Taiki

Taiki (泰麒) is the kirin of Tai, though is not fully mature and is actually a hinna (an immature kirin), and Kokki, a rare black kirin.

Like Youko, Shouryuu, and Enki, he is a taika from Hourai; as a result, he is known by the name Kaname Takasato (高里 要, Takasato Kaname). His nickname, Kouri (蒿里), derived from an alternate pronunciation of "Takasato" and was given to him by Gyousou after Taiki chose him as the new King of Tai.

After many years in Hourai, Taiki is eventually taken back to the Twelve Kingdoms in order to fulfill his role as the kirin of Tai. However, when the kingdom of Tai falls, both the King of Tai and Taiki go missing.

Overview
Fifteen years before Youko Nakajima's arrival in the Twelve Kingdoms, Taiki's ranka had been blown over to Hourai by a shoku. He is returned to Mount Hou ten years after his disappearance, after being found by Enki. Taiki is cared for and educated in his role as the kirin of Tai by his nyokai, Haku Sanshi, but is initially unable to transform into his kirin form because he had been in human form for so long. He eventually chooses Gyousou to become king; while Taiki is uncertain of his choice and initially terrified of Gyousou, he eventually realizes that his fear was recognition of the "aura of the ruler" required of the one chosen by the kirin to become a true king.

In addition to Sanshi, Taiki also has a powerful toutetsu youma, Gouran, as his shirei. Before his disappearance, Taiki was close to Keiki and was called "half-pint" by Enki. After his disappearance, Taiki is eventually revealed to be alive in Japan and attends high school. In the anime, he is a student at Youko, Yuka, and Asano's school. Due to the sudden stop of the anime, Taiki's story was never finished and leaves the unresolved situation in which Rokuta is still looking for him in Japan.

In the novels, however, his story is continued. In The Shore at Twilight, The Sky at Daybreak, one of Gyousou's men named Asen stages a coup d'etat when he becomes dissatisfied with the king's aggressive reforms. Gyousou is lured away and Asen attacks Taiki, cutting off his horn just before Taiki flees to Hourai via a meishoku. The trauma of losing his horn causes him to lose his memory of the time he spent in the Twelve Kingdoms and he remains in Japan for the next six years. During this time he begins to lose his kirin nature and is slowly poisoned by the meat he is fed by his family. Eventually Sanshi and Gouran start to go wild and begin killing everyone who gets close to Taiki, mistaking them for enemies. The final breakdown comes when they murder his family when Taiki is away, showing that they have completely lost their nature as shirei and have become wild youma, as shown in The Demonic Child.

Taiki eventually remembers everything and is rescued by the combined efforts of Risai and the kings and kirin of the Twelve Kingdoms. Upon his return, he and his shirei are so full of impurity that the other kirin are unable to get close to him. When he is taken to Mt. Hou, Gyokuyo recognizes that Taiki has managed to become a fully grown kirin, despite years of poisoning and the loss of his horn. She arranges for the Consort to cleanse Taiki of his impurity, though his horn and his powers remained lost. After a brief respite in Kei, Taiki agrees to depart for Tai with Risai in an attempt to save their kingdom. In the novels, Taiki's story stops here and the fate of Tai is not known.