Akiko Unohana

**Akiko Unohana (卯ノ花 明子 )** is a member of the Inyōuroushi-gumi and the enigmatic Captain of it's 4th Unit. A highly skilled swordswoman despite her origins, Akiko is one of the top 5 blades in the organization. With skills in Niten Ichi-ryū and Yagyū Shinkage-ryū, her bladework has reached a level that transcends mortal limits and could "Strike with the force of twenty". Deadly yet softspoken, she takes her position very seriously and is said to still have potential for further transcendence according to her adoptive mother.

## Background

Akiko was born in Japan as the result of a one-night stand between a Western magus and a local woman. The magus had returned home after this, probably having forgotten about the whole thing by now, and the woman was left with an unexpected pregnancy. This woman either couldn’t or wouldn’t raise a child on her own and ended up leaving her daughter who would be found and taken in by one, Retsu Unohana.

Retsu was and is the vice-commander of an organization called the Inyōuroushi-gumi, a faction of traditionalists who still follow the idea of honor and bushido, styling themselves as samurai serving the state. Retsu decided to take care of the unknown infant who had been left behind by both of her parents and raise her as her own daughter. Naturally, as a member of the Inyōuroushi-gumi, she trained her daughter to become a member one day as well.

Akiko's childhood was therefore filled with training, as soon as she was old and strong enough to walk and hold a practice blade she was taught how to use it. Akiko's mother is second to none in the Inyōuroushi-gumi when it comes to swordsmanship, with Akiko herself possessing great natural aptitude for the lessons in both technique and philosophy. She was also very interested in learning the way of the samurai. Some of her mother's contemporaries were impressed by the rapidly growing prowess she displayed and subtly kept track of her progress.

However while many were impressed there were also many who felt the opposite. Akiko had always been fairly soft-spoken, especially in her youth, and more than that she was gaijin. In such a traditional and nationalistic group as the Inyōuroushi-gumi this made her an easy target for bullying from the elitist, discriminatory, and/or cruel kids who were also training to become members of the Inyōuroushi-gumi. She had her foreign features mocked, was called a bastard, etc. No one dared to physically bully her since her mother, very well known and feared, would definitely notice the marks. Still, it didn't make for a particularly fun childhood. This led to her developing severe insecurities over her appearance and a desire to learn what kind of people her birth parents were.

Eventually, when she was an adult she applied to become a full member of the Inyōuroushi-gumi. She had to choose what path she would like to take, which unit to join. Although she would have liked to become a member of unit 1 to make her mother proud, she felt her magic skills weren't up to scratch. Her mother herself never focused very much on her magic lessons and whoever Akiko inherited her mana lobe from had not specialized their lineage for kotodama, leading to somewhat subpar kotodama skills. Besides, many of the kids who she wished to avoid had or would attempt to join unit 1. Because of this she eventually ended up joining unit 4.

Unit 4 being a very accepting unit she easily passed the application. Upon joining she found this focus on welcoming others into the unit also led to a lot less bullying. This, and her skills proving to hold up on real missions, helped make her a bit more confident and less excluded. She was in fact able to rise through the ranks, becoming a seated member. Things were looking up and she had been able to avoid her childhood bullies. Eventually, though she would meet one of them again and find that things had changed for them.

She was walking to the dojo to train and spar when she noticed some raised voices and sound of combat, it wasn’t coming from the dojo so she quickly headed to see what was going on. When she arrived she saw Kana, one of her more prominent former bullies. Kana was being attacked by multiple other members of her unit and showed no sign of relenting or apologizing for whatever the perceived slight was. Admittedly and to her shame there was a vindictive part of Akiko that felt Kana deserved this. However, this small internal conflict was wiped away when she saw the group disarm Kana yet still prepare to strike their now defenseless comrade. Using Shukichi she quickly positioned herself between the two and blocked the attack with her still-sheathed blade. Akiko had gathered a bit of a reputation since she had started going on missions and her own mother was still highly feared so as soon as she intervened the group scattered.

Afterward, Akiko was hoping to simply leave before Kana could recognize her. To her surprise Kana stopped her and not only did she not engage in her previous behavior, she actually apologized for it, showing genuine gratitude for her help. Akiko accepted the apology and stated that regardless of their past relationship she couldn’t just let a comrade be harmed. Unknown to her, this reunion and other humbling experiences would lead to a different more introspective Kana.

Akiko continued to serve the Inyōuroushi-gumi and quickly rose to become the unit’s third seat. She would soon receive another more unexpected promotion. It happened during a mission to take on a hostile faction of mixed blood and youkai. They cleverly hid their true numbers and level of organization/discipline so that groups like the Inyōuroushi-gumi would hopefully overlook them or at least underestimate them. It worked and was deemed a non-threatening rabble by reconnaissance. A boring job fit for the ‘weakest unit’ who it was thought would just easily scatter them simply by showing up in force. As a result of having the enemy underreported to them, chaos inflicted the unit when they realized they had underestimated the enemy.

Unit 4 was ambushed with their captain and lieutenant being recognized as the greatest potential danger, therefore being first to be singled out and attacked. Although they managed to survive they were caught off guard and heavily injured. With no leadership the unit had a hard time responding to the sudden attack from an enemy with far greater strength than was reported. Now being the highest ranking member present and wanting to help her comrades Akiko took charge, rallying her comrades, establishing a defensive formation that protected their wounded, and in the absence of other seated members she assigned temporary field officers to carry out her commands. Thanks to her quick thinking the ambush was suddenly turned into a more even battle. Still the situation wasn’t great, so she identified the weakest point in the enemy position and personally broke through before ordering flanking maneuvers. Finding themselves now the ones somewhat surrounded the enemy fled and were eventually all caught now that the Inyōuroushi-gumi could properly hunt them down as a more serious threat.

In the aftermath the captain of Unit 4 felt they were already getting on in years and the injury hadn’t helped. As a result they stepped down and for her excellent response to the crisis, Akiko was chosen as successor, something that surprised her greatly as she merely considered herself to be doing her duty. She humbly accepted anyway and agreed to become the next captain of Unit 4.

A few weeks passed by and Akiko was going through paperwork, deciding what members should take on certain assignments, submitting reports on completed assignments, etc. when she noticed a certain application for transfer. This alone was unusual as the other units tend to look down on unit 4 so transfers are rare, making it even stranger is when she noticed it was from Kana who used to hold her status over Akiko. The application wasn't even for a seated position despite that disastrous mission having resulted in a few openings. She was confused by it but remembering how Kana had seemed to change last time she saw her and also thinking of unit 4's principle of welcoming any applicant she approved it.

At first she wasn't sure how to act around her new subordinate. Regardless of their last interaction the two had a decent amount of bad history after all. Eventually they ended up talking things out and over time they even became close friends. Recognizing her growth and talent, Akiko appointed her as a seated member and after a while her lieutenant. A decision she hasn't regretted since.

## Personality

Despite her leadership position, Akiko is usually a quiet and reserved person. She doesn't mind small talk but generally won't initiate. She also tends to sort of just fade into the background when not in an official meeting or some other activity as a captain of the Inyōuroushi-Gumi. She can end up coming off as more enigmatic than intended sometimes due to this.

She has an interest in discovering her birth parents due to her past. She doesn't let it interfere with her work or with doing good but in her free time she tends to try and look into her birth parents, wanting to know who they are, why she was left, where they are now, etc. She's not sure what she'll do once she succeeds but she knows she wants to get that far at least.

While part of her objectively knows it's not needed, she is quite insecure about her looks. Though it has of course essentially disappeared since she became a captain, she did suffer through much bullying and belittling when she was younger. This is part of why she had her haori modified and in general she's usually completely covered up. Though the covering up is in part because of personal preference and uniformity as well.

Her mother is somewhat known for her war-lust and, while it isn't as intense as her mother's can be, Akiko did inherit some of it. She possesses much enjoyment for battle and a fight is where she feels most free of her insecurities and burdens. In battle, all she needs to think about is her opponent and her blade. Not to mention she quite enjoys swordsmanship. This leads to her also being the most confident and outspoken during those moments.

Akiko has gained a reputation as a kind captain. She cares for her subordinates and does her best to minimalize the danger they're exposed to on missions. She often personally welcomes new recruits and helps unit members train. She also tries to be a source of comfort and safety for any sleepers that may get caught up in her missions.

On the other hand she can still be stern as a captain as well. She doesn't often use it but something else she learned from her mother is how to give off an intimidating aura without speaking a word, mostly something she uses to maintain discipline and scare off people trying to harass her unit members as the weakest. She doesn't demand excellence but does at least expect competence and will carefully select what members go on what missions, if any. After all, in their line of work incompetence can get you and your comrades killed.

Akiko has always been very interested in swordsmanship which has brought her to the top ranks of the organization in terms of skill. She spends much of her time training or studying warrior philosophy. She can get very focused when practicing her swordsmanship and it may take some effort to get her attention. She also enjoys seeing other skilled wielders of the blade and she does her best to train any of her subordinates who wish to learn from her.

## Abilities

### Physical Capabilities

As one who is expected to fight against magical criminals and inhuman beings with a sword, Akiko has put her body through intense training. This is even more true for a captain and she has surpassed the limit of a sleeper.

### Swordsmanship

Akiko has trained in swordsmanship since she was still a child, specializing in Niten Ichi-ryu as well as displaying considerable skill with Yagyu Shinkage-ryu as her mother’s favored school. Although she at first also specialized in Shinkage-ryu, from a young age she displayed an extreme talent as well as liking for Niten ichi-ryu which was nurtured by her mother. It is a martial arts form but also a philosophy, a guide to large scale strategy etcetera, encouraging continued training and practice of it not only on the battlefield but in every part of life. As a lifestyle, a strategy, and a martial art it requires mental flexibility though physical flexibility helps too, attention to even the smallest details yet not forgetting the big picture either, practicality, and remaining calm yet not complacent. As a sword fighter and in terms of pure skill she is considered to solidly be amongst the top 5 of the organization. She doesn't often engage in duels with her comrades and has never gone all out in such a setting, so where exactly she ranks in there is debatable and sometimes is actually debated by passionate subordinates of the various units. Her most dedicated followers like to think of her as second only to her mother while others argue the commander must have the position of second best at least and many other units claim their own captain as being in that 2nd or 3rd position. Amazingly however she hasn't actually achieved her full potential yet, her mother believes that Akiko will one day advance her technique from Dominion level to Authority level while Akiko herself believes there is still much to learn and master about Musashi's way.

### Presence Concealment

An ability that certain martial artists can master, rather than a technique it is more like a state of mind. One must empty their mind to master martial arts. Those who can succeed in this can make themselves harder to notice, fading into the world around them. Although Akiko cannot turn invisible or anything like that, it would be very easy to miss her when she does not want to be noticed.

### Multilingual

Akiko has learned an impressive amount of different languages across the world. Supposedly to help communicate with foreigners but a part of her also wants to make sure that if she ever meets her birth father she can actually communicate with him. Hence why she learned so many different languages rather than just the ones she's likely to come across in her work.

### Kotodama

Kotodama is a type of magic that gives power to the sounds made by life. Words, movement, etc. These are all ways to tap into the power of Kotodama. Akiko learned how to cast spells with Kotodama but with her mother being more focused on swordsmanship and her lineage as a magus not being particularly compatible, she's nothing special when it comes to magic. She mainly uses it to cast reinforcement spells on her body in combat or to heal others. More rarely, but still somewhat often due to her job, she can use spells for banishing spirits and the like.

### Ichimanken

Akiko's greatest technique. Despite her relatively mediocre skill in magic she was able to obtain a Dominion-like technique through her mastery of the sword instead. A Transcendent Technique that mimics high magic through martial arts alone. In a way it is a representation of Musashi's statement that one can equal many. Upon activation Akiko will begin producing aftreimages that follow her movement until there are 20. These afterimages are not mere illusions and can physically interact with other things. She usually approaches her opponent in a somewhat zigzag pattern, making it difficult to discern her from her afterimages, before striking at her opponent. Once on the attack, these afterimages follow her intended path which means that even if one deflects her attack they will have to immediately do so again in the exact same spot 20 times in very rapid succession. If one instead blocks the attack they will find that every after image that catches up with Akiko adds its weight to the attack. When one considers her already high physical strength and the quality of her weapons, a direct defense becomes nearly impossible leaving dodging as the only option for most people. Thanks to her great skill with the blade, intense physical conditioning, and warrior's mind, she can attack with this technique about a dozen times in a single battle. She has in fact developed a special variant of this called ***Kenbu: Bushi no Odori***. It is an eight step technique that appears so graceful and deliberate in every movement that she almost appears to be doing a sword dance as she rapidly attacks her opponent.

### Equipment

#### Kasai-Kozui

The blades given to Akiko when she was made a full member of the Inyōuroushi-gumi. When the set of blades were first discovered centuries ago it was in the collection of a minor lord. This lord was a sleeper, unaware of the reality of magic, and therefore parted with the blades easily enough when representatives of the emperor showed up. The spirit of the blade was happy to finally be with a group that could understand her nature and happily worked alongside them. She was found to be a good match for Akiko with both displaying a tendency for honor, compassion, and loyalty. In terms of the abilities given to the blades, they are magically enhanced to stand up to battle against mystical beings. Its more unique ability though is that one blade can produce and control fire while the other blade can do the same but with water. This was another reason it was given to Akiko as it provides some destructive magic to make up for her own mediocre offensive magic.

#### Inyōuroushi-gumi Haori

The uniform of the Inyōuroushi-gumi. It is a white haori worn usually worn over traditional robes. It not only serves as a uniform but also as another piece of equipment for Inyōuroushi-gumi members, providing automatic enhancement to the physical capabilities of the wearer. At Akiko's request her haori has been modified to include a hood, enchanted with a spell that cast a deep shadow. This obscures much of Akiko's facial features when worn. It's also enchanted to only be removed hand so that it won't fail off in battle or get pushed off by wind