Post by Takahiro Hidekawa on Feb 14, 2021 1:18:52 GMT -5
Right so; this is supposed to be the area where tentative players submit applications so as to be reviewed and approved to join the story by our lovely Game Master, Tony. Although I'm not sure whether I'm allowed to submit this, I'm putting this here preemptively, because GOD do I want to write here again. Without further ado, meet...
Hidekawa, Takahiro
東河,孝大
(Great Man of the East River)
SHINIGAMI
Fifth Seat/Sixth Division
![]()
Personnel File
Age: 160
Birthday: July 4th
Gender: Male
Ethnicity: Japanese
Physical Specifications
Height and Weight: 5'9"
Eyes: Hazel
Hair: Light Brown
General Appearance: Takahiro is a lithe man of average height (or perhaps a bit above average by Japanese standards). While his physique borders on muscular, the degree to which this is visible largely depends on whether he's clothed or not. He's certainly not a burly or thick-necked man. As such, he appears skinny to most passerby viewers. Additionally, his long legs and similarly lanky arms add to this appearance significantly. Taka's face is young, as is he; with the exception of a light scar that runs along the left side of his neck, he appears clean and composed. His light hazel eyes compliment his softer features nicely, and his long, tied brown hair always looks well-kept, with the exception a few single strands that drip over his forehead, much to the man's annoyance. Topping off his face is his pointed, albeit not-too-lengthy nose. As far as his clothing is concerned, Taka always wears his Shihakusho with a white belt, his equally white scabbard always tied to his right hip. When off duty, Taka likes to relax in grey cloth slacks and a red cloth robe with a black undershirt. Takahiro is a largely calming presence; he doesn't wear stern features on his face, which bears few wrinkles if any at all, and while he maintains good posture, is not foreign to allowing himself to slouch a tad. His voice isn't too deep, neither is it particularly shrill, but it carries a casual weight that indicates that whatever words he is speaking, he means.
Psychological Profile
Hidekawa Takahiro isn't a complicated man on the surface. He likes his tea green, his meat spicy, and his teeth clean. When conversing with him, he is polite, well-spoken, but not afraid to tell a joke. Put simply he's relaxed. Any hyperactivity comes from how eager he is to show his motivation to his superiors. Often, one might find him tidying up whatever area he's in for any extended period of time, simply out of a desire to keep things pretty. That isn't to say he's superficial; quite the opposite. Takahiro genuinely does derive joy from the smiles of other people. He only means to keep others happy, and the easiest way to do that is to eliminate whatever is causing issues. This goes for dirt on a plate out of the Division's galley just as much as it goes for the criminals he apprehends. While perhaps not a member of the Old Guard himself, Takahiro has come to view the current populist uprising as nothing but one enormous source of discontent for everybody; the populists themselves included. Thus, he spends his days rooting out insurrectionists, threats to the Gotei themselves, as well as swiftly dealing with any lesser troublemakers who happen to be doing something they shouldn't.
Unfortunately, calm as he appears, Takahiro has something of a secret. That is to say; he loves his job. Perhaps a little too much. Taka was originally placed in the 11th Division as soon as he was released from the Academy as his instructors observed in him what they called a "penchant for violence". A century in the depths of the East Rukongai molded him into an unwillingly ruthless man, and it has taken the last fifty years of service to the Seireitei to break that same, spiny shell. As such, Taka spends much of his mental energy suppressing the instincts he developed, the murderous mentality that kept him alive in the past. In combat, he struggles with this even more, but it is that same suppression that makes him so effective. By having been morally forced to learn self control for not just himself, but those around him, Taka has become an exemplary representation of the perceived stability a Shinigami must display to do good on the name of the Thirteen Court Guard Squads. By redirecting this violent energy into that of necessary punishment, he enables himself to have a form of release, all the while serving his division faithfully. He's not happy that he has to repress this side of himself, but at the same time, that fact in and of itself bothers him, so again, he represses that unhappiness. With so much happening under the hood, Taka has been known to want to simply shut it all off once in a while. As such, he drinks. And then drinks some more. And then some more. Hidekawa Takahiro is, regardless of whatever else, an alcoholic. Finally, it is important to emphasize that, while he works to control, is aware of, and even detests the fact that he experiences such bloodlust, Taka's moral compass still relies on an external force. That force, being loyalty. By thrusting himself into blatant loyalty for a cause he, at least on a surface level, believes in, he keeps himself steady. Unfortunately, this has the side effect of blinding him to the darker side of those organizations he remains loyal to. The day Taka achieves the ability to guide himself, his world will change forever in the wake of realization.
Positive Traits
Empathy - Takahiro is an empathetic person; he seeks, more than anything, to help. As such, he often takes on the hardships of his fellow Shinigami, both literally and emotionally.
Levelheaded - Takahiro, having learned the art of the sword formally both in life and in death, is a calm individual, even in the face of danger.
Hardworking - Takahiro is motivated to change for the better. Whether that means he spends time honing his skills with his sword or improving his interactions with other people, he enjoys growing as a person.
Introspective - Takahiro spends a large amount of his time meditating, contemplating mindfulness and cultivating his understanding of himself. As such, he is aware of his flaws as a person.
Negative Traits
Disingenuous - With very few exceptions, Takahiro never allows himself to truly open up around others. Most of the time, his persona is trapped somewhere between being a front, and a genuine attempt at being a decent person.
Bloodlust - This is a trait Taka acquired unwillingly. His first years in the Rukongai were a painful lesson that taught him one thing; the world was kill or be killed. Unfortunately, over the century or so he spent there, he acquired a distasteful enjoyment for the bloodbaths he caused. Taka is constantly at odds with this part of himself.
Anxious - Takahiro, calm as he seems, is always on edge. Nervous about himself, nervous that he's let his superiors and comrades now, nervous that a girl he's taken a liking too noticed that he forgot flatten his Shihakusho this morning, there's always something eating at Taka's brain. This leads him to..."unfortunate" coping mechanisms, such as-
Alcoholism - Being a person who keeps so much of himself bottled up, it makes sense that Taka lives by the bottle itself. He's never drunk on the job, or during meetings, but much of his free time is spent drinking. It's the one way he can just stop thinking for a while, and being a person who spends so much of his time inside his head, battling with himself, he has all the more reason to thirst for that escape.
Zanpakuto - Yureihasu/Ghost Lotus
Zanpakuto Spirit and Inner World
Yureihasu takes the form of a tall, white-haired ghost of a man, who is often clad in an equally white robe. His eyes are grey, his lips are pale; there is no color to him. Naturally, the world it inhabits would be contrary to this. The vast majority of the landscape is taken up by a knee-deep blood-red lake, all of which surrounds a single small, tranquil, and grassy island at its center. Adorning the island is a small, walk-in Shintō shrine to a long-forgotten God. This shrine is where Yureihasu usually dwells. The spirit himself speaks lightly, as if he is being very careful to maintain decorum and an air of tentative, if not forced kindness. His interactions with Taka in this form are largely very calm, relaxing conversations. This all changes when the sword the spirit inhabits begins to draw blood. While being used in a sealed state, Yureihasu can contain its mania, but if released, and especially if turned invisible, the spirit has been known to dance in the red lake surrounding its home, displaying an almost childlike joy in ruining its clothes before going back to sleep as if nothing had happened; often, it takes naps, not interacting with Taka whatsoever for days at a time after having been released. This part of Takahiro’s soul represents his deepest struggle; the disparity between his desire to keep peace and that of his learned instincts; to kill or be killed. Having grown up in the Rukongai, that was of course, the way things were. Despite this though, Takahiro is naturally a peaceful man; hence the fact that his sword dislikes being drawn if it is not absolutely needed. The price of blood is not entirely one of desire, but a reminder that a weapon is to be used only when necessary. As the spirit reflects this part of Taka's soul, its emotions often mirror his, and thus his relationship with the spirit goes from that of mutual peace and respect, to that of mutual aggression. It is worth noting that, as he spends a very large portion of his time practicing both mindfulness and self-awareness, Takahiro spends a similarly large portion of that time inside his Inner World, conversing with Yureihasu and building trust with him, as their relationship, so dependent on Taka's emotional state, was initially very fragile.
Sealed Zanpakutō
Taka’s sealed zanpakuto is about simple in appearance as they come. Held in a lightly decorated white sheathe on his right hip, the scabbard is positioned perfectly for Iaidō (quick-draw) strikes, a hallmark of Takaoaka’s very samurai-like swordplay. The blade itself is a Muromachi-era 75-centimeter Katana (2.5-ish shaku, a common measurement for sword length in feudal Japan), with a straight Hamon design running across the top of the edged side of the blade.
Shikai Appearance
"Aku Wo (O) Miruna, Yureihasu"
"See No Evil, Ghost Lotus"
Yureihasu, contrary to what might be expected of a released zanpakuto, initially bears little change in appearance to its original counterpart. The only differences are that the sword’s scabbard grows significantly longer, increasing to about 120-centimeters in length (approximately 4 shaku). Despite this, upon drawing the blade, the sword itself appears to remain the same.
Shikai Abilities
Of course, the above only applies when Taka isn’t using his Shikai’s ability. By quickly touching a hand to his scabbard, Taka can turn the usually white item into a dark-red-colored equivalent. If Yureihasu is drawn from the scabbard when red, its blade is invisible to all but Takaoaka himself. The handle and tsuba remain visible, but the sword itself appears to have completely vanished. While invisible, Yureihasu’s blade takes on the form of, you guessed it, an enormous 120-centimeter Odachi sword. This blade has the same physical presence of a normal sword, and is able to interact with both other objects (I.E strike other swords) and living things; it simply has no visual presence. To mitigate the problem of drawing such a large blade, it extends into this form as it is being unsheathed, thus only reaching its full length after being fully removed from the scabbard.
Almost twice the length of the average Japanese sword, Odachi were often used as anti-calvary weapons; not to strike down a horseman, mind you, but to strike down the horse. Despite the seemingly overwhelming advantage provided by an invisible, utterly enormous blade, there are two ways through which an opponent can mitigate this ability. First and foremost, an opponent exceedingly skilled in Reiatsu Perception (Advantaged compared to Takaoaka’s Zanpakuto Resonance), can visually perceive the blade as a sword-shaped mass of white energy. Secondly, if Taka’s opponent manages to touch his scabbard while the blade is invisible, it will immediately return to a white color, the sword will once again become visible, and the scabbard will not be able to be turned red until the next time Yureihasu is released. Last but not least; Yureihasu is a “hungry” sword. Whether that hunger be for justice or simply violence is yet to be determined, but in any case, it has two restrictions on its usage. If the sword is re-sheathed after being turned invisible, it will immediately revert back to its sealed state. Second, the sword cannot be re-sheathed after being drawn while the scabbard is red until it has “tasted” blood of some kind.
Notably, Takahiro hates his Shikai. Having spent his entire career as a Shinigami trying to learn to abide by the warrior's honor that he (unknowingly) lived by during his human life, he sees an invisible sword as something of a dishonorable ability. Because of this, very few people have seen the man release his sword, and among those who have, even fewer have ever seen him dye his scabbard red.
Documented History
Prologue
Born to a Samurai and his consort, Hidekawa Takahiro was named for the land of his birth and the type of man his father wanted him to be. With a name literally meaning "Great Man of the East River", his father clearly had high expectations. Thankfully, Taka spent his early life living up to these standards quite nicely. At six he began learning to wield a sword through his father, and by fourteen he could best him; needless to say, Taka had a natural talent for the art of killing. Unfortunately, great as he may have lived to become, Taka was born into a period not of peace, but of war. Riding into battle for the first time at sixteen, he watched his father fall from his horse, an arrow lodged through his skull. Takahiro spent the rest of that battle slaughtering any man holding a bow who he could find, all in the hopes of bringing honor to a man who he knew, even then, that time would quickly forget. His second battle went much better, a decisive victory for his liege lord in which Taka played a heavy part, slaying the enemy general himself. High off of the glory of victory, Taka died an hour into his third battle, his head separated from his shoulders by an opponent wielding an Odachi, a Northern weapon of tremendous size which he had never encountered in his seventeen years of life. Nonetheless, Taka's last thoughts were of confusion, and then of annoyance; he knew he shouldn't have gotten cocky.
The next thing he knew, he found himself lying on the ground of a forest in tattered robes, a line of people who seemed just as disoriented as he did stretching out in front of him. After rubbing away a mysterious, faint pain in his neck, Taka joined the line. This was, as Taka came to know it, the Rukongai, and would be the man's home for the next century or so. Takahiro was unlucky enough to be sent in the direction of the 70th district of East Rukongai, a place that reminded him of the late Heian-Era towns he'd seen depicted in paintings from his father's youth. Who was his father, again? And how did he get here in the first place? Questions for later. Questions that, as the years went on, went unanswered, and eventually became un-asked. In their place, Taka was far too preoccupied with trying to stay alive to worry about such trivial things.
The 70th district of East Rukongai was close to as bad as things got in the Soul Society, Taka soon found. His first day there consisted of wandering about, trying to address an aching in his stomach, hunger, that nobody else seemed to possess when he asked them about it. Eventually, after asking what he thought to be a simple request for water and meat at a strangely empty local tavern, Taka found himself cornered by a trio of burly men who claimed that all the food in this area belonged to them. Takahiro went to bed bruised that day. The next day was worse; he made the mistake of telling the trio, very publicly, that their control over the district was unjust and should come to an end. The resulting beating left Taka worse than bruised; he had cuts of all sorts, and wounds that would have been fatal to any man...provided he hadn't been saved. Taka woke three days later in the home of an old woman, who as it turned out, happened to be the only person to offer any help to him after he lost consciousness that day. Over the next month, she nursed him back to health, and even provided him with food! She was a healer of sorts, and as such, was one of the few who both needed and possessed any sort of material sustenance. As he recovered, Taka's eyes kept drifting to an item above the woman's mantle; a Katana. The woman, when asked, informed him that it had belonged to her husband, who had passed away when a rogue hollow had struck the town. Confused as ever, Taka asked what a hollow was. This was his introduction to the concept of a Shinigami.
Nevertheless, as he left the woman's house, healed, Takahiro asked a favor of the woman; he wanted to borrow the sword, feeling an almost instinctual tie to it. Obliging, the woman gave him the blade and told him to keep it, as she neither had use for it or particularly enjoyed looking at it as a grim reminder of her husband's death. That day, the three men who had struck him down before found themselves impaled. It was kill or be killed in the Rukongai, Taka had quickly realized. Unfortunately, killing the criminals, while providing joy to the townspeople, did little to actually solve the problem. More bandits came, then more, and by the time that group had been dealt with in its entirety, Taka was something of a bandit himself. When he couldn't get what he needed to survive, he took it, and eventually, he started taking what he wanted. A delirious red haze engulfed him for near a century, and the only thing that brought him out of it was the sword of another; the first blade to sink into his flesh in years. This man was a Shinigami, and he was here to take Taka, whether he liked it or not, to the Shin'o Academy.
Relevant Background
Takahiro maintained little from his previous life as a human in his death, but the two things he did keep were his appearance and his unnaturally keen talent for swordsmanship. This did not go unnoticed by his teachers, who were fully aware of his background. With the exception of a single scar along his neck which they knew to have been left by the Shinigami who had recruited him, Takahiro's body bore no evidence of previous cuts or any other wounds. On the flip-side, those who tried to teach him the wisdom associated with Kido and its various forms met a brick wall; Taka had, even at his worst, valued an honorable duel, and had a strange disdain for weapons which struck from outside of melee range. Hado, and by extension, even the more passive Bakudo, didn't interest him. Despite this, the other skills of Shinigami were quickly imparted unto him, as Taka began to find purpose in displaying his growth for the others around him. Additionally, while no longer in an environment that required him to be so violent, going so long without seeing a clean sword had warped Taka. At first, he wasn't sure how to talk to people without fearing they wanted something from him. Over the course of his first year, this awkwardness diminished, but the man remained on edge. Even after graduating the Academy and being placed in the Eleventh Division, he struggled with repressing the bloodlust he had acquired over time.
Thankfully, he didn't have to work at it alone. Amano Yuu, a former Eleventh Division member and current Sixth Division seated officer acted as a guiding light to Taka when he desperately needed one. As a man who took special interest in fresh graduates, Yuu both nurtured Taka's skills as a Shinigami and his way of thinking as a person. With his help over the course of a decade, Taka acquired both a lifelong friend and the will he need to calm himself down. He knew, above all else, that he detested the violence he was capable of, and even more so detested the fact that the enjoyed it. So, Taka took upon the desire to keep the peace, and when the time finally came, he transferred to the Sixth Division himself, working alongside Yuu to rid the Seireitei and the Rukongai of crime, so as to create a world where "kill or be killed" didn't need to be the mentality people lived by. This transfer proved to be a catalyst for Taka's growth in and of itself. While his previous company had been known for promoting violence for its own sake, the Sixth gave a defined purpose to such actions, and often emphasized a lack of lethality. This was healthy for the man, as it put into practice not only the restrain that he had learned, but began to give way to a safer form of release for that same lust. That same release gave way to another; the release of Taka's Zanpakuto. For years, he had conversed with a quiet, ever-increasingly peaceful man dressed in white inside his sword. This increasing peacefulness was directly representative of Taka's suppression of his desire to kill. By then redirecting that desire, he grew in a way the spirit deemed necessary to give Takahiro its name; Yureihasu.
With this development in his past, Takahiro spent his next three decades learning to wield this new power, honing his swordsmanship, and rising steadily through the ranks of the Sixth Division, where he now sits as the Fifth Seat; a single position behind his mentor, Yuu. They now work side by side to rid the Seireitei of crime, and now, more than ever, this job has become important. In his fifty-first year as a Shinigami, unrest in the world of the living has left Takahiro pulling himself in ten different directions. The Rukongai is overflowing and shortages of resources have left bandits as an ever-growing force, and on top of that, the Seireitei is internally experiencing a schism. Drawn to the old guard but not quite a member of it himself, Taka seeks, more than anything, to return things to a state of relative peace. He tries to accomplish this by rooting out any and all populist insurrectionists who he can find. This puts him at odds, not only with other members of the Gotei 13, but with other members of his own Division, many of whom believe their job as peacekeepers has become nothing more than a symbol of the Nobility's power over the commoners. Little by little, Taka seeks to do good by his sworn responsibility, all the while ignoring the disparaging and outright heretical words of some of those around him. Yet, an ache in the back of his mind tells him that perhaps, he isn't doing all the good he could be. Perhaps, he really had become a dog of the nobles and Central 46.
As he'd said more than a century ago; those were questions for later.
Hidekawa, Takahiro
東河,孝大
(Great Man of the East River)
SHINIGAMI
Fifth Seat/Sixth Division
Personnel File
Age: 160
Birthday: July 4th
Gender: Male
Ethnicity: Japanese
Physical Specifications
Height and Weight: 5'9"
Eyes: Hazel
Hair: Light Brown
General Appearance: Takahiro is a lithe man of average height (or perhaps a bit above average by Japanese standards). While his physique borders on muscular, the degree to which this is visible largely depends on whether he's clothed or not. He's certainly not a burly or thick-necked man. As such, he appears skinny to most passerby viewers. Additionally, his long legs and similarly lanky arms add to this appearance significantly. Taka's face is young, as is he; with the exception of a light scar that runs along the left side of his neck, he appears clean and composed. His light hazel eyes compliment his softer features nicely, and his long, tied brown hair always looks well-kept, with the exception a few single strands that drip over his forehead, much to the man's annoyance. Topping off his face is his pointed, albeit not-too-lengthy nose. As far as his clothing is concerned, Taka always wears his Shihakusho with a white belt, his equally white scabbard always tied to his right hip. When off duty, Taka likes to relax in grey cloth slacks and a red cloth robe with a black undershirt. Takahiro is a largely calming presence; he doesn't wear stern features on his face, which bears few wrinkles if any at all, and while he maintains good posture, is not foreign to allowing himself to slouch a tad. His voice isn't too deep, neither is it particularly shrill, but it carries a casual weight that indicates that whatever words he is speaking, he means.
Psychological Profile
Hidekawa Takahiro isn't a complicated man on the surface. He likes his tea green, his meat spicy, and his teeth clean. When conversing with him, he is polite, well-spoken, but not afraid to tell a joke. Put simply he's relaxed. Any hyperactivity comes from how eager he is to show his motivation to his superiors. Often, one might find him tidying up whatever area he's in for any extended period of time, simply out of a desire to keep things pretty. That isn't to say he's superficial; quite the opposite. Takahiro genuinely does derive joy from the smiles of other people. He only means to keep others happy, and the easiest way to do that is to eliminate whatever is causing issues. This goes for dirt on a plate out of the Division's galley just as much as it goes for the criminals he apprehends. While perhaps not a member of the Old Guard himself, Takahiro has come to view the current populist uprising as nothing but one enormous source of discontent for everybody; the populists themselves included. Thus, he spends his days rooting out insurrectionists, threats to the Gotei themselves, as well as swiftly dealing with any lesser troublemakers who happen to be doing something they shouldn't.
Unfortunately, calm as he appears, Takahiro has something of a secret. That is to say; he loves his job. Perhaps a little too much. Taka was originally placed in the 11th Division as soon as he was released from the Academy as his instructors observed in him what they called a "penchant for violence". A century in the depths of the East Rukongai molded him into an unwillingly ruthless man, and it has taken the last fifty years of service to the Seireitei to break that same, spiny shell. As such, Taka spends much of his mental energy suppressing the instincts he developed, the murderous mentality that kept him alive in the past. In combat, he struggles with this even more, but it is that same suppression that makes him so effective. By having been morally forced to learn self control for not just himself, but those around him, Taka has become an exemplary representation of the perceived stability a Shinigami must display to do good on the name of the Thirteen Court Guard Squads. By redirecting this violent energy into that of necessary punishment, he enables himself to have a form of release, all the while serving his division faithfully. He's not happy that he has to repress this side of himself, but at the same time, that fact in and of itself bothers him, so again, he represses that unhappiness. With so much happening under the hood, Taka has been known to want to simply shut it all off once in a while. As such, he drinks. And then drinks some more. And then some more. Hidekawa Takahiro is, regardless of whatever else, an alcoholic. Finally, it is important to emphasize that, while he works to control, is aware of, and even detests the fact that he experiences such bloodlust, Taka's moral compass still relies on an external force. That force, being loyalty. By thrusting himself into blatant loyalty for a cause he, at least on a surface level, believes in, he keeps himself steady. Unfortunately, this has the side effect of blinding him to the darker side of those organizations he remains loyal to. The day Taka achieves the ability to guide himself, his world will change forever in the wake of realization.
Positive Traits
Empathy - Takahiro is an empathetic person; he seeks, more than anything, to help. As such, he often takes on the hardships of his fellow Shinigami, both literally and emotionally.
Levelheaded - Takahiro, having learned the art of the sword formally both in life and in death, is a calm individual, even in the face of danger.
Hardworking - Takahiro is motivated to change for the better. Whether that means he spends time honing his skills with his sword or improving his interactions with other people, he enjoys growing as a person.
Introspective - Takahiro spends a large amount of his time meditating, contemplating mindfulness and cultivating his understanding of himself. As such, he is aware of his flaws as a person.
Negative Traits
Disingenuous - With very few exceptions, Takahiro never allows himself to truly open up around others. Most of the time, his persona is trapped somewhere between being a front, and a genuine attempt at being a decent person.
Bloodlust - This is a trait Taka acquired unwillingly. His first years in the Rukongai were a painful lesson that taught him one thing; the world was kill or be killed. Unfortunately, over the century or so he spent there, he acquired a distasteful enjoyment for the bloodbaths he caused. Taka is constantly at odds with this part of himself.
Anxious - Takahiro, calm as he seems, is always on edge. Nervous about himself, nervous that he's let his superiors and comrades now, nervous that a girl he's taken a liking too noticed that he forgot flatten his Shihakusho this morning, there's always something eating at Taka's brain. This leads him to..."unfortunate" coping mechanisms, such as-
Alcoholism - Being a person who keeps so much of himself bottled up, it makes sense that Taka lives by the bottle itself. He's never drunk on the job, or during meetings, but much of his free time is spent drinking. It's the one way he can just stop thinking for a while, and being a person who spends so much of his time inside his head, battling with himself, he has all the more reason to thirst for that escape.
Zanpakuto - Yureihasu/Ghost Lotus
Zanpakuto Spirit and Inner World
Yureihasu takes the form of a tall, white-haired ghost of a man, who is often clad in an equally white robe. His eyes are grey, his lips are pale; there is no color to him. Naturally, the world it inhabits would be contrary to this. The vast majority of the landscape is taken up by a knee-deep blood-red lake, all of which surrounds a single small, tranquil, and grassy island at its center. Adorning the island is a small, walk-in Shintō shrine to a long-forgotten God. This shrine is where Yureihasu usually dwells. The spirit himself speaks lightly, as if he is being very careful to maintain decorum and an air of tentative, if not forced kindness. His interactions with Taka in this form are largely very calm, relaxing conversations. This all changes when the sword the spirit inhabits begins to draw blood. While being used in a sealed state, Yureihasu can contain its mania, but if released, and especially if turned invisible, the spirit has been known to dance in the red lake surrounding its home, displaying an almost childlike joy in ruining its clothes before going back to sleep as if nothing had happened; often, it takes naps, not interacting with Taka whatsoever for days at a time after having been released. This part of Takahiro’s soul represents his deepest struggle; the disparity between his desire to keep peace and that of his learned instincts; to kill or be killed. Having grown up in the Rukongai, that was of course, the way things were. Despite this though, Takahiro is naturally a peaceful man; hence the fact that his sword dislikes being drawn if it is not absolutely needed. The price of blood is not entirely one of desire, but a reminder that a weapon is to be used only when necessary. As the spirit reflects this part of Taka's soul, its emotions often mirror his, and thus his relationship with the spirit goes from that of mutual peace and respect, to that of mutual aggression. It is worth noting that, as he spends a very large portion of his time practicing both mindfulness and self-awareness, Takahiro spends a similarly large portion of that time inside his Inner World, conversing with Yureihasu and building trust with him, as their relationship, so dependent on Taka's emotional state, was initially very fragile.
Sealed Zanpakutō
Taka’s sealed zanpakuto is about simple in appearance as they come. Held in a lightly decorated white sheathe on his right hip, the scabbard is positioned perfectly for Iaidō (quick-draw) strikes, a hallmark of Takaoaka’s very samurai-like swordplay. The blade itself is a Muromachi-era 75-centimeter Katana (2.5-ish shaku, a common measurement for sword length in feudal Japan), with a straight Hamon design running across the top of the edged side of the blade.
Shikai Appearance
"Aku Wo (O) Miruna, Yureihasu"
"See No Evil, Ghost Lotus"
Yureihasu, contrary to what might be expected of a released zanpakuto, initially bears little change in appearance to its original counterpart. The only differences are that the sword’s scabbard grows significantly longer, increasing to about 120-centimeters in length (approximately 4 shaku). Despite this, upon drawing the blade, the sword itself appears to remain the same.
Shikai Abilities
Of course, the above only applies when Taka isn’t using his Shikai’s ability. By quickly touching a hand to his scabbard, Taka can turn the usually white item into a dark-red-colored equivalent. If Yureihasu is drawn from the scabbard when red, its blade is invisible to all but Takaoaka himself. The handle and tsuba remain visible, but the sword itself appears to have completely vanished. While invisible, Yureihasu’s blade takes on the form of, you guessed it, an enormous 120-centimeter Odachi sword. This blade has the same physical presence of a normal sword, and is able to interact with both other objects (I.E strike other swords) and living things; it simply has no visual presence. To mitigate the problem of drawing such a large blade, it extends into this form as it is being unsheathed, thus only reaching its full length after being fully removed from the scabbard.
Almost twice the length of the average Japanese sword, Odachi were often used as anti-calvary weapons; not to strike down a horseman, mind you, but to strike down the horse. Despite the seemingly overwhelming advantage provided by an invisible, utterly enormous blade, there are two ways through which an opponent can mitigate this ability. First and foremost, an opponent exceedingly skilled in Reiatsu Perception (Advantaged compared to Takaoaka’s Zanpakuto Resonance), can visually perceive the blade as a sword-shaped mass of white energy. Secondly, if Taka’s opponent manages to touch his scabbard while the blade is invisible, it will immediately return to a white color, the sword will once again become visible, and the scabbard will not be able to be turned red until the next time Yureihasu is released. Last but not least; Yureihasu is a “hungry” sword. Whether that hunger be for justice or simply violence is yet to be determined, but in any case, it has two restrictions on its usage. If the sword is re-sheathed after being turned invisible, it will immediately revert back to its sealed state. Second, the sword cannot be re-sheathed after being drawn while the scabbard is red until it has “tasted” blood of some kind.
Notably, Takahiro hates his Shikai. Having spent his entire career as a Shinigami trying to learn to abide by the warrior's honor that he (unknowingly) lived by during his human life, he sees an invisible sword as something of a dishonorable ability. Because of this, very few people have seen the man release his sword, and among those who have, even fewer have ever seen him dye his scabbard red.
Documented History
Prologue
Born to a Samurai and his consort, Hidekawa Takahiro was named for the land of his birth and the type of man his father wanted him to be. With a name literally meaning "Great Man of the East River", his father clearly had high expectations. Thankfully, Taka spent his early life living up to these standards quite nicely. At six he began learning to wield a sword through his father, and by fourteen he could best him; needless to say, Taka had a natural talent for the art of killing. Unfortunately, great as he may have lived to become, Taka was born into a period not of peace, but of war. Riding into battle for the first time at sixteen, he watched his father fall from his horse, an arrow lodged through his skull. Takahiro spent the rest of that battle slaughtering any man holding a bow who he could find, all in the hopes of bringing honor to a man who he knew, even then, that time would quickly forget. His second battle went much better, a decisive victory for his liege lord in which Taka played a heavy part, slaying the enemy general himself. High off of the glory of victory, Taka died an hour into his third battle, his head separated from his shoulders by an opponent wielding an Odachi, a Northern weapon of tremendous size which he had never encountered in his seventeen years of life. Nonetheless, Taka's last thoughts were of confusion, and then of annoyance; he knew he shouldn't have gotten cocky.
The next thing he knew, he found himself lying on the ground of a forest in tattered robes, a line of people who seemed just as disoriented as he did stretching out in front of him. After rubbing away a mysterious, faint pain in his neck, Taka joined the line. This was, as Taka came to know it, the Rukongai, and would be the man's home for the next century or so. Takahiro was unlucky enough to be sent in the direction of the 70th district of East Rukongai, a place that reminded him of the late Heian-Era towns he'd seen depicted in paintings from his father's youth. Who was his father, again? And how did he get here in the first place? Questions for later. Questions that, as the years went on, went unanswered, and eventually became un-asked. In their place, Taka was far too preoccupied with trying to stay alive to worry about such trivial things.
The 70th district of East Rukongai was close to as bad as things got in the Soul Society, Taka soon found. His first day there consisted of wandering about, trying to address an aching in his stomach, hunger, that nobody else seemed to possess when he asked them about it. Eventually, after asking what he thought to be a simple request for water and meat at a strangely empty local tavern, Taka found himself cornered by a trio of burly men who claimed that all the food in this area belonged to them. Takahiro went to bed bruised that day. The next day was worse; he made the mistake of telling the trio, very publicly, that their control over the district was unjust and should come to an end. The resulting beating left Taka worse than bruised; he had cuts of all sorts, and wounds that would have been fatal to any man...provided he hadn't been saved. Taka woke three days later in the home of an old woman, who as it turned out, happened to be the only person to offer any help to him after he lost consciousness that day. Over the next month, she nursed him back to health, and even provided him with food! She was a healer of sorts, and as such, was one of the few who both needed and possessed any sort of material sustenance. As he recovered, Taka's eyes kept drifting to an item above the woman's mantle; a Katana. The woman, when asked, informed him that it had belonged to her husband, who had passed away when a rogue hollow had struck the town. Confused as ever, Taka asked what a hollow was. This was his introduction to the concept of a Shinigami.
Nevertheless, as he left the woman's house, healed, Takahiro asked a favor of the woman; he wanted to borrow the sword, feeling an almost instinctual tie to it. Obliging, the woman gave him the blade and told him to keep it, as she neither had use for it or particularly enjoyed looking at it as a grim reminder of her husband's death. That day, the three men who had struck him down before found themselves impaled. It was kill or be killed in the Rukongai, Taka had quickly realized. Unfortunately, killing the criminals, while providing joy to the townspeople, did little to actually solve the problem. More bandits came, then more, and by the time that group had been dealt with in its entirety, Taka was something of a bandit himself. When he couldn't get what he needed to survive, he took it, and eventually, he started taking what he wanted. A delirious red haze engulfed him for near a century, and the only thing that brought him out of it was the sword of another; the first blade to sink into his flesh in years. This man was a Shinigami, and he was here to take Taka, whether he liked it or not, to the Shin'o Academy.
Relevant Background
Takahiro maintained little from his previous life as a human in his death, but the two things he did keep were his appearance and his unnaturally keen talent for swordsmanship. This did not go unnoticed by his teachers, who were fully aware of his background. With the exception of a single scar along his neck which they knew to have been left by the Shinigami who had recruited him, Takahiro's body bore no evidence of previous cuts or any other wounds. On the flip-side, those who tried to teach him the wisdom associated with Kido and its various forms met a brick wall; Taka had, even at his worst, valued an honorable duel, and had a strange disdain for weapons which struck from outside of melee range. Hado, and by extension, even the more passive Bakudo, didn't interest him. Despite this, the other skills of Shinigami were quickly imparted unto him, as Taka began to find purpose in displaying his growth for the others around him. Additionally, while no longer in an environment that required him to be so violent, going so long without seeing a clean sword had warped Taka. At first, he wasn't sure how to talk to people without fearing they wanted something from him. Over the course of his first year, this awkwardness diminished, but the man remained on edge. Even after graduating the Academy and being placed in the Eleventh Division, he struggled with repressing the bloodlust he had acquired over time.
Thankfully, he didn't have to work at it alone. Amano Yuu, a former Eleventh Division member and current Sixth Division seated officer acted as a guiding light to Taka when he desperately needed one. As a man who took special interest in fresh graduates, Yuu both nurtured Taka's skills as a Shinigami and his way of thinking as a person. With his help over the course of a decade, Taka acquired both a lifelong friend and the will he need to calm himself down. He knew, above all else, that he detested the violence he was capable of, and even more so detested the fact that the enjoyed it. So, Taka took upon the desire to keep the peace, and when the time finally came, he transferred to the Sixth Division himself, working alongside Yuu to rid the Seireitei and the Rukongai of crime, so as to create a world where "kill or be killed" didn't need to be the mentality people lived by. This transfer proved to be a catalyst for Taka's growth in and of itself. While his previous company had been known for promoting violence for its own sake, the Sixth gave a defined purpose to such actions, and often emphasized a lack of lethality. This was healthy for the man, as it put into practice not only the restrain that he had learned, but began to give way to a safer form of release for that same lust. That same release gave way to another; the release of Taka's Zanpakuto. For years, he had conversed with a quiet, ever-increasingly peaceful man dressed in white inside his sword. This increasing peacefulness was directly representative of Taka's suppression of his desire to kill. By then redirecting that desire, he grew in a way the spirit deemed necessary to give Takahiro its name; Yureihasu.
With this development in his past, Takahiro spent his next three decades learning to wield this new power, honing his swordsmanship, and rising steadily through the ranks of the Sixth Division, where he now sits as the Fifth Seat; a single position behind his mentor, Yuu. They now work side by side to rid the Seireitei of crime, and now, more than ever, this job has become important. In his fifty-first year as a Shinigami, unrest in the world of the living has left Takahiro pulling himself in ten different directions. The Rukongai is overflowing and shortages of resources have left bandits as an ever-growing force, and on top of that, the Seireitei is internally experiencing a schism. Drawn to the old guard but not quite a member of it himself, Taka seeks, more than anything, to return things to a state of relative peace. He tries to accomplish this by rooting out any and all populist insurrectionists who he can find. This puts him at odds, not only with other members of the Gotei 13, but with other members of his own Division, many of whom believe their job as peacekeepers has become nothing more than a symbol of the Nobility's power over the commoners. Little by little, Taka seeks to do good by his sworn responsibility, all the while ignoring the disparaging and outright heretical words of some of those around him. Yet, an ache in the back of his mind tells him that perhaps, he isn't doing all the good he could be. Perhaps, he really had become a dog of the nobles and Central 46.
As he'd said more than a century ago; those were questions for later.
