Himitsu

Himitsu is a character I started making up after I received a beanie dragon from my Grandma for Christmas in 2000 (I think). One day on the way to anime club, I just started thinking, and eventually I came up with a trickster type person who was vaguely similar to Xellos from Slayers, but was a dragon. He's changed drastically since then, but I've kept some of the basics about him, especially his name, his appearance, and the fact that he's a dragon.

Himitsu's real name is Zennith Drakar. He is the youngest son of the current king of the dragon kingdom, which is one of the three hugely powerful kingdoms in the "true plane." The other two would be the phoenix kingdom and the unicorn kingdom. Obviously, the dragon kingdom is run by dragons. There are people of other races in the kingdom as well, but all of the important ones are dragons.

The dragons are in general quite a passionate people. They rule the predators and the reptiles of the "true plane," and are thus known as the cruelest and most violent as well, which often gets them portrayed as the most powerful. A good majority of dragons, especially dragon nobles, are bisexual, and bed slaves are extremely common among high ranking dragons.

Dragons, like most natives of the "true plane," live a very long time. Six or seven thousand years is the average life expectancy of a dragon. But, no one dragon ages quite the same as the next. Some age linearly, spending the same percentage of their lives in childhood as a human does. Some age extremely quickly and then spend thousands of years as old people. Some do the opposite. And then there are the ones like Himitsu, who age the same as a human, until they hit around twenty or so, when they slow down and almost stop until they're about at the end of their lives. Because of the funky ageing, the dragons declare adult status at a set age, whether the young dragon looks young or old. 100 is the first coming of adulthood, when a young dragon is considered mature enough to be on his or her own. 500 is when a young dragon is considered fully adult, and when inheritances are made clear.

The custom among the dragon royalty is for the king, or queen, to wait until his or her youngest child reaches 500 and then choose the heir to the throne. After that, the current ruler has all of his or her children except for the declared heir killed, so that they cannot decide to off the heir and try to take his or her place. Himitsu's father, Zennin, held with this custom and killed off all of Himitsu's older brothers and sisters on Himitsu's 500th birthday, when he declared Himitsu his heir.

Usually, each child of the dragon ruler is tested between the ages of 100 and 500. This is so the ruler can make a wise decision about which child to choose. In Zennin's case, he had each of his children watch over the lives of several mortals, humans on the lesser planes that he was interested in. Himitsu and his siblings never knew that the mortals they were sent to watch over and protect would all later be resurrected as animal spirits (almost all of the slaves on the "true plane" are humans who were ressurected in the form of human-animal hybrids) to serve as his bed slaves.

Himitsu's obsession with all things Japanese started with his first assignment, a Japanese man. He found the culture and language quite intriguing. He had a tendency to throw Japanese words into his everyday speech, even though most people he talks to don't quite speak Japanese (they get to know his favorite words after a while), much like half the anime otaku I know, including myself. It frustrates those who are close to him but have not picked up the meaning of the words he uses yet. Similarly, his preferred name of Himitsu Ryuujin (or Ryuujin Himitsu if you ask him), was taken from the Japanese language. He enjoys being mysterious at times, so he decided to name himself "secret," and at one point he was looking through a Japanese-English dictionary and noticed that Ryuujin means something along the lines of "dragon god" or "dragon king." He thought that was quite appropriate, which is why he uses the name now.

Like a good number of dragons, Himitsu is bisexual. He has slept with both men and women, though he has never kept a bed slave, unlike most noble dragons. He refuses to take advantage of his high rank just to get laid, and would much rather wait for someone who is equally attracted to him before he will sleep with someone. He does have a male preference, though he has known for a long time that he will eventually have to choose a female dragon to marry and father children on so that the line will continue.

Of course, that was before he met Devin. Devin was his last assignment, an American male. He watched Devin through his whole life, and eventually realized that Devin was homosexual, though Devin didn't quite realize this himself. During that time, Himitsu more or less fell in love with the lonely young man, and during Devin's freshman year of college he decided to interfere in Devin's life, after an oracle's prediction showed that Devin would commit suicide out of loneliness within the year if he didn't get some form of love in his life.

So Himitsu stepped in and introduced Devin to the joys of loving men, posing as Devin's new roommate for the second semester. His love for Devin only deepened during the time they spent together, and at the same time, Devin fell in love with him. Then, at the end of that semester, Himitsu was forced to go back to just being a watcher, and not a part of Devin's life. Over the next two and a half years, he watched as Devin went from boyfriend to boyfriend, searching for someone who made him feel the same way that Himitsu had, but failing.

Then, when Devin's life more or less fell apart during his senior year of school, Himitsu reappeared in his life, despite his father's stern warning that he was to stay away from his charge. This time, he told Devin the truth. Though Devin didn't believe him, the two of them stayed together as a couple, until Devin was twenty-five and Himitsu turned five hundred.

Devin was killed in a car accident on Himitsu's five hundredth birthday. The only thing that kept Himitsu from commiting suicide was the fact that Zennin declared him the heir to the dragon throne that same day. By the time he realized it, he was so busy that he could manage to keep his mind off of his bereavement. That is, until ten years later, when Zennin resurrected Devin as a fox spirit and his new bed slave (ten years later is because that is the time the person has to stay dead before they can be resurrected).

Himitsu ended up stealing Devin away from his father, and the two of them fled to the same lesser plane where Devin was born, which is more or less the same as the real world. They live there together now, in an apartment. Himitsu pissed off his father greatly when he took Devin away, and because of that, he is not welcome in most of the "true plane." But, he is still the only available heir to the throne, so when his father dies he will still inherit. For now, he teaches American history at a local high school (the school is based off of my brother's high school, Appleton East).

Above everything else, Himitsu values the people he loves. He will do anything to help them, even give up his own life. But, when things are going well, he is usually a pretty happy and fun guy, though those who know him might be confused how a guy who looks twenty-five at the most can act so mature and know so much sometimes. Just watch out for his temper. He is tied to the element of fire, and like that element, he burns hot and fast (he also has the magic to go with it ^_^).