Nanaka Chikamatsu / Nana / Koneko (born: Taiga Yamanaka)
Bloodline: Yamanaka (sub-branch, disowned)
Physical Description: Lithe structure and sharp angles, Nanaka is the picture of a predator within the size of domestication. Her hair is a dusty black - almost brown, largely a mop, and places itself manicured yet unkempt across piercing features. It was like the effort of brushing it was followed, but the act either wasn't repeated after exertive days or forgotten halfway through. Her eyes reflect a bold hazel, daring and questioning in equal amounts; flickering red under certain angles and lights, not with bloodlust but the assumption of blood to be spilt. Her gait, lazy yet purposed, meant a languid reach could be a claw around an unsuspecting throat in the lapse of a moment. Her appearance wasn't helped - or it was perhaps even exemplified - by the feline ears and tail that both perched and lashed from her in carnivorous curiosity. They held the same dirty black coloring her hair already shown, though only slightly pointier nails and slightly sharper teeth hold any more inspiration from these qualities. It might not be surprising for unknowns to learn that Nanaka was not born Nanaka, and did not start her journey as a girl, but has settled so comfortably into her new framing it was noticeably less inclining to challenge her on it.
Mental Description: A thoughtless child who came to the conclusion, very quickly, they were the most important thing in the world. This might very well be true to their own view of the world, but the perspective comes from a stern belief in Survival of the Fittest - and how, then, she had to be the fittest, and that survival became paramount. Her upbringing was not of cruelty, but neglect, and the lack of interest her family members or teachers had in interfacing with her due to early onset peculiarities meant she adapated to a self-first mindset before even entering the Academy. Her words are venom spit from fanged teeth, delivered with less malice than disregard -- she didn't hate you, really, she just didn't care that you were alive. As stated, she carries herself with little to no bloodlust, but approaches every problem as if the clear solution is a matter-of-fact spillage of it. She's ... mean. She's just not a nice girl. She's apathetic about most and manipulative about everything else - relying on violence as her primary method of interacting when not slipping poisons or illusions between the passes of her claws. She not so much lacks as struggles to employ empathy and therefore finds little barrier between her and black morality; the myth of what pet cats are like, carried in earnest by a young girl.
Interestingly, she does seem to have a level of showmanship to her -- if you can get her interested in an event, she has a penchant for theatrics.
History: Nanaka Chikamatsu, born male as Taiga Yamanaka, found herself at a cross-roads early in her Shinobi career. There were many qualities her branch family didn't appreciate about her; certain proclivities she had, from questionable moral judgment - a difficulty not discerning right from wrong, but applying emotional effort to not cross it - to 'crossdressing'. It was hard to outline what they disliked more about her way of life, and it was harder still for her to care. She was better. From young age, from first kills, "Taiga" was a fiercer, cleaner fighter than any of her family members or peers. She was a better boy and a stronger girl, and found comfort in delicacy until it won out in her preferences. Feminity came naturally - and with it, a heightened viciousness, as if all she needed was to feel a little more comfortable in her own skin for the swipe of her claws to find greater purpose.
Before assuming her rightful identity the venomous feline would proceed to her Genin exams at a brisk pace. Her parents weren't fond of her, her teachers either unsettled or unimpressed, and her peers avoided her save for other young boys she might have entranced. She did, genuinely, chase after base connections children and teens might in order to feel "special" to someone else; but she came to realize how bored she became with any company she entertained after a short while, and that she was - inherently - special already. She was special enough to win. She was special enough to kill. If she was already better than everything among everyone else, why did it matter if other people thought highly of her? She had the highest opinion.
When she returned from a rival combat assignment at the end of her Genin exams, pronounced the winner, the proctors couldn't find any trace of her opponent. The spectation of the match had stopped and focused on other entrants while she was called back to receive her accolade - the question of what occurred afterward had to then be answered. Killing wasn't against the rules, per se, but it had been frowned upon. She also didn't exhibit any explicit killing intent, shock or exertion, making the situation all the more perplexing.
She replied, in a drawl of near-annoyance, that she had eaten him.
This wasn't easily verifiable, and likely untrue, but the general distaste of those attending led to a quick promotion and a wipe of their hands. Her family had the same idea; denounced and disowned by the Yamanaka clan, with little in the way of direction that interested her, Nanaka became something of a young mercenary. She vagabonded - homeless - and made a cold living that only further validated her view of both herself and the world. It was bullshit to think there was anything to it all other than survival of the fittest. She claimed herself the title of the latter, the champion, and she lived a champion's life: alone, save for when she didn't want to be. She didn't have to be unlikable. She just didn't need to be liked. A little help from shinobi tools and Genjutsu particulars and she had any attention she wanted for the time that it mattered.
She remained scraping through by the tip of her claws until young age and poor conditions took hold and she fell emaciated and malnourished as an alley-cat in the recesses of Suna. She had failed the universal truth - Survival of Her - and was going to end like gutter trash. It was almost laughable, but the energy to do so had long since left her. This was when a sterling opportunity was presented, and kindness was met with the spindle of a spider: the Chikamatsu, "service is more noble than royalty", had found her through its head - Chikamatsu Shin - and saved her from the end of a tragicomedy. She hadn't recognized him from her Academy stint, his likewise a guest appearance in various roles and lessons. If she had she might have chosen death that night. Instead, under the hand of his kindness and the guise of her appreciation, she was brought in, offered the terms of the family, preached their gentle ways (offer aid, knowledge, and joy to everyone you meet - two and a half things she could care less about) -- given the choice to live like a cat or die like a dog.
She took it, of course. Pride wasn't her most damning vice. It had only been months since this induction -- and she had anywhere to go from here with a new name and powerful connections to use for it.
