LSM - Just for you! Character One: Hikari no Mitsu

[Setoku]

I will be presenting four different self created characters to present to LSM for a writing assignment that was issued - He challenged my writing skills, and as the RP Mod, it's my job to step up! I'm allowing everyone here to see, of course, so you too can make Judgements on each one. Enjoy!


Name: Mitsu Hikari

Look: Hikari no Mitsu (Literal: Honey of the Light) is a beautiful woman from the Yamanashi prefecture, her body is incredibly thin and lean, with a somewhat muscular form - A rarity among woman of this era. Due to it's small frame, many of the more wealthy of Japan over-look her as a peasant who is underfed and supporting her elderly parents. She has mid-length black hair, which she always wears down and tucked behind her ears. Her eyes are of a soft brown hue, almost hazel in the sparkling reflection of the sun. She is the third generation in the family who is bound to serve the shadow organization known as the Oniwabanshu (One's of the Garden.) Though due to her looks and soft features, she hides this fact quite well. At the tender age of 15, she has already met, fell in love, and was bound to marry a young Ronin Samurai named Hideki Kensei - Who later would become infamous in the coming revolution, and be known as "Hitokiri Kensei" The Slayer of men.

Era: The Bakumatsu; end of the Edo Era. (The Civil war of Japan; 1853-68ish.)
Style: Oniwabanshu (One's of the Garden, a sect of secret agents formed in the Edo Era, some people describe them as what we call "Ninja" today.)
Moves: Tobikunai (Think Throwing Stars.) Hand to Hand - "Karate"; Ko-dachi style (Ko-dachi is a sword shorter than a Katana, but longer than a wakizashi, the Japanese short sword. Considered the "Shield Sword" among Kenjutsu/Kendo trainers.) and Smoke Bombs.

------The Story------
The sun was setting slowly in the cerulean sky, as a lone cloud dominated the peaks of Mount Fujiyama - A young girl sat outside of her shack. War... that was the news she had heard all day. Her suitor, a young man named Hidekai Kensei, had chosen to join the Isshin Shishi of this so called revolution to expel the Shogunate ways of old. She grabbed at the opening of her kimono, grasping tightly to the necklace hanging around her slender neck. She missed him already - But she had to prosper without him. For his ways were just... so incorrect. Why would he join against the lords of this country? Japan was in the grip of a invasion by outsiders, and he wanted not to defend this great country.... But open it up to all? She could not accept this! She rose off the log she was sitting on, letting her lengthy yellow kimono drape around her ankles - Her tabi exposing her pallid flesh, and soft feet. She crossed her arms, and made her way out too Lake Kawaguchi - She had to get her mind off of Hideki. So what if he joined the Isshin? She would stay with the Shogunate forces in this coming revolution, and help him remember what they were trying to defend! It would be many hours before her return.

---In Hikari Mitsu-chan's absence---

The rain seemed to come in oddly tonight. An old man sat on the door's edge of his house, smiling sadly to himself. Revolution... and all over some petty ideal of freedom. That was the way of things, though. His daughter and her suitor.... they had split paths due to this coming conflict, and too him, that was the only problem with this war. He turned to his wife, and offered her his hand, as the distant sound of horses herding down the plane echoed in the distance.

"My dear... I do love you..."

The old lady smiled, grasping her husbands hand in the dim-candle lit room, and smiling sadly. She was so in love - Why couldn't young Mitsu-chan and Hidekai-kun end up this way? No, this war ended up trying to tear them apart. She pulled her husband too her, and wrapped her arms around him - Those horses sounded closer every second. And the beating rain only added to the romance of it all. As she grasped her husband, she suddenly felt a sharp pain in her stomach. Her eyes grew wide as she pulled her head from her husbands chest, and looked down. A metal blade seem to pierce from his stomach... and into hers. Her head shot up, and there stood the Isshin Shishi... it was... him....

"Hi... Ke... no..."

The blade twisted into both their bodies, before it sliced out both of their sides. Blood splattered against the shadows on the wall, as two of the three shadows, gripping each other in a loving embrace... fell slowly too the ground. The third shadow turned on his heel, the shadow of his sword coming down, and rubbing against the shadow of his body, before sliding into the saya. "Forgive me, but you are staunch supporters of the Oniwabanshu corp. of the Shogunate. It is my job to dispatch all in the area who may cause us trouble in our coupe." The man's voice was cold, heartless. Yet... sad. The man walked from the cabin, and into the burning remnants of the village. It was time to retreat... the Wolves of Mibu would no doubt move in soon, those uncontrolled Ronin, always in staunch support of closed minds and ignorant views.

---The Discovery---
Mitsu walked slowly up a small incline. From her shoulder blades rested a long pole, two buckets filled with water on either side. She had always told Hideki since her father could not produce a male, she would do the same chores as the male. Though this was an untruth. Carrying water up the craggy surface back too the village helped to tone her back and leg muscles, adding devastating power to her Shanghai learned style of fighting. Karate. She also told Hideki she was gathering water, and it took her time due to the heaviness of it all, but that too, was untrue. In fact, from years of doing so, she had been able to achieve filling the buckets, setting the wood, and returning home within minutes. She always went herself though, and trained. She started at the tender age of 8, when she learned her father had been working for the Oniwabanshu. She started with basic garden tools, the tool used to hoe, mainly. It was a Tobikunai, thus, she used the dull ones and started by throwing them into trees. As time passed, she mastered throwing two by each hand, and then three, and four. Just that keen training had elevated her to near expert with marksmanship and speed - As she grew older, around 11 or 12, she had traded in the trees, instead using rocks set atop rocks. Though try as she might, she never managed to shatter a rock with simple garden tools - But she would keep trying! She smiled inwardly to herself, as a strand of her black hair fell down from behind her ear. Ugh, she hated her hair, she was seriously going to cut it one day! She was all in these giddy thoughts, memories of Hidekai leaving her here alone escaping her mind - That is, until the smell of smoke, and death, seem to waft down from the top of the incline. She froze in place. The next scene would devastate her - She dropped the pales, and darted up the remaining hill, her eyes brimming with tears, was Otosan (Father) and Kaasan (Mother) alright? Did some idiot just burn down his cabin and it spread, but everyone was ok? No, it wasn't that simple, war was brimming, and this village had many a Oniwabanshu residing here, but the Isshin Shishi wouldn't attack this place, not when the Shinsengumi were so close by. Her excuses soon faded, as she crossed the last bump in her way, stepping, literally, into a living inferno. Slammed dead ahead, not ten feet away, was the flag of the Tokugawa Iemochi, lit up in flames. Her heart begun to race, as she darted through the village, nearly everyone was dead - Women, children, elders... and their corpses were burning! Some were even still alive, screaming as their vocal chords turned to ash. Her cheeks were soaked with tears, as she grew closer to the last cabin - Her own. She burst through the burning door, and walked into a scene she never expected. The door was burning, but... that was all. Their was evidence of torching that had happened inside the house, but it was put out. Her parents bodies, holding each-other... their sides gauged open, lay on the floor. Her world froze. She didn't even notice the people in blue, elaborate and decorative kimono and hakama - Tobikunai along their obi and ko-dachi's at their sides. Her body begun shaking, as a hand fell onto her slim shoulder. And a soft voice cracked into another world for her..

"They... died most honorably. Do not mourn them, do not miss them. Live for them, Mitsu-dono. It was their sacrifice too the Isshin Shishi that saved us to fight another day. I am truly sorry..."

Mitsu Hikari's knee's buckled, as she dropped to what in her mind was slow-motion, the world turning grey and white.... the ash seeming like snow falling into the distant future - her soft brown eyes glaring at the bodies, as takami mats were pulled over them - And suddenly, she caught it. On the ground, a broken jeweled necklace, of pearl and iron... the one she had crafted from a shell found on the beach of the ocean of the black ships... and her world shattered. A scream pierced all the way too the peak of Mt Fuji - It was a scream of a woman in distress, a woman who lost it all.... the scream, of broken love.

In the distance, riding through the forest with the other Hitokiri, Kensei would come to complete stop, his eyes looking to the sky. Tears brimmed at the edges, as goosebumps seem to erupt on his skin. He looked back behind him, his mouth working the words "Goodbye.." but nothing came out. He reached up to the collar of his pale green Kimono, reaching for his necklace.... but it was gone. Suddenly, a scream in the distance caused his hair to stand up on end.... He knew it, he just knew... Hikari-chan... discovered who had killed her parents.


---Over-view---
Hikari no Mitsu of the Oniwabanshu would decorate the history of the famous "Hitokiri Kensei" with blood and gore. As the times went on, and the wars became more evident, she took a more prominent role in the Boshin Wars, one of the classic wars that paved the way for the Meiji era - The era she and the Shinsengumi fought so hard to prevent. Many of the Hitokiri were slayed and burned alive by their own government, to prevent secrets of their assassinations from reaching the ears of the people, except Hideki Kensei. Official reports claim he went missing after the Boshin Wars, never to be seen or heard from again - While History Books claim he fought, and died, serving the Isshin Shishi to the end. Both are untruth - The manslayer was slayed by a single woman, bent on revenge and a love far gone - Ironic, really. "Hitokiri"; literally; "Manslayer" - a title held by few Isshin Shishi considered so good with a sword it would take a super human to take them down - Was taken down by a woman who just wanted her love back. As a member of the secret sect Oniwabanshu, Mitsu Hikari never gained fame in the History Books, or acknowledgement from the government. When the war closed, it is said she went mad, and committed ritualistic suicide at the bank of the lake she fell in love - And the bank of the lake where she lost her love - Lake Kawaguchi.

Story One: End. Character One: End.

Historical Note: This fan-fic is written all by imagination, using real life situations and adding in a few of my own. The town, the people, and "Hitokiri Kensei/Hideki Kensei" do not exist, and any similarities to living or existing people is purely coincidental.

Note one: There were only four Ronin Samurai to hold the esteemed title of "Hitokiri" in the Bakumatsu. All four were of the Isshin Shishi, and they all had monikers, usually as "Hitokiri -Last name-"

Note Two: The Oniwabanshu was an actual group serving the Shogun long before the Bakumatsu. I have tried to create Mitsu Hikari similar to how they would of been. As History has proven, most "Ninja" were nothing more than farmers and peasants with crazy sharp garden tools - And while the Oniwaban was actually a secret sect, or extension of police - for the Shogun, they were what we call Ninja.

Final Note: This is mainly for LSM's enjoyment. Considering it is part one of a four part set of short stories, I would like input from fellow RP'ers on content, entertainment value, and creative value I used. Good or bad is accepted in anyway. PM me if you share an interest in this part of Japanese History, or have noticed a mix-up in something I explained. Thanks in advance friends :D