The first emperor of Jurai didn't want the responsibility. Indeed,
he planned to push the leadership of the newly-founded Jurai onto
Masaki, then run away. However, Masaki was a bit to clever for her
oniichan and with her Royal tree-ship, she ran away instead by embarking
on a exploration quest. Indeed, it is Masaki who founded Earth and
registered it as a colony of Jurai. Masaki apparently gave birth to at
least one child while on Earth.
Her oniichan launched a search to find his younger sister, but he
failed to find her. He cried over the loss of his younger sister,
but mainly because she had managed to foil his plans to push the
leadership on her and run away when he had been so desperate to do so.
Over a long period of time, House Masaki began to decline in status
and in population. This has been attributed to the fact that
members of House Masaki weren't all that interested in royal matters.
Further, their members tended to easily get into trouble which would
caused large numbers of them to have to resign their royal status.
As such, the other Houses have a love-hate relationship with House
Masaki.
This
is the setting when Masaki Amane Jurai would meet her future husband
Yotsuga Kazuki. Kazuki was a cadet in Galaxy Police who was
stationed on Jurai. The people of Jurai would challenge new GP
members stationed on their planet by staging an event where a girl would
be assaulted by a group of drunken men. The GP officer would be
required to rescue the lady from the men. If he could do this,
Jurai would accept the officer. If not, Jurai would send them
back. This would not be an easy task since the drunken men would
in fact be Juraian warriors, whom no normal person could hope to defeat.
Upon
arriving on Jurai, Kazuki encountered a group of drunk men assaulting a
woman. However, unknown to all around, these men weren't part of
the test, but were real drunks. So folks watched the brawl between
Kazuki and these drunks and did not intervene when he took a beating.
Amane was there with her friends to watch the challenge, but she noticed
that something wasn't right in that the drunks were not in the proper
place. Doing a little more investigation, she quickly learned that
this in fact was not the scheduled trial, but a real fight. As
such, she stepped in, rescued Kazuki, and sent the drunks packing.
Amane marveled that Kazuki did not use his blaster in the fight.
Kazuki expressed his concern over accidentally hurting bystanders, which
caused an amused Amane to say, "Oh, there is no one clumsy enough here
to be shot by you."
Because the girl got away, it was decided that Kazuki had passed his
test. Further, Amane decided as an apology for the incident,
to train Kazuki in the Juraian martial arts. While she was amazed
at his foolish behavior, she did admire his determination. Over
time, she fell in love with Kazuki and he with her.
Once Kazuki's tour of duty was over, Amane found she did not want to
be parted with him. To marry Kazuki and remain with him was in
conflict with her duties as a member of House Masaki and royalty of
Jurai. As such, she chose to leave House Masaki. To do this,
she was forced to plant her Royal tree into the soil of Jurai, thus
cutting it off from Tsunami's power and eventually turning it into a
normal tree. Once this was done, she was free to leave with
Kazuki. However, she would not be allowed to return to Jurai and
any offspring she had would not be allowed to return to Jurai as a
member of House Masaki without two of the other three Houses agreeing to
it.
After leaving Jurai and marrying Kazuki, Amane gave birth to a son,
whom they named Azusa. It was about this time that the powerful
member of House Kamiki, Kamiki Seto Jurai, took an interest in restoring
House Masaki, who by this time had virtually no influence. Things
had happened which resulted in House Masaki having no one to lead it.
So when Azusa turned eight, Seto decided to pay her old pupil and
friend Amane a visit. Seto wanted to take Azusa back to Jurai in
order to groom him to be the new head of House Masaki. She had
already gotten approval to proceed with her plan by getting House
Kamiki, House Amaki (who currently held the throne), and House Tatsuki
to agree to allow Azusa to return to Jurai as a member of House Masaki.
Young Azusa wanted nothing to do with Seto or her plans to return him to
Jurai, even though his parents had encouraged it. He didn't want
to be parted from his parents and hated the fact that his mother would
not be allowed to return.
However, Seto enjoyed a challenge and would not give up. Amane
predicted to Kazuki that Seto would eventually get her way by leading
Azusa to say he wants come to Jurai. For two years, Seto worked on
Azusa by visiting him as often as she could, becoming like a 2nd mother
to Azusa much to the chagrin of Amane. By doing this, Seto had
worked her way into Azusa's heart without him even realizing it.
It was a full-scale invasion of their colony by a group of pirates
that changed everything. Azusa's parents took command of the
defenses of the heavily outnumbered colonist. The 10-year old
Azusa was in the rear of the colony, but additional pirate forces
attacked the rear and he was the only one standing in their way.
Amane had trained Azusa in Juraian martial arts, so even though he was
only 10-years old, he was no ordinary boy. He was able to fend off
this force of pirates for a time, but eventually was overcome and
surrounded. Azusa showed no fear of the pirates, but did believe
that had he only been stronger, he could have overcome this pirate band.
However, he had to be rescued by Seto, who displayed incredible power
while defeating hundreds of pirates. Witnessing this awoke Azusa's
Juraian blood and as his mother had predicted, Azusa willingly went with
Seto to Jurai without Seto having forced him to do so.
For over three years, Azusa trained hard on Jurai under the tutelage
of Seto. While he did not mind the hard training, the cultural
studies classes (2) such as tea
ceremony, paintings, flower piece arrangement, etiquette, dancing, and
more were not to his liking. He often attempted to run away from
Seto rather than attend dance class. Seto used Azusa's flight from
class as additional training, even though he was likely unaware of this
at the time.
During one such flight from a cultural class, Azusa got caught in a
transporter port, which he assumed was a trap set by Seto.
Instead, he'd been "captured" by one Amaki Mitsuki. The 13-year
old Azusa was captivated by her beauty and after learning that she was
in frail health, he spent time with her and a friendship began.
However, this was a forbidden friendship since only a select few could
visit her due to a severe crime she committed as a child.
(3) Shuuzan, the head of House Amaki,
attempted to use this against Azusa, but was prevented by Seto-sama.
Instead, the Supreme Council decided to have Azusa attend the Royal
tree selection ceremony. This ceremony was witnessed by the
Emperor, the head of House Tatsuki, Tatsuki Kotono Jurai, Seto, and
Mitsuki. The ceremony proceeded with Azusa advancing to the level
where the 2nd-generation Royal trees resided. However, no
2nd-generation tree chose him as a partner, which meant that Azusa would
be only the 4th person in the history of Jurai to officially be chosen
by a 1st-generation Royal tree.
Mitsuki went with Azusa for his choosing. She'd never
officially been partnered with a Royal tree, but five 1st-gen trees were
keeping her alive, with one tree unofficially being her partner. (4)
Due to her special relationship with this still unnamed tree, the tree
agreed to partner with Azusa, whom he named Kirito ("Sealing Fog," after
a story Mitsuki had told him). Mitsuki died and in honor of their
special friendship, Azusa placed her into a reservoir of crystal sap
from the Royal tree, where she remains to this day.
With Azusa partnered with a 1st-gen tree, he was immediately the
leading candidate to be emperor once the current emperor died.
Thus House Masaki had risen from a nothing house to the house almost
certain to produce the next emperor.
Azusa took Kirito, now housed within a core unit and placed in a
tree-ship hull, and his "droid" guardian Jiji on a warrior striving
journey. Seto continued her training of Azusa by staging pirate
attacks on ships who just happened to have beautiful young women.
Her purpose in this was to make sure Azusa didn't cheat on the girl
she'd arranged for him to marry -- Kamiki Misaki, Seto's still underaged
daughter. The second purpose was to make sure that Azusa does not
succumb to his pirate blood and shirk his responsibilities as head of
House Masaki once he experienced the freedom of the warrior's journey.
One distress call received by Azusa turned out to be very real
indeed. This time, his opponent showed signs of being no ordinary
pirate. Indeed, rather than run away, this pirate turned to
intercept Kirito. Azusa and Jiji boarded this pirate ship, where
they are greeted by a pirate named Kagato, playing a neole, an
instrument very much like a pipe organ on Earth. A discussion
between the two soon ends with Azusa using the Master Key, which was in
the form of an energy sword, to attack Kagato. The battle does not
go well for Azusa, and Kirito, sensing the danger Azusa was in,
evacuated him to safety.
Kagato's ship, Souja, attacks Kirito, who's Light Hawk Wings
are able to absorb the attack. One of Kirito's LHW's are able to
slice the Souja, damaging her. This brings Kagato's fellow
pirate, Ryoko, and her powerful ship Ryo-ohki on the scene. Ryo-ohki
is able to do the impossible and overcome Kirito's LHW's. The
ensuing battle causes a dimensional rip in space to appear. As the
three ships are about to be consumed in the breach when Tsunami appears.
She repairs the breach and sends Kirito, with Azusa inside, to Earth.
On Earth, Azusa is nursed back to health by a young woman and her
family. The young woman is named Funaho. He comes to fall in
love with her, and when a group of pirates who've made a base on Earth
threaten her and her family, he battles and defeats them.
During his time on Earth, Azusa discovers Masaki, sister of the first
emperor of Jurai, is still alive in astral form on the dark side of the
moon. (5)
Azusa convinced Funaho to return with him to Jurai. Shortly
after they arrived, the Emperor passed away, ending his several thousand
year reign. This meant that the election by the four Houses would
be held and Azusa would be named emperor. However before this
could happen, Azusa declared that Funaho would be his first wife.
The head of House Kamiki (husband of Seto and father to Misaki, who was
betrothed to Azusa), Utsumi, withdrew his support for Azusa.
Shuuzan used this to attempt to be named emperor.
While the arguments raged over this bomb that Azusa had dropped on
them, Funaho and Misaki both received a telepathic call by Royal trees.
This required an immediate selection ceremony to be held. Witnessing
this were Azusa, Seto, and Kotono. The pair were sent to the
2nd-generation tree level, but were not selected by any tree. They
went to the next transporter, where they were not sent to the
1st-generation tree level, but another 2nd-generation tree level that
none of them had previously visited. Here resided several very
unique 2nd-generation trees, including the tree that had called to
Misaki and Funaho. This tree was actually twin trees, each a
2nd-generation tree capable of producing three LHW's. Combining
their powers, they were as powerful as any 1st-generation tree, with the
added advantage that they would produce six LHW's.
Because a 2nd-generation tree had chosen Funaho as a partner, this
put to rest the debate of the four Houses, and it was decided that she
would in fact be first queen instead of Misaki. Further, it was
learned that Funaho in fact was a descendant of Masaki, the younger
sister of the first emperor of Jurai. This fact was only known by
a select few top officials on Jurai.
Azusa was made Emperor. Because Azusa could no longer be the
head of House Masaki, Funaho took that role. Funaho and Misaki
became good friends and very much like sisters, which is why Misaki
addresses Funaho as "oneesan." Six years later, Azusa and Funaho
are officially married. Four years later, their son Yosho is born.
Five years later, Azusa and Misaki are married.
Three years later, Aeka is born to Azusa and Misaki. Also at
this time, young Yosho attends his selection ceremony. Like his
father, Yosho is also chosen by a 1st-generation Royal tree, making him
only the 5th Juraian to be so chosen. This made Yosho next in line
to the throne. House Masaki was indeed the most powerful House on
Jurai.
Four years later, Misaki and Funaho arrange for Aeka and Yosho to be
married. Seven years later, Misaki gives birth to Sasami.
Three years after that, Ryoko attacks Jurai, causing Tsunami to
assimilate the mortally wounded Sasami-chan, and causing Yosho to take
advantage of the situation by pursuing Ryoko and thus fleeing from
Jurai, his arranged marriage to Aeka, and his future responsibilities as
emperor.
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