I am a kagaijin. Although knowledge of my kind is widespread in most human circles, I shall assume that you do not know of them yet, and I shall fill you in on some of the details. The name "kagaijin" literally translates to "assault/violence person," and although a great number of my people feel it is an unjust label, it has taken root even in our own tongues. My people are a race of beings deeply rooted in the recent history of this planet, our ancestry dating back to the same origins as those of humanity.
We are shape-shifters and fusiloids -- creatures capable of mating with other species to create hybrid offspring. Although we are a virile and healthy people, we are unique, in that only males exist in our true specie. Although this might seem odd to most people, it is actually a very advantageous way to exist. Through the merging of other species, our male offspring inherit not only the qualities that make them decidedly kagaijin, but they also acquire the immunities and strengths of their female parents, who could be anything or anyone, as long as they are female. Others of my race have been known to acquire mates from the animal kingdom, ranging from creatures as diminutive as tanuki and foxes, all the way up the chain to grizzly bears and tigers. Others, like me, prefer human partners, and we make up the majority. Our true forms most resemble that of human beings, as we are bipedal, upright beings with high intelligence and a tenacity to survive that rivals all other creatures of this world.
In appearance, our true forms are often very frightening to humans. We typically stand at around eight feet tall, and our dull, slate-gray skin has the pallor of a corpse in popular human opinion. We have ten major digits on our feet, just as you do, and also ten major digits on our hands. These "fingers," however, are slightly more advanced than yours, as each digit sports twenty to thirty spaghetti-thin tentacles, each of which can shrink and elongate at will, and have all the tensile strength of an iron cord. These "fingercles" can stretch to over two feet in length, and they are very handy for ensnaring small prey animals, as well as embracing and pleasuring our lovers, among other functions.
Aside from these notable differences, we appear humanoid in all other respects. Our faces are virtually indistinguishable from those of humans, and they have been called beautiful by many of your kind, as they appear in many ways to be the ideal in human terms of physical symmetry. It is said that some of the Grecian sculptures of the male bust were thought to be modeled off of kagaijin facial structures. A major difference that is not visible on the surface, however, would be our tongues. Longer than our finger tentacles, and much thicker and more powerful, our tongues can taste a far greater range of subtle differences than your primitive human equivalents, and in addition, they are prehensile in nature, being able to grasp and hold onto things with all the tenacity of your own laughably feeble hands.
Our strength is incomparable in human terms, as any single kagaijin could easily defeat a small army of armed human men through sheer brute force within minutes. We are superior to humans in our analytical powers as well, and unbeknown to you, most of your most prized geniuses throughout history have actually been kagaijin in disguise. We are superior to you, as well as other creatures of this world, in virtually every way.
You might think that, as superior beings, we would be at least tolerated by human standards, but in actuality, the opposite is true. Humans see my kind as a threat, not only to the welfare of the young women we take as mates, but also to the purity of the human race, as the human female offspring we produce are in every way as human as any other human girl, making them undetectable as the offspring of a kagaijin. Simply the conditions of their births make them outcasts in human society, and so naturally, we do what we can to keep those conditions secret, further fueling the distrust and hatred of the rest of humanity. It is a sad state of affairs, but it is most certainly a common trait in humans to shun any whom they deem different or odd. Because of this, we kagaijin are very protective of our children, and we don't often allow the females to reintegrate into human society without ironclad identity protection.
Despite all our advantages and superiority, we also share a great many traits with humans that make us decidedly similar. We experience the same range of emotions and mental duress that you do, including such intangibles as love, hate, deceit, and depression. We are sensitive creatures with a strong sense of justice, for the most part, but we are far more devoted to the well-being of our own societies and ideals than to those of the other races of the world. Another trait we share is our insatiable drive to nurture our children. Humans and Kagaijin are among a very select few members of the various kindoms of animals that nurture their young throughout their entire lives, and although we may send them off into the world to eke out a living eventually, we never forget them, and we rarely want to.
It is quite remarkable that we have evolved in such a similar fashion, and it intrigues a great many of my people to know that although we descend from a common ancestor, at some point in our history, our paths diverged. Our path received the lion's share of things such as intelligence and strength, but despite that, our most basic driving motives remain the same.
Enough about my heritage, though. I shall now tell you a bit about myself. I am called Tsuyoken, or "Strong Fist" by my people, but among humans, I am known by the more discreet name of Tsu Akayama. In the human world, I am a college professor of archeology, and I teach several classes a day at Tokyo University. Although my job hours are rigorous and the strain on my shape-shifting abilities is great, I am more than capable of maintaining my identity in the human world, as are the rest of my kagaijin brethren. It is laughable to conceive that there might be humans capable of deducing that I am in actuality prince Tsuyoken, crowned ruler of the entire kagaijin race.
My duties as prince are not what you humans might think of when you think of human princes and other members of royalty. There are no grand banquets or balls for me to attend, and no great matters of state for me to discuss with advisors. My role as their leader is undisputed, as from birth, I was declared the most powerful living member of the kagaijin race. Our power is determined by the aura we emit, and mine happens to be particularly potent. This aura is a by-product of the terrific fighting prowess we possess, and in battle, we are fierce enemies indeed. Being what I am, I outclass all others of my race, and it goes without saying that no human could stand up to me either. I am quite arguably the most powerful being on the planet. As such, it falls upon me to ensure the safety and comfort of my people, and I safeguard these principles very diligently. I have had to step in on countless occasions to hide one of my brothers from angry mobs of humans, and likewise prevent unwanted visitors from discovering my peoples' secret cities and towns. We are not all fully integrated into human society, and I respect my peoples' wishes to remain private.
I, however, find humans most intriguing, and indeed, quite admirable in many ways. You are resourceful creatures, with an inherent beauty and wisdom despite all your petty shortcomings. Studying your archeology has led me to believe that your history is a rich one, and as a whole, you are a worthy people that must be protected as well as observed. There are a select few among you who could be considered remarkably wise, and even more who are as kind and reverent as even the most admirable kagaijin. I found just such a creature while teaching one of my classes at Tokyo U. Her name is Yumi Seigawa, and she is without a doubt the most beautiful, remarkable girl I have ever met in my life.
Yumi is the recently orphaned daughter of a salaryman and a receptionist. Her parents died in a freak accident at sea, while celebrating their twentieth wedding anniversary aboard a cruise ship set to visit Tahiti. They were swept overboard in a sudden storm, and were never recovered. Yumi was understandably quite devastated about the sudden loss of her mother and father, but she immediately threw herself into her studies, as she had made a promise to them that she was going to study hard and become an accomplished archaeologist, which was her lifelong dream. She believed that as long as she kept that promise, she would be honoring her parents' wishes, even after their deaths. It was both heartwarming and sad at the same time, and when I learned of her ordeal, it endeared her to me even more.
I had taken notice of Yumi the moment she walked into the classroom on our first day of Egyptology. I was immediately struck by her incomparable beauty and the way she quietly chose her seat and began to study her textbook, rather than talk and gossip along with her classmates. It was easy to see that she was an introvert, which was surprising, as a girl of her caliber could most assuredly gain easy friendships among other girls, as well as ample attention from the opposite sex. Although it's true that the males in class stared at her with obvious interest, she seemed entirely unaware of their attention, and it wasn't until later that I found out about her complete lack of confidence when it came to matters of the heart. She was ridiculously ignorant of her ample positive qualities, and believed that any man who'd give her the time of day must certainly have been either blind or desperate. After spending several troubled years as an underdeveloped, bullied teen, her self-image had taken such a savage beating that, even after she blossomed into the dazzling young woman she was today, she still believed herself to be unappealing and unattractive as she had been during her awkward teenage years.
As for the advances of men, she had received surprisingly few. Most men were put off by what was misinterpreted as disinterest, and those that might have ignored it were put off by the fact that she was so dreadfully stunning that they doubted the chances of receiving so much as a sideways glance from her. It was an ironic and tragic position for her to be in, but it was, funnily enough, ideal for me. I had immediately taken a liking to her, and the less attention she received from other men, the better, as far as I was concerned.
