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The Kagetai Home

Name: Kuroki Kiri
Born: May 23, 1856
Height: 5'3"
Weight: 105 lbs.


Appearance:

Of slight build and small stature, she has wistful, dark eyes and dark hair that she keeps tied up when on missions. She has onyx hair, usually pulled back into a bun with bangs that are a little longer than usual, which are swept to the side, kind of like Yumi's hair. ^_^ Her hair contrasts greatly with her pale skin and her eye color ranges from light to dark grey, depending on her mood. (Light= happy, playful dark=angry medium=sad) She's very slender and wears her clothes and moves with almost an animal grace, gained from so many years of training. Her hair is always tied up with a midnight purple ribbon and though she wears the Kuroki uniform and colors (basically Oni style with black and midnight purple) around her neck she wears a small rectangular piece of jade that is carved with the kanji Aku Soku Zan on a red cord, a present from Okita and a symbol of her loyalty to Shinsengumi and Kagetai alike. When working at her shop or trying to blend into normal life, she wears a kimono of the same midnight purple, accented with black.

Past:

The Kuroki Ninja Clan was well known as the strongest ninjas in Edo. Natural rivals of the Oniwabanshuu of Kyoto, the two groups strived to best each other in both techniques and fame. While the Oniwabanshuu excelled in spinning weaponry and small blades, the Kuroki ninjas were masters of poisons and different herbs, known to be as good at poisoning people as they were of healing. Kuroki Kiri was the second child of the son of the Head of the kuroki clan. Her older half brother, Yukito, was Shinomori Aoshi's rival in nearly everything. In 1862, the Kuroki clan was honored by an alliance with the Shinsengumi, to keep them aware of happenings in Edo and to infiltrate the headquarters of the Ishin Shishi. In 1865, Kiri was sent to report to the captains of the first and third units of the Shinsengumi, Saitou Hajime and Okita Souji.

Trained from birth in the ways of the ninja, despite her young age, Kiri was considered one of the Kuroki clans most perfect spies. After all, one was less likely to suspect a child. Much impressed by the skills of even the youngest of the Kuroki clan, Saitou and Okita sent Kiri home with a glowing report. The day after her return, the Kuroki clan held a celebration, for the honor the Shinsengumi had bestowed upon their clan. That night however, disaster struck. Kiri's mother Hideko, unbeknownst to everyone, had been an ex-oniwabanshuu whose first husband had been killed by Kiri's father and who was plotting with several renegade oniwabanshuu radicals. After slipping a powerful sleeping powder into the sake earlier that evening, Hideko and her fellow conspirators set the entire complex on fire. Kiri was praying in the ancestral shrine at the time. Upon seeing the blaze which quickly spread throughout the complex, Kiri rushed out of the shrine, pleading with her mother to stop. Laughing, Hideko pushed her roughly back into the inferno the shrine had become, saying she had no use for a Kuroki brat. Knocked unconscious, Kiri was only saved because the stone tablets bearing the names of her ancestors fell over her, shielding her from the flames. Hideko was killed shortly afterward by her fellow conspirators, who considered her tainted by living as a Kuroki for so long. The next day, Yukito returned from a reconnaisance mission for Hijikata Toshizou. Taking in the grisly scene of the massacre, he was told the entire story by a servant who had fled the night before. Turning over, the ancestral tablets in what was left of the shrine, he found Kiri, who, if not badly burned, was certainly not in good condition. However, after being confronted with the murder of his family and the betrayal of his step-mother, Yukito's mind cracked. Taking Kiri to live in a training hut of the Kuroki clan in the forest, he grew more prone to drinking and became a hardened, hateful man who took out his rage on his younger half-sister. Upon hearing of the tragedy, Shinomori Aoshi sent his deepest regrets to Yukito, who answered with a challenge. Shinomori met Yukito's challenge, easily beating the former great ninja, who was so blinded by his hate.

Unable to live with the shame of being beaten by his greatest rival, Yukito committed seppuku, leaving Kiri to fend for herself. A few weeks later, Okita Souji found her wandering the streets of Edo and took her in, teaching her the way of "AKU SOKU ZAN" and the art of the sword. He also encouraged her to come to terms with the death of her family, and after visiting the complex again, Kiri discovered the Kuroki Clan library of scrolls, which were hidden under the ancestral shrine and contained all the techniques and secrets of the Kuroki clan. Along with the techniques Okita taught her, Kiri studied these scrolls, learning all the arts of her family and becoming a master in her own right. Upon Okita's death in 1868, Kiri traveled to Kyoto, to deliver to Saitou a note written by Okita just before his death. Unbeknownst to her, the note asked Saitou to accept Kiri into his kagetai, detailing her skills and loyalty. Saitou showed her the note and offered her the position, which she accepted. Still not stable enough to be used for regular missions, Saitou assigned her to carrying messages back and forth between him and Mikeru in Tokyo. On her way back to Tokyo, she met Yuriko for the first time (Shimai no Buki). Upon her return to Tokyo, she began to research into the massacre of her family and found out the names of the renegades involved but discovered that on Shinomori Aoshi's orders all but the leader were accepted back into the Oniwabanshuu without punishment. In 1872 she disappeared for 2 years tracking down former members of the conspiracy until 1874 when she reported back to Kyoto, satisfied that her revenge was at least started. It is then that she is paired with Yuriko and the two become sisters and partners (Shimai no Buki). In 1876 she opened her own herbal medicines shop in Kyoto.

Personality:

Normally very easygoing, Kiri takes her missions, duty, and honor very seriously. She has an ironic sense of humor and isn't very good with explaining things more than once, which she feels is an inefficient time waste. The only time she becomes really angry is if someone insults her clan, or someone brings up the Oniwabanshuu, at which point she can barely contain her rage, and usually stalks out of the room. She still has an aversion to open flame, and usually sits as far away as possible from any heat/light source, which gives people who don't know her impression of being very solitary. In truth, she enjoys working with someone just as well as working alone. She doesn't really talk about her family at all: the only kagetai who really know about what happened are those she feels need to know and the people in those who were alive at the time; it was wide-spread news because the Kuroki clan was so famous. Part of her severe hatred for the Oniwanshuu stems from the fact that technically she is part Oniwabanshuu since her mother was one. In reality, she was always closer to her father and her mother was always cool and distant. She also feels that her mother renounced any claims to her when she pushed her back into the fire and she refers to her as "The woman who was once my mother." Before her half-brother lost to Shinomori and committed suicide, he beat her regularly, and always reminded her of her partly oni heritage, which was the thing that finally pushed her over the edge. When Okita found her she was slashing cuts in her arms with the same short sword her half-brother used to kill himself, which she told him later was an effort to "bleed away all my tainted blood." In this way, she feels needless guilt for the death of her clan, which is why she is determined to preserve the little honor the Kuroki clan has left, and possibly rebuild her clan one day. This is also why she's not content to leave her skills at that of a kunoichi, but to be a full-fledged ninja master by studying all the Kuroki clan scrolls.

Likes:

Rain, cold weather, making medicines and poisons, tea, animals and children, kakesoba (it's the only hot food she likes), good timing (be it herself or others).

Dislikes:

Fire, heat, cruel or dishonorable people, sake. She hates the Oniwabanshuu with a passion, in particular Shinomori Aoshi. As leader of the Oniwabanshuu, she considers him responsible for the death of her family and has vowed revenge, but for the sake of peace within the kagetai (since Takashi is Shinomori's friend) she has put off vengeance till a better time. Not only does she hate Shinomori, but she has nothing but disgust for Misao, who she regards as a poor excuse for a ninja. Some insight on why she hates Shinomori in particular: when the renegades responsible for the massacre were apprehended a few years later, only the leader was punished and the rest were accepted back into the Oniwabanshuu, on Shinomori's orders.

Attacks:

Shadowed Half-Moon: For this attack, she lights a simple smoke bomb and throws it at her opponent and then attacks with her ninja-to throught the smoke with a half-circle cut.

Shadowed Star-Strike: Same as above, only she throws several shuriken through the smoke; is used to give her time to prepare for her next attack and all of her bladed weapons are almost always poisoned.

Her weapons of choice are the ninja-to (ninja sword: it's shorter than a katana and kinda reminds me of a kodachi, of course, what do i know, stupid gaijin that i am ^_^;;), her shuriken (throwing stars; they are stamped with the symbol or the Kuroki clan, a half-shadowed moon), and of course, various exploding powders and poisons.

Though well-skilled in the katana, kodachi, kunai, and other bladed weapons, Kiri's strengths lie in poisons and making a target's death seem accidental. Her skill in the katana is in the style of the hirazuki, though she is nowhere near as good as Soushi. She is also well-skilled in her grandfather's personal style of martial arts, which specializes in high kicks and taking out a taller opponent's legs and therefore eliminating their advantage. She usually combines ninja techniques with her attacks to create her own personal style, such as blowing a certain powder into an enemy's face to blind him, or poisoning her blades.

Rivals:

Again, has a strong hatred of the Oniwabanshuu and Shinomori Aoshi.

Current Sketch:

Runs an herbal medicines shop in Kyoto under the assumed name of Hanari Meiko next to Yuriko's restaurant. Her shop is widely reputed to be one of the best places in Kyoto for herbal remedies, but every time Okon and Omasu go, the shop is strangely closed. (^_^;;)