Post by Luke on Oct 14, 2010 23:18:35 GMT -6
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BASICS
Name: Yamato Takahashi
Alias: None
Race: Shinigami
Gender: Male
Character Age: Approximately 175-200
Age of Death: 21
Apparent Age: Mid-20’s
Squad: 10
Seat: ?
APPEARANCE
Height: 6’1”
Weight: 175 lbs.
Hair: Brown, short and wavy
Eyes: Gray
Build: Lean but muscular
Other: Yamato has a variety of small scars from unlucky fights with Hollow. They're not pronounced to a degree that they truly impact his appearance, but rather appear to add accents in certain places. Some examples are a thin straight scar a couple inches long on his chest (from a Hollow spine through the chest), a small scar on his jawline (from a nastily broken jaw), and several others. Every scar tells a story, and Yamato can tell the story of every scar with equal detail. They are marks of his past, a past he bears with pride.
Yamato also has a tattoo on his back, clearly visible any time his upper body is naked. It is a mysterious symbol, a fluctuating circle with a depiction of his blade piercing the circle. It is unknown exactly what this symbol means, or why Yamato got the tattoo, as he frankly refuses to talk about it. There may come a time when he reveals the story, but for now, it remains a mystery....
PERSONEL FILES [/size][/color]
PERSONALITY[/size][/color]
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.
He has become distinctly more easygoing over the years, ironic considering his current position of power, but if pressed, the “old” Yamato shows his face, and when he does, it is generally extremely dangerous for the person who pushed him in that direction. As a seated Shinigami, he has a soft spot for underdogs, and tends to see the best in everyone, even those who might not otherwise get a chance, considering he was there once. He had pride in his division, but sees the Seireitei as one cohesive whole, and so does not seek to separate his division as harshly from the others as some choose to. His love for hunting Hollow and fighting has not disappeared even after his becoming a higher seat, and so he is somewhat notoriously known for “roughing it” with lower ranked Shinigami, never wanting to lose sight of the key tenets of his job.
His attitude toward bullies is one of the utmost contempt and even rage, because he was bullied for so long himself. He is very open about his disability, makes no attempt to hide it, and even tends to cite it as a source of inner strength. Though he is open about it, secretly he fears being disrespected the first time he tells any given person about the condition. It is certainly worth noting, however, that being a higher seated of the Gotei, ironically, gives him, in his own opinion, some degree of implicit respect from people that Yamato hesitates to give to others. This slight hypocrisy has landed him in hot water once or twice, but generally speaking, Yamato is comfortable with who he is.
Another perhaps unexpected aspect of Yamato is that he’s a notorious charmer and a rather shameless flirt. He always was an effective speaker, and carried a quiet charisma even as a human, and he realized after his death that there was something to be said for many different types of companionship that he hadn’t consciously avoided, but also never really embraced as a human. He is quite popular with the ladies of Seireitei, even more so because he is highly interested in many art forms, including music and poetry. Put that together with his moderate attractiveness, warm nature, and “bad boy” past, and you have a mystique that lends itself to admiration from the opposite sex.
Yamato enjoys flirting, and isn’t afraid of the occasional tryst, but is also incredibly careful to not break any hearts or step on any toes. He is a charmer, but not a shameless, inconsiderate one, and like everything else, he enjoys the benefits of that in distinct moderation.
BACKGROUND
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, where he graduated with a degree in literature, he found that the job search wasn’t going easily, and so he settled for a menial job as a security guard.
One night, there was a suspicious man in the hotel where Yamato was working, and he looked familiar somehow, but Yamato couldn’t place it. ‘Where the hell have I seen that guy before?’ It was when he pulled out the gun that Yamato recognized him. It was one of the men that had robbed his house and killed his family. In a rage, Yamato charged and tackled the man, sending the gun flying. Before he knew it, he was using all his strength to try and punish him. The man’s nose broke first, then his jaw. He was bleeding, groaning in pain, and Yamato simply glared maniacally into the man’s eyes, which were misted over with pain.
“How does it feel, you son of a bitch?! Did you torture them first? Did they beg for their lives? Was it fast? Did you do it slowly? ANSWER ME!” It was only when the man stopped struggling that Yamato realized that the man was unconscious, and that had likely been some seconds before. He stared at his hands, eyes wide and unfocused. Blood. So much blood. It was all red. And warm. Was it worth it? Was it worth releasing this animal inside? He collapsed against the wall, smashing his fists against the unforgiving stone, and screamed until he thought his vocal chords would shred. It was a primal scream of both agony and triumph, and he soon began laughing, a frightening, maniacal sound that didn’t cease until the police arrived.
The man wasn’t dead, and the police forgave Yamato’s brutality when the man freely admitted, after regaining consciousness, to murdering Yamato’s family. It was a truly blank admission, neither remorse nor joy adorning the man’s face. It took all Yamato’s resolve not to murder the man then and there, but he remembered the promise that he had made to himself, and stayed his hand.
Still, he couldn’t bear to keep working in that hotel, because all he could see was that robber, that filthy robber, coming up to the counter and pulling that gun. It was probably the same gun that bastard had killed them with. He quit the job with the blessings of his boss, and became little more than a hired thug, though he never descended too far into the darkness. He never took a job that he felt was unjust or unworthy, and never once killed anyone he was hired to rough up. At the same time, his soul was still troubled, and he found some sort of perverse solace in the job. The feel of a shattering nose underneath his fist somehow afforded him comfort, because he felt something in the world was somehow changing by his hand.
Frankly put, Yamato had precious few friends during his human life. He wasn’t anti-social per se, but he did tend to unintentionally intimidate people from afar, and because he often feared that being close to people would potentially bring them danger after the Hollow attack, he did very little to change this slightly imposing image that was placed on Yamato by those around him.
One of the close friends he did have as a human was a young woman named Elyse. Elyse was bright, warm, and open, the exact opposite of everything that Yamato had become. The pair of them grew ever closer, even attempting to date for a brief time, before Elyse gave Yamato a memento that he would hold for the rest of his days. The gift that she gave him was a chain, on the end of which was a small crescent moon crafted from metal. Elyse had given this to him on what would turn out to be his last (living) birthday, and what she had told him on the day that she gave him this present would stay with him forever.
“Never forget, Yamato, that you are never alone. As long as there are hearts for you to connect with, whether directly or from thousands of miles away, their strength can become yours. You can lean on the memories of them for support, even when they are seemingly gone. There is no such thing as fighting alone.”
From that day forth, Yamato always wore the chain around his neck, and the moon would end up resting just over his heart. The memento became more difficult to wear, however, after the events of a gray December night, slightly more than a month before Yamato’s next birthday. He went over to Elyse’s house to spend some time with her, but as soon as he got near her house and noticed front of the house smashed in, his heart sank. Rushing into the house as quickly as he could, he saw Elyse, laying in a pool of her own blood. He rushed to her side and noticed her eyes still moving, but glazed over. Squeezing his hand softly, she only managed a few dying words.
“It…it was a monster, Yamato. But…there are those who fight…aren’t there? Look to the moon and…think of me…” She died in Yamato’s arms, and in that moment, for only the second time in his life, the now hard-hearted man wept as though he were a child, his agonized screams piercing the freezing air. He knew, based on what she had said, the thing that had killed her was one of those monsters, one of those things that had permanently injured him.
Consumed by grief, he went to a bar the next night to drown his sorrows, 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.” Yamato would end up wearing the present that Elyse gave him until the day he died, and even after Yamato’s death, he remembered Elyse’s message, and has a penchant for moons in decoration. In fact, as soon as he became a member of the Gotei and had enough money to do so, he commissioned an artist in Rukongai to create a replica of the memento, which he wears around his neck even now.
After his death, Yamato trained in Rukongai, both in martial arts, and in finding new depths to his spiritual power. Those days were hard and lonely, scrounging through the filthy streets for food, as he had the hunger associated with his spiritual power. He began to fight somewhat mindlessly, even stooping so low as to mug people for food. Yamato was somewhat disgusted with himself, yet he ultimately saw the actions, detestable though they were, as a means to a greater end. And every person that he mugged always received an informal apology from Yamato in the form of a note with his initials that he would then shove in his target’s pockets.
Yamato continued to try finding a deeper understanding of the nature of reiatsu, and of the superhuman feats that were possible with a greater understanding of it. Furthermore, he made a close group of friends on the dusty streets of Rukongai.
Everything changed one day when he saw what looked like a rich noble walking through the streets of Rukongai. Yamato figured he’d be perceptive, and so told a friend to let him take care of the score. Flashing forward, he attempted to shove his hands in the man’s pockets, and was shocked when he felt the man’s hand grab his arm.
“Who are you?” He asked blankly. Yamato attempted to flash away quickly, giving his friend the nod of the head that was code for “abort mission and run for it”, and she flashed away as well. Both of their faces slackened in shock when the man flashed in front of them with blinding speed and calmly repeated his question.
“I believe I asked you who you are.”
“My name’s Yamato Takahashi.”
“I am Gen Sasaki, Liutenant of the 10th Division of the Gotei 13. I think the both of you should come with me.” He broke into an easy smile, and placed a firm hand on Yamato’s shoulder. “I think you should both enroll in the Shinigami Academy. Your mastery of your reiatsu is impressive. Come with me, and we’ll get started, even quicker than usual, under my recommendation.”
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 strong affinity for shunpo the likes of which had not been seen in generations, the large leaps with often very little time spent bearing weight between movements proving to work well for him. Furthermore, though he was unused to swordplay, he found that he was an absolute natural, and actually worked outside of classes in synergizing his swordplay and martial arts. Despite Yamato’s undeniable proficiency and considerable power for those in his level, he was shockingly denied a seated position because of his disability. Angered yet determined, Yamato hand fashioned a set of “battle gauntlets” through painstaking amateur blacksmithing and considerable elbow grease, in order to help brace his injured leg. He would frequently neglect his duties as an unseated squad member, going to the human world and acting as a freelance Hollow Hunter, using his battle gauntlets in conjunction with martial arts skills, as well as his stubbornly sealed Zanpakuto. Eventually, after years of hunting hollow, not caring about anything but the hunt and the quest for power to prove his naysayers wrong, he was advocated for by his old friend Gen Sasaki, then a Captain, and would have gained a seated position, but his Shikai still eluded him, and until he learned his sword’s name, there was no way he could be given such a position.
Captain Sasaki secretly gave Yamato a lesson in getting one’s sealed Zanpakuto to release, essentially teaching him the methods via one-on-one interaction. He continued training, even sparring with some Shinigami that the Captain who had taken Yamato under his wing decided to send his way, and his fighting style improved. More and more Yamato practiced the balance of sword combat and hand-to-hand combat, and it is a balance that he now has a masterful understanding of. His shunpo continued to improve, and any time the Captain saw Yamato, he would always remark on how impressive he found the younger man’s proficiency, especially considering his other limitations. Yet infuriatingly, he still could not release his blade.
Yamato actually also spent a lot of time interacting with humans via a gigai that the good Captain had given him. Since he was so fond of hunting Hollow on his own, an activity that his Captain secretly encouraged, the Captain gave him the gigai for ease of trips. As such, he developed an affinity for and fondness toward the human world that still has not disappeared, even today. He regards humans as being very much on the same level as Shinigami in a way, since he essentially sees every person as a potential future Shinigami. As with everything, Yamato sees the greatest possible potential in people, rather than what they might immediately showcase, having been there once himself.
One day, three huge Hollow threatened the tranquility of Karakura. It was shocking, because the Hollow themselves seemed to be incredibly powerful. Even more shocking, however, was the fact that no other Shinigami were dispatched to the town’s defense, leaving Yamato and only Yamato to take care of the problem. He got to the intruders as quickly as he possibly could, but not before he saw one of his human friends get eaten right in front of him. Consumed by rage and grief, Yamato charged, the three on one battle proving to be little more than a glorified execution. That was, until he heard the voice echoing inside him. It was his Zanpakuto, crying out to him for release.
In that moment, driven by rage, grief, the desire to protect the town, and obviously his will to survive, Yamato released Garoukiba for the first time, and found that the sword did wonders to further his quest in compensating for his limitations. After release, Yamato dispatched the three Huge Hollow with ease, and was soon greeted by his old friend Captain Sasaki, who seemed to be able to detect that Yamato had released. The Captain took Yamato back to Seireitei with him, officially granting him a seated position within the division.
At first, Yamato was scoffed at by many of the more senior members of the division, but that all quickly changed when he began to assert himself as one of the premier Hollow hunters within the division. Furthermore, he would semi-frequently get into fights with other squad members, but he never went any farther than was absolutely necessary, seeking to educate, humble, and very occasionally humiliate his naysayers rather than do them any legitimate harm.
“Shinigami need to stick together,” he had said to one of them, “but if you tell me how to do my job or try to teach me when you have no authority to, I will beat you down until you realize your place. I know my place. I am below the Captain, the Vice-Captain, all the other higher seated officers in every squad in this place. I humble myself before them. But I am not beneath the likes of you, and I won’t have you telling me otherwise, you got it?”
This fierce pride and desire to be among the best caught the eyes of Yamato’s superiors, and given his cautious methods during any altercations, he was rarely disciplined. No one understood Yamato better than his Captain, who always gave him understanding nods any time the two of them passed each other. The Captain understood the need for nipping prejudice and sometimes insubordination in the bud, and he also understood Yamato’s personal frustrations.
Yamato was also peculiar in that he was frequently heard speaking to his Zanpakutou, something quite unusual for someone of his age and abilities. The Captain remarked that “the bond you have with Garoukiba is perhaps unlike anything I have seen before. He tests you on a level I have never seen, never allowing you a scrap of his power before he is absolutely certain you are prepared to wield it. At the same time, he is fiercely protective and supportive of you, never letting you forget that you deserve to be where you are at any given moment. It’s truly spectacular.”
Over the years, Yamato steadily rose through the ranks of the squad, and was often hailed as a Shinigami with great potential for improvement, particularly given his strong work ethic and dedication to the work he had been chosen to undertake. He never lost that rogue spirit completely, often going out on his own to hunt any Hollow he could find for the thrill and experience, even if he was not ordered to do so. Luckily for Yamato, his Captain understood this urge, and thus never took any measures to stop him from hunting. The Captain even went so far as to encourage it, telling Yamato that he thought not enough Shinigami took Yamato’s never ending proactive attitude.
In an intense battle with an unknown opponent or opponents during the war, Yamato’s old friend the Captain was unexpectedly killed. Yamato was not promoted all the way to Captain or even Lieutenant, as he was thought to be far too emotionally compromised and was not yet at the level necessary to take the vacant position. He did, however, keep his previous position, and continues to dutifully serve the 10th Division.
Weapons and Character Abilities:
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