When I set out to do this fic, ground rule #1 was "nothing supernatural." Which made some things a challenge (the story had to work without a magical deadline for The Beast to fall in love), but in other ways, was kind of liberating. (No enchanted objects threatening to steal the spotlight from the central two!)

Yoshiki is definitely key to Yo-ka still having humanity buried deep inside. The fact that Yoshiki wasn't corrupted by all the brutality and corruption around him says a lot about his character - and the fact that he was so strong gave Yo-ka at least one positive influence in his life after his mother was gone.