[hider=Cause it's a shounen I felt compelled to try] Name:Kaji Akeno Nicknames:Hare-Onna, Kaji's family Onna-Bugeisha Age:16 Gender:Female Rank:Investigator(rookie) Specializations: Single-Blade Combat(she is a novice, but talented), Psychological Warfare, Medicine Appearance: [url=https://safebooru.org/index.php?page=post&s=view&id=2828942][img]https://safebooru.org//samples/2714/sample_db18bb796bbb55008478c9e3bcdfa62898bcab55.jpg?2828942[/img][/url] Personality: Akeno is a whimsical free spirited woman with a keen inquisitive mind and inborn wisdom. She usually delights herself in the simple pleasures of life and is rather pragmatic and down to earth, if one would forgive her stubborn reluctance to fall in a predetermined role. She defends her stance in the Shinsengumi as one of an honour-bound oath, despite her more than obvious cynicism and rather rebellious views on anything that is not showing loyalty to comrades in arms. Biography: Akeno was born as the second child of a rather humble samurai, who through his sheer skill alone, rose to the rank of Tameshigiri, or sword tester at Edo. A precocious child, Akeno indulged in following her elders and seniors whenever she could, rather than playing with fellow children her age. Worringly, she had a rather curious fascination about her father's job, and a lack of aversion towards blood and flesh. To her, living beings were one of nature's most wondrous and fascinating masterworks, and she began to collect small creatures and remains, chiefly bones. For this reason, other kids mocked her as Hare-Onna. While she paid no heed to the infantile and superstitious drivel, she was coaxed and forced to stop such unbecoming behaviour as she blossomed, and instead was force-fed lessons of courtly decorum, domestic chores and management. While she performed decently enough, it was clear as a day that the lifestyle of a Samurai wife as the Tokugawa Shogunate understood it was sapping Akeno out of the will to live, and turning her into a monotone, witless drone. The deaths of both her own mother, trampled by a carriage, and her own eldest brother, dying to the infection of a wound sustained during a drunk brawl, shattered her family and household. Akeno had to grit her teeth and try to rein her depressed father, who began to neglect his training and health, and started to drink heavily. Akeno even took medical courses and lessons to avoid his decline at all costs. His ravages were so deep and self-destructive, that his sword arm was utterly destroyed and he shamed himself, committing seppuku not long afterward. Lacking a trusted friend to do the finishing blow, it rested on Akeno's hands to send him off. As she sent her father away with what little honour she could get, Akeno contemplated, puzzled her options, as the last member of a lower samurai household brought to ruin. Why would that old fool ask for her to take a blade? As she examined the sword, something gnawed at her mind. Furious, she executed several testing strikes on one of the bamboo dummies his father used to practice with. The truth was laid bare in her eyes. He had suspected it as well as she did. She had inherited her own father's sword hand, unlike that bumbling oaf of her brother. It made her both laugh and cry at the same time. What use was discovering this now? A letter came. Comrades in arms of her father had tried to reach him. They wanted him to join the Shinsengumi. He could no longer do it, nor would his son. As she grabbed the brush to write a reply... her eyes gravitated towards the sword once more. She would join their ranks instead of her late father. Fighting Style: Akeno uses the Water Nymph's Dance style of swordsmanship, a rather obscure and near-extinct school whose moves were designed for female warriors rather than male samurai. It is a style that exploits the higher flexibility, and lower centre of balance of a woman's body to hit the opponent with fluid, fast and precise movements and at the same time, perform an effective defense by evasion. However, this style lacks raw destructive power and it's a style designed to defend and destroy an opponent's will to fight rather than finish them off. It lacks killing edge, and Akeno must make ends meet by specifically targetting weak points. Preferred Weapon(s): Katana, Naginata, and Bow. [/hider]