The Past

Most children would look upon their father as a protective figure. But whenever the young Iori wanted to communicate with his father, he was rejected with a hard cold stare and slap. The young boy was frightened, scared and lonely. He often cried to release all his anguish inside, but that would trigger an instant reaction from his unloving father, who would beat him up until he stopped.

His father also brainwashed him psychologically: Only the strong survive, and the weak perished. Everytime Iori cried, he would get punished and reprimanded for being so weak and cowardly by his father. His father hounded the ideals of the Yagami Clan into young Iori's mind; That he could not be weak! He must fight to be strong and survive! And of course, that the Kusanagi's would forever be their most-hated enemy. Iori was forcefully indoctrinated to accept the fact that his mission in life was to eliminate the Kusanagi's, with no love for anything. Under this cruel upbringing, Iori lost his sense of emotion bit by bit, and drifted away from society. He had to become a killer. To be weak and live was simply unacceptable in the eyes of his father, and eventually, to Iori himself.

Iori finally surpassed his own father in combat skills by beating him in a match on one stormy night. That was when Iori cried for the first time since he lost touch with his emotional side when he was a child. He merely shrugged his tears off and said that it was the rain when his father came up to him and congratulated his son on the achievement. However, Iori looked at his father with hate-filled eyes and walked away, uncaring. His father had been overjoyed that his son overtook him in terms of skill, but he reaped the seeds he sowed: Iori had always hated his father. On the night he proved himself stronger than his father, Iori finally found the courage in himself to walk away from his cruel old man.

A few years later, Iori was contacted by his father, who gave Iori instructions to kill Kyo Kusanagi. Of course, Iori didn't give a damn about what his old man said. He didn't even acknowledge him as a father, let alone listen to those vague instructions. During this time, Iori's father sent him some money and cheap whores too in a weak attempt to win Iori over. Iori made the most of all of this, using the money and the whores as he pleased. Seeing this, his father decided to approach the situation from a different direction. He told Iori that the reason for his suffering as a child was because of Kyo Kusanagi. At the time, Iori was still easily manipulated. And he believed it after constant tellings from his father.

Iori was anxious to kill Kyo off as quickly as possible. He strongly believed that once Kyo Kusanagi was dead, all the suffering he endured as a child would go away. And so, he kidnapped Yuki and sent a message to Kyo, demanding that they meet up to fight.

And that was the first time Iori Yagami and Kyo Kusanagi met.