Nakatomi Koushi

[AetherNet]

Statistics:
Name: Nakatomi Koushi
Age: Appears: 25 Actual: 800
Gender: Male
Birthday: August 23rd, 1196
Height: 5' 7"
Weight: 140lbs
Eye color: Dark green
Hair color: Black
Division: 2nd
Rank: TBD

Attributes:
Constitution
-Strength: 20
-Endurance: 15
Dexterity
-Agility: 30
-Accuracy: 15
Zanjustu
-Attack: 25
-Defense: 10
Kidou
-Hadou: 10
-Bakudou: 15
Perception
-Intelligence: 20
-Concentration: 15
Presence
-Charisma: 10
-Leadership: 20


Appearance:
Koushi's appearance is every bit the Japanese Imperial that one might expect to see on an ancient watercolor. His hair is a smooth, glossy black painstakingly groomed, beginning at ear's length towards the front of his hair becoming increasingly longer the closer it gets towards the back of his head. The sides of his head, however, have been shaved down to the skin, with the exception of 8 thin strips of shaved hair that come to a fine point. The rest of his remaining hair is often pinned up in the fashion of the top-knot, and ornamented with a richly decorated family crest with several wispy strands of hair protruding from the back of the knot itself. If one were to take the entirety at face value, it would appear as just an eccentric hodgepodge that no one but Koushi could explain. Upon closer inspection, taking in the hairstyle as a whole, the viewer might stumble upon the fact that it resembles a stylized spider, with the shiny, slicked black hair resembling the body, the top-knot spinning out tendrils of web, it's legs clutching the sides of his head. Koushi's eyes are the color of the forest, a deep viridian green that seems to grow darker or lighter depending on his mood. His ears are of average size and shape, with his left missing a triangle of flesh and cartilage from the top that almost reaches the ear canal itself. His nose is slight, the bridge dipping towards his face before coming to a set of smaller-than-average nostrils and a rounded end.

His skin tone varies, depending on the light in which Koushi is viewed. By the light of lanterns and moonlight, he appears the color of an aged parchment, a swarthy yellow-white that blends almost perfectly with the paper walls of Soul Society. In the bright of the day, it takes on the hue of a fair white tinged with a slight yellow, like most of his Imperial heritage. His frame all sharp lines and edges, a brow that makes him seem as if he were constantly glowering, with cheekbones that seem as if they might pierce the skin if given the chance, and a well-defined chin that contours the bottom of his face. His frame is small and compact, with well defined muscle criss-crossing the lengths of his arms and torso, giving him the build of athletes and martial artists. His hands are smooth and well manicured despite his position in a military organization, suggesting that he spends large amounts of time and energy keeping them well kept. There is also a rumor that circulated throughout the Academy during his terms there, that he often painted his nails a dark green, much the same color as his eyes. This however, seems to be one that will never be proven, as no one in Soul Society has ever gotten a solid glimpse of his hands while they were still. This is compounded by the fact that Koushi tends to wear a pair of black leather gloves over his hands while out in public.

Koushi's attire is no less obtuse, albeit a bit more vanilla than the rest of his person. When not on duty, he tends to wear mostly the deep forested green he seems to be so fond of, accented mostly with earthy browns, smokey grays, and blues so dark they could be mistaken for black. The cut of the cloth is always strictly formal dress, whether Koushi is amongst fellow shinigami having lunch in his barracks, perusing the markets spending his hard earned money, or simply walking the streets doing nothing but watching the people pass. If he is in public, he wears his finest clothing. His shinigami uniform is seemingly pristine, with a few minor alterations that set it apart from the standard issue. For one, the sleeves of his kimono have been lengthened by several inches, descending to right past the second knuckle on each hand, allowing him to hide his hands within the sleeves should he wish too. Additionally, there appears to be additional, decorative stitching covering the length of the black kimono. Extremely thick, black thread crosses over and over itself, giving the impression of webbing wrapped over him. As well, instead of the white undergarments most other shinigami tend to wear, he has substituted it with a replacement of dark hunter green. While patrolling the mortal realm in a physical body, he tends to look the part of any young, club-going raver. His clothes are blacks of varying darkness mixed with vibrant shades of red, green, blue, etc. Chains and spikes adorn him head to toe, along with a myriad of piercings on his face. His hair, however, remains the same unusual style as always, though it is often shot through with the same bright coloring he is currently complementing his black ensemble with. Koushi also tends to wear contacts while physically manifest, again the same color as whichever he has decided to accent his outfit with.

Personality:
Koushi is the poster-child of everything it is to be a Japanese Imperial. Cool and collected exterior, hiding a determined and conniving mind, every word that he speaks is calculated to bring him closer to the victory he perceives in his mind's eye. To Koushi, it is all about the goal, the attaining of any achievement, no matter how miniscule. Victory in battle, in a game, in drinks, everything is delegated to achieving success no matter the cost. He is often perceived as cold to one who hasn't been in his company for any amount of time, and those who do keep his company on any regular basis will gladly reinforce such ideals. While he is a bit cold, truth be told, that is due in no small part to his struggle to adhere to every facet of what it means to be a Shinigami. He lives and breaths the Gotei, volunteering for even the most menial of tasks. Patrol duty? Barracks maintenance? Quartermaster inventory? All things Koushi is glad to participate in, so long as it goes to further the efficiency of running the Gotei. Koushi does not suffer a fool well, and especially a fool who refuses to take their responsibilities as seriously as they should be. As well, he seems to cling to his rigidity in deference to his life as a mortal being. Being raised amongst the nobility and watchful eyes of the upper crust of the Kyoto Imperials, he was held to the strictest of standards. When one lived their life around endless amounts of people, and even the servants sworn to serve you might very well put a dagger in your back, it tends to become ingrained within oneself that if you are not at your finest, then someone will catch you at your weakest.

He often finds himself at odds with others, whether fellow Shinigami or other nobility within the Seireitei. While Koushi can be well mannered when it suits him, he tends to pay very little attention to anything that doesn't hold much interest for him. When the current topic of conversation no longer interests Koushi, he will simply lose focus and change the direction of his thoughts, completely ignoring the others around him. Worse yet, should he spot another individual that piques his interest more than his current company, he will simply turn and leave (often times trailing off mid-sentence) flabbergasting the mingling nobility and others of 'proper' standing at many parties he's attended. More often than not, others will whisper that this is because of the difficult job he's forced to endure while in service within the 2^nd Division. That all the secrecy and subterfuge that goes along with his job must really weigh heavily on him, after all... That kind of work really changes a person. Koushi has actually found such a rumor to be beneficial, and allowed it to thrive, as it saves him the tedious work of excusing himself from a conversation to salve the nobles' egos, as well as assuring that hardly any punishment will come to bear against a Special Operative of the Gotei.

While cold on the outside, Koushi is actually a very emotional and caring person, but simply deems it inappropriate to display such things to total strangers. He takes his job very seriously, and deems it his responsibility to care for every citizen of not only the Seireitei and their lofty nobility, but also the downtrodden of the Rukongai slums and outlying areas surrounding the Great Wall. He can sometimes be seen there, though more often than not he conceals his identity beneath soiled rags, prowling the hard-packed dirt streets and muddy alleys in an attempt to find anyone in distress, and he hardly needs to look far. Most of the time it's as simple as beating back a bully intent on stealing another soul's possessions. Other times, he's gotten the itch for battle, and taken up identities within the organized street fights that crop up all over, taking his winnings and immediately investing them on someone less fortunate than himself. He feels it his duty as a noble, to shelter all those less fortunate than himself. The appointment of divine mandate is not a license to squander the wealth of all those who serve. Rewarding only those who prove themselves immediately useful is a fruitless and petty act, serving only to reinforce the ruler's own ego. It is not solely your right to rule but a responsibility, and dare it be mentioned, a privilege to wield one's power for the betterment of everyone else. The divine right that nobles so cling too is simply the Universe's way of deeming that you are the one best suited to the governing of a country in it's entirety. It is not the people who serve you, it is you who serve the people.

Already naturally inclined to distrust, even towards his family, the requirements of Koushi's current station within the ranks of the 2^nd Division has seen it grow into full-blown paranoia of the highest caliber. Ever vigilant against the prying eyes of the Gotei's enemies, as well as his own, Koushi never sleeps in the same bed twice. Even when on leave at home, or his own place of residence provided him by the Gotei, he will never take rest in his own bedroom. Many a Hell Butterfly has found him sleeping in his bathtub, or inside a closet with it's shelves removed. Koushi has also taken to keeping his own personal cache of recorded information since taking up his assignment, files on enemy movement, personnel files filched from the 9th Division, and his own written musings on any subject from the current political climate amongst the noble families to which cafeteria worker is attempting to poison his food. He often worries about someone finding said cache, and the depthless paranoia has him almost compulsively secreting his stash from place to place, not always in his own domicile, and not always in a single place. Koushi has a tendency to leave trails of breadcrumbs, leading his imaginary spies on a wild goose chase that leads them around in circles, or worse yet, into a trap sprung upon entering an abandoned house. He has also taken to secreting weapons around his person whenever in civilian clothes (when not carrying his Zanpakutō), and while such weapons are not very effective against anything more powerful than the weakest of Hollows, they keep him from twitching and jolting whenever another person comes into the room.

Strengths:
Koushi is an extremely disciplined person, regimenting every aspect of his own life. When not participating in active duty, he spends a majority of his downtime cleaning and organizing his rooms, endlessly practicing his combat arts to keep himself in top form, or shopping in the market for essentials. While normally cloistered within the confines of his own mind, the rigors of his job have taught him how to be quite sociable when he needs to be. Many a flighty noblewoman has become quite infatuated with his 'strong, silent type' aura that they claim he exudes. He has always found himself very skilled with wordplay as well, especially when it comes to speaking the truth, yet telling a person absolutely nothing of worth. Above all, Koushi prides himself on his speed and efficiency, in all walks of his life. There is hardly a man or woman in Soul Society, much less the Gotei that can match him in sheer speed. He always seems to stop blades at the very last second, with the nearest of margins. The way he sees it, the attack will eventually find him... after all, attacks that miss are not going to do much good. Better for the enemy to expend all the energy to get to him, then block it rather than reaching out simply to widen the gap between himself and the weapon.

Weaknesses:
One of Koushi's greatest strength is a double-edged blade. While his discipline lends itself an asset, the rigorously regimented mindset beholden to such levels of willpower tends to make his mind inflexible, and incapable of allowances for change due to outside intervention. Should his well-laid plans go awry (as first contact with the enemy tends to do) he can become quite agitated and his mind blanks, leaving him a bit hard-pressed as to how to proceed. His paranoia can often get the best of him, leading himself on wild goose chases for information he thinks is crucial to the furthering his goals. Baiting him with information is an easy way to get his full attention with just a minimal amount of effort, allowing one to lead him wherever they chose (either mentally or physically). While his skill with a blade is second only toy the 11^th Division, his skill with the Demon Arts is only average at best, choosing the utility of Bakudo over the loud, destructive force that Hadou can dish out. Other shinigami, especially those of lower rank, find his cold exterior an intimidating exercise to contend with and tend to avoid him whenever possible, leading to a lack of friends and contacts amongst his fellow death gods.

Sealed Zanpakutō:
Koushi has a rather unconventionally short zanpakuto, measuring at just under 2 shaku. The end cap is made of a dull, unpolished metal etched with tiny lines to resemble the classic image of a spider's web. The center of said web comes to rest right on the pommel with an extremely intricate spider residing at the center of it's home. The handle can comfortably be held in two hands with an extra half-hand length to spare. The entire length is wrapped in a stark white woven silk that seems to fray at the slightest disturbance, causing uneven lengths to surround the handle in an ethereal haze of tiny, ghost-white tendrils. The tsuba mimics the shape of a star-burst, that upon closer inspection appears as the eight legs of a spider, the tips sharpened to a deadly point. Particular attention was paid to the detail here, as one can even see the individual hairs on each of the spider's legs. The length of the blade contains the "perfect wave" and the entire length of it is a matte black. Koushi spends a large amount of time running the sharp edge through a purposely low-intensity heat, so as to coat it in dark soot and cover the telltale glint of the blade's steel. The sheath, like the handle, is wrapped in the delicate white silk, capped on both ends with the dull gray metal. A bit different than most others, the sheath is actually a full shaku longer than the blade itself, giving Koushi a bit of an edge when it drawing his blade on an opponent.

Zanpakutō Spirit:
The spirit of Koushi's sword appears a bit surreal, even to the man himself. It manifests to him as a spider, ranging in size from a thumbnail to a body the size of a small car. From it's body and limbs, head and abdomen, strings seems to sink directly into it's body and rise straight into the sky, disappearing behind a constant cloud cover. It moves not like an animal, but with a weird amalgam of motion consisting of sharp jerks and strange bobbing, the awkward alien grace of a marionette on a string. Should he decide to follow the strings up past the ceiling of dark clouds, Koushi will once again find himself standing in the exact same landscape, with another spider marionette controlling the one below, strings also protruding from it's skin up into an overcast sky. This serves to remind Koushi that no matter the face, there are always others pulling the strings, with another pulling theirs, and so on. The spirit never speaks to Koushi directly, choosing to point and gesture with it's legs, nodding yes and no to the shinigami's direct questions. Of all the species on the planet, Koushi has only seen the Zanpakutō spirit manifest as one of three different breed of spider.

As the ominous and foreboding Black Widow, it how the spirit chooses to manifest during the majority of it's interaction with Koushi. It's inner world is a verdant, hilly landscape carpeted in a heavily wooded forest, with evergreens soaring high above into a canopy dense enough to block what little light comes from the dark, clouded night sky. The dense undergrowth running rampant along the forest floor causes Koushi to stumble and fall in the pitch-black, injuring him and causing him to lose his direction. As he journeys through, the spirit attacks him, shifts into a smaller form, then disappears into the night. It will weave webs, creating labyrinthine mazes full of dead ends and traps. This will continue until Koushi can no longer stand, after hours of staggering and exhausting fights with the spider spirit itself, and the man finally passes out. He usually awakes in a picturesque forest clearing, suspended above it woven into the spider's web. Only then does it approach him outright, by the light of the torches that ring this clearing, and bites him to wake him up. It manifests such an ordeal in order to keep Koushi humble, as his noble upbringing and the amount of skill he possess tends to inflate the man's ego.

Other times, Koushi will find himself in a flat expanse of brush land, the earth consisting of a reddish-brown dirt, cracked and dried with prolonged drought. The land is scarred with deep chasms that extend deep into the earth, and can sometimes be wide enough as to make them completely impassable. Through some, Koushi has noticed large cylinders of dirt woven with silk sometimes extend directly out of the rock wall, bridging the gap between both sides of the cleft in the earth. The plains are marked with waist high shrubs and slender trees as far as the eye can see, their leaves and branches brittle and easily broken by hand. The sun glares down upon the entire landscape, though the sky is always overcast, and towering mountains can be seen off in distance obscured in blue haze. Pockmarking this landscape are small 'lids' of varying size that lead down into a networked maze of tunnels big enough around for Koushi to stand in, down to lengths too small to see through. Each of these 'lids' is also surrounded by a fine network of tiny silk threads hidden beneath the dirt that trail into the mass of tunnels beneath. These coverings, upon closer inspection are made of a mix of dirt, vegetation, and also silk. Koushi can wander this limitless desert for as long as he wishes, and nothing seems to happen. Though as soon as he decides that there is nowhere left to go but the mountains, the attacks begin. His spirit assaults him in the guise of a Trapdoor spider, usually large enough to pull the man into the den of tunnels, though never in such an intensity that Koushi can not fend off the beast. As his journey progresses, the attacks grow more frequent and the spider will sometimes vary it's size so as to catch Koushi by surprise. Always, the shinigami barely manages to fend off the spider, usually through exhibiting some daring feat of skill, injuring the spider enough to scare it back into it's maze of tunnels, or outwitting it by placing his feet in-between and around the strands of silk that relay his position to the spider. The spirit is always pushing Koushi forward, herding him forward on his quest to reach the ever present mountains in the distance. It imparts to Koushi, the importance of always pushing forward towards your goals, no matter the obstacles standing in your way.
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[If not applying for captainship, remove the follow sections.]
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