Shin Kaminari

## Appearance

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Shin is a young man of relatively short height and slim muscular build with fair skin. He has short, yellow hair of varying lengths, cutting off at the end, it fades to a darker orange color, that falls in front of his face in uneven bangs. He ties a messy ponytail. He wears white-triangle patterned, yellow and brown gradient patterned nagagi kimono and yellow cloth wrapped around his forearms and white umanori-styled hakama pants tied with a white uwa-obi.pale brown tabi socks and white-laced zōri. Shin carries around a standard sized and shaped Nichirin katana with yellow lightning streaks along the entire blade. His sword's hilt is circular shaped with 4 slight indentations, the center has a silver tone with small triangles and has a golden border. The handle is yellow and wrapped in white silk ribbon. The base of the handle is gold with two short, white ribbons hanging off it. Along with his katana, Shin also has a standard sword sheath that is white in color.

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## Personality

Shin was an outward friendly person who often had a faint smile. That was only a facade, though, as he was constantly suppressing a deep hate inside his heart. The hate was not necessarily towards demons, but towards the humans who destroyed his way of life. That trauma was so big that it rendered him distrustful of basically anyone. There are three major exceptions though: Yoriichi Tsugikuni, Suzaku Ōtori (the Phoenix Hashira), and Hideyoshi Ubayashiki (the Oyakata-sama). He deeply respected Yoriichi and Hideyoshi for teaching him about the important things in life and getting it back on track. Shin also had a good amount of history with Suzaku before they became demon slayers. He harbored a secret love for her. Although appearing normal around other men, Shin had an instinct to act awkwardly and get flustered around women. That was the reason why he could not get any of them.

## Background

Shin was born into the Kaminari clan, a clan famous for its long line of lightning-fast swordsmen. When Shin was still a child, he admired his father and older brother very much and dreamt of one day joining them on the battlefield as a warrior. Unfortunately, that was never to be.

It was important to have allies in turbulent periods like the Sengoku Era. Lord Kaminari did have a good and reliable ally: their neighbor, the **Ōtori clan**. The two clans have been good friends with each other for generations, united by a common enemy: the devious and ambitious **Iguro clan** preyed on both of their lands. Yet they never succeeded due to the two's combined effort to thwart them. But this time, the Iguro clan had an ace up their sleeves.

When Shin was 15, the Iguro clan attacked the Kaminari clan again. The Ōtori clan sent their reinforcements but still met defeat after defeat due to the tactical genius and valor of a new adversary: Michikatsu Tsugikuni, 16 years old at the time. The devious Iguro clan got the powerful Tsugikuni clan on their side with the promise to split the spoils of war equally. While he and his eldest son were present at the frontlines to defend their home, lord Kaminari sent Shin to temporarily reside at the Ōtori estate, which was further away from the frontlines.

Lord Ōtori had a beautiful daughter, Japan's very own Helen of Troy, Suzaku Ōtori. By this time, Suzaku was also 15 and would soon be of age. She was rather lonely as no one shared her age. So, as a kind of favor for letting him reside there, lord Ōtori asked Shin, to accompany her. When Suzaku finally saw someone her age, she immediately spilled her guts out to him and told him about her problems, her worries, took him out on trips, etc. Unfortunately, Shin could not help but always act awkward and unnatural around her. But that mattered little to Suzaku, who just wished for someone to talk to and be with. As time passed, the pair developed a close relationship.

Unfortunately, that time would quickly come to a close. A year after Shin arrived, a letter addressed to him also arrived. It was from his mother: while the Iguro clan sat back and did nothing, Michikatsu led the Tsugikuni army and utterly annihilated the Kaminari and Ōtori troops in an encircling maneuver. In a desperate attempt to turn the tide, Shin's father and brother attempted to kill Michikatsu to regain the lost morale. But they were both slain by the prodigy warrior instead. The Kaminari clan now had a power vacuum and signs of infighting were already showing. Shin must now return immediately and claim his position as clan head before the situation got more out of hand. Shin had no choice but to leave Suzaku. Before he left, he gave Suzaku a gold-colored amulet and asked her to hold onto it for him. He left after that.

When Shin arrived at his estate, he found nothing more than the remains of a smoldering wreck that was once his proud home. Corpses were everywhere. After Michikatsu annihilated the Kaminari and Ōtori forces and defeated its leadership, the way to the Kaminari estate was wide open. The villainous lord Iguro invited Michikatsu to join him in sacking their estate, but Michikatsu declined, not wanting to partake in such dishonorable activities. Lord Iguro then marched his troops to the Kaminari estate and razed it to the ground, looting every last trinket, killing all the men, and enslaving all the women and children. Shin became the last standing member of his clan in one night. He swore vengeance on the Iguro clan who wronged him.

Shin went in search of someone who could train him in swordsmanship so he could one day use it to slay the Iguro clan. After months of fruitless searching, he started to lose hope. But one night, he came face to face with a demon. Although Shin was a swordsman, his swordsmanship was far from refined and he barely managed to hold the demon off. He almost died but was saved by an elderly swordsman. After hearing his story, the elderly swordsman decided to train him personally. While Shin thought the old swordsman was training him for revenge, the old swordsman was really training him to become a demon slayer.

A year went by and the two developed a close master-student relationship. Shin passed the final selections and returned to his residence. But when he arrived, his master was already on the verge of death at the hands of a demon. Shin's dormant rage started burning again: he was tired of being the wronged party every time, and he had had enough of having things taken from him every time, important things that mattered to him. Shin drew his sword and sliced the charging demon into hundreds of pieces in seconds as the culmination of his training and rage. After the demon disintegrated, he went over to his master. With his dying words, his master wished for him to abandon his quest for revenge, saying that revenge may be sweet, but it is a fool's game and a luxury they could not afford.

Shin quickly rounded up quite a headcount. One slash of his sword was often enough to start and end the battle. Soon, he became a target for the Oyakata-sama's observation and was summoned to the demon slayer HQ, where Yoriichi Tsugikuni was demonstrating his breathing techniques at the request of the Oyakata-sama. Yoriichi then began teaching his breathing style to other demon slayers. Shin was unable to master it, so Yoriichi taught him a modified style that focused on utilizing blinding speeds and immensely fast attacks to overwhelm the enemy in an instant, akin to lightning ripping through the sky. Thus, Thunder Breathing was born. Soon, he was appointed Thunder Hashira and was reunited with Suzaku Ōtori, who became the Phoenix Hashira.

Shin decided to honor his master's dying wish and abandoned his quest for revenge. He did, however, want the Iguro clan's heinous misdeeds to have consequences. So he cursed them: *"Oh, clan whose name is Iguro, hear me. For thine heinous misdeeds, I, Shin of clan Kaminari, curse thee. I curse thee to never have children born into thine family ever again. But if that still were to be, may they all be female and never male! May this go on for 500 years!"*

## Trivia

* Shin's surname contains the Kanji for "god" (神 *kami*) and the Kanji for "roar" (鳴 *nari*). The two Kanji put together (神鳴 *kaminari*), literally translated to 'God's roar', is an old Japanese word for 'thunder', before the modern Kanji '雷‘ was created. His given name contains the kanji for "advance" (進 *shin*).
* Shin hated sparrows but made an exception for Suzaku's pet sparrow.
* Shin is not very strong in terms of physical strength compared to the other Hashira, but his speed and leg strength were beyond compare, being second only to Yoriichi and Michikatsu.
* After cursing the Iguro clan out, Shin decided to forget about them and get on with his life.
* The curse that Shin placed upon the Iguro clan actually went into effect four years after Yoriichi's death at 85 in 1519. From 1523 until 1893, no males were born into the Iguro family for 370 years straight, forcing them to adapt to thievery instead of combat.
* Shin would eventually be reborn as Obanai Iguro, the first male in the Iguro family in 370 years. Obanai was responsible for the death of the entire Iguro clan, meaning that Shin, although he did not know it, eventually got his revenge.
* One of Shin's female cousins, **Rizuki (璃月),** was given to Michikatsu as a thank-you gift from lord Iguro. Michikatsu later married Rizuki and she became lady Tsugikuni. When Michikatsu went to become a demon slayer, she took over the general affairs of the Tsugikuni clan, being that her children were still too young to assume leadership.
* Shin never learned how to properly behave around and talk to women, leading to many awkward moments between him and his two female Hashira colleagues.
* Shin was jealous that even men like Yoriichi and Michikatsu were at one point married, while he could not get a single one.
* Shin never admitted his feelings toward Suzaku. It was only revealed through a posthumous letter he wrote before he perished in battle.

### Shin viewed the other Hashira as follows

* *"She's so beautiful, magnificent like a lily. She doesn't seem to be interested in me, though. Oh, woe is me..."* - about the Flower Hashira.
* *"We can't stop competing about who's faster. Oh, woe is me..."* - about the Shadow Hashira.
* "*I love her. She's so cute. I'm unable to speak logically sometimes and I worry because of it. But what if the feeling is not mutual?* " - about the Phoenix Hashira.
* *"One of the few good friends I've got in the corps. But he tries to convince me not to speak to women, encouraging me to commune with the Buddha instead. My man, you're not bald, who are you to speak?"* - about the Stone Hashira.
* *"When our swords clashed during training, it shocked us and knocked us both unconscious. He's an okay guy, but perhaps water and thunder are not the best pair. Oh, woe is me..."* - about the Water Hashira.
* *"He is like the brother I had. It's weird how his hair looks like it's always burning. Oh, woe is he..."* - about the Flame Hashira.
* *"He always forgets who I am, even though I always stand and sit next to him at the Hashira meetings. Poor kid."* - about the Mist Hashira.
* *"How has he not popped multiple veins already, being so angry all the time?"* - about the Wind Hashira.
* *"Even though this guy killed my father and brother, I feel like he was swindled and roped into this by the Iguro clan. I forgive him. I heard he married my cousin Rizuki. Good for him, she's really sweet. "* - about Michikatsu Tsugikuni.
* *"He is awesome. He taught me how to use my leg power to the max. He's only a year older than me, but had already been married one time? Teach me how to do it!"* - about Yoriichi Tsugikuni.