Hinodi "Gakai" Seijin

Reito no Kensai
Reiryu-do no Godan
Go Kamisori Gama no Sekkuku
Agent of the Court of Shooting Stars

Description


~Icy resolve and uncaring fury march onto the field. Brown, nearly black, eyes sweep over the environment. No matter where he goes, the smooth-faced Japanese man, who could be in his late 20s or early 30s, is predominantly ignored. Few eyes rest on the murderous kensai. Soft leather boots are worn on his feet, cotton slacks on his lower body and a cotton tank top on his torso. A shimmering leather duster encloses his lean shape and conceals much more. His entire ensemble is black, perhaps as a comment on clothing trends, perhaps as utility. His raven hair is trimmed short, spiked up naturally. Unblinking, unyielding, and uncompromising, Gakai progresses to his destination.~

OOC: Appearance 3; Arcane 4

"Rhythm without rhythm, form without form -- this is the ultimate. Watch me dance."

History


Youth

Hinodi Seijin, more commonly known as Gakai, comes from a family of master swordsmen. From the young day that his training began amongst the Reiryu ninja, he demonstrated a natural aptitude for kenjutsu - fencing. In fact, his father, Hinodi Jiro, was the chief instructor of fencing at the Reiryu Clan Estate. Seijin had a good background. His father handed him that ball and Seijin ran with it to the endzone and beyond.

But Seijin did not neglect his other regimen of training. He grew into a strong student of Reiryu-do. His mid-teens dawned with the boy warrior demonstrating keen ability with all the ancient arts. It was suspected he might Awaken, but just when was the question. As his father retired from all activities except tutelage to the Clan, a special gift was prepared for Seijin's fifteenth birthday. A masterfully-forged katana was offered and Seijin accepted. But there was more. The beautiful weapon had the potential for great magics if Seijin quested for that power. The mission was presented and the boy accepted. He set out from the estate into the mountains where his father directed til he came across a cleft in the peak of the mountain, Yakorima. Along the way, goblins appeared and assaulted the youth. Though hard-pressed by the strange oni creatures, Seijin fought his way past and gazed down into the crevice. Snow surrounded the ridge he stood on, but in the crevice there was only ice. The ice was pure and crystalline, untouched by snowfall, dirt, or any other element.

Clarity

Without thinking, Seijin climbed down into the icy cleft. And as soon as he touched that sheer crystal, fiery pain darted through his flesh. Screaming, he scrambled away hopelessly, and tumbled down into what seemed like would surely be an agonizing demise. He blacked out there, body succumbing to the icy shock. But he woke up - hours later, perhaps - and found his sword unsheathed and driven into the ice. Had he plunged it there in wild desperation? He couldn't remember, his memory was too foggy. Icy-blue sparkles danced around the keen edge of the sword and he realized that he was no longer burning on the shelf of ice. He reached out for the hilt and when his hands closed around it, extraordinary pain once more shot through him.

His father had made a great gamble with the boy. The first time Seijin might survive, his father knew, but the second time might have finished him off. The only way Seijin would survive was if he Awakened and instinctively resisted the magic of the ice-heat. The strong survive while the weak die - a dismal but realistic fact of life. Seijin proved strong, because the boy's will had been tempered like steel and his body hardened with years of harsh training the world government's best commando soldiers don't even begin til they're grown men.

The shock of the icy flames once again knocked the youth unconscious. But this time he dreamed. Seijin dreamed of many masters of fencing coming before him. Some were human, some were not, but all were great swordsmen - a few recognizably so in the annals of Japanese history, such as Miyamoto Musashi. And each challenged him to a duel. Their voices filled his mind, fierce shouts and cruel taunts, til he was nearly overwhelmed, and he screamed the defiant words to all of them: I accept! And so his eyes shot open and the words echoed throughout the valley. The wind could not steal his voice. The goblins lurking below cowered in fear, for they knew a new shinta had been born into the world. He swore oaths of honor and propiety to his newborn spirit, empowered by a sense of purity he had never before felt. Armed with opened eyes and a powerful sword, Seijin left Yakorima and returned home a man.

So Seijin's magickal tutelage began, complimenting his constant martial training. A year later, his final test to become a true ranking member of the Go Kamisori Gama was administered along with a few other cadets. Clan spies had noticed a nosy Tengu and her murder of Kinfolk roosting too close. The cadets were to frighten the Tengu away and make sure she doesn't come back without exposing their identities. Seijin was the only Awakened member of the five man team, but all returned home from a wilderness expedition successful. Crowned with a black belt, Seijin served the Reiryu Clan faithfully for several more years.

Early Years

His first mission of importance to both himself and the Clan was a solo task in Sapporo in 1992. A gaki of House Iga, Yate Unepo was setting up shop as a "ninja school" to form a Scarlet Screen and source of potential recruits from the wanna-be assassins (who could be killed in action and their tainted, murderous souls potentially harvested as new gaki). This was done, of course, without the approval of Clan Reiryu in spot of the shinta's past warnings. House Iga arrogantly ignored the mysticks and Seijin was dispatched to reeducate the undead.

Seijin knew how the ninja-training facility's defenses would be established. The gaki had learned much of their brand of ninjitsu from mimicking Go Kamisori Gama, the first true ninja. Yate Unepo, though an experienced jina, had not deviated much from those traditions. He was confident in Iga-ryu's ability to repel invaders, but like his House, he had not counted on annoyed shinta paying a visit. The defenses were sabotaged and the guards were subdued silently. Seijin confronted Yate in his meditation chamber. Yate took up his sword and Seijin's first serious duel ensued. It was a fierce and relentless battle and ended abruptly with Yate losing his head.

Seijin returned to the Clan estate victoriously. He was commended and awarded the name Gakai, or "The Surgeon". His precision and caution had been noted. Then on, Gakai was often asked to help train the young. He taught caution and patience to the hotheads by besting them in duels, sometimes scarring them for good measure. He never struck out of anger or spite, and was noted as a pure warrior of the Reiryu. He performed occasional missions of justice for the Clan, but primarily remained by his father's side to teach the young. He studied and trained constantly, never satisfied.

Recent Years

But Gakai yearned for more. He turned to studies of various divination and omen-reading. Using his preternatural talent for the passage of time and the approach of destiny, he mapped out future possibilities to test his skill. He traced the potential movements of other fencing masters in the world so that one day he might silence the challenging taunts and be known as the world's unsurpassed swordsman. The sword was all he loved. The sword was his life.

And by that life Gakai determined to move from his home in Japan. The Reiryu Estate was all he had ever really known. But he knew his personal growth must lead him from that place and indeed from the islands of Japan. Gakai traveled to the United States and to the Midwest to join with Lady Nekoko, the Reito team, and briefly in Nekoko's Court of Infinite Ages and then in the Court of Shooting Stars. Though this Occidental nation was a nest of barbarians and devils, he was sure its "melting pot" features would yield a number of swordsman possibilities. Gakai would find out if he had what it took to be the best of the best.

The Forgotten Well (Sanctum)


~The lush gardens of Midori-no-Koyama conceal secrets. The shinta quietly maintain a Dragon Nest on this estate grounds. But another such secret remains almost impossible to find with the naked eye: perfectly camouflaged in the grassy earth near a grove of trees is the entrance to the sanctuary of Gakai. Earth and grass sheath the thick steel hatch that seals the way below, and one must know where to look for the unfixed handle to pull the hatch up. Once the hatch is open, complete access to the Sanctum is possible. Just under the hatch is a squared hole approximately six by six by six feet. To the right base of this ditch is carved a round hole just large enough for a man. The left side hosts a short ladder out of the ditch to the surface. The hole is abysmally dark and shrouded in cool mists even in the dead heat of the summer and no ladder appears available to guide a person down.

And that's because there is no ladder. One simply drops down the hole and hopes one lands safely. And a person does, because Gakai has laid a permanent enchantment on this place and made it his own. As soon as one drops through the mists, it's as if reality is cut away into a new realm. The fall seems slowed and controlled, and the person descends a hundred feet through enshrouding, thin mists that make the air crisper instead of thicker. The mists rarely part at all, but a few brief glances give the person a view of an old, eroded earthen wall. This appears to be a centuries-old and forgotten mine shaft or especially deep well. The hole eventually curves inwards, and the person lands on the smooth shaft. The hole widens and the person finds himself sliding down an ice-sheathed tunnel for a moment, before landing on his feet in a wide chamber. Above this exiting hole a single rung was installed. A person who wishes to leave grabs the rung to swing himself up into the shaft. The magickal winds that slowed his descent will breeze him right up the same way at twice the speed, and guide him to that entrance hole safely.

The chamber is approximately one hundred square feet and the hardened ceiling fifteen feet high. The mists still swim through the air down here although not nearly as thickly. But they seem to help keep the room not only fresh but well below freezing temperature, at 15 degrees Fahrenheit. The walls, ceiling, and most of the floor are all completely covered in a thin layer of ice and unprepared steps can prove treacherous. Only in the center of the chamber does the floor lack ice, where a circle of wide diameter was melted or cut out and shale stones were inlaid as tiles instead. Surrounding this circle at twelve points ("clockwork") stand sturdy man-like dummies made of straw and bamboo, designed for the purpose of martial arts training. Beyond the dummies, rammed down through the ice, are afixed a half-dozen Japanese-styled torch sconces. They flicker eerily in the misty underground chamber and seem to be always lit.

Few conveniences were stocked down in this sanctuary. In one corner rests a cot and a night table, upon which rests candlesticks and incense sconces. The suggestion that this was once a mine shaft abandoned when a large stream of ground water was hit can be confirmed. Facing the cot in the opposite corner rests a round tub with actual plumbing and a filter system tied directly into the well-qualities of the nearby underground stream. Neither a sink or commode is present, however. The Sanctum also appears to lack electricity and any ration storage. On the other side of the chamber, where the tunnel out opens, Gakai keeps his deadly arsenal of weapons. Cached in small black steel crates or stacked on handmade bamboo racks are archaic and modern weapons alike. And besides the ice, the chamber possesses little decorative quality. However, the ice in the middle of one wall is polished to a mirror-like quality, serving purposes of vanity and divination alike. Furthermore, etched into the rest of the ice all over the walls are kaja symbols over all of the I-Ching trigrams. In stark contrast to the pale blue-white glaze, the carvings were forever stained in Gakai's own blood.~

OOC: Arcane 3

Significant Other


Gakai rescued this Shih from a Yomi-fallen Khan in 2004. An old vendetta had Kianna captive and she was excruciated constantly by the beast. Gakai murdered the Khan and his bakemono servants. Then he nursed Kianna back to health. Their time together progressed into a gentle romance that still persists. They even call each other by their true first names in private: Seijin and Masako. They have no intent to marry or have children (Masako is barren anyway). They fight together and love together. Accepting the likelihood of their deaths any day now, that's all they can expect of one another.

Death came in 2009, though not for Gakai. Kianna stalked bakemono alone in the streets of Little Asia. While the Shih was successful in striking the mutant freaks down, she succumbed to her wounds soon after. Gakai sensed her distress and rushed to the scene, but he was unfortunately too late. In stoic sorrow, he carried her body to Yamahasu and personally entombed her in the cemetery. Little did he know that she would rise again...

Kianna

Weakness
Icicle Soul


Gakai is not consumed by cruelty or bloodshed. But he lives with it everyday and performs his duty unblinkingly. It will catch up to him someday and because he is Awakened, he is keenly aware of this potential doom. He can take steps to counter this devolution, but so long as he kills, his soul will be forever stained.

Likelihood of Corruption


Low.

Gakai commands a pure focus. He is not easily moved from his chosen Path. It's as simple as that.

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