The Year is now 1347. Yuhe had moved to Europe after his Grandparents’ passing, and had gotten enough of an education to become a Doctor. Specifically, a Plague Doctor. In other words he didn’t need education in medicine, but he chose to get one, anyway. Well, he didn’t seek out to become a Plague Doctor. He was studying medicine when the Bubonic Plague reared its ugly head. He felt it was his duty as a man who’s studied medicine, and seen an actual human skeleton, to help the poor feeble people who had been ravaged by this awful disease. He despised it so much. It was simply hideous to him. The Plague, not the patients. Of course, nobody liked it, but he was genuinely disgusted by its existence. In his eyes it was a grotesque mess of symptoms, an accursed, dreadful disease concocted by the germs held within disgusting fleas. He didn’t blame the rats. They’re just rats. They have germs. He blamed the fleas that spread those germs from Rats to people. As Yuhe finished putting leeches on his current patient, a young girl named Elizabeth, he made a note to put her name on the list. He knew she’d die. It was obvious. The treatments he had been instructed on don’t work. Bloodletting wouldn’t cure his patients, if anything they died faster. Not to mention the damn leeches probably carry some germs of their own. He didn’t feel a whole lot of sadness knowing she would die. He had seen younger children die in his office. Of course, he was still upset by it. He was infuriated that he couldn’t cure his patients. He knew he could probably figure it out, but he knew nobody would approve of his methods, and they wanted to keep doing the useless remedies that he had been instructed to use.

“How irksome!” He thought to himself. “If I could get my hands on just one, or maybe three subjects’ bodies, I bet I could find out how to attack this repulsive plague at the core!”

It was then that it hit him. He didn’t have to publish how he found it. He didn’t need to at all! If he found the cure, nobody would question it. He just needed a body. A body…

“Elizabeth, would you kindly lay your head back?” Yuhe asked the girl, who did as she was told.

Yuhe then covered her mouth, with something stained on his glove. She soon passed out, drowsy from the special mixture of alcohol and bleach. It was a liquid that he discovered could make anything that breathed it pass out, almost instantly. He then took his cane, removing the blade from inside it, and slowly slid it into the back of Elizabeth’s head. He felt wrong at first, but he somehow managed to justify it to himself.

“She was going to die anyway.” He told himself. “The Bubonic Plague kills all it touches. With her body as my canvas, I will find a cure. I will be able to put a stop to this…”

It was a long, 3 year effort. He had to keep the bodies hidden, while he studied them and worked on his cure. Turns out he needed more than one. He needed roughly twelve. When questioned as to where the bodies of his patients went, he told them all the same thing.

“I took the liberty of burying them out near the lake for you. If you wish to pay your respects, look for the Cross-shaped stake out there.”

He did actually plant the stakes, with signs detailing the patients’ names, but he didn’t bury the bodies, of course. He had been testing treatments on other patients, seeing some degree of success, but it wasn’t until 1351 that he discovered a treatment which worked. At least, for the most part. He was able to cure many patients, but to be safe, he kept them in a special wing he had installed in his building. This ensured that they wouldn’t get sick again. It could fit roughly 10,000 People, but he ended up needing to fit 26,000. He mostly either made them share rooms, or had them sleep in other non-infected areas of his buildings. Specifically, areas that his other patients wouldn’t be coming into. He made his pseudo cure using special medicines, and also that strange Yellow Light he’s had since he was a small boy. It was quite strange, and gave him access to powers which some would call...divine. He developed a strange power which allowed him to heal the wounds of others. Nothing as grievous as a missing limb or terrible disease, but miraculous, nonetheless. Yuhe believes it was a gift. A gift bestowed upon him to cure those who needed him. By using this power on the special mixture of medicine, he was able to cure a patient of the Plague. However, when people began to question how his patients were being cured, he simply told them that he did what he could, and prayed that their bodies would be cured. For most this seemed plausible. After all, Yuhe knew that fools would believe anything that conformed to their religious ways. For those who didn’t believe him, he managed to convince them that it was nothing to worry about, for his cure was working, and his patients were being helped. Still, there were many that were demanding to be shown every nook and cranny of his office, believing that he had been hiding something, which was true. He knew he couldn’t hide forever, so he handed the cure and his office off to his old friend from medical School, Michel de Nostredame. He then fled back to Japan, eager to escape the detectives who might swarm the place in his absence. He brought with him only four things. His Plague Doctor Uniform, All the Money he had made in Europe, a sample of the Cure, and his cage of pet rats. The rats were cured, of course. He was desperate to leave, but he wasn’t going to start the plague all over again, or worse, give it to himself. Throughout the next 5 years, he lived with his Sister, Jiejie, until she passed away in 1356, from cardiac arrest, which, ironically, is what they believe killed their parents. He took custody of his young Niece, Yurei, and cared for her. She was only 4 months old when Jiejie passed. Every day he’d say to himself upon seeing her bright, young little face,

“So Beautiful. You’re as beautiful as your Mother was, Yurei.”

He loved his Sister dearly, and that love carried over to Yurei. He loved her like his own daughter. He had also opened his own doctor’s office in his hometown, Shirakawa, and often treated the injured and sick people. One day he met a kind of patient he hadn’t encountered before. A Woman who, like him, had moved to Japan from China. Her name was Lu. She was quite beautiful, so much so that even he could not notice. She suffered regularly from the Flu. It was strange, as if she was a magnet for it. She visited him often, and each time they became more and more friendly. One day, they just felt the spark. Lu asked Yuhe if he’d like to go out some time, to which he agreed. After the first date, they had a second, then a third, then a fourth. In just 2 years, they had gotten married. Within 4, they had a child. A young boy named Long, the Chinese word for Dragon. However, Yuhe was obsessed with something. As he started to get older, and realized how Yurei was, he grew...antsy. He didn’t want to see his darling niece grow old and die, as his Sister had. He wanted to make her live forever...to be forever young. He used the dead bodies of his patients to practice a new procedure to give Eternal Youth. His work consumed him, enveloping 12 Years of his Life. By then Yurei was 16, and Long was 10. His marriage had grown strained due to his constant work, and Yuhe’s own waning health. Before long, his Wife had left with Long in her arms, but he didn’t care. He wanted to perfect his procedure, to bring upon the ultimate gift to his niece. Within just 2 months, he had finally done it! No longer having a wife and son to care for, he was able to dedicate enough time to finish the procedure! He first tested it on himself, and found that his tails would no longer grow, nor his hair. He had done it. He had made a procedure to give eternal youth! He wasted no time in preparing Yurei for the procedure. He bestowed Eternal Youth upon her, and himself.