Naomi Ayano [Shinigami, Finished]

SHINIGAMI TEMPLATE

Name: Naomi [lit. "Above All; Beauty"] Ayano [lit. "My Color" or "My Design"]
Age: Naomi is roughly 510 years old.
Gender: Female
Ethnicity: Japanese-American
Languages Spoken: Fluent in English, Japanese, and Spanish. (Uses the latter when aggitated, mostly for insults.)
Orientation: Polyamorous
Blood Type: AB Negative
Birth Date: January 1st, 1589
Zodiac: Capricorn
Organisation: The Gotei 13

Physical Appearance:
Naomi's appearance can be described with a lot of the same words one can use to describe her as a person.  Cold, sharp, and refined.  From her facial features to her albino-like eyes, skin, and hair.  Naomi is not one you would approach under the guise of wanting someone who looks warm and caring to talk to.  Don't let this fool you, she CAN be warm and caring, but it's all just for show for her subordinates.  

Spoiler:

Appearance Age: Late teens/Early 20s
Height: 5'3" (168 cm)
Weight: 119 lbs (53.9 kg)
Eye Color: Red
Skin Color: White
Hair Color: White
English Voice Actor: Karen Strassman
Japanese Seiyuu: Satsuki Yukino

Clothing: Normally, Naomi wears only the traditional Shinigami robes and the Haori of her captain's position.  However, in her gigai, she tends to drift toward tank tops and shorts more than anything.  She owns a dress or two, in variations of white, grey, and black, but she rarely, if ever, wears them.

Personality:

Naomi, at first, appears to be a very kind, well-respected captain and is looked up to by many. She acts warm and welcoming, helps with any issues those around her might have, etc. However, this is just a mask to disguise her manipulative and very dangerous nature. In truth, she cares very little for her underlings (both past and present), and is willing to use almost everyone around her as pawns. In her own words, Naomi claims to be unaffected by any form of morals or ethics as she views them as mere restrictions on her potential. She is, therefore, willing to stop at nothing to further her selfish ambitions, including manipulating or killing anyone if she deems it to be necessary. She is fond of long, complicated, and somewhat convoluted plots, and frequently appears to toy with her underlings for amusement.

Naomi's personality is one of those that's sort of hard to get a grasp on from first glance. With a flat, eerie gaze, Naomi is a very cold, callous, dispassionate figure, and is rather aloof, brooding, and indifferent, willing to harm both her comrades and enemies should they ever get in her way. However, she disguises this under a mask of indifference, hiding her true nature from many of those around her. She is not particularly violent and will only fight when provoked.

Her cold demeanor allows her to stay completely calm and in control in most situations, and she is not easily surprised or caught off-guard. However, she does not seem to comprehend "fighting against all odds". She believes that fighting if one is overwhelmed is pointless, and anyone who refuses to give up or die will simply frustrate her into fighting harder.

Naomi is also highly perceptive, cunning, and analytical. Though never externally showing interest in a new opponent at first, she can make surprisingly accurate observations about the opponent. Naomi also has an odd habit of popping out of nowhere, or watching people from seemingly impossible angles and places. She doesn't see her fascination with following enemies and allies alike as wrong, even though she acknowledges it as stalking.

Naomi is a surprisingly soft-spoken intellectual, often addressing her enemies by their given names, if she knows them. She rarely shows any sign of alarm or distress and often has entire situations planned out well in advance. Whenever confronted, Naomi is casual and uncaring, attempting to draw out a conversation and make small talk, which often infuriates the one she is talking to.

Racial Abilities:

Warped/Vast Spiritual Pressure:
Due to the twisted and puzzling nature of her zanpakuto's spirit, Naomi's spiritual pressure feels anything but normal. While most high level spiritual pressures create physical pressure on weaker opponents, Naomi's spiritual pressure feels more like a dense fog, possibly obscuring vision levels and projecting random voices into the air at undetermined locations. However, just because it's different does not in ANY way mean that it should be taken lightly. Naomi's spiritual pressure, and her reserves of spiritual energy, are vast, like an ocean in their own right. Simply releasing her spiritual pressure full-on is enough to stop some opponents in their tracks, and even cause ear injury in really low-rank opponents. How such a twisted zanpakuto spirit gifted so much energy unto her is unknown.

Master Kido Specialist:
Having graduated from the Shino Academy with special recognition for her Kido prowess, Naomi is one of the forefront demon arts users in the Gotei. There are a couple reasons for this. One, her vast spiritual energy allows her to use Kido almost as if it were an extension of her own abilities, and not something that's usually supposed to be draining. Granted, it IS still taxing on her reserves, but they're expansive enough to where it only makes a difference in much longer, tougher fights. Two, she excels at manipulating and shaping her own spiritual energy, whether it be the energy she has not yet released, or any energy of hers flowing through the air. Because of these two reasons, Naomi's kido use comes almost naturally to her. She can use high level spells without incantation while still retaining most of their original strength, and she can combine certain spells by mixing incantations, "crafting her own kido", in a way.

Master Hoho Specialist:
On top of her skilled use of her spiritual energy is Naomi's incredible speed. She's been training her flash step almost religiously alongside her swordsmanship. Her agility and dexterity, coupled with her knowledge of the flash step, make her one of the front runners of the soul society in the category of "really annoying to try and cut". Granted, her devoutness to these two skills have made her others lack profoundly. Her hand-to-hand combat skills are a joke, even with her AMM (see below), and her physical strength is lacking.  She relies on technique, intelligence, and speed for her fights.

Senka (閃花, Flash Blossom):
A special Shunpo technique where one moves behind the opponent to directly attack and seal one's "Saketsu (鎖結, Chain Binding)" and "Hakusui (鎖結, Soul Sleep)" in two rapid attacks. The movement is so fast that an opponent may not be able to tell whether he was attacked from the front or the back and even an outside observer may find it impossible to tell what the movements are.
Way of Onmitsu, 3rd of the Shihō (隠密歩法　四楓の参, Onmitsu Shunpo Shihō no San):
Utsusemi (空蝉, Cicada, referencing their molting): It allows for a movement at great speed leaving an afterimage behind. The afterimage may even appear to have taken damage.

Proficient Zanjutsu User:
Naomi demonstrates a natural aptitude for the ways of the sword. She wields her sword with great proficiency in speed, power, and skill, allowing her to perform feats such as stopping and deflecting bullets (spiritual or otherwise), decimate large objects or areas, cut through hard materials such as steel, and even hold back her strength to deal damage to her foes without killing them.
Naomi is also able to operate with little or no effort, delivering skillful strikes to weak points with great precision. This ability also allows her to become naturally skilled with multiple swords or any bladed weapon to suit her needs in combat.

Hitotsume: Nadegiri (撫で斬り, "The First: Killing Stroke"): A precision cut of extreme force and speed. It can casually slice through large, multi-story high opponents protected by steel skin unless their defenses are up.  Difficult to master, this technique can be blocked by attentive opponents, but it can be devastating to the unaware.

Agitowari (顎割, "Chin/Jaw Splitting"): A sword technique where a single sword attack cuts an opponent in half from the jaw down the length of the body until the target is bi-sectioned.  Used mostly against Hollows and low-level Arrancar, and really only effective against such.

Senmaioroshi (千枚卸, "Thousand-Page Wholesale"): A technique where multiple blade movements take place so fast that they can literally shred a target into pieces.  Also used mostly against hollows and arrancar, this technique's maximum damage level is shown best against a Menos or lower.

Shitonegaeshi (褥返し, "Cushion Return"):
A pinning technique that aims to subdue an opponent and immobilize them on the ground using coercion alone, creating a threatening aura around the blade to show the wielder's position of victory over the opponent.

Adoptive Muscle Memory:
Naomi can copy any physical movement after seeing it performed. She can achieve acrobatics, martial arts, and physical stunts. With these skills she can become incredible at physical combat, by combining several forms and movements in rhythmic motions instead of using the same thing over and over. However, fighting against people who move out of an erratic and unpredictable nature is nearly impossible and can not be memorized.

Enhanced Dexterity/Agility:
Naomi's nimbleness is drastically improved, including the inability to be clumsy or fumble. She can slip through a network of lasers, reach through dangerous narrow tunnels, keep perfect balance, or juggle effortlessly without even a trip or wobble.
She can only fall over when physically uprooted or pushed, though most times she can land on her feet. She can stand up right on even the most unstable of surfaces, such as a moving vehicle, a collapsing building, or an earth quake. She is also able to regain balance or bounce back to her feet quickly. She can go from one motion to another effortlessly. Naomi can effectively dodge attacks, swing from things easily, sprint, do back-flips and numerous other gymnastic, athletic and martial implements with little effort.

Sealed State:

Naomi's sealed zanpakuto takes the form of a Rapier, usually kept in a thin hilt worn at her hip. The thin and light design of the blade allow for her quick attacks to truly take hold in a fight, allowing her to maneuver more easily.

Spoiler:

Sealed Abilities: None.

Shikai Name: "Nazo" [lit. "Enigma"]

Release Phrase: "Confuse and Perplex, Nazo!"

Release Actions:
Releasing shikai for Naomi is as simple as it is deceiving toward the true nature of this form. A simple flick of her wrist sends her rapier spinning wildly in a rotor-like circle, vertically in the air. After a second or two of this, Naomi will simply make a punching motion toward the blade, at which point it will explode into acid-green particles which will then scatter everywhere before disappearing from sight.

Shikai Appearance:

Naomi has no visible weapon while in shikai, and her physical appearance doesn't change at all. This, however, is simply part of the show.

Shikai Abilities:

"Riddle Me This...":
Naomi's unique zanpakuto ability is one that can be difficult to understand, and hard to predict. This ability starts simply enough, with a riddle. Naomi has a collection of these, expanding infinitely, that she can use in these instances to influence her zanpakuto. In essence, the answer to the riddle determines what happens in the world around them. For example, if the answer to the riddle was "fire", then Naomi is allowed to summon a fireball, or several, to use in pursuit of defeating the opponent. As long as it is in the world, and not making contact with a target, Naomi has total control over the summoned object, regardless of what it is. Now, this can only stretch so far. If, theoretically, the answer to the riddle was a concept, such as Time, then the rules change slightly. She cannot FULLY control the time in the area, only around her own person. She can make it seem as if she has gained super speed by speeding time up in her own vicinity, or make it seem as if attacks near her are going in slow motion, making them easier to block or dodge. She cannot, under any circumstances, stop time, control time on a large scale, or directly affect the opponent in any way. Now, there is another part to this ability. On top of the answer itself is the opponent's knowledge, of which this is also a test, seeing as how when you ASK a riddle, you're expecting someone to answer it. If the opponent answers correctly, the ability Naomi uses is weakened, making it less effective against her opponent. If the answer is incorrect, then the attack is strengthened, making it harder to deal with, and more dangerous if it makes contact. If the opponent doesn't answer at all within two posts, then the attack stays at normal strength, retaining its original form. For example, if the answer was "fire", and it was guessed correctly, then Naomi's fire attack will be a smaller, weaker fireball, probably around bala strength. If the answer wasn't guessed at all, then it would be two, bigger fireballs. Not terrifying, but harder to deal with, probably around cero strength. If the answer was guessed incorrectly, then the fireball will be multiplied to three, each of them double a normal cero's strength. She CANNOT use the same answer more than once per fight, and thusly, cannot use the same techniques more than once per fight.

Bankai Name: "Kagiri Nai Nazo" [lit. "Endless Enigma"]

Bankai Release Actions:
To enter bankai, Naomi claps her hands together, almost like praying. When she does this, the clap resonates outward, echoing along the battlefield as the acid-green particles that she had sent out before all glow as they re-appear, expanding into disk-like sizes and shapes before rushing back toward Naomi. They spin around her once before multiplying, each of them zipping out to a place in the battlefield, covering a greater area this time, before disappearing. As each one disappears, it releases a torrent of green energy which cascades toward Naomi, swirling around her to change her appearance for her bankai form before coming together to form the weapon she uses in this form. (See below)

Bankai Appearance:

Her outfit is really all that changes in this form. Whatever she was wearing before will now have changed to an almost straight-jacket like white and black attire, made of an odd-looking material, and ending in a skirt that stops around mid-thigh. Along with this comes a top hat, checkered like a chess board in white and black, and covered in various symbols. On the top of said hat is a question mark. Along with this comes the weapon she uses in Bankai: A cane that comes up to about Naomi's sternum. Said cane feels like metal material, and the end of it is shaped like a question mark.

Spoiler:

Spoiler:

Bankai Abilities:


Pandora's Box:
If riddles aren't your style, if simple word puzzles aren't your idea of a good time... if you'd like something more challenging, and maybe a tad more entertaining, then Naomi's got the bankai for you. As soon as she activates bankai, a black, oily substance will start rapidly spreading all over the battlefield, almost too fast to see with the naked eye. It will spread upward through the air, and down into the earth, creating a huge dome of oily, black haze, before disappearing entirely. What some may see as a really lame parlor trick is actually, in fact, the activation of a reality marble, a secondary world for Naomi to control as she pleases, starting with the whole world melting around her, leaving only a black nothingness in all directions, going on seemingly forever. After that, a mix of concrete pieces, random junk, and barbed wire slides out of the ground, creating a huge maze as Naomi slides back rapidly along the ground, out of the way of the maze, allowing it to completely seperate her opponent, and herself. In this world, in HER world, if you wish to get to her, you have to play her game. You see, in this maze there are five challenges, a mixture of puzzles and games, that must be completed if the opponent wishes to get to Naomi at the center of the maze. Each section of the maze is seperated by a door constructed out of a special blend of Sekiseki and Vibranium. It absorbs 75% of energy that makes contact with it, and is harder than steel. It is nigh unbreakable, and can ONLY be opened by finishing the challenges that lie before each door. If one attempts to fly over the maze, one forfeits the fight. If one attempts to leave the marble, one forfeits the fight. If one wishes to WIN the fight, one must get to Naomi THROUGH her challenge course. But be warned. Once an opponent starts the course, it is nearly impossible to LEAVE the course, as each of these doors shut behind the opponent once they have moved through. Each challenge is randomly generated from a list, creating a different set of five for each battle. As for the challenges themselves, they are never impossible to complete, but they do have consequences for "losing". If an opponent of hers loses a challenge, then the maze itself fires projectiles at them from all sides. Now, a fast opponent will EASILY be able to dodge these, and an opponent relying on strength or force of will can EASILY just power through it. However, this will only work on the first few challenges, as the projectiles get stronger and more potent for each of the five challenges. Starting with the weakest, the first challenge, at about bala strength, and moving all the way up to the 5th challenge, the hardest, at Cero Oscuras strength. She still has her "Riddle me This" ability, but she can only use it once the opponent has actually REACHED her. If she is facing multiple opponents, the ability works the same way, but the challenges alter to accommodate for the added strength.

Shikai Spirit Appearance:

Spoiler:

Nazo's personality is a curious one indeed. While Naomi's true nature of cold-hearted indifference might make one believe her zanpakuto spirit might follow the same suite, Nazo is actually extremely light-hearted, often cracking jokes and playing games with himself in the confines of Naomi's inner-world. Nazo often likes to test Naomi's will and determination with certain types of games meant to challenge her intellect, or even sometimes her physical fitness. He is fully aware how much these games annoy Naomi, but they're for her own good, according to him. Along with these games come Nazo's signature laugh whenever he wins, which is in fact the one and only thing Naomi will admit to being afraid of.

Bankai Spirit Appearance:

No change, save for he acts more like Naomi herself.  Cold and calculating.

Inner Shikai World:

Naomi's inner world is an infinite expanse made entirely of mirrors. Nazo likes to show himself as a reflection in one of these mirrors, rather than revealing his true self.

Spoiler:

Inner Bankai World:

In Bankai, all of the mirrors in Naomi's inner-world are cracked and spiderwebbed, meaning anytime Nazo shows up, it will be in multiple pieces.

History:

Out of all the children born within the Soul Society, few had as disturbing a birth as Naomi Ayano.

For starters, it is rare for a house to randomly explode within the Rukongai when there's literally no one around to have caused said explosion, especially when the people who lived within were unknown to most, besides their neighbors. They were quiet people. They never threatened anyone, or even caught any attention. Until their house exploded, that is.

Secondly, it's extraordinarily odd to walk into the ruins of said house if you're a shinigami who's investigating, and see two corpses, pale as a ghost, faces twisted in a horrible grimace of a smile, clutching a small child between the two of them. A healthy baby, alive and well. No scars, burns, or any signs of injury whatsoever.

And lastly, it is nearly never the case to feel spiritual pressure at a noticeable level in a newborn, especially not one who seems to just have undergone a horrible accident. Ignoring his suspicions, the investigating shinigami took the child back to the Soul Society, submitting her to 12th division to see if they could figure out what had caused her immunity from the explosion. Even after weeks of examination, they couldn't find it. But what they did find, is a child with extraordinary potential, and a powerful future shinigami, if she could be trained correctly.

Word quickly got around that there was an exceptional orphan child in the care of 12th division, and Naomi was quickly picked up by one of the lesser noble families. The "Ayano" family of the lesser noble houses quickly adopted her into their care, giving her more luxury than she ever would've known in the slums of the rukongai, but as she grew up, she never acted like a noble. Sure, she would act dignified and official at weddings, business, or other such proceedings, but most of the time she was content to cloud-watch, rarely ever speaking to anyone in her family, including her teachers and trainers. She kept herself in a sort of eerie-silence.. Always attentive, always learning, always growing and training, but rarely, if ever, speaking. Because of this, no one really ever knew much about her, and no one knew how dangerous she really was under her quiet facade.

When she was old enough, as dubbed by her adoptive parents, she was put into the advanced classes at the shinigami training center, the Academy. Many of the more commonplace students resented her for her free-ride to the top, thinking that she wasn't deserving of the advanced status, and for the first few days, when the training focused on strength and hand-to-hand combat, it would seem as if she wasn't. In challenges of physical strength alone, she failed miserably, having weak defenses and a weaker offense. In challenges of hand-to-hand combat, her form was weak and untrained, unfocused and unbalanced. She had been either pinned or beaten within minutes every time. Her instructors and fellow classmates labeled her as a flop from almost day one.. until her classes began focusing more on speed, and her kido training began. From the very first class, practicing Hado Number One on training dummies, Naomi's talent was undeniable. For starters, her first Hado One sent a training dummy fifteen meters back into a wall. Second, her first hado four was not only a perfect bullseye, but also managed to go THROUGH the target and pierce the wall behind it as well. Couple this with her exceptional speed and agility, demonstrated during her quick and masterful learning of shunpo, and she more than made up for her lack of strength and physical combat prowess. Her sparring partners knew that once you got in close, Naomi was an easy target. The problem was, she made it a LOT more challenging for anyone to get anywhere near her. Her quick sword-style and blend of zanjutsu styles and kido techniques made her a hard target to get a pin on.

It wasn't long before she graduated, top of her class, from the academy. With her speed and kido prowess, those in her family and those who had watched her train had expected her to pursue a spot in the second division, or the fifth. It came as a shock to anyone who even remotely knew her when she chose the twelfth division, quickly being accepted as an unseated officer.

Over the years, Naomi aided twelfth division in many developments and missions, using her speed for resource gathering, and her intelligence and analytical ability to catch mistakes and possible dangers in new inventions and innovations. Even with all her work, very few within her division ever heard her speak in her time within the lower-end of the rankings. As she began moving up, various missions and experiments warranting promotion after promotion, her name quickly spread throughout the division. Her determination to do more and more for the squad was unprecedented, and almost unhealthy. Only one person had ever reported seeing her asleep. Any time anyone saw her otherwise, she was working diligently, earning more and more her right to be where she was. Eventually, after decades of work and betterment of her position in the squad and her own powers as a shinigami, she found herself in front of a select panel of captains, taking the ultimate test, the Captaincy exam. The current captain had all but decided to step down, and there was no argument that Naomi was the most qualified to be tested to take his place. Surprising no one, she passed with flying colors, and the white haori of the twelfth division's captaincy became her mantle. After being granted this position, messages started being sent out to all corners of the division, cancelling certain projects, and jump-starting completely new ones. It was the first time the division's production had been in full-swing in quite a while, but it most certainly wouldn't be the last...

Not more than a hundred years later, she had been promoted once again, filling the absence a the soul society's Captain Commander.