Name: Akiyama Yasu
Sex: Female
Age Appearance: Late twenties/early thirties
Rank: Veteran Captain
Appearance : A beautiful, tall woman with peachy pink skin, bright blue eyes and long brown hair, generally organised in an ornate pair of braids, decorated with various strange, yet, beautiful rings: a last heirloom from her now defunct family line, and their former wealth. She stands at about six foot, three, which puts Yasu well-above average in terms of height.
Her attire reflects her roots in the 2nd division, as her Shihakushō is a much more form-fitting outfit, with a slit in the legs that allows for more manoeuvrability. Above that, she wears her Captain’s Haori with some considerable pride. She appears to lack any obvious blemishes, cuts or marks: although when asked, she has been known to mention a noticeable burn on her right shoulder.
Personality: Akiyama Yasu is best described as intense. She is constantly displaying some sort of emotion, be it deep concentration or obvious elation. She rides the eternal spectrum of emotion from one extreme to another from moment to moment: as she believes very heavily in being honest with other people about your emotions. Because of this honesty, Yasu is an approachable person, who you can expect to be honest and friendly on the first meeting.
It is this likable aura that makes Yasu so popular amongst people, especially those of her division. She is an honest and fair taskmaster, as well as someone that you could consider going out and drinking with (although the latter option is rarely pursued by all but the bravest of souls.) Some accuse the woman of being brutally honest at times, but she does at least make an attempt to soften the blows of criticism.
Akiyama is also intense in her pursuit of goals. Whether it is reading a book, or apprehending a criminal, Akiyama Yasu is fervent in her dedication to a task. This intense dedication towards doing things right the first time has given Yasu a reputation for respectability and reliability.
In short, Akiyama Yasu is a woman who wears her heart on her sleeve and who throws her everything at everything: be that Work, play, peace or war. No task is too small to put effort into, and no task is worth anything less than everything.
History: Once upon a time, the Akiyama house was considered part of the nobility that makes up Seireitei. About six-hundred years ago, the last generation of the Akiyama house was born: Twins, no less. The first was a beautiful, healthy baby girl, Yasu; and the second was a strong baby boy, Akomo.
Yasu and Akomo were tutored in the Shinigami arts almost as soon as they could walk. Lessons on Reiryoku training and Hakudo lessons, as well as martial arts and Hohō and every single Shinigami art that could be imparted on the young pair: all in the attempts to mould the next generation of officers that would bring further honour and prosperity to the Akiyama house.
As one would expect from the constant training and tutoring, the twins quickly found by and entered into the Shinigami academy, where they further honed their arts. Yasu quickly distinguished herself in the schools of Hohō and Zanjutsu, whereas Akomo become known for his diligent mastery of Hakudo and Kido. The pair worked tirelessly to distinguish themselves as Shinigami recruits, and they both graduated from the academy much faster than was average.
As the pair physically aged to 17, the twins were both a part of separate divisions. Yasu joined the second division, whereas Akomo joined the Eighth. The pair worked hard to keep distinguishing themselves, all for the honour of their family. At first, Akomo and Yasu rose together at a steady pace: reaching seated officer within a few decades and slowly climbing the ranks over subsequent years. Eventually though, Yasu began to pull ahead. She had found motivation in self-betterment, as opposed to just blindly following the will of the family head; and she found friends and comrades in the ranks of the second division. Akomo, on the other hand, had only found rivals and opponents.
As she reached a physical appearance of 22, Yasu managed to attain the rank of Lieutenant. The day of her ascension was widely celebrated in the Akiyama household, and even her division seemed to celebrate the success of one of its more popular members. She had made friends of backstabbers and assassins, and they rejoiced at her progress. The only person who did not celebrate her success was Akomo, who was still only the third seat of his division.
The reasons remain unclear to most, but something caused Akiyama Akomo to assassinate the lieutenant of the eighth division, only three years later. Perhaps it was a bitter resentment or rivalry that drove his blade, or perhaps he wished to prove his superiority to all the non-believers. Either way, the act brought incredible shame to both the Akiyama house and to Akomo himself.
Yasu, shocked by the discovery of her brother’s betrayal and his dishonourable actions, took it heavily. It took the Central 46 a matter of hours to decree that the 6th division alone would be tasked with the apprehension of Akiyama Akomo, despite Yasu’s plea that she be allowed to join the apprehension task force. Yasu and her captain discussed the incident during the night, following the decision that the sixth division lead the hunt: and Yasu confessed her desire to hunt down her brother. The 2nd division captain scolded Yasu for the blatant disregard for the Central 46’s orders, and Yasu asked that she might excuse herself in order to ‘sleep away her worries.’
She did not retreat to bed that night. Yasu disregarded her captain’s words, and snuck away from the second division barracks with the intent to confront her brother. Many say that a bond between twins can transcend rationality. Humans speak about the link between twins: how if one is hurt, the other can feel it. Yasu didn’t know about feeling her brother’s pain, but she knew him well. It took her very little time to find him, lingering in a spot the pair played in as children.
The confrontation was brief. Her brother asked Yasu to betray everything she knew and come with him. He said that he didn’t care about anything except his sister, and Yasu refused the man who wore her twin’s skin. She drew her sword against him, and they briefly fought. At first, Yasu seemed to hold the upper hand: yet her kin said something that shook her deeply. It isn’t known what it was, but Akomo capitalised and disarmed his sister, knocking her to the floor and pinning his sword against her neck. Anyone else would have been dead, in that instant: but Akomo could not kill his sister, for she was the only kin he cared about; the only kin that didn’t demand anything from him, or expect greatness at all costs. He fled to the human world, and Yasu remained paralysed on the floor until the sixth division captain found her, a few minutes later.
Yasu was brought to the cells of the second division barracks, where she was confronted by a very angry 2nd division Captain. The woman shouted down Yasu, but within moments, Yasu had broken down into bitter, resentful, self-loathing tears. She cursed her own weakness, and her inability to stop her brother, and she begged the captain to help her become strong: to help her attain Bankai, so she might at last end the dishonour she had brought to herself and to end her brother’s shameful actions
The captain rejects the request, telling Yasu of her lack of discipline, and the shame that she was bringing to herself through her own actions, and how that in turn was shaming her family, and even the 2nd division captain herself. Yasu seemed hurt by the knowledge she was shaming her captain, and she managed to calm the tempest of her emotions. It was at this time that Yasu and the captain were informed that the Central 46 had ordered Akiyama Yasu to face ten years in the formal detention.
Yasu agreed to the incarceration without any objection, wishing no further dishonour on herself, her family or the captain that had treated her so well. She asks that the 2nd division captain keep a hold of her Zanpakutō while Yasu served her time in the detention center, and the second division captain agreed.
During her incarceration, Yasu spent a great amount of her time meditating on a vast number of things: She meditated on her brother’s actions, on her failings as a Shinigami and on the part of her soul that now sat, unattended in Yukihiro’s possession. She soon found herself spending more and more time meditating on the Zanpakutō, until one day: it spoke back.
The years in detention passed, and soon: Akiyama Yasu was released from detention to the bitter news that her family had been interrogated and ransacked by the sixth division, as they upturned every stone in order to find her brother and, perhaps more frightfully, to see if the rest of the family involved. In a twist of irony, it seemed that Yasu was exonerated from any suspicion due to her attempt to capture her twin, and her honour remained less tainted than the rest of the family: which was ruined by her traitorous twin’s actions.
She made a visit to her captain once she was released, and the captain and her former lieutenant (Who had been stripped of her rank following the incarceration order) shared a few words, before the captain handed Yasu back her Zanpakutō. As soon as the blade touched Yasu’s hand, the feeling of incredibly potent Reiatsu flowed from the now-free woman: who had grown more in ten years of imprisonment than most Shinigami do in a century of freedom. The development was fearsome, and she commented on how ‘noble’ the Akiyama woman looked.
Yasu immediately made an effort to seek out the captain of the sixth division, with a request that she might be able to hunt down her brother with the members of the sixth division. She was initially refused, but one look into the intense eyes of the Akiyama woman told the sixth division captain all he needed to know. She and the captain of the sixth division departed for the human world, in order to follow the last clue that her twin had left.
Yasu and the Sixth division captain manage to corner her brother in a small Japanese town. The two separate, in order to try and corner the man, but Yasu failed to find her brother before the captain did. She felt it before she saw it: two strong Reiryoku colliding together. She rushed to the epicentre of the field, where she saw her brother threaten the entire town below with a powerful kido, that the Sixth division captain was forced to negate. In that moment, her brother struck, and dealt a deathblow to the captain.
Yasu felt rage overflow her thoughts at the falling body of the 6th Division captain. He had been an honourable man, resolute and unflinching in his conviction and here, her brother had tricked him and cut him down like chaff.
At first, Akomo seemed pleased to see his sister, remarking on how the time had made her even more radiant. She only said two words.
”Bankai.”The following morning, Akiyama Akomo was dragged onto execution hill by his own flesh and blood: his own twin, no less. There was a cold-ness to Yasu’s eyes as she pinned her brother down, and read out the charges against him to the Captain-commander: The murder of a lieutenant, fleeing justice, the endangerment of the human world, the murder of a captain and treason. The sentence was clear: death. To test the resolve of Akiyama Yasu, Kaito Kuroda spoke up to the gathered Shinigami.
“In order to make a final test of Akiyama Yasu’s resolve, and so that she might prove herself worthy of being a true member of the Gotei 13, I task you, Akiyama Yasu, with the task of execut…”Before the sentence was even finished, the head of Akiyama Akomo bounced against the floor, detached from its body. Akiyama Yasu’s blade was stained crimson with her kin’s own blood.
“It is done, Captain-Commander.”Yasu bowed to Kuroda, and within a week, it was decided that the most suitable replacement for the Sixth division captain was the now-redeemed Akiyama Yasu.
Ever since, Akiyama Yasu has served as the unflinching force of honour and justice in Soul Society. For over Three centuries, she has held the title of Captain, and not once has she let a dishonour such as her brother fall against Soul society again.
