato, she says she is Renrin, gives the names of the creatures as Gouran and Sanshi, explains that they know only justice and tells Hirose to leave Taiki and run, that the king of En is coming and a greater calamity will occur. Hirose refuses to leave.
He and Takasato talk, Takasato is completely despondent. So many deaths have been caused by him. Hirose relays Renrin's words and tries to get him to think about what Gouran, King En and Taiki means. Takasato doesn't care anymore, so caught up in the fact that so many people have died because of him.
Hirose tells him that he thinks he is King Tai. Takasato instinctively says no. He is not King Tai. He doesn't know who he is but he knows that is not true. He is not the king.
And then he remembers. King Tai. His master. He had sworn never to leave his side or disobey his command. That's all he remembered. But it was enough. He had to go back. To wherever 'there' was. He says he would have never ran away or left willingly. He has to return. He moves to the window but tells Hirose that he will not die. He cannot because he has to return to his king.
Hirose figures out that it is all a misunderstanding. That this Gouran and Sanshi have assumed anyone who harms Takasato is an enemy of the king.
It turned out thirty students had been killed, ninety were still missing and many more were injured, some severely.
Takasato hears voices on the breeze and wants to follow them. Hirose tells him to stay but Takasato runs out of the flat and towards the shore. Hirose follows him. They see Renrin again who tells Hirose to run, to get high up, that the King of En is coming and there will be a flood.
Then she changes into kirin form and Takasato, Taiki, remembers. Everything comes flooding back. He's not a person. He's a kirin. He has a king. He has a duty. He lost his horn. He lost his king. He needs to return now.
Hirose, confused and angry at everything doesn't understand or believe him, he tells him to transform and Taiki explains that he cannot. Hirose tries to stop him, refuses to leave him. Gouran and Sanshi begin to attack and Taiki begs them to stop. Asking if they have forgotten bad and good. They stop. Sanshi bows to Hirose and Taiki hugs her and Gouran.
Hirose wants to go with Taiki but Taiki says he can't drag him into this any more. He has to go back. He can't stay on earth. He begs Hirose to run and his final words to him are to go to the mountains, like they had talked about.
Shouryuu arrives. Enki has already done a bunch of paperwork accepting Taiki as a refugee from Tai and making him a citizen of En. They have given one of their counts a sabatical and therefore Shouryuu makes Taiki a sage and count of his court before dragging Taiki and his shirei through a shoku, flooding the area and causing two hundred deaths. A terrible price.
They fly back to Kei, where Risai had arrived some months before, begging for help. Though Taiki had walked around on earth and been alright passing through the storm the moment he arrived in the Twelve Kingdoms his taika shell was stripped away, leaving behind a broken, corrupted kirin.
He fell unconscious, near deaths door. His essence was in tatters, the other kirin could barely sense it and they could not go near him. The stench of death and corruption is too great that they cannot even enter the room he is in.
Shouryuu (King En), Youko (Queen Kei) and Risai take him to Mount Hou where the head sage tells them it would be better to kill him, allow a new ranka to grow. They refuse and she says she can sever his shirei but the corruption is so great that only the gods could save him.
So they go to meet the gods that at least two of the party aren't even sure are real. The mother of the West and Tentai. They also say that it would be best that Taiki die and a new ranka grow. He is more than just poisoned and sick. He is despised and loathed, practically cursed with the weight of the corruption and hatred upon him.
Risai tells them that it is unfair, that Taiki and Gyousou never disobeyed the mandate of heaven and yet the gods would punish them.
The gods point out that Taiki is useless, a hornless kirin with no shirei. Risai argues that you do not have a kirin lead armies or put one on a barricade. They are the hope of the people. Taiki will bring the people of Tai hope. The people of Tai do not have time to wait for another ranka to be born.
So the gods remove the corruption, healing him and his shirei are severed from his shadow. He is taken back to Kei where he sleeps for a long time.
He eventually awakes, apologising profusely for all the bother he has caused. Everyone is pretty upset by the fact that the cute, cheerful tiny kirin they knew is now grown up and very broken.
The situation is explained to him, he has a terrible awkward conversation with Keiki but it concludes with Keiki telling him that he was not too late. That he had been saved because they all believed he could save Tai.
He speaks to Youko, about them both being taika. He thanks her for her help and tells her she is an impressive queen. Whilst they are speaking armed guards rush in and try to assassinate Youko, a rebellion. It is swiftly stopped.
Once he is recovered enough to move he tells Risai that they should return to Tai. Her plan had been to put him somewhere safe and return to Tai to spread the word and she feels strongly that with one arm and he with no shirei they are more likely just to be ripped apart by Youma the moment they enter Tai. She tries to convince him to be safe. He tells her that it is the same as when he was a child, she is trying to shield him. But he is no longer a child though in many ways he is weaker than before.
He says that they cannot bring great calamities to Kei and gives an impassioned speech about being subjects of Tai and if they as citizens of Tai cannot bring themselves to try and save Tai then Tai is as good as lost. A horn-less kirin and a one armed general may not be able to save Tai on their own but this is not something they were destined to do through the strength of their own wills alone. If they conclude they can do nothing and so do nothing then they lose the right to call themselves citizens of Tai. If they cast the citizens of Tai aside then it would be a great betrayal.
He and Risai sneak away from Kei, though Enki catches them and gives them passports and a Kijyuu. They travel to Tai meet some people loyal to the king. Taiki suggests that the easiest way to solve the whole mess is to kill him and have the heavens start over again. But no one will hear of it.
One morning not long into their journey Taiki leaves the group and heads to the capitol. He tells those that he is traveling with that heaven is telling him to go there but that is a lie. His plan is to go to the palace, tell Asen that he is the king and then try and work for the betterment of Tai's people from inside the wolfs den. Whilst also taking attention away from Risai and the search for Gyousou and search in case Gyousou is a prisoner in the palace itself.
Taiki shows up, gets thrown in jail. Eventually he is taken before Asen who refuses to believe him. Rousan tells Asen that he should wound Taiki, because if he is not the true king then Taiki's shirei will attack but if he is then they will not harm him. Asen draws his sword and attacks Taiki. No demons retaliate.
Taiki takes up the mantel of Taiho once more and plans are made for a coronation. Gains some allies including Yari. He soon learns everything is way more complicated than he even thought.
He is in the palace for about half a year as his situation gets worse and worse. But he is slowly healing and soon he begins to look north. Trying to keep it secret. He can feel something terrible and awesome from the north. The ouki of the king.
He continues trying to persuade Asen and others to help Tai. It turns out Asen is using Youma that can steal peoples souls in order to create puppets. Taiki tries to balance everything, whilst not getting any of his allies hurt and trying to help Tai.
He sneaks down into the dungeons to rescue Seirai. He attacks a guard after contemplating that killing can't be that different than your shirei killing. But he can't actually go through with it and Yari kills the guard, telling Taiki off as Taiki freaks out. They get the information they need, whilst Taiki grieves for Seirai's tortured state. He sends Kouryou off to get the information out.
The next day some of the ministers come to ask Taiki about his missing guard. Asen turns up and after some conversation snaps and throws Taiki to the ground demanding that he swear to him then and there. Taiki's allies try to intervene but Taiki kneels and bows down, fighting through the pain, his will greater than the fact that this is meant to be impossible. Pain doesn't matter because he has caused so much death and suffering, he has no right to complain. He bows down and swears the oath, Asen leaves, there is blood in Taiki's eyes.
Things escalate. There is an attack on his life, he is still powerless to help the people. Taiki speaks to Asen again, another plea to get him to actually rule, to help the people and to stop Tai from being destroyed. Asen tells him that he knows he is not the true king. That without a horn Taiki cannot hear the divine will of heaven. He knows Taiki has lied but has gone along with it as it fits his plans. He has Taiki taken back to his quarters where Taiki becomes a prisoner in his own home.
Over the other side of Tai Gyousou is found, there is a massive fight Gyousou is finally captured by Asen's forces and brought back to the capital to abdicate. The gates of the palace are to be opened so the citizens can witness this and execute the 'false' king.
Taiki tells Yari that he has caused so many deaths and through all that could not do even one useful thing for Gyousou so when Gyousou is brought in to the palace to be abdicated he plans to at least show everyone who the real king as he may have been an utterly useless kirin but he never regretted choosing Gyousou.
So that is his plan, to get to his king, bow before him and show the kingdom who the true king is. He asks Yari for help but she is not sure it will have the impact he hopes for as he is a black kirin and therefore not instantly recognisable. Most people have never seen Taiki and those that have remember him as a tiny child. However she understands that he is asking as a final wish. He does not plan to survive this. He will die with his king and the next kirin and king of Tai will hopefully do a better job than he has managed.
The next day when Gyousou is brought to the platform Taiki, who is stood at Asen's side, grabs a sword off a guard, kills the guard and runs. Heading towards his king, Yari taking down all anyone in his path.
And that is his canon point.
After the death of the previous kirin of Tai from Shitsedou the taika (egg fruit of the kirin of tai) began to grow on the tree in mount Hou. Soon the taika's Nyokai was born, she was called Sanshi and she took up her post to protect the taika, who she declared as Taiki.
However a shoku hit mount Hou and blew the egg fruit from the tree, sending it through to the world beyond. To Hourai (Japan) where it found itself in the womb of a human woman and born instead of the child they believed they would have. Thus Taiki was born on earth, a taika (12 kingdoms citizen wrongly born on earth) and grew up as a human child.
It had happened before, kirin becoming taika but they often did not survive long. They were either found within five years or they would eventually perish and a new ranka would grow. But Taiki survived as Takasato Kaname, lost for ten years on earth.
He was a strange child, always set apart from his peers. He had an aversion to meat, was afraid of blood, was often sickly. His mother cared for him but his strangeness often upset her. He both seemed older than his years but was timid and shied from conflict. His grandmother was strict and old fashioned and often punished him for perceived disrespect. So he grew, never fitting in but always kind and friendly. Feeling more at ease with animals than humans and feeling guilty about the pain he brought his family.
When he was ten years old he was punished by his grandma for not apologising to her for spilling water. He had spilled no water and lying felt so wrong to him that he would not do it. She sent him to stand in the yard in the snow until he changed his ways. He felt a warm wind and saw a pure white arm from behind the shed, a space far too small for a person. He stepped towards it, was grabbed and pulled through to Mount Hou. There they were delighted to find he was a black Kirin. A rare beast for usually kirin have golden or pale manes. Taiki's mane is burnished steel.
There he learned the truth. He was not a human at all but a kirin. He was from another world and it was here that he belonged. He met sanshi who he took an instant liking too. He was frightened but also understood that the reason he had never fit in was because he was in the wrong place. He learned that he was to chose a king and serve at his side.
However things were not smooth. He was a kirin and everything kirin do is instinctual.. Most Kirin spend their first five years in Kirin form, able to transform into human form after a couple of years and slowly able to maintain it for longer. Using the yellow sea as their playground they tame Shirei to protect them. By the time they can maintain a human form and are ready to chose a king they have several Shirei to protect them. Not so for Taiki. Despite Keiki's reassurance that changing form was as easy as lifting your arm, Taiki was unable to do so. In fact he wasn't really sure what he should be transforming into (he translates kirin into the more mundane form of a giraffe and tries to do neck stretches to help the change).
His attempts at catching Shirei of his own were equally unsuccessful and his feelings of inadequacy grew. He felt like he is disappointing the sages, who were so kind to him and he worried about what will happen if he cannot be a proper Kirin.
But he is old enough and Tai has suffered a long time without a king so despite him not having transformed yet or having any shirei the gates are opened and the pilgrimage begins. As people begin climbing the mountain Taiki feels that something terrible is coming, something terrifying.
He meets many people. One is Risai, a general from Tai who has a Kijyuu called Hien. He visits Risai a lot, enjoying her company and developing a bond with Hien.
He also meets a man named Gyousou. Gyousou terrifies Taiki and yet Taiki wants to be close to him. His eyes are the colour of blood. He is like a fire, warm and bright yet terrifying and dangerous all at the same time. Despite the fear Taiki often sought Gyousou out.
Soon it became obvious that a king was not going to be chosen this time and the gates were closed. Gyousou took Risai and Taiki into the yellow sea to catch Kijyuu. Whilst there they accidentally end up in the cave of a toutetsu. A powerful Youma. So powerful that it would not normally be able to be bound as a shirei. Taiki had ordered Sanshi to take Risai away but then Gyousou is hurt and cannot move. Taiki meets the eyes of the Youma and enters into a battle of wills. It takes the whole day, night and into the next day yet Taiki subdues the toutetsu and bounds him.
Gouran, the shirei is called. It is a formidable achievement for such a tiny and timid kirin. Gyousou admits that he was not as injured as he claimed, but he had instinctively known that if he had moved Taiki would have not been able to keep the concentration and they would have both been overpowered and killed.
People begin to leave the mountain. Gyousou and Risai are among them. Taiki feels he will miss Risai but when he thinks about Gyousou leaving it is a very bad thing. He goes to say goodbye and Gyousou admits that he is planning on leaving the army. He had been too prideful in thinking he could be king and he could do with a lesson in humility.
Taiki is devastated that he will never see him again but says his goodbyes. That night he is restless and he hears the sages speaking about how Gyousou would have made a great king. Not being able to take it anymore Taiki rushed out into the night, evading both Sanshi and Gouran, transforming into his kirin form for the first time and catching up to Gyousou.
There he transformed back and bowed before Gyousou, swearing his allegiance and proclaiming him king. He believed that he was acting against the heavens, that he was acting selfishly and that his actions were wrong.
Events moved too fast for him to correct his mistake. They returned to mount Hou, Gyousou was afforded all the privileges of king in waiting. They got ready to ascend. Taiki learned that kings that did their kingdom harm were punished by heaven, their kirin struck down with shitsedou and the king dying shortly after. Taiki lived in fear that he had condemned Gyousou to death and the kingdom to ruin.
Gyousou was confused about why his kirin was so terrified and unsure. After a nyosen suggested it might just be that Taiki was about to be once again taken from everything and everyone he knew Gyousou took the time to learn Taiki's earth name- Takasato Kaname. He took Takasato and changed it subtly to Kouri, the name of the mountain of the dead. A name so ominous that Gyousou hoped it would bring good luck. It became his nickname for Taiki.
They ascended, they were not struck down and they went to Tai to prepare for the coronation. Keiki came to visit and Taiki finally admitted that he had chosen a false king. Keiki left him weeping, but did inform Gyousou and then enlisted the help of the king and kirin of En. Together they showed Taiki that a kirin could not bow down before anyone who was not their king. A kirin could not swear a false oath. Though Shouryuu took it a bit too far Taiki was relieved by the lesson. Keiki and Enki explained to him that the ouki is more a feeling, an instinct rather than a visible thing.
The fear, the idea that Gyousou was fire, that was the ouki. Awe. Taiki had found his king. The coronation was held and Tai had a king once more.
There were troubles of course. Gyousou was a general and as such his methods were swift and effective, which did not sit well with a troubled court. He was known as a whirlwind or an avalanche. Swift change that the average minister could barely keep up with.
Taiki struggled as well. He was both a child, in that he was only ten years old and had spent most of that time in another world where he was treated like a child. Here he was an adult, a minister, servant to the king and the embodiment of the will of an entire kingdom. The ministers weren't sure how to treat him. They were gentle, not wanting to upset the timid and shy kirin. But others disagreed, he was a kirin. Furthermore he was a kirin who had subdued a toutetsu, stronger than he looked. He had to be ready for the struggles ahead. A regent was put in place, a man named Seirai who made the actual decisions of the province whilst also tutoring Taiki, trying to teach him all the things he should have learned on mount Hou.
As winter fell upon Tai Gyousou sent him on a month long diplomatic mission to Ren, to thank them for their help in bringing him back from Hourai. This was actually to get him out of the way whilst Gyousou purged the corrupt ministers from the government. Taiki met the king of Ren and Renrin. The King of Ren was a farmer first and formost. He learned about how a kings job is to govern and watch over their kingdom, to provide for the people and make a prosperous place to live. A kirins job is to watch over their king, support them but also draw them back when they go too far and keep them on the right path.
Taiki returned to Tai where Gyousou had moved his quarters so they were closer to his own. Taiki was thrilled as he had previously barely got to see Gyousou very much as they were both so busy. Gyousou also gifted him with a horse and riding lessons as Taiki could not bare to be carried in a palaquin.
A month later there was an uprising in Bun Province. The city of Tetsui ended up in revolt, Tetsui was a city that Gyousou had deep connections to, having once put down a rebellion there without having hurt a single citizen in his days as a general. He went to try and calm things down once more.
There were many rumours flying around that it was a trap, that Gyousou would be attacked. All the ministers told Taiki it would be fine, there was no danger. Others like Rousan and Asen told him the truth, claiming that as they needed the Taiho to mobilise the guard it was only right that he knew.
Taiki, believing that people were keeping things from him because he was small and probably stupid stopped believing those that tried to tell him good news. He believed the bad things because it was not being sugar coated. Asen especially was a source of news, telling him the rumours. He was the one who told him Gyousou had been attacked, Taiki wanted to help and Asen manipulated him via reverse psychology to send his shirei north to help Gyousou. Taiki did it believing he was disobeying Asen but wanting to do anything to save his king.
A while later he met with Asen again, Asen told him the king was dead. Taiki was horrified and didn't believe him but also trusted him. He was confused and terrified, slow to realise what was happening when Asen drew his sword. Taiki tried to run but Asen attacked him, severing his horn.
A meishoku is a super storm that is formed from the scream of a kirin. It is a primal last ditch survival instinct of a beast. All kirin are capable of them as they are capable of shoku. They are instinctual and devastating. Taiki, not having most of the kirin instincts others took for granted should not have known how to form a shoku. But in his moment of greatest pain formed a meishoku that destroyed large chunks of the palace, killed many of those not fortunate enough to have immortality and sent him hurtling through to earth.
Sanshi and Gouran heard his scream and travelled through the ley lines, diving into his shadow as he fell through the storm. Taiki landed on earth, naked, bleeding from the head, dazed. He stumbled through a door into his old house, currently in the middle of his grandmothers wake.
His taika shell had closed around him, the kirin part of him was in tatters and retreated deep inside him, taking the memories of the last year with it. Sanshi and Gouran were trapped in his shadow, not knowing what was happening. But it soon became clear to them that Taiki was in the hands of enemies. Perhaps connected to the coup. They were his jailers though they kept him fed and sheltered. The jailers gave his contaminated food, slowly poisoning him, though his taika shell was unharmed. They punished him for no more than simply being himself.
Taiki, now Takasato Kaname once more could not remember the year he had been spirited away. For him he had been in his yard and then he had been in his house, injured with longer hair but no taller. Now his younger brother was in the same class as him at school. He was interviewed by police, doctors but he had no answers for them. He was taken to many psychologists who tried to piece together what had happened to him but no one could breach the block in his memory.
He had no idea what had happened to him, but he felt that something huge was missing. Something so important it should never be forgotten. He dreamed often of mountains, of a palace. Faces that fled from his conscious memory the moment he woke. He was tormented with a longing to return, but he did not know where he was supposed to return to or why.
He did not fit in, he was desperately lonely and though people at first reacted to him with pity for his ordeal he was soon known as strange, a person to be avoided, mocked or hurt.
Then the accidents began to occur. A child would shove him down in the playground, tease him and hurt him. That child later would fall into a ditch and break his arm. He began to be known as cursed, people turned cruel both to him and his brother. His brother blamed him. His father blamed him. His mother cried and wondered if this was even her lost child or if a changeling had been brought back.
Years went on. Kaname learned to be boring. To attract no attention. To speak only when spoken to and as little as possible. He was known as strange and rude. But he knew he could not let anyone close. Because if they got close eventually they would say something harsh or a pat on the back would land too hard and then they would be hurt. Then they would die.
Because the accidents got worse. Because of course they were not accidents at all. Sanshi and Gouran, the demons who lived in his shadows. Demons Kaname could not sense or remember. They stopped all threats to their kirin.
Because Sanshi and Gohran didn't understand what had happened. They saw his parents as his jailers. They knew they couldn't kill them even as they slowly poisoned Taiki and raised their hands to him, as they were technically keeping Taiki fed and sheltered. But all others who beat him and cursed him they could get revenge on.
As they hurt more people Taiki was further poisoned and corrupted, this lessened his hold on him and allowed them to slip from his shadow for longer. Which allowed them greater acts of revenge.
Kaname took solace in art. His paintings were strange, he painted half forgotten things from his dreams. He saw in his minds eye a mountain. Sometimes he dreamed of a dog. Sometimes he even thought he saw the dog, out of the corner of his eyes. And sometimes when everything hurt he swore he could feel arms around him, holding him like they were all that were keeping him safe in the world. Most of all he had the feeling he had forgotten something, a promise he should never forget.
When Takasato was sixteen he tested into a prestigious high school. On a school trip at the end of his first year a student died after bullying Takasato. By this point his parents had all but disowned him. They allowed him to stay in their house but refused to call him name, calling him only 'that child'. His brother was cruel, the students at school ignored him out of fear.
Accidents followed him into his second year. A student teacher named Hirose took an interest in Takasato. After a student hit Takasato and was subsequently trampled to death in an athletics practice a mob of students attacked Takasato and tried to hang him.
Takasato did not fight back, making himself passive until they forced him to his knees and tried to make him bow down and apologise. Takasato yelled no and fought their arms off, the most emotion Hirose had seen him show ever. In the scuffle Takasato was thrown out of the window and Hirose was injured trying to break up the fight.
Hirose went visit Takasato in hospital to learn that he was only a superficially injured and could go home but though his parents had been informed no one had come to collect them and the hospital wouldn't discharge a minor without a guardian collecting them.
Hirose went to Takasato's house where his mother told him she wanted nothing to do with that child, he was free to come home but she would not go to collect him. Hirose, concerned about Takasato's welfare suggested that Takasato could stay with him for a little while until things calmed down, his mother agreed and permission was granted to Takasato to be discharged.
That night Hirose saw a strange pale figure who asked if he was an enemy of the king. He, half asleep, answered that he was not. He and Takasato speak a bit about lost memories and spiriting away. Takasato has done research on half forgotten concepts. Kirin legends from China, water demons, sirens. Jigsaw pieces that make no sense. Mountains looking down on the sea. They talk about going to the mountains in south America, to seek out far off places and live peaceful lives.
Takasato stayed off from school for a couple of days and considers withdrawing and leaving to save everyone from him. He and Hirose get closer, Hirose breaking through the walls that he has put around himself and learning of Takasato's dreams and fears.
Unbeknown to Takasato, a multi kingdom search for him has begun. Thanks to Risai and Yuoko and Enki seven of the twelve kingdoms have banded together and sent Kirin to earth. Sairin, Sourin and Kyouki go to China. Enki, Keiki, Hanrin and Renrin search Japan. None of them know it but as they follow the trail the golden threads of kirin energy they leave behind wrap themselves into Taiki's soul and begin to free to tattered remains of the kirin trapped inside.
Many of those involved in trying to hang Takasato were injured, eight of them were killed. The media started going wild. Eventually Hirose hears rumour that Takasato's brother has been absent from school and his father from work. Takasato has had no contact with his family and is worried.
They go to Takasato's house, to find their mutilated corpses. The police are called, Takasato is taken back to Hirose's house where he weeps and blames himself entirely. Hirose wonders if it was instead his own fault. In a way he is correct, once he took Taiki in Sanshi knew that Taiki had somehow escaped his jail to somewhere a little kinder. She had her revenge.
At the funeral none of Takasato's relatives want to take him in, though they soon change their tune when they learn that they would be able to claim his parents home and money. Still no one quite wishes to take on a cursed child and the matter is inconclusive, Takasato continues to stay with Hirose.
At the shrine a concrete arc collapses, killing many of the reporters. Near Hirose's home a car swerves and kills a bunch more reporters. Hirose tries figure out if it is Takasato doing all of this, if he has some kind of strange power. If his ego is what is killing them. He gets angry and Takasato says he is leaving and Hirose mocks him, but soon feels bad as Takasato tries to keep himself passive and calm. They make up.
Takasato is called into school where they tell him they want him to withdraw. Takasato agrees. They then wish to talk to Hirose privately but Takasato fears the teacher is in trouble for helping him and asks to stay, when they try and force him out he threatens to go to the media and tell them that the school forced him to withdraw whilst he had no legal guardian.
Takasato had worked out that though all the deaths and injuries had something to do with his curse, they never happened when he was there. So the safest place for Hirose, literally the only person to treat him with kindness in about five years, was right at his side. However it is not enough and Hirose is attacked in a classroom by a shadow whilst Takasato is trapped outside. Takasato fights his way in and yells that Hirose is not his enemy. The shadow shrinks and tells him that they are his protectors, before it crumbles.
The media has at this point decided that Takasato is an enemy and a monster. He and Hirose avoid the news and sit in the flat, despite the threatening notes from the neighbours. Hirose asks Takasato what he thinks of if he says king. Takasato says Taiou and they play a word association game to try and recover some memories. Kirin, twelve kings, covenant, King Tai, demons, siren, Haku Sanshi.
Hirose comes to the conclusion that Takasato is King Tai, Sanshi is the woman who spoke to him and the kirin is the monster who tried to kill him. He doesn't share this with Takasato though, worried in case he is wrong.
More reporters are killed. People throw rocks at Hirose's flat and threaten to storm in and attack Takasato. Takasato and Hirose are taken away by the police to a friend of Hirose. It is near the sea. They see strange creatures who call out for a Ren Taiho.
The building that Hirose's flat was in explodes. Youths set Takasato's old house on fire. Then they get the news that part of the school has collapsed. Hirose sets off to investigate and help but then has a terrible feeling, remembering Takasato saying something strange at the window and returns to the flat to find Takasato about to jump. After he fails at talking Takasato down he grabs him and threatens to jump if Takasato does. That is enough to make him pause.
Then a strange woman appears and tells Takasato that he must not die because 'if you die, he dies'. Takasato asks who she is and begs to know what is happening, who he is, why these things kept happening around him. She tells him that if he does not remember it is best he doesn't know. She opens the emergency door and Hirose takes Takasato back inside.
The woman and Hirose speak for a moment away from Takasato, she says she is Renrin, gives the names of the creatures as Gouran and Sanshi, explains that they know only justice and tells Hirose to leave Taiki and run, that the king of En is coming and a greater calamity will occur. Hirose refuses to leave.
He and Takasato talk, Takasato is completely despondent. So many deaths have been caused by him. Hirose relays Renrin's words and tries to get him to think about what Gouran, King En and Taiki means. Takasato doesn't care anymore, so caught up in the fact that so many people have died because of him.
Hirose tells him that he thinks he is King Tai. Takasato instinctively says no. He is not King Tai. He doesn't know who he is but he knows that is not true. He is not the king.
And then he remembers. King Tai. His master. He had sworn never to leave his side or disobey his command. That's all he remembered. But it was enough. He had to go back. To wherever 'there' was. He says he would have never ran away or left willingly. He has to return. He moves to the window but tells Hirose that he will not die. He cannot because he has to return to his king.
Hirose figures out that it is all a misunderstanding. That this Gouran and Sanshi have assumed anyone who harms Takasato is an enemy of the king.
It turned out thirty students had been killed, ninety were still missing and many more were injured, some severely.
Takasato hears voices on the breeze and wants to follow them. Hirose tells him to stay but Takasato runs out of the flat and towards the shore. Hirose follows him. They see Renrin again who tells Hirose to run, to get high up, that the King of En is coming and there will be a flood.
Then she changes into kirin form and Takasato, Taiki, remembers. Everything comes flooding back. He's not a person. He's a kirin. He has a king. He has a duty. He lost his horn. He lost his king. He needs to return now.
Hirose, confused and angry at everything doesn't understand or believe him, he tells him to transform and Taiki explains that he cannot. Hirose tries to stop him, refuses to leave him. Gouran and Sanshi begin to attack and Taiki begs them to stop. Asking if they have forgotten bad and good. They stop. Sanshi bows to Hirose and Taiki hugs her and Gouran.
Hirose wants to go with Taiki but Taiki says he can't drag him into this any more. He has to go back. He can't stay on earth. He begs Hirose to run and his final words to him are to go to the mountains, like they had talked about.
Shouryuu arrives. Enki has already done a bunch of paperwork accepting Taiki as a refugee from Tai and making him a citizen of En. They have given one of their counts a sabatical and therefore Shouryuu makes Taiki a sage and count of his court before dragging Taiki and his shirei through a shoku, flooding the area and causing two hundred deaths. A terrible price.
They fly back to Kei, where Risai had arrived some months before, begging for help. Though Taiki had walked around on earth and been alright passing through the storm the moment he arrived in the Twelve Kingdoms his taika shell was stripped away, leaving behind a broken, corrupted kirin.
He fell unconscious, near deaths door. His essence was in tatters, the other kirin could barely sense it and they could not go near him. The stench of death and corruption is too great that they cannot even enter the room he is in.
Shouryuu (King En), Youko (Queen Kei) and Risai take him to Mount Hou where the head sage tells them it would be better to kill him, allow a new ranka to grow. They refuse and she says she can sever his shirei but the corruption is so great that only the gods could save him.
So they go to meet the gods that at least two of the party aren't even sure are real. The mother of the West and Tentai. They also say that it would be best that Taiki die and a new ranka grow. He is more than just poisoned and sick. He is despised and loathed, practically cursed with the weight of the corruption and hatred upon him.
Risai tells them that it is unfair, that Taiki and Gyousou never disobeyed the mandate of heaven and yet the gods would punish them.
The gods point out that Taiki is useless, a hornless kirin with no shirei. Risai argues that you do not have a kirin lead armies or put one on a barricade. They are the hope of the people. Taiki will bring the people of Tai hope. The people of Tai do not have time to wait for another ranka to be born.
So the gods remove the corruption, healing him and his shirei are severed from his shadow. He is taken back to Kei where he sleeps for a long time.
He eventually awakes, apologising profusely for all the bother he has caused. Everyone is pretty upset by the fact that the cute, cheerful tiny kirin they knew is now grown up and very broken.
The situation is explained to him, he has a terrible awkward conversation with Keiki but it concludes with Keiki telling him that he was not too late. That he had been saved because they all believed he could save Tai.
He speaks to Youko, about them both being taika. He thanks her for her help and tells her she is an impressive queen. Whilst they are speaking armed guards rush in and try to assassinate Youko, a rebellion. It is swiftly stopped.
Once he is recovered enough to move he tells Risai that they should return to Tai. Her plan had been to put him somewhere safe and return to Tai to spread the word and she feels strongly that with one arm and he with no shirei they are more likely just to be ripped apart by Youma the moment they enter Tai. She tries to convince him to be safe. He tells her that it is the same as when he was a child, she is trying to shield him. But he is no longer a child though in many ways he is weaker than before.
He says that they cannot bring great calamities to Kei and gives an impassioned speech about being subjects of Tai and if they as citizens of Tai cannot bring themselves to try and save Tai then Tai is as good as lost. A horn-less kirin and a one armed general may not be able to save Tai on their own but this is not something they were destined to do through the strength of their own wills alone. If they conclude they can do nothing and so do nothing then they lose the right to call themselves citizens of Tai. If they cast the citizens of Tai aside then it would be a great betrayal.
He and Risai sneak away from Kei, though Enki catches them and gives them passports and a Kijyuu. They travel to Tai meet some people loyal to the king. Taiki suggests that the easiest way to solve the whole mess is to kill him and have the heavens start over again. But no one will hear of it.
One morning not long into their journey Taiki leaves the group and heads to the capitol. He tells those that he is traveling with that heaven is telling him to go there but that is a lie. His plan is to go to the palace, tell Asen that he is the king and then try and work for the betterment of Tai's people from inside the wolfs den. Whilst also taking attention away from Risai and the search for Gyousou and search in case Gyousou is a prisoner in the palace itself.
Taiki shows up, gets thrown in jail. Eventually he is taken before Asen who refuses to believe him. Rousan tells Asen that he should wound Taiki, because if he is not the true king then Taiki's shirei will attack but if he is then they will not harm him. Asen draws his sword and attacks Taiki. No demons retaliate.
Taiki takes up the mantel of Taiho once more and plans are made for a coronation. Gains some allies including Yari. He soon learns everything is way more complicated than he even thought.
He is in the palace for about half a year as his situation gets worse and worse. But he is slowly healing and soon he begins to look north. Trying to keep it secret. He can feel something terrible and awesome from the north. The ouki of the king.
He continues trying to persuade Asen and others to help Tai. It turns out Asen is using Youma that can steal peoples souls in order to create puppets. Taiki tries to balance everything, whilst not getting any of his allies hurt and trying to help Tai.
He sneaks down into the dungeons to rescue Seirai. He attacks a guard after contemplating that killing can't be that different than your shirei killing. But he can't actually go through with it and Yari kills the guard, telling Taiki off as Taiki freaks out. They get the information they need, whilst Taiki grieves for Seirai's tortured state. He sends Kouryou off to get the information out.
The next day some of the ministers come to ask Taiki about his missing guard. Asen turns up and after some conversation snaps and throws Taiki to the ground demanding that he swear to him then and there. Taiki's allies try to intervene but Taiki kneels and bows down, fighting through the pain, his will greater than the fact that this is meant to be impossible. Pain doesn't matter because he has caused so much death and suffering, he has no right to complain. He bows down and swears the oath, Asen leaves, there is blood in Taiki's eyes.
Things escalate. There is an attack on his life, he is still powerless to help the people. Taiki speaks to Asen again, another plea to get him to actually rule, to help the people and to stop Tai from being destroyed. Asen tells him that he knows he is not the true king. That without a horn Taiki cannot hear the divine will of heaven. He knows Taiki has lied but has gone along with it as it fits his plans. He has Taiki taken back to his quarters where Taiki becomes a prisoner in his own home.
Over the other side of Tai Gyousou is found, there is a massive fight Gyousou is finally captured by Asen's forces and brought back to the capital to abdicate. The gates of the palace are to be opened so the citizens can witness this and execute the 'false' king.
Taiki tells Yari that he has caused so many deaths and through all that could not do even one useful thing for Gyousou so when Gyousou is brought in to the palace to be abdicated he plans to at least show everyone who the real king as he may have been an utterly useless kirin but he never regretted choosing Gyousou.
So that is his plan, to get to his king, bow before him and show the kingdom who the true king is. He asks Yari for help but she is not sure it will have the impact he hopes for as he is a black kirin and therefore not instantly recognisable. Most people have never seen Taiki and those that have remember him as a tiny child. However she understands that he is asking as a final wish. He does not plan to survive this. He will die with his king and the next kirin and king of Tai will hopefully do a better job than he has managed.
The next day when Gyousou is brought to the platform Taiki, who is stood at Asen's side, grabs a sword off a guard, kills the guard and runs. Heading towards his king, Yari taking down all anyone in his path.
And that is his canon point.
