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[givingsword]

Application:

[ PLAYER INFORMATION ]

Player Name: Lizzie
Age: 19
Timezone: Central!.
Personal Journal: ohlizzie@ljay.com
Contact Information:
MSN: theflailingwalrus@hotmail.com, Plurk: OHLIZZIE!!!
Email: theflailingwalrus@hotmail.com
Current Characters: None.
Activity Checks:
[ CHARACTER INFORMATION ]

Name: Kamiya Kaoru, “Kaoru-dono”, Kamiya-sensei.
Age: 17
Gender: Female.
Fandom: Rurouni Kenshin, taken from the manga.

Timeline: Taken from late chapter 125 of the manga. Before Hiko arrives. History: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kamiya_Kaoru Please let me know if you want bit by bit history. It might take a lot of time to write that though!

Character Personality:

As the heroine of Rurouni Kenshin, Kaoru has plenty of personality. If anything, she’s an extremely forceful, fiery young lady with an unyielding belief in the value of life. This bleeds through everything she does, whether she’s teaching the laws of her school, Kamiya Kasshin Ryu, or helping a stranger in need, she is more of a heart over mind sort of person. Of course, while her intentions are always well-meant, Kaoru can easily act a bit impulsively on them. She is more of a girl prone to action than simply sitting around.

In battle, she won’t back down from a fight even if it doesn’t seem like it can be won. As the sensei of the school she is helping out falls from a far stronger opponent, one she knows she might not be able to defeat, Kaoru’s reply is that she:”Can at least get in a blow”. And for his honor, will fight on his behalf. This is only an example of her courageous nature. Kaoru will rarely back down from a fight, especially if she has personal feelings involved in it.

“I’m not giving up. I promised Kenshin we’d all go back to Tokyo together.”

Take the beginning of the series for example. Kaoru’s first act is charging into the streets at night, searching for a murderer who has framed her school. She takes out a wooden sword and points it at whoever carries a sword. For a woman in this era to wear men’s clothes and act so tomboyishly, how do you think it would be received? Naïve she may be on how the world operates, (no one really believes that swords aren’t meant to kill), it’s Kaoru’s strong sense of responsibility that propels her to act.

Kaoru is a girl with high morals, strong conviction, and a stubborn streak that runs a mile wide. This runs hand-in-hand with her violent temper. Don’t think about calling this young lady ‘ugly’, insult her cooking, or anything in between if you don’t want a bokken (wooden sword) between your eyes and a fist in your face. Considering her upbringing as the successor to a swordstyle, it’s not unusual that most of her mannerisms are gruff instead of ladylike. Not even the main character is safe, and he’s the legendary samurai from the Bakumatsu. Childish could also be a way to describe Kaoru’s personality up until the Kyoto Arc. Many times Kaoru can exhibit both clingy and somewhat possessive behavior when it comes to Himura Kenshin, the rurouni and person whom she quickly develops feelings for. Her temper easily comes down on the poor man when he either politely comments on her cooking being an ‘acquired taste’ or his criticism on her brash nature and tendency to act before she thinks can cause a lot of heated replies. Especially if Kenshin goes off on his own, Kaoru is almost always the one to find him, and it usually involves her demanding that he come back in some way.

Raised on the principle that killing isn’t the only thing that can be done with a sword, nor should it be the only way, Kaoru tirelessly works around the area promoting the idea that swords in a peaceful era, should protect, not take life. When you’re a woman, an orphan, and unmarried in old Japan, this usually isn’t looked on with the best favor. Regardless, Kaoru’s stubborn will and her unfaltering belief in what she feels is right shines through her physical appearance and limitations, and she actually has quite a following in Tokyo to those her words do reach. Take Yahiko for instance, her only apprentice. While the two grate on each other like two swords with jagged edges, their relationship is more of an impatient master and student, a bossy big sister and her bratty younger brother. Kaoru won’t admit it, but she places a lot of her faith and hope for her school on the shoulders of the young boy. This isn’t exactly hard to do, because Kaoru is the sort of person who is more prone to believe in the good of everyone she meets instead of the bad. She might be optimistic, but she also has a good eye for talent.

She’s responsible, when she learns in the manga that some of her students who left after the Battousai incident have been causing trouble, (she doesn’t believe that any student of hers could do such a thing, so when Yahiko spells it out to her she’s fairly shocked: “You would use swords to hurt people?” Another example of her naivete) she goes to the source of who they’ve caused trouble for, a mafia gang, and offers herself instead. They may have been the ones responsible, but she feels since she taught these students with her father, that she is to blame. It shows she’s not only responsible and aware of duty, but an extremely selfless person, more often than not. Risking her life for others who might not have done anything good to her in the long run, Kaoru’s obvious desire for the safety of others instead of herself is obvious. Even those who betray her like Kihei, she offers a second chance, even her enemies, she shows mercy to. To Kamatari, who was more than willing to kill her, after Kaoru defeats him, tells him that if he surrenders with the rest of his men, that she and the others will treat his wounds and let them leave in peace. Most warriors would kill their opponents immediately.

This selflessness isn’t just in this example. She opens her home to every manner of person who needs shelter, providing homes and food (that isn’t really liked since she cannot cook to save her life), to people like Kenshin, Yahiko, and Sanosuke, even Megumi, who she has more of a rival/older mentor relationship at best with.

Through Yahiko, we see Kaoru’s skills as a teacher come into play, and aspects of her personality are brought into light further. She can be both patient and impatient, patient when it comes to explaining techniques, and impatient when Yahiko has a bossy attitude. She isn’t a push-over, and believes that if you want something, you should know exactly why you want it. In the Jinchuu Arc, Kaoru explains to Yahiko that while he is probably the strongest boy in Japan right now, she won’t teach him the succession techniques of her style if he only wants it to become strong.

Her teacher-like attitude often comes around kids, like Tsubame, who is Yahiko’s admirer and the one he wants to protect most. As Yahiko fights off those who would enslave Tsubame in an ancient servant-master system that runs in her family, Kaoru bluntly tells her: “It isn’t enough for the law to say we’re all equal. If people’s hearts don’t change, it doesn’t mean anything. Have a stronger heart.”

Kaoru is both an idealist and very naïve. She wants to believe that people are inherently good instead of bad, and that in a world where killing has been the only way to use a sword for centuries in Japan, still believes that in the new era, it should have another purpose: “Save life” instead of “Taking Life”. It’s a little childish, a bit unrealistic, but Kaoru’s maturity, which goes beyond her years, is deeply grounded enough that she can withstand the criticism that comes from it. Kaoru is a very pure person, both in thought and in motives. She doesn’t mask her intentions; she doesn’t try to be someone she isn’t, rather, she’s too honest a girl that her heart is easily seen on her sleeve. It might not be possible, but the fact that her heart and mind reach towards these ideas: that people are good, that swords should be to protect, don’t go unnoticed by those that come to know and accept it. It affects them in one way or another. Most likely by the depth of her feelings about them-(Kaoru never feels something half-heartedly) :Her idealism, while exceedingly naïve, told even by Kenshin, but is still so earnest even he, a former killer whose lives he’s taken are almost immeasurable, wants to believe that it will become the truth of the world of swordsmanship.

One of Kaoru’s greatest strengths is her ability to see people for who they are, and accept them at where they are. This is best displayed with her relationship with the protagonist, Kenshin. When he questions her too-trusting nature on Kihei, her caretaker, she says simply: “Why would it matter? We all have things in our past we don’t want to talk about. Isn’t that why you became a rurouni?” She goes even further to show this nature when she finds out that Kenshin, the man who saved her from the Hiruma brothers is the real Hitokiri Battousai, the most feared killer of the Bakumatsu, instead of being terrified of him, Kaoru asks him to stay with her.

“I’m not asking the Battousai to say. I’m asking you, the rurouni, to stay. “Whether it’s to help clean up her mess, or simply because she wants someone to fill up the lonely dojo, Kaoru holds true to her belief that people deserve second chances. She goes many lengths to show Kenshin that his past doesn’t matter to her, it’s the person that he is now that she has come to accept, and eventually fall in love with. “Battousai or not, you’re still Kenshin.” She tells him earnestly, never prying too deeply into his past. Kaoru’s pure and trusting nature literally knows no bounds when it comes to Kenshin, and eventually to Yahiko and Sanosuke. Yahiko was a former pickpocket for the yakuza, and Sanosuke was a feared fighter-for-hire in the Tokyo underworld. All these people, feared or reviled, Kaoru offers to live with her. She works for them, provides food and beds for them to have to survive, and bickers with them like she would any family. In her mind, that’s the simplest solution. As someone who was judged for rumors that weren’t true, perhaps it’s this reason why she is so accepting. Regardless, her compassionate heart, despite her temper, and her accepting nature, no matter how naively trusting she can be, becomes an anchor that brings the group together, whether she realizes it or not.

With such strong and noble aspects to her character, there are still plenty of faults Kaoru has. Her fear of being alone is one of them. While justified by her hard life after losing both parents, Kaoru can often act extremely rash on this fear of being alone, putting Kenshin and the others in danger if she feels that those she cares about are being jeopardized. A lot of times Kaoru’s anxieties and strong feelings can overwhelm her sense of logic and action. One of the biggest reasons, and from which I’m taking her from, is when someone she loves is threatened. When a massive swordsman bigger than the Aoiya brings his blade down on a Yahiko not willing to move, Kaoru is paralyzed by the certainty that after the attack, Yahiko is dead. Promising Misao that she wouldn’t give up the fight for the sake of her promise to Kenshin and the rest of her ‘family’, seeing her student, little-brother figure dead and her, his master and sibling figure unable to protect him, shatters her willpower. She loses the will to fight.

Kaoru can easily fall into a pit of despair or moodswing if a situation causes her to lose faith or doubt. Especially when Kenshin is involved. Kaoru was so heartbroken by Kenshin’s departure to Kyoto, that she lost faith in herself. Megumi had to nearly slap her and harshly scold her for her to see what she needed to see.

She can be possessive and jealous when it comes to women hitting on Kenshin, and her temper can often make things she doesn’t mean to say come out. She can also act very impulsively, about to leap into situations that don’t concern her even if her intentions are well-meant. She can be very bossy, and even childish, going so far as to fretfully tell Sanosuke that Megumi and Kenshin being alone in a room together makes her insecure. In a lot of ways, while she is still a mature young woman, she is also still just a girl. She is still maturing. Of course by the Kyoto Arc, she has decided “not to cry anymore” and instead do what she usually does, act. So in a sense, while these are potent weaknesses and flaws, Kaoru’s strong will often overrides them with the desire to become a better person. And at this point, Kaoru is already well on the path to being a mature woman who while still follows her heart: doesn’t allow her emotions to rule her. A better sensei to Yahiko, a better friend and comrade to those at the Aoiya, and a better companion and support-system to Kenshin, her most precious person.

So while yes, she’s bossy, yes she’s a little too violent and hot-tempered at times, Kaoru at her core, is that of a selfless, compassionate, giving young lady who only wants to have people to live her life with at her side, who wants to help and be there for the people who are in that life. Who believes in what is right even when the majority of the people around her consider it nothing but a naïve dream. She might not always look it, but at her core, Kaoru is strong.

Character Abilities:

“The essence of the Kamiya Kasshin Ryu is the sword that protects life.

The idea is not to kill your opponent, but to control them.” -Kamiya Kaoru

Kaoru has been raised on the skills of Kamiya Kasshin Ryu. Put abruptly: The Sword that Gives Life. These skills focus not so much on defeating your opponent so much as it is controlling them. This in mind, Kaoru doesn’t need a full blade in order to actually hold her own in a fight. When fighting Kamatari, in order to break the mechanism of his scythe, she sacrifices a huge chunk of wood on her bokken in order to do this. All that is left is the hilt. For Kaoru, who never seeks to take the life of her opponent, this is irrelevant. She can still fight with the hilt. She instead uses it as a catalyst to break the leg of her enemy and in essence, ‘control them’ from killing anyone else.

A lot of Kaoru’s techniques aren’t dwelt on due to the fact that Kenshin and the Hiten Mitsurugi Ryu is the main sword style with light shed on it in the series, due to him being the main protagonist. So with a few examples from the manga, can you get an idea of how she fights. Most of the involve deflecting a blow or incapacitating an opponent.  Some of her techniques are even based on if for some reason her weapon is broken.

Some skills listed:

Kamiya Kasshin Ryu Tsuuka no Gedan Hiza Hijiki (Handle Attack, Knee Crush)

: Involves her using the hilt of her sword to duck under a person’s attack and strike a vital point. In example, she used this to duck Kamatari’s makeshift weapon and break his kneecap.

Kamiya Kasshin Ryu Succession Technique:

Form 1: Ougi no Mamori Hadome: Kaoru crosses her arms and restrains the opponent’s sword within her grip.

Second Form:

Ougi Hodome Hawatari: Involves Kaoru then turning the opponent’s strength against him by the twisting of her arms and causing them to fall to the ground by the force.

Kaoru’s skills also come from her natural ability as a teacher. She is able to effectively understand the techniques being used in a battle and serve as an accurate commentary to those who are watching. Being raised at a young age to succeed a Dojo’s Master, she knows the flow of battle, and proves extremely knowledgeable. So her battle-senses are well above average.

In terms of emotional abilities Kaoru’s skill at being able to sense when something is wrong and act on it serve as a few key points in uplifting Kenshin’s spirit, and those around her. Her simple yet pure way of looking at things can often be strength to those who know her. She’s good at communicating information to others in a fight, along with saying what she means in a conversation. So her social skills are actually pretty decent, unlike the derp of a rurouni and Yahiko’s brash honesty.

Another more humorous skill is that Kaoru is pretty decent in martial arts. She can pack a hell of a punch to anyone who makes a mistake on her bad days and provoke her fiery temper, easily sending them crashing into a wall from the force.

Character Weaknesses: Kaoru’s greatest weakness is her emotional stability. As it coincides with her personality, Kaoru’s nature is to earnestly and honestly display each and every one of her emotions on her face. In battle, she often can set this aside when the situation calls for seriousness, saying to her enemy, Kamatari, that once she takes off her ribbon in her hair, she is no longer either sex, simply a swordsman fighting a battle.

Of course, this is well and good, but when something drastic happens, say, one of her loved ones is injured, like Kenshin, or in the situation I’m taking her from, Yahiko, Kaoru’s steadfast determination is easily shattered. She can become a serious burden once this sets in, crippled by her fear of losing anyone and anything she loves, can become an easy block in her judgment. If someone she cares deeply for is hurt, she easily stops halfway between an attack or a defense to notice the injury. If her perception of the battle is that the person she’s worried over can’t sustain the injury, this definitely comes into play. Her skills of reading a battle effectively become warped by this.

This isn’t much changed outside of battle. Kaoru’s mood is immediately dropped if she is deeply worried about something. Namely,Kenshin. Due to her strong attachment to him, if she feels something bad is going to happen, (she generally has a good sense of when something bad will happen, as she’s shown in both the battles with Jin’e and the coming of Saitou) that it generally will happen. It has nothing to do with her lack of faith in those she loves, but the long buried fear of being alone again. Kaoru puts on a strong front, but she has decent anxiety. An orphan with an empty dojo is something she never wants to go back to, so if she feels that Kenshin is on the brink of becoming the Battousai, if someone is in danger, she’s going to act rashly and without sense to prevent this. She goes so far as to act on her worry but tugging on Kenshin’s sleeve before the battle with Saitou and wordlessly express her anxiety, It’s just I feel like after this, Kenshin won’t be here anymore.

True to her insight, Kenshin leaves the dojo soon after to go to Kyoto. While her fears are usually over exaggerated in her mind, Kaoru cannot help but at times be crippled by the strong emotions she might be feeling. This holds true from where I’m taking her from, her fear of Yahiko’s possible death is overshadowing all sense of reason, going so far as to make her not worry so much about where she is but if she can get back in time to at least save Yahiko.

You could even go so far as to say Kenshin is another weakness of hers, for when he leaves for Kyoto, Kaoru falls into a catatonic state of depression, refusing any and all help and laying around in her bed. When he said goodbye, I was paralyzed, and now, I still am..

Her thoughts are honest, something that is also easily a weakness. Kaoru’s tendency to wear her heart on her sleeve is what easily leads to her feelings being jeopardized or crushed. However, Kaoru is also one to listen to someone who can relate to what she’s feeling, so once she snaps out of it, she places intense pressure on herself to keep from being that way again. After that example, Kaoru is true to her word, and she doesn’t succumb to that sort of sadness again. However, as I’ve said, where she’s taken from, Kaoru is easily crippled by what she assumes is her own death and the others at the Aoiya.

As for physical weakness, Kaoru is easily on the rank of a kendo champion, however unlike Kenshin and Sanosuke, she isn’t half as strong. Her biggest weakness is that her weapon is made out of wood, due to the fact that she doesn’t feel she needs to wield a killing sword in order to protect those she loves. While this holds true, when pitted against someone who weilds something of a sturdier substance, her weapon will not hold up so much. She will often have to form a strategy that can take both time and effort on her part to win the battle. It’s definitely not an easy victory, as the battle with Kamatari has proven to her.

She has no particular godlike speed like Kenshin, and she cannot break through rock and wood like Sanosuke’s Futae no Kiwami. She relies on her balance and her form of her sword art.

[ SOUL CAMPAIGN SECTION ]

What are the abilities that your character will retain in Soul Campaign?

Kaoru has no supernatural powers to speak of, she’s an average girl, athletically fit and a Dojo Master, certainly not someone who is weak by any means, although in comparison to Kenshin and Sanosuke, her skills are significantly overshadowed. She can defend herself, and her skills with a sword, albeit a wooden one, aren’t one to be taken lightly. This in mind, Kaoru will be maintaining her knowledge of Kamiya Kasshin Ryu and the techniques that come with it.
What are the weaknesses that your character will lose or gain in Soul Campaign? Considering she has no supernatural powers, Kaoru’s best losses will be her balance, something she’s generally good at keeping. She’s generally hard to knock off her back in a fight, as shown when fighting Kamatari, but here, with the nature of this world, it’s more than likely it might be a bit difficult, so a loss of grip or balance will be slightly loss.

[ MEISTER ONLY SECTION ]

Why your character should be a Meister: One reason why Kaoru is best fit to be a Meister is because she is an extremely responsible young lady. To her, she realizes that holding a sword is not only a way to protect your life, but it is inevitably something that protects the lives of those you wield it for. To her, to be a weapon for someone who might not necessarily understand this basic principle, one of the key points of her sword art, is not acceptable to her. She wants to act on her own volition, not regret choosing a Meister who might not necessarily believe and match up with her ideals.

Not to mention she feels that she can handle herself, and has a much better time in her experience as both a teacher and instructor to be able to guide someone under her leadership, with her knowledge. Not to mention with her type of personality, she just likes to be the one giving information. In battle, she is often the one explaining things to Megumi, Yahiko, and Misao, whether watching Kenshin, or openly fighting (as she did the Juppongatana with Misao). In essence, she likes to be in charge of what she knows decently how to do, and act on her own beliefs, not be told what to do by another if it doesn’t coincide with her own strong feelings. One of the most obvious reasons is that Kaoru has grown up using a weapon, wielding a wooden sword, so the idea of her completely changing that equilibrium would be a difficult transition at best. Best to stick with the familiar if she wants to survive.

MEISTER ABILITIES:

1.  Soul Speak -

"You are the only one whose voice can call Ken-san back from the battlefield."
-Megumi to Kaoru.

• Kaoru's way with words and her ability to communicate even in the heat of battle is not an easy task. For someone who can do something like this, it makes the most sense if she is the one able to reach and relay information to those she's familiar with about both situations, and battles while not necessarily saying it out loud. A lot of the battle with Kamatari was Kaoru's talent of forming a strategy with Misao by verbal tongue. Imagine the effectiveness if she doesn't even have to open her mouth..
   

1. Soul Kekkai - A main philosophy of Kamiya Kasshin Ryu is preventing the least amount of damage as possible. So if there is a chance to prevent that in a fight, Kaoru will take the risk. A sword that protects so if she can protect bystanders by focusing the battle on herself and her opponent, it's a risk well taken.

1. Soul Manipulate: A lot of Kamiya Kasshin Ryu's actions center on controlling the actions of an opponent, or at least incapacitating them. Kaoru by no means would use this as a way to to harm anyone or destroy them, but to at least stop them from hurting anyone she cares about, or at least use this as enough time to effectively end the battle with least injury on both sides. Of course if she's fighting evil things that aren't even human, then, she's not going to waste any time..

[ SOUL INFORMATION ]

Soul Description: Accepting, Altruistic, Hot-tempered (Feisty), Kindhearted, Idealistic, Brave,

Soul Appearance:

[ SAMPLES ]

First Person:

I don’t care what you want me to do, tell me, where is Yahiko?! [a girl with a face battered with cuts, dust and bruises stares into the screen with a face crumpled with despair. ]

What..what is this thing? I don’t have time to be looking at this! Where did he go-if he can send me here, then he can surely send me back! [the girl’s body comes into view, similar marks on her face shown all over her body, her clothes are ripped, and she looks pretty worse for wear]

Even if it’s too late for us-even then-I can’t leave him and Misao-chan, and everyone else alone!

[she stares into the screen as hot tears fill her eyes, dripping onto the device, as she raises her hand, wiping her eyes with a sniff]

Cut it out, you’re acting just like Megumi-san said. this isn’t the time for tears-I have to be strong now. For Yahiko-for Kenshin and everyone else!

So you heard me! If you brought me here, then you have to send me back! Please..I’m begging you!  Send me back to the Aoiya! Back to Yahiko! [her voice cracks]

[With frustration on her face, she moves to shake the box, praying for a miracle. Instead, in her desperate jerk, she only gets the screen blacking away]

(To give you a better idea of how Kaoru might act on a normal day, I made a second post, after she’s settled into Death City a bit better...):

Video: [2nd First Person]:

[A hand pokes on the screen with an index finger, pulling back to reveal wide blue eyes and a confused expression. This girl has never seen anything like this before in her life]

So just like this? Or maybe it was a little closer... [She leans in, only to bang her forehead on the screen, wincing a little as she huffs an irritated:] This is too complicated! What sort of thing is this and why can’t we just use newspapers?!

[taking a breath, she pulls back, expression a little sheepish]

Well, if this is on, or whatever they said to do about it, I’m Kamiya Kaoru. I don’t understand a lot of what you people are wanting of me, but I’m afraid I’m going to have to say no. [She smiles a bit apologetically] While I understand your situation, well, the gist of it, I’m afraid I can’t condone what you’re doing. War and killing others is just something I can’t help you with. As the shihandai of Kamiya Kasshin Ryu, my teachings are to use techniques that protect people, not claim life.

[Her brows furrow] Not to mention it’s extremely rude to take people from where they’re from! [her apologetic face twists in a scowl, and also worry] I really have to get back to my own battles! It’s not fair to the people you’re bringing here, understand? So you should do that instead! I promised someone that I’d go back to Tokyo with him and all the rest of our friends. I’m not sure what this weird black box is, and how you might be able to hear me, but I know this much!

I’m not going to break that promise! [She clenches her fists in her lap] I really am sorry, I don’t know what good I can do to help you all, but if helping you will return me to my friends at the cost of killing or destroying another life, then I think you have the wrong person.

But if you’re asking me to protect others..[She lifts her chin]

Then..I might as well do all I can. Although I’m not really sure what you mean by weapons and witches and all…[she pauses for a minute]

…Oh. The light isn’t on. [Kaoru then realizes she didn’t even turn on the thing that made the device work….her face slowly becomes bright red, and with a growl, she begins to reach for the device. Heaven help it.]

Third Person:

The man’s massive hand was going down with the blade, he had already destroyed half the Aoiya, and now he was going to take away the member of a newly made family, something she never thought she’d have again---

“YAHIKO!”

Her frantic scream echoed as the woman reached out with a battered arm, her expression twisted with horror. This boy was her student, her apprentice, the hope of the style that her Father and she had fought so desperately for in an era where killing was the only purpose of the blade. And more than that he was a part of the group of friends she had desperately fought tooth and nail to keep together in her little dojo. To have him ripped from her now-the blade was coming down too slowly, and no matter how much she began to reach for her stubborn, cocky student, it was like she was frozen in time.

What good was the Kamiya Kasshin Ryu style if she couldn’t protect someone, protect it’s most promising student? What good was her promise to Kenshin, if they couldn’t all go home together!

He’s my student---you can’t do this-not now! Not after everything-!!!!

The thoughts came fast in her ears, as she reached with a trembling hand, only to find her world dissolve into blackness.

Her eyes opened slowly, wincing, as her eyes adjusted to the darkness. The first thought in her head was, I...is this the afterlife? No, I can’t be here yet! I promised Kenshin!

She scrambled to her feet, wincing at the creak of joints, the bruises peppering her body, that hateful man in charge of that monster that killed Yahiko was right: They all were at the end of their strength. But even so somewhere in the depths of her heart Kaoru wanted to believe that if she was here, wouldn’t Yahiko have been at her side? If not then maybe-maybe he wasn’t here yet! At least, she could hope for his survival...

The thought was as futile as the memory of Fuji’s massive sword coming down on her precious apprentice.

“Yahiko…” She whispered in the darkness, hot tears filling her eyes, as she lowered her head to the cold ground, her shoulders shaking. “….I’m so sorry--..I couldn’t-“As Kaoru’s eyes adjusted to the blackness of what she could only assume was death, a light suddenly flooded the room; a room eerie and full of strange things. It looked the picture of a grim sort of afterlife, although Kaoru had never imagined it to look like this. “Is this really the afterlife? Is this the end...?-it can’t be---not after all we’ve done!” She brought her fist down hard on the ground, her eyes tightly shut. She could hear footsteps coming gradually closer and closer towards her...

But all she could think about were the faces of her friends and the ruins of the Aoiya against the city of Kyoto, the battle they had all been fighting about to be entirely in vain...

[ NOTES ]
Please let me know if there is anything I didn’t elaborate well enough on, and I will do my best to make it right! Thank you very much for reading my app! J




It doesn't matter if the law says we're all equal.
If people's hearts don't change, it doesn't mean anything.