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Description

Name: Nōhime Kojiro
Alias: "Hime"
Age: 22
Gender: Female

Nationality: Asian
Height: 5'2"
Weight: 150lbs
Hair: Raven Black
Eyes: Faded grey (almost ivory)

She is a vision of beauty, a woman that sees the world for what it truly is. Her face is that of delight and toil. Although she is a beauty, her face is weathered gently by life. "Beyond an angels beauty" her father would say. Her lips are full, but they fit her face very well; and her hair is a raven mane whose length ends just past her shoulders. Her eyes see things that these blessed with sight will never be able to fathom. Her body has been slowly sculpted by years of training and farming. She has soft shoulders just like her mother, but her arms are softly defined and her hands are fairly rough from working and training, she takes care of them often because she doesn't want to be thought of as "masculine." She prefers to keep her nails trimmed down and she doesn't wear nail polish or makeup, she commonly jokes this is because she can feel how disgusting makeup is.

She usually wears whatever feels comfortable whether it be jeans and a simple tank top or anything else.

Personality

She is a wise yet quiet individual that often speaks her mind. She is kind and prefers not to hurt others, but she can and will break some necks to protect herself and others. She can be serious, but she has a playful streak about her, and this is evident by her smile which seldom leaves her face and when it does...well you know the saying: "Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned." She is confident and calm. She rarely panics, but she is human just like anyone else and even the calmest people sometime crack under pressure. She does believe in justice, but she does realize that lady justice is slow and sometimes she will take on the burden of the law. She believes in tradition, but she also contradicts herself, believing that growth and adaption is an individual's greatest venture.

She doesn't think pity is the correct term to describe her situation; she often makes jokes about herself and she is known for making corny puns.

She is an extremely strong willed person, and even though she is a very loving person, she has a hatred for discrimination and she will speak up against it at all times. She isn't a hero, but when someone is truly powerless, she is the first to lend her strength to them. Usually, she avoids getting involved if the situation at hand is none of her business, and she tries to avoid conflicts as well as she can.

She enjoys a good test of her skill and sees her disadvantage as an advantage, especially in the dark or in low visibility situations. She often takes offense to insults directed toward her, and she does have some insecurities about her sightlessness, but she can appreciate the fact that what a doctor would call an imperfection in her, is in fact one of her most beautiful gifts.

Equipment

She carries a rather durable black messenger bag customized with small number coded piercings that she uses to place items in it. She usually carries a 5ft smalt blue pole, which she uses as a make shift cane, just as any other woman in her shoes would. However this simple looking pole is deceptive, as it is a Jumonji yari in disguise. The tip is a foot long blade which is usually wrapped, and two 10 inch blades fold out from the main blade to form a back to back "L" shape, and she is trained extremely well is its use, having learned sojutsu from Her Master's Wife Ayameko Toshihiro.

As well as she can handle herself with her Jumonji yari, she is a monstrously powerful hand to hand combatant, due to just the fact that her sense of touch is so powerful. She can use leverage well and she can counter force well and she can find pressure points by brief skin to skin contact.

Eyes that cannot see in the physical realm, can feel the spirit realm...

She cannot see, but she has combined what she has learned to overcome her weakness and even transform it into her greatest asset. Over the past few years, she has developed her sense of touch to the point where she can feel the flow of her own chi around her. This "current" allows her to "feel" intentions and attacks and react almost before an opponent can finish an attack. In conjunction to this power sense, her other senses play a key role in her style as a whole, keeping a bead on the location of an opponent via smell of perspiration or blood, the sound of their breathing or even heartbeat.

She has name this ability "団結の感覚-Danketsu no Kankaku" or "United Senses." Being blind she only has 5 senses to use (Touch Hearing, Taste, Smell and the 6th sense) in order to function as a fighter, she uses each one to it's maximum efficiency. She has trained for years to develop and hone this ability; despite her weaknesses, she is an astounding combatant of sound body, mind and spirit. Her strength is enough to sunder steel beams with ease, and her agility in daunting to face in combat Despite her puissant ability, she has difficulty facing airborne opponents and those combatants that have adverse methods of disorienting senses.

In her battle with a man named Animus, she developed her senses even more so. Her 6th sense can feel the presence of beings whether they be animals human or unearthly, this doesn't allow her to see, but it adds to her awareness while she is focused.

History

Nohime was born December 28th, 1630 to Maeda Kojiro and his wife Oichi Kojiro. She was a beautiful infant girl, whom had inherited blindness from her grandmother. Despite this, she grew up the same as any other child, curious, vibrant, and full of energy. Her father was a soldier and her mother was a botanist. She never went to a public school as a child, instead her parents hired a private tutor to teach her. She was a very intelligent little girl, but to most noble and ignorant people, her blindness was a illness that rendered her useless and perverted. She was teased by her peers because she never learned at "their" school. She was picked on and shunned by children and shunned by their parents. She learned to stay strong despite the small hardships she faced with the help of her mother and father.

Around the time when most children started primary school, she sneak outside to play with the other children, only to be rejected, and some even threw rocks at her. One night while a guest was over for dinner, his wife made a snide comment about Nohime and she stormed out of her home in anger, crying. She ran until she couldn't hear her parents voices any longer. She soon came to the realization that she was lost and she didn't leave a trail for herself.

A young boy about her age had saw her running away and he just so happen to follow her out of curiosity:

Nohime listened closely to the sounds around her, her small face stained with tears. She could hear nothing but crickets and animals of the night. She could feel more tears welling up in her eyes as she realized she was lost; this wasn't like the many times it had happened before, she had no trail to follow, and no one to guide her. "Crunch!" went the sound of a branch near her, it frightened her and she grabbed the nearest thing to her; a long stick with a jagged end and faced the direction of the sound and listening closely.

She couldn't hear growling or heavy breathing of any sort, she hoped it wasn't a bear or worse. She listened as her heart filled her ears. "Wha--" She swung the stick as a young boy's voice frightened her. "Ow! What was that for?!" She dropped the stick and backed away..straight into the trunk of a large tree. "I'm so sorry, I thought you were a bear.." The young boy licked the tiny scratch that she had caused. "How am I a bear? Do I look like a bear?" She stayed silent for a moment. "Aren't you going to answer my question?" The boy grumped inquisitively. "I..I um.." The boy interrupted her rudely. "What are you blind?" She was stunned by his question, and immediately curled into a ball, covering her head.

"Y-Yes..I am.." There was a short silence and she waited for his insults...but instead he just scratched his head. "Why are you all scared, does my breath stink or something? I know blind people have super senses. I had some onions and mushrooms with my shrimp and rice tonight. Sorry, I scared you though, I couldn't tell you were blind." She sat up, listening to him talk. "I..I get teased because I cannot see like normal kids.." The boy scoffed, answering back. "What is there to tease about? You don't seem weird to me. My uncle is blind and he a herbal tea maker in kyoto." She sat up turning to face him, and rubbing her tear reddened eyes.

"My name Is Nohime." She stood up dusting herself off. "My name is Botan; I pretty much figured out your name, there's a man in town looking for you...I'll lead you to him if you want, not being able to see out here must be scary." He said handing her the robe tie to his yukata and leading her along...

Since then, they have been friends...

From then on Nohime and Botan were inseparable, a dynamic duo through thick and thin. When Botan began to take lessons from the local martial art schools. Botan secretly taught her as he himself learned, since she wasn't allowed. One night Oichi caught the two of them sparring and she began to teach the two of them the way of aikido, with the help of her father who now had been retired. Over the years they learned, Nohime had the most troubled learning the stances and movements, but she soon caught on to just the basics with extended training and conditioning. But she still could not fight near on par with a normal practitioner, so her father sent a request to an old friend from his days stationed in the mountains; one of the greatest martial artist of that time Saitō Toshihiro, a veritable master of Tenjin Shinyō-ryū with knowledge of several other styles.

Trials of Master Toshihiro

From the first day we meet him, he was a calm man, with a presence that commands attention...

"So your are my students?..." Botan and Nohime responded in unison. "Yes Master Toshihiro!" The old man's fierce brown eyes studied the two of them. "I see..." the old man sized them up as he circled around them. "Now that you are my students, your mind, body, and soul are mine to strengthen, do you understand?" Again the two of them answered together. "Yes Master Toshihiro!" Toshihiro stepped up to nohime and stared at her for a moment. "You..you do not have sight is this correct?" Toshihiro questioned. "Y-yes..I cannot see.." The old man's question made her nervous. Was he going to tell her to leave? Would he not accept her as a student? "Your training will be doubled." Botan saw the the nervousness twist up her face and he immediately spoke up. "Excuse me master toshihiro, I wish for my training to be doubled as well!"

The old man turned to botan. "Who said that I did not double yours as well?" Botan bowed apologetically. "I am sorry Master Toshihiro." The old man turned away from them and grabbed their bags. "We will begin in three days..." As the old man began to walk away, he paused. "Do not move until I say so..." Again the two of them answered in unison. "Yes, Master Toshihiro." At once the old man had vanished into his home and shut the door. "I can't believe he accepted us." Nohime's lips curved into a soft smile. "Yeah, I thought he would turn us away also...but I wonder why we starting our training in three days?..."
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Two Days Later-Nighttime

Nohime could hear Botan stomach roaring with hunger and she was shaking slightly. "How are you holding up Nohime?" Botan shot weakly. "I'm so hungry..I feel like I could eat the dirt..." Suddenly a wonderful smell filled her nostrils..."Yakizakana with lemon spice and Oden with rice gravy.. " Botan's eyes widened as Master Toshihiro brought out two plates of the terribly delicious smelling food and set them on box in front of the two of them. He inhaled the amazing smelling scent. "Ah, my wife's cooking smells divine..." Nohime sparked to life. "Yes is surely does Master Toshihiro." The old man finished setting up the plates. "Do not lay a finger on these plates..." The color drained from both of them; the old man left swiftly. Nohime could feel her stomach rumble and roar with hunger and the food only worsened the growling. "This is so cruel..." Botan chuckles trying to get their minds off of the food. "It smells so good..." She responded, feeling herself zone out. "Don't worry hime...we only have one more day"
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Third Day-Noon

It was the middle of the third day and two look at these two young people one would think they were the elderly. Nohime was shaking so much she couldn't control it and her eyelids felt like they were made of steel. She hadn't heard Botan's voice in a long while, so she listened for his breathing. She was so out of is she couldn't focus enough. "B-Botaa..." She could barely say his name. "I'm here hime.." Botan whispered back. "Sooo tired..." She replied weakly. "I know, I am too, but we only have a bit longer to go..."

Third Day-Night

Nohime Kojiro's Story