Yukiko Kazan

[Yukiko]

Yukiko

Basic Info

Birth name: Yukiko Kazan
Age & date of birth:28 years old; December 19th 404A.W.
Gender: Female
Bending Element: Fire
Bending/Non-Bending Level; Intermediate
Alias: Kano or Obsidian Blade

Appearance

Hair color: Black
Eye color: Hazel
Height: 5’10”
Weight: 175 lbs.
Appearance: Yukiko is tall for a woman, standing at roughly 5’10”. Her skin is alabaster-pale and criss-crossed with barely visible scars. Her most prominent scar runs from just below her breasts to her belly button, splitting her stomach almost evenly in half. She received it while trying to tame her eel hound Hotaka (meaning “step by step”).
Her hair is slightly wavy and falls to her shoulders with short bangs above her eyes. She tends to keep it pulled back in a loose ponytail, allowing random strands to fall carelessly around her face. It is black in color, though when the light hits it just so it has a bluish sheen. She has almond-shaped hazel eyes with flecks of gold near the pupils.
She has a slender build and looks delicate, as if just touching her could shatter her. This couldn’t be further from the truth. She is all wiry muscle with a feline agility and speed to complement her strength. Her years wielding a sword and sparring with her cousins and brothers built her into a compact and powerful individual. She has two tattoos, one on her back and another on her right shoulder. The back tattoo is of the four elements contained within a yin-yang, while the other is of koi fish and flowers.
Her daily outfit consists of semi-fitted pants with a matching shirt. The shirt is sleeveless and backless to showcase her two tattoos and an armlet on her upper left arm. She owns several pairs, all in varying shades of blue or red. When she attended more formal occasions, she wore a golden kimono with the four elements dyed into the lower half and on her sleeves. She still owns this kimono, as it holds some sentimental value. She also wears a silver-chain yin yang necklace and matching armlet. They are family heirlooms and were her mother’s last gift to her. While meeting with clients, Yukiko wears a simple black and green cloak with the hood up to conceal her identity.
Yukiko usually carries a gnarled staff with her unless meeting with a client or on assignment. It stands to her shoulders and conceals her sword’s sheathe. The sword is roughly ¾ the length of the staff and is capped by the topknot. The symbols of the four elements run the length of the staff. The yin yang is etched into the sword's blade; the yin is blue while the yang is red.
Pendant:
Armlet: Pretend it matches.

Traits

Likes:

• Her family. Though most of her family is dead, she is still deeply devoted to them.
  
• Her eel hound Hotaka, who she considers her closest and only friend.
  
• Tea of all kinds, though her favorite is Oolong.
  
• Swordplay, whether in a fight or just friendly sparring. She has said that she only feels truly alive when her blade is in her hand.
  
• Tattoos. She is fascinated by them, though she doesn’t know why.
  
• Traveling the world. Before the nations began to break down and dissolve, Yukiko often traveled from one location to another and learning whatever she could while there.
  

Dislikes:

• Arrogance. She delights in cutting arrogant people down to size with a few words or a small action.
  
• Being interrupted in the middle of a task, forcing her to leave it unfinished. People who interrupt her once tend to never do so again to avoid the painful death she promises them.
  
• Her mercenary work. This may seem odd, but it’s true. She only does it because she is good at it and it pays very well.
  
• Failure. To be successful in every endeavor was the mantra drilled into her since her youth.
  
• Being underestimated.
  

Overall Personality: Composed and proud, yet compassionate and earnest. This is how Yukiko has behaved most of her life. In her childhood and teen years, she put others at ease with soft-spoken words and a relaxed stance. She sees arguing as largely pointless and strives to avoid it. That’s not to say she doesn’t have a temper. When things do manage to irritate her, she has two responses: scathing sarcasm or icy dismissal. If it comes to a challenge she will fight, even if she knows she’ll lose.
Despite her ease with people, Yukiko finds it difficult to trust others. She holds a deep devotion and love for her family, but she never truly trusted them. She can honestly say that no one knows much about her thoughts. However, she still maintains a somewhat friendly countenance simply because she is a naturally kind individual. However, she learned in her youth to utterly suppress that side of herself in an instant. It is just way to ensure her survival.
She is also very scholar-minded. She loves to learn about other cultures’ histories and customs. This was instilled in her by her mother as another survival technique. However, it blossomed under her father’s guidance as a genuine interest in things that were different from her own life.

History Info

Home Country: Fire Nation
Siblings: 4 deceased older brothers (Arashi, Raiden, Kishi, Hikaru), 1 living older brother Genji (whereabouts currently unknown)
History: About 70 years ago, Yukiko’s father Ken was born in the Fire Nation capitol. His father Tatsuya was the head of the moderately wealthy Kazan family. Ken was the youngest son. In his youth, Ken sought to make a name for himself. His family was full of master swordsmen but few firebenders. Ken, however, had a gift for it. He devoted his energy to perfecting his bending form. When he was 17, he joined the Fire Nation Army. At the time, he believed it was the best path to glory. He would make a difference in the Earth Kingdom civil wars, he vowed. But after his first real battle, Ken decided that this kind of fighting wasn’t for him. Yet he felt he had already come too far to just leave. So he remained. And despite his talent, his military record remained unremarkable. He refused to do more than was absolutely necessary to win. By the time he captured Kasumi, he had been delegated to infrequent patrolling.
Mizutani Kasumi was originally from the Northern Water Tribe. Though her waterbending was mediocre, Kasumi wished to fight alongside her brethren. Tradition, however, dictated that she be a healer instead. Frustrated with this, she left at 16 to travel the world. Kasumi eventually joined a small group of vigilantes known as the Shadows of the Earth in the Earth Kingdom. The Shadows were part of what would become the Si Wong Desert raiders. They found she had a knack for stealth and tracking. Eager for acceptance, she honed her raw talents. She also delved into the art of poisons. The subtle nuances intrigued her and she studied avidly. Kasumi stayed with the Shadows for several years, gradually becoming known as Death’s Shadow. She was forced to leave them when a Fire Nation platoon — Ken’s platoon — ambushed the group during one of its raids. She caught a brief glimpse of Ken, but quickly pushed him from her mind. Afterwards, she journeyed through the Earth Kingdom, using what she had learned to stay alive. As she traveled, she came across Ken’s platoon again. She handed herself over to them, expressing a desire to join the Fire Nation. She had grown weary of what was, to her, a losing battle. Of course, she never admitted that one Kazan Ken also intrigued her. Kasumi was taken to the Fire Nation for interrogation. She revealed that she was the assassin known as Death’s Shadow and offered her services to the Fire Nation. The Fire Lord agreed to give her an assignment to prove herself. She was ordered to assassinate a traitor of the Fire Nation located in the Northern Air Empire. After several months, she returned to the Fire capital with the traitor’s body. Impressed with her methods, the Fire Lord accepted her into the Nation. From then on, she has worked as an assassin for them. A year later, she ran into Ken while he was on leave. They spent most of his leave together.
When he next returned, Ken secured a position as a guard in the capitol. Once he had settled into the new routine, he proposed to Kasumi. At the age of 26 and 23, respectively, Kasumi and Ken were married. The wedding was a small family affair.
Yukiko is the youngest of Kasumi and Ken’s six children. She is also their only daughter. As a child, she preferred to spend her time alone. Her parents often pushed her into play dates, hoping she would come out of her shell. She endured these attempts, not wishing to upset them. Keeping with this desire, she was polite to her playmates. She treated them fairly, but considered none as friends. She rarely argued with anyone, but never backed down from a challenge. Eventually her parents abandoned the attempts. Instead, they gave her a pet eel hound on her seventh birthday. They hoped that it, at least, would be something to keep her from becoming a total hermit. She was fascinated by the creature and worked to tame it. This proved difficult, resulting in a nearly fatal cut in her abdomen when she was eight. However, she refused to let her family get rid of the hound and she was eventually rewarded with its obedience by the time she was 13.
Of the six children, only Yukiko exhibited firebending skills. They first manifested when she was four. Her father was practicing while his family watched. Yukiko had squirmed away from her mother’s hold, but Kasumi had not thought to grab her back. So no one immediately noticed Yukiko toddling towards her father. It wasn’t until Ken unleashed a powerful blast that any realized she was there. But the flames didn’t engulf Yukiko. Instead they followed the path her arm made, curving up and to her right. Her family watched in shock as a giggling Yukiko manipulated her father’s fire before extinguishing it. Despite his own feelings and with at his wife’s insistence, Ken began her training within the year. He hired tutors and trained with her in his spare time. Yukiko eagerly worked through the basics. By her 10th birthday, she was competent enough to begin training at the intermediary stage. Her improvement slowed from there, but that never bothered Yukiko. She was determined to perfect her bending. She hoped to one day join the Imperial Army, like her father and brothers.
Yukiko and her brothers were trained extensively with swords and in hand-to-hand combat. Kazan tradition stated that the child who would be a Kazan sword master must forge and etch his/her own blade on his/her eighth birthday. Her brothers had all gone through this rite; so would she. Their blades were unremarkable and bore war-related etchings. But due to a peculiar mix of metals and a slight miscalculation in heat, Yukiko’s blade turned jet-black. Ken suggested forging a new one.
Why? There’s nothing wrong with it. It’s as sharp and hard as any other. Besides, no one will ever have a sword quite like mine. ... This blade is unique, Father. It’s an extension of me. I will wield no other. As it was meant to be.
~ Yukiko to Ken ~
For her etchings, Yukiko chose the blade’s name and the yin yang. As she etched, she was surprised to see the halves change from the traditional black/white to an ocean blue/fire red. On the other side was the name: Kano (means one’s masculine power/capability). Though her focus was ever on her bending, Yukiko didn’t slack with her swordplay. She trained most days for at least two hours with her brothers while Ken watched. It was time she cherished. Later, she trained with her cousins as a distraction. As a result, she is nearly as proficient with swords as she is with bending.
Kasumi also instructed Yukiko in the art of poisons and antidotes. She saw in her daughter many of the qualities that had made Kasumi so naturally suited to assassination. And since Kasumi was already on the verge of retirement, she felt that her daughter should one day replace her in the Fire Lord’s group of assassins.
Shortly after her tenth birthday, her mother was killed while on her final mission. Within the space of a year, she lost her four oldest brothers and her father to battle and disease. Genji was her only surviving brother. He was six years older and the youngest of her brothers. He spent the next four years trying to raise her alone. Even with their family’s wealth, they struggled to keep things together. During this time, Yukiko began devoting even more time to taming her eel hound. She also took up woodcarving, one of Genji’s hobbies. She would later claim these were all that kept her sane.
A few months before Yukiko’s 14th birthday, Genji vanished. He left her a note, briefly explaining why he left. She never showed it to anyone, feigning ignorance and confusion. His whereabouts are currently unknown and he is presumed dead.
With her immediate family dead and missing, Yukiko and her eel hound Hotaka were sent from relative to relative. She never stayed in one home for more than two months. She would become too restless. She took to wandering the streets at night with Hotaka, seeking to put space between her and them. She still loved her family, but Yukiko stop the growing resentment she felt towards them. They saw her, not as a little girl, but as Ken’s genius child. Where she had once felt pride in her firebending, she found only disgust. Despite this, she continued her training. She kept on in her father’s memory.
Yet with each passing day, more news of deaths and ever-escalating dissent and violence reached home. And Yukiko became more and more frustrated. She looked at these people, this nation, and felt ashamed to call them ‘hers.’ She no longer felt that the Fire Nation was aiming for fixing a rapidly shifting balance of power. She finally realized what she wanted. Shortly after she turned 17, Yukiko fled the capital with Hotaka. She took her sword, a hunting knife, a few sets of her preferred outfit, her mother’s gifts, and a large pouch of money. For a year, she traveled around the Fire Nation islands – a week here, a month there. Nowhere felt quite right to her. Everywhere she went, she felt judged and misplaced. Finally, she stowed away with Hotaka on a ship bound for the Earth Kingdom.
Once there, she spent four months outside a small village on the eastern coast. She realized early on that to remain undiscovered by her family, she had to at least dispose of her sword. But she refused to part with it. So she spent her time crafting her trademark staff. It was another month before her staff was complete. When it was, she began riding Hotaka deeper into Earth Kingdom territory. She didn’t know where she was headed, just that it was far from the coast. She spent the next three years roaming with her pet. As she traveled, she learned from the locals about the flora and the civil wars. It was during this time that she began her work as a freelance assassin. She drew upon all that her family had taught her, combined with her growing knowledge of the Earth Kingdom, to create the killer known as Kano of the Obsidian Blade.
Eventually, she settled in a large town and made it her base of operations. It was near the border of the Allied Earth States and what remained of the Earth Kingdom. The village, she learned, was a supply stop for the armies of the Allied Earth States. That suited her just fine. It would make it easier for her to pick up jobs from the A.E.S. or anyone else passing through. She took her mother’s name, Mizutani, and began setting up shop. With her knowledge of the plant life, she apprenticed with the village healer Ishinomori Hamako to supplement her mercenary income. It was here that she made her first friend, Hayato. He was Hamako’s grandson. They became close and even talked of marriage. She has lived peacefully with him for the last two years. He has never fully supported her mercenary work, but knows that it is simply who she is and he has no real desire to change her.
Shortly after settling in, she learned of the conquest of the Fire Nation by the Execution Squad. And though she yearns to know what has become of her family in what is now known as The Burning Legion, she cannot leave now. She simply prays that they have survived the turmoil, though she suspects they are all dead. The Kazans were always staunch supporters of the Fire Lord.

Other Stuffs

Her eel hound Hotaka has been her constant companion since her seventh birthday. He is both her mount and her closest friend. Hotaka is very devoted towards and protective of Yukiko. He is roughly 9 feet tall, 30 feet in length and a deep green color.

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Code Word: Code Accepted~