Yukiko Matsugane [APPROVED, 1-1+]

Tue Feb 14, 2012 5:07 pm

SHINIGAMI
死の神

BASIC INFORMATION
Upfront Details about this character

Name: Lady Yukiko Matsugane
Gender: Female
Age: 574
Appearance: She dresses in a manner more suited to a swords woman than a noble, her sleeveless shinigami robes are worn loose with an open front for mobility and she keeps her chest bound so her breasts don't unbalance her. Her entire torso is kept bound in cloth bandages,
but her arms are ringed by a red tattoo of a chinese dragon that spirals from her wrist to shoulder. Her hair is in two braids on front with exquisite painted wooden ornaments, and a red silk ribbon tying the back off with a silver ornament ear the end. She also wears a thick red wristband with red cloth wrapping that covers up to the middle of her fingers, wrapped individually. Outside of that she wears her zanpaktou on her back, so she can draw it quickly and strike from drawing. She wears a pair of loose white silk pants under the skirt of her robes with a red sash, on her feet she wears the standard tabi despite the fact to her they feel restricting and uncomfortable. She often wears her sword arm outside the sleeve, and when fighting shrugs off the robes from her right shoulder.
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PERSONALITY
Who are they on the inside?

Personality: Yukiko is an individual who values a tactical mind over physical strength, though her motives are always kept hidden from others. She hates politics, and if the topic is
brought up she will speak harshly about nobility. She is a warrior first, and a noble second. Though she isn't complex at all, her motives are caught between revenge and her duty. She is no lady and she would rather drink sake in rukon than with other nobles. Her level of camaraderie among her squad mates is high, and she enjoys hanging out with them no matter what they do. Her relationship with her zanpaktou is quite strange, though she disagrees alot with it they are like family as far as the bond of trust. She is diligent in her duty when she is active and often is one of the first to rush into battle, though she will follow orders if they state otherwise. When faced with the past or her own truth she will get angry, in doing so she will go quiet for days and become more violent in both sparring and battle. She acts as she does to keep up a lie that she is perfectly fine, while inside she is ready to explode and release over a century of pent up rage inside of her. She will confide in few, and only if they can prove to be trusted.

She has adapted to her new role tactically and operationally, while once seeing Arrancar as the enemy she prefers their company now as they may be more chaotic but their just as easy to get along with. Her loyalty is not to be questioned, question that and you will get a rather sharp response and a sword at your throat. However as much as she is serious and embodies the Jade Cross's style as much as possible, she encourages and allows adaptability and inventiveness in both combat and tactics for other missions. Outside of any official business she is quite easy going and relaxed, and is considered a bit of a flirt and lush who has a taste for fine sake.Overall she is a capable shinigami with a troubled heart, and she only seeks to settle it and move on. She is one to hit on those she thinks is attractive, whether it be a man or woman who catches her eye she will be quite social and try to at least get one date out of it.

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BACKGROUND
What is there past like?

History/Background: Yukiko has a rather complex history, one that she has not forgotten and will not ever forget. She is not the real daughter of Matsugane Saito though she is a part of the family. To understand why she was adopted and what her agenda is, one has to look into her past when she was a Shirokawa. She was born the middle child of three to a minor noble, her father was a good man who valued knowledge and learning. She was raised to be pacifistic, and though it was noted she had a high level of spiritual power she was forbidden from entering the academy. The Shirokawa house was often asked to help in disputes between houses, but they would never take sides and that infuriated some. One house in particular lost several valuable assets due to this unwillingness to support those with unjust motives This was where he tragedy began and her pacifistic ideals ended, she will not forget this day and will not stop until the person behind it is dead on her blade. Lord Matsuhide had gotten it in his head that her father had been bribed to support the Matsugane family, when they disputed ownership of several texts. Really her father had realized who they truly belonged to, and
thus awarded to the Matsugane's the items.

It was no secret the two families had been on good terms, and in fact Yukiko was the fiancee of one of the Matsugane sons. Using this Lord Matsuhide had some men slip into the estate and kill her father, as well as his family and servants. She survived by hiding until it was over, but the killing was done right before her eyes. This sight was what stripped her of her innocence and cast a black shadow over her heart, and when they had left she came out of hiding and sat there on the front steps. Screaming in anger to the sky and any who would hear she cursed the Matsuhide family name, that she would return to them what they had given to her. However by this time Saito Matsugane was on his way to find out what happened, and finding her passed out covered in her parents blood after she had covered them up and moved them into respectable positions. Trying to calm the distraught girl he sent her to his household, with instructions to have her cleaned up and made presentable. He handled the situation and quietly swept this under the rug, as he felt much guilt over this.

After two weeks Yukiko finally started to act normal again, still just a child her remaining good eye looked dead. While hiding she had caught the tip of a blade in her left eye, blinding it permanently as the wound was too deep. She was quickly formalized as a Matsugane, and while she was still unsure of what to do she knew that one day she pay them back. She grew up fairly normally after that, and when she was twelve she was enrolled in the academy at her request. She hated nobility for allowing such terrible crimes to happen, but knew that were he not nobility she would not be able to do anything. She was happy for now, and she studied at a normal pace as to not get ahead of anyone else. She showed great promise in the martial arts and swordsmanship, and was soon combining the two into unique combinations. Her teachers could not keep up, and gave her passing grades a year before she should have passed those courses. The rest of her courses were on schedule, and six years later she graduated in the top ten of her class. She was still secretly consumed by her desire for revenge, and she decided it was best to bide her time until this truly was the past. She found herself in the tenth division, and her skills in battle were being honed daily. She proved to be a solid member of the division, and through due diligence and effort she gained her shikai within fifteen years. She was social and supportive, but still she kept herself extremely guarded and told nobody much about her. Her bond with her zanpaktou was something fostered quite often, confiding in it over the others and telling it the truth. While they were all comrades she didn't trust them enough to tell them how she really felt, and she felt like there was a growing darkness within her heart. Over the years her personality shifted to becoming more aggressive, and though she was not stupid in battle she did sometimes get too reckless in her tactics.

One mission she was facing a hollow with some squad members, they were overpowered and backed into a corner. Desperate she charged forward towards the hollow and attacked it without regard for her own safety, this distracted it while the others could get to better positions and finish it off. This proved key to winning the fight, but she was badly wounded for her effort. She did not deny that she acted rashly, but she also seemed like her actions were the only logical course of action. After some reading, it was proven that she had done the right thing. Even though one person died the mission was accomplished, and there was no innocent casualties as there was non combatants in the area. She recovered and then resumed her duty, since then she has become more of a field tactician than anything else. Anything she does has been based upon the situation, she has proven to be an asset to the division with her unique sense of the field. Even having only one eye has not proven a hindrance, and she has gained much confidence from others in her abilities. She only does this until she can move to her true motives, and kill Lord Matsuhide for what he did to her family. Really she is only interested in her own selfish goals, and the goal of the shinigami and thirteen protection squads is secondary. When the day comes that she moves, she will have to leave soul society and live as a fugitive. She has found a better way to handle this, and recently grown stronger in power through intense training with Andrew in which she gave it everything she had, and in both victory and defeat she was able to realize flaws in her tactics and has started to plan to adjust so she can better face opponents like him who use attacks that rely on clouds of debris or gas.

How she became involved with K-World is actually something that was a tricky political play that involved a secret betrayal, after spending months and gathering evidence against the family that killed her real family it was decided that there was not enough to move against them. This proved to be where her loyalty to the Gotei 13 would start to collapse, she started by growing distant from her captain and comrades and it escalated into quiet dissension. A week later while on a patrol she had told the other two to go on ahead while she checked something out, something that caught her attention but really an excuse to drink a little. As she was taking a long drink she was approached as someone recruiting in the living world had overheard a rumor about her situation that escaped as idle gossip on a mission earlier that week. In exchange for her desired revenge she agreed to join them, and swore an oath that once it had been achieved she would return and work with them. She agreed and swore an oath she fully
intended on keeping, knowing that her revenge would completely ruin her.

So it was two days later that she made her move, instead of reporting to work early one morning she made her move against the offending house. Through speed and cunning was able to overpower the guards outside with their help to prevent anyone from getting in her way to her target, yet she did not stop there in her bloody path to the head of the household. After killing all guards and servants she first slew his family while he could only watch, by now the second squad was on it's way and she had little time to spare. So after taking his head she used a lantern to set the place alight, and the already opened gate that the fleeing head of the house was trying to escape through. Leaving behind a burning house and nobody alive she was declared a priority capture, but when they got to the living world her
trail had gone cold. She had already met up with her new compatriots, however the very nature of her crime brought the Matsugane family to disown her as a way of saving face. With her past behind her she found a new home, some place that she was now not adverse to working with even if there was members of her former enemy there too.

Her rise in rank was much like her rise to the tenth seat before, her abilities were a major factor as she was capable of turning around situations that were going south fast. Yet she was also one to prove more than that, using knowledge of her old division she knew how to attack certain members and proved her loyalty quite well by doing so. She was quite fierce in her determination though, and quickly adapted to the tactics of the jade cross. Her own tactical aptitude finding many applications, though one of her skill and calibre could easily have made a faster rise she decided to earn it. So when she made the rank of Commander she had proven even to the Arrancar in the section she was worthy of even their loyalty, though she made it a habit once she joined that if she killed a shinigami she would also kill their zanpaktou by breaking the blade. She would also take a piece of each blade, and to this day keeps a wind chime of charms made from broken blades.

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ZANPUKTO]
What is this characters power?

Zanpakutô Spirit Name: Kurokaze no Tengu
Appearance: Her Zanpaktou appears as a classical Tengu with great black wings that carries a large fan, the mask is much like the one she has with her Bankai form and it is of a different color though. It is a solid white mask with the same markings but the color of the night sky, he wears robes much like those of the Shinigami except he wears them in a more formal style. Which seems to fit his personality however, overall he is a rather imposing but calm spirit who one might say looks like he should have been Shinigami.

Inner World: The inner world is actually quite simplistic and peaceful, at least on the top of it. It is a tall mountain with a winding trail that climbs up the outside of it, this part has whipping winds and the drop looks like it falls into a chasm that has no bottom. In fact this mountain is the only thing present in a sky full of clouds, but at the top is a house that looks like the house her original family lived in but is nhabited by her Zanpaktou's spirit. It is exact down to the very last detail, even her own room is as she remembers.

Sealed Zanpakutô Apperance : It looks like a normal Katana that has a bird of prey engraved along the blade, the hilt wrapping is azure blue and the guard is an 8 pointed sun shape that has no openings in it for hand protection.

Release: Come, winds of death

Shikai Description:[/font] This form is slightly longer and thicker than normal, the blade a pale silver in color with an edge the color of dried blood. The guard curves up at either side, and the base of the blade curves into the actual blade for the first few inches. It also has blood grooves among the center of the blade on either side, though it may look thick and heavy it is surprisingly light and fast. In her hands this form is lethal if she uses the eight stances, though she normally fights one handed.

Shikai Abilities:

Shikai ability 1 – Black phantom blade

This is her most basic shikai ability, and it is also one of her best as it is a passive skill that is always on. Its effect enhances her striking speed with blade or body; it allows her to strike twice in one attack. The second strike comes right after the next one, and it looks like it was just one hit that was landed. The impact of the secondary strike is only three quarters the power of the initial strike, but also lands on the same spot each time. There is potential to increase it to a third strike at half the power of the initial one, but in order to do so would take additional training and strengthening the bond with her zanpaktou.

Shikai ability 2 - Ominous Gale

This is her only ranged technique she will ever possess, as all others are suited to her style of fighting which is melee. This ability is a rapidly cut series of spiritual pressure formed into numerous small vertical, diagonal, and horizontal waves. They fly at the enemy at gale force speeds and continually crash into them until she is done; it has an effective range of one hundred meters before the pattern spreads out and then becomes more easily avoidable. She often uses it within thirty meters however, and she will always try to have the enemy cornered or pinned down before using it for maximum effect. The winds last for twenty seconds, and then the attack is finished.

Shikai ability 3 – Crossing winds

This is a combined sword strike that starts from a low position, and a kick from the same side that starts from a high position. As she moved with the attack her sword and kick are moved in synch, and she moves in a full circle with the blade pointing to the ground. The initial hit is with the sword and a moderate strength kick, the attack is finished with a fierce axe kick to the shoulder of their predominant side. The attack generates a fierce wind that blows the enemy back a little after the axe kick, and it also has a chance of stunning the target for forty seconds.

Bankai Description:[/font] In Bankai form she looks completely different, in fact she seems like she is also a different person despite being almost the same. She has a mantle of black feathers that is really a pair of wings used for flight on and her uniform is now pure white with a black sash, on each had is a black glove reinforced with reiatsu for blocking attacks and she hovers at least a foot off the ground always instead of walking on the ground. However the mantle really is a pair of birdlike wings that can be used in battle as well as her Zanpakutō. Covering her face is a tengu mask covers everything but the mouth and chin that has the blind eye covered in a glowing reiatsu lens, extending her ability to sense reiatsu to normal as for the purposes of power sensing her zanpaktou takes over that eye.

Her Zanpakutō becomes broader and shortens by one full inch over its shikai form; however the blood groove is now filled with spiritual energy as if the blade is a proper extension of her form and the two are linked in a bond that shows no dissonance in both style and skill. While in bankai form her look emulates that of a tengu, and in return she has the speed, reflexes, and mobility of one as long as she can maintain her bankai form. This leaves her weak to the element of earth, and anything that is designed against opponents who rely on flight or staying off the ground she is also vulnerable to. The Zanpaktou is actually comprised of numerous wires that are used in the techniques that she employs in this form. These wires can be used to pull objects towards her, and even to cut things as they are akin to blades with the strength and sharpness of the blade itself individually.

Bankai Abilities

Wind Force: Around her the wins pick up and whip wildly around her, this is an effect of the power of
her Zanpaktou and acts as a secondary source of energy to aid in her should she be low on energy. However if she takes a blow that is considered near fatal or disrupts her focus due to unconsciousness, or being dazed and mentally stunned it dissipates and cannot be restored. It can also be used to scout around her as she can pick up everything this wind touches. However her attacks also benefit and when she attacks them with her wire techniques they can draw on this power to activate, however doing so is never used except as a last resort. This wind also allows her use her Kidō techniques faster and without the incantation as it empowers them and not her own energy, making her arsenal that much greater.

Vortex trap: This ability is one of her only real defenses against long range enemies, what it does is up to a certain range the can use the wires to open a vortex in the air and pull them so they are at close range. This is often used in tandem with her hand to hand and sword strikes, however it can only be used once every minute as it takes energy and time to charge the wires with the elemental property needed to rip open the vortex.

Leech threads: This ability is one where she uses the wires to leech kinetic energy from her quick motion and the motion of anything around her, using this energy she can use it to empower her attacks or even reflect Kidō attacks back at the caster up to a certain level. This technique however cannot reflect anything outside of attacks and the stronger the attack the more charge it takes. However if she cannot reflect the attack she can use the energy built up to create a shield that is much like Arc shield,
however it only has a one shot use for defense than she has to once again rebuild the energy.

Wind shifting: This technique is one where she uses her energy to create small magic circles the size of dinner plates, these circles when presented normally are used to accelerate whatever attacks of hers that pass over them or even herself as she passes over them. They also work for any other person attacks that pass over them; however the same can be said for them in reverse. When they are reversed they slow down anything passing over them so that it is more easily evaded, or attacked using her own speed and tactics. The factor these enhance and decrease by depend on how much she puts into them, and often their used as traps before the enemy arrives. They last for one hour before dispersing and once laid cannot be seen unless they are activated. Each rune works for that hour, but once activated can be seen and avoided.[/font]

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RP SAMPLE
Show us your skills!

Roleplay Sample:
Attaining Bankai was one thing for her, but now she had to master it and tap into the real power she had unlocked. Since sunrise she had been in the training area and working on something new, it was not in her usual bag of tricks but a necessary addition. ”Come winds of death…” As she began her training she immediately released her shikai form, and started working with it for a while to get into the flow of her attacks since this one would not be uniform to her style. All of a sudden she stopped and cut in the air with Tengu no Kurokaze, and speaking in a low voice she released her bankai so that only her and the wind could hear it. As her reiatsu whipped about her like a gale she leapt from the core of the blinding gusts of reiatsu, letting her cloak carry her down she hovered there and held her blade in front of her. ”Kurokaze no Tengu, let’s show them our power…” With that she began to train the new technique, for the seventh day in a row but she was confident she had it down.

She started off by focusing in front of her and holding her blade steady she closed her good eye, and in her mind she envisioned seeing herself as if she was outside her body. Feeling her own reiatsu she concentrated on that image and started to shape her reiatsu into it, however as fickle as the wind was her focus was broken when some dust was kicked up beneath her feet and she snapped her eyes open. This was harder than it looked as she was not used to a defensive technique, but she bucked up and started again with a clearer image of what she wanted to do. However this was not going to be easy and as she had the image now stable she was ready to move onto the next stage, the visualization was the easy part but she had no idea how to conceptualize the mirror or the method of deployment. However it had taken her entire usage of Bankai this day to just get the first step finished, so once she returned to normal she rested on one knee and caught her breath. For now she had the translucent image of her that she could call forth, a pale mockery of what she desired and what she truly was in that state of her being.

The next morning when she resumed her training she started off the same, and once she had achieved Bankai form she was able to envision the form of herself that she sought. Having brushed her hair the night before and looking into her hand mirror, the reflection of her image gave her more clarity. As she hovered there she reflected with her eyes closed what the effect the mirror had, and as she did she the image in front of her that was now a translucent illusion began to look more solid and real. It was like the mirror image of herself that she had seen in her mind ’s eye and in her hand mirror while she brushed her hair, while not perfect it would serve it’s purpose. Looking into it the image remained motionless and when she struck it the creation shattered, however there was nothing more to that. though on her mask the moment it became solid seven small diamond shaped patches appeared in the center of the forehead, but it was black and lifeless. There was no power to them, but they were still present as if vessels waiting to be filled. Though it was the next day that their purpose would be revealed, and the technique would finally be hers.

The third morning was one spent in training once again, and now that she had the base she had no idea what she was missing. She had seen Arc Shield and knew that was her intention, but in order to do that and make it even more of an impact she had to use a trick to it. So before she started training she went into a meditative state and contacted her zanpaktou since he knew more about what she was doing. As she entered the same place she had been before she placed down a small bundle of treats, which were quickly taken up by the spirit and eaten quickly. ”Yukiko-kun no need to tell me what you hope to accomplish, we both know this is not like us. I like what your trying to do however… I know what your missing but if you want to now play a game with me…”

Yukiko had no real choice in the matter she wanted to perfect this technique and on the table were a ball, a mirror, and a butterfly net. This was not one of his usual games, but the ball while it looked light as she picked it up was heavy. ”I’ll play but if you ask me this ball seems rather useless, if I can’t lift it then I can’t use it….”Kurokaze chuckled as he picked up the ball and then handed her the mirror, after taking several steps back he threw it towards her and scooped up the net. She narrowly avoided it in an attempt to dodge as it followed her, and almost hitting her she blocked it with the mirror and sent it flying right back at him with even greater force. ”You can’t outrun this ball, if you think we can win always dodging then we can’t. Yukiko this move is something they will not see coming, just as the ball reflected off the mirror energy attacks can off of that duplicate. Until the mirror breaks, we will do this….”

Yukiko nodded and then readied herself, once they were set the game began and after what seemed like an hour the mirror finally shattered into pieces. However afterwards they sat down and enjoyed some tea to relax. ”Your crafty you know that, I always think that your one step ahead of me. New tea, this tastes like it has toasted brown rice in it and some jasmine.” This solicited a laugh from her zanpaktou and he smiled, cracking a joke at her expense knowing her habits. ”Here I thought you just had a taste for sake, well do you get it now. We can’t exactly be using out own Kidō against ourselves or hurting others so I thought this was the best way. Off you go now, Yukiko-kun next time bring more cherry!” Were the last things she heard as she returned to the training grounds, and when she entered bankai on her mask the diamonds were now sky blue and she had to risk attacking herself with low level Kidō.

As she skipped back from the image that followed closely she used her flash step to get ahead of it, and fired white lightning at it so that the Kidō would reflect upon training dummies and damage them. Each time she used it a diamond went black, but the Kidō was reflected and struck the dummy with greater force as the image shattered, in the end thanks to the exercise set up by her zanpaktou and her effort she had finally mastered this one. However this one had to be kept close so that nobody knew she had it, as it was easily one that could turn the tide of battle when used at the right time.
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SKILL SHEET
This characters strengths

{Please do not fill out the following until your character has a tier}

General Skills[/font]
• Durability: Master/Advanced/Adept/Beginner
• General [b]Speed: Master/Advanced/Adept/Beginner
•Strength: Master/Advanced/Adept/Beginner
• Weapon Skill: Master/Advanced/Adept/Beginner

Racial Skills
• Hoho: Master/Advanced/Adept/Beginner
• Kidō: Master/Advanced/Adept/Beginner
• Zanjutsu: Master/Advanced/Adept/Beginner
• Hakuda: Master/Advanced/Adept/Beginner