Post by SamuraiFoochs on Dec 5, 2007 18:07:35 GMT -4
Personal Information
Name: Yamato Takahashi
Age (actual/apparent): Approx. 200/Early 20’s
Gender: Male
Division:Rogue
Rank/Class: Near-Captain Level (would more than likely have Bankai with real Zanpakuto)
Appearance:
Yamato is a moderately handsome man who looks to be in his early 20’s. 6 feet tall, his frame isn’t necessarily highly imposing, but he keeps himself in true fighting shape, and it shows. His body is lean and toned, testament to the effort he puts into it. His hair is short and wavy, often slightly unkempt, and just long enough to have a bang or two sometimes hang slightly in front of his gray eyes. His features are strong, his face sharp in the way that an athlete or person with fast metabolism has clearly defined features. He often simply wears human clothing such a t-shirts and jeans, choosing to forsake Shinigami attire as much as possible out of spite.
Personality:
Yamato is a bit of a dichotomy as far as personality is concerned. He is generally calm, giving, and kind, always willing to help those who ask. However, when it comes to battle, Yamato is truly vicious and just a little smug, feeling the need to prove himself to any who may doubt him. He feels intense contempt to any people with a sense of entitlement, and respect from Yamato is not necessarily difficult to earn, but is absolutely never implicit.
History:
Yamato Takahashi was a friendly, intelligent boy, who always seemed to others to have empathy and wisdom beyond his years. These abilities extended even to the realm of animals, particularly dogs and wolves. Yamato was always spiritually aware, and never questioned what he saw. He lived a normal life, able to fend off any negative energy from spirits easily, and unbeknownst to him at the time, able to conceal his spiritual power, and so was never bothered by Hollows. However, when he arrived home one day at the age of 16, to see his house being robbed and his parents dead, he grew immensely angry, and the sudden rise in emotion brought out his true spiritual power, and thus attracted a Hollow. Scared by the Hollow they couldn’t see, the robbers ran, and as Yamato chased them, the Hollow caught up with him and attacked. The attack left his right leg permanently injured, and from then on he always limped. From the day of his parents’ death, he grew to have the interesting dichotomy of being completely unafraid to (and even enjoying) fights, but despising the idea of killing. When he was fresh out of college, he went to a bar one night, and got into a fight when a drunk man called him a “pathetic cripple who’d be better off dead”. Enraged, Yamato attacked, but was killed when he was surrounded by several men (friends of the first man) and beaten to death. However, later, the men commented that “he fought beyond anything we’d seen, almost as though he was possessed.”
After his death, Yamato trained in Rukongai, both in martial arts, and in finding new depths to his spiritual power. He was able to enroll in the Shinigami Academy, and was actually technically above average in the majority of his classes, though the weak leg still plagued him. He was able to compensate for the weakness in the area of conventional movement by showing a particularly affinity for shunpo, the large leaps with often very little time spent bearing weight between movements proving to work well for him. Despite Yamato’s undeniable proficiency and considerable power for those in his level, he was shockingly denied graduation from the Academy because of his disability. Angered yet determined, Yamato hand fashioned a set of “battle gauntlets” through painstaking amateur blacksmithing and considerable elbow grease, since he was not given a Zanpakutou, not having officially graduated. He became a freelance Hollow Hunter, using his battle gauntlets in conjunction with martial arts skills, as well as a crudely sharpened lead pipe in place of a sword. He currently hunts Hollow, not sure whether he is purifying or slaying them outright, but not particularly caring. He is constantly hunting and training himself to reach new levels of power, determined to prove all of his naysayers, past, present, and future, wrong about his skills.
Additional Info: Yamato has a permanently injured right leg which causes him to limp slightly. The leg gives out very occasionally under stress. Despite this weakness, Yamato has learned to compensate in other areas, particularly shunpo. Yamato is also a fairly handy blacksmith.
Zanpakuto Information
[/center]Not Applicable. Instead, Yamato has the following equipment:
Takahashi Battle Gauntlets- A set of hand crafted gauntlets designed for battle. There are both hand and foot sets, so that every extremity is armored. The hand gauntlets each have a single retractable spike in the center knuckle area. The right leg gauntlet includes a leg brace extension, used to bolster Yamato’s weak leg as much as possible. While effective and painstakingly crafted, the gauntlets are crude.
Slayer- A makeshift sword created by intensely tapering and sharpening what was once a lead pipe. While not as elegant or powerful as a traditional Zanpakutou, it and the gauntlets are impeccably upkept by their owner, and so the slayer is a respectable replacement for a Zanpakutou, if not ideal.
Shinigami Abilities:
Way of Binding 23, Burden of Dark Days: A fairly weak binding kidou that is made more effective by the fact that it targets only the legs as opposed to the entire body. This kidou simply weighs down the target’s legs, making it more difficult for them to move, but not impossible.
Way of Speed 20, Dance of Heaven: Virtually opposite in every way to the above, this kidou makes the caster lighter on his feet after bathing them in a soft blue glow.
Shunpo (amazing proficiency)
Additional
Other Characters: NONE
Roleplay Sample:
Yamato wiped the blood from his lip with a smirk. This hollow was stronger than he’d counted on. Oh well, hopefully eventually the brass would pull their heads from behind them and let him join the Gotei; this stuff would be much easier with a real Zanpakuto. He could only imagine the surge of power that accompanied release...
“This is a fun one!” He shouted with an almost mad chuckle, letting loose another surge of reiatsu. “Think I’ll actually speed up this time! Way of Speed number 20, Dance of Heaven!” He saw the blue light bathe his legs and felt them get lighter, the familiar sensation almost like the embrace of an old friend. The sword-like weapon hanging across his back was removed from its sheath as he disappeared, using shunpo to flash behind and above the large hollow. Sharpening the weapon with reiatsu, Yamato fell, slashing as he did, moving to strike the hollow’s mask. It turned, sensing his energy, at quickly moved its arm in front of its face to protect the mask. Despite the defensive attempt, the Slayer cleaved through the hollow’s arm, prompting a gush of blood and a howl of pain.
Storing the Slayer behind his back again quickly, Yamato leapt at the hollow's head with a flying kick. The Hollow caught his unarmored leg and Yamato cursed under his breath, but he twisted, kicking the hollow in the side of the head with his armored leg. The hollow was sent flying with a crash, and it slowly stood, groaning in pain, as Yamato smiled wider. “You filthy things just never learn, do you? It’s not the sword that makes the Shinigami…” He flashed forward, getting directly in the hollow’s face as the spike in the center of the gauntlet on his left fist was revealed.
“…It’s the love of the job!” With a shout of effort, Yamato landed a truly bone-crushing punch to the Hollow’s mask, the spike driving straight through. As the hollow screamed again and slowly faded away, Yamato landed on one knee, standing gingerly. He dusted himself off with a sigh, slowly walking off.
“That’s only the fifth tonight. I’ve got to hurry if I want to break my old record before sunrise…” He looked up at the full moon, almost feeling an inexplicable urge to howl at it, when he heard the unearthly scream of another hollow and focused on tuning in to its energy signature. He gave a pleased laugh and whispered quietly to himself.
“Time to go for number six!” With a whoosh and a blur of motion, he was gone, ready for his next kill.
