Kamui is a 16 year old high school sophmore. He left Tokyo when he was ten, after the mysterious and gruesome death of Monou Sara, the mother of Kamui's best friends. When Kamui asked his mother Tooru why they were leaving, she replied that Sara had died for them. Six years later Kamui returns to Tokyo after the death of his mother in a fire. While she was dying, Tooru said to Kamui,
"Kamui, please be strong. To survive, to live... Please be strong. You must live no matter what. Until 1999... Until the promised day in 1999. Ka..Mu..I.. Please go to Tokyo. Your destiny.. awaits you."
Kamui returns to Tokyo, not to find his destiny, but to find the people responsible for his mother's death and make them pay. When he discovers that he has the choice of being either a Seal or a Minion, he spurns choosing, saying he cares nothing about the earth. However, Kamui does have two people whom he loves the most in the world and would die to protect : Monou Fuuma and Monou Kotori. The name "Kamui" can be read in two ways :
1) One who represents the majesty of God.
2) One who hunts the majesty of God.
If Kamui chooses to be a Seal, he represents the majesty of God : The Seven Seals. However, if Kamui chooses to become a minion, he is one who will hunt the majesty of God (the Seals) and destroy them
Sorata is a mischevious Kansai boy from Osaka. When Sorata was young, he was taken away from his parents and raised in the Temple of Kouya Mountain by the famous "Stargazer of Kouya", Stargazer Chuu, because he was born as one of the Seven Seals. Sorata possesses great lightning power which could rival even that of the founder of Kouya Mountain. He cannot remember his mother's face. All he remembers is that she was crying when they were separated. This memory has made him swear that he will never make another woman cry for him as long as he lives. Sorata's vow soon proves impossible when Stargazer Chuu perdicts that Sorata will die for a woman he loves. Discovering his destiny early on, Sorata decides that he prefers to die for a beautiful woman rather than one who is attractively challenged. With this in mind, he chooses the hapless Kishu Arashi as the woman he loves. Sorata has a happy go lucky nature which offsets his partner Arashi's impassive demeanor. The too make a rather good team, although Arashi is a somewhat less than willing partner. As a seal, the kekkai he creates is in the shape of a cube.
Arashi is Arisugawa Sorata's cool, impassive, and reluctant partner. She meets Sorata and Kamui after fighting with shiki (spirit creatures) in the Tougakushi Shrine. Sorata and Kamui are drawn by the kekkai she creates, which is in the form of a pyramid. Arashi is the Kakushi No Miko or "Hidden Shrine Maiden" of Ise Isle. Her power manifests itself in a sword which unsheaths itself from the middle of her hand. The sword appears to be sheathed in Arashi's body. Where it is sheathed has yet to be discovered, although Sorata has already tried. =) No luck. Arashi is quite attractive, and usually dresses in the sailor suit uniforms common to certain high schools in the Tokyo area. She is not easily surprised or startled, possessing a cool head and calm demeanor. The three scoundrals who are able to get a rise out of her are Sorata, Aoki Seiichiro, and Nekoi Yuzuriha.
Seiichiro is a pleasant, somewhat absent-minded man. He first appeared in the manga during Arashi's battle at the Tougakushi Shrine. Arashi was shocked that a person whom she thought was perfectly normal had not disappeared when she formed her kekkai. At one point, Arashi was engaged wih several shiki, when a few other shiki attacked Seiichiro. Arashi valiently struggled to save Seiichiro, yet was unable to break free of the other shiki. Just as the shiki attacking Seiichiro were about to reach him, Seiichiro nonchalantly dismembered them using blades of wind. Seiichiro's power is command over wind. He wishes to protect Tokyo, where his wife and children live. He is one of the two wind masters in the manga, the other being his nephew, Saiki Daisuke. He used to work as an editor of a magazine called Yaseijidai, but recently, he switched departments. Now he works for Asuka, the monthly shoujo manga magazine which in the real REAL world serializes X. An example of Seiichiro's absent-mindedness is the conclusion of his first encounter with Arashi. After handing her his card, Seiichiro's beeper goes off. Seiichiro goes spastic, franctically searching for a phone while Arashi stands by with an amazed expression of her face. Failing to find a phone, Seiichiro apologizes to Arashi and takes off running through the rain and down the street. When he is half a street away, he does an abrupt about-face, and runs back up the street to hand his fallen umbrella to Arashi along with the comment,
"I think it's bit too late, but if it's OK, please take this. A cute girl shouldn't let her body get cold. Bye. This time it's for real."
Karen is an extremely beautiful and very mischevious woman. When she first appeared in the manga, Sorata and Arashi had concluded that four out of the seven Seals had been born in, or were in some way connected with shrines or temples. Therefore, when Sorata first met Karen, he asked her which shrine, temple, or sect she belonged to. Karen replied "Flower", and handed Sorata a card. The then disappeared in a burst of flame. Sorata looked at her card, which revealed (much to Sorata's astonishment) that Karen was an attendent at a "soapland". Soaplands are places where men can receive sponge baths from scantily clad female attendents. It is usually common knowledge in Japan that these attendents will perform sexual favors short of actual intercourse (masturbation, oral). Karen is a warm and loving person who wishes to keep the world as it is. Her power is control over fire. Then Kamui's aunt, Magami Tokiko, was kidnapped by a group of strange men, Tokiko sent a telepathic message to Karen telling her to burn Tokiko's house to the ground. Karen obeyed.
Yuzuriha is perky, boistrous 14 year old girl who's innocence is a great part of her charm. The following is an excerp from a translation of the manga series of X, book 5, where Yuzuriha first meets Kamui.
YUZURIHA : Who is the one over there with the grim look on his face?
SORATA : The one with the look on his face like he's carrying all the troubles on earth on his back, is Kamui Shirou, a snappy high school sophomore.
YUZURIHA : "Kamui". You are "Kamui"... At school, are you about the second from the front, when you line up by height? (In Japanese schools, the students line up in the physical education area to hear the speech of the principal basically every morning. They arrange the students in files according to their homeroom classes, and the shorter you are, the farther front you go in the line when they line up by height. This is so that all the students will be able to see the principal easier, and for the teachers to have an easier time taking attendance and learning the students names.)
SORATA : Gyahahaha. That is harsh, Yuzuriha-chan!
YUZURIHA : I'm sorry. Is he sensitive about that subject, by any chance? But, but Kamui-san, you're handsome, and since you are still a sophomore, you will certainly grow taller. There's no problem.
SORATA : Handsomeness and height aren't related, you know.
YUZURIHA : I'm sorry. I've made you (Kamui) mad, haven't I? Here! (Offers Kamui Pokky chocolate cookie stick snack thingies.) When you are hungry, you tend to be angered easily...
SORATA : Wahahahaha.
Yuzuriha is from Mitsumine Shrine. Her family uses inugami (dog spirits) to combat demons. Yuzuriha's inugami is named "Inuki", and can change form according to Yuzuriha's will. Only people with supernatural powers can perceive or affect Inuki. Yuzuriha's surename, Nekoi, literally means "cat". As she explains to Sorata, the name is used to mislead her family's enemies.
SORATA : Why is your name "Nekoi"?
YUZURIHA : Meow. It's a concealing name. If inugami masters have surnames related to "inu" (dogs), it'd be like walking around with a name tag with the name of one's familiar written on it. Correct?
Yuzuriha tends to get along with everyone, even Kamui. They treat her like a little sister who must be protected from the viciousness of the world. Yuzuriha is a very likable person, and even gets along with various members of the Seven Minions, such as Shiyu Kusanagi.
Subaru is one of the two not-so-happy characters from Clamp's Tokyo-Babylon. He is the 13th head of the Sumeragi Clan, and an extremely powerful onmyouji (sorceror). He has no interest in saving the earth. Subaru's driving motivation in life is the death of Sakurazuka Seishiro, another powerful onmyouji and the second character from Tokyo-Babylon. Subaru seeks to avenge the death of his twin sister Hokuto, who died at Seishiro's hands. When Fuuma kills Kotori, Subaru is able to bring Kamui from his apathetic, autistic state by melding with Kamui's mind. Because Subaru once loved Seishiro, he is able to understand the pain Kamui feels at watching one of the two people he cares about killed by the other. Subaru shares his hidden pain and grief with Kamui, and the two bond. He collapses after healing Kamui. Subaru and Seishiro are the two most powerful characters in all of X. The only person powerful enough to fight Seishiro on an equal basis is Subaru, and the only person as powerful as Subaru is Seishiro.
