Fox Lee (http://foxlee.arts-eclectic.com) [ KEI CHARACTER SHEET ] ----------------------------------------------------------------------- [CHARACTER'S NAME:] Kei Kakuhan [REAL NAME:] Kei Heidern [AGE:] 23 [BIRTHDAY:] June 10 (the twins, of course ^_^) [BLOOD TYPE:] A+ [HAIR COLOUR:] Sort of red-brown [EYE COLOUR:] Varies [STATUS:] Currently, a drifter. As things progress - mainly, if anybody else takes an interest in her - I can see her eventually working as some sort of bodyguard, bouncer, or other kind of hired fighter. ----------------------------------------------------------------------- [GENERAL APPEARANCE:] Not exactly fearsome, but certainly a little intimidating. Tall, lean and broad-shouldered, Kei stands almost 6'2" from head to boots, and weighs in at around 88kg, a vast majority of it muscle. She has the well-built and finely toned body of somebody who has spent a great deal of time in physical training. She's not muscled to the point of being a hulk, however - she's probably better compared to a strong swimmer than a bodybuilder. She has a healthy tan and fairly worn skin, showing that she spends much of her time outdoors, and an assortment of scars decorating her body. Her face is fairly young and not unattractive, but has far too much of a "rough" look to appear pretty. This is emphasised by three long, gash-shaped scars under her right eye, which appear to have been made by some kind of claw. Her eyes are a blue-ish-green-ish-grey colour, varying from day-to-day; they have been known to wander from dark blue to almost yellow, depending on her emotions. Even when she says nothing, somebody who knows her will be able to pick Kei's feelings by the colour her eyes show. This annoys her no end - she feels it makes her too easy to read. Her hair is best described as unkempt; a russet-coloured mess that is left to its own devices and almost never threatened with a brush. Cropped crookedly to just below her shoulders, the back fans out into a sort of fish-tail shape, while the front sits happily as an uneven, slightly spiky fringe. For practicality, Kei usually pulls it into a short, low ponytail. She'll usually be fairly dirty, bathing being something of a luxury to her, so her smell is fairly noticeable. Dirt, grease, sweat, rusted metal, rain and fire, and occasionally blood - Kei smells tough, raw and natural, of an urban wilderness. A keen enough observer might be able to derive more than she would want them to in a few good sniffs. Lastly, note that Kei's voice is fairly low for a woman, and has a distinct husky edge. She isn't very good at keeping her emotions out of her voice. And on what might be an entirely unnecessary note, she never, ever, EVER wears makeup or perfumes. [GENERAL CLOTHING:] The principles for a Kei outfit are that it must be practical, comfortable, and not get in the way of her fighting style or her tough image. You'd have to be dreaming to see her in a dress or high-heels, for example. She prefers natural tones to flashy colours, likes her clothes to look and feel worn-in rather than new, and scorns fashion on principle. She's not at all conservative, thinking very little of being naked except that it's hard to fight with your boobs bouncing around, and thus is rather indifferent to "decency" and "exposure". Her current ensemble consists of waterproofed brown suede hipster pants under black leather thigh-boots which bear an assortment of clasps and buckles and just generally look cool. A khaki-coloured, army-style mesh belt with occasional clips and holsters (all empty - guns aren't her style) sits closer to her hips than her waist, a length of strong metal chain running between it and her back pocket. The outfit includes no shirt; her upper body is covered only by a long, bone-white bandage that binds her breasts as flat against her as possible. It should be noted that, just in case these bindings come loose, she does also wear a white tube-top underneath. Over the top of all this, she wears a darker brown trenchcoat, and strips of cloth wrapped around her hands, kickboxer-style. A large, sharp tooth from some unidentified creature hangs from a leather thong at her neck. ----------------------------------------------------------------------- [ATTITUDE:] {GENERAL PERSONALITY:} Take two tins of rusted nails, some old leather boots, a flick-knife, a box of matches, and a pint of axle grease. In other words, Kei's mind is as tough as her appearance suggests. She's strong-willed, determined and stubborn, resolute in her attitudes and beliefs. She's straightforward and honest, even to the point of being downright rude - she feels that people should be blunt with their feelings, and not try to hide them. She's quick-witted, confident, and occasionally quite ruthless, her inherited intelligence only enhanced by her tough life. Her sense of humour is quite dry and sardonic, almost sadistic at times, and when she has an opinion to offer, she makes it known. She /very/ much has her own set of priorities in life, which often differ from what might be expected - she views laws, traditions and classic values like family and religion with complete disdain - but she isn't completely closed to new ideas. Just like a new person, a new idea will have to prove itself before she will accept it. {INTERACTIONS:} By default, Kei is very wary of strangers, and because of her forthright nature and often abrasive manner, most strangers feel the same about her. Her respect is hard to earn; her trust is nigh-on impossible. This applies evenly to hostile strangers and friendly ones (after all, why would a stranger be friendly without an ulterior motive?).Where friends are concerned - and Kei very, very, VERY rarely makes real friends, rather than just "people who don't really need a good ass-kicking" - she's all about protection. If a friend is weaker than her, she will do most anything in her power to keep them from harm. If they are strong enough to take care of themselves, she will generally stay out of their way, but can be relied on to come to their aid, should they ever need it. Although it may seem odd for someone so unsocial, Kei derives a great deal of self-worth from helping those precious few people she actually cares about. Largely, she feels that her own life has already been wasted, so doing what she can for others gives her something of a purpose (this attitude would work better if she actually liked anybody, though...). Basically, Kei is a very difficult friend to acquire, but also a fiercely and unerringly loyal one. {REACTIONS TO HOSTILITY:} Hostility. She'll gladly accept any feasible challenge that comes her way, usually with a great deal of enthusiasm. She isn't blindly stupid in picking her fights, though; although she may sometimes be a tad optimistic about the outcome of a prospective battle, she /does/ have a clear idea of what she can and can't do, and is a fairly accurate judge of her opponent, so she will generally act accordingly. Where Rin's safety is concerned, though, she couldn't give a damn whether or not she thinks she can win - she just fights. {ROMANCE:} Kei's reaction to romantic overtures - male or female, gender means nothing to her - is one of indifference. She just doesn't seem to think of herself and romance in the same universe. This isn't to say that she's naive about love or sex - she certainly knows her fair share of smutty jokes - but she'd be genuinely surprised to find that anybody was interested in her that way. If somebody hit on her, she's probably take it as a joke (from a friend), or an insult (from a stranger) - if she even recognised it as a pass in the first place, depending on how subtle it was. If they managed to convince her that they were for real... well, who knows? As for her desires, on the other hand, an anti-traditional mindset would catch her attention - a strong and capable woman, or an emotional and inexperienced man (yes, she gravitates toward the young, pretty ones). She has a bit of a thing for homosexuality in both sexes, and a particular soft spot for yaoi. As another little quirk, she finds big muscles on a guy to be a huge turnoff. {RELATIONSHIPS:} Rin. She was raised being told that protecting Rin was the most important thing in the world, and she believes it. She will do or sacrifice anything to keep him from harm; he's the only person that she has allowed herself to become attached to, the only person she trusts aside of herself, and generally the only person she will go out of her way to do anything much for. Also - though he isn't a CAPOW character - Kei absolutely and passionately hates Iori Yagami (see her backstory). It isn't too unusual to see her sitting in a corner, cheerfully disfiguring an Iori plushie with a wild and rather scary gleam in her eye. {DAILY LIFE:} Kei abhors routine, presumably a holdover from her early life (see background), and she's not interested in conforming to any schedules. Generally, she will have the chance to eat and sleep, and more often than not she'll get into some kind of fight before the day's done, since that's about the only way she has to earn money. Without a job or any real kind of social life to speak of, however, she has little to keep her days regular, and she likes it that way. In the future she may pick up some sort of job or even some friends, but, until then... {QUOTES:} "If life is a game, I call the battleship." "Yes, dear, your penis is massive." "Life's a bitch. Mine." Walking past a gamer taking on a 'King of Fighters' arcade machine with Iori Yagami: "pussy" Upon somebody finding her collection of horribly disfigured Iori merchandise: "Think of it as my hobby." ----------------------------------------------------------------------- [WEAPONS & POWERS:] {WEAPONRY:} While she isn't adverse to grabbing whatever empty bottle/chair/pipe/log/half-brick in a sock/blowup sheep/et cetera that is lying around, Kei's weapon of choice is simple: herself. The only weapon she carries is occasional - the length of chain on her belt, which sometimes gets wrapped around her fist to add a little extra damage. {POWERS/SKILLS:} Ummmm...she hits things. She hits things hard, rather a lot, until they don't get up again. She also kicks. To be more serious - Kei is an old-style, self-taught brawler. Physically, she is very impressive by human standards - her strength is not quite Bean Bandit level, but they it's not too far off the maximum one can expect from a human. She's pretty tough - she could take quite a beating and still come out fighting, and she's able to resist harsh weather and illness better than your average human. Her speed is more or less mundane, possibly a little above what you'd expect of a human her age, and she has the natural flexibility of a gymnast. All told, she's a formidable fighter to face - unless, of course, you happen to be one of those flashy supernatural types ^^;However, she's used to times when her physical prowess is matched, if not exceeded. This is when her style comes to her aid - mostly, the fact that she /has/ no discernible style. After years of professional fighting and years on the streets, she's seen her fair share of fighting styles, from more countries than you'd care to name. Her own "style" has moves from all of them, patched together by whatever else works, and is ultimately downright unpredictable - something she can sometimes rely on to throw her enemy off, if all else fails. This range of experience also gives her a fairly good chance of identifying any style her opponent might use against her, and thus a chance to determine their weak points. A part of her father that is evident in her, Kei has a naturally high learning curve. With a knack for picking things up on the fly and always landing on her feet, she's in her element when she has to improvise; this has led her to pick up an odd assortment of skills that depend mostly on circumstance. These range from rudimentary cooking (she can kill something and hold it over a fire until it stops dripping, or set the timer on a microwave in a more civilised setting) to basic mechanics (she can hotwire a car if pushed to it, and might be considered a good driver if road rules don't come into it) to ad-hoc field surgery (she can patch up a relatively serious wound to the point where it stops bleeding and probably won't get infected, given the necessary equipment). She has a fairly good singing voice, is a decent sketch artist, and, due to her childhood, can play the piano quite well, although she really, /really/ hates to admit it. Possibly her determination is also of note here. The more difficult a task, the longer something evades her, the more determined Kei becomes to succeed. When there is truly nothing else to her advantage, Kei's strength of will is the last thing that might pullher through. {WEAKNESSES:} Well, the main issue here is that, for all her strength and experience, Kei's still human. Everything she does is within the realms of human capability, and she is still confined by human limitations. She has no supernatural or magical powers, attacks or weapons, and if you shoot her in the head, she's not getting back up.Next, there is a chip on her shoulder the size of a small moon. Various elements and people that remind Kei of certain events in her past can have an adverse effect on her - her reaction to such events can be anything from becoming enraged to breaking down to merely being a little distracted. Whatever her reaction, the common linking factor is anger, at herself and at the world. The most common trigger for this sort of thing is blood. While she has largely gained control of herself where blood is concerned - a good example of her strength of will - occasionally the sight will trigger flashbacks to a certain major battle in her past... Then there is the question of her style. It might be said that Kei limited herself by never following any one of her fragmented styles through to its completion, by never fulfilling her true potential. Although she was frequently pressured to choose her "true" style, Kei refused, perhaps her one way of rebelling against the conditioning of her early life (just check her backstory - I'll wind up repeating myself). In doing so, she also demonstrated another of her weak points - complete bloody-minded stubbornness. Kei has had little that she can truly rely on throughout her life, but one of the things she knows she can believe in is herself, and her strength, both inner and outer. Therefore, when she thinks she's right, she sticks to her guns, and it takes one hell of an effort to make here even think of changing her mind. On a similar note, she is automatically suspicious and distrustful of everybody she meets, and is usually extremely slow to change her mind - she would probably do better if she could trust somebody else now and then. Her one overriding weakness, however, is Rin. As stated, she will do anything to protect him, and since he's the only one she cares about, she has a massive emotional attachment to him - thus, through him is the easiest way to target her. She's a different person when Rin is endangered - her judgement and common sense are all but thrown out the window, not to mention how her mental condition can become unnervingly unstable. It's also the best way to make her very, very angry, though - and angry Kei can be a very scary thing.Lastly come her mundane weaknesses - just quirks, really. She has an intolerance for spicy foods and fish, a distinct hatred for cigarettes, a positively foul mouth, and a truly passionate hatred for figures of authority - particularly those who abuse their power or try to enforce it upon her. She also has a selective lack of tact, a brutal honesty that can cause anger to flare in those she meets, or at least make them view her with disdain. And she's yet to master the art of eating with chopsticks - for some reason, she just can't seem to get it right. ----------------------------------------------------------------------- [BACKGROUND:] Okay, now to explain it all... gah. Kei Kakuhan was born twenty-three years ago in Germany. Her birth had been planned from the beginning, a plot by a group known as the Heidern Organisation to destroy the last traces of the ancient demon, the Orochi (yes, she's from the King of Fighters world). Having carefully watched the King of Fighters tournaments over the years, Heidern had decided that the best way to achieve this goal was to start from scratch, taking a child from birth and raising him with carefully structured training to eventually enter one of the tournaments and challenge the demon. A child of the Kusanagi family's blood was clearly the best choice for their plan. So Heidern sent one of their operatives - the woman known as Whip - to gain the trust of Kyo Kusanagi, fall pregnant with his child, and then return to Germany to give the child over to be raised as a soldier. Officially, Whip succeeded in her mission; she returned one year later, bearing not just one child, but twins. However, in the same year, she handed in her resignation, unable to face Heidern when he eventually realised that neither of the growing twins could manifest Kyo's powers - for the simple reason that they weren't his children. While Whip had originally had every intention to fulfil her mission, during the time she had spent around Kyo, she had fallen in love. Not with him, but instead with a certain eternal fanboy who was also following him around. The twins were in fact the children of Shingo Yabuki. Anger flew when the absence of Kusanagi blood became obvious, but the plan was not abandoned; rather it was altered, to make use of both children, and to compensate for the lack of supernatural powers. While the female, Kei - who was lively and brash - would be raised and trained by Heidern's organisation, the boy, Rin - who was far quieter and more physically delicate - would be sent to Japan, to acquire a spiritual power that might be able to stand up to the Orochi. The idea was that the twins, once fully trained, would function as a team - Rin performing powerful and complicated attacks, while Kei acted as defence, to cover her brother's physical frailty and guard him while he prepared. In this manner, the twins were to face Iori Yagami, defeating him and having Rin draw the Orochi taint into himself to destroy it. Two factors made this extremely dangerous; first, in order to capture the Orochi completely, Iori's taint must be fully awakened - he must be taken by the Riot of Blood, making him far more lethal to his enemies. Secondly - and although Rin was aware of it, Kei was never told - in drawing the Orochi into himself, Rin would most probably have to destroy himself as well. Growing up, Kei worked hard at her training, doing her best to adequately fulfil her purpose, as was expected. Although her more rebellious side occasionally tried to get through, her careful discipline and her own determination kept it pushed down, carefully controlled. There was one way in which it showed through, however - in her refusal to stick to only one art of fighting. She never truly understood this herself, but she just couldn't manage to apply herself for long enough - perhaps because her heart simply wasn't in it. She might eventually have managed, but for the sudden interruption of her training, when word reached Heidern that Iori might be going to reproduce. Although it was five years ahead of time for the twins to fight, it was decided that the chance of unfinished training was nothing next to the risk of another Yagami being born, so the twins were sent out. The night before they left, however, Kei received a visitor - a middle-aged woman who claimed to be her mother. The woman - who was indeed Whip - warned Kei that if she followed through with Heidern's plan, Rin would die. However, Kei refused to believe this, unable to accept that Heidern would allow - and worse, /intend/ for - her brother to die. Though greatly saddened, Whip saw she could do nothing to change the girl's mind, and left Kei with only the plea to be mindful of her words. The battle. The twins carried out their roles well, and finally managed to goad an infuriated Iori into giviong himself over to the riot. However, as Rin began his final attack and dragged Iori's Orochi taint into himself, Kei could see that her mother's words were true - Rin intended to sacrifice himself along with the demon. In the moment she hesitated, Iori charged, sweeping her out of his way with a single blow to the face and throwing himself at Rin. The rest of the battle she remembers - if at all - as a red haze, blood in her eyes and Rin's screams in her ears. Quite possibly, she went as crazy as Iori. Whatever happened, her next clear memory is of the aftermath, waking on the battlefield with no sign of Iori, and Rin's battered body cradled in her arms. Something about him was different, however; he was covered by a faint purple glow, and although he looked far too beaten to be alive, he was breathing still. Kei would later come to understand exactly what had happened that day; interrupted in the middle of his ritual, Rin had been forced to stop before the Orochi was completely destroyed. The last shred of the demon, suddenly finding itself attached Rin instead of Iori, had clung to him; their lives now tied together, the Orochi had sustained the boy beyond death, thus ensuring its own survival. A mess of guilt, shame, relief and rage, Kei took her brother and went into hiding, swearing that neither of them would ever return to the people who had planned Rin's death. The next eight years they spent on the streets, stealing and fighting for food, drifting from one place to another with no real purpose in life except to be there for each other. Now, this vagrancy has led them to the place for those with nowhere else to go, and maybe to a new beginning. [ANIME INFLUENCES:] Kanna of Sakura Wars (looks and attitude), Nastasha Radinov of Gunsmith Cats (general style and toughness) and, believe it or not, Carrot Glaces (Bakuretsu Hunter) - she and Rin can be compared to Carrot and Marron in the way that they care for each other, although Kei is obviously /very/ different to Carrot outside of this relationship.