Sano Asahara | 左之 浅原 (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
consiliarius) wrote2013-04-12 05:11 pm
consiliarius) wrote2013-04-12 05:11 pm
Entry tags:
OOC - Save the Earth Application
OOC Information:
Name: Rose
Are you over 15? Yep!
Contact: Plurk at LadyotRings
IC Information:
Name: Sanosuke Harada. His reincarnation’s name is Sano Asahara.
Canon: Hakuouki (game). To be specific, his preincarnation will follow the events of his own route, which differs in some areas to the other routes, although major events tend to stay the same throughout the game.
Age: 28. His preincarnation ages throughout canon, from 23 to 28.
Preincarnation Appearance: Before the Western makeover Unseen in this picture, the back of his bolero has his family crest on it, a red circle with a red line running horizontally in the middle. After the makeover Note: He has a scar on his belly from a seppuku attempt when he was younger.
Any differences: His reincarnation’s hair is naturally an auburn color, but he dyes it redbecause redheads have more fun, sorry blondes. He also wears modern clothes, of course.
Preincarnated History: Harada was born into a lower-class samurai family, so while he had status, it was pretty low. At one point, a retainer to the clan he was a part of mocked Harada and said he probably had no idea how to even commit seppuku (ritual suicide), to which Harada immediately acted to prove the retainer wrong. However, the wound was shallow and he survived, though he later boasted to his friends in the Shinsengumi of it.
After the incident he left his home and ended up in Edo (now known as Tokyo), staying and training at Isami Kondou’s dojo, Shieikan. There he met many of his closest friends, Shinpachi Nagakura and Heisuke Toudou in particular. In 1863, he and the others from Shieikan travelled to Kyoto and became part of the Roushigumi, which later became the Shinsengumi, a special police force loyal to the Tokugawa shogunate and used to keep the peace in Kyoto. Harada was appointed as captain of the 10th Unit.
But their group was not only used for an honorable reason. The shogunate, wanting to have the upper hand in the broiling chaos that would lead to a civil war, ordered the Shinsengumi to help with experiments on a secret “medicine” that would make their troops into even stronger soldiers. This was called the ochimizu, or Water of Life. Only there was a problem. The ochimizu wasn’t foolproof. While the men who took it and became rasetsu (Furies) became faster and stronger and able to regenerate wounds (unless stabbed through the heart), they ultimately lost their minds, particularly at the sight of blood.
And the man who was in charge of working out the kinks in the ochimizu, Koudou Yukimura, had recently disappeared, leaving the Shinsengumi hanging.
February of 1864 is where the main story begins when Chizuru Yukimura, Koudou’s daughter, came to Kyoto, dressed as a boy for her own protection, to look for her father since he had stopped writing. She witnessed a couple rasetsu get taken down by a few Shinsengumi captains, and was apprehended just to make sure she didn’t run off and tell what she had seen, even though she didn’t understand fully what had happened. Eventually they all learned that she was a girl and looking for Koudou, so they kept her around since the Shinsengumi were looking for Koudou, too. Harada treated her well enough during her stay, oftentimes encouraging her to cheer up if she looked sad or something bad had happened.
While the Shinsengumi’s reputation had never really been great in Kyoto, they stayed pretty stable and able to keep themselves afloat for about four years. In this time Harada took part in normal patrols and a few exciting incidents (usually against the Choushuu clan). In 1867, however, the Shinsengumi became retainers of the shogun, which was all well and good, except Harada and Shinpachi, in particular, weren’t too thrilled with being forced to work directly for someone whereas before they had a little more freedom to fight for what they personally believed in. It was at this point that the two began to view the Shinsengumi’s commander, Isami Kondou, a little more skeptically.
One night, it was revealed to the Shinsengumi that Chizuru was actually a demon, which probably should have been a big deal, but then they also dealt with rasetsu, whose powers are based on those of demons. Also during this span of time, Keisuke Sannan, one of the vice-commanders along with Toshizou Hijikata, had taken over ochimizu research and had become a rasetsu himself, due to an arm injury that left him unable to fight and because he felt he had improved the concoction enough that he wouldn’t go insane. It worked, for the most part. Heisuke also became a rasetsu after he was fatally wounded at the Aburano-koji Incident, in which the Shinsengumi took out a group of men who had left the Shinsengumi, led by Kashitarou Itou. Itou had intended to expose the rasetsu and have Isami Kondou, the Shinsengumi commander, assassinated. Clearly that was not a bright idea.
Even with these less-than-happy incidents, Harada still viewed the rasetsu as people and wanted them to enjoy life as much as they could, even in their inhuman state. At the same time he wondered if they were really alive at all.
Near the end of 1867, Emperor Meiji had ascended to the throne and rule was returned to him, thought he shogunate still existed, just without as much power as they had had for hundreds of years before. The Shinsengumi still worked for the shogunate, but there was still a war going on and at the end of January 1868, the Shinsengumi’s life really started its downhill slide. The Battle of Toba-fushimi pitted the shogunate’s forces against the Imperial army and if sheer numbers counted, the shogunate should have won, but the Imperial forces had Western firepower and training, easily overcoming the samurai who only fought with swords or spears. During the battle, Harada tried to protect Chizuru from Kyou Shiranui, a demon working with the Choushuu clan, but Shiranui was too strong. This bothered Harada deeply since he believed women shouldn’t be on the battlefield, but there he was, unable to protect a woman.
The battle ended with the Shinsengumi retreating first to Osaka, then all the way back to Edo when it became apparent that the shogun had retreated as well, abandoning his own soldiers. Morale was low in the ranks. While they stayed at Kama Inn, waiting to get their metaphorical breath back and figure out what to do next, Harada began to distance himself from Chizuru because he didn’t know how to face her after being humiliated and defeated by Shiranui, which only confused her and made her think he didn’t want anything to do with her. Chizuru tried to leave, to keep from causing trouble by existing and also because Sannan was pressuring her to help with the ochimizu research, of which she wanted to be no part, but Harada happened to be around to stop her and as she tried to explain herself and why she was upset, she started crying, to which Harada tried to calm her down, but when that didn’t work, he fell back on his old standby: kissing girls to get them to stop crying. It was super effective, surprisingly, and they were able to explain why they had acted the way they had.
Not long after, Kondou ordered the Shinsengumi to march to Koufu Castle, but when they arrived, they received word that the enemy had already taken it. Kondou wanted to attack anyway since it was the shogunate’s orders, but Harada and Shinpachi tried to dissuade him, pointing out that their numbers weren’t nearly enough to take an entire castle. Kondou refused to retreat and the next day when fighting broke out, they were hopelessly overwhelmed. After losing a good amount of men, Kondou finally ordered the retreat.
During the retreat, the Shinsengumi were attacked by Imperial soldiers, only they were different. They were rasetsu (who could fight in the sunlight without repercussions, unlike the rasetsu of the Shinsengumi) and who led them? None other than Koudou Yukimura, which was understandably quite a shock for Chizuru. The Shinsengumi couldn’t fight off the rasetsu, however, and Shiranui, who had arrived at the scene, as well, called a truce with Harada and distracted the army so everyone else could get away.
That March, Harada and Shinpachi left the Shinsengumi, mostly due to the fact that they couldn’t serve under Kondou anymore, after his bad choices, and also because one of the only choices left to make the Shinsengumi powerful again was to use Chizuru to improve the Shinsengumi’s rasetsu, something Harada would not allow. So they left and took Chizuru with them, effectively getting out before they sank with the ship, so to speak.
Things were easier once they left, not nearly as tense, but Chizuru knew she couldn’t just let her father be, so she tried to leave a second time, not wanting to get Harada and Shinpachi involved. Harada stopped her again and confessed that he loved her and wouldn’t sit by and watch as she went off to die. This calmed her. Not long after, Harada and Shinpachi became lieutenants in a new group, the Seiheitai. The group traveled to Utsunomiya, but Harada and Chizuru stayed behind in Edo to keep an eye on things there.
Edo Castle was surrendered peacefully soon after and the imperial army moved out of the city since they no longer need to be there. However, Harada and Chizuru learned from Shiranui (who was no longer with the Choushuu) that Koudou planned on turning the entire country into rasetsu to protect it from foreign forces who would undoubtedly try to take over, but in order to support his rasetsu, they needed blood, and thus Edo was an easy target. Harada and Chizuru made a plan to go to Utsunomiya and tell Shinpachi what had happened then immediately head back to Edo to stop Koudou.
When they got back to Shinpachi, though, he never gave Harada a chance to really talk, so their plan was delayed. Chizuru, having heard Shinpachi talk so highly of Harada and how he was happy to have someone he could trust wholeheartedly fighting at his back, felt terrible for how she would end up tearing apart a beautiful friendship and tried to tell Harada that she would go back to Edo alone, but he stopped her once more, explaining that he had chosen her and he would probably have to give up more things he truly cared for if he wanted to keep her, but he would choose her every time. They made love that night.
The next day Harada was finally able to talk to Shinpachi, who couldn’t figure out why he’d choose a woman over everything, so they fought, sword versus spear. Harada won, but Shinpachi was a good sport about it, even if he was hurt. Harada and Chizuru then returned to Edo in time to intercept Koudou. Shiranui was also there, and he fought off the rasetsu while Harada faced off against Koudou, whom Harada killed. The rasetsu were defeated, as well, and Harada and Chizuru were finally able to start a life together.
They had left the country to settle somewhere peaceful and away from war, where they could just be together. A few years later, Chizuru gave birth to a son.
Reincarnated History Sano was born and raised in one of the smaller suburbs of Locke City, to an American mother and Japanese immigrant father. His childhood was relatively quiet, though his parents were pretty tense with each other at times, getting worse as the years passed, but he was a pretty average B+ student nonetheless.
Once in high school, however, his parents’ relationship began to really head south. His parents argued quite a lot – apparently getting married pretty young means people’s affections change, go figure – and Sano finally had enough at sixteen, hitting that dreaded teenage rebellion phase. He began to drift away from his parents, hang out with the “bad kids,” and his grades began to suffer. Of course, this didn’t help his parents’ stress levels at all.
He began to drink with his friends – one of them had an older brother who would buy them beer – which was a great idea in terms of entertainment for kids who felt older and more independent than they actually were. This lasted for almost a year, a span of time in which his parents ultimately got a divorce and Sano’s father retained custody. But if that weren’t bad enough, one night one of Sano’s friends was killed in a head-on collision.
He had been drunk at the time and the other driver was also killed.
It was then that Sano realized he needed to get a hold of his life and not pretend at being an adult, but actually become one. It was a hard process, especially considering he had to raise his GPA pretty drastically, but he buckled down and got through it, graduating on time. He then entered college to study psychology with the intent of helping people, and got through grad school to earn his Masters. Sano became a marriage counsellor (or relationship counsellor to be more politically correct) and works in the city.
Ironically enough, he had been engaged a couple years ago, but Sano broke it off when he realized he wasn’t ready for such a serious commitment.
Now he lives in an apartment on his own (though there’s a second bedroom in case his circumstances change), pays off his loans, and talks to his parents often enough that they don’t worry about his being alive or dead.
First Echo: One night when Sano was leaving a bar after a stressful day of meeting with clients, he saw a woman standing outside with a phone in her hand, crying. He approached her slowly, so as not to frighten her, and asked what was wrong. She tried to answer, explaining in half-sentences how she was useless, but still wanted someone to like her, when fresh tears ran down her cheeks.
Despite this, Sano still tried to calm her down, interrupting her to try and get her to explain things more clearly. Maybe he could help. He was a counsellor, after all. But the woman kept crying and no progress was made. However, there was something Sano knew he could do, something he had never thought of before, and yet it felt incredibly natural the moment the idea popped into his head.
He didn’t know if that sudden, loud heartbeat he heard in his head, however, was because of nervousness or something else entirely, but in order to get the woman to stop crying, he closed the distance between them and kissed her without hesitation, as if it were a tactic he had used before.
And somewhere, deep down, Sano knew it to be true.
Preincarnation Personality: Upon first glance, Harada seems to stick out as a captain of the Shinsengumi, if only because for the most part, he’s just so nice. And this isn’t some ruse or trick; he really is a friendly man, someone who wants others to be happy and if he can say a kind word or offer a smile to make someone’s day a little better (as he does often with Chizuru when she’s looking down), he will gladly do it. He likes to have fun, as is often seen when he’s with his best friends, Shinpachi and Heisuke, and how they seemingly constantly tease each other and throw good-natured insults around. He’s very much the kind of person to make the most of life. He enjoys drinking, especially with good company, and even takes pleasure in fighting, relishing the adrenaline even if he’s going up against someone who may very well be trying to kill him, as happens with Shiranui on multiple occasions.
Harada’s good nature can also make him come off as a womanizer when he interacts with women. On patrol one cool day, he tells Chizuru that if her hands are cold, he can hold them and warm them up for her. Shinpachi calls him out on this, but Harada defends himself, saying he was only being nice. In fact, a lot of what he says to women straddles the line of sounding flirty or just kind. It’s possible that Harada doesn’t even realize how flirty he sounds and at one point Heisuke asks if he ever stops flirting, to which Harada responds that he had just been speaking the truth (saying that a demon who kept coming after Chizuru was probably doing it because he was in love). He’s also very much a product of his time, adamantly believing that women shouldn’t be on the battlefield or see the horrors of war at all. And when Shiranui fights him at Toba-fushimi and Chizuru ends up protecting Harada at one point, he gets upset that he couldn’t protect her.
The more you get to know Harada, though, the more it becomes apparent that he takes an interest in women not only because he’s attracted, but because his dream is to fall in love with a woman and marry her, having a happy and peaceful life. So he’s actually much more of a romantic than his accidentally flirty persona suggests, and one could say that his biological clock is ticking. While the other men in the Shinsengumi may not be womanizers, either, I think it is safe to say that Harada is the most sentimental.
However, he’s still a man, and a warrior, at that. So while he has a soft side, he has the corresponding tough side, as well. He tells Chizuru that as a younger man, he was either fine or one wrong look away from getting pissed off. He’s cooled down considerably since then, but every now and then his short fuse will show. It mostly makes an appearance when he needs to take control of a situation quickly, such as when Heisuke is about to tell Chizuru about the rasetsu early on when they were hiding the truth from her, so Harada punches him to shut him up. Because he’s a warrior, too, he will fight for what he believes in, even putting his own life on the line. He doesn’t fear death, evident early on by the fact that he tried to commit seppuku as a younger man – and would have succeeded if not for the wound being shallow – because someone dared him, but he’s not in a rush to meet it, either. He will do what he must and lay down his life if it comes to that, but he still wants to enjoy life as much as he can.
Harada is also a man of morals, even if he is part of the Shinsengumi, who doesn’t have the best reputation. He has never really approved of the fact that the shogunate made them work on the ochimizu, but he doesn’t flat-out shun those who have become rasetsu, whether they are men of the rank and file or his own friends. He believes they all have the right to live and live the life they have to the fullest that they can. Morals actually drive Harada probably more than anything else. He can work in a group, but as long as they all keep sight of what it is they want to achieve and don’t get distracted by power, like he feels Kondou kind of had when he was made a daimyo. He is happiest when fighting to protect the people of Kyoto because he feels that he actually had done something good and even says he can look back at that point in his life with his head held high and without regret. He doesn’t know how many other men could say the same.
Any differences: The biggest difference is the fact that Sano didn’t grow up as a warrior, so he doesn’t have that same outlook on life. He’s still a good guy and honorable in his own way (he’s still a gentleman and kind), but the thought of risking his life is actually pretty terrifying. The most fighting he’s done are a few fist fights during his rebellious year in high school, but they were nothing compared to fighting a gunman with a spear and Sano now wouldn’t be able to imagine doing such a thing.
Related to this, he’s never experienced the deep camaraderie that his past self found in the Shinsengumi. He’s never had a best friend like Shinpachi, or a friendship borne out of the necessity of having someone at your back whom you could trust with your very life. Sure, he’s had friends throughout his life, but as he’s moved on, from elementary school to high school, from high school to college, from college to his career, most of those friendships have been cut off by friends moving away or just the fact that people sometimes grow apart. This has made Sano pretty independent and able to move on pretty well, but at the same time it feels as if something’s missing. He’s a little lonely without a best friend.
Harada was a man of his time and his views on women and their place in life were completely normal for a 19th century man. Sano is a man of his time, as well, and believes that women should have an equal standing with men in all aspects of life. Harada didn’t think a war was a place for a woman, but Sano thinks if a woman wants to join the Army, then all the power to her. He’s still a gentleman and will do things such as hold a door for a woman or offer her his seat on the bus, but he keeps a respectful distance from women, not wanting to intrude on their lives, especially if he doesn’t know her and thus has no right to get close at all.
Sano also is a lot more careful when it comes to drinking than his preincarnation was. Harada drank quite a lot and was able to get away with it because Edo era Japan didn't have the same technology that modern day America does, most notably cars. Sano will indulge when he feels like he needs to wind down, but he doesn't let himself get carried away too often (there are always exceptions, of course), and if he's with someone who's drinking, he won't let them drive home or do anything dangerous. This is, of course, because his high school friend had been killed while drunk driving and he doesn't want to see that repeated. He also doesn't provide for minors.
Abilities: Despite being a main character in a canon of fantastical situations, Harada is actually incredibly normal and human. His main skill is spearmanship (historically he trained in the Houzouin-ryuu style though it isn’t mentioned by name in canon), but he is also efficient enough in normal swordsmanship, though that is not his strong suit. Other than that, he doesn’t have any magical abilities or regenerative qualities or latent powers that are awoken only when his friends are in danger. He’s just a guy with a spear and a sword.
And a smolder. Hello, ladies.
…And a hell of a lot of luck, considering he committed seppuku and survived. Then again, this should probably be seen as a one-time thing and I would not suggest he try it again and expect the same outcome as before. Just saying.
Roleplay Sample – Third Person: Sano’s cheek still stung as he climbed the stairs to his apartment, one hand fumbling for his keys in the pocket of his slacks as he walked. It was an automatic action: go up the stairs, get the keys, unlock the door. The only difference this time was that he was sure there was a red handprint on his face. Sighing, Sano slid the key into the lock and turned it.
Why had he tried to comfort that woman? Or rather, why had he tried to comfort her in that way? It wasn’t that Sano had never kissed a woman before; of course he had. But he had never kissed a stranger and certainly not without her permission. Not until tonight.
With the door unlocked, Sano let himself inside. He was met with darkness and silence, as usual. There was no scent of a homemade dinner wafting from the kitchen, no sounds of a late night talk show echoing from the TV, no friendly smile to welcome him home after a long day. And that was fine, it really was. Sano may not have been terribly young, but he wasn’t past the normal age to get married, either. He still had time. There was no rush.
But he couldn’t deny how the fantasies of coming home to someone who had stayed up just for his return made him smile, just a little bit. If only he could just figure out why he felt unready to take that final step, then he’d probably be fine. Sano switched on the light and locked the door behind him, loosening his tie before undoing the knot completely.
Maybe that was why he had kissed that woman outside the bar. Not just to help her – though he genuinely did want to – but because he craved companionship of some kind. But under the denial and the burning refusal on his cheek, Sano knew that wasn’t quite true. Yes, he was lonely at times – sometimes more often than not – but the kiss he gave to that woman wasn’t on a whim. It felt…almost instinctual, which was ridiculous because he had never had such urges before that night. It was as if he had suddenly picked up a long habit without even realizing it.
He headed to his bedroom, tie in hand and the other fumbling to unbutton his shirt. Maybe he should get a dog. At least then he’d have someone happy to see him when he came home and he wouldn’t have to worry about looking for companionship in all the wrong places. Obviously that was the best solution. And maybe it would be the solution to take his thoughts off of the impossible.
Yeah, right.
Once in his bedroom, Sano toed off his shoes, tossed his tie onto the dresser, and finished unbuttoning his shirt before unceremoniously flopping back onto his bed. Surely he had a book somewhere that could address this problem. He just couldn’t think of it now because that sort of thing didn’t usually come up between couples…or anyone, probably.
But yeah. He’d figure it out tomorrow. Right now, he needed to shut down his mind and let sleep overcome him, if it would.
And then, in the morning, he’d go back to his normal life, taking things day by day. And maybe he’d look into getting that dog.
Roleplay Sample - Network:
[The network is accessed via laptop, a webcam going. The man in front of his has red hair and a loosened tie, the top button of his shirt undone. It seems that’s just now unwinding from a long day.
It’ll probably get longer.]
…So I guess those numbers worked, whatever that means. Or else this is a really lucid hallucination, in which case I’m impressed my mind could come up with it. Though…don’t they say if a man thinks he’s going crazy, he’s actually sane enough to know the difference whereas an actually crazy man would think he’s completely sane?
Some food for thought.
If I’m not crazy, though, which I really hope I’m not, then how about someone tell me what’s going on? I don’t really like being in the dark, after all. But I’d appreciate it if you were quick about it. I’ve got an appointment in the morning.
[He runs a hand through his hair, mussing it up a little bit, then leans forward to turn off the webcam and kill the feed.]
Any Questions? None right now!
Name: Rose
Are you over 15? Yep!
Contact: Plurk at LadyotRings
IC Information:
Name: Sanosuke Harada. His reincarnation’s name is Sano Asahara.
Canon: Hakuouki (game). To be specific, his preincarnation will follow the events of his own route, which differs in some areas to the other routes, although major events tend to stay the same throughout the game.
Age: 28. His preincarnation ages throughout canon, from 23 to 28.
Preincarnation Appearance: Before the Western makeover Unseen in this picture, the back of his bolero has his family crest on it, a red circle with a red line running horizontally in the middle. After the makeover Note: He has a scar on his belly from a seppuku attempt when he was younger.
Any differences: His reincarnation’s hair is naturally an auburn color, but he dyes it red
Preincarnated History: Harada was born into a lower-class samurai family, so while he had status, it was pretty low. At one point, a retainer to the clan he was a part of mocked Harada and said he probably had no idea how to even commit seppuku (ritual suicide), to which Harada immediately acted to prove the retainer wrong. However, the wound was shallow and he survived, though he later boasted to his friends in the Shinsengumi of it.
After the incident he left his home and ended up in Edo (now known as Tokyo), staying and training at Isami Kondou’s dojo, Shieikan. There he met many of his closest friends, Shinpachi Nagakura and Heisuke Toudou in particular. In 1863, he and the others from Shieikan travelled to Kyoto and became part of the Roushigumi, which later became the Shinsengumi, a special police force loyal to the Tokugawa shogunate and used to keep the peace in Kyoto. Harada was appointed as captain of the 10th Unit.
But their group was not only used for an honorable reason. The shogunate, wanting to have the upper hand in the broiling chaos that would lead to a civil war, ordered the Shinsengumi to help with experiments on a secret “medicine” that would make their troops into even stronger soldiers. This was called the ochimizu, or Water of Life. Only there was a problem. The ochimizu wasn’t foolproof. While the men who took it and became rasetsu (Furies) became faster and stronger and able to regenerate wounds (unless stabbed through the heart), they ultimately lost their minds, particularly at the sight of blood.
And the man who was in charge of working out the kinks in the ochimizu, Koudou Yukimura, had recently disappeared, leaving the Shinsengumi hanging.
February of 1864 is where the main story begins when Chizuru Yukimura, Koudou’s daughter, came to Kyoto, dressed as a boy for her own protection, to look for her father since he had stopped writing. She witnessed a couple rasetsu get taken down by a few Shinsengumi captains, and was apprehended just to make sure she didn’t run off and tell what she had seen, even though she didn’t understand fully what had happened. Eventually they all learned that she was a girl and looking for Koudou, so they kept her around since the Shinsengumi were looking for Koudou, too. Harada treated her well enough during her stay, oftentimes encouraging her to cheer up if she looked sad or something bad had happened.
While the Shinsengumi’s reputation had never really been great in Kyoto, they stayed pretty stable and able to keep themselves afloat for about four years. In this time Harada took part in normal patrols and a few exciting incidents (usually against the Choushuu clan). In 1867, however, the Shinsengumi became retainers of the shogun, which was all well and good, except Harada and Shinpachi, in particular, weren’t too thrilled with being forced to work directly for someone whereas before they had a little more freedom to fight for what they personally believed in. It was at this point that the two began to view the Shinsengumi’s commander, Isami Kondou, a little more skeptically.
One night, it was revealed to the Shinsengumi that Chizuru was actually a demon, which probably should have been a big deal, but then they also dealt with rasetsu, whose powers are based on those of demons. Also during this span of time, Keisuke Sannan, one of the vice-commanders along with Toshizou Hijikata, had taken over ochimizu research and had become a rasetsu himself, due to an arm injury that left him unable to fight and because he felt he had improved the concoction enough that he wouldn’t go insane. It worked, for the most part. Heisuke also became a rasetsu after he was fatally wounded at the Aburano-koji Incident, in which the Shinsengumi took out a group of men who had left the Shinsengumi, led by Kashitarou Itou. Itou had intended to expose the rasetsu and have Isami Kondou, the Shinsengumi commander, assassinated. Clearly that was not a bright idea.
Even with these less-than-happy incidents, Harada still viewed the rasetsu as people and wanted them to enjoy life as much as they could, even in their inhuman state. At the same time he wondered if they were really alive at all.
Near the end of 1867, Emperor Meiji had ascended to the throne and rule was returned to him, thought he shogunate still existed, just without as much power as they had had for hundreds of years before. The Shinsengumi still worked for the shogunate, but there was still a war going on and at the end of January 1868, the Shinsengumi’s life really started its downhill slide. The Battle of Toba-fushimi pitted the shogunate’s forces against the Imperial army and if sheer numbers counted, the shogunate should have won, but the Imperial forces had Western firepower and training, easily overcoming the samurai who only fought with swords or spears. During the battle, Harada tried to protect Chizuru from Kyou Shiranui, a demon working with the Choushuu clan, but Shiranui was too strong. This bothered Harada deeply since he believed women shouldn’t be on the battlefield, but there he was, unable to protect a woman.
The battle ended with the Shinsengumi retreating first to Osaka, then all the way back to Edo when it became apparent that the shogun had retreated as well, abandoning his own soldiers. Morale was low in the ranks. While they stayed at Kama Inn, waiting to get their metaphorical breath back and figure out what to do next, Harada began to distance himself from Chizuru because he didn’t know how to face her after being humiliated and defeated by Shiranui, which only confused her and made her think he didn’t want anything to do with her. Chizuru tried to leave, to keep from causing trouble by existing and also because Sannan was pressuring her to help with the ochimizu research, of which she wanted to be no part, but Harada happened to be around to stop her and as she tried to explain herself and why she was upset, she started crying, to which Harada tried to calm her down, but when that didn’t work, he fell back on his old standby: kissing girls to get them to stop crying. It was super effective, surprisingly, and they were able to explain why they had acted the way they had.
Not long after, Kondou ordered the Shinsengumi to march to Koufu Castle, but when they arrived, they received word that the enemy had already taken it. Kondou wanted to attack anyway since it was the shogunate’s orders, but Harada and Shinpachi tried to dissuade him, pointing out that their numbers weren’t nearly enough to take an entire castle. Kondou refused to retreat and the next day when fighting broke out, they were hopelessly overwhelmed. After losing a good amount of men, Kondou finally ordered the retreat.
During the retreat, the Shinsengumi were attacked by Imperial soldiers, only they were different. They were rasetsu (who could fight in the sunlight without repercussions, unlike the rasetsu of the Shinsengumi) and who led them? None other than Koudou Yukimura, which was understandably quite a shock for Chizuru. The Shinsengumi couldn’t fight off the rasetsu, however, and Shiranui, who had arrived at the scene, as well, called a truce with Harada and distracted the army so everyone else could get away.
That March, Harada and Shinpachi left the Shinsengumi, mostly due to the fact that they couldn’t serve under Kondou anymore, after his bad choices, and also because one of the only choices left to make the Shinsengumi powerful again was to use Chizuru to improve the Shinsengumi’s rasetsu, something Harada would not allow. So they left and took Chizuru with them, effectively getting out before they sank with the ship, so to speak.
Things were easier once they left, not nearly as tense, but Chizuru knew she couldn’t just let her father be, so she tried to leave a second time, not wanting to get Harada and Shinpachi involved. Harada stopped her again and confessed that he loved her and wouldn’t sit by and watch as she went off to die. This calmed her. Not long after, Harada and Shinpachi became lieutenants in a new group, the Seiheitai. The group traveled to Utsunomiya, but Harada and Chizuru stayed behind in Edo to keep an eye on things there.
Edo Castle was surrendered peacefully soon after and the imperial army moved out of the city since they no longer need to be there. However, Harada and Chizuru learned from Shiranui (who was no longer with the Choushuu) that Koudou planned on turning the entire country into rasetsu to protect it from foreign forces who would undoubtedly try to take over, but in order to support his rasetsu, they needed blood, and thus Edo was an easy target. Harada and Chizuru made a plan to go to Utsunomiya and tell Shinpachi what had happened then immediately head back to Edo to stop Koudou.
When they got back to Shinpachi, though, he never gave Harada a chance to really talk, so their plan was delayed. Chizuru, having heard Shinpachi talk so highly of Harada and how he was happy to have someone he could trust wholeheartedly fighting at his back, felt terrible for how she would end up tearing apart a beautiful friendship and tried to tell Harada that she would go back to Edo alone, but he stopped her once more, explaining that he had chosen her and he would probably have to give up more things he truly cared for if he wanted to keep her, but he would choose her every time. They made love that night.
The next day Harada was finally able to talk to Shinpachi, who couldn’t figure out why he’d choose a woman over everything, so they fought, sword versus spear. Harada won, but Shinpachi was a good sport about it, even if he was hurt. Harada and Chizuru then returned to Edo in time to intercept Koudou. Shiranui was also there, and he fought off the rasetsu while Harada faced off against Koudou, whom Harada killed. The rasetsu were defeated, as well, and Harada and Chizuru were finally able to start a life together.
They had left the country to settle somewhere peaceful and away from war, where they could just be together. A few years later, Chizuru gave birth to a son.
Reincarnated History Sano was born and raised in one of the smaller suburbs of Locke City, to an American mother and Japanese immigrant father. His childhood was relatively quiet, though his parents were pretty tense with each other at times, getting worse as the years passed, but he was a pretty average B+ student nonetheless.
Once in high school, however, his parents’ relationship began to really head south. His parents argued quite a lot – apparently getting married pretty young means people’s affections change, go figure – and Sano finally had enough at sixteen, hitting that dreaded teenage rebellion phase. He began to drift away from his parents, hang out with the “bad kids,” and his grades began to suffer. Of course, this didn’t help his parents’ stress levels at all.
He began to drink with his friends – one of them had an older brother who would buy them beer – which was a great idea in terms of entertainment for kids who felt older and more independent than they actually were. This lasted for almost a year, a span of time in which his parents ultimately got a divorce and Sano’s father retained custody. But if that weren’t bad enough, one night one of Sano’s friends was killed in a head-on collision.
He had been drunk at the time and the other driver was also killed.
It was then that Sano realized he needed to get a hold of his life and not pretend at being an adult, but actually become one. It was a hard process, especially considering he had to raise his GPA pretty drastically, but he buckled down and got through it, graduating on time. He then entered college to study psychology with the intent of helping people, and got through grad school to earn his Masters. Sano became a marriage counsellor (or relationship counsellor to be more politically correct) and works in the city.
Ironically enough, he had been engaged a couple years ago, but Sano broke it off when he realized he wasn’t ready for such a serious commitment.
Now he lives in an apartment on his own (though there’s a second bedroom in case his circumstances change), pays off his loans, and talks to his parents often enough that they don’t worry about his being alive or dead.
First Echo: One night when Sano was leaving a bar after a stressful day of meeting with clients, he saw a woman standing outside with a phone in her hand, crying. He approached her slowly, so as not to frighten her, and asked what was wrong. She tried to answer, explaining in half-sentences how she was useless, but still wanted someone to like her, when fresh tears ran down her cheeks.
Despite this, Sano still tried to calm her down, interrupting her to try and get her to explain things more clearly. Maybe he could help. He was a counsellor, after all. But the woman kept crying and no progress was made. However, there was something Sano knew he could do, something he had never thought of before, and yet it felt incredibly natural the moment the idea popped into his head.
He didn’t know if that sudden, loud heartbeat he heard in his head, however, was because of nervousness or something else entirely, but in order to get the woman to stop crying, he closed the distance between them and kissed her without hesitation, as if it were a tactic he had used before.
And somewhere, deep down, Sano knew it to be true.
Preincarnation Personality: Upon first glance, Harada seems to stick out as a captain of the Shinsengumi, if only because for the most part, he’s just so nice. And this isn’t some ruse or trick; he really is a friendly man, someone who wants others to be happy and if he can say a kind word or offer a smile to make someone’s day a little better (as he does often with Chizuru when she’s looking down), he will gladly do it. He likes to have fun, as is often seen when he’s with his best friends, Shinpachi and Heisuke, and how they seemingly constantly tease each other and throw good-natured insults around. He’s very much the kind of person to make the most of life. He enjoys drinking, especially with good company, and even takes pleasure in fighting, relishing the adrenaline even if he’s going up against someone who may very well be trying to kill him, as happens with Shiranui on multiple occasions.
Harada’s good nature can also make him come off as a womanizer when he interacts with women. On patrol one cool day, he tells Chizuru that if her hands are cold, he can hold them and warm them up for her. Shinpachi calls him out on this, but Harada defends himself, saying he was only being nice. In fact, a lot of what he says to women straddles the line of sounding flirty or just kind. It’s possible that Harada doesn’t even realize how flirty he sounds and at one point Heisuke asks if he ever stops flirting, to which Harada responds that he had just been speaking the truth (saying that a demon who kept coming after Chizuru was probably doing it because he was in love). He’s also very much a product of his time, adamantly believing that women shouldn’t be on the battlefield or see the horrors of war at all. And when Shiranui fights him at Toba-fushimi and Chizuru ends up protecting Harada at one point, he gets upset that he couldn’t protect her.
The more you get to know Harada, though, the more it becomes apparent that he takes an interest in women not only because he’s attracted, but because his dream is to fall in love with a woman and marry her, having a happy and peaceful life. So he’s actually much more of a romantic than his accidentally flirty persona suggests, and one could say that his biological clock is ticking. While the other men in the Shinsengumi may not be womanizers, either, I think it is safe to say that Harada is the most sentimental.
However, he’s still a man, and a warrior, at that. So while he has a soft side, he has the corresponding tough side, as well. He tells Chizuru that as a younger man, he was either fine or one wrong look away from getting pissed off. He’s cooled down considerably since then, but every now and then his short fuse will show. It mostly makes an appearance when he needs to take control of a situation quickly, such as when Heisuke is about to tell Chizuru about the rasetsu early on when they were hiding the truth from her, so Harada punches him to shut him up. Because he’s a warrior, too, he will fight for what he believes in, even putting his own life on the line. He doesn’t fear death, evident early on by the fact that he tried to commit seppuku as a younger man – and would have succeeded if not for the wound being shallow – because someone dared him, but he’s not in a rush to meet it, either. He will do what he must and lay down his life if it comes to that, but he still wants to enjoy life as much as he can.
Harada is also a man of morals, even if he is part of the Shinsengumi, who doesn’t have the best reputation. He has never really approved of the fact that the shogunate made them work on the ochimizu, but he doesn’t flat-out shun those who have become rasetsu, whether they are men of the rank and file or his own friends. He believes they all have the right to live and live the life they have to the fullest that they can. Morals actually drive Harada probably more than anything else. He can work in a group, but as long as they all keep sight of what it is they want to achieve and don’t get distracted by power, like he feels Kondou kind of had when he was made a daimyo. He is happiest when fighting to protect the people of Kyoto because he feels that he actually had done something good and even says he can look back at that point in his life with his head held high and without regret. He doesn’t know how many other men could say the same.
Any differences: The biggest difference is the fact that Sano didn’t grow up as a warrior, so he doesn’t have that same outlook on life. He’s still a good guy and honorable in his own way (he’s still a gentleman and kind), but the thought of risking his life is actually pretty terrifying. The most fighting he’s done are a few fist fights during his rebellious year in high school, but they were nothing compared to fighting a gunman with a spear and Sano now wouldn’t be able to imagine doing such a thing.
Related to this, he’s never experienced the deep camaraderie that his past self found in the Shinsengumi. He’s never had a best friend like Shinpachi, or a friendship borne out of the necessity of having someone at your back whom you could trust with your very life. Sure, he’s had friends throughout his life, but as he’s moved on, from elementary school to high school, from high school to college, from college to his career, most of those friendships have been cut off by friends moving away or just the fact that people sometimes grow apart. This has made Sano pretty independent and able to move on pretty well, but at the same time it feels as if something’s missing. He’s a little lonely without a best friend.
Harada was a man of his time and his views on women and their place in life were completely normal for a 19th century man. Sano is a man of his time, as well, and believes that women should have an equal standing with men in all aspects of life. Harada didn’t think a war was a place for a woman, but Sano thinks if a woman wants to join the Army, then all the power to her. He’s still a gentleman and will do things such as hold a door for a woman or offer her his seat on the bus, but he keeps a respectful distance from women, not wanting to intrude on their lives, especially if he doesn’t know her and thus has no right to get close at all.
Sano also is a lot more careful when it comes to drinking than his preincarnation was. Harada drank quite a lot and was able to get away with it because Edo era Japan didn't have the same technology that modern day America does, most notably cars. Sano will indulge when he feels like he needs to wind down, but he doesn't let himself get carried away too often (there are always exceptions, of course), and if he's with someone who's drinking, he won't let them drive home or do anything dangerous. This is, of course, because his high school friend had been killed while drunk driving and he doesn't want to see that repeated. He also doesn't provide for minors.
Abilities: Despite being a main character in a canon of fantastical situations, Harada is actually incredibly normal and human. His main skill is spearmanship (historically he trained in the Houzouin-ryuu style though it isn’t mentioned by name in canon), but he is also efficient enough in normal swordsmanship, though that is not his strong suit. Other than that, he doesn’t have any magical abilities or regenerative qualities or latent powers that are awoken only when his friends are in danger. He’s just a guy with a spear and a sword.
And a smolder. Hello, ladies.
…And a hell of a lot of luck, considering he committed seppuku and survived. Then again, this should probably be seen as a one-time thing and I would not suggest he try it again and expect the same outcome as before. Just saying.
Roleplay Sample – Third Person: Sano’s cheek still stung as he climbed the stairs to his apartment, one hand fumbling for his keys in the pocket of his slacks as he walked. It was an automatic action: go up the stairs, get the keys, unlock the door. The only difference this time was that he was sure there was a red handprint on his face. Sighing, Sano slid the key into the lock and turned it.
Why had he tried to comfort that woman? Or rather, why had he tried to comfort her in that way? It wasn’t that Sano had never kissed a woman before; of course he had. But he had never kissed a stranger and certainly not without her permission. Not until tonight.
With the door unlocked, Sano let himself inside. He was met with darkness and silence, as usual. There was no scent of a homemade dinner wafting from the kitchen, no sounds of a late night talk show echoing from the TV, no friendly smile to welcome him home after a long day. And that was fine, it really was. Sano may not have been terribly young, but he wasn’t past the normal age to get married, either. He still had time. There was no rush.
But he couldn’t deny how the fantasies of coming home to someone who had stayed up just for his return made him smile, just a little bit. If only he could just figure out why he felt unready to take that final step, then he’d probably be fine. Sano switched on the light and locked the door behind him, loosening his tie before undoing the knot completely.
Maybe that was why he had kissed that woman outside the bar. Not just to help her – though he genuinely did want to – but because he craved companionship of some kind. But under the denial and the burning refusal on his cheek, Sano knew that wasn’t quite true. Yes, he was lonely at times – sometimes more often than not – but the kiss he gave to that woman wasn’t on a whim. It felt…almost instinctual, which was ridiculous because he had never had such urges before that night. It was as if he had suddenly picked up a long habit without even realizing it.
He headed to his bedroom, tie in hand and the other fumbling to unbutton his shirt. Maybe he should get a dog. At least then he’d have someone happy to see him when he came home and he wouldn’t have to worry about looking for companionship in all the wrong places. Obviously that was the best solution. And maybe it would be the solution to take his thoughts off of the impossible.
Yeah, right.
Once in his bedroom, Sano toed off his shoes, tossed his tie onto the dresser, and finished unbuttoning his shirt before unceremoniously flopping back onto his bed. Surely he had a book somewhere that could address this problem. He just couldn’t think of it now because that sort of thing didn’t usually come up between couples…or anyone, probably.
But yeah. He’d figure it out tomorrow. Right now, he needed to shut down his mind and let sleep overcome him, if it would.
And then, in the morning, he’d go back to his normal life, taking things day by day. And maybe he’d look into getting that dog.
Roleplay Sample - Network:
[The network is accessed via laptop, a webcam going. The man in front of his has red hair and a loosened tie, the top button of his shirt undone. It seems that’s just now unwinding from a long day.
It’ll probably get longer.]
…So I guess those numbers worked, whatever that means. Or else this is a really lucid hallucination, in which case I’m impressed my mind could come up with it. Though…don’t they say if a man thinks he’s going crazy, he’s actually sane enough to know the difference whereas an actually crazy man would think he’s completely sane?
Some food for thought.
If I’m not crazy, though, which I really hope I’m not, then how about someone tell me what’s going on? I don’t really like being in the dark, after all. But I’d appreciate it if you were quick about it. I’ve got an appointment in the morning.
[He runs a hand through his hair, mussing it up a little bit, then leans forward to turn off the webcam and kill the feed.]
Any Questions? None right now!