Ikki Shiyokubo

Ikki Shiyokubo is the middle child of the Shiyokubo family and eldest twin, son to Sakura (Cedric's third wife) and a romantic interest for the protagonist of Tsumi no Kunshu.

He comes across as arrogant, sarcastic, self-centred and egotistical but it is all just a coping mechanism to deal with his ugly past.

Personality
Ikki suffers from an inferiority complex towards his brothers – mainly Ryuichi – as he learnt from a young age that only the best can survive in the cruel world. Due to him and Shion being raped continuously throughout his childhood and being beaten harshly, he strives to be the very best and never backs down from anything or anyone, especially his father promising him the worst fate imaginable.

Kyoko only realises his true personality when she finds him crying himself to sleep one night. In front of anyone, he will deny any faults he appears to have – even around Shion although they suffered similar traumatic events – yet in private he willingly breaks down.

He has a strange fascination to fire seeing as the majority of his scars came from a burning of some sort. He is very unaccepting of Kyoko upon meeting her, not trusting women at all and telling her that if she is too live with them, she is to be his slave and do whatever he says without complaint. He is a hardcore sadist and is labelled as Do-S by his brothers.

Appearance
Ikki’s main feature – his red, spiky and rarely tamed hair – stands out most about his appearance, Shion often joking that’s the only way he would be spotted in a crowd. He has wide excited eyes, forest green, mimicking his mother’s eyes almost perfectly if it wasn’t for the wild look he always held in them.

He has a slim and skinny figure, a result of his orphaned upbringing and many scars from his mistreatment litter his body, the largest covering his back reminding him of how unfair the world really is to those unlucky enough to be orphaned. Many women – like those he grew up around – often find something alluring about him. Perhaps it's a feeling of hidden shame or perhaps it's simply his self-righteous nature but it causes attraction to be an art of which he seems to have mastered.

He casually wears a turquoise colored jacket over a simple grey t-shirt. This is accompanied by grey pants and black sneakers.

His school uniform is the usual black and white. He has a white dress shirt underneath his black vest however he refuses to wear the jacket. His pants match his vest and he wears black dress shoes to complete the outfit. He can be found wearing the optional red tie with his uniform.

History
He was the first born out of him and his twin, being born a day earlier than him. Their mother, Sakura, did not care for her children very much – disowning them once they were born. She was only after Cedric’s authority and status and, after giving birth to Ikki and Shion, heard of his first wife before leaving the twins with Roselyne and abandoning Cedric and their children forever.

Roselyne was to take them in as her own sons yet struggled to care for them along with her own son. The mistreatment of the final child, Keiichiro, drove the twins to strive for a more successful life without their father, causing them to run away from home to which they found themselves orphaned from a very young age (psychically eight years-old).

Ikki and Shion grew up in the care of random women – some of which taking advantage of their young and vulnerable state and committing crimes such as abuse and rape on the defenceless boys. Over the years, their abandonment is what contributed to their growing hated towards their mother. The women favoured Shion over Ikki due to his smaller frame and preferred to inflict sick torture on Ikki rather than sexually assault him. Managing to escape at a more mature age (psychically being twelve), they headed back home to discover that their elder brother, Ryuichi, was alone caring for Kei.

Together they helped each other, even with the obvious tension between everyone, and made a life for themselves as demon princes, their father allowing them to take refuge in his palace. Ikki always caused fights with the maids of the palace – a result of his abuse – and was even beaten harshly by his father into obedience. Their stay at the palace was short lived as Cedric then locked them away a few hundred years later in the Shiyokubo mansion to limit their freedom and cause their mental state to deteriorate yet again.

Trivia

 * His shoe size is 26cm
 * His birthday falls on May 9th
 * His favourite colour is the shade black
 * Ikki’s favourite food is Crepe
 * Ikki’s rather enjoys singing and deems it as his hobby
 * He dislikes poetry when Kyoko receives letters from Shion