High Seas App

[amethystsregret]

[Name]: Jaden
[Age]: 26
[Contacts]:
♦ DW: Inujin (secondary)
♦ AIM: J4d3nW1n (tertiary)
♦ Plurk: Inujin (primary)
[Timezone]: Eastern Standard Time
[Other Characters]: N/A



[Name]: Asato Tsuzuki
[Canon]: Yami no Matsuei/Descendants of Darkness
[Age]: 98 (Appears to be 26)
[Gender]: Male
[Canon Point]: Vol 12 Chapter 66 Kijin has announced that he is standing in for his father and engaging Kurikara to protect to peace of Gensoukai. Hisoka is determined to stop the chaos this fight will bring to the land, which Souryuu the Eastern Guardian says was his fault for coming to Gensoukai in the first place. Tsuzuki and Touda are currently on their way with Hisoka to try to stop the conflict by making Kurikara Hisoka’s shikigami, thereby protecting him from the deities of Chaos, Konton, that wish to use him.

[History]:
Little is known about Tsuzuki’s past, but there are major aspects that are known. It has been revealed that he was discriminated against and bullied by his peers from a young age. His purple eyes were considered demonic, so he often would be beaten up and left for dead. Despite this example, it was always his wish to be human, to be accepted as one of them, and he prayed most of his ‘life’ for God to make him so. The only family ever mentioned is his older sister, Luka, and while it seems they lived on their own, they did not seem to be in want. She taught him to dance and garden, which he is quite good at. Her attempts to teach him to cook seem to have failed because his cooking and baking are horrifically bad, rendering the immortal Snow Queen unconscious for several hours. When asked about his sister, Tsuzuki says that he had to watch her die, and through the revelations of the demon Sagatanasu’s mining of his memories, he killed a grand scale of people in one setting, a sin that he forever regrets. The demon went as far as to call him a Black Lamb and a Judius, forsaken by God. Sometime after this event, he was taken by the Japanese Military, who was interested in him as a means for study toward weaponization or training purposes, revealed by Muraki. When he did not yield what they desired, he was placed into a hospital under Muraki’s grandfather for eight years as he lingered between conscious and unconscious, where he didn’t eat, drink, or sleep. When he would come to his senses, he would try to kill himself, namely slashing his right wrist. He died after a successful suicide.

Suicide is a heavy crime according to the Ministry of Hades, and sentencing is usually rejection for reincarnation and damnation to Hell. Because of his regrets in life though, Tsuzuki was chosen to be tested to become a shinigami, a Guardian of Death. He passed. Due to the nature of their work, he would completely shut down after every job, reminded of his sins in life, and he frequently tries to go against orders and save people; still, Death can never be truly escaped in the end. As time went on, he learned to keep his wits about him over the deaths at his hand, but he never could accept it. He coped by putting on a smile and acting like nothing mattered, becoming a habitual liar, and as he hates his job, he is a notorious slacker, always looking for an excuse to get out of the office. Over the course of seventy years, he lost many partners due to his personality and habits. One such case was his third partner, Seiichiro Tatsumi. Partnered for three months, Tatsumi became haunted by the memory of his mother whenever he saw Tsuzuki break down, so he asked to be placed in a desk job, relieved of field duty. At present, in canon, he is partnered with Hisoka Kurosaki, a teenage, moody boy with powerful empathic abilities. It’s a touch and go partnership at best, but Tsuzuki sees the forever youthful shinigami as family.

When the series begins, Tsuzuki gets a new partner, Asuka, a new arrival to the Ministry. Apparently, his latest one asked for a new partner without telling him. Their first case together is a girl whose spirit died but her body hadn't been able to, Ayako Sugizawa. She blamed herself for the death of her cousin that drowned to save her life, having made several different methods of suicide that have all failed. Asuka dishes out some cruel words for not moving on and trying to run away from her guilt, but Tsuzuki defended her, feeling a sense of familiarity in the girl's grief. The senior shinigami says that for Ayako a world without her loved one is no world at all. It turned out that Asuka was really Ayako's cousin, Masaki Kimura, who’s intervention as a shinigami had been preventing her from dying. Tsuzuki brought them back together, and when Ayako found the will to live again, Tsuzuki made her summons get lost. Masaki got transferred to be near Ayako, and he was placed under another shinigami for more training.

Dr. Kazutaka Muraki appeared in the Vampire Arc, and Tsuzuki had to stop the doctor’s vampire from killing people by draining their blood. He got his new partner in the middle of a chase after the vampire. Hisoka Kurosaki was an impressive defensive magic user due to his strong empathetic powers from life. After being caught in an unknown, spirit binding spell, Hisoka had a gun pointed at Tsuzuki’s head, confusing him for the “blood-sucker”. The doctor’s first appearance before Tsuzuki was as a kind physician that agreed to help a child that had fainted. After Tsuzuki thanks him for his help, Muraki brings up how fragile humans are, if only there was a way to defeat Death. Shaken, Tsuzuki sums up the subject to a doctor’s fantasy. The true vampire turned out to be a famous singer from Hong Kong named Maria Wong. She had been brought back from the dead to continue her singing career to support her stepmother’s debts, but Muraki was also using her to drain people of their life energy, an energy vampire himself. Because of this her soul was considered missing by the Hong Kong Beauro of the Ministry. Tsuzuki freed her consciousness from its suppressed state with his Ofuda magic, but Hisoka, revealed to be a murdered victim of Muraki’s, was brutally kidnapped while protecting her, forcing Tsuzuki to play to the doctor’s games until he could locate the teen with a tracking spelling. This led to a destructive fight between the two, where the doctor revealed that he had been after Tsuzuki, the Right Hand of Death, to absorb his massive spiritual power and gain immortality. It was believed that Muraki was killed in a fiery attack from one of Tsuzuki's shikigami, Suzaku the Red Bird.

The Last Waltz Arc revealed a glimpse of Tsuzuki’s past through his older sister, Luka, when he reflects on how she taught him to dance but he had to watch her die. He fell in-love with the woman he was supposed to summon, Hisae Toujyou, a terminally ill dancer that wanted to win a competition in her late brother’s memory. Unfortunately, her dance partner left her for a rival, and her dance studio fell victim to mysterious acts of vandalism, making her chances of even getting to the competition slim to none. When Tsuzuki first came to her studio and home, Hisae confused him for her late brother, Suuo, but after introducing himself as a friend of his from Tokyo, she decides to make him her new dance partner. Tsuzuki didn’t have the heart to let her down after she pushed herself so hard, so he did his best to make that goal come true for her. Hisoka, pretending to be his younger brother, reminded him that it was against Ministry policy to have any romantic involvement with summons, since his empathy was pinging. Tsuzuki claimed he held nothing but respect for Hisae and would never take advantage of her. After asking a big favor from the Count of the Hall of Candles, Tsuzuki managed to get Hisae’s life extended until after she could finish her dance. Once they finished their Magic Waltz, she fell asleep beside him in her dressing room and died in his arms. Hisoka tells him he lied about not loving Hisae,and Tsuzuki does not correct him. They drop the subject after that.

During The Devil’s Trill Arc, a talented, young violinist, Hijiri Minase, was caught up in a demonic pact made by his deceased cornea donor and former owner of his new violin. The demon had been making attempts on his life subtly, disguised as a dog. Tsuzuki and Hisoka had been protecting him as they investigated in secret, but when the poor young man became tormented into attempting suicide, they had to insert themselves directly. In an attempt to save Hijiri by drawing the demon out, Tsuzuki was bitten and possessed by the powerful demon, Sagatanasu, a high ranking demon general of the leader of the Spirit Dragon Brigade under Prince Ashitarote. It turned out that Hijiri and Hisoka looked almost like twins except for their hair color, which came in handy when Sagatanasu used Tsuzuki’s body to brutally murder Hisoka pretending to be Hijiri. It is here that the first previews of his regrets were revealed, as the demon had trapped Tsuzuki in his own mind to relive his great sin in life. The help of a powerful ally, Lord Enma-Daioh disguised as Hijiri, he destroyed the illusion and physically expel the demon from his body with his own raw power. In the demons weakened state, it was finally killed when Tsuzuki called forth his shikigami subconsciously. Hijiri was saved, and he told Tsuzuki not to blame himself for what he had done. He promised to play every song in the future for his shinigami protector.

In the Tarot Murders Arc, Muraki returned during an investigation into souls going missing on board a cruise ship between Hong Kong and Japan. As Hong Kong was in the process of returning to China, they asked the Japanese Division of the Ministry to tie up the unsolved case for them. Tsuzuki and Hisoka went in uncover on the ship: Hisoka, the heir to a toy company, and Tsuzuki, a Blackjack dealer. When Tsuzuki meets Muraki during a confusing encounter with security due to the shinigami not speaking English well, the doctor throws a bottle of wine in his face, affectionately telling security the man was with him. When a slew of mysterious murders of first class passengers begins, the partners only clues to the killer are a tarot card with a letter to Princess Tsubaki Kakyouin, the daughter of the cruise liner’s owner. While investigating, Hisoka and Tsubaki become close over their connection with Muraki, the doctor treating her for a heart condition. Hisoka tells her she can’t trust Muraki, but the girl had hopelessly fallen in-love with her Angel. The shinigami suspected Muraki from the start, but when the doctor becomes a victim himself, they only have the cards and letters to work with. After learning that Muraki faked his death to escape the real killer, Tsuzuki was enraged to learn Muraki was using another puppet to do his dirty work. Tsubaki’s dear friend, Eileen had been murdered to steal her heart by Mr. Kakyouin, and through hypnosis, Muraki had manipulated her trapped soul to kill every person tied to a organ harvesting operation being run out of the ship. Ultimately, the girls died from gunshot wounds, one from Muraki and the other Hisoka, who regrettably killed Tsubaki out of mercy. Muraki got away as he detonated the ship to explode, but Seiichiro, the Ministry Secretary, saw to rescuing the shinigami and passengers in time.

The St. Michael’s Arc brought Tsuzuki into the demonic world yet again when they investigated the obscure murder and missing soul of a catholic school boy, Izuru Okazaki. Tsuzuki had to pretend to be a priest, while Hisoka acted as a new student at the all-boy academy. The biggest clue in the brutal case was the message burned into the victim’s back: “You will be my lover for all eternity.” There seemed to have been a power struggle among the student body, which turned out to be a fight over a man between the president, Okazaki, and the vice president, Fujisawa. After Okazaki’s death, Fujisawa took over the presidency and Okazaki’s lover, ultimately turning up dead after sleeping with him. Acting in line with his role as priest, Tsuzuki befriended a professor, Mitani. He was shy and shared a love of tea and sweets with Tsuzuki. Because of this bond, Mitani came to Tsuzuki for confession, revealing that he had poisoned the previous priest to keep him quiet about his relationship to Okazaki. He also confessed to killing Fujisawa, but he revealed the Okazaki, in an attempt to carry the punishment for both their sins, cause the brutal injuries and burns that led to his death in his lover’s arms. The professor said he knew Tsuzuki must despise him for committing the sin of sodemy, a forbidden love by God, but Tsuzuki told him that he understood, having experienced a forbidden love himself. The whole case turned out to be the work of the demon Fuokaroru, trying to lure Tsuzuki out to take his place as Sagatanasu’s successor as Leader of the Spirit Dragon Brigade. The Exorcist Agent, Kira, had been undercover in the academy for some time, but she was ultimately investigating the demon activity since Tsuzuki’s defeat of Sagatanasu, since all a lower ranking demon has to do to get promoted is off someone to take their rank. Using the forbidden love of the boy and his teacher, the demon had driven Izuru to kill himself in front of his lover, only to reanimated the body himself to kill Mitani and eventually Tsuzuki. Tsuzuki killed Fuokaroru in a rage, but as he was unable to save Mitani, he blamed himself for bringing about the needless deaths of innocents.

In the Okinawa Arc, during the summer, the Okinawa district gets swarmed with tourist activity and extra work for the Ministry. A request was placed for some additional help, and after some guilt tripping from Tsuzuki, Tatsumi agreed send Hisoka and himself along with their friends Saya and Yuma from the Hokkaidou district. They are met by Akamine Chidsuru, the shinigami that put in the request for assistance, but it turns out she didn’t want help with the office work. Rika Miyagi, a dear friend from Chidsuru’s past, is facing bankruptcy with her ancestral inn after vicious rumors by the neighboring hotel owned by the Taira Corporation that it was haunted drove her customers away. Unfortunately, Hisoka’s empathy picks up on something inside, so while they try to figure out what is haunting the inn, the others try to draw in some customers to save the Miyagi Inn. It turned out that a wormhole had dropped an extremely shy Shiisaa shikigami into the World of the Living, and it had wandered into the gardens of the inn six months back. After Chidsuru flipped the panicked shikigami, it returns to its smaller form, which was completely harmless. Rika’s eccentric tastes found him adorable, so she adopted him as a new pet. Apparently, the four guardians of the gates of Gensoukai had not noticed any wormholes, which are supposedly normally every century, so the Shiisaa had fallen through without anyone noticing he was missing. The matter came to an end when the Taira Corporation kicked the head out and the his right hand man, Nakijin, took over. The shinigami returned to their home districts.

In the Kyoto Arc, the department faced a string of murders involving young women. The killer had cut some locks of hair from the victims. Watari revealed that he had asked Tsuzuki and Hisoka to help him because a lock of silver hair had been found at one of the scenes: Muraki’s. It didn’t take long before their paths crossed the doctor’s, when Muraki revealed knowledge of Tsuzuki’s past that shook him deeply. Their investigation brought them to Shion University’s Professor Satome, a cloning researcher that receives test sample from Muraki. After a chance encounter with two young high school girls on the campus, Muraki decides to target them, killing one before Tsuzuki managed to protect the other. The doctor was ultimately driven away by Tatsumi’s overwhelming Shadow Shifting magic. After a run around game to protect the surviving girl, Mariko Ikaruga, Muraki kidnapped her, asking that Tsuzuki merely accompany him to a play on his own in exchange for the girl. At the performance, he told Tsuzuki that he found demonic blood in his veins from samples left by his grandfather, who had taken Tsuzuki in the last years of his life. The revelation reminded Tsuzuki of his tormented past, and he goes on a drinking binge that leads to him trying to stab out his purple eyes, the source of all his troubles. Luckily, Hisoka arrived to stop him, and on their way back to the inn they were staying at, Mariko was found unconscious in the snow. This turned out to be a trap, for Muraki had fused the poor girl with a centipede, telling her she could be restored if she killed Tsuzuki. Wrecking havoc in the Ministry infirmary, Tsuzuki unconsciously called Suzaku, who engulfed the girl in flames against Tsuzuki’s pleas. It is Mariko’s screams that send him over the end, and Suzaku turns against any that try to approach the destruction they caused together. Three other shiki join her, unconsciously summoned as she had been, At first, Tsuzuki merely caressed Mariko’s charred head as if trying to comfort her, but after hours of expending so much spiritual energy, he fainted, leaving the shikigami to guard him. It was here that Muraki slipped through the dimensional rift caused by the gathering of four powerful shiki at once, and he snatched the unconscious Tsuzuki away to complete the task he had long awaited. It was finally revealed that Muraki wanted Tsuzuki all along, having committed all his murders just to lure the Ministry’s attention to send him. He wanted to decapitate Tsuzuki to fuse the head of his half brother, Saki, to Tsuzuki’s body in order to bring him back to life to exact revenge upon him. After coming to his senses from his catatonic state, Tsuzuki mortally wounded Muraki and tried to destroy his own soul along with him by summoning his shikigami, Touda the Fire Serpent with the power to kill a shinigami in his black flames. He was saved by Hisoka and Tatsumi, but some kind of evil rescued Muraki from the burning laboratory, leaving Tsuzuki and Hisoka back to square one in their pursuit of him.

In the Gensoukai Arc, Chief Konoe noticed Hisoka’s drive to get stronger to face Muraki and told him it might be time to get a shikigami of his own. Tsuzuki and Hisoka entered through the Southern Gate terminal to find him one. Here, Hisoka met all twelve of Tsuzuki’s shikigami, who are eager to help their master’s partner find a shiki of his own. All except for the Blue Dragon, Souryuu, as the shiki was convinced Hisoka had brought ill fortune to the land. During their time there, Byakko has to watch over Hisoka to protect him from wormholes. He explains that the wormholes normally aren’t that big of a deal, but there had been more and more than in the past, and the guardians feared Gensoukai was falling apart. Unfortunately, in a foolish attempt to obtain a stronger shiki, Hisoka was pulled into the desert prison for the dragon shiki, Kurikara the great swordsmith and divine swordsman, who was a friend to Souryuu that had started a rebellion against the Golden Emperor. Kurikara denied Hisoka’s request to be tested, covering Hisoka with his potent acid and killing his water shiki, Riko, before he was rescued by the tengu guards, Kotaro and Kojiro. When Kotaro opens a wormhole to try escaping Kurikara’s faithful right sword, Futsunomitama, he allowed the sword to enter Gensoukai, eventually opened the way for Kurikara to escape and return to his home with his left sword, Murakumo. When Futsu failed to bring down the tengu and Hisoka, he flew to the capital to exact revenge against Souryuu for making his master suffer, severely wounding the Blue Dragon from a stab to the back. Souryuu was placed in a cavern full of ancient waters to heal his body, and in his absence, his son, Kijin, took up his place as Eastern Guardian to face the approaching dragon and defeat him once and for all with their armies. Souryuu told Hisoka that he sowed the seeds of chaos that would destroy their land and there was nothing that could be done, for the embodiment of negative power, destruction and war, Konton would seek out the dragon to use him to decimate Gensoukai. Hisoka refuses to believe things have to end this way, and he sets out with Tsuzuki and Touda to try challenging Kurikara again, hoping their contract will protect him from Konton. Unaware of this, Kurikara and Murakumo journeyed on foot to find a place to lay low that won’t harm the land further while they decide what to do next. Konton tries to approach Kurikara, but the dragon does not trust it. Fortunately, Kijin arrives to declare war on Kurikara for all the suffering he has inflicted on his father, driving the entity away temporarily. Hisoka and Tsuzuki are enroute to try stopping the next war from beginning...

[Personality]:
Asato was often described as a broken spirit. This was a good description of him. After growing up in a world that hated him, his only solace was found in his older sister and the sanctuary of their home. Living by themselves, Asato learned how to escape from his troubles at a young age. Whether it was in the garden with his sister, tending to their flowers and vegetables, dancing to the sound of Luka’s singing, or trying to cooking in the kitchen, he found comfort in forgetting his peers torment, especially when his sister was there to lift him up. Here he was normal. He was safe. Outside of this comfort zone though, there was hatred all around him. Children pointing at his face, saying his eyes were evil. Adults staring at him warily and trying to ignore him at the same time. Often, he would be chased through the streets of their small town. Boys throwing stones and sticks at him, trying to ‘get rid of the demon’. Sometimes, he would out run them and hide in the forest, but the rest of the time, he would trip up and fall, leaving him to the mercy of children taught to hate him.

Despite the unhealthy environment he lived in, breeding nothing but hate, Asato believed in his sister’s words: People fear what they don’t understand. By his gentle sister’s example, he tried to prove through his actions that he was a good person. Luka never once acted out in anger, and she taught him to do the same. While Luka reassured him that he was not a demon, Asato could not help absorbing the words into his spirit, and it didn’t take much for him to begin to see himself as the demon his neighbors claimed he was. Every night, he would pray that God would make him human. He wanted to be one of them, so they wouldn’t fear him. He never wanted to frighten anyone. He was a gentle child. He enjoyed watching things grow. He liked watching people in town interact, wishing he could be like that. Unfortunately, he blamed himself for not being able to. He blamed himself for the hard life Luka had to support them through. He blamed himself for the fear that fueled the hate. If only he were human, no one would have to suffer...

His prayers didn’t seem to be enough. Everything fell apart. Whether it was his fault or not, even Asato doesn’t know. His sanctuary and guardian were taken away right before his eyes. The life he had known washed away in the splatter of blood. Blood that he spilled with his own hands. A real monster was born, and that monster longed for destruction; once his host blacked out, that was exactly what it got. When he awoke, Asato realized that he was not human and a danger to the human race he longed to be a part of. He was alone, and he blamed himself. This was the beginning of his downward slope into depression and eventually insanity. He was seventeen years old.

The Japanese government hunted him down, hoping to find a means of harnessing the devastating power he possessed. As Asato was unaware of what he truly was, he couldn’t give them any answers. When he refused to unleash the monster inside of him, the military tired of trying to force him. Asato was tired, weary of the struggle within him and trying to protect the world. He fell to the despair of his self loathing, and madness pushed him somewhere between the monster and the man, a state where he just stared at something that no one could snap him out of. The military turned him over to an in-home clinic, where the doctor left him to lie in a bed. It didn’t take much to take care of him. Without eating, drinking, or even sleeping, Asato just lied in the bed, staring off in the distance. While he lied there, haunted by nightmares of his past, his body never aged. It was as if he were fixed at some point in time. However, he would sometimes stir from this state, at unpredictable intervals, and wildly attack himself. The struggle had come full circle. He was the only one that stood between the monster that lived inside of him and the world. He had to destroy it before it killed again. He had to protect humanity. If it released him from the agony he lived through, that would be fine with him, too. The nurses and doctor, unaware of what Asato was trying to do, would stop him. For eight years, this went on until Asato finally ended his life, but that was far from the end.

Asato found himself standing before a court not of this world, the Ministry of Hades. They put him on trial for his deeds in life. It was found that he had committed one of the unforgivable crimes, suicide. It carried a sentence of rejection for reincarnation and damnation to hell. Asato accepted this fate wholly. This way he could never harm people again, a punishment he believed he deserved. However, someone had other plans for him. The god of death believed his regrets in life were strong enough to be tested to become a shinigami. It wasn’t voluntary. His regret was more than strong enough to anchor him, making him a powerful shinigami, and the god took Asato to his side as his Right Hand. Asato was mortified to become what he had struggled not to be, but he could not escape this existence as he had before.

He turned to new escapes, when he wasn’t shutting down after reaping soul after soul the Ministry sent him for. Alcohol brought on a numb that made the pain in his spirit go away for a little while, but it was only for a moment. He would also eat sweets. Pastries, cakes, pies, and candy were reminiscent of the innocence of his childhood, and his attitude became quite childish as the years rolled by. He hated his vocation, and he did not exactly hide it. Still, he wasn’t a rebellious individual, so with the right amount of bellowing from the boss’s office, Asato would run like a dog with his tail between his legs and get to work. It got done, but it was messy and costly on the department. This work ethic became a problem, since shinigami worked in pairs. Tsuzuki’s slacker attitude would drive his partners crazy, and his depression was more than anyone could handle. Partner after partner requested transfers. Tsuzuki Asato was just too much, but he wasn’t going anywhere. He couldn’t even get fired.

Eventually, Asato started to realize that he wasn’t making his life or others any better by acting out. He could see how much of a burden he was to people, and he felt some of the sympathetic feelings of his childhood return. He started smiling, even if it was a false one. He didn’t want people to be miserable because of him. Despite how much it hurt him, he learned how to lie to make others happy. It became such a habit that he actually started to believe the lie that he was alright, and he just became an alcoholic bum that his co-workers just rolled their eyes at. As he was still awkward with people, having no friends aside from his sister, he tried to be friendly, believing Luka’s old advice of example would ring true in the end. Unfortunately, his clumsiness and gullibility proved to be more of a nuisance. However, his genuine desire to try won its way into the hearts of a few that would become friends in some form or another. They felt sorry for him, knowing he could be more, but they figured his regret might be what held him back. Some could only express their care or concern through intimidating means, which only made him cower like a puppy that just got it’s nose swatted.

As he gradually came into his own, Asato found a strong sense of justice, grounded in the experiences of his past. Growing up, he understood that what his fellow townspeople had done was not right, but he still felt their fear was valid enough to feel guilty. His sister hadn’t deserved the end she had had. Luka deserved far better than anything she had while he knew her. He knew that for certain. Though he never really ever learned to stand up for himself, consistently, if Asato saw someone being wronged, he took it very personally. So much so, it was as if he made their pain his own. Being a shinigami, he saw both sides of the coin, the victim and the source of their victimization. With the power he possessed, he tried to protect and save people, rather than use his power forcefully. He feared harming people still, and he leaned on the skills he had learned from his masters at the Ministry to keep himself in check. He also sought out the assistance of the shikigami, gods and spirits that could be summoned to aid their master in battle. Be it his pure desires or the power within him, he achieved what no other had in Ministry history: acquire twelve shikigami contracts, five of which were guardian gods. Every single one served him loyally, out of respect or the desire to protect him in his endeavours. Just as the few friends he made, the shiki proved to genuinely care about him. Even those that did not serve him found him a joy to be near. This only strengthened his desire to help others and not harm.

Decades rolled by, and Asato was still a shinigami. At least, he had been placed at the head of the quietest district in their jurisdiction. Things were calm. He was still losing partners like sand through an hourglass, but he was used to that by now. The only want he had was for someone to care about him. He missed the bond he had had with his sister. The family ties, the friendship, the love were things he missed terribly, but when so few could even keep a loose friendship with him, how could someone ever be more than that? He was coming to grips with the idea that he would be alone, which might be for the best as he was a jinx to the very person he missed so greatly. He came very close to that in a partner he acquired in an unexpected manner though, a gun to his back. Hisoka had come from a difficult life. Again, Asato found himself owning the pain the young man possessed, but in this case, Hisoka felt others emotions against his will. He was an empath. It was perhaps the most complete rejection he had ever received, but they couldn’t really seem to get rid of each other. Not after Asato mistakenly discovered the origins of his partner’s death. It seemed their paths were connected when the culprit behind their case was Hisoka’s killer, and yet, he was after Asato! Between Asato’s complexes and Hisoka’s conscious, they pulled their act together, and the two decided to give the partner thing a try.

As Asato tried to help Hisoka get settled into the job, it seemed things just kept stirring up for them. Asato was working more than ever, which Hisoka was stunned to find how lazy his partner truly was. The slacker suddenly had another task master on top of Chief Konoe and his secretary, Tatsumi, in the form of a teenager. He felt more and more like a lazy old man every day. Good thing he still had some friends to distract him from his all work and no play partner. Apparently, the shinigami were getting more lax as the decades rolled by. He was up to no good with the engineering, alchemist shinigami, Watari, who enjoyed using Asato as a cheap test subject for his alchemical concoctions. Shinigami Saya and Yuma dabbled in dressing men up in lolita, and when Asato was intoxicated, the women don’t even need to try hard to have their fun. Wakaba was an artist in the kitchen. Her cooking and baking were so good that Asato often tried to persuade her to transfer to his district, but her partner, Terazuma, wouldn’t hear of it, as he was the only shinigami that managed to stir Asato to a fight. If it weren’t for the sexual harassment of Count of the Hall of Candles, whom he owed a great deal for altering people’s life spans, Asato had things going pretty good, until he clashed with the demon Sagatanasu.

After a violent clash, Asato was infected by the parasitic demon. Gaining full control of his host’s body, Sagatanasu went through Asato’s past, digging for dirt to keep him distracted while he finished his business. He found the blood stained past and the guilt the shinigami carried over it, forcing Asato to relive the event over and over. It was a nightmare he couldn’t wake from, and all the guilt and sorrow he had thought was gone came flooding back. If not for the passive intervention of his master, the King of Hades, Asato would not have harnessed the monster within to crush Sagatanasu and free himself. As much as his friends tried to tell him everything would be alright, the door he had locked years ago had been broken into. It was only a matter of time before it opened completely. With the help of Dr. Muraki, it did just that. The man that Asato and Hisoka thought they had killed together was alive and well, and he was after Asato still, toying with Hisoka just to rile his true target’s emotions. Case after case, murder after murder, Asato became obsessed with stopping the doctor. He wanted the loss of life to end, but Muraki wouldn’t end the game of chase. In the midst of his struggle with the doctor, another demon rose up to try killing Asato, hoping to claim the title he had won from Sagatanasu, but after so many died in his wake, the shinigani ended him the same way he had the other demon, grieving and blaming himself.

Asato could feel his depression coming back. The drinking became heavier. He started eating a lot more, despite having his salary and bonuses garnished over the damages his fights with Muraki and the demon realm kept raking up. He hid it from his co-workers though. He didn’t want to worry them. After all, only the Chief knew about his regrets in the office, so he didn’t want to weigh them down with his baggage. He didn’t think they would like him if they knew what he really was either. As much as it openly bothered his partner, Asato carried his burden alone with a pretty smile to distract everyone. Finally, Muraki struck when he was weak. He told him that he had proof he wasn’t human, asking him what was he then. Asato collapsed from shock. It was too painful to hear those words from someone again. When he woke, he went straight to the bar, where he drank so badly that he actually tried to gouge his eyes out. It was all because of his damned eyes. Hisoka stopped him, seeing a glimpse of the painful memories Asato was reliving in his mind. He reassured Asato that only a human being could do something so weak as harm themselves, but Muraki had already set his trap. Using his latest victim, he used her to attack Asato within the Ministry of Hades, knowing the shinigami would do his damndest to protect her as best he could. It all happened so suddenly, and as he was still hung over from the alcohol, he made an unconscious action out of self preservation. He summoned a shiki that killed her.

He shut down. Everything around him faded away after he finished screaming. He went back to how he was before he died, staring at something no one else could see. There was something there though, but he didn’t know what. By the time he came back to his senses, he realized he had played right into Muraki’s hand. He was tired of chasing the doctor. He was tired of living with the guilt. It was time to escape, again, but he was taking Muraki with him. He summoned a shikigami that held a power so dangerous it so burn away a soul, and as Muraki lay bleeding to death, Asato just sat in the black flames, waiting for everything to burn into nothing. Fortunately, his plan failed completely. Both he had Muraki were saved. However, it was then that Asato realized what he had that he didn’t over seventy years ago. He had a family that loved him. He didn’t want to hurt them more than he already had, so he put the smile back on. Only this time, he tried to make it real, and he still is.

After feeling the helplessness Muraki had left him with from their last encounter, Asato tried to act like it had not happened. Pick himself up by his bootstraps and carry on. After being left on his own in the Hall of Candles, his fears and anxieties were preyed on by the influence of the souls within the candles. He fell apart again, but after a talk with the Count of the Hall, he realized that he couldn’t forget what happened. Still, he could take his time to heal, which was a relief to hear while inside a comforting embrace. When Hisoka expressed a desire to get a shiki so he could defend himself better, Asato figured this was a golden opportunity to take time to recover. However, seeing his partner and shiki caught up in a dangerous situation that could lead to a war, Asato proved to himself that he could still keep his head in the hectic circumstances. After doing some research into the civil war that nearly tore Gensoukai apart, Asato and Hisoka came up with a plan to try to stop the war and bring healing to the land once and for all. Rushing to the front, Asato is driven to protect not just the lives of human beings but his precious shiki and the world they call home. He won’t let fear hold him down, and he’ll do whatever it takes to bring the suffering to an end.

[Abilities / Strengths & Weaknesses]:
Shinigami in Yami no Matsuei have many powers that are given to them, so that they can do their jobs. When the dead spirits become shinigami, they are given “bodies” again to walk among the living. They need to eat though, or these bodies won’t hold together, leaving them as spirits again. They are invisible to humans unless they shift their energies to be seen and touched. Along with regeneration powers, shinigami are swift and can fly. There are additional abilities that individuals can have, but those are the basics. They can also make contracts with shikigami spirits from Gensoukai to call to their aid. These are gods or spirits that can be summoned. Typically, shinigami get one or two shiki because you must convince the spirit that you are worthy of handling them. Tsuzuki, however, has twelve of the most impressive shikigami that all willingly following him. As the spirits dwell in the Gensoukai though, Tsuzuki cannot call on them, unless they are in the game.

Tsuzuki is a special case Guardian of Death. On top of the normal powers of the shinigami, he also has his abilities that he had in life. He possesses impressive strength, able to nearly punch through bulletproof glass in one strike. He has amazing stamina, battling against a demon general and not getting tired, and his agility and reflexes are inhuman. The demon lord Ashitarote wants Tsuzuki for his spiritual power, which seems to be abnormally high for even a shinigami. Muraki says that his DNA isn’t human, finding demon and something else, but his actual origins have yet to be revealed. A glimpse of a darker side of him is seen when he watched Mariko die after subconsciously summoning Suzaku out of self preservation. It was only for a moment, but he unleashed a monstrous scream before a large explosion erupted beneath him, completely demolishing the infirmary wing.

Ofuda magic is Tsuzuki’s specialty besides shikigami. In Yami no Matsuei, Ofuda is a spirit type magic, and Tsuzuki is the best Ofuda Practitioner in the Ministry of Hades. Ofuda in the series is used by drawing off one’s own spiritual energy and using it to bind or reject spirits. There are spells one can use by chanting incantations. These can do anything from force a soul out of its body, release a spell on someone, or put a soul back in its body. To raise a barrier or bind a spirit, you write the spell on a talisman, fuda paper, or chant it to appear on a blank fuda. Tsuzuki has familiars in the form of white birds that are birthed from folding a fuda into origami birds and breathing part of his own spiritual energy into them. They are messengers and tracking spirits that answer only to him, unless designated otherwise.

Tsuzuki’s Ofuda fighting style is boiled down to his spiritual power. When he conjures up his energy, his spiritual power charges a talisman. Once he releases or the spell has been used up in the talisman, it burns up like tissue paper in a purple flame. As long as he doesn’t release his talisman, the power will be at his disposal. Tsuzuki can also raise barriers and conceal things with his talismans. He also has shown the ability to release bursts of energy from himself when angered without using a talisman, and it tends to be very destructive. The closest thing to a weapon he has is an Ofuda Whip. This is a line of talismans held together with his spiritual power. He can use it to strike, but it doesn’t cut as it is made of spiritual power. It can be parried, if one doesn’t give it the chance to coil. It can also be used to bind and seal the spirit of the victim ensnared within, making powers reduce to nothing and possibly force unconsciousness. The whip can also work to raise a large barrier if needed, but it would require a great deal of Tsuzuki's spiritual power to hold it.

Tsuzuki has a terrible habit of shielding people that can’t defend themselves. He can’t stand the sight of seeing innocents brought to harm, and he would rather take an attack unprotected than let a helpless person get hurt. He is also a very trusting person, wanting to believe people are good. It hits him very hard when he is proven wrong, either bringing him to tears or stirring him to rage. As powerful as he is, he does not like to use it unless he absolutely has to because he is so spiritually strong. He hates the thought of killing, going as far to bring a building down on himself and Muraki because he felt it was the only way to bring things to an end. He has trouble seeing copious amounts of blood, especially when it’s splattered everywhere. It brings back haunting memories of his past that tend to unnerve him for a while before he collects himself. The most frightening thing Tsuzuki always tries to run from is himself. He fears that he is only a murderous beast at his core, no matter how much he tries to be a good person. Those that care about him say that because of his strong sense of conscious he is more human than most. His most humorous flaw is his odd sense of smell. It would seem he can eat anything without getting sick, but his cooking suffers because of it, giving those that eat it food poisoning. His drinks however seem to be just fine though, thankfully...

[Limited Powers]:
Obviously, he can no longer fly. That would make things easy. As he can't fly anymore, the secret to his speed will dwindle as well. To keep things from getting too crazy, he won't be removing souls from people, but he can still touch spirits and such. 

[Other Important Facts]:
I should probably put here that sometimes, when pressed mentally, he can snap and go on blind rampages. Psychosis stuff from his past.

[Samples]:
♦ Thread: Thread from thewake  

♦ Post: [Audio]

Ugh! I give up!

Is there anyone out there that that could teach me about sailing a ship? Without my flight, I can't find that gemstone without going to sea and the most sailing I’ve ever done was on a cruise liner in the casino, dealing cards. I'm sure Hisoka would have something to say about this. Tatsumi too. I can't just sit around doing nothing though. I have to get back to Gensoukai before Kurikara falls to Konton. We don't have much time left. I’d do anything to get out of here…! 

Ugh... look a me. I'm talking to an old notebook. The way it keeps writing I'm just waiting for it to suck me in...