Application!
Player Name: Boxy!
Personal LJ: kerbox
E-mail: omgitsyuusuke at gmail dot com
AIM: deimosisbest
Other characters currently in-game: none
Character Name: Yamamoto Takeshi
Fandom: Katekyo Hitman Reborn! From the manga, the future arc specifically.
Gender: Male
Age: 25 (Ten Years Later version)
Sexuality (if applicable): Bisexual
Original or Anomaly?: Original.
Appearance: Here he is! The one with black hair.
Personality: Yamamoto is the kind of guy who seems like he's got everything going for him. He's cheerful, strong, easygoing, and charismatic, nice to the elderly and children, and is recognized by nearly everyone in his neighborhood. He cooks, cleans, loves his family and friends, and is always there to offer support, a brighter perspective, or to laugh at the humor in just about any situation. Overall, he's the most tall, dark and handsome you can get for the perfect guy to take home to meet your parents. A bona fide nice guy.
He's also a mafia hitman. A brutal, natural-born assassin and master of the sword. His family, the Vongola, and everyone they've ever known are currently being hunted down and murdered, and Yamamoto has suffered painful losses.
Once a very bright, chipper, always-laughing kid, Yamamoto still has a magnetic personality as a man. He likes just about everything, and can see the humor in nearly every situation. He loves people and doesn't need an excuse to say hello to a stranger or strike up a conversation, and will happily do so even in the middle of a battlefield. He is outgoing, blunt, honest, a flirt, warm hearted, and known by both close friends and admirers alike as being extremely steadfast and reliable - his first appearance, happily defeating an evil robot in one hit, is taglined with the fact that he "never changes." Never changing also means sliding a baseball reference in here and there (his sport of choice, and life goal once upon a time), hanging physically all over the people he likes, and keeping his constant smile on his face... even while he and his Family are being killed one by one by an overwhelming force, and are currently in hiding. This isn't to say Yamamoto isn't effected by what's going on in his harsh reality. Quite the opposite; look closer and that smile of his is exhausted, heavy from the weight of the years he's faced and the toll the deaths of his friends - and his only family, his father - has taken out of him. If you can get past the warm demeanor, and the spark of hope that time-traveling visitors from his past bring to his dismal future, there is an air of sadness, futility, and tragedy to him. He is one of many scattered guardians, an underling with no Boss to protect.
Because of how vital Yamamoto's "constant and unchanging" aspect of his personality is to his character, a lot can be understood about his future self based on his younger self. Yamamoto would die for what he's involved in, be it a baseball game or the mafia, and he's been like that ever since he was younger. He's confident, thrives on competition and self-improvement, isn't satisfied with being "the best" so much as having something he can get better at, and revolves himself around being devoted to something or someone. Ten years later, those things are the remaining Vongola mafia family and swordsmanship. Still, he never seems so intense or focused until he's actually in action. Usually he's very easygoing and personable, and makes being good at everything look easy - until you see his brutal training regimens, that is.
When faced with something ridiculous he usually accepts it, no matter how bizarre, though he may spare a moment to fumble identifying the madness (he thought his time traveling friends could be the work of illusions or demons - a step up from assuming something more realistic, like child actors, which he would have done a long time ago. Yamamoto's still kind of retarded in some spots, no matter how much of a badass he is now). He has the ability to roll with anything short of a nuclear blast to the face - even if a situation is completely unbelievable he's willing to humor it, which stems from being scouted into the mafia by a 1-year-old baby assassin. Actual dislikes are unnaturally few and far between; his rival Squalo fully intended to kill him when they met and there was never remotely a grudge. He's much more likely to bite at someone if they hurt someone other than him, as he's extremely protective. If Yamamoto Takeshi actually wants you dead, it's safe to say you did something to deserve it.
That said, he has a lot of blood on his hands. He's bitter at all the "what ifs" that go with losing loved ones, and is even capable of being vindictive (like cursing with a dark smile when he doesn't stab deeply enough to kill his enemy the Millefiore). But losing important people changes even Yamamoto, a little. Sometimes he cages up, or doesn't say everything, or simply doesn't feel like smiling anymore for a while. The closer you look, the more haunted he seems.
Overall, through his happy, cheerful demeanor there is a tired but dangerously confident man. His smile can turn from honestly kind to honestly dangerous within the blink of an eye. It will show all over his face when he goes from thinking a bad guy is funny, to thinking he's going to enjoy cutting their spleen out. But all the remaining warmth, kindness, and smiles aren't a mask; though not as open as he used to be, Yamamoto is still Yamamoto.
History: When he was thirteen, Yamamoto was the star of the school; outoging, hot, and the star baseball player of Namimori High. He met Sawada Tsunayoshi one day when the unpopular boy was bullied into cleaning up after sports by himself, and Yamamoto didn't think twice about saying hello and offering to help out. As they talked, he revealed he was in a personal slump, and asked for Tsuna's advice. Tsuna, awkward and flustered at such a popular guy just coming up and talking to him, gave him a half-hearted typical shounen peptalk - work harder and you'll be rewarded. Yamamoto's definition of working harder was a little too intense though, and he broke his arm, jeopardizing his baseball career. CLEARLY, THE ANSWER WAS SUICIDE. Horrified that his advice had lead to this, Tsuna desperately talked him down on a rooftop, apologized and explained that the advice was a lie coming from him - and that he would never think something so intense as "I have no reason to live," because he was the type of person who would always wish he could have done it better/with a "dying will." Yamamoto was thus completely owned by Tsuna even before Tsuna dove off the building to save him when his balance gave out, and with a new direction in life and a warm laugh HAHA WHAT WAS HE EVEN THINKING, Yamamoto and Tsuna's lifelong friendship began.
After that, Yamamoto was scouted by Reborn, the 1-year-old hitman and tutor to Tsuna, to join the Vongola mafia family. He happily accepted, because haha, what a funny kid, and who better to be boss than Tsuna! He gave 100% to "playing along," so much so that when very real knives were thrown at him - and then real bullets were fired at him - he was able to dodge everything. The more dangerous it got, the more he got into it. This is where we learned Yamamoto is kind of retarded, because thinking the "Mafia Game" is all just a kid's Cops and Robbers is only logical until you are cheerfully dodging knives and bullets. Then we learned Yamamoto is kind of crazy, because thinking everything from bombs to snipers are staged, having the ability to shatter cement with a baseball, and thinking everything remotely dangerous is all props and special effects stops being natural after you survive (and enjoy) too much of it. He met Gokudera, who lives to be Tsuna's right hand man, and the two of them have been showing up together - first as Tsuna's friends, and then as partners - ever since. Reborn gave Yamamoto a baseball bat that turns into a sword, starting the process of changing Yamamoto from a baseball idiot to a swordsman idiot.
Thankfully, due to his talent as a "natural born assassin," Yamamoto survived the stage of his life where he thought everything in the Mafia Game was faked. Then Rokudou Mukuro attacked the Vongola, and without a moment's hesitation, he accepted the very real mafia violence without even blinking an eye when he was maimed protecting Tsuna. He wasn't discouraged by this at all - if anything, it only solidified his resolve to give everything he had to his friends. After that was all over, the Varia - a group of elite assassins in the Vongola - challenged his group of teenage friends for the rights to be the true leaders of the Vongola family. Yamamoto was deemed worthy by the head adviser of Vongola to be Tsuna's Rain Guardian, pitting him against the loud, long-haired Squalo. Thus the battle for the Vongola Rings - and the true positions of Boss and guardians - began.
In order to face a real assassin, Yamamoto approached his father to teach him kendo. Little did Yamamoto know that his father was an assassin in his own right in his glory days, and asking his father to pass on his style was a much more serious right of passage than he was prepared for. Surprised, but determined, he went through brutal training to become the successor of the Shigure Souen style - a renowned and deadly sword style of "murder and ruin." He was given a special shinai that transforms into a sword only when used by the Shigure Souen style, a symbol of his father's blessing. Yamamoto thus accepted the possibility of killing and death in the "game." Yes, he still had a block against realizing he was really in the mafia, but it didn't really matter to someone like Yamamoto, considering now he knew that he could kill someone if he tried. His match against Squalo was extremely bloody, but he never used the sharp side of his sword, and even tried to save Squalo's life at the end of it despite the fact that he could barely stand.
In the end they won, and earned the Vongola rings, powerful relics that had been in generations of the family. Time passed. One day he realized the mafia was never a game at all. There was no dramatic revelation, the same as always; he accepted he was an assassin just as he accepted the violence and death. He'd already committed his life to the "game," after all. They grew up, and faced more trials - one too many of these trials were over the rings they'd fought so hard for, and Tsuna made the decision to destroy them forever, to end the cycle of constant battles over them. Reluctantly - but trusting Tsuna's decision - his guardians agreed. Meanwhile Tsuna begain construction of a real, hardcore underground mafia base for the Vongola, and they all began living together. Many mafia antics ensued. As the family grew older and hits became necessary, Yamamoto and Gokudera handled a lot of the Vongola's actual hits - not just because they were the guardians closest to Tsuna, but because Tsuna trusted them to decide whether or not they really needed to be killed and spare lives accordingly. (Not that this accounts for all of Hibari's, but who can control that guy anyway?)
Yamamoto never remotely intended to leave forever, or even for a long time, not when he'd already gladly promised Tsuna - and himself - that he would devote his life to his friends. But when he was scouted into professional baseball, it was then or never, so with Tsuna's encouragement he accepted. But while he was pursuing his childhood dream, Squalo - the man he'd faced in the Vongola Rings challenge - began mailing him DVDs, one by one, of every battle he had on his path to becoming the second Sword Emperor. It was half rubbing it in Yamamoto's face, but the true purpose was to lure him back to the world of the sword - where Squalo believed he really belonged, after the cocky little katana brat had beaten him. This - and news of the previous peace being unsettled and threatened - was more than enough for Yamamoto to hang up his glove and bat, pick up his sword again, and return home. He is now known as a master swordsman in his own right, and Squalo and Yamamoto's rivalry has persisted, to the point where Yamamoto's started swiping his moves. More mafia antics ensued.
Unfortunately, it was all downhill from there. Byakuran, the leader of the Millefiore family, along with Irie Souichi, began a fullscale hunt to kill every single Vongola, be it guardian, woman, or child, along with anyone they had ever allied or associated with. Yamamoto's father was assassinated. And Tsuna, the leader and keystone, was shot to death in front of Yamamoto and the rest of the guardians. It's been almost ten years since the skirmish for the Vongola rings, and now they must face the bitter truth that they destroyed the one weapon that could save them. Surviving off cheaper rings of power, they've retreated into hiding. And now, of all things, younger versions of Tsuna and Gokudera - ten years younger, in fact - have appeared in the future with the very rings they haven't destroyed yet, and are shocked and horrified to learn of their terrible future.
A plan is in motion to not only rescue what remains of this future, but change the future of the younger generation, so they don't have to go through what the older ones did. What exactly each Guardian knows, and their roles in recovering their family, has yet to be fully seen. But no matter what, Yamamoto is gunning for any hope he can get. He disappears when his younger self takes his place.
Strengths: Yamamoto is a master swordsman, the Rain Guardian of the Vongola mafia family. Power-wise, Yamamoto uses a katana, and something called Box Weapons in conjunction with powered mafia rings. His element is water. Despite having a short-range weapon, he can cut bullets with his sword and withstand supernatural blasts of power. He is a master of the Shigure Souen sword style, which is a deadly multi-form style that revolves around manipulating water and aiming for vital points. It's a mix of direct attacks and indirect strategy; Yamamoto can project his image at a supernatural level on water (enough for the reflection to be mistaken for real and attacked), move very quickly, pull funnels of water around himself to protect himself, and switch angles by switching his sword hand mid-strike, just to name a few of the forms. (the rest are listed here.) Moves he's jacked from Squalo include stabbing in a flurry of what looks like hundreds of swords, as well as a strike with such force that the person he hits will go completely numb.
The rings he wears are the conduit for opening his box weapons, and what they're using is Yamamoto's inner strength/ki/ShounenPower: The Dying Will flame. Yamamoto has rain attribute flame, "tranquility" flame which essentially adds a status effect to everything he does. It neutralizes enemy attacks or weakens them, and when applied to one of his attacks from Squalo, he can temporarily paralyze someone. The flames can also dull pain, and presumably can have more uses that match the concept of "tranquility." One of his box weapons is a huge shield of water, and the other, his primary, is a swallow. Unlike many primary animal box weapons, the swallow is mostly a status effect/indirect partner type of weapon, and complements Yamamoto's already existing abilities. He always has water to use in his attacks, he can make it rain so hard that the entire area (and everyone/everything in it) is blotted from sight, and he can create identical copies of himself from water and swap out mid-battle (step up from 2-d reflections). The swallow itself also weakens other people's flame/ki/whatever. Many of Yamamoto's moves work both offensively and defensively depending on how he uses them.
Socially he's incredibly well-adjusted and laid back, which means he's good at getting along with just about any type of person, and rarely hesitates no matter how threatening or caged up a person he's dealing with is. Yamamoto is a very strong figure, and his biggest strength is his dependability in both personal matters and as a powerful guardian. He never gives up in a fight, and has a very high pain tolerance to help him with that. Yamamoto is stable in times of crises, confident in the face of death, and has been called fearless. He learns extremely quickly, as he committed the entire Shigure Souen style to memory after seeing each form only once, and borrows moves from Squalo in the same manner.
Weaknesses: N-not many, and to friends it sometimes looks like he has none. However, the problem with being dependent on something is that once it's gone, you don't have anything. When baseball was taken from him, he didn't think there was any point in him existing - why should he when he couldn't do the only thing he's good at? Yamamoto says that he's not good at anything other than baseball at that point, and then later, it's swordsmanship and baseball - that isn't true, but it shows how tunnelvisioned he is when it comes to whatever he's doing. Tsuna, the person he has protected for most of his life now, is dead. In that sense he's kiiiinda unhinged, has a death wish, and he'd be suicidal if so many people didn't still need protecting. However he's obviously still kicking, so it's clear he's made the decision to survive. If you're nasty enough to kick a puppy while it's down you can grind at the losses of his loved ones and he'll be provoked pretty easily that way. He blames himself for Tsuna and his father's deaths. He's also kinda slow when it comes to anything he's not naturally good at, like fields of study - if he applies himself he can catch on, but that's rare, so usually he's content with being an idiot. He's still human and mortal, and even though he apparently has like 20 gallons of blood in him, he can't bleed forever. He's also not that great against illusions.
First Person Sample:
[The sphere turns on and he lights up, grinning]
Ah, there! Something happened. Is it on? Hello~ everyone, am I on? The lights mean it's going, right? It's been a while since I've talked to so many strangers, so bear with me.
[he laughs, bright and friendly]
This is one heck of a place you got here, but I gotta ask, am I arrested? Am I talking to cops? Hey there! Wow, good job. You guys really udpated your security systems, huh? I'm impressed. But I thought you guys didn't wanna get involved with the Vongola right now!
[takes a moment to pause, looking up at the ceiling, thoughtful]
So, hmm~ it couldn't be that, right?
[smiles again, concerned]
Well, whoever it is, you should know it's a little dangerous to hold me captive.
Third Person Sample:
Yamamoto woke up feeling sluggish, and sighed with a wry smile when he didn't recognize the ceiling. He hadn't been captured in years. He didn't know whether to be worried or impressed that he couldn't even remember who'd taken him down, but it couldn't be the Millefiore - he was still alive, after all, and he was pretty sure he wasn't missing any limbs. He wasn't even in pain, which was the biggest surprise.
Deciding he should probably check on that, Yamamoto wiggled his fingers and toes before sitting up and - What the heck? Yamamoto almost laughed at the orange jumpsuit he'd been dressed in. The amused smile dropped off his face when he realized he wasn't wearing any rings with combat ability, and he looked around the room quicky. It wasn't that different from the smaller rooms in the base, but he didn't recognize a few of the contraptions, and--
Some of the tension drained out of him at the welcome sight of his sword propped against the wall. His suit was pressed and hung by the door, tie and shoes nearby. He felt a little sorry for whoever took it upon themselves to do his laundry, seeing as he'd been on a stakeout for three days running before he'd been interrupted. Still, they'd taken it upon themselves to keep his boxes and rings as payment, and that payment was a little too steep.
He looked out the window in hopes of getting some feel for where he was, but was only met with what looked like outer space. It was looking more and more like he was a prisoner, despite the fact that his sword was still here; mist users would often cloak the area surrounding a stronghold with illusions of fog or a faraway location. His stomach sank. He flumped backwards on his bed again, bouncing slightly, and pressed his hands to his face.
"Aaah," he groaned, smiling against his palms, "Gokudera and Hibari are gonna kill me."
That was enough lying around, though - it was time to get it together and figure out where he was, and check over his weapon to make sure it wasn't fake or tampered with. For all he knew, this whole thing was an illusion, and that would be really bad.