Genji Kazan

[Yukiko]

Genji

Basic Info

Birth name: Genji Kazan
Age & date of birth: 34 years old; June 4th 398 A.W.
Gender: Male
Bending Element: Water
Bending/Non-Bending Level: Advanced Bender; Master Swordsman
Alias: The Tempest
Plot Position; Northern Water Tribe Military advisor/General.

Appearance

Hair color: Black
Eye color: Blue-green
Height: 5’7”
Weight: 125 lbs.
Appearance: At 5’6” and 125lbs, Genji doesn’t cut a very impressive figure. His slight form and slender face make him seem effeminate and weak, especially in the loose-fitting clothes that he wears. But like Yukiko, there is a lot of wiry muscle on his lithe frame. He keeps himself in shape with waterbending and through sword-spars. Though not as fleet-footed as his sister, Genji’s reflexes are far sharper and his movements more agile than Yukiko’s—a result of his time spent in the Bulwark. There is a grace in his movement that is almost preternatural in its subtle precision—a trait he picked up from his eldest brothers Arashi and Raiden.

Genji chooses clothing that is loose enough to keep his movements unrestrained but not enough to trip him up in battle. It’s a style he adopted from the Earthbenders he fought with, finding that it perfectly suited his own fighting techniques. The material is not usually very thick, as he doesn’t really feel the cold of the frigid North. He has a higher-than-normal body temperature, which keeps him comfortable in the thin clothes. When indoors he keeps his shirt partially open to keep cool. This also allows others to see the red dragon tattoo curling up his torso and around his left shoulder. A delicate flush caused by his body temperature perpetually graces his skin, turning it a light peachy color. Without it he would be as pale as his sister Yukiko, a trait common in their father’s family. The sole exception is a pale scar that runs down the right side of his face. It slices through his eye before curving down his cheek, ending just underneath his jaw. It’s one of the few scars he has “collected” over the years—certain badges he has decided to keep, rather than heal them with his Waterbending. The rest criss-cross his back, though a few run across his lower abdomen. Most of them were earned while fighting demons in the Bulwark; the one on his face was earned during his first trip to the Spirit Rift. He allowed his companion at the time to heal him enough to retain his eyesight, but refused to be rid of the scar itself.

Around his neck is a locket with two pictures in it: one is of his whole family and the other is of him and Yukiko on her 13th birthday. On his left middle finger is a large signet ring that once belonged to his father. It has the Kazan family crest on it. Genji owns three blades, which he forged himself when he was eight. They are his katana Seisui (“pure water”), his wakizashi Hinote (“blaze”) and his tanto Kinsei (“symmetry”). When heading into battle, he straps his daisho Seisui and Hinote to his back. This makes it easier for him to unsheathe them simultaneously. He was born ambidextrous and had a natural aptitude for this style of wielding, so the Kazans made him focus on it. He won’t carry the blades around in any other circumstance. He considers them unnecessary in his day-to-day life. Whatever protection he needs during “peace” he provides with his bending or Kinsei. At his waist, there is usually a large water skein. Filled to the brim, the water is generally only used when he goes into battle to add a sharper edge to his blades as well as for defense when necessary.

Genji keeps his hair in shaggy layers that end just above his shoulders. He does nothing to restrain it, letting it fall carelessly around his face. It often falls in front of his eyes, causing him to flick his head slightly to move it. He does little to care for it beyond washing it twice a week and brushing it daily. Sometimes he doesn’t even do that; it’s never a priority for him. Despite this, it has a satiny feel and is lustrous like Yukiko’s. Also like hers, it is black with a bluish sheen. His eyes are the deep blue-green of the sea set in a face that has one expression perpetually fixed to it—disdain. His eyes have sent shivers racing down many a spine. They give the impression of instantly seeing straight into the soul of a person—and dismissing that person in the same instant. They are cold as the waters of his mother’s home and unexpressive, giving no indication as to the ever-shifting thoughts that race through his mind.

Locket: farm4.static.flickr.com/3183/2840465675_002a1e4e43.jpg?v=0

Ring: www.adinimages.com/web/signet-rings.jpg

Blade set: www.valleymartialarts.com/images/products/ZCG1210a.jpg

Traits

Likes:

• Yukiko.
  
• Ji Tong, though he has never admitted it.
  
• Well-kept hair. Not his own, but on others.
  
• Waterbending.
  
• Swordplay.
  
• Tattoos.
  
• Reading.
  
• Punishing those he feels deserve it.
  

Dislikes:

• Yukiko.
  
• Ji Tong.
  
• Firebending.
  
• The Burning Legion.
  
• Failure.
  
• Killing for the joy of it.
  
• Incompetent people.
  

Overall Personality: Genji is cold, calculating and utterly ruthless in his dealings with others. He is anti-social at best, rarely speaking for any reason. He prefers to observe those around him. This isn’t because he has nothing to say. On the contrary, his thoughts are many, rarely kind, and often shift topics. He is perpetually gathering information on others—specifically about the weaknesses of others and how he might use them to his advantage. So when he does speak, he knows exactly what to say to cut a person down and bend them to his will. Only those whom he considers to be more powerful than him (and that is a small number indeed) does he treat with any kind of respect when he speaks to them.

His generally reticent nature is a hold over from his youth. By the age of ten, he was always passive, often considered emotionless by those outside his family because he simply never showed any indication of what he was really feeling. He developed this persona in response to the teasing of his brother Kishi, who always mocked Genji for being overly emotional. And if it wasn’t Kishi, there were always children at school to tease him for being a Waterbender in the Fire Nation. In spite of the constant bullying he received, Genji never went out of his way to make enemies of people. He tried to give no one a reason to hate him, fearing they would target him for worse treatment than he already received. His other reasoning for it is the belief that one day, it would all be dealt back at them—one way or another.

Once he was freed from Kishi’s mockery, Genji gradually became similar to his brother — completely tactless. Now when he speaks, there is basically no filter between his mind and his mouth, save for in the presence of his “superiors”—though even then, it is only enough to keep him from being insubordinate. He no longer cares what opinions others form about him because he thinks they merely exist to be useful to him. He has become prone to fits of childish rage subsequent to his return from the Bulwark and promotion to General. He rarely directs these fits at someone publicly, considering the fallout to be a nuisance. He will generally go out into the snows outside the northern Capital to “cool off.” Regardless of how he deals with his anger, it is always triggered by someone’s simple mistake or a suggestion he finds stupid. A perfectionist at his core, he has absolutely no tolerance for weakness and stupidity in his rank and file. His troops and other subordinates fear his anger—when he does publicly display it, it almost always results in someone being severely injured for their incompetence—and as a result they have become famous for their exemplary performance and behavior on and off the battlefield.

Like all of his siblings, Genji enjoys intellectual pursuits. He reads voraciously in his spare time. He is well versed in a variety of subjects that range from war tactics to flower arranging. His pursuit of knowledge started for the same reason Yukiko’s did: it was basic survival, according to their mother. However, Genji decided early on that it wasn’t just about survival. It could be used both for personal entertainment and against those who might pose a threat to him. Being the somewhat paranoid individual that he is, this realization sparked a furious desire in him to learn anything and everything about the world.

History Info

Home Country: Former Fire Nation
Siblings: 4 deceased older brothers (Arashi, Raiden, Kishi, Hikaru), 1 living younger sister Yukiko (recently learned she is still alive)
History: Genji is the youngest of Kasumi’s and Ken’s sons. He was born under a full moon in the dead of winter. Kasumi knew from the moment of his birth that he would be a Waterbender, though were she alive today she would surprised at just how skilled he has become—she was never skilled with it and neither were many in her family. She never voiced her suspicion because she knew he would be bullied for it and hoped to catch it before it was exposed. Kasumi’s hunch about her son was proven right when Genji was about six years old. Kishi had been teasing Genji; this had become one of Kishi’s favorite pastimes because his baby brother was quick to anger. Genji had yet to develop his tight emotional control, so he and Kishi often got into fistfights or pushing matches. This was one of those times. They were by the pond on the family’s compound and the teasing had quickly escalated into a shouting match. Genji shoved Kishi away and Kishi pushed him into the pond. Furious, Genji lunged out of the pond—and the water followed him, drenching both boys.

Genji showed the most promise with waterbending. His older brother Hikaru had a small talent for it, but preferred spending his time deep in study on other topics. For a while, no one outside the immediate family was aware that Genji was a Waterbender. It was assumed that he was a non-bender like the rest of his father’s family. But a fight at school when Genji was seven soon revealed the truth. Already teased for his effeminate features, he began to be mocked and bullied more frequently with little support from his brothers. For the first year or so he was constantly in trouble for using his bending in fights. Tired of his mother’s constant scolding—and occasional beatings—Genji began working on the ironclad control that would later make him infamous among the ranks of the Northern Water Tribe’s army.

With his mother’s encouragement, Genji relentlessly trained his bending. He learned what he could from her, but both were aware that her knowledge was limited. To supplement this, Kasumi would find training scrolls while on assignment. Genji avidly read these scrolls and would practice the techniques until he dropped from exhaustion. But Genji felt he shouldn’t restrict himself to just the approach of a Waterbender. He also practiced some of the techniques used by his father for Firebending. During his travels after leaving the Fire Nation, he would pick up the methods of the other bending styles as well. If he liked the flow of a move used by the benders he encountered, he would begin to incorporate it into his own bending style.

Like the rest of his siblings, Genji was trained extensively with swords and in hand-to-hand combat. He trained every day for at least two hours with his brothers and cousins. While his brothers preferred the simpler single-sword method, Genji specialized in dual-sword wielding. He has never felt quite right in battle without two blades firmly gripped in his hands. He can fight with one sword, but it feels wrong to him. His swordsmanship truly shines with dual blades. The difference is remarkable. His movements—which had seemed polished and perfect with one sword—gain the elegance and fluidity of flowing water. What small crudeness existed leaves his movements and one can see how he earned the title of Master Swordsman. He went through the Kazan rite of passage and forged Seisui, Hinote and Kinsei. His blades are as unremarkable as he is. Unlike his brothers and sister, Genji refused to etch anything but the names into his blades. He felt no need to further distinguish them from other swords.

The eight years following his rite of passage were unremarkable. At ten, he had nearly perfected his self-control. Other than an occasional fistfight with Kishi, Genji no longer lashed out at those who tormented him. However, these years were marked with the disappearances of pets from the homes of those same tormentors. It pleased Genji to no end to experiment with techniques on the animals he spirited away. Some were returned, slightly worse for wear. Most never did or were found dead. For the spells when he would grow bored with his “playing” or felt he was close to being discovered, Genji took up woodcarving as a hobby. It helped control his “justice” urges, though it failed to completely tame them.

When Genji was 16, Kasumi was killed while on her final mission. Within the space of a year, his four older brothers and father died as well. Genji was left alone with the 10-year-old sister who had recently become the sole target of his obsessive nature. He spent the next four years trying to raise her. Even with their family’s wealth, they struggled to keep things together. Bills, gambling and frivolous spending often kept more funds flowing out than were coming in. More than once, their grandfather was forced to pay the exorbitant sums of debt to keep scandal from tainting the family name. During this time, Genji gradually became more and more obsessed with Yukiko. With no one to interfere with his “observations,” he began spending more time with her. Expensive trips around the islands and abroad; paying for private performances of plays and concerts; extravagant gifts for no reason at all—all this and more was used to “mollify” his “little Snowflake” so that she would stay by his side. It became one of his biggest fears that she would leave him for some reason; he loathed her for how dependent and weak she made him feel.

A few months before Yukiko’s 14th birthday, Genji vanished. He left her a note, briefly explaining why he left. This letter would be the last instance in his life to date in which he would beg anyone to do anything. He caught a ship from the Capital’s port and hasn’t looked back since. His first stop was the Southern Air Temple. He stayed a month there, learning what he could from the monks. But he quickly grew bored and left for the Earth Kingdom. He became embroiled in the various disputes between the Earth Kingdom and the Allied Earth States. He jumped sides often, fighting for whomever happened to catch his fancy at the time. The people he fought were just target practice to him, after all; their disputes were unimportant, merely an excuse to get hands-on practice. He learned many styles of fighting during this time—much of it from the Earthbenders he fought. He spent two years doing this. He only killed his opponents if he felt they would pose a threat afterward. He preferred to permanently cripple them.

During this particularly violent period of his life, Genji met the “Demon of the Mist” and future leader of the Southern Water Tribe, Ji Tong. And for the first time in his life, Genji found himself outclassed by another bender. It was a truly humbling experience for Genji. He traveled with her for a short time. During this time, they journeyed to the Spirit Rift. Though their stay was short, it was enough to leave Genji with the scar over his eye. It also left him in awe of the woman. He refused to let her heal the scar. He did, however, agree to let her repair the eye itself. The scar, he reasoned to himself, was a badge of honor for being able to hold his own beside Ji. He had still been horribly out-classed by her and she had ultimately saved him, but at least he hadn’t needed her to defend him the entire time. Yet the encounter left him more determined than ever to perfect his bending and become a master of both the sword and the water. He knew she was from the South Pole and that many powerful masters resided there. But he felt himself called to the North. He knew that if he wanted to defeat Ji one day, he would find the strength for it in his mother’s homeland.

With this in mind, Genji finally began to wind his way to the North. He caught a ship from a large port in the Bulwark. After a month of travel, during which he had been extremely bored, Genji finally noticed a change in the temperature. For the first time in his life, he didn’t feel like he was being smothered with heat. He was comfortable, even a little chilled. The next day, they docked in the capital of the Northern Water Tribe. He felt right at home in the frigid climate. There had been a genuine smile on his face as he had stepped off the ship—something he hadn’t done since leaving the Fire Nation. Still possessing a fair amount of money, he found relatively cheap lodging and began setting himself up in the capital. A few months after he had settled in, he sought entry into the tribe’s army. He informed his recruiter, Major Qaniit, that although he was a superb swordsman and would outclass every other recruit, he desired more formal training with his Waterbending. He explained that, having been raised in the Fire Nation, he had never received such training. The major laughed at this and told Genji he would be tested just like the rest of the recruits. Though displeased by this, Genji simply agreed. Several weeks later, he was put through the paces with his fellow hopefuls. And as he had informed the major, he dominated every other recruit when it came to anything involving swords. He showed similar aptitude with stealth, tracking, and nearly every other skill the military required of them. However, he proved to be just above the average of his fellow Waterbenders. It was a fact that irritated him to no end; he had hoped to avoid being embarrassed by his deficiency. It did, however, achieve his initial goal of getting formal training as a bender.

He was accepted into the Army as an Officer Cadet for his otherwise exemplary skills. The next four years were something of a blur to Genji. All he would ever recall later were the long hours he spent with Waterbending masters. His first task was to essentially forget everything he had ever taught himself and start from scratch. This proved a difficult task for him. He was always clashing with the masters, arguing that the incorporation of other styles had served him well in the past. They, in turn, claimed that one must learn Waterbending as a pure art before trying to mesh it with other styles...if you ever meshed them at all, which they strongly suggested shouldn’t be done. It took nearly a year for Genji to “forget” how to bend. But once he had, he rapidly picked up on the “pure” style of Waterbending. Since he already knew the basics and many intermediate techniques, thanks to his mother’s initial tutelage, it was only another three years before Genji began working with Advanced level Waterbending.

Around the time of his 26 birthday, Genji found himself back in the Bulwark. This time, however, he was there as a graduate of the North’s military academy—as a member of a regiment of soldiers under the command of Colonel Rithisak. The situation there had been growing steadily worse of late and it had been decided that the Northern Tribe should send in more troops to help keep the Spirit Rift at bay. Though Genji didn’t relish returning to the Bulwark, he knew it was a necessary step in his growth as a bender. He spent three years there, steadily gaining more scars and creating a name for himself as a cold, calculating warrior. He had entered the Bulwark as a second lieutenant in the Army. By the second year of his three-year tour, he had achieved the rank of colonel based on his skill, efforts, and prior experience and had replaced Col. Rithisak as commander when the man died in battle. It was here that he earned his nickname, the Tempest. When in battle, with his swords and his bending, it was as if a violent storm ripped through his enemies—a tempest come to life. During his three years, Genji made many alliances with various fighters in the Bulwark. Some were created through fear and coercion, others through the respect he garnered on the battlefield.

Genji eventually returned to the North Pole amidst fanfare and glowing commendations from his superiors. The tribe’s military losses had been incredibly low once Genji had taken command. The men in his regiment had been cut in half under Rithisak. Genji, dissatisfied by this, had relentlessly trained and pushed the soldiers, demanding perfection from them in battle. If he could leave the field with minimal wounds, so should the rest of his command. The end result was that his regiment didn’t lose another soldier for the remainder of their tour. When in public, Genji behaved humbly and stated that the military was over-glorifying him; he had simply done what was necessary to keep his fellows alive. In the privacy of his brand-new house—one of the nicer rewards for his work—he was quite smug about it. His contentment didn’t last long, however. Several months after his return, he was called into a meeting with the other military leaders and the tribe’s Chieftain. This wasn’t the first time his tactical experience had been requested by them. But there was no current need for his expertise, based on information he was getting from his allies outside the North. Unsure of what awaited him, Genji greeted his commanders as respectfully as he could, inquiring as to the reasons for his summons. In a painfully blunt fashion, he was informed of the Execution Squad’s conquest of the Fire Nation. He listened calmly as he learned of the brutal manner in which many of the nobles and the Fire Lord himself were killed. Though no names were ever mentioned, he strongly suspected his entire family had been wiped out by the E-Squad because of their deep loyalty to the Fire Lord. What made it truly painful for him, however, was the thought that his little Snowflake was dead. Though he hadn’t seen her in nearly ten years, her loss engendered a deep-seated hatred for the newly formed Burning Legion.

To avoid rash behavior caused by his anger—and the questions and problems that would result if he didn’t—Genji devoted all his spare time to his military activities. Like Yukiko had after the death of their parents and brothers, Genji became totally focused on training. Over the course of a year, he began to combine his Waterbending with his swordplay. Because water was so naturally suited to cutting techniques, he worked to maintain a razor-sharp edge of water on all of his blades. Though initially he could only maintain it for a second or so, he gradually built his endurance for it. He can keep the edge for minutes at a time now and often uses water to hone his blades instead of a whetstone. The end result was that, no matter which edge he used, his blades would slice through almost any object.

This sudden fervor did not go unnoticed by the higher ups. Though some believed it was unhealthy, most believed he had the right attitude. He impressed enough of the right people that, upon the retirement of General Qigiq, he was offered the position. Pleased that he was being given even greater power in the affairs of the tribe than he already possessed, Genji accepted. He moved into one of the manors used to house the generals, delighted to be living in an opulent residence once more. Perhaps two months or so later, he learned from one of his informants in the South that Ji Tong had successfully taken over the sister tribe. Curious as to whether this was the case, Genji arranged a visit to the South Pole using the pretext of a vacation in Chameleon Bay. Though initially hesitant, the Chieftain granted Genji his “vacation.” With a small entourage of his most trusted soldiers—men he had fought beside and saved in the Bulwark—Genji stopped briefly in the Bay before continuing South. After much wrangling and “persuasion,” he gained entry into the South Pole and managed to secure a private meeting with Ji. He was somewhat surprised to find a woman quite different from the one he had met several years ago. But it was clear that, though Genji had grown in strength, so had she. Knowing that there were few avenues towards reaching her level, he decided to take one he was quite familiar with—he offered to help her with the expansionist dreams she had laid out to him. Ji was skeptical at first. What reason did she have to think he would be of help? But after several long discussions, she agreed that inside information from and about the North Pole would be extremely useful. Pleased with her decision, Genji began setting up a system through which he could funnel information to her undetected. Grateful for the alliances he had forged in the Bulwark, he created a network that spanned the breadth of the Earth Kingdom and the Allied Earth States, as well as the Airbender Temples and the North Pole. There is no official name for this network, though he likes to call it his Shadow.

His Shadow has been gathering information for him ever since. And while he has secretly aided Ji Tong, he has continued to carve a place for himself in the North. The name of Genji Kazan is spoken with deep respect and shades of fear.

Recently, he has found himself embroiled in the arrangement of a political marriage to Fire Nation Countess Kozue Seiren Ishida. For the past two years, he has been courting her in an attempt to solidify an alliance between the remnants of the old Nation and the North. Though deeply conflicted on the marriage, he eventually resigned himself to it. If nothing else, the marriage would also be useful to Ji, considering Kozue’s influence. He had even begun to develop a vague fondness for her, despite his aversion to her Firebending. However, shortly before the wedding was to take place, Kozue vanished. This deeply shocked Genji and even angered him. He now must decide whether to pursue her and force her into the marriage—as is expected—or to just let her go.

Other Stuffs

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RP Samples

• Action
  Carefully touching bandages over his eye, Genji found it difficult to believe he was still alive. It was no surprise that his new companion Ji Tong had survived. She was, without a doubt, the most powerful individual Genji had ever come across. Yet somehow, he was sitting by a warm fire—far from the Spirit Rift—with only a healing slash over his eye. He was glad he had decided to only heal the eye. He was beginning to consider the wound a badge of honor—proof that he had fought beside a Master Waterbender against demons and had survived using his own skills.
  
  It had been a bright day when Ji and Genji had left the Bulwark and traveled into the Spirit Rift itself. Though the landscape was utterly devastated and there was no sign of life anywhere, their journey had started out pleasant enough. But the two had remained wary. It was the Spirit Rift—anything was possible here.
  
  But when nothing happened after two days of journeying, they had begun to slack in their watchfulness. Complacency did that to a person, after all. So really, Genji shouldn’t have been so surprised when the...thing had attacked. They had stopped briefly in a ravine to rest. It had leapt down from the top and pinned Genji to the ground, knocking the wind from him. It was a miracle he hadn’t been impaled right then. The fore legs of the demon were similar to a tiger’s, large and sharply clawed. But the body...it looked like it belonged to a dragon, especially with the tattered black leather wings spread out above it. What made Genji freeze in place, however, was not the deep rumbling growl emanating from it or that it had a scorpion’s tale. It wasn’t even the fact that its claws had just barely cut him and the paws were tensed to do more. No, he remained stone still as he beheld the three sets of burning red eyes staring down at him with what could only be described as unholy glee. Eyes that belonged to a serpent, a falcon and a lion.
  
  He felt Seisui and Hinote digging into his back. For a moment, he felt completely helpless, unable to draw and attack. The next instant, one of those eyes disappeared, impaled by one of Ji’s ice spikes. It jerked back, all three heads screeching in cacophonous union. Genji hissed in pain as the claws scraped him, leaving thin cuts down the length of his torso. Rolling away from the best, Genji regained his feet and unsheathed his blades. “Are you all right, Genji?” The crack of a water whip kept the beast at bay for the moment. “I’m fine,” he said shortly. The demon lunged and he leapt to the side, slashing out at its foreleg. A long scarlet gash appeared along his blade’s path and the demon howled. The scorpion tail lashed out and he ducked. Another screech told him that Ji had done some more damage to it. The demon seemed intent on having Genji for its meal, despite the obvious threat Ji posed. He ducked and weaved as the three heads darted and snapped around him. He crossed his blades before him as the serpent struck at him before pulling Hinote back and jabbing at its snout. He jumped onto a boulder as the lion’s head went for his legs. Another water whip cracked at the demon, drawing Genji’s attention to her briefly. “Behind you, Ji!”
  
  As she turned to face another monstrosity—this one shaped like a massive panther—Genji felt a sharp pain across his face. He fell from the boulder, losing grip of his swords as searing pain distracted him. His eye...the chimera’s tail had torn through his eye! He felt the paw return to his chest, slowly crushing him into the ground. A delighted rumbling sounded above him. “We admire your tenacity, human.” Genji’s eye flew open. Disconcerting as it was to see through a single eye, he couldn’t help himself. “You can speak?”
  
  “Of course. What, did you think we were mute fools?” The lion licked its chops while the falcon crowed in triumph and the serpent watched him. Genji licked his own lips, tasting the blood that streamed from his wound. “No...I think you’re hungry...” “You’d be right. Humans don’t wander in here often. It’s been tiresome trailing you two for so long, waiting.” Genji shifted slightly and his hand felt dampness. His water skein had ripped open and the water was leaking out. “But it was well worth the wait. You look quite delectable.” He heard screaming from nearby and wondered if it was Ji or the thing that she fought. It drew the monster’s attention, however. While two of the heads looked in the direction of the screams, the lion kept its beady eyes on Genji. “It seems we won’t be able to enjoy this as we had planned. Ah well.” As it opened its maw, Genji’s arm flew up and across its head—bringing a slicing wave of water with it.
  
  The beast jerked back, snarling. Blood streamed down the lion’s face—it had been a lucky shot to the eyes. “Looks like we’re even now.” Wiping at the blood on his face, Genji pulled what remained of his water to his hands. As the other heads faced him, he sent three spikes flying into their eyes. The falcon shrieked as the spikes hit true, but the snake ducked the projectiles and hissed. “I’ve already lossst one eye to you, filth.” But Genji was no longer listening. Grabbing Seisui, he slashed at the tongue that had flitted out towards him. It fell writhing beside him. “I’m afraid you chose the wrong meal,” Genji ground out. He snatched up Hinote and rolled forward as the snake lunged forward. The lion snapped blindly at him and he jabbed Hinote up into its skull. Jerking it back out, he slashed at the snake’s neck with Seisui, slicing it nearly in half. He ducked back out from the thrashing, snapping chimera, earning another slash to his gut that nearly disemboweled him.
  
  He fell onto his back, blades crossed above him in a weak defense. But as the falcon reared back, it suddenly flew off its neck. Black ichor flew everywhere as the demon finally collapsed into a twitching heap. Just behind it, he could just barely see Ji running towards him. “Genji...Genji!” She fell to her knees beside him and pulled more water from the sack on her back. He licked his lips, surprised that they felt dry when he could still taste blood on them. His mind was starting to wander as she began to heal the wounds on his chest and abdomen. ‘Blood loss...I wonder how much I’ve bleed out...I feel...numb...’ As Ji moved to work on his eye, he tried to focus. “Don’t...heal it...all....Just...the eye...itself,” he managed to force out. Ji frowned at him, but didn’t question it. There wasn’t time. “All right, Genji. Just the eye....”
  
  
• Dialogue/Romance
  Genji sat at his office desk, silently fuming. A picture from his “Chieftain” lay tauntingly before him. It was of his “future wife,” Kozue. ‘Marriage....marriage! What the hell is that man thinking? I can’t get married...There isn’t a single woman alive or dead who would have been worthy of me. Not even Ji is an acceptable match! I don’t give a damn if this will be good politically. I’d sooner carve my own heart out and eat it before doing something that will be of tremendous help to the North!’
  
  Genji stood abruptly. Kicking his chair out of the way, he began pacing behind the desk. There was absolutely no way in hell this was happening to him. Everything had been going so beautifully. The fool of a Chieftain remained utterly unaware of who was leaking information out of the North to their sister tribe. Genji was enjoying a rather comfortable life not unlike what he had been accustomed to before leaving the Fire Nation. Sure, he had to do tactical things for the Northern Army and occasionally fight for them. And of course, he had to deal with the idiocies of this backward little corner of the world. But really, he had little to complain about. Until now, that is.
  
  He had just gotten back from meeting the woman in question. She had been polite enough. Courteous, as a countess should be. Moreover, he had recognized her almost immediately. While it had been many long years since he had left the Fire Nation, there was no way he could forget one of Yukiko’s playmates. “Kozue Seiren Ishida.” He spun around and grabbed a paperweight off his desk. It was small pumice stone that had naturally formed into the shape of a dolphin. It had been a birthday gift from one of his subordinates, a piece of his birth city in fact. But for all the sentimental value it had—which was minimal to begin with—he didn’t hesitate in throwing it full force at the wall beside him. It split in two and clattered to the floor. But this only enraged Genji further.
  
  “How dare that fool of a leader order me to marry that...that...child!” Genji turned back to his desk and swept everything off it. Papers, his pen, important documents—it all wound up in a jumbled mess on the floor. He screamed, kicking the desk. It shifted about 6 inches, scuffing the floor as it went. “This isn’t how it’s supposed to go! I’m not supposed to marry a child who’s young enough to be my baby sister!”
  
  A knock at the door momentarily interrupted his raging. A timid voice called through the locked door. “General, sir? There’s a...a message for you from the Chief.” Genji stared blankly before the words sunk in. Moments later, his chair slammed to pieces against the closed door. “Get the hell out of here, you worthless piece of gorilla goat dung! I don’t want to hear anything from any of you! NOTHING!” He heard scurrying from the other side of the door, but he was beyond caring.
  
  It was several hours later before his rage cooled. By then, his office looked as though a hurricane had ripped through it. But the end result was a much calmer, levelheaded Genji. He plopped down on his ripped up couch with a heavy sigh. He thought back on his meeting with the Chieftain, the Countess and the envoys of the Fire Nation refugees. In all honesty, it hadn’t been overly unpleasant. They had met for lunch in the palace and had begun discussing possibilities for a political marriage. A marriage between him and Kozue. He had only held his tongue to see just how far the idiocy would go. It had been awkward sitting beside Kozue, but she had been fairly quiet throughout the meal. He had been thankful for that, at least. He hated conversing—and interacting with others in general. So the bulk of conversation had been between his “lord” and the envoys. He considered the woman’s other attributes.
  
  “All right Genji. Let’s try to do her some sort of justice. It will make things easier. First of all, she is a superb Firebender...if those envoys are to be believed. A Master, despite her youth. Not unlike...no, don’t think that. No one is like her.... She’s quiet, intelligent, laid-back, and respectful. Of noble blood, which is always a plus. She’s pretty enough, I suppose. No great beauty, of course. But at least she isn’t hideous. Unique eyes. A lovely violet/blue color. And the gold flecks add character. Her hair...long, lovely color to it. She obviously takes good care of it, with the lustrous look it had. I bet it’s soft, too.” He smirked at the thought. “Yes. Overall, she’s not the absolute worst specimen I could have been presented.”
  
  The wheels began to turn in his head. Many possibilities presented themselves to him in a matter of moments. Some he dismissed out of hand; they were outlandish at best and suicidal at worst. But some of the better ideas—like using her to manipulate the Fire Nation to the Southern Tribe’s favor—required marrying the girl. Ultimately, that was something he was quite loath to do. So how to handle this situation? He sat and thought for a while. It was nearing dinnertime before he finally stirred from his musings. Genji rose from his position and stretched. His joints popped satisfyingly and he yawned. He sauntered through the wreckage of his study, playfully kicking aside the bits and pieces. Clearing the door’s path, he opened it and walked out. It was time to head home, after all; it had been for a while now. As he passed his secretary, he paused. Looking at her, he said, “Have my office cleaned up by tomorrow afternoon. I’ll be busy tomorrow morning, so you people should have plenty of time to get it back in proper order. And don’t worry about trying to replace that pumice stone...thing. Just find something else for a paperweight. But I want that office to be in the same spotless condition it always is. Understood?” “Yes sir. Would you like to view the Chief’s message now?” She held out a slip of paper to him, which he reluctantly took and stuck in a pocket. It had been a long day and he was looking forward to his staff taking care of some of his problems. There wasn’t much he could do about the whole marriage thing. To fight it too vigorously would probably raise suspicions, which he certainly didn’t need. So he would put up his “token protest” and then see where things went. If it turned out that marriage was unavoidable, he would somehow use it to his advantage. And if he managed to dodge this particular knife toss...well, he certainly wouldn’t complain too much. With a wolfish grin on his face, he took to the streets, ready for the comforts of his house.
  

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Code Word: Accepted