NAME
Jade Hirameki
NICKNAME
Icy Jade (used by villagers who fear her cold stoic demeanor)
AGE
25
GENDER & PRONOUNS
Cis Female, She/Her/Hers
BIRTHDAY
May 8th
BUILD
Slim, but still with an hourglass shape. Jade will often wrap her breasts when she knows fighting may be a very high possibility, this helps to keep them restrained and relatively pain-free throughout the quick movements.
HEIGHT & WEIGHT
5'5 and 125 lbs.
EYE COLOR
Rich Earth Brown
HAIR COLOR
Black, ends of hair just barely brush her backside in length.
SCARS & MARKINGS
none
OTHER NOTABLE FEATURES
other than Jade's remarkable beauty, none.
HEALTH CONDITIONS & NOTES
none.
PERSONALITY
The way Jade behaves depends upon who exactly she is interacting with based on the type of familiarity. Above all, honor and family is important to her before anything else.
Strangers: Jade will be extremely reserved and watchful, she will not disguise it at all that she doesn't even remotely trust you yet, she tends to come off as quite cold to strangers.
Friends: These favored few will receive Jade's true personality, which is a kind and caring young woman that will fight through the fires of hell for those close to her. She will happily share wine or sake with these people or a good laugh over something amusing, these people will always be welcomed in her territory.
Students: There is no limit to the love Jade holds for her students, she would travel to the underworld and back for them.
She can occasionally be harsh in training with the older students, but it is tough love, she knows she cannot be there forever to protect them and that they must be able to stand on their own one day. She also wishes to see each and every one become fine and unrivaled shinobi.
Dislike: Jade's treatment of someone she dislikes would be chilly indifference and complete thorough disregard, her words (provided she deigns to speak to them at all) would be elegantly derisive in a very nonchalant fashion.
Enemies: These individuals will know just how cold the frigid arctic really is just by one look into Jade's eyes, she hates this person and will eliminate them with the coldest and most ruthless finesse and patience imaginable. In those eyes, enemies will only find cold dark hatred and the promise of death.
SEXUAL ORIENTATION
Heterosexual
RELATIONSHIP STATUS
Single
PROFESSION
Shinobi sensei and part time mercenary for highly selective jobs.
SKILLS AND TALENTS
Martials Arts Taught to Jade in her early years by her father Mitsurugi and continued by her paternal uncle Haruto.
Stealth Taught to Jade by her paternal uncle Haruto. The art of stealth, a combination of quick thinking, cleverness, discretion and mastery over ones environment is a crucial tool in a shinobi's arsenal.
Acrobatics/Agility The art of quick movements, long/high leaps and out maneuvering ones opponent. Jade's feminine body allows her a quickness that only serves to made her that much more of a deadlier opponent.
Blades Jade is immensely skilled with a variety of blade weaponry, but the Katana blade remains her favorite as she appreciates the elegance of the weapon and the fact it was her father's favored weapon. Jade presently wields her father's katana.
Helpful/Hurtful herbology Jade learned from her uncle all the plants and herbs in the forest that could help you and those that could hurt, hinder or even kill you.
RELATIVES
Father Mitsurugi Hirameki (age 65,deceased)
Mother Aiko Satoshi {former married name Matsukoto} (age 55, estranged)
Stepfather Tomoe Satoshi (age 66, estranged)
BACKGROUND
Jade was born in the Edo period in Okinawa to honored samurai master Mitsurugi Hirameki and his wife Aiko.
For the first decade of her young life, Jade's existence was a charmed one, while her relationship with her mother wasn't terrible, she loved her kind and gentle father the best, the man who made her laugh and treated her like she was just as good as any son. He even began to teach her from a very young age his style of martial arts… he didn't care if that raised a few brows, he was respected enough that it honestly did next to nothing to tarnish the reputation of his family.
He worked hard for his reputation and honor, his daughter would enjoy the benefits of this life if he wished for it.
Unfortunately, Jade's perfect life would be shattered a few months after her tenth birthday…
She doesn't know why or who exactly they were… but a name would be forever etched into her memory…
Shigure Fujito…
Jade had been with her father one late evening, helping him prepare the materials for the Martial Arts class he would be teaching to the next generation of Samurai come the next morning…
When the two of them heard voices coming from outside, Jade could only obey her father's orders in fear and confusion when he slid open a section of the wall disguised to look as ordinary as any of the other walls and commanded Jade inside with instructions to stay inside and stay quiet, no matter what she might hear.
The sounds of hurried feet…
The classroom doors sliding open roughly…
Angry shouting voices… her father's voice… other unfamiliar male voices…
"The time has come, Matsurugi! You will pay for my shame!"
"You did this to yourself, Shigure. You knew your secret activities were wrong, you knew what you were doing goes against everything we'd ever been taught about the Samurai code." Mitsurugi replied, his tone steady and calm "It gave me no pleasure to report you to our master… but I knew if I did not, I would be sacrificing my oath to uphold honor and justice above all else. Shigure… your actions were not victimless, you were taking advantage of innocent citizens… The worst part was… it was clear when I confronted you and pleaded with you to return all of that 'protection money' to the rightful owners… you knew exactly what you were doing and didn't care, you even tried to talk me into joining you… I couldn't allow you to continue"
"Enough! Kill him!"
"You can't even handle your grudges on your own, Shigure! You coward!"
There were lots of noises then. Yelling, grunting, things being knocked over, a vase shattering… and then a sickening squelching sound, followed by her father's voice grunting in pain… there was a loud thud sound…
She wanted to run out and help her father, but she was only ten, what was she going to do against a group of grown men? Besides, her father ordered her not to come out, no matter what she heard.
"You really… are a… coward… Shigure…"
Her father's voice sounded as though he was in terrible pain, his breathing was labored… tears filled Jade's eyes and she covered her mouth with both hands to avoid making any sounds, she had no idea what might happen if these horrible men heard her and discovered she was there.
"You couldn't… defeat me… on your own… so you had… to bring your… hired thugs… to help you… justice will… come for you… one day… Shigure Fujito…"
"Shut up and die, you miserable fool!"
Another sickening squelching sound and something hit the floor heavily.
'Father…'
Tears ran down the girl's cheeks, but still she obeyed her father and made no noise, she bit back the sobs and held herself absolutely still.
Another male voice spoke "Master Fujito, we need to go now. It is late and should Mitsurugi's wife come looking for him…"
"Hmph! Very well, I have had my revenge, let us leave this place. We have business to attend to anyway."
Multiple sets of footsteps could be heard leaving the classroom… Jade waited until she heard the dojo's front doors close behind them before she slid the wall open and rushed to her father's still bloodied form.
"Father!" She sobbed, trying to shake him in a desperate attempt to make him open his eyes "Father!"
Mitsurugi did not open his eyes.
Heartbroken and sobbing, young Jade ran the whole way home to tell her mother what had transpired.
What happened over the next few days was the opposite of what Jade had expected to happen…
Minimal effort went into the investigation of her father's murder and the hunt for Shigure Fujito was short lived… if one could even call hanging wanted posters and calling it good could even be called a manhunt.
As if Jade had not been hurting enough, a sting of betrayal was added to her pain when her mother was marrying the local silk merchant from town, Tomoe Satoshi… barely before her father was even cold in the ground…
Jade remained under her mother and stepfather's roof for three more years before she just couldn't bear it anymore… not only was her stepfather Tomoe trying to erase her father from the home… she overheard him telling her mother he was going to take Mitsurugi's swords to town and sell them.., and her mother, betraying Jade yet again, agreed without hesitation.
It was all too much… she couldn't stay there anymore…
Her uncle Haruto resided in a dojo nestled away deep into Kuro forest where he used to train shinobi shadow warriors for the shogunate. He was retired now and chose to remain in his beloved dojo instead moving back into town.
Jade gathered up her father's swords and whatever of her own belongings she could get into her stepfather's stupid silk wagon and stole into the night with her stepfather's favorite horses attached to it.
When she finally found her uncle Haruto's dojo, she told him everything… he simply held her as she wept and when her tears dried up, he told her that she could remain with him as long as she wished. He would protect her and care for her as his younger brother would have wanted.
Haruto began to train Jade in the art of the shinobi and formed a close bond with his niece, becoming something of a second father to her; she saw so much of her father in her uncle… it almost felt like she had not entirely lost him after all… in some small way.
Uncle her uncle's teaching, Jade proved to be quite the prodigy… by the time Jade was eighteen years old, she was a formidable shinobi warrior, at twenty, her uncle declared he could teach her no more and she was as much a Shinobi master as he was.
Haruto, advanced now as he was in age… fell prey to an ailment of the lungs during the rainy season and soon died, leaving Jade alone once more… though this time, she was no unprepared and frightened child.
One thing remained the same however… and that was the burning ember in her heart for vengeance against Shigure Fujito… the man who murdered her father… the man who took everything away from her that mattered…
Jade made trips to her former village every now and then to take on mercenary work that would not betray her principles and whenever she could, she could press people she thought might know something about Shigure Fujito. She got breadcrumbs here and there that helped some, but nothing substantial enough that would lead her to finding him.
She learned that Shigure had become quite a powerful figure in Japan's criminal underworld, but thus far, either no one knew anything about his whereabouts or they were too afraid to tell her anything more than the offered tid bits she got.
Life took another turn for Jade when she encountered a small group of orphaned girls in the village, living in an old rundown house and scrounging for food in discarded scraps villagers left behind… Jade questioned them and learned they were all victims of Shigure Fujito in some way or another.
Haruka, the oldest girl at the age of 14 and guardian of the younger ones, her mother had died giving birth to her and her father… Shigure's men had robbed their home while they were away in town… they took everything, the money Haruka's father had been saving, all the livestock that provided their income to support them, any belongings that could be even remotely valuable… Haruka's father went hunting in order to feed him and his daughter… but he never came back.
Each girl had a story about how Shigure and his henchmen had somehow destroyed their lives and left them all alone.
"You will be alone no more" Jade had told them.
Jade took them all back with her to the dojo and gave them each one of the long empty numerous sleeping quarters the family portion of the dojo boasted… it was really more of an estate with an attached dojo, but she and her uncle never really kept up much of it as it was just the two of them.
Now though, there was a reason to restore some life to this place.
She would do for these girls what her uncle had done for her… she would provide them care and love, she would train them in the art of the Shinobi shadow warrior… and a comfort to her own heart, her uncle's teachings not die with her.
That ember in her heart that craved vengeance however did still burn… she still wanted revenge… but at what cost? Would she continue as she was and seek her vengeance? Or would she instead choose to devote herself wholly to her new students and remain with them full time?
That was at the moment, uncertain. Time would tell.
