Age: 12
Physical Description: Being a member of the illustrious Aikayume clan, Natsume possesses the trademark tall fox ears and luxuriously fluffy tail that all members of her clan possess, colored the same honey blonde as the rest of her long, flowing locks. If worn up, her hair is tied into two twin tails with colorful bows. She typically prefers to wear her hair down, however, allowing it to cascade gracefully to the middle of her back.
Her golden hair frames an adorably youthful face, usually either seen in an expression of curiosity or challenge. Further down, her frame is slender and stands at about the average height for girls her age, only just beginning to develop the secondary characteristics of an adult female. Her clothing changes quite often, but she usually prefers to adorn herself in tight fitting, breathable clothing that allows for ease of movement while keeping out of the way of her training with a sword. She learned early on that there's nothing quite as embarrassing as boasting about being the best and then getting her sword tangled up in her clothing.
Speaking of her sword, Natsume carries her bokken wherever she goes, almost never even letting it leave her hands unless she absolutely needs to. She even sleeps with it! Basically, she's working extremely hard to make it feel as if the weapon is an extension of her very self.
Mental Description: As a member of the Aikayume's branch family rather than the main, Natsume feels as though she has a lot to prove. This generally leads to the girl being boastful, prideful and a show-off. She spends nearly all of her time training to become better and stronger and will never back down from a fight, even against someone who she realizes is vastly superior to herself.
Natsume doesn't neglect the social aspects of living to focus all her time on training, but she does treat any friends she happens to make a bit differently from most. It's very rare that you'll ever hear the word 'friend' from Natsume's lips. Any friend that she happens to make will more often be referred to as a 'rival' or a 'training partner' depending on how she sees them. That's not to say that she's unfriendly or constantly wishes to pick fights, but if someone sets up a challenge for her it will be almost impossible for her to back down. Otherwise, she's just as happy to spend time with friends exploring the nooks and crannies of the village or digging through the desert sands as she is sparring with them.
Though Natsume almost always keeps an upbeat attitude of confidence, there are a few ways that you can grind her gears. Treating her like a kid will almost definitely set her off and annoy her, though when done by her elders she tends to just grind her teeth and endure it. Someone only a few years older than her will probably get an earful though. Acting superior and untouchable will also make it almost impossible for her to keep her mouth shut. Basically, she just really hates when people think they're better than her.
History: Born of humble beginnings with little fanfare from anyone but her parents, little Natsume didn't really have a lot of strong expectations set ahead of her. Her parents didn't even push her in one direction or the other as she grew up, letting her choose her life as she pleased. She didn't even need to be a shinobi if she really didn't want to be.
What actually set the tone for her life as she grew up were the subtle anti-sentiments that her parents held for the main family of their clan. Why did there need to be a separation in the family anyway? It was obviously all so the main family could flaunt how great they were over the branch family. It was all pretty ignorant and pointless.
Though they tended to keep their opinions to themselves, it would've been difficult for Natsume not to absorb at least a bit of her parent's negativity in her actions and personality, eventually developing a distaste for the main family much the same as her parents, though she wasn't nearly as against speaking her mind about it, especially if someone from the main family attempted to talk down to her as a kid. It lead to a bit of trouble for her as she was growing up and she eventually learned to mostly suppress the urge to speak up about it, though if someone from the main family annoys her she still isn't afraid to speak her mind.
She still gets in trouble quite a lot and has generally become known as a troublemaker around the entire clan grounds. Outside the clan she's just sort of seen as unnecessarily loud. That didn't stop her from enrolling in the academy as soon as she was able and giving it her all to prove that her family was better than the main. Once her parents realized her ambition, they began training her in the art of swordplay, beginning with a relatively harmless bokken and promising to eventually allow her the ownership of one of the family's many sacred ancestral swords once she was deemed fully capable of handling such power and ability.
And so, here she is in her final year of academy, waiting for that faithful day when everyone will realize just how great she is!
