[ PRELUDE ; info ]
Character: Fuyumine.
Series: DOGS: Stray Dogs Howling in the Dark & DOGS: Bullets & Carnage.
Timeline: Post-DOGS
Details:
Once upon time, in an unnamed city of two levels -- the concrete top and the darker lower level -- children began disappearing off the streets. No one knew what was happening, and no one could do anything about it. The police were helpless, as were the vigilantes, and aside from a handful of witnesses who claimed that men with katanas always marked the scenes of the crime, there were no leads. No one could do anything, and the children continued to vanish. Parents could only stare at the small, empty bed, and shed tears that accomplished nothing.
A sick, sad fairy tale. -- Break. Change. Shift.
The first time, it was unexpected: a single member of that group armed with katanas, emerging slashed and bloodied from the dark streets, carrying a pair of the children that had just gone missing. Returning them to their caretakers before vanishing without a word. Then, repeat. Over and over, it was the same each time -- this single figure would return the children who had been abducted, then stalk off alone once more. No reasons, no explanation -- it didn't matter if people asked him anything or not, he would leave without answering. And of course, no one could believe this, at first. A single man undoing so many of the abductions that had shaken the neighborhood for so long? Unbelievable. It couldn't be true. And this man -- he had the same katanas as the group that might have been behind the abductions in the first place. No -- not many people ever thought of this man as a 'savior' of any sort, he wasn't doing anything 'just.' There was no reason to be grateful. None at all. -- In the end, that didn't matter. The man merely completed his self-appointed task of returning the children -- to their parents, or to 'Granny Liza,' whoever was appropriate, as long as they were safe -- then silently returned to the shadowy back alleys.
This man was Fuyumine. Little is known of him other than these shadowy recollections of his past. Saying little to nothing about himself -- or rather, saying little at all, Fuyumine is a man shrouded in mystery, and he most likely prefers to keep things that way. (There are hints and puzzle pieces scattered here and there. An old association with the Underground. The codename-alias of 'Winter,' a possible counterpart to Campanella Frühling and Richter H. Berthein, AKA "Herbst." Suggestions that he may have been much, much more deeply involved in this dark net than has been hinted at.)
For starters, he's not a very friendly looking individual from the offset. 'Rugged' would be just about the most accurate description. Hair paled to a smokey gray and face criss-crossed with battle scars, expression almost always a carefully painted blank. And though he may not look that threatening at first, a battle-hardened individual would notice the way he holds himself. Always prepared, always on guard, it's clear that he's a man who's spent far too much time with his life on the line. Even when he's simply walking down the street, hands in pockets, he knows -- knows -- that there's a risk factor there. Try to jump him with a knife and he'll smash your face into the pavement faster than you'd like to know, and . Most people know to keep their distance. After all, who wants to go too close to a guy who looks this threatening, and carries a sword?
(The katana, yes. The key to his past. Beautifully crafted and housed in a black lacquer case, it's almost a piece of art, rather than a tool for murder. But most notable would be the engraved piece of steel twisting about the handle. Because that's what makes it special -- you see, that's what identifies it as a weapon of that mysterious child-abducting group from years ago. And he knows how to use it, as well, it's not just for decoration. Give him a reason and he'll sever clean through your jugular with a single swipe of the blade. There are hints that he may have been a considerable military-type figurehead in his past.)
But the thing is -- for as offputting as he looks, Fuyumine isn't exactly an unfriendly individual, either. It's just that there's not much there at all, by the way of emotions. -- is he completely emotionless? No. He's human, after all. But in the way that an animal will defend what is vulnerable and weak, Fuyumine most likely put his emotions in lockdown after realizing that they were his biggest weaknesses on the battlefield. Distant and quiet, he reveals little to nothing about what he's thinking, what he's feeling -- after all, he's a soldier and a killer, what use would such weaknesses be? First impressions would mark him as unpleasantly aloof, the forbidding type that's hardly inviting. Perhaps a result of years of bloody work, perhaps simply a defense mechanism. The cause doesn't matter much, just the effect.
Underneath that blank exterior, though, is a somewhat different story. After all, he's still human -- still got some speck of self left, unlike those masked dogs of the Underground. It's difficult to tell, but there are traces here and there that he may not have been the villain that some people made him out to be. Though the motives behind his rescuing the abducted children is as of yet unclear, it's possible that he simply felt it was the right thing to do. Though the motives behind raising Magato are unclear, it's possible that he simply thought any individual deserves a chance at life. And though it's unclear as to why he raised Naoto in the way he did, it's possible that --
Well.
Naoto, the little girl and most likely the last child he ever took in. And perhaps it was a coincidence, perhaps not, the night that he found her dying under the quartered pieces of her parents' bodies. Perhaps he knew that she wouldn't be able to answer, when he asked her whether she wanted to live. (But he would have known that her answer would be 'yes.') Rescuing her from the pool of blood, he gave her a name and a purpose. 'Your name is Naoto, until you can remember your real name.' 'If you hate me, then kill me. Grow stronger and kill me.' Little Naoto -- lost dog -- thought that Fuyumine was the man who had murdered her parents, and he did nothing to dissolve this misunderstanding, allowing her to loathe him with all of her soul for the next four, five, ten years.
The thing was, he knew the girl would die unless she had a reason to live. Her parents dead, her identity lost, she had so little to live for -- and so he gave her hatred. A thirst for revenge. It didn't matter if this anger was directed at him even though he was guiltless in this case -- as long as she turned her anger into the will to live, then that was the only thing of any importance. (Why? Why go to such lengths? -- Again, a dead end. Perhaps it was the only thing he knew to do. Perhaps he simply had no other way of giving her life. There are hints that perhaps Naoto is more deeply linked to the Underground than she previously thought. After all, she'd been targeted by Frühling herself. -- but for now, that is an unknown variable.) -- he raised her without once calling her name, but all the time ensuing that her rage would keep her alive.
Magato knew of this lie that Naoto was living, and most likely would have called this a cruelty on Fuyumine's part, for cultivating such a dreary thirst for revenge in her. But then again, Magato was also the one who killed him -- severing his arm, his leg, then driving a knife through his heart and watching him bleed to death. (Magato. Also linked to the underground? Unknown. His surrogate 'son' and murderer.)
Still, there was more to it than just granting the children a new life. And though he never showed it much, he did have a protective side to him when it came to his 'daughter.' Though distant and stoic, he did show hints of sadness, hints of remorse towards the harsh path that Naoto was forced to take -- perhaps wishing that he could have given her a life that didn't involve such hatred and bloodshed. Perhaps the biggest crack in his cold facade was the moment that he saved Naoto from Magato's eager jaws, dropping his jacket over her shoulder to hide her exposed skin -- the cross scar across her chest. It's hinted that maybe, just maybe, there was more to him saving her than just keeping her alive -- maybe he would have wanted her to be able to return to the person she was before being cut down.
The bottom line is, Fuyumine is as much a lost dog at the others in the story. Lost, from where? Perhaps a dog that had run away from the chains of the Underworld, looking for some hint of redemption by undoing his past misdeed. Or perhaps simply doing what had to be done. But the suggestion remains that he was wandering the streets, restless, tending to some task that no one else knew the details of, because it was the only thing he knew to do. A task that ended in a flourish of cold steel in his veins.