Name: Takamura Natsumi (鷹村 夏美)
True Name*: Byakko Fuyuki (白虎 冬輝)
Age: 12 years old
Physical Description: Long limbed and deceptively slender of build, Natsumi has rather fair skin as a result of a lack of proper sunlight exposure. Her skin contrasts well against the ink-black hair she refuses to allow to grow out past the tops of her shoulders after having cut it from waist length in rebellion. While she’s got about as many curves as an average two by four at the moment, her height sets her a bit apart at a steep five feet seven inches tall and her weight at roughly one hundred and seventeen pounds. With a delicate and undeniably effeminate bone structure to her face, Natsumi’s eyes are sharp and hostile in shape; revealing a distrusting attitude practically everyone around her while at the same time daring them to try and get too close. The color of her eyes is a pale shade of cognac; a warm hue rather more on the gold spectrum than the brown and are distinctive in appearance due their feline pupil. In dim lighting, when she's particularly riled up, or in the dark, her eyes can visibly glow if one is paying close attention.
Attire is simple and cliche for a shinobi; all black and not a hint of distinguishing color. She claims it helps her blend into the shadows better and makes her look more intimidating, but in all actuality it’s due to the simple fact that she utterly detests clothes shopping and is forced to wear pastels and brighter shades at home according to her parents’ will. Long trousers tucked into standard issue shinobi sandals, a kunai and shuriken holster wrapped to her left leg, and a high collared, form fitting sleeveless black shirt tucked into her trousers is the average outfit she is seen in from day to day. Black fingerless gloves adorn her hands, stopping at the wrist where the ties to a pair of vambraces keep her forearms protected.
The all black attire also does well to help two things blend in; her rather prominent set of fully functional cat ears atop her head she often claims is a shitty headband that pisses her parents off, and the long black cat tail that disguises itself as a belt whenever possible. Most unfortunately for Natsumi, the ears grant her quite the sensitivity to sound and her eyes grant her the ability to navigate and see in natural shadows and dark with little trouble.
Upon closer inspection, Natsumi's hands and feet have a distinctively quirky set of nails to them that more closely resemble claws, making socks and closed toed shoed immensely annoying. Last and certainly not least on the list of cat-like traits are Natsumi's teeth; the jaw strength and shape of her incisors are well suited for biting and tearing flesh from her prey. Or, as she puts it to those who stare a little too long; "want a demonstration of how real my fangs are?"
Mental Description: Headstrong to the point of bullheadedness, Natsumi’s often blunt opinions more often than not get her into a fight. She’s not inclined to pull punches-- physical or verbal-- and has trouble caring about when enough is enough when faced with someone who sparks her temper. On the flip side, Natsumi is honest to a fault; not seeing the need for outright lying when silence is an answer in of itself and will answer in the manner she sees best fit. Odd, given her profession of choice, but a potential trait that may earn her friends along the way.
She believes that strength is something one has to work for, not necessarily be born with, and that effort and tactics will do more than just raw power in the long run. And, true to her beliefs, Natsumi is certainly no stranger to hard work and putting in the extra effort in order to make sure she truly knows something that she deems useful to her. On the flip side, this makes her an immensely frustrating student; her attention span dwindles to nothing the moment a topic changes to something she finds useless, worthless, or otherwise boring.
Positive Traits: Determined, Honest, Hardworking, Dependable
Negative Traits: Blunt, Temperamental, Stubborn, Fickle
Favorite Word: Perseverance
Motto: "A purpose for every tool."
Hobbies: Rhythmic Gymnastics, Reading, and Free Climbing
[J]Favorite Food:[/i] Takoyaki, Tai no Shioyaki, and Konpeito.
Wish: To visit every shinobi village in the world.
History: To her knowledge, Natsumi is the only daughter of a merchant and his wife in Kumogakure. A child much desired, her parents frequently remind her, and hard won after a series of failed attempts to conceive, her life has been easy in comparison to others out there on a surface level; food, clothing, and shelter was never an issue and neither was a proper education.
She was, however, immensely restricted in terms of freedom. All playmates had to be carefully screened and approved, and she was hidden away when business partners frequented the house-- especially those from other villages. And she was not allowed outside without her parents or a trusted retainer present. The restrictions grew worse as she began to show a knack for gymnastics and feats that implied she would make a fine shinobi with careful cultivation. Her retainer informing her parents of her progress, and of how much time they had before there would be a knock at their door from recruiting officials; the tithe needed to be paid, only child or not.
The bonds placed on her chafed and her temper grew shorter as time passed on. She grew resentful of the “peaceful” family life her parents touted as ideal, of the rules and restrictions done for “her sake”, and her lack of freedom to test her limits. A caged animal can only tolerate so much, after all, before it bites the hand that feeds it, and Natsumi grew closer and closer to that edge until the dreaded day, for her parents anyway, came. The recruiter came by when she was nine years old. Her excitement at being chosen overruled any sense of danger she may have had; freedom was within her grasp at long last-- and cruelly ripped away with a falsified doctor’s note. A claim she was stunted and too weak to survive, that more time was needed.
She seethed and vowed the next time would be her chance.
The next year came and at ten years old, she learned officials could be bribed with an exorbitant amount of money. Useful information, but not something she could use at that moment. She watched as a fat sum was passed along and the recruiter went about her merry way. Once more, she vowed, that the next time would be it for sure.
And it wasn’t.
This one too, was paid off and blackmailed on top of it. Via what, Natsumi couldn’t be sure, but she hurled her book across the room hard enough the spine embedded itself into the wall in her fury.
The fourth time they came was the fateful day her recruitment successfully completed. At nearly thirteen years old and with a recruiter who couldn’t be swayed, bribed, or otherwise convinced to leave the family alone for “another year”, Natsumi was signed into the Academy with the intent of making her into “something her parents would be proud of”. Of course, she cared little about making her parents proud and infinitely more about exploring an entire world in which she’d read and daydreamed about from the confines of her bedroom and house.
*- In actuality, Natsumi is the child of a couple from different Sunagakure clans who had been abducted by a contracted party from Kumogakure to secure a female infant for the people she calls her parents. She has no idea as to her origins and the bloodlines that may or may not surface during her training, just that her ears and tail are more than a little unusual and her parents are rather not inclined to talk about it.
