Born from Flames
Stats
Personality
Like most kitsune, Ao is playful and greatly enjoys playing pranks on humans and yokai alike. However, he has his more cryptic moments, and can be quite mysterious at times, especially towards humans who have the natural ability to see yokai.
Background
Ao was born to the Arukami family during the Edo period as Arukami Aoki, the only child of Arukami Yoshihiko and Kunime. They were a simple family that lived close to an impressive forest rumored to host many yokai. His father was a woodcutter and his mother was a fervent believer in the local “Aogitsunegami”, a fox goddess said to have bright blue fur.
One day, a deadly fire broke out, taking out a huge chunk of the forest as well as the Arukami house. Aoki’s parents were killed by the roof falling onto them, and while he was able to avoid being crushed to death thanks to his small size, he was stuck underneath the debris and ended up suffocating thanks to the smoke. That day, the entire Arukami family disappeared from history, and Arukami Aoki stopped existing.
However, as he lay there, dying, the blue fox goddess, dying herself because of the lack of believers, made one last wish.
“May this child live as a spirit, and they shall take my place as this forest’s guardian.”
When he next woke, he was alone among the charred remains of a house. He had no memory of who or where he was, and his body felt too big for him. For some reason, he felt like his ears were at the wrong spot, and his tail wasn’t supposed to exist at all. He was found there, unmoving, by two kitsune who were checking the forest to see the extent of the fire damage. They took him into their little fox family and gave him the name “Ao”, based on his unusual blue fur.
Trivia
- He has two tails, indicating that he has lived at least one century, but not yet two.
- Despite the amnesia, he retains a strong fear of any fire that isn’t foxfire.
- His illusion powers are so powerful that he can easily appear fully human, even to powerful humans.
- He enjoys collecting flowers and throwing them at unsuspecting victims.
- He is the youngest of his fox family, and also the only male.
Design
Relationships
Aki
Friends
Aki was once intimidated by Ao, but is thankful to him for everything he taught him about being a kitsune and using their powers. Ao loves doting on Aki, to the latter’s embarrassment, and secretly watches all his shows.