[hider=Eyyy, it's Kei!] [CENTER][img]https://i.imgur.com/1xdQMXD.jpg [/img] Not those clothes though. Those clothes are weird.[/CENTER] [b]Name:[/b] Amano Keiji [b]Age:[/b] 22 [b]Gender:[/b] Male [b]Race:[/b] Oni [b]Personality:[/b] Impulsive, hedonistic, and aggressive, Keiji is about what you’d expect of an Oni. While occasionally a nice enough guy, and even pretty friendly to anyone who doesn’t piss him off, he’s the kind of person who will gladly rush headfirst into a bloodbath and start throwing punches, grinning and laughing like an idiot all the while. However, he does occasionally show an odd level of maturity and discipline, usually when it comes to certain Shinto traditions, or just when he decides he likes someone enough to help them. Another notable area of his personality is his attention span, which is rarely any longer than about a minute. Unless he finds whatever he’s doing particularly interesting, he is unlikely to care enough to actually learn it, which is probably the main contributing factor to his academic failures. [b]Background:[/b] Keiji, much to the regret of his relatively well-adjusted parents, has always been an unusually aggressive person, even as a young child. Yeah, he [i]could[/i] be friendly, but somehow even [i]that[/i] seemed kind of angry. In an attempt to give him a possible outlet for his energetic impulsive nature and love of fighting, they decided to let him take karate classes. Maybe, they thought, he’d be able to enter tournaments and vent his aggressive tendencies there. Unfortunately, if perhaps predictably, this flew right back in their faces, and while he [i]did[/i] learn the martial arts style significantly faster than he’d ever learnt anything else before, it was only a matter of time before it got mixed into his usual brawls, landing him in even [i]more[/i] trouble and laying the ground works for a terrible new hobby. Of course, his parents quickly realised their mistake and removed him from the class, but by that point it was too late. He’d realised martial arts was something he was actually [i]interested[/i] in, and from that day on he decided to put in the effort to learn it. Thanks to a keen attention to detail, Kei was able to figure out certain moves by watching them, eventually incorporating his own bastardised versions into the frankenstinian mishmash of styles he was slowly putting together. However, despite everything, he managed to avoid screwing up [i]too[/i] badly all the way through middle school. And then he started high school. For reasons that, being honest, he only [i]kind of[/i] cared about, the high school he went to had a far lower tolerance for his actions. The fact that he continually showed just how little regard he had for his performance at the school didn’t help, and before he knew it, he had been expelled. They tried another school, and he lasted about a month there too. And then it happened again. And again. And [i]again[/i]. After about a year of drifting between schools, he and his parents finally gave up. Not long afterwards, his frustrated parents realised that things were going nowhere, and kicked him out of the house. He didn’t resent his parents nearly as much as he expected to. He wasn’t really the kind of person who felt guilty very often, but even [i]he[/i] had to feel a little bad for everything he put them through, leaving without much of a fuss. For about a month, he traveled across japan, looking for somewhere he could settle down and try to make something of himself. Interestingly, it turned out that this would be in the last place he expected. One evening, Kei found himself exhausted and lost in the mountains, and upon realising how low the sun was getting, began to get nervous. Just as the sun began to fall behind the mountains around him, he came across a large Shinto shrine. In his exhaustion, he didn’t bother to check whether it was inhabited or not, and managed to force his way inside so he could sleep safely. The next morning, he woke up to a little girl kicking him in the spine. Now, Kei might’ve been a fairly aggressive person, but hitting kids was something he generally found pretty repulsive. By the fourth kick though, he was beginning to wonder if he should make an exception just this once. Thankfully, however, the shrines elderly priest arrived on the scene before he could dwell on the thought long enough to actually go through with it. The priest, who introduced himself as Hiroshige Daiji and the girl as his granddaughter, Airi, explained that though not abandoned, the shrine was still fairly isolated. The closest town was a good few hours away by bus, and they usually didn’t make the journey unless they were running low on food or other necessities. Having next to no money left since he started his journey, Kei begrudgingly decided to ask the man if he could stay at the shrine for a couple of days, just so he could gather his thoughts and prepare for the next leg of his journey. However, Daiji made the offer before he could even ask, having read his expression well enough to make the assumption. Over the next few days, Kei looked at the old map Daiji had given him, trying to figure out the quickest way to get to a proper city. However, as he planned, he began to feel a little guilty for leeching off the two without giving them anything in return. For this reason, the day before he would leave, he offered to help the two out with whatever they needed, be it shrine duties or just house work, and although Airi seemed to have decided he was bad news, Daiji gladly accepted the offer. Over the course of the day, he taught Kei as much as he could about life at the shrine and his duties as it’s priest and caretaker, and despite what he’d been expecting, Kei found himself getting kind of interesting. As the day reached its end, he thought to himself that the old priest had done so much for him, and he should probably stay to help the next day as well just so he wouldn’t feel too guilty. He made the same decision the next day. And then the day after that. And then the next day too. It was on the evening of the fifth day that Daiji asked if Kei just wanted to stay indefinitely, and funnily enough, it was only then that he realised he [i]did.[/i] That all of his justifications about staying and helping to repay his debt had just been excuses. With all this in mind, he accepted, having finally found something other than fighting that kept him interested enough to actually commit to. Over the next six years, Daiji and Airi became almost like a second family to Kei. Daiji, who essentially became a new grandfather to him, proved to be [i]surprisingly[/i] skilled at Kei’s two main hobbies of martial arts and drinking ridiculous amounts of alcohol, and regularly took part in the tasks as both an excellent sparring partner [i]and[/i] drinking buddy during their free time. Alongside this, he continued to teach Kei everything he could, both about Shinto as a whole and just general life skills like cooking and cleaning. He [i]did[/i] try to involve him in the homeschooling he did for Airi, but he quickly realised that was a dead end after the sixth time Kei fell asleep during their lessons. Still, he picked up on the shrine duties with surprising ease, quickly becoming a talented assistant to the aging priest. He even managed to get past Airi’s initial hatred of him, the pair eventually becoming as close as any real siblings. This mostly started due to her growing interest in his bastardised karate, which could hardly even be considered [i]karate[/i] at this point, when she saw him practising in the courtyard in front of the shrine itself. Eventually, this led to her asking him to teach her, which quickly became the basis of their bond. Everything was going well, and Daiji was beginning to entertain the thought of sending Kei to take the exam required to become a [i]real[/i] Shinto priest, maybe even seeing if he’d want to take over as priest of the shrine once he was too old to continue. However, that all changed one autumn afternoon, while Kei and Airi were taking a walk through the forest. Airi had wanted to show him some new weird looking tree she’d found recently, as her exploring took her ever further from the shrine. Kei, having learned long ago how unwise it was to let the twelve year old get bored, agreed, and set off with her on what he’d soon realise was their longest trek yet. He was even beginning to get flashbacks to the month he spent walking across the country for a few moments, before he saw something a couple of hundred metres ahead of them that made him freeze. Airi, who was still too short to see over the shrubbery blocking their path, didn’t notice anything was wrong until he grabbed her shoulder and she noticed his expression. A bear. A [i]huge[/i] bear. He’d heard they could get big, but holy shit, this was a bit overboard, right? All these thoughts were going through his head at once, until he was finally hit by one that was actually somewhat [i]helpful[/i]. He needed to get Airi out of there. Keeping his hand on her shoulder, he turned and led the girl back the way they had come. Already slightly shaken from the fear she saw in his face, Airi didn’t argue, they began to make their way back to the shrine as stealthily as they could. However, apparently fate [i]really[/i] wanted that bear to mess them up, because just as he began to think they might make it out of there in one piece, the wind changed direction, blowing their scent directly towards the bear. Although Kei didn’t notice this fact specifically, he did notice the bears roar, quickly followed by the sounds of heavy footfalls and smashing foliage that became rapidly louder. Realising that stealth wasn’t going to work anymore, the pair started to run. However, the rough, uneven terrain meant that his was no easy feat, and Kei realised that it would only be a matter of time before they were caught. And if he’d learned anything from eleven years of dealing with random thugs and idiots, it was that most tended to go for the weaker targets whenever possible. With that thought in mind, there really wasn’t any other course of action available, was there? And so he turned back and charged towards the bear, screaming at Airi not to stop until she made it back to the shrine. The bear reared up on its back legs for a moment, surprised at the prey that had randomly decided to change its tactics. Kei took advantage of this, landing a heavy kick on the bears leg. This did very little, of course, but the pain was apparently enough to keep its attention on him and off Airi. It responded by swinging a massive paw at him, which he barely managed to duck under before moving around to it’s back and jumping on, desperately clinging to the creatures fur as it bucked to try and shake him off. Thankfully, Kei was strong enough to keep his grip, and even managed to avoid the trees and rocks it began trying to crush him against. This continued for far longer than he should have been able to keep up, but he knew it had to end eventually, and the chances of him walking away when it did weren’t exactly high… Finally, after about ten minutes of struggling, the inevitable happened. The bear, in the process of trying to shake him off, had run to an even steeper area of the mountains than where they’d started, and in its frenzy, it reared on to it’s hind legs, preparing to try and crush Kei once and for all by falling on him. However, this tactic failed, as the rocks it stood on gave away beneath its weight, sending both man and beast tumbling down the mountain. By the time they reached the bottom, Kei decided with certainty that neither he nor the bear would be making it through this. Twisted, backwards limbs and horrific wounds covered both their bodies, and he couldn’t even [i]feel[/i] his legs anymore. Considering the way the bone stuck out of the left one though, that was probably a good thing… As blackness began to fill his vision, Amano Keiji thought about his family, both the old and the new. Ah, his parents had been planning to come and visit him too. It would be the first time they’d see each other since he left… And then Airi was about to start attending the middle school in town. He’d planned to scare off all the boys who approached her and everything! And then there was Daiji… He knew the old man was planning to see if he would take over the shrine when he couldn’t do it anymore. Now he’d probably have to try to convince Airi to do it, even though they’d both been pretty sure she didn’t want to… More importantly though, Kei just felt bad about leaving the man to drink alone again… Man, this really sucked… But… on the bright side… it [i]had[/i] been a pretty badass fight… [b]Gift:[/b] Ability – Probably something like Ki? Something that can make punching and kicking viable against swords and axes without being limited to throwing his newly dismembered limbs at enemies. [b]Quirks and Perks:[/b] [u]Keen Senses: Sight[/u] Kei has very good observational skills, allowing him to pick up on small details without too much extra effort. This lets him follow the flow of combat quite easily, predicting an opponent’s actions by observing the small movements or changes in their stance. [u]Uncanny Muscle Memory[/u] Kei, despite usually being quite adverse to learning, has an uncanny ability to remember how to move his body almost exactly the way he is first taught. This is the main reason he is so good at learning new fighting styles, as even though his mind may have trouble remembering, his body never will. [u]Alcoholic Enhancement[/u] There was a time during Kei’s original life where alcohol was a near constant presence, especially during his year of highschool and subsequent month of wandering Japan. Despite some initial incoordination, he still continued to develop his fighting style, eventually getting used to fighting while drunk to the point where he might actually be [i]better[/i] while under the influence! Whether this is due to the unpredictable ‘drunken boxing’ aspect or the relative lack of pain that comes from heavy inebriation however, he can’t really say. [u]Enhanced Agility[/u] As anyone who fights often would tell you, it’s better to avoid an attack all together than to try and deflect it. Kei is no different, and has made great efforts to train himself to do it on reflex, along with counter attacking immediately afterwards. [u]Shinto/Yokai knowledge[/u] While it may not come up very often, the six years Kei spent under Daiji’s tutelage have left him with quite a bit or knowledge related to the Shinto faith and other aspects of Japanese mythology. One thing that Kei found particularly interesting was the subject of Yokai, and he found learning about each specific yokai’s intricacies [i]way[/i] more interesting that anything he’d ever had to learn during his school years. [b]Equipment:[/b] Nothing right now. [/hider]