For those interested in her story, I'll put most of the important points here. A few years ago, I randomly picked up a DVD from the anime series Twelve Kingdoms. The episodes were smack dab in the middle of the series, and I was immediately enthralled and ran out to pick up the complete box sets of the full series. I was NOT disappointed, except for the fact that the anime left off unexpectedly and didn't continue the story laid out in the books. I've since purchased the books and am reading them, and I'm even more hooked.

To put it simply, in the world of Twelve Kingdoms, kirin are divine beings who choose the ruler of each of the twelve kingdoms. There is only ever one kirin per country at any one time. Females bear the name of their kingdom with the suffix -rin, while males use the same concept with the suffix of -ki. In Rain's kirin incarnation for this universe, she is the kirin of the country of Ryuu, hence her official name: Ryuurin. If a kirin is born outside of the world of the Twelve Kingdoms, they can also have given names, or can be given special names by their monarchs if they have a particularly close relationship. Due to her appearance and gentle personality, the king of the neighboring country of En has granted her the name Amaya, which means "night rain" in his native Japanese.

Black kirin, known as kokki, are extremely rare in the world of Twelve Kingdoms, with one usually being born only once every several hundred years. In the time of the book and anime series, the only known kokki is Taiki, the kirin of the kingdom of Tai. Ryuurin is born approximately 350 years after the birth of Taiki. She is the third kirin of Ryuu to be born after the events of the books and series and is currently searching for the next ruler of Ryuu. In human form, Ryuurin resembles a slender, elegant young woman in her late teens, with pale skin and long black hair fading to pearly white at the tips and piercing blue eyes.

Character © jasanni

Artwork © autumnsunrise

The Twelve Kingdoms © Fuyumi Ono