Yoshiko Tomoko [S Jounin/Akatsuki]

It wasn’t until at the tender age of 10 that the life of Yoshiko Tomoko started for real. Up until that age she had been living a peaceful life with her family in a small area not far from Kirigakure. They were not rich and didn’t live fancy, but had nonetheless everything needed to provide for a happy life. Yoshiko took very much up to her mother, a proud and beautiful woman that had fled from her life as a ninja. She had met Yoshiko’s father, which was at that time a bounty hunter, and they had fallen in love. Even though they wanted to live in peace and let their children have a good life, it struck them when they saw that their oldest daughter shared the same bloodline limit as her mother. At first they talked about not letting the girl practice any of her skills but they weren’t stupid, knowing that if Yoshiko would grow up without having any control over herself or her powers, something catastrophic could happen. So thus began her training. Yoshiko surprised her parents by having a very large amount of chakra, making it easy for the girl to execute and learn jutsu’s and also helped her when she sparred either against her parents or when she was learning how to control her bloodline limit.

But all good things must come to an end. Now the year of her 10th birthday,Yoshiko had been out to the small village, getting food and other supplies. Her younger siblings, Hina and Riku, were with her and those innocent children laughed and joked not knowing that something was happening in their small house. “Honey, where did you put the teapot? You should know by now that I don’t like it when you…” the voice of Retsu died out as she saw her husband standing with a grim look on his handsome, yet tired face, outside of their house. Following his gaze, her purple eyes that were so alike Yoshiko’s widened. There was a group of men that had surrounded the house, their leader a grim looking man which had a red bandanna covering the left side of his face. “Retsu, please go back inside the house.” Ichinose spoke slowly to his wife, unable to tear his gaze away from the men that stood in front of him. He had known that his past would someday catch up to him, but yet he couldn’t believe that he was seeing that man again.

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It had all started when Ichinose was but a child. Living in a poor household in the Land of Waves, he had soon begun stealing and scamming people. As he grew stronger, his temper and his greed for money also grew, making the young man start practicing with weapons and hang around the wrong people. When he had turned 18, he had fled from the village after doing something he had promised himself he would never do. He had now gone down the path of killing a person, a young and rich man that had been traveling through the country which had been so unfortunate as to challenge Ichinose to a duel after losing some money to the other. People didn’t ask if Ichinose had been at fault or not, all that mattered was that the man that died had money and Ichinose didn’t, so now he was chased away from his village and a bounty put on his head. After leaving his old village, he traveled around all the countries, doing bad deeds for bad people and finally turned out as a bounty hunter.

At the age of 26 his new boss had presented a picture to Ichinose, telling him that his next target was a woman named Retsu. He was to bring her back to the boss’s hideout alive and ask no questions. Ichinose didn’t have a problem with that, merely glancing at the picture as he took it out of the man’s hand. But while he journeyed to the Land of Water, he couldn’t help himself but glance again at the picture, and then again and again. The woman he saw there had a serious look on her face, but her purple eyes held the smile which her lips didn’t. You couldn’t see it unless you took a good look, but there was something about her eyes that seemed to want to trap anyone that gazed for too long. Arriving in Kirigakure, Ichinose lay low and found out where she lived. He pretended to be a traveler and watched her every day as she had an errand in the village or when she was simply working outside of her house. Everything about her captured him, her eyes, her golden hair that was flowing down her back, her gentle smile. And thus he had approached her, not telling her what his aim had been at first.

Retsu had noticed the new face in the village right away. A tall, dark haired man armed with a black katana, and with eyes that had the same color as the snow. Even though he thought he hadn’t been given away, she knew that he was watching her and she knew that he was most probably after her. As a week passed and nothing happened, it surprised her he still hadn’t acted, until when one day he came to her and spoke to her for the first time. Have I been mistaken? Isn’t he here to take me away? Were her thoughts as this tall, strong man had been blushing in front of her while shyly talking to her. It hadn’t taken her long to fall in love also, ignoring all the alarms in her head. After they had been living together for 2 months, he was finally able to tell her who he was and why he was there. And likewise, Retsu shared with the man she loved all her secrets, making him realize just how valuable she was to the likes of his boss. He made a word from a good friend of his that he had died and that Retsu was nowhere to be found. They moved from her old house and built themselves a new one in the mountains above a small village in a area near Kirigakure, the entry to the house well hidden. No one from the village knew exactly where they lived, but none of the villagers paid it any mind. Retsu and Ichinose had never caused any trouble, and they kept to themselves so the villagers did the same.

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And now Ichinose was staring in the face of his boss again, knowing with sorrow in his heart that his children would now be left without parents. The fight was brutal, yet quick. The man with the bandanna had used his powers and money to bring with him scum from all over the country, strong scum that had no morals. And so, the last thing Ichinose saw before a sword pierced his heart, was the face of the only woman he had ever loved as she screamed his name before everything went black. Retsu’s whole world crumbled in front of her as the father of her children, her love, fell in front of her. His eyes which had always reminded her of a snowstorm, closing for the last time as he had jumped in front of a sword that had been meant for her. The mother in her wept as she sent out thoughts to her oldest daughter. Yoshiko… take good care of your siblings and forgive us.

Closing her eyes, Retsu cried out, a scream that echoed her pain and anger, a scream that made the men take a step back. The air around her started picking up the speed and the ground under her feet started freezing. She summoned forth her sword which she had thought she would never use again, and charged at the men in front of her, the men that had killed her love. The attack took them by surprise, allowing the woman they had originally come to kidnap, to kill 5 of them in just a minute before they regained their senses. They circled her, like wolves circling their prey and used the anger and sorrow that rested in her heart against her. It was clear that she would never come with them, so the last thing Retsu saw before closing her eyes was the big man with the bandanna raising his sword in the air above her head. She had lost her right arm, blood was pouring down her body and she could only focus with one eye. Not being stupid, she knew that they had not found out about their children and the last thought the beautiful Retsu of the Tomoko clan had was the wish for her childrens safety.



“Nee-chan, I’m tired!” The small girl that was walking besides her sister complained in a low voice. Looking up at her older sister, her round face having a pouting expression on it, Hina kept complaining. It just wasn’t fair that she was supposed to walk while Riku got to sit on their sister’s arm! Yoshiko smiled at her 5 year old sister, her eyes gentle as they met the small girl’s. “You know I can’t carry you both at the same time, Hina. And Riku isn’t as strong as you are. Just imagine how much you can gloat to our parents when we get home and you can tell them that you walked the whole way yourself.” The round eyes of the 5 year old grew even rounder at those words, a small smile of victory crawling upon the child’s lips. “Alright, I will then be strong and walk the rest!” Puffing her chest out, the small girl put on a determined look on her face as she stomped ahead of her siblings, causing Yoshiko to laugh out. Riku looked at her with his serious almost white eyes that were just like their father’s, causing his older sister to draw out another smile. “We are almost home Riku, then you can get to play.” It always made Yoshiko wonder what her 3 year old brother was thinking about. He rarely smiled and never cried, but he was always ready to give anyone in his way a hug, even a complete stranger. “You are one mysterious child, Riku.” She said softly before kissing him on the forehead.

“Nee-chan!” Hina’s voice was filled with terror, making Yoshiko’s heart drop. Had her sister hurt herself? Her purple eyes shone with relief as she saw her little sister run towards her on her short legs, seemingly unhurt. “What’s the matter Hina?” The 5 year old, out of breath from running, pointed her chubby hand upwards, her eyes filled with fear. “Mommy and daddy!” The 10 year old girl looked up, and saw what had caused her sister to run like this. There was a dark smoke in the air, coming from where their house was. Mom! Dad! Are you alright? Trying not to let her fear get out to her siblings, Yoshiko squeezed out a smile. “Don’t worry Hina, I’m sure everything is …” Her words came to a halt as she spotted just ahead of them a few men, men that had ugly looks on their faces. Some of them were covered in blood, but to Yoshiko’s horror then some of them were not injured and yet had blood on them. Who’s blood..? Her legs shook slightly from fear as she took a step backwards, only to emit a yelp as she bumped into someone. Turning on her heel, the 10 year old girl looked up into the most ugly face she had ever seen. And that face was smiling as the man reached his arm out and slapped her, causing her to fall backwards. “What do you think you are doing to my sister!?” Hina ran to the man, her chubby hands frantically beating at his leg as she didn’t reach further up than his knee.

“Hey boss, seems like they had time to breed before you sniffed them up.” Called the man as he snatched Hina from the ground, holding her in the air by the collar of her dress. The other men were now upon them, some looking uninterested while others had dangerous expressions of sadistic thoughts. “L-let my sister go.” Yoshiko’s voice was just a whisper as she stood up, her whole body trembling from fear, her left cheek burning after the slap. “Or what, little girl?” the man grinned as he swung the crying 5 year old around in the air. Yoshiko clung to her little brother, praying that her parents were alive and would come and save them. “You know, she looks a lot like her mother. You think she has the same bloodline perhaps?” The man spoke to someone that stood behind her, causing Yoshiko to turn around and look up into the biggest man she had ever seen in her life.

The boss looked down on her, snorting before a grin stretched across his face. “You have a point there. We best get rid of her so she wont be thinking about revenge for her parents in the future.” “NO NO NO MOMMY, DADDY!” Hina’s voice broke as she started crying. “They are lying, aren’t they nee-chan?” But Yoshiko’s mind didn’t catch anything her sister said, all that was ringing in her head were the words of that man. Revenge? Where are mom and dad? Riku made a small complaining sound as his sister squeezed him too hard to her, that small sound snapping Yoshiko back to reality. With a snarl she lunged at the man in front of her, kicking him hard in the shin which caused him to drop her sister.

Yoshiko grabbed at Hina’s arm and turned on her heel, determined to save them. But she didn’t manage to take but one step before everything turned black. Yoshiko’s left eye fluttered open slowly, her other eye seemed to refuse to open for some reason. The dry dirt on the ground tickled her nose as she came to realize she was lying facedown on the ground. A scream, was it her own? “H-Hina…Riku…” Her head hurt like it was exploding, and to the young girl’s horror she realized that the reason she couldn’t open her right eye was because it was covered in blood. “Seems like she’s tougher than she looks. That blow should've cracked that little skull open.” The boss said it in a laughing tone, causing his companions to laugh also.

At that moment, something seemed to snap inside Yoshiko. She couldn't feel anything but rage, she couldn't hear anything else than the words echoing inside her head that her parents were dead. "H-hey boss...?" One of the men seemed to notice when the young girl stood silently up, her hair covering the side of her face which was almost cut open from the previous blow. Looking up at them, Yoshiko's open eye had turned white as the ground below her feet started freezing. "Give them back.... give them back to me! GIVE ME MY PARENTS BACK!!!" Her voice was like the snarling of a wounded animal before she screamed at the top of her lungs, the ground around the men also starting to freeze before all of the sudden spears of ice sprung up from it all over the place. Through Yoshiko's own screams of horror and panic, she heard the yells of fright and pain as she impaled or injured most of the men with the ice spears. "Let's get out of here!" This time it was the boss's time to yelp in fright as he clutched his right arm which had been injured. "Her mother was nothing like this!" Words he should not have said, as Yoshiko's head slowly turned until she stared at him. "Don't you -ever- talk about my mother, you rodent!" In her hand she felt something heavy, cold starting to form and without even thinking she lunged forward to the wide eyed man in front of her. "Nee-chan no!!" Hina's voice died out in Yoshiko's scream of rage before everything turned black for her again.


Day had turned into night as Yoshiko managed to wake up again. She felt cold, her throat was dry and her head ached. It took her many minutes before she could manage to sit up. Slowly looking around, Yoshiko noted that she was alone besides from corpses of the men she had killed. Her heart felt like someone was squeezing on it as she crawled on the ground towards where the red hair accessory that had been in her little sister’s braid lay. "H-Hina?" She limped towards where she saw the man laying that had held her sister, but she found nothing. No...no..no.. NO! "RIKU, WHERE ARE YOU?!" Yoshiko crawled on the ground, crying, screaming, sobbing until she found the little body of her brother, cold, lifeless on the ground. For what seemed like an entirety, Yoshiko lay on the ground and cried while hugging her brother to her. Her loud sobs was the only thing to be heard in the still air. Finally, after many hours had passed, she had no more tears left as she lay on her back and looked up at the sky with her one working eye. Her lips moved but no sound came. She knew she had to get up before she froze to death, but it was difficult to move or even want to and the sleep seemed too tempting.

I have to get out of here before someone comes...I have to find Hina.. Those thoughts were what drove the young, wounded girl up on her feet. In slow steps she walked to where their home had been while she still held her brother in her arms. She was greeted by the corpses of her parents as they lay together on the ground, like they had found each other in death. That night something died inside the young Yoshiko as she buried her family and burnt down the rest of their home. Yoshiko Tomoko had cried her last tears.

As morning came, the people of the village looked up in fright, surprise and worry as they saw the young girl that had lived in the mountains with her family come walking down the path and through the village. The right side of her face was bandaged, but they could see the blood through. Her face was dirty, as were her clothes, and in her right hand she clutched onto her father’s long katana. But it wasn’t her appearance that made them scared, oh no, it was that look she had in her left eye. This was no look that a child should ever have. Her eye was cold, yet wherever she looked it was as if a snow blizzard had taken part in that person’s mind. She felt.. anger, hatred burning inside her heart as she kept walking. And with that, she disappeared forever from the village. People never knew if she had been the one slaying her whole family and the men that were found later, but the tails that grew described the girl with the frozen gaze and the black katana in her hand as a cold blooded murderer. But not all were that blind, and there were many that had been aware of the thugs passing the village, and they shed a tear for the family which had been this cruelly torn apart.


Now being the typical child of sorrow, Yoshiko traveled around the countries, searching for any purpose at all while searching for clues about her sister. She ended up in the Land of Lightning, studying there as a ninja for a while but she quickly took off as too many questions about her origins and her parents started to come up. Having water as her element, helped Yoshiko master a few difficult water jutsus, adding them with the ice ones she had learned in her old village, and also helped her in combining the water with her bloodline limit. She had found out that as she used water, she was able to shape the weapons faster and also make their essence harder. The now 17 year old girl was alone with her ability, for what she knew, but she knew also that she had surpassed her mother and her father in skills. Fortunately the wound on her face closed and she was relieved to find out that she still had her eyesight in her right eye, although it would never be as good as her other eye, and the color of it had changed upon the massive hit she had received. She became a weapon specialist, training with her father’s katana, knowing that she would do herself only good by that. Her mother had always warned her when Yoshiko was little not to use her bloodline limit unless there was no other way. So even though Yoshiko kept training her bloodline limit in secret, she focused on improving her jutsus and her skills with weapons.

Yoshiko’s 18th year came, the young woman which had started out at the age of 10 was now a skilled ninja, a skilled killing machine. But she avoided villages and trouble, only going there when she needed supplies or information. She didn't have any aim or goal other than wanting to become stronger and trying to find her sister, but with the years the hope of ever finding her again started to fade away. One day though she encountered a group called Akatsuki. They were strong, she knew that as she had heard tales so she sought to be a part of them. After trying hard, the young girl managed to be accepted and was now doing their bidding and went to the Amegakure village to keep up her training.

~~ Present time ~~

Now at the age of 19 Yoshiko does as told to do by her organization while she wanders aimlessly around when not at Amegakure. Finding Hina has become more of a distant dream than actual hope for her, and yet the young ninja can't help but keep searching. Mostly because she can never forget that it was probably her fault that Riku their little brother got killed and then her blacking out which caused someone to take Hina. After that day, Yoshiko has never lost herself like that again as she had vowed at her parents and brother's graves she would keep holding onto her mental strength and become stronger than so to let the bloodline limit control her.

The night was cold, the moon a pale orb at the sky, surrounded by stars that competed against each other in who shone the brightest. Why did people always connect the moon to something mysterious when it was just that silvery orb in the sky, looking down on the earth? Yoshiko moved her gaze from it and started to count the stars lazily, even if she knew she would never come to an end. What else was there to do at this cold, yet quiet and peaceful night? Sleep? She didn't think so. Too many things were distracting her. For the past couple of days nothing had been happening other than her training, walking, eating, sleeping. Truth be told, she was getting rather annoyed at how little there was to do. If I could catch the moon, I would probably want to hold it in my palm while trying to see what was so special about it. Her hands moved upwards as if they had a will of their own, her palms turning towards the moon as she slowly moved them closer until it looked like she held it.

What silly thoughts... Flashes of memories ran through her mind as the young ninja kept laying on her back on the ground. Memories of times when laughter filled the air, where her father's strong hands held her up in the air and teased his daughter while she tried to catch the moon with her small hands. "What would you do with it, silly little thingl?" He had asked while laughing. His daughter had turned her smiling face towards her father, those eyes that he loved so much just like in her mother. "I would give you and mommy it!" "Did you hear that Retsu? Don't we have the most generous kid ever!" Her father had looked at the smiling mother which sat not far away from them. The childish honesty, the love that was between them all was something that would be stuck in Yoshiko's mind forever, reminding her of what she didn't have. The endless laughter as the father twirled his daughter around. At that time, the ground had been damp, the light from the moon glittering all around like they were in some fairy tale or magic world.

"Foolish." Yoshiko clapped her hands together, then let them drop down to her stomach and lay still there. There was no such thing as a magic world or a fairy tale. If you didn't know how to stay connected to this world, you were as good as dead. She lost the number of the stars and had to begin again, silently, patiently counting inside her head while denying any other thoughts to prod her mind. 56...57...58....59.... What was the highest count anyone had managed to make? Twiddling her fingers, Yoshiko couldn't help but ponder about that as she kept counting. A rustling sound came from some distance, most probably it was an animal that was scared of her. Would it be as scared if she was a normal person, someone that had a home to return to and didn't lay under the sky all nights and count stars, or train each day to become more skilled in killing and surviving?

Would that animal be scared if she had a heart like it did? The young girl closed her eyes and let her left hand run up from her stomach and onto her chest, resting there. She could feel the heartbeat, but she was sure that her heart had long forgotten about her as she had about it. She tried to match her breathing to the thumping inside her chest but soon gave up and let out a low sigh.

A shooting star caught her attention, making Yoshiko follow it with her eye until it faded away before she sat up. Is Hina looking at the same star? Did she make a wish? She didn't know why she couldn't stop thinking like her sister was alive. Was it perhaps some connection between them that refused to allow her giving up the hope? Her right hand rose from her stomach and moved to her side, clasping down on the hilt of her katana and lifting it up. The blade reflected her face slightly as she tilted it upwards. She had never understood that black color to it, her father never telling her just why he had it. With slow movements, Yoshiko lowered it closer down until the cool surface touched her forehead. The wind picked up, whispering in the grass around her, moving a cloud for the moon so that darkness took over for a few seconds. Yoshiko moved the katana from her forehead and placed it back on the ground next to her as she sat up and hugged her knees to herself.

While letting her teeth worry her lower lip, an old habit of hers, Yoshiko lifted her face again towards the sky. "What number was I on again....?"