Tsubaki Tasori

Dark Rose.

430.

22.

Squad 2

Lieutenant.

Inuyasha- Kikyo

6’0

120lbs

Tsubaki’s hair is black as a raven’s wing and as lustrous as a gemstone, the light reflecting differing shades of blue in all directions that give it a silken sheen. Her skin is a smooth pearl tone, and in the moonlight glows almost as if one with the moon, her skin is marred by only one fault, down her back runs a hideous jagged scar that burns a fiery crimson in contrast with her pearlescent skin. Her eyes are a deep sapphire blue, that shine as if they truly were gemstones, but in the dark are able to fade away as if they were but a shadow of a thought. However, Tsubaki’s attire differs from the rest of her fairy tale like appearance, her favored attire is that of her shinigami uniform or that of her special ops outfit, a loose fitting grey suit that blends into the shadows seamlessly. When forced to wear ‘dress attire’ It can be seen that not only is Tsubaki quite tall, standing at six feet even, but is also quite slender, not having any excess body weight in any area whatsoever.

–Plant life, books, quiet, moonlight, Tea

–Sunlight, loud noises, fire, annoying people, pompous people, bandits, nobles

–Tends to hold grudges, Socially awkward, closes herself off for all but a select few, tends to make higher ups mad because she refuses to give respect where she doesn’t believe it is due (especially to nobles) and will not hold back her mind if she thinks someone is being an idiot, no matter who they are.

–Excellent strategist, adaptable in battle, fiercely loyal to the few she allows to get close to her, master tea brewer

Tsubaki keeps her own bonsai forest under her home, and uses the different trees and plants to concoct various different teas, medicines, and poisons, as well as dabbling in the crossing and augmentation of plant species to create new species for various purposes such as home defense and structure support.

Tsubaki always keeps a pair of metal plated chopsticks with a crawling vine motif, these are both used as eating utensils and as close range, precision weapons. She also keeps a set of throwing knives on her person in various spots, such as ankles and wrists, each with a small vial of poison in their hilts. (General kind of poison, can be treated by anyone with medical knowledge)

name:Burakku Rootasu (Black Lotus)
sealed form: In sealed form Burakku Rootasu appears as a very short sword, (Think about Sui-Feng's sealed zanpakutou, but a little shorter) that she keeps within the folds of her uniform, the guard is in the shape of a golden lotus, petals pointing up towards the blade.

spirit: Burakku Rootasu’s spirit form is that of a young woman (20-24 years old) with hair made of black flower petals, solid black eyes, and with tattoos of a thorn pattern covering her entire body, in essence she is a dryad. She wears a simple sleeveless dress woven of dark green tree leaves, other than that she wears no other clothes, ornaments, shoes, or otherwise. Burakku Rootasu is very much like the weapon she becomes, while beautiful and entrancing she is merciless and harsh, giving no quarter in any conflict and using her beauty to trap and manipulate others. Her seemingly warm façade masks a cold calculating mind that will constantly weigh and judge anything she comes into contact with, deciding on what use it may be, or if it must be disregarded. The only person she shows her true personality in all it’s cold severity to is Tsubaki, and this is only because of their relation.
inner world:

Tsubaki’s inner world is that of a forest placed in a constant nightscape with the bright full moon above, in the center of this world, and where most interactions will take place between Tsubaki and Burakku Rootasu, is a calm pool of what seems to be perfectly reflective water. In truth the water is covered in Black Lotus blooms, and at the center of each is a bright white pinpoint of light that mimics the stars, and in the center, where the moon would be, is a great lotus with a bright core, and in this core is a luminescent throne carved from ancient wood, and in this throne Burakku Rootasu will inevitably be found, ruling over the forest.

SHIKAI:

release command: Bloom, Burakku Rootasu.

description: Tsubaki’s sword begins to glow and elongate, growing into a midnight black Kasurigama (chain scythe), with a silver motif of ivy vines crawling along the chain and blade, the handle base is shaped like a blooming flower. The basic ability is called Daku Roozu (Dark rose). The chain and blade of Tsubaki's zanpakutou are covered in small thorn like protrusions that constantly ooze poison, this poison will slowly eat away at the victims Reiatsu, as long as it is in effect (four posts per contact, maximum of 10% drain after the four posts, stops working after 50% is drained by any tech, resets at each contact, so it doesn't stack), can be countered by focusing ones reiatsu to burn out the poison, however this takes concentration, so will normally take up one post, those of vastly greater power however are unaffected.

type: Posion

techniques:
Name: Kubiwo Shime ne (Strangling roots)
Type: Offensive
Cost: low
Range: close
Description: Tsubaki's Zanpakutou animates and shoots towards the victim (It has to remain in hand however, limiting it's range) and wrapping around them and anchoring the blade in a non vital point, such as a shoulder, binding them, then the weapon begins to siphon off the victims energy, taking a maximum of 15% of the victims current energy (this energy does get absorbed by Tsubaki, but is converted into poison to increase the effectiveness of the next technique) With sufficient strength an opponent can break free.

Name: Hanano Iki (Flower's breath)
Type: Defensive
Cost: Middle taxing
Range: Close to mid
Description: Tsubaki releases a cloud of black spores from her weapon handle that spreads to a two meter radius above and around her, these spores are highly toxic, and any who enter the cloud will be poisoned for three of their posts, slowing their movements and harming them internally, once again, with sufficient reiatsu you can burn the poison out, but it takes more energy than the passive poison. If Energy had been absorbed before this was used, the radius increases to four meters. Remains up for three posts.

BANKAI:

name: Mayonaka no Niwa (Midnight garden)
description: When bankai is activated Tsubaki becomes cloaked in a solid black mass of reiatsu, which eventually fades away to reveal her in a black dress composed of razor sharp metal flower petals, each of which can be taken and thrown like a well made knife, giving her a vast quantity of throwing knife weapons. Around her there will be 10 copies of the chain and blade of Burakku Rootasu, which combine around Tsubaki’s feet to form a circle that moves with her, these tendrils act autonomously unless given a command, the separate blades also have the effect of Daku Roozu.

type: Offensive/Poison
stat upgrades:
SEI:+3, =12
BUK:+3, =15
HAK:+2, =14

techniques:
Name: Bara no Togi (Rose's thorns)
Type: Passive/defensive
Cost: Low, paid subconciously
Range: close
Description: The tendrils of Tsubaki's zankpakutou will strike out at anything that comes within two meters of Tsubaki, slicing at them, though with sufficient speed the blades can be avoided.

For:Bankai
Name: Shuryouaibii (Hunting Ivy)
Type: Offensive
Cost: High
Range: long
Description: The blades of Tsubaki's bankai dive underground and rush underground to the target, and when they reach it they rise up and wrap the target, strangling them and cutting at them, a non animate target will be destroyed, and an animate target will be badly wounded, if they don't find a way to escape they may be killed. (that last part is more for NPCs)

Human life: Tsubaki was born in a small farming village of Japan during the feudal era, resulting with a very difficult life. From the beginning her life was fraught with violence and blood. Her father had been a traveling ronin, who worked for whatever Daimyo was willing to pay the most, which often wasn’t much, but he did send what he got back to his daughter. Tsubaki never knew her mother, as she died shortly after Tsubaki was born in a horrible fire.

Growing up Tsubaki had very few options, what she received from her mostly absent father was no where near enough to keep her fed, let alone keep her warm and give her shelter, so she took the only option she had, she went to work at a local tea house.
Since she was young, around the age of 6 or 7, she could not be trusted to serve tea to the guests or to brew tea with the brewers, so she was set to cleaning, over the next three years she cleaned…and learned. As a cleaner, Tsubaki was able to remain unnoticed whenever she was working, and she took full advantage of that fact, watching the way the waitresses led the men on, getting them to purchase more expensive items, or buy them gifts in hopes of receiving something that they rarely ever got.


This was not the only thing she learned however, as a cleaner she would spend much time in the kitchen, where she would purposefully work slowly in order to steal sips of the tea, a drink she had found that she enjoyed very much, however, there came a day within her first year of service where she took a bold step, and stole some of the tea ingredients as well as a pot to brew it in. That night she snuck out and built a fire and began to brew her first teas, and after her first successful night she would start taking more ingredients more often, and would spend her nights testing different flavors and combinations, until one night she was careless.

One of the minor brewers saw her take a few leaves, and outraged decided to follow her, he watched her brew the tea, watched her taste and test, and slowly he stopped being angry and became curious. Tsubaki was testing her latest batch when the brewer burst out of the brush he had been hiding behind, terrifying the young girl as he walked up to her. “So you fancy yourself a tea master huh? Well I’ll see about that.” The man gruffly took Tsubaki’s cup and poured himself some of her tea and took a drink, swishing it around in his mouth, testing it. Tsubaki however was sitting there tears in her eyes, all she could think about was how she was going to lose her job, or worse. Finally the man swallowed. “Well, it’s no master tea, and anyone who knew anything about tea would instantly tell that a novice made it…but it’s worlds beyond the horse pi-“ The man looked down at Tsubaki “I mean drool, that they serve in the shop. Right then from now on, when you’re done with your job, come to the shack behind the tea house, and I’ll start teaching you how to brew real tea.” Tsubaki obeyed the man without question, meeting with him every day for several years to learn how to brew tea.

Over time, he came to be so much of a father figure to her she no longer felt alone when her father was gone, and because of him she was able to move on after mourning her father’s death in battle. After her initial three years of cleaning, Tsubaki was given the job of a tea server, and it was then she began to practice what she learned by watching the other servers, and over the years she became quite proficient at it. For her life was good, there were no major problems, she got to learn how to brew tea, and she brought good business for her employers, and for the most part the constant wars left her alone. However, that all changed in June of her 18th year.

One night, after she had returned from the brewer’s home she was sleeping when she heard shouting and screaming. Tsubaki hurried outside to see what was happening and saw a scene of utter carnage, there were bodies everywhere, strange men were chasing down and killing those helpless to resist, peoples homes were burning, and through it all, Tsubaki could only think of one person…the brewer. Tsubaki ran for the brewers home and tumbled through the door shouting warning to the old man, but he already knew. Tsubaki watched, terrified as one of the attacking men threw her teacher against the wall and began kicking him, while all the time the brewer only murmured “Tsubaki…can’t…let them…get…Tsubaki.” Tears flowed down Tsubaki’s face as she helplessly watched her beloved mentor be beaten, and finally watched as the man ran him through with his blade.

Tsubaki broke. She grabbed a pair of metal tipped chopsticks that the brewer had kept so he wouldn’t have to keep making new ones and attacked the bandit, she ran at him screaming, blinded by grief and tears as she struck at the startled man again and again, not stopping even after her hands were covered in blood and gore, not even after the chopsticks fell out of her hands, she just stayed there, screaming her loss and beating the body of the man who had wronged her just as he had beat the living body of the brewer. Eventually one of the bandits thought to look for his comrade and found her, silently screaming as her voice had left her, and seeing what had happened, he took his blade, and in one strike took her head.

Rukongai: Tsubaki’s earliest memories of the Rukongai are of waking up in a dark house, sunlight streaming through the windows, next to her were a pair of slightly stained metal tipped chopsticks with her name on them, and a note. “Tsubaki, you did your best with these to avenge me, now do your best with them to make a life.” Tsubaki began to cry as she read the note, though she couldn’t say why, it was as if something else was there, something she couldn’t quite place. Tsubaki took the chopsticks with her and walked out of the house, to stand in a small but busy street. She then set off to see what was going on and where she was. Over time she learned that she was in a place called the Rukongai, and that she was to make her own life.

Tsubaki spent some time drifting from place to place, unable to find somewhere to live that she could convince herself to stay in, something always felt…off, that is, until she found a tea house. Tsubaki couldn’t explain it, but working in the tea house just felt right, as if she was meant to be there. At first the owners began her as a tea waitress, serving tea to the paying customers, but after some time they noticed, all the other tea girls were being ignored, and worse, all the customers were buying her gifts instead of buying tea. As a result the owners moved her to the kitchen, where her ‘manipulative ways’ would do no harm.

Tsubaki took to the work like a fish to water, and soon she was brewing the best tea in the Rukongai, spending her years studying her craft until many called her a master, though she still kept trying to learn. As a consequence, many of the noble houses began to secretly come and try her teas, until one came with very little secrecy.

On that day a large, rude man came in and demanded the ‘tea master come forth’ of course everyone knew whom he was talking about, so they sent for Tsubaki, and told her to bring some of her finest teas. Tsubaki did this, and stood in front of the large man as he tested the teas before him. Finally he let out a sigh. “Exquisite my dear, pack your bags, you’re coming with me, and you no longer need to cater to these…cooommoners.” Tsubaki looked at the man and listened to his disdain for the people she lived with, and reached inside her kimono sleeve, gripping her chopsticks for good luck, and said, “No. I would much prefer to bring this tea to any who want it, including those who you think of as common.”

The noble was enraged, and without a word he got up and left, but that wasn’t the end of it. The next day Tsubaki came to work, and was forcibly thrown out by the owners, who stated that she wasn’t welcome anymore, and for the entire day no one would speak to her. Tsubaki was confused, but she thought maybe it would get better soon, and she decided to wait it out. A week later, things had only gotten worse, there had been rocks thrown through her window, death threats, and her house had been ransacked, and Tsubaki couldn’t understand what had happened, until she found a notice. On that notice was a message stating that she was to be outcast, and any who did not adhere to this decree would be fined. Tsubaki’s heart grew cold as she read this, and she grew disgusted with those she had stood up for who had thrown her away so easily.

After that Tsubaki went into the Rukongai Forest, taking only her clothes, a few small knives for weapons, and her chopsticks with their note, the one thing she had that proved that there was at least one human worth loving, even if she didn’t know who that was. Many years passed by, more than Tsubaki could count as she lived in Isolation, enough so no one even remembered her, let alone her banishment, but still she remained in the forest. Over this time she learned to move silently through the underbrush, able to sneak up on the most timid of animals, she learned how to effectively use her chopsticks to protect herself from the dangers of bandits and wild life, learned how to use the different plants to create various medicines and poisons, and she learned to use her blades to kill from a distance, taking out prey before they could sense her, for she had begun to develop an incredible hunger, one she had not known since she entered the Rukongai.

Every now and then Tsubaki would wander into the populated areas of the Rukongai for supplies, and it was on one such day that she saw an all too familiar face. Riding down the street on a palanquin was the noble who had ruined her life, still seated in his high place. For a moment Tsubaki saw red, but she schooled herself back to calmness, something she had learned in the forest where if you didn’t stay calm and plan, you died. That night Tsubaki followed the noble to his home, slipping past the guards and into the inner grounds, watching him as he went about his day, and she stayed and observed him for several days, until she had his routine, particularly his sleeping schedule, memorized as well as the guard rotation.

Finally, she made her move, late at night, under cover of darkness, Tsubaki began to sneak through the grounds, and silently she crept past the guards until she came to the outer bed chamber, where there stood two large, vicious guard dogs. Tsubaki quietly took out a bottle of purple liquid and dipped her knives in them, then quickly threw them at the dogs, the blades sunk silently into the dogs, and in moments they were asleep thanks to the concoction Tsubaki had brewed earlier. Swiftly Tsubaki made her way into the main bedchamber, where she saw the noble, sleeping, and what’s more, she saw something that shocked her. She saw small marks going down the man’s belly, marks just big enough to have been made by repeated stabs with chopsticks…suddenly bits and pieces of the worst night of Tsubaki’s living years began to return, a man she idolized, a bandit, shock, anger, violence. Tsubaki stood there, shocked by the pure emotion she had been slammed with, while by no means had she remembered her life, she had been rocked with fragments of memory that were extremely powerful.

Tsubaki looked down at this man, who had ruined her life, twice, and made a decision. Tsubaki swung down towards the man, landing silently beside him as she pulled out her chopsticks and placed them both against opposing sides of his throat. She then woke him up with a kick to the side. Quickly his eyes flashed open, but he didn’t move because of the two points against his neck. Silently Tsubaki hissed “you killed someone I loved, and you destroyed my innocence, now I’m back, but I’ll give you a chance, I’m going to leave you alive, and you’re going to give away all your money, and join those so called ‘commoners’ in the morning, or next time I ‘visit’ you won’t wake up. Quickly Tsubaki ran off, jumping out the window and down the street, seen by nobody…except one. As she was running something hit her on the back of the head, hard. Next thing she knew she was in a sack, and heard voices. “If we can cure her of that vengeful streak we might get an excellent shinigami. Yeah, but lord knows if we don’t get that streak out of her…she walked right past those guards, I still don’t even know what she did to those dogs.

Soul Society: Tsubaki’s first experience of the world of the shinigami was rather rough, being placed in a chair from a sack in front of the head of the Shinigami Academy. Throughout the experience of being scolded for using her obvious talents in such a way as to harm another non hollow soul Tsubaki kept her eyes forward and face closed, but when they tried to take her chopsticks away… “You can take the knives, and the poisons, and even force me into this academy, but so help me…if you even TOUCH those chopsticks I will hunt you down, and I will get them back, and they will go through your throat.” The school head had chuckled at this claim, but had nonetheless acquiesced and allowed her to retain her chopsticks before sending her to the academy.
In the years to come Tsubaki rocketed through the class ranks in the academy, staying in the top five in nearly all of her classes, except for those that required her to sneak or brew different medicines, in these she was the undisputed best of her class. Even throughout this all Tsubaki kept to her tea practices, something that gave her peace in this new world of swords and beasts. There was one thing that stuck with her from her school years though, the hollow, until them she had never heard of them, but once she did, something stirred, to her it seemed that these creatures were, whether forced to be or by choice, like the bandits she vaguely remembered, taking and killing what and who they pleased. While Tsubaki had no love for her fellow humans, she did feel that she did have a place taking out these hollows, and because of this she fully committed herself to the life of a shinigami.
Her years in the academy passed smoothly, no rivalries, no conflict, nothing, mostly because she refused to let anyone closer to her than absolutely necessary, which was less than even she had thought might happen, and as a consequence she began to forget the ways she used to manipulate those around her, which she took as no loss because she found that observation and careful planning worked just as well for getting what she needed. The most eventful part of her academy life was actually at the end, when she was brought once again to the office of the school head.
Once again she found herself facing the person who had so rudely taken kidnapped her and forced her into the academy. “Now that you’re a full shinigami, I thought that I should tell you your squad, you were chosen personally for the second division, and due to the nature of the…ah…duties that you will be given I thought it best to give you a gift. You may remember that when you arrived we tried to take those precious chopsticks of yours, and how you resisted, well, we’ve made you a new pair, as we have also seen that all you have left of them are the metal tips.” The shinigami then brought out a box and opened it, revealing a pair of solid metal chopsticks with an intricate ivy pattern inscribed on the sides, but there were no tips. Tsubaki slowly reached out and took them, fitting the tips that remained from her original pair onto the spots made for them. Silently she nodded and put them into her sleeve. “Thank you.” The teacher grinned a little. “Wow, two words, from the rumors, that’s more than you’ve said to any one person here, but anyway, to be honest those were more of a personal gift, an apology if you will. Your true gift are these.”
The teacher then brought out a rolled up piece of felt which she proceeded to unroll, revealing a large set of throwing knives. “These are the best we could find, they even have hollow compartments for you to store…tonics…in so that they seep through the edges. These are your real gifts.” Tsubaki picked up two large knives and looked at them, before suddenly throwing them in two directions. The first flew right beside the teachers face, cutting all of their hair below the ear on the right side of their face before burying itself into the wall. “That, is for kidnapping me.” The second beheaded a snake that was right beside the headmaster’s foot, “and that, is for giving me something worth doing.” Tsubaki then rolled up the knife set and walked out of the room, leaving the headmaster shaking their head.
Tsubaki then took her place as an unseated member of the second squad, and spent several years in this job, slowly rising through the ‘ranks’ of the unseated. In fact, the only thing keeping her from being seated was her lack of a zanpakutou, since she never brought false information, never got caught, and never failed a mission. Then on one day, something awakened her zanpakutou.
It had been a fairly simple mission, go to a town in the human world and get information on the actions of shinigami assigned to the area, but when she got there she found no shinigami, no plusses, nothing, not even living humans. Tsubaki began to look around, trying to figure out what was happening, when she ran into the source of the strange emptiness.
In the town square, sitting by itself, was a large hollow. She immediately tried to escape to report, but for some reason she was stuck. “You can’t escape the area, no one can, that’s my ability” Tsubaki turned slowly to face the hollow that had spoken to her, and was horrified. The thing was no more than a great blob, oozing some strange liquid that melted whatever it touched before being sucked back up by the greater mask, it’s mask was nondescript, with one large eye hole and a mouth, with it’s hollow heart space directly below it.
“Oooh another shinigami…now I’m hungry again.” The great mass began to move towards her, slowly advancing. She tried throwing her knives, but she lost two before she realized that they melted on contact. She slowly began to back up until she ran into the invisible wall that had prevented her escape, at a loss of what to do, when a voice spoke in her head. “Well, I guess it’s time to introduce myself. Call me Burakku Rootasu.” Tsubaki started, but realized what she was to do quickly and drew the sword all unseated members were given, and holding it out released it for the first time. “Bloom, Burakku Rootasu.”
Later Tsubaki stumbled back into the barracks, her sword gone, her clothes dirty and stained with hollow blood, and her sword gone, but in her hair was a new ornament. The higher ups realized what had happened of course, and finally took the opportunity to move her up to fourth seat in the squad, from where she rose first to third seat, and then to the rank of Lieutenant, taking any opportunity she could to get closer to captain level.

Tonari walked through the forest, leaves crunching underfoot as he proceeded. All around him he could see the perfect forest scene, sunlight dappling the ground where there were small breaks in the upper foliage, a soft green light pervading the area, wildflowers blooming everywhere, but he was interested in none of this.

Tonari fingered on of his pokeballs. He was here to find a pokemon to train his very energetic Shiva. Tonari could tell that she was getting close to evolving, which was most likely why she was so energetic. Tonari's black coat rustled in a small breeze, causing it to flutter around him, a stark contrast to his surroundings; in fact he was nothing but a contrast. Tonari's white hair and red eyes looked unnatural and strange in such a setting, his pale skin betraying that he spent very little time in the sun, much preferring the moons soft caress. Tonari sighed, to be honest, while the light here was softer than anywhere else outside on the island, it didn't change the fact he'd rather be in the ruins or in his dorm, but he also adored his little snorunt, like all of his pokemon, and his comfort came second to that.

He was brought out of his reverie as he heard something in crashing in the underbrush. Tonari immediately set off after the noise, crashing through the forest, crushing leaves underfoot. Still the source of the sound eluded him, it seemed that whenever he got closer the thing would make another noise even farther ahead, and Tonari would start running again. The limbs of the trees scratched his face as he ran, leaving red welts on him, his legs caught on briers and other thorny plants, ripping at the bottoms of his pants, but still he ran on until he finally came to a thick wall of vines and limbs. Tonari looked the thing up and down, the wall was imposing, but Tonari had already put in to much effort to let it stop him, so he backed up and put his shoulder forward, and began to run, jumping as he came to the wall, and crashed through into a clearing.

Tonari stood up and looked around. The wall he had crashed through seemed to encircle the whole clearing flawlessly, even as he looked pieces of the wall behind him fell down into place, patching up the hole he had made. In the middle of the sunlit clearing stood a small pond of sparkling water, clear as the finest crystal. Tonari knew that there was a spring in the forest, and he also knew that this wasn't it, his sense of direction at least told him that, so where was he? Tonari walked up to the pond and looked down at his reflection, and gazed into his own red eyes. Where am I? Tonari started as he heard something in the upper leaves of the surrounding trees, he looked up and he could swear that against the sky he saw something, no more than a disturbance in the light, a mere shimmer of a form, but before he knew it was gone, flown away, but even without it's presence the clearing felt almost sacred.

Tonari looked across the clearing at the other side of the wall, hearing another sound, but this one had a palpable source as something crashed through the wall, leaving a gaping hole, Tonari stood still as the form stood up, revealing itself to be... (Note: the ending was vague do to the nature of the post.

AV-3

HAN: 10
REI: 15
HAK: 12
SEI: 7
BUK: 12
HOH: 15
Points Earned: 1
Total points: 71

Koetsu.

none.