Inu-Yasha

## Personality

Aggressive, hostile even, but it's all a defense mechanism. He's had to be tough to survive, and he's really pleased with how tough he's become. Add rude, willful, and egotistical, and it's not surprising he really doesn't have any friends. He's been living a day-to-day existence for a long time, and that isn't about to change. He thinks the strong will crush the weak (which is why it's good to be strong), and isn't much interested in right vs wrong. His only interest right now is in building his own strength so he can take care of himself.

Despite that rough exterior, a little kindness will go a long way with him. Once someone gets through to him and shows him a better way, he'll take it, and be extremely loyal to those he trusts. He just doesn't have any experience with a "better way" yet. What he'll start to learn is that he becomes his best when defending someone he cares about. He moves faster, hits harder, and pushes himself farther.

## Powers

Superhuman endurance, strength, stamina, agility, and… durability? (it takes a lot more to break him than it does a normal human - toss him through a wall or two and he’ll still get up); accelerated healing, enhanced hearing, eyesight, and sense of smell. He also has extremely strong claws instead of finger nails, small fangs, and dog ears.

Using his speed and power, he can travel extremely quickly, and is able to use a controlled glide to mimic flight to a degree.

Although much faster than a normal human, he's nowhere near as fast as a speedster. His healing is accelerated, but not immediate; this means that he can sustain heavier injuries than normal humans, but there are limits, and severe damage can render him unconscious.

**Demon blood:** When on the verge of death, Inu-yasha’s body goes into “full demon” mode, his enhanced abilities taking over but stripping away his humanity. (Currently he has no idea, as he has never been this close to death.)

## Talents

Fighting (not through skill so much as raw power, enhanced speed, and sheer stubborn strength of will). Offending people. Breaking things.

## Interests

Training his strength and power. Being tough. …that’s about it.

## History

The Youkai family is an ancient one; once powerful feudal lords, they successfully navigated the transition out of feudalism and became powerful in commerce and government. 'Power' went hand in hand with corruption, and the Youkai family is still well-known and feared as one of the most powerful crime organizations in Japan. Although ostensibly an upright business family, in the world of organized crime they are well-known players, and use a dog ("Inu") to represent the family. Due to their history and family name, they have long been rumored to have the blood of powerful demons in their heritage.

Inu-yasha's birth was at the heart of a major conflict in Japanese organized his crime. An era of peace between the most powerful families was disrupted when Inu no Taisho fell in love with Izayoi, an American-born half-Japanese woman with no ties to the world of crime. Despite his existing marriage to a member of a rival family, he made no effort to hide the affair, and Izayoi was soon pregnant.

Inu no Taisho's power and standing in the community were not enough to protect him. It is unclear exactly how he was murdered, but it happened before Inu-yasha's first birthday. His mother went into hiding in the country with her infant son, and Inu-yasha spent much of his early life with only her. Inu-yasha's mutation began to show early, and he was uncommonly quick and strong as a child. The few servants of Inu no Taisho who stayed with Izayoi all resented the boy, and began to fear him as well. When a young Inu-yasha started school, his situation didn't improve much. He had no experience with other children, and he was teased and bullied for his unusual looks and his mother’s nationality.

When Inu-yasha was five, his mother died of illness. Inu-yasha was devastated. His father's former servants continued to care for him, but without Izayoi's presence the care dipped markedly, and their anger and frustration was often taken out on the stubborn, angry young boy. As Inu-yasha got older, he ran away frequently. When he was nine, he ran away for the last time, making it all the way to Tokyo. His mutation gave him a toughness and speed that was an advantage on the streets of Tokyo, but it was only by banding together with older street kids that Inu-yasha was able to get by. These weren't "friends and family", though; always an outsider, he learned the hard way about the advantages and power that came with strength and ruthlessness.

Two years later, a friend of Inu no Taisho's returned to Japan to seek out Inu-yasha. Myoga, an old man with strong self-preservation instincts, managed to find the boy on the streets, and fled with him to the US. They lived in a heavily Japanese neighborhood in Los Angeles, where Inu-yasha continued to be ostracized due to his looks and family history. Myoga continued to travel frequently, and an old woman, Kaede, largely took over raising Inu-yasha. He resumed school, where he faced the additional difficulty of learning English, and faced more mocking children - a situation made worse by his own aggressive behavior. He picked up English quickly and managed to finish elementary school, but dropped out before finishing middle school. Older and much stronger now, he returned to the streets, alone this time. He stole what he needed to get by, stealing and getting into fights.

Despite his small stature, he gained a reputation as a vicious fighter. When a gang of older boys tried to beat him up, he sent half of them to the hospital. As his mutation continued to grow,  he was well aware of how inhuman his strength and speed were; he was delighted by this, and honed his skills, leaning to move rapidly through the city.

Around age 14, other changes set in. His fingernails turned to claws, capable of slicing through nearly anything, and his canine teeth turned to pointed fangs. His hair turned silver and coarse, his eyes turned from deep brown to a striking amber, and his senses became much more acute; one day he realized he could punch through a brick wall. Most of his mutation he could hide, or pass off as some kind of "fashion" choice (especially since he could beat the crap out of anyone who felt like laughing at it). But each change drew more attention to him, making it harder to hide his mutation - and since mutants came out publicly, people were starting to pay more attention.

The final straw came when his ears changed. One day he woke to find them pointed, but the next day his ears had been replaced entirely by two sensitive, furry dog ears on the top of his head. This was finally something that couldn't be explained away, and had to be hidden with hats or bandanas. Then a bald man turned up at Kaede’s door. Despite the exceptionally rude reception Inu-yasha provided, he was offered a place at the school - for free. Knowing that the streets wouldn't be safe for him now that people would realize what he was, Kaede convinced him to stop being an idiot and give the school a try.