Gekido, Junko [SHINIGAMI]

THE BODY ON FIRE:
Name: Junko Gekido
Gender: Female
Race: Pure Soul (Shinigami)
Birth Date: 1964 in Rukongai
Biological Age: 52
Apparent Age: 25
Ethnicity: Japanese-Norse
Loyalties: Justice, Seireitei
Division: None

Physical Description:

Height: 175.26 cm (5 Foot 9 inches)
Weight: 72.5 kg (160 lb)

Hair & Eyes:
Junko prefers to keep her wavy crimson hair long to the extent that it almost dusts the floor. She keeps the hair adorning her neck to collarbone length and takes the rearward hair into a braided ponytail. It's worth noting that all the battles she has been in, she has no scars to show as they have miraculously healed leaving no trace. Thus her deep ruby red eyes that are set within an almond shape socket tell her grand tale, for they are the sole indicator of the great emotional conflicts that she has endured.

Physical Description:
Junko is a tanned woman of Japanese and Norse descent born into the Rukongai in a chaotic time. This has refined her body into one of survival, making her physique well toned, but not rippling like a bodybuilder. Her intimidating demeanor as a barbaric survivalist is contrasted by her sharp feminine facial features, which include an angled jawline, high cheekbones that outline her almond shaped eyes. When one gets over her intimidating presences, they will see her ample womanly wiles, and notice that she has more than adequate curves to her frame, which blend nicely with her muscular physique.

Vocal Presentation:
When one hears Junko speak they are taken off guard by how quiet she is in relation to her physical size. Junko's voice is gruff laced with honey-smoked overtones. However this gruff voice is intellectual and straightforward. This reflects her education and yet is still hindered by her traumatic past losing herself in a blood-soaked quest for revenge.

Clothing and Gear:
Junko's attire use to consist of her mercenary armor with her body wrapped in bandages along her chest, hips, hands, legs, and feet with a single adornment adoring her neck The The Yggdrasil Amulet from Tomji. Today her armour has been replaced with her shihakushō while the bandages remain as does the amulet. Strangely her side remains barren of the customary blade of the Shinigami.

Spiritual Description:
If one is lucky to get close to her, they might feel warmer than they were moments ago as if a tight warm blanket was wrapping around them. However, when she is displeased, the warm blanket quickly turns into a melting forge. Junko's reiatsu is a mix between two changing colours of ruby-red and tiger orange and may resemble the shape of a Norse dragon. If one also pays attention, they could swear that Junko's reiatsu smells like cinnamon.  
     

PERSONALITY:
Junko has always been quiet throughout her whole life. She speaks when addressed or when she feels the need to add value to the current conversation. Events in her past have made her doubt herself when it comes to interacting with other people. Depending on her relationship with those present, she may be silent and shutout while she mulls over her self-doubt. This can be confused with her natural quiet behavior, which can lead her to become emotionally frustrated in the moment when others do not understand and try to confront her.  This lack of being understood has driven Junko to become emotionally bottled, and if left unchecked can have her exploding into a fit of rage. This is however, a very long fuse and mostly never goes off under normal circumstances. Junko has always been respectful first and foremost thus will remain as such until the fuse goes off. The longer Junko has friends and the deeper she makes these bonds, the more understood she will become and will cease to be emotionally bottled toward these individuals.

Starting at a young age, Junko has always preferred to be by herself and/or her closest friends, outlining her introverted nature. Junko has always been an independent individual making her own choices and capable of making choices for others, but due to past events of losing those close to her she has resorted to isolating herself on purpose to avoid dealing with such emotions and choices again. These events have also bred Junko into having a strong sense of justice and making those that break it pay. Anyone that crosses her will specifically become subject to "special punishment" understanding quickly the magnitude of her blood-lust. This all eventually compounds into one of Junko's other qualities, which is her overriding desire to protect all of her sacred bonds in fiery fury of protectiveness. So much so that she can be over protective to a fault. During her childhood, she read as many books about as many topics as she could horde . For some reason, Junko's soul craves knowledge among other overriding desires such as justice and blood-lust.

Positive Traits:
Quiet: Junko has always been quiet throughout her life, but even more so now because of her self doubt.
""Should I really do it this way?....No no last time that didn't work out so well, ohhh how about reading this book instead to get my mind off things,..Oh wait seems like the people around me are finally talking about something where I can add to it great here I go taking out loud now ugh..""

Respectful: Regardless of what Junko has been through, she still is polite and respectful to others. However if one crosses her in any unfair way you might just become the target of her blood-lust.
"Yes, Sir, No no I total apologize for interrupting you"  "I respect your view point ma'am, but I must agree to disagree on this topic"

Independent: Junko has always been the take charge kind of person, this might conflict with her self-doubt, but only does when regarding others. She is mostly independent regarding options pertaining to herself only.
"No no, I got this, I have to do this myself" "I must fix this I cant make the same mistake again or let others ruin it for me, they always get in the way! and die!"

Sense of justice: Junko has a strong sense of justice, and will make anyone that crosses this sense pay their due, regardless if it involves her or not.
"YOu did WHAT!! Wow, your totally going to pay for that with equal costs bud."

Negative Traits:
Self-doubt: Junko has started to doubt her abilities to protect the ones she cares about after several traumatic events of losing the ones close to her.
"Man..why did I do it that way, am a fucking stupid, why do I always break things..I wont be able to do this...again..but ugh!"

Emotionally bottled: Junko bottles her emotions and has a hard time sharing them resulting in a cold approach when dealing with others, If pestered enough this can lead to rage. This is the result of her doubt in her abilities and the possibility of negative feedback from others will make Junko even more introverted. However, its worth noting that once someone becomes deep friends with Junko she will become less bottled.   
"These people are driving me nuts I cant think straight.....I have no idea what they want, nor do I have any idea on how to express it...if they keep bugging me"  "ARGHH!! Shut up all of you!"

Introvert: Junko has always preferred to be by herself as a natural introvert who seeks to recharge either by oneself or with close friends. However, events of her past in dealing with loss she has begun to actively avoid making deeper social connections to avoid this loss she has experienced. This can cause confusion with Junko's natural behavior mixed with an enhanced version of introversion from said events.
"wow..that meeting really drained me, its always so tiring meeting new people or...ones higher rank then you always expecting things from you..or those crazy energetic ones that never shut up..I hope they dont try and make friends with me, i just want to be alone and work in peace."

Bloodlust: One should be careful not to personally cross Junko for her sense of justice can turn into a primal bloodlust of revenge.
"This person will feel pain for so long they will wish they never crossed me...I will destroy everything they have ever touched....that they care about for crossing me."

Other Qualities:
Over-protective: Will protect people she considers friends, almost to a fault.
"She is mine! don't you dare touch them again! or even look at them or so help me I will rip your eye out and feed it to you while its still attached!"

Book-educated: Junko loves to read books on many topics such as cooking, hunting, military, earth history, fantasy, folklore, myth, and (her favorite) dragons.
"YEES! alone time to read my collection of books, soo many to read!! YEE!!! though I really do need to get more...*rambles on about her endless list.*"

Romantically clueless: She has never had an interest in anything romantic and has always been single.
"Man says she looks pretty" "uh..yeah you look pretty too I guess? walks away nervously." Or if she hates the person "Kicking and hitting sounds, "Don't you fucking touch me!"

Likes:
Hoarding books.
Spicy noodles.
Curry.

Dislikes:
People that get in her way.
Bullies/thugs.

Goals & Achievements:

Achievements:

• Became second-in-command of mercenary company.
• Awakened Zanpakuto before joining the Academy.

Goals:

• Find and rescue her parents and Myoko.
• Uncover her true origins (birth parents).

Zanpakutō Spirit and Inner World:

~Zanpakuto Name~

Japanese
Name: Akui sutoraika ((Akwai Sitraika))
Translation: Malice Striker
Kanji: 悪意 ストライカー

Icelandic
Name: Níðhöggr
Translation:Malice Striker
Anglicized: Nidhogg



Zanpakutō Personality:

Akui Sutoraika is a dragon spirit, naturally power hungry, territorial, and exerts their superiority over others. Such a dragon is slow to anger, but once angry burns with such high intensity it's as if one angered the sun itself. This fiery territorial passion is shown in Junko's reiatsu aura that extends over her like a warm blanket that physically protects her from harm.

Despite their ‘better than thou attitude’, Akui shows a deep respect for those close to them and those close to Junko. They guide her as a tough love parent, emphasizing the need for Junko to make emotional connections to spread their roots across the world. Junko's troubling past with loss of these emotional roots has weakened her her and thus weakens Akui.

The rapid loss of these roots is what caused Akui to manifest as Junko's Zanpakuto in the first place, thus making these roots or what is know as emotional bonds are the central theme of sustaining and feeding Akui, a dragon who hoards family, lovers and friends instead of material treasure.

As Junko's connection with Akui develops they will guide Junko out of her proverbial hermit cave and teach her to have a spine, to face opposition, without doubt, to not fumble blaming one's self, to have pride in herself, and lastly opening up to regrow her withered roots to sprout the buds into leafs of emotional connections.

Inner World:
Within a Fjord on one of its many cliffs, there would be a ruined fortress, and within this fortress upon a grassy hill would sit a white ash tree. This tree would be untouched, as everything else as far as the eye can see is on fire creating enough smoke to hide the sun. As the towns and villages burn in the distance, there are no bodies, no screams, no sign of an active struggle, only raw destruction with no idea how or why it happened.

Heavy guilt would fill Junko upon seeing this world, with the sensation that it was up to her to stop all of this destruction. This repeats in an endless nightmare of confusion that reflects the fear of being too weak to protect those around herself. This nightmare plagues Junko ever since she was twelve.


Zanpakutō: Sealed form.


Zanpakutō:Released form:


Legacy Created
Current Division: Academy
Previous Divisions: Unaffiliated
Snapshots:
(0) (1964) - Birth
(2) (1966) - Found by Two Strangers
(6) (1970) - Started school
(12)(1976) - Death of family
||(77-83) - Hunter of the wild
(19)(1983) - Justice
(21)(1985) - Adopted Again
(46)(2010) - Awakened Death
(48)(2012) - Rogue Shinigami Captured
(52)(2016) - Graduates Academy

History:

Origin:
Junko was born as a pure soul in the year 1964 to a noble family in Rukongai. She would be with her parents until the age of two, where events were put into motion that left Junko hurt and separated from her family. Thankfully these incidents did attract attention. While out hunting, Ren Gekdio stumbled upon Junko's lump form in a nearby ditch. She was unconscious, bruised, burned, but thankfully breathing. Ren and his wife Ayana spent weeks of effort to locate the child's parents, in the end, they could not be found. This time spent with her made them adopt her instead of giving her away to the orphanage, in hindsight Ren and Ayana did want a child of their own, but were unable. Junko was able to tell them her first name, but not her last, and thus she took on her adopted family's name "Gekido". Her adopted parent's profession is hunting and thus are rather busy and on the go. Ren Gekdio her father would spend most of the mornings hunting the local wildlife and then most the nights draining and skinning the animals so her mother Ayana could either cook it for tonight's dinner or sell it at the meat shop she manages.

During the years of 1966 to1970 between the ages of two and six, Junko started out and pretty much remained as an introverted child who rarely spoke preferring to keep to herself. However, when she speaks it is a soft quiet voice, with an inviting warmth. Junko between these ages would prefer to read her many books and among these was a large assortment ranging from picture books to larger novels that surpassed her age, this did not stop her from attempting to read them. Thus she was relentless on learning to read as she wanted to know what knowledge and stories of adventure these books held. Junko did not only read books, as when she grew she became quite the hunter and chef by helping out her mother with the storefront and her father with preparing the skin and meat and eventually hunting her first of several kills. When she turned six, she was ready for school.

At school Junko would meet two friends that were twins, Myoko and Tomoji, and they would change her world. Junko would protect these friends as a dragon does its horde. They did everything together and soon became inseparable so much, that when Junko's parents found out that they were living at the local orphanage they adopted them. It would be her whole family that would awaken her Zanpakutō. One fateful night would bring a large raiding force of marauders that raided their village. Junko was out fulfilling the family business this night while her family was back at home. On her return, she was met with a fiery sight. Yelling and screaming could be heard throughout the village. Junko stunned by the chaos, remained in the treeline. While hiding she saw dozens of the villagers either being killed or shackled and carted away. Junko was petrified, the twelve-year-old had just lost everything. Come dawn break when the raiders left, Junko run home, as she ran she would gaze upon the destruction not be able to find anyone alive. She found Tomji dead body, the rest of her family could not be found. She had no idea if they burnt to death while trapped in the many ruined buildings or captured and carted away.

Rise to Power:
On Tomji's body was a box held in his hands tightly with a label saying "Happy birthday Junko". Memories flash back, and everything suddenly clicked together. Regret and guilt flooded Junko's body for she survived because she forgot it was her birthday. Her family wanted to throw a party, this lead to them to send Junko on a hunting errand so they could prepare. In the box was a Yggdrasil amulet which Junko recognized immediately. She was drawn to Norse culture after Tomji mentioned that she looked somewhat Norse. The whole family was very interested in the roots of its members and Tomjii even at a young age was able to find traces of Junko's heritage. He always wanted to go to a college and would always tell Junko that he would find her birth parents. Junko did not care about her past for she had a family right here and always told the twins this.

Now she had just lost them all with no clue where they were. She wore the amulet and made a vow of revenge as she buried Tomji body. Her promise to make those pay and to find or recover her family member remains. Junko being in a hunting family did what she was raised to do, "Hunt". She found the marks that the carriage left in the mud which may leave clues to the raiders base. Junko hunted day and night until exhaustion overcame her weeks later. “They were gone”, she said to herself, the marauders covered their tracks. Junko still has not overcome her guilt. With no leads, her search would stop as she needed to tend to herself and her future. Thus with her hunting skills, she got what she needed and trading for what she lacked. Junko became known as the redhead-kid-hunter within the region among the far outskirts of the Rukongai far from the Seireitei.

Junko's lifestyle and emotional state of what a twelve-year-old should have been, changed forever. Anyone she felt threatened by was permanently removed by either her bow or slicing off one's throat. Her day to day thoughts ranged from "what will I eat today, who will get in my way, how many more have to die." She buried herself into her hunting, moving where the game went. Social interactions or play dates with friends nowhere in sight, she had no one but herself and her wits. This train of thought would evolve but would stay the same until her death, this was the point of no return, where a warrior is born, and the inner girl dies at the age of twelve.

Call to Action:
As Junko came to the firm age of nineteen, she broadened her selection of hunting targets. This started to include other souls, ones that had wrong others in villainous ways. Helping anyone that tipped off the idea, that they had work that needed to be discreet, the coin was a welcome bonus to what she would start to love. This would repeat itself for years as Junko started to enjoy her new line of work. However, her luck ran short as she took more than she could handle, during what should have been a milk run. She was ambushed and about to be executed by a group of raiders as Junko stuck her nose too much in their operations. What neither of them knew was that a mercenary force was tasked with hitting this area, in efforts to mount a campaign to clean the land of raiders. Junko was saved by these mercenaries and a few of them even knew of her including the commander. For years, Junko would join forces with them and battle for money. Junko didn't care about the money, she cared about making sure whoever they fought deserved it. Thus she was an instrumental character in keeping the company's morals from crashing completely.

Many years later during a night patrol, Junko's team was ambushed. She was able to get through with only a few cuts, but her team did not make it. Junko eventually made it back to her camp only to be met with the familiar scene of smoke, fire, yelling and screaming. Her mind flashed back to the night she lost her family, and she was witnessing the loss of yet another. She had failed yet again, the blame went wild inside her heart. She did not know she could feel even more broken as the rage was replaced with tears. She fell to her knees, and with uncontrollable sobbing, she said: "Please...help me." A voice grumbled in her soul, " No one is going to help. Do it yourself." Suddenly a massive wave of spirit pressure flooded Junko's body the Yggdrasil amulet on her neck was the source as it glowed brightly like fire. Wild beastly rage entered her body as Junko suddenly ran off toward the camp. All She remembers this night was that no one was left alive but her. She was soaked in a mix of her blood and that of her enemies. This aftermath would change Junko yet again, her lack of fear was gone, and she was full of feral anger toward anyone that steps in her way. Several did get in her way and found themselves dead.

Her new found power came at a price as she soon would learn. For awhile she was able to wander the land in an endless nightmare of confusion. This involved a repeated pattern of drinking, sleeping, and killing. a nameless soul reaper eventually located her and much to their dismay they were barely able to capture her. Junko was able to fight them off for over three hours before being subdued. The only reason why Junko held out for so long was that the soul reaper tasked with capturing was required to bring her back alive. Too many soul reapers have died, and they could not afford to lose more regardless of the situation.

Junko spent the first two years at The Academy being forced to go through the system or be faced with the removal of her powers which could result in death. Junko was under class arrest until she was deemed fit by her counselors to mingled as a normal student as she needed to be reintegrated into a working society and not the nomadic lifestyle in the barbaric wasteland she survived in. As the years progressed Junko improved and began to see The Academy as a way to move forward to a better life, one that she never thought possible. This leads her counselors and teachers to become shocked at what they found under her feral shell. An intelligent, quiet, and, introverted women that merely wanted to be left alone and read books. Her repeated requests to go the library lead to her brutish stereotype being destroyed as the books were the first step in Junko conforming to life as a Shinigami and co-operating. Knowledge was her treat, and the academy was happy to oblige with her enthusiasm.

The last two years went by smoothly as she obeyed the tasks laid before her. Junko exiled in hand to hand combat, intellectual challenges, and leadership throughout The Academy. However, her kido classes lacked as her ability to perform was missing the vital aspect of spiritual control. In the end, Junko managed to pass the necessary requirements and was one of several Shinigami that did not yet unlock their shikai. Junko's interpersonal relationships stayed limited between her teachers with students staying completely away. Junko more or less prefers this so that she can maximize her distance from unneeded interaction given her unfortunate past. Junko graduated at the academy in four instead of the standard six giving her extensive martial past. This lead to her teachers writes a letter of recommendation of joining the 5th division. Junko was informed to meet with its leadership as soon as possible.