The Nekomata

Irome was a black house cat who had grown very attached to her family, the Harais, especially the young and only son Keiichi. The father and mother were renowned healers and were selfless people. She had grown to a venerable age for a cat, but remained spry and witty. She developed self-awareness, and it came to the point that it seemed she could understand human speech, and was able to understand instructions and complex situations. Also, as her name suggested, her most defining feature was her eyes, with one colored pitch black and the other white.

The Harais were selfless, but they also lived comfortably, which drew the ire of many. By keeping a keen eye and ear out, she discovered a plot by the local lord to take hold of the Harais properties. He would kill off the family and steal their sacred treasured heirloom to prove that the Harais had passed it down to him. Irome learned of the plot and tried to alert the family by stealing evidence but it was too late. Hired bandits came into their home in the night and killed the parents right as Irome arrived and a fire had been started inside.

Irome took the family heirloom in her mouth to lead away the bandits who wanted to take it. After evading them for some time, she heard a cry and saw they had cornered Keiichi in the yard as he was trying to flee. She went to his rescue and attacked them, but she was trampled on and left on the brink of death.

The bandits turned their attention to the boy and they were about to beat him to death, when Irome's spirit awakened and her tail split in two. She became a cat demon (nekomata) and channeled the power of the spirit energy in the dagger heirloom, the Headwind Edge (Gyakufuuha), which manifested a powerful twister that made short work of the thieves.

Keiichi had fainted but only suffered mild injuries, which Irome tended to before leaving him at the porch of a relative's house. She then went and took revenge on the local lord by setting fire to his home and personally terrifying him before she took his life. She also finally retrieved the evidence of their misdeeds and brought it to Keiichi and his relatives while in cat form.

Irome realized that Keiichi's relatives would become suspicious of the cat's long life, as well as its strange behavior, and so decided to say goodbye to Keiichi. She began watching over the boy from a distance as he grew up and lived his own life as a healer, taking after his parents. Keiichi seemed to have an understanding of Irome's circumstances, and would even leave out fish oil and milk on his porch on occasion whenever he found himself in a sticky situation and got out of it through mysterious outside forces. Irome would even visit Keiichi in cat form when he was alone, and Keiichi would always be happy to see her, even speaking to her about his life.

Eventually Keiichi reached the end of his life, and Irome appeared at his deathbed as his loved ones gathered around him. He was grateful to see her one last time and she lay next to him as he drew his last breath. Generations of Keiichi's descendants would be familiar with Irome as he drew illustrations of her in her cat form, and even wrote about her in some entries of his journal, which they preserved. Since then, a tradition was passed down in their family to consider a black cat with different colored eyes as a sign of good luck.

Irome, though wanting to continue looking after Keiichi's descendants, knew that it would be dangerous for her to continue living in the Human World. She went to live in the Demon World, and dedicated herself to helping stragglers and travelers find a moment of respite and heal their wounds by using different demon world plant-life. Following the example of her previous owners, she gave her services while asking for nothing in return, though she would accept anything given to her in thanks.

As much as possible, she didn't engage in combat, but when she found herself being attacked or threatened, she was able to hold her own. She had an affinity over wind, and had incredible agility, especially in forested areas. She also had knowledge on plants that could poison and debilitate her opponents.

Eventually, Yoko Kurama would come across her home after finishing a heist with considerable wounds, looking for a place to lie low. He would then make use of her services several times afterwards, even asking her to tend to his companions. They developed a mutual relationship, and would even exchange words of conversation or information. At one point, she had even gone to join them in a heist, but was put off with the other members' methods. She tagged along without doing much, other than healing everyone or putting them out of harm's way.

One day, she would hear the news of Kurama's passing, and eventually ended up working for people in the Spirit world who were tasked with making sure the barrier between the Human and Demon world was kept intact, and that no demons or humans passed through.

Because of her good work and cooperation, her request to visit the Human world and locate Keiichi's descendants was granted, provided she wear a ring that could suppress her spirit energy. She was also asked to stay in a human form. She sensed the spirit energy emanating from the Headwind Edge and eventually found the Harai family, who was still living in the home of the late Keiichi.

She found two children playing in front of the house, and found out they were the Harai children. The two wanted to go to the park a block away and brought Irome along with them, and the latter watched over them and even joined them as the two played until sunset. She escorted them back, with a worried mother scolding them for staying out so late.

Irome was invited in, and was shocked to find paintings of her done by Keiichi, which she hadn't seen. The mother also spoke about their family's belief that seeing a black cat with strange eyes was good luck, believing that the creature was a kind-hearted god that watched over their family. She burst in tears when she saw the children's father, Keisuke, who was the spitting image of his late great-grandfather. She excused herself and ran out of the residence.

Irome would later respond to the requests of Spirit World to mobilize against an emergency in the Human world. She found that Makai insects were swarming and turning some humans into mindless, malevolent creatures. As swift as a cat, she found the two Harai children were about to be attacked, and used immobilizing plants on the turned people. She led the kids back home, where the mother and father were also about to be attacked, but she changed from her cat form to her demon form and fought them off so that the family could retreat within their home and lock the gate.

The father, seeing the transformation from the black cat to demon, made the connection that this was the being that protected his great-grandfather years ago. Irome confirmed this, and even transformed into her human form, apologizing for tricking them and stating that she had wanted to see what had become of her beloved ward's family after all these years, and wanted to make sure they were all right.

She instructed the family to stay inside while she led the brainwashed humans away and made sure no harm befell anyone else. The family, especially the two children in tears, wished her safety. After a while of finding off and redirecting the affected people, making sure not to kill them or harm them significantly, she found that they were now turning back to normal as the Makai insects were losing their grip over them.

Seeing that everyone was safe, and sensing the disappearance of the malevolent spirit energy, she returned to the Harais and assured them that everything was fine now. The mother fainted with mounting worry and relief, and they placed her on the couch. Irome was about to leave, stating she had to report back to her superiors about the situation, but Harai Keisuke stopped her to say that she was always welcome at their abode, and that she could even stay as long as she liked and visit as often as she wanted, especially since he knew that his great-grandfather would have wanted that. She thanked him and told the children she would visit to play with them soon.

Since then, she's kept her promise to spend time with the kids and watch over them. She would even be invited over for dinner, though there were times she would decline, seeing as she didn't want the grown-ups to get too involved in supernatural occurrences. Other times, though, she would stay and ask them about their lives and about different things in the Human world, though she tried to be as tight-lipped as possible about the other worlds. Mrs. Harai was the one who suggested Irome's human name so she could blend in better if she was out and about.