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Player Name: Lizzie
Player Journal: heartwiring
Playing Here: No one.
Where did you find us? Long ago!
Are you 16 years of age or older? Yes!
Character Name: Kamiya Kaoru
Canon: Rurouni Kenshin
Timeline: Just after leaving Tomoe's grave with Kenshin after he offers her his hand.
Character's Age: 19 ( birthday was in June ) so if accepted by her game age she will return to her previous age there!
Powers, Skills, Pets and Equipment:
“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.
NOTE: Kaoru's abilities in Anatole with her technique are very close to mastership, so they are enhanced quite a bit.
GAME ABILITY: (Never gave her one from her previous time)
Foresight:
"I have..a bad feeling about this."
One of the most ironic things about Kaoru is her ability to sense when trouble will occur. She states in the anime the night before she is kidnapped by Jin'e that she has a 'bad feeling'. When Kenshin enters his battle against Saitou she states, that she feels as if Kenshin 'won't be there anymore'. True enough, Kenshin reverts to his former state as a hitokiri in the fight, not even returning to his true nature even at Kaoru's voice.
Many times in the series she has a sense of foreboding that she can't shake, and true to her intuition, during such times bad things tend to occur. Of course, if she were able to predict the future or have visions in Anatole, they wouldn't be whenever I felt like it! I'd like them to maybe happen during events so at least she could get blurred bits and pieces or even vivid scenes that might help and make her more useful for widespread game things! The most simple things would be her being like, "Kenshin you might trip today." How useful it can be is ultimately up to the mods! But I hope to do something with it. If not okay please let me know and I'll think of something else to use!
equipment: Kaoru will come in her clothes and small purse.
Canon History: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kaoru_KamiyaPersonality:
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 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.
Coming near the beginning of the epilogue, Kaoru at this point is secure in who she is. She knows she has a special place in her friend's hearts, that no memories can change. A new future waits for her, one beside Kenshin for better or for worse, even if they don't know what that means just yet. She has a place, a home made from her friends, and an understanding for the woman Kenshin loved, a compassion for her brother, Enishi, and the maturity of a woman wise beyond her years.
Because Kaoru has so much experience here and she's wise, approachable, and exceedingly powerful in spirit. I think she'd be a comforting, familiar presence to people who get close enough to know her!
Network Post Sample:
http://soul-campaign.livejournal.com/1155693.html
(If you'd like I can link new ones! )
Third Person Sample:
http://soul-logs.livejournal.com/467650.html?thread=40648642
Anything else? ...Nope! Let know if I need to edit anything! C: