Theme Song: Lindsey Stirling // Song of the Caged Bird
Yue wears the standard Onmitsukidō Commander uniform – the upper part of the Shikahusho is sleeveless and completely backless, preventing the uniform from being torn into bits while using Shunko. The lower part of the uniform is also different, the pants being tighter and dark material is wrapped below the knee till her ankle, preventing mishaps with clothes and allowing a greater range of movement. The entire uniform is held together by a blue and white obi that starts 2-3 inches below her chest and ends at the very top of her hips. All this is always covered by her haori, reaching a little bit above her ankles and reddish-purple on the underside. Her haori sleeves are overly-long, extending a few centimeters from her fingertips which hide heavy weights and instead of waraji, she wears black flats with ordinary white socks.
Yue has a generally short and very slender build and while she has prominent feminine curves, they’re always hidden underneath her clothing, which outside of duty is traditional as per the Yukihiro’s expectations. Unlike the Yukihiro’s usual grey or light blue eyes, Yue’s eyes are a light yet bright blue-green which could accurately be described as mint, outlined by a darker ring on the outside.
【
Full Name】
Sakurai, Miyuki
【
Alias】
Yukihiro, Yue
(pronounced Yuu-eh)
【
Gender】
Female
【
Age Appearance】
17 -- Actual age: 227
【
Sexuality】
Heterosexual
【
Division】
Second
【
Rank】
Captain
Onmitsukidō Captain-Commander
【
Personality】
Most people would describe Yue as calm, gentle and tranquil. She almost never loses her temper, and it is equally hard to anger her, Yue being something like the calm before the storm that never comes, always gentle and always graceful. She tends to go with the flow, appearing laid-back and relaxed to most. To people she knows well, she's sweet and submissive, the type that'll grudgingly do what you ask. Constantly cheery and smiling, she becomes more open and playful, to a certain extent, solely depending on the person. In spite of her gentle nature, she's a strict follower of rules and will kill in cold blood if required, although she would much rather sit on the sidelines and observe her opponents in battle.
While she hates liars and can spot them a mile away, Yue happens to be the best liar, something she detests about herself. She avoids sharing anything personal about herself; whenever the conversation takes an uncomfortable turn for her, Yue can smoothly lie her entire way through it, consistent with all her previous lies making it nearly impossible to catch her in the act. That's one of her strange quirks that she keeps hidden at all costs: she's a pathological liar, easily being able to make believable (and sometimes far-fetched) lies under pressure, on the spot without batting an eye.
Unfortunately, Yue gets stressed easily and she tries to counter this with more training, despite the obvious fact that it only makes it worse. Of course, she hides it well but as it only adds to the stress, it accumulates to the point where she nearly has a mental breakdown. Apart from this stress, she has an iron will and will continue on with determination to the best of her abilities.
In battle, she's completely different. Yue doesn't exactly lose her cool as she's still as tranquil as ever but, underneath the gentle gaze, she focuses extraordinarily hard onto her opponent, almost instantly pin-pointing their weakness and possible openings, working her way around it and never losing focus. She's known for her strong, energetic fighting spirit despite her general dislike for battle.
【
History】
Like most other souls, Yue doesn't remember much of her previous life in the Human World. When she concentrates and enters a meditative state, she can make out vague and blurry images that seem to be in chronological order but have large gaps between them. The one image that dominates is one of shabby beds, peeling paint and a floor covered by cracked tiles.
Yue 'woke up' as a nameless soul in Rukongai's 74th East District, which was overridden with crime. She remembers next to nothing for the first ~100 years of her life except that for a while, she struggled to survive by herself, resorting to theft. But that wasn't enough, for she was always hungry, unlike other souls. A year later at the height of one of the coldest Rukongai winters, barely any warm clothes, Yue was on the brink of death when a kind woman in her mid-thirties took her in. She lived in the 67th North District and was a herbalist who was passing through Yue's district to get to one of her patients. She nursed Yue back to health and took her in.
This is the point where Yue's memories start to fade, most of the details blurring into each other. Several decades are a complete blank, as she cannot sort through the assorted memories and only a few, key moments of her life remain in chronological order.
Hayano, Yue and the other four kids that Hayano had taken in lived happily for a while, but after a while things started to fall apart. Yue dutifully ignored it, instead trying to keep up the illusion of a perfect home but one day, when Hayano came back home with beer bottle and missing most of her clothes, things really started to go wrong. One night, Hayano came home with a large man following her, who proceeded to beat her to death along with the other three kids. The fourth one was dragged away and never came back and Yue, overlooked for a mere second, escaped.
The man that had taken one of the children came back for her and told her he'd take her to a nicer place. Yue believed and though she can't remember all that much, she has never, ever spoken of it again. She escaped within an inch of her life and took to the streets, refusing to trust blindly again.
She ran and ran, for days, barely stopping for a rest. She reached the 76th North District and settled in one of the friendlier slums. Over time, she self-taught herself the art of Hakuda to a small extent by watching the Shinigami who were supposed to be patrolling the area.
Yue lived like that for a while, stealing and occasionally killing. At one point, she dared to venture back to Rukongai's 1st District and as she walked through the marketplace in a delicate silken kimono that was slightly too big for her, she ran into a rather large procession that she'd never seen before. Before she could skitter away, one of the men at the side of the procession grabbed Yue by the collar of her kimono and forced her to bow down in apology to the family of nobles that were in the center but another stronger hand pulled her up. Yue came face-to-face with the assistant of the head of the Yukihiro family.
The Yukihiro family was extremely well-known for producing some of the best fighters in the Gotei 13 and was one of the four noble families, the smallest yet dealing with Soul Society's militaristic tactics. That's why it came off as a shock to the rest of the noble families and even to the residents of Rukongai when they decided to adopt the young girl that they had apparently simply stumbled upon. However, their intentions were made perfectly clear as the girl emerged as a good Hakuda fighter that had the potential to become a legend. Having only been taken in at the age of 185, Yue finally gained a bit of self-confidence, not only for her intelligence and natural talent for Hakuda but also for being such a quick learner, having achieved the rank of Captain in the shortest span of time later on.
Yue herself doesn't remember much of her past life prior to training intensely in the Yukihiro house's dojo. The family head, Yukihiro Isao, gave her a new name in symbolism of her leaving behind her past and becoming something greater, something with a purpose. Isao gave her the name 'Yue', which was Chinese for 'moon' but Yue quickly caught the underlying meaning, 'tragic accident'. However, she did not protest, accepting her new identity and conforming her ways to fit the life of a noble. Sakurai Miyuki was gone, replaced by Yukihiro Yue.
Against both the head's wishes, she joined the Academy and graduated a year ahead of her class, having the highest score in her year and the best at Hakuda. During those years, she had no problems with Kido or Hoho but Zanjutsu was a whole other story. She was forced to drop Hoho training as she was already acceptable at it and take up Zanjutsu to make up for her obvious lack of skill. When the time came to take her Zanjutsu exam, Yue barely scraped by. Soon after, she dropped it completely seeing as she had little to no skill for Zanjutsu.
Much to her family's disappointment, when she was first placed in the Fourth Division and although she quickly picked up Healing Kido with little to no problems, she was forced to transfer to the Second Division where she steadily moved up in rank. Unlike the Fourth where she was estranged and felt exceedingly lonely, the Second had accepted her as one of their own soon after she joined and proved herself to be one of the best assassins due to her small stature and silent movements.
Amidst the endless turmoil in her life, Yue continued on with training and pushing herself to train on borderline torturous levels. She improved dramatically and even managed to master her Shikai, despite her not getting along with her Zanpakuto spirit. She quickly went from a 12th seat to Lieutenant and remained as one for several decades, working closely with her Captain in harmony.
Her first breakdown came in the form of a marriage proposal from the son of another noble house. Yue immediately refused, seeing as how she was so focused on her work in the Gotei 13 and would barely have time to be a wife to someone she didn't even know. Isao came up with a quick solution: leave her position and stay at home, full time and raise a family with the Ichigawa family's youngest son, Ryuusei. Yue politely declined, but needless to say, Isao and his wife were absolutely furious with Yue's decision (not that she had one in the first place). After years of fighting, arguing and negotiation, just as Yue was promoted she agreed to get engaged to Ryuusei under the condition that they wait at least 200 years before getting married. Isao agreed and promptly conducted the ceremony, formally engaging Ryuusei and Yue.
Apart from that 'minor setback', as Yue dubs it, she was finally promoted to Captain after unlocking her Bankai and headed the Second Division that was merged with the Onmitsukido, after defeating the aging Captain. Yue quickly took charge of her Division, frightening most of them with the promise of the same harsh punishments under her soft smile. Since she herself could never bring herself to inflict anything of that sort to anybody working under her, Yue had to resort a misleading bi-polar persona to get her Division in line, to a certain extent. As of recent times, Yue has become stricter and is less forgiving towards her Division; while she doesn't rule with an iron fist, she isn't as lenient as she appears to be.
【
Equipment】
Heavy weights around her wrists and ankles, covered by overlong sleeves and bandages on her legs that serve to help her speed up her movements in Hakuda when off. Underneath her deceptive gloves hides thin, hard padding that goes up the length of her arms and legs to minimize damage from deflecting bladed weapons. There’s really no knowing what she hides underneath her sleeves and the rest of her uniform as she has been witnessed to pull out deadly weapons and other objects in a fraction of a second from seemingly nowhere. Yue also carries around a notebook and a pen, just in case.
【
Zankensoki, Reiatsu and other Talents】
Vast Reiryoku: Yue's Reiryoku is appropriately large enough for her position and she can go on for hours without seeming to tire. She uses this to her advantage, to terrify her opponent, weakening their will and confidence. Surprisingly, her Reiryoku's temperature is extremely cold, on par with an Ice-based Zanpakuto and lowers the temperature of her surroundings if exposed for extended periods of time. While having a soothing effect most of the time, it does emit random sparks and charges from time to time.
Impressive Reiatsu: Yue's Reiatsu is stifling enough for it to be impossible for her Division members to be around her for more than a few minutes, instead getting overwhelmed by the crushing force. In turn, Yue has learned to suppress it and usually keeps it at an almost-bearable level. She's capable of suppressing it to nothing for extended periods of time, rendering her completely undetectable. Just like her Reiryoku, it is extremely cold and most of the time well below freezing point. It has a very dense appearance but fluctuates most of the time. It is colored a soft lavender-blue.
Incredible Kido Power: Yue's spells almost never fail thanks to her high Kido power, increasing her control over the spells' power to a point where she can fire quick barrages of Hado at every nearly every angle without an incantation. She can also combine two or three spells together and fire them back-to-back, confusing her opponent and increasing their overall efficiency.
Yet to Learn Zanjutsu: There is a reason why Yue's released Zanpakuto isn't a sword of any kind: she completely and utterly fails at it to a point where she refuses to even take out her katana(s) to fight. During her time in the Academy, she managed to grasp the very basics of Zanjutsu although even an unseated officer could take her down in a matter of seconds.
Poor Offense: No skill there, she doesn't even know how to hold a katana properly.
Poor Defense: Absolutely abysmal.
Poor Physical Strength: 'Poor' is an overestimation.
Hakuda Legend: Yue has trained extensively and tirelessly in Hakuda, almost devoting her entire existence as a Shinigami to this skill. While her strength isn't the greatest, she strikes with such precision, force and speed that almost no one in Seireitei can match, even being able to go on for hours with different tactics without tiring. She doesn't hesitate to use questionable methods to down her opponents and most of her moves are so unexpected that they can catch even the most observant person off guard. This is the first thing that Yue uses in combat, preferring Hakuda over anything else.
Legendary Offense: Yue is perhaps best known for her ferocious attacks; the sheer power behind every attack she makes is astounding and even with minimal physical force, she can simply use momentum and her opponent's weight against them, landing devastating attacks that are known to kill or cause heavy internal and external bleeding in the least.
Impressive Defense: While she is a master at offense, defense isn't her forte, despite being well-versed in it. She’d have completely disregarded it if she hadn’t been taught by one of the best, making her appreciate its usefulness in combat. There are various techniques she uses to deflect and defend herself but that’s usually to give herself an opening to attack.
Average Physical Strength: While significantly stronger than your usual soul, Yue’s focus isn’t on strength but momentum and weaknesses.
Kido Master: Along with her Incredible Kido power, Yue is a proficient Kido user, even being able to use it alongside Hakuda. Since it is something she did not abandon after graduating from the Academy, she has a large amount of knowledge in the different spells, although her personal preference is Bakudo which, to her, are far easier to execute. She can use most spells without incantation but higher-level spells require her to use the incantation and can easily use them in mid-battle with devastating effects, apart from when using a spell above her ~#80 Hado limit and it blows right back in her face.
Unremarkable Knowledge: Having been born in Rukongai's slums and living there most of her life, she hasn't had the opportunity to learn much, even after being adopted into the Yukihiro family. After graduating, most of her time has been spent training and she doesn't have the time to access any other information apart from figuring it out on her own through observation.
Legendary Intelligence: Even though she might not know as much as the other Captains and Lieutenants, Yue has shown the ability to absorb information and store it away; being a naturally observant person, not a single detail gets by her and she uses every bit of this to her advantage, even in combat as she deducts and breaks down every mover her opponent makes in a matter of seconds while still not losing focus. One of her strengths is her ability to use her mind and her sharp memory for anything and she enjoys it immensely; being a strategist and a tactician is what she's comfortable with doing, analyzing and breaking down every component of her problem.
Hoho Grandmaster: While she’s one of the best at Hoho from a century of hard work, training and perseverance, Yue doesn’t utilize it much outside battle. In battle, however, Yue is deadly fast and strikes when and where you would least expect it. She’s extremely elusive and uses it to her full advantage, utilizing advanced and complex techniques, ones she’s mostly created herself or heavily modified. She’s currently in the early stages of developing another Hoho technique, the hardest she’s ever done, using afterimages.
Legendary Mobility: Yue is one of the most extremely flexible and agile Shinigami, from more than a hundred years of Hakuda training and possesses some of the swiftest reflexes. Being so elusive, she is a pain to catch and hit. She often contorts her body in strange ways during combat, landing surprise attacks onto her opponents and dodges most attacks, from Kido to Zanjutsu by simply using her natural agility and out-maneuvering even the most complicated of attacks. To make up for her lack of skill in Shunpo, her natural speed is very fast (think Kenpachi's running), along with her reflexes.
【
Techniques】
Shunkō:A unique technique that Yue created herself, combining both Kido and Hakuda by channeling high-level Kido throughout her body. Shunkō is a very advanced technique, which is why Yue cannot hold it steady for long; she's still working out the kinks as it tends to powerfully explode outwards dealing severe damage to her surroundings. Though controlling it is still an issue she faces, it is still quite effective in battle. Yue is still constantly training in it and working to improve the overall technique.
Mirrored Mirage:A technique Yue is in the middle of creating, one that allows the use of ‘afterimages’ created by using high speed and taking other factors into consideration, creating several of mirror images placed at certain spots, confusing the target. Currently, the images are at around 15% opacity, a percentage Yue doesn’t like and is trying to heighten and when more than 5 after images are created, they fade 2-3 seconds later.
【
Zanpakutō】
Zanpakutō Name: Seion no Arashi (Storm of Serenity ° 静穏の嵐)
Zanpakuto Type: Elemental - Storm/Lightning
Sealed Zanpakutō Appearance: While Seion no Arashi technically takes takes the form of two identical wakizashi's, their hilts resemble that of a katana. She doesn't keep them in a particular place - sometimes in her obi at her right hand side, or on her back held with a thin black sash. The guards are shaped as a six-petaled lotus and the hilts are a mint color. Just like their human counterparts, they can merge together at will though it rarely happens.
Inner World: Yue's inner world is always bathed in a silvery glow that seems to come from within the walls and ground itself. The castle that stands upon the steep hill overlooking a void is completely made of dark, almost opaque glass. The top of this glass castle is enveloped by what seems to be a developing maelstrom whose size seems to depend. But the most remarkable thing about it is that it is always upside down (or at a steep tilt angle) although Yue and Seion no Arashi have no problems navigating as gravity doesn't seem to hold any significance in here.
Zanpakuto Spirit: Seion no Arashi can split into two beings and merge at will. Both of them haven't shown her their true appearance, instead choosing to appear as two completely normal humans dressed in finely made, dark robes. When they merge together and show their true form, Seion no Arashi appears as a shadowy man that Yue hasn't seen the full form and his features, only his upper body with vague facial features. He is completely cloaked in heavy, dark robes that have a shadowy quality to them.
Shikai:When Yue draws them out and speaks the command, crosses the swords backwards and slides them off each other, Seion no Arashi releases itself, in a blinding flash of light, into two vicious claws that are permanently attached to her hands and arms until Yue seals them again, coupled with a heavy but brief surge of her reiatsu. When it strikes a target, it automatically releases a charge and although Yue can regulate this to an extent, it tends to be tiring.
Seion no Arashi takes on the basic form of this, with the sides of this overlapping the sides. It conforms well around her hands and is colored pitch black, apart from the thin, light blue veins of electricity.
Release Command:[i] Ten O Tsunzaku (Split the Heavens, Seion no Arashi! ° 天 を分割し 静穏の嵐!)
Shikai Abilities:
[i]Deaden Nerves (Shinkei O Shimetsu Sa Seru 。神経を死滅させる): Releases a charge that, upon contact, delivers a current that temporarily kills off the target's nerves, numbing them to a degree where they can't tell where their limbs are. The amount of time an opponent is affected by the numbness depends, ranging from about a minute to 10-20 seconds. This charge can also be pumped out in massive amounts to create a numbing wall.
Evocation (Shōkon 。招魂): Calls down a massive sweep of lightning in a sort of small-scale storm confined to a certain area. This can be focused towards the foe or directed towards the surroundings. Since it is essentially conjured lightning, it is very fast and extremely hot but just slightly below natural lightning. Yue can conduct it down her own body, dramatically increasing her speed for 10-15 seconds. During this, her mobility and Kido power decreases. Self-conduction cannot be used more than once per 30 seconds.
Bankai Bankai Name: Tsuiraku Ōarashi no Senmō (Falling Tempest of Delirium ° 墜落 大嵐 の 譫妄)
Bankai Appearance: As Yue calls out its name and it starts releasing itself into its Bankai form, Yue's reiatsu surges heavily, fluctuating and becoming even more stifling. Tsuiraku Ōarashi no Senmō takes a different form, absorbing the Shikai form and compressing it into the gauntlets that appear and conform around her arms, constantly emitting a visible and powerful electric current surrounding her, similar in appearance to Flash Cry. These hard, dark gauntlets cover her arms to minimize damage from her Bankai and outside sources. These gauntlets also allow the charging aspect of her Bankai; they amplify the power in exchange for Yue infusing her Reiryoku into the gauntlets and they release the moment Yue stops charging. Upon releasing her Bankai, it seems to have influence over the weather, clouding up and darkening the skies along with a significant temperature drop.
Bankai Abilities:Trance of the Delirious (Senmō No Kōkotsu Jōtai 。せん妄の恍惚状態): Upon contact, Tsuiraku Ōarashi no Senmō releases a special charge that over the course of around 2-3 minutes, numbs the brain into a blissful trance, rendering the opponent unwilling to fight. This is because during that trance, the target believes that everything is so right and perfect that there is no reason to fight, followed by slight confusion. Apart from necessary contact and the fact that it takes a bit of time, there is another drawback: it has a mirroring effect on Yue, albeit weaker - at best, she'll get briefly confused and lose focus.
Dance of the Afflicted Tempest (Hisai Ōarashi No Mai 。被災大嵐の舞): Basically a very powered-up version of Evocation. Splits the sky apart and summons an actual, powerful thunderstorm (supercell), affecting the entire general area and wreaking havoc. Indoors, it is obviously less effective, but still only slightly as the clouds and sky don't seem necessary - only a thin cloud cover is summoned. Gale-like winds pick up, along with heavy pelting rain that lowers visibility by a significant amount. All this essentially hinders Yue's opponent(s) and allies (even herself to an extent).
Yue can call down massive bolts of lightning powerful to vaporize matter and can, again, either focus them all down into a specific spot or fire them down in her surroundings, a bit like rain, or manipulate the lingering bolts into various powerful attacks. After the initial cost of Reiryoku in summoning the storm, it rages on until she dismisses it but it slowly drains her Reiryoku. There are three specific techniques:
Shockwave (Shōgekiha 。衝撃波): This ability can be charged or not - it can also use the pre-existing lightning or generate its own current. When Yue charges Tsuiraku Ōarashi no Senmō for up to 20 seconds, it releases a built-up wave of electricity that heavily damages anything in its path in a 240-degree arced wave. The power of the wave varies. If she charges for 15 seconds, it would have devastating effects but if for 8, moderate damage. If she charges for 3-5 seconds, it will have a simple knock-back effect.
Deaden Nerves: Chaotic Surge (Shinkei O Shimetsu Sa Seru: Kaosu-teki Kyūzō 。神経を死滅させる: カオス的急増): Like Dance of the Afflicted Tempest, Chaotic Surge is essentially a very powered-up version of Deaden Nerves where instead of just numbing, it completely paralyses the opponent upon contact with the current released; anyone below Yue's power level remain paralyzed for 1-2 minutes. For those higher, it paralyzes for around 20-30 seconds, depending entirely on her opponent. It also takes a few seconds to build up the charge.
Holy Path (Seinaru Pasu 。聖なるパス): Yue can conduct one of these bolts down herself, increasing her speed (not Shunpo - natural speed) up to par with the speed of lightning itself. This is so extremely painful that it can quite possibly torture Yue into a state of shock but the real problem is the damage it causes her body the longer she uses it.
