Kuro Takeshi

Appearance
Somewhat spiky downward hair that takes on the color of jet black, as well as his hard eyebrows, along with oval-shaped, green eyes and large scar on his right cheek that spreads from almost his ear to his mouth. Usually seen in his personalized sweater, which is mostly black, however it carries golden stripes (a few red stripes) and symbols (most notably Japanese Kanji for “Samurai”, as seen on his upper right arm to his right shoulder, and “Shadow”, on the bottom of his right forearm, while also sporting “XYZ” on his left forearm), along with yellow collaring around the wrists, neck, and lower torso, and yellow-orange zipper that goes from the neck collar to the lower torso collar. He also wears light-gray pants, a brownish-black belt with a golden buckle, also with red, gold, and black knee and shin patting and, wears red and gray sneakers. He also wears a few leg belts around his thighs, in which he holds his throwing knives in for extra combat versatility.

Personality
Shy, but friendly, at first but once known as a friend, he turns to his normal as a somewhat uplifting and open-minded. He usually demonstrates awkwardness around those he does not know all too well, but he will only talk when spoken to or when it is required. At times, he would feel confident enough to talk to others, and he would become more friendly and open-minded to newer ideas and interests. However, his past takes form of hatred and depression, in which he seems more pessimistic and less hopeful, which is usually shown when he is caught frustration or angry. When engaged into something, such as a battle, he is usually quiet and more focused, while also more strategic and objective-oriented. Anger is easily triggered by even the smallest things, but also can be easily overcome. Although, if pushed further into anger, he will soon become enraged, in which he would blindly become his alter ego; in which he is almost completely mirrored in personality (e.g. less caring, destructive, unforgiving). Otherwise, he is quite of a "go with the flow" type of person, as he is not much of a leader-type person and is more than willing to follow whatever way others direct him in. Unlike others, he simply does not have anything again the Faunus race and finds the hatred and discrimination against them quite plain and stupid.

Backstory/History
Kuro was born into the world of Remnant in the city of Vale, into the life of a normal citizen; with parents doing fairly normal compared to others and learning the ways of the world. During his early childhood, he was told many tales of heroes who had risked their lives for the protection others by his father (a retired Hunter), and was soon influenced to become one of those heroes. He had started training with his father around age 7, where he started learning many techniques in swordsmanship and different styles of sword fighting, along with the multiple types of swords known. Much like the stories, he had decided to stick with more styles allowed for him to dream as being as those warriors, and chosen Bushido style of swordsmanship (Samurai fighting styles), along with learning multiple stances of Five-to-One, most notably Staring Tiger, Lunging Serpent, Soaring Eagle, and one of the master stances; Crimson Phoenix. He continued this training until he had gained more interest in firearms at about age 11, and researched on ends to become an amateur firearms-enthuasist.

He soon attended Signal Academy at age 13, under his request to his parents; to "learn how to fight the monsters and save people", where he had acquired and improved multiple skills such basic skills (e.g. cleaning, reading, communication) and somewhat advanced skills (e.g. forging, mathematics, cooking). However, only a couple of skills in particular interested him; designing and crafting/forging, in which led to him designing his signature weapons: a katana named Shiranui and a wakizashi named Zanji (more info in the Weaponry section). As an early Hunter-in-training, he was taught basic knowledge on the Grimm and certain survival skills which would help any hunter/huntress before actually testing against them, such had taught him quite early on how to make quick weapons out of the most common things, such as basic shivs (also the early design for his throwing-knives named Shinji) and blunt weapons (stones attached to sticks). Ultimately, he passed on through the courses at about C to B+ grades, and soon graduated at age 17 like other students.

However, during his time at Signal, he was known to be quite awkward and not very talkative to others. Only few had actually gotten to know him, but most singled him out of most activities, causing him to feel lonely and depressed. The very few were also very interested in bladed weaponry and firearms, and had assisted in designing the most successful weapon to keep true to their interests; a Dust-powered firearm-operated katana, along with a fully operational semi-automatic firearm-wakizashi. This achievement soon landed some popularity for their little group, especially Kuro, and soon blinded him the most with this newly-found "pride". To gain even more popularity, he had invited people to a private demonstration of the abilities of both blades against actual Grimm in the forest of Forever Fall, although his friends had tried to prevent him from any injuries with warnings. But he had arrogantly and ignorantly persisted, a mistake he regretted as soon as it was made. He also soon learned with defeat that this new "pride" of his had blinded him completely and so he had lost his few friends, both of the forged blades, and almost his life, but instead had resulted in him gaining his infamous cheek scar. Over time, he had trained with a wakizashi, and designed and forged a new weapon, his gunblade Hareyakana.

Wishing to complete his training, he applied to Beacon Academy, in which he hopes to make more friends and acquire more knowledge and skill to battle the Grimm while secretly wanting to apologize to himself and hopeful not repeat the mistakes made from that faithful day.

Aura
Kuro's Aura is a shade of dark purple, unlocked by his father's Aura before training, although Kuro has not been taught much about Aura and its multiple abilities in battle. To him, Aura is just used for healing his injuries sustained during battle, very unaware of being able to use it both defensively and offensively. However, he had discovered around the age of 13 during one of his sparring battles with his father that he could use his Aura to add further power to his strikes. Although he did use this, he had overused it and usually ended up being defeated due to not being able to fight furthermore without gaining major injuries. And so, his father had taught him to only use Aura to strike when needed, even learning new ways of using his Aura in battle, and soon developed and altered certain techniques to allow this flow of power to be utilized properly. On the day of the incident, he had forgotten how to use the Aura for his strikes properly and attacked with full-force, allowing him to be injured after his Aura levels had dropped into red levels, and gaining the cheek scar in consequence of it. From then on out, he refused to use Aura in aid of his strikes, to lower his chances of ever running into that position once again.

Bushido (Samurai) style
One of the most developed, and favoured, skills learnt by his father, Kuro continues to use it in combat at the present time. He had also believed it to be the closest style to be used by his favoured heroes in the tales he had been told by his father during his early childhood. Although he does not hold the true mentalities of the Bushido concept (e.g. Samurai moral, honour, loyalty), he has acquired the skills over the course of about five years and advanced mostly in using a Daisho (a Katana and a Wakizashi) set, in a technique of Kenjutsu (meaning " the method, or technique, of the sword");  Nitōjutsu (translation: two swords method). With the training in using a Daisho set, he is able to dual-wield two blades at once, but usually favours wielding one blade due to his handedness. Much connected to the Crimson Phoenix master stance in the Five-to-One style, he has learned to use a secondary blade in his less-dominate hand for defense instead of using the other blade for offensive purposes, as in his opinion; "I really stink at holding two swords at once and trying to slash with both..."

Five-to-One
Taught to him by his father, who was one who continued to practice the arts of 5-2-1, Kuro was only able to learn the Staring Tiger and Lunging Serpent; techniques that would soon form his combat style to a more Samurai type of style. At about 9 years of age, he had then learnt Soaring Eagle with a very little percentage of successfully pulling it off. Multiple times during him and his father's sparring, he had troubles utilizing this technique, and even after acquiring it, he had troubles switching back and forth between the techniques. Finally, as soon as Kuro had turned 10, he had started practicing and mastering the technique of the Crimson Eagle, which allowed him to wield two blades at once, one for deflecting and the other for actual attacks. Due to his past experience of dual-wielding two blades, he had learnt Eagle easier than other techniques, but still had difficulties due to his inability to successfully use the deflecting blade for its purpose, and soon losing balance due to parrying the dual blade strikes before ultimately losing. 5-2-1 had also taught Kuro to be patient and study his enemy's tactics and techniques, sometimes even play around to study further to analysis for weak points. To this day, he uses these techniques as much as possible, although he is mostly in defensive stances during battle, and he will strike as he sees fit, otherwise he will wait for his opponent to strike first.

Old Weaponry
The following was Kuro's weaponry before the mishap of his pride.

High-Velocity Dust Compatible Katana Firearm – Shiranui

 * Kuro’s primary weapon of choice.
 * Although it is considered a firearm, it only holds the mechanics for a firearm but is not a firearm itself, as it retains the shape of a normal Katana. (e.g. Firearm Trigger on the handle)
 * Dust crystals are used as power to unlock the Shiranui’s true combat performance, in which are inserted through a hatch on the butt of the handle.
 * However, the compartment only has space for one crystal at time, and so the user must manually remove the default crystal (Yellow Dust crystal, used to easily pull Shiranui from its holster, when fired with its firearm mechanics, and complete a swift “Quickdraw slash” in less time than without the power-upgrade).
 * When it is not holstered, the user may use the trigger as the only way to activate the Dust power feature.
 * The holster is designed to aid the user in combat, where it allows the user to launch the blade from the holster and complete the “Quickdraw slash” maneuver, while also sharpening the blade with the building blade sharpeners.
 * The Shiranui’s blunt part of the blade features blade-breakers, which allows the user to counter any incoming attacks onto the Shiranui’s blade, and possibly destroy the opposing blade.
 * Completely around the blade of the Shiranui, transparent metal tubing (sharp around the blade, but normally blunt everywhere else) allows the user to acknowledge which kind of Dust crystal is in use, illuminating the blade and tubing.
 * Named Shiranui (or “Unknown Fire” in Japanese) by Kuro himself due to the fact that the blade’s ability to be launched from its holster, and surprise unsuspecting foes.

Semi-Automatic Wakizashi Firearm – Zanji

 * Kuro’s secondary weapon of choice.
 * This weapon is actually a firearm; however, it does stay true to its implication of a firearm, but more of hybrid, as it has the mechanics of a firearm while keeping the shape of a blade.
 * The hand guard also serves the receiver, which allows the bullets inside a magazine to be inserted into the firearm mechanism and fired out of the barrel.
 * At the end of the handle, the firearm barrel comes in with a built in compressor, which suppresses the muzzle flash of the exiting rounds, allowing the user to make follow-up shots.
 * The top of the hand guard and back of the handle features a built in iron sight, in which the user can use to aim and fire shots at a certain target with precision.
 * The holster can be used as a stock, to prevent the user from cutting themselves from firing the firearm.
 * On the front of the handle, an ergonomic grip is built in to allow the user to hold onto while firing the firearm and control the recoil.
 * Zanji comes from one of many tales of heroes that Kuro found to be quite awesome, in which Zanji (the main protagonist of this tale) had slaughtered multiple Beowolves with a sword that resembled a short wakizashi and saved his village.

+Short-Range Capable Projectile Knives – Shinji

 * Kuro’s support/back-up weapon of choice.
 * Although these knives are more useful in close-quarters combat, the user is able to use these blades as projectiles due to their hook shape, allowing it to gain momentum and pierce lowest to most moderate quality armors, in which it will rarely rip through the armor and hit the target but usually will just deflect offwards.
 * Thicker metal armors are quite hard for it to pierce, and so it can result in either deflecting back towards the user or somewhere else, or simply break the blades upon impact.
 * The knives were named Shinji by Kuro due to another tale of a hero he favored, in which a man named Shinji had taught his whole village how to defend themselves by training them with blades, small kitchen knives for example, to prevent any more Grimm attacks.

New Weaponry
Forged weapons after the little mishap of pride.



Fully-Automatic Wakizashi Sidearm - Hareyakana
+The Shinji are still in use by Kuro today, as they are easy to forge and quick to use.
 * Kuro's new primary weapon, and only weapon, of choice, and is usually carried in a pair for dual-wielding.
 * Originally designed to be a better replacement for Zanji, Kuro had favoured more of a short blade and easily accessable firearm, and so he chose to modify a 13 inch (33.02 centimetres) wakizashi and added in firearm parts and mechanics in.
 * The firearm, as implied by its titling, is a pistol/sidearm, and can fire up to 850 RPM (rounds per minute), while only carrying 20 bullets per magazine (and when 1 is in the chamber, making it a total of 21 bullets).
 * Unlike other sidearms, instead of the fire mode switch's ability that allows the user to switch between safety, full-automatic, and semi-automatic, it is replaced with a slightly altered version, in which changes modes between Firearm/Pistol mode and Blade mode (which is featured on both sides of the weapon).
 * The blade is intergrated with a barrel, however, the barrel is not utilized when the weapon is on its Blade mode. The barrel has almost an inch (2.54 centimetres) in diameter, and can reach up to middle range at about 50 metres (55 yards).
 * The cartiridge used for this weapon is a 9 millimetre, which can be fixed with different propellents (e.g. Red, Yellow, Cyan, White Dusts).
 * Much based off of Shiranui, the blade's blunt side features blade-breakers, to help prevent the blade from being broken from strikes to it (unless they are quite powerful strikes), which are also features as a railing for custom sights.
 * Like other firearms, the weapon comes with a magazine release button, which allows the user to reload the weapon without much hassle.
 * In addition, the handle of both the blade and the firearm was replaced with an ergonomic pistol grip, altered to connect to the firing mechanism and take in magazines.
 * Due to the gun mode have a high rate of fire and firing in fully-automatic mode, it is recommend that the user burst fires (pulls the trigger and quickly releasing it) to avoid the moderate to high recoil and to keep the rounds onto its designated target.
 * Hanayakana means "Radiant" in Japanese.

Trivia

 * ChungShi, the creator of this OC, had him planned for about 2 months, and most of the work shown here was revised from the original work. (All of which can be seen on his deviantART account.)
 * Originally, Shiranui and Zanji were his main weapons, but was revised and changed after wards due to the mainstream use of the katana, and so resulted Hareyakana (a name found with the help of Advancedpwng).
 * Kuro Takeshi translates to "Black Warrior" in English, as Kuro means "Black" or "Nineth son" while Takeshi can represent "Warrior" or "Fierce" in Japanese.
 * Five-to-One is not owned by Chung, but was allowed to be used with the original creator's permission.