Ai

Ai
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**Ai** (アイ) was formerly one of the leaders of Tanpopo and a member of the Nijibana Rainbow Flowers, being ranked sixth among them in Hazakura efficiency at 310%. After the Tanpopo infiltration and losing her guardian, she was placed into the care of the Yozakura Family.

## Appearance

Ai is a small girl with long dark blue hair running down to her legs and one pointed bang, she also has two large dog ears coming out from it. Her eyes are yellow and has a long dark hairy tail and can transform the rest of her body to become more animal-like. Ai wears a hooded raincoat and boots, she also has a collar which has the Tanpopo logo displayed. After leaving Tanpopo Ai keeps the collar, but the Tanpopo logo is removed.

After the Time-skip Ai now ties back her hair in a large ponytail, though keeping the same style at the front. She now wears overalls with a dog paw print at the front and has gotten taller.

## Personality

Ai very playful and energetic as she often plays with the other test subjects and Nijibana members. She is very friendly and calls many people her friends which makes her very attached to people. This is an issue as many people around her die and she is often filled with sorrow, crying and creating outbursts to save her friends' lives. As a result she is very concerned with her friends safety, worrying when they have to go and fight. She's quite naïve as she's so young in a criminal organization so she's looked after by Mizuki.
When taken into care by the Yozakura Family, her child nature is encouraged and the family try and give her a more normal upbringing, causing her to embrace her child like personality. She is often looked after by Taiyo and Mutsumi who treat her like their child.

## History

Ai lived with her mother who was very abusive to her, grabbing her by the head, using bottles to hit her and never looking after her; leading her to look dirty and disheveled with nothing to wear by filthy, torn rags. When Kawashita found her, Ai was with Mizuki, who'd taken it upon himself to kill her mother, dissolving her head with his posion. They took her into Tanpopo where she was happy playing with all the other test subjects and growing very attached to them. This always lead to her crying when the died or disposed of, making Mizuki worried for her safety as it would only lead to Kawashita wanting to kill her. Mizuki managed to control Ai from going out of line by making her afraid of his hand on her head, since it reminds her of her mother's abuse and how he killed her.

## Plot

After Taiyo defeats White Snake, Ai alongside Mizuki arrive to retrieve the Cherry Blossom Leaf Hazakura, White Snakes corpse and to dispose of Taiyo. Ai immediately attacks Taiyo using her giant claw and then gets praised by Mizuki before being interrupted by Rin and Futaba. She takes off her jacket and boots and runs towards them on all-fours, she jumps and attacks Rin with her giant claw. Rin is completely unfazed by this attack and sends her back flying into Mizuki's arms and she apologizes for failing. After Mizuki attacks the two, they are both sent flying with the train by Futaba. Afterwards she apologizes again before feeling sorry for White Snake.

Ai was later seen at the meeting on Skeleton Island, watching Momo and Kawashita play cards. When the other Nijibana member's arrived she asked Aonuma to make some snow, which she rolled around in.

On the day of the Seed-Sowing Project Ai was with the rest of the Nijibana celebrating the event, she ran around with cake and played with Kurosawa. She was saddened to know that White Snake betrayed them, but Mizuki comforted her. They all watched through the cameras as Akai confronted the Yozakura Family. Ai was cheering on Akai, though she didn't appreciate it. When Aonuma left to join the battle she was scared for his safety but after he reassured her she was happy. When Kawashita commanded Kurosawa to kill the test subjects Ai was shocked and was yelling at him to not kill them since they're her friends. However, Mizuki placed his hand on her head, scaring her as she apologized for her outburst. When self-destruct chips were set off, Ai was seen sulking in the corner with Mizuki comforting her.

After Nanao let the test subjects escape Ai and Mizuki confronted and attacked him, Ai kept attacking Nanao in order to top him from neutralizing Mizuki's sleeping gas. Before they managed to kill Nanao, he was saved by Sui and Oga, with Oga retraining her in his chains. She managed to break out and attack the two of them. She told them how despite all the terrible things going on, Tanpopo is her only home, crying as she askes them not to take it away from her. That is also when Nanao identifies that she is a chimera with Okami dog DNA. During the fight, Ai suddenly collapsed as her body fell into Hyperactive shock due to the Hazakura. Nanao tried to help her using his blooming and his own blood but his bloods strength in proportion was too high Mizuki gets up and chooses to pour his own blood into Ai to create an equilibrium and save her. Ai regained consciousness as Mizuki was crumbling away, she tried to tell him to stop however he said his goodbyes and turned to dust. Ai was left crying on the ground holding onto his coat.

After the downfall of Tanpopo she is taken by Rin, later on, Rin decides that Ai, after being isolated from Society for so long, would be better off being integrated into society and so she takes her to the Yozakura Mansion.

Futaba is the first one to greet her, however, Ai, scared and nervous rejects her and so Futaba explains how the family works and how Taiyo and Mutsumi will look out for her. After staying with the family for a week, Rin is shocked by how well Ai is settling in and how Taiyo and Mutsumi have taken to her as if she is their child. Futaba was amazed by it as well but doesn't back off. After spending many more days with the Yozakura family Ai sees a programmed which reminds her of Mizuki causing her to run away in the rain. She thinks how she doesn't know where she truly belongs and is worried about being abandoned again. After Taiyo saves her from a falling tree he too said that he understands what she is going through as he was a stranger that came into the family. He said to Ai that him and Mutsumi are not her real parents nor are they Mizuki but he is willing to start forming a relationship with Ai, starting as friends, which Ai is more then willing to agree upon.

After returning to the mansion, Ai is officially introduced to the other members of the family, who offer her welcome gifts, causing her to cry tears of joy.

It doesn't take long for Ai to be interested in becoming a spy like Taiyo and so she spends a week with the other Yozakura siblings learning all their various skills, some of which she quickly picks up on and also develops bad habits from, such as Shion and late night gaming. After getting through the week, including Kyorichio's mental training, Mutsumi and Taiyo make a childlike Spy license for her, proclaiming that whether or not she becomes a spy, Ai is still their adoptive child, causing her to be excited that she has her own personalized Spy license.

## Relationships

**Mizuki** - Mizuki saved Ai from her abusing mother and took up a nurturing role to her. He looked after her like a father and trained her to ensure that she doesn't get herself killed by Kawashita.

**Taiyo Asano and Mutsumi Yozakura** - After leaving Tanpopo, Ai need to be integrated into a normal life. Taiyo and Mutsumi took up the job to look after Ai and make her comfortable around other people and have a normal life. This lead to them adopting a parental role when it came to looking after Ai.

## Abilities and Skills

**Okami Dog Chimera -** Ai's DNA is mixed with an Okami dog with the used of Hazakura. As a result she can turn her body parts into those of an Okami dog as well as gaining the abilities of an Okami dog like the ability to grow her transformed limbs to great sizes. His also gives her the ability to understand other canine.

## Trivia

* The name **Ai** is written in katakana (アイ), which has no special meaning. However, when written in kanji (愛 or 藍), it could possibly mean:
	+ 愛 - "love, affection".
	+ 藍 - "indigo".

## References

1. ↑ Mission: Yozakura Family (Manga) - Chapter 180, page 17.
2. ↑ Mission: Yozakura Family (Manga) - Chapter 115, page 9.