Hitoshii Hayashi, Theatrical Genius

[Hitoshii Hayashi]

Name: Hitoshii Hayashi
Age: 446 (looks 25)
Gender: Male
Personality:

The zodiac system of China states that every person has three distinct personae; an outer persona that is the most commonly shown, an inner persona that shows itself during times of crisis or serious events, and a secret persona that represents the things that are hidden from others.

Hitoshii’s outer persona is that of the outgoing, fun-loving, easy-drinking, skirt-chasing, prideful man. Hitoshii will gladly join a friend for a drink, enjoys a friendly sparring match or wager and makes a regular habit of boasting about the skills of himself and his close friends. Around those of the fairer sex Hitoshii is something of a romantic; he is known to shower the women he meets with compliments and is eager to show off his skills as a warrior and an actor around them. During battle Hitoshii will often insult and taunt his opponent with theatre-based puns.

His inner persona is that of the loyal, devoted, determined soldier. Hitoshii would only question the order of his superiors if he believed it would result in major disaster. Always one to respect hierarchy, Hitoshii is very respectful to those higher ranked than him among the Gotei 13, even those in other divisions. This persona will appear during battle if Hitoshii’s opponent seems to be his match or stronger, casting aside his jokes for a serious, focused mind.

Hitoshii’s secret persona contains all of the regrets and problems of his life; the regret of being unable to prevent the death of his lord while he was still human, the regret at being so wracked with guilt that he became a hollow for a short time after his death, and his own inner turmoil at discovering the real him, the actor or the warrior.

Appearance:

Hitoshii is considerably tall for one of Japanese ethnicity; standing at an impressive 5’10” with a majority of his height in his lower body causing him to stand tall, but sit short. Though he is physically fit due to his career as a shinigami, Hitoshii’s build tends toward the lean side, his weight an average 155 lbs. He dyes his long hair a white-silver, worn in a low ponytail reaching down to his upper back. His eyes are a dark green that seem more like those of a hawk than those of a human. His face is clean shaven, as repeatedly dyeing a beard is a hassle he does not want to deal with. He usually wears standard shinigami attire but swaps the standard issue sandals for a pair of wooden geta.

Zanpakuto Spirit:

Hitoshii’s Zanpakuto, Gekijō, appears as a six-armed man; wearing an elaborately patterned silver kimono with a plain white hakama, and one of the two iconic theatric masks on his face, holding a scroll in five of his hands, the mask he is not wearing in his sixth hand, with thin white hair reaching down to the center of his back. Gekijō’s world is relatively small, appearing as a large Kabuki stage with an expertly designed cherry blossom forest background.

Sealed Zanpakuto:

When in its normal state, Gekijō resembles a cross between a katana and a rapier; with a thin, curved blade, a dark red hilt, and a dome-shaped guard.

Shikai Description:

Gekijō’s shikai is activated with the command “Take the stage”. When the release is invoked, the sword itself does not change form or appearance; instead the sword’s power creates a white mask for the wielder that resembles the iconic theatre mask “Comedy” and if the wielder spins the mask it changes to “Tragedy”.

Shikai Abilities:

When worn, the mask created at release gives the user the power to create illusions in the immediate area; the illusions are strong enough to affect an opponent’s sight and hearing, but nothing in the illusion can cause actual harm or make physical contact. The caster may hide himself using objects in the illusion but may not create the illusion that he has simply vanished into thin air. The caster is also able to use the illusion to make his voice seem to come from different directions. The illusion remains as long as the caster wishes it to, though prolonged usage requires a respectable reiatsu level, as the illusion slowly drains the caster’s reiatsu.

Sakura Hayashi (Cherry Blossom Forest): Hitoshii’s most commonly used illusion; Sakura Hayashi creates the illusion of a forest filled with blooming cherry blossom trees. Hitoshii uses the trees and falling petals as forms of cover and distraction to confuse his opponent.

Bankai Description:

Not Yet Achieved

Bankai Abilities:

Bankai Not Yet Achieved

Skill Level: Kidou: Advanced
Skill Level: Swordsmanship: Intermediate
Skill Level: Shunpou: Advanced
Skill Level: Hand-to-hand: Beginner
History/Background:

Hayashi Hitoshii was born in the year 1556 to the Hayashi clan of the Owari province of eastern Japan. The Hayshi clan was one of the most loyal retaining clans of the Oda, the ruling clan of Owari. Hitoshii was raised as a warrior from an early age as was expected of Samurai of vassal clans. After years of training, Hitoshii joined his father and brothers in the Oda army, serving during the rise to power of one of Owari’s most famous rulers, Oda Nobunaga. His loyal service would continue until the year 1582; Hitoshii had been chosen as one of two-hundred Samurai and soldiers selected to form Nobunaga’s personal guard during his stay in the capitol. The men expected an uneventful tour of duty and thus were quite unprepared when Akechi Mitsuhide, considered Nobunaga’s most loyal general, betrayed his lord and led an army to attack the temple in which Nobunaga was staying. Hitoshii, like all there still loyal to Nobunaga, was killed that night while attempting to prevent the attackers from entering the temple.

As happens occasionally on death, Hitoshii had something that kept him bound to the earth as a Jibaku-Plus, his regret in being unable to prevent his lord’s death. He wanted nothing more than to hunt down and destroy Mitsuhide, but frustratingly discovered that a chain protruding from his chest prevented him from leaving the place of his death. Unaware of the consequences, Hitoshii tore the chain from his chest, changing him from a plus into a grotesque hollow that resembled the Samurai he once was. As luck would have it, the shinigami assigned to the Kyoto area was passing through just as his transformation took place and purified him before he could so much as blink.

His soul now returned to its plus state and transported to Soul Society, in the 18th district of south Rukongai, Hitoshii found it somewhat challenging to get used to the life of a normal man as opposes to a warrior. It was during his life here that he discovered his love of theatre; when word reached soul society of a new creation on earth called Kabuki, Hitoshii found himself eager to learn of this art and soon became one of soul society’s first actors. Some time later as western theatre began to develop, Hitoshii learned of the works of William Shakespeare and began to study all kinds of theatre, not limiting himself to the art of his homeland.

Around the same time as earth’s 1800s began, Hitoshii yearned to return to his warrior past and after a few attempts, gained enrollment into the Shinigami Academy. It was here that Hitoshii felt alive once again, the atmosphere of the academy reminded him of his days training as a Samurai. He learned of the Gotei 13 and there many duties, of famous Shinigami of the past and of the power these warriors wielded.

Early in his academy days Hitoshii was presented with his Zanpakuto, a thin, curved blade whose name he would later discover to be Gekijō. His first attempts to communicate with the spirit within the sword failed, the spirit simply did not wish to speak with the young man. Things would continue like this until a particular evening when Hitoshii was looking over the script for a kabuki play he was attempting to write; he turned his head at one point and was surprised to find a six-armed old man peering over his shoulder, a frown on his face. The spirit scolded Hitoshii and took the script from him, making some alterations before handing it back, from that day onward the spirit became his teacher in both the ways of the shinigami and the ways of acting.

After many hard years of study and practice, Gekijō finally revealed to Hitoshii the command with which to release the power of his Zanpakuto. Hitoshii graduated the academy shortly afterward learning quickly the powers of illusion he now wielded. Hitoshii grinned with pride when he was accepted into the Gotei 13 and began his dual-life as a guardian of souls and an entertainer.

RP Sample:

Hitoshii gave his young sparring partner a cocky grin, a grin that many who spent time around the self-proclaimed “Theatrical Genius” had witnessed time and time again. “Come Tamo-chan, the stage is set and the lights are up, let us begin the show!” His partner rolled his eyes and charged, sealed zanpakuto forward in an offensive stance. Hitoshii shook his head and side-stepped the attack with relative ease, tapping the younger man on the shoulder as he passed. “Now Tamo-chan, everyone knows the serious fight seen occurs in the middle of the story, first you have to set the scene…” With this he raised his zanpakuto before him and spoke in an announcing tone, “Take the stage, Gekijō!” The sword’s hilt began to glow and a mask appeared in Hitoshii’s other hand; he placed the mask on his face, its wide smile matching his own. “Gekijō, Sakura Hayashi!” Suddenly the room began to change, the practice room fuzzily warped out of existence and was replaced by a forest of Sakura trees on a spring evening, the falling petals causing a wave of color to assault the vision of any witnessing the illusion.

Hitoshii smirked again as he sat behind one of the illusionary trees, a tree that he could see through quite easily, preparing to ambush his young opponent who was looking around wildly in an attempt to locate the illusionist. Hitoshii laughed as his voice projected from completely the opposite direction from his location, “Much better, now that the scene is set, the show may begin…” With this he charged from behind the tree, fighting back a laugh as he saw the amazed and frightened look on his opponent’s face at the sight of the illusionist walking through a tree.

[temple]

Approved at mid-strong. Great app!