Kuro Kusanagi

(Fan-character concept work in progress.)

Appearance
Kuro Kusanagi is a young man of reptilian faunus heritage. Incidentally, some of his most noticeable features are his long, scaly tail, his narrow, snake-like, orange-colored eyes and his sharp incisors that are visible whenever he speaks. He has an average build and height. His hair is fairly long, reaching just below his collar in the back of his head. It is slightly spikey near the top of his head but gradually straightens out at the bottom. His hair completely covers his left side of his face and the left frame of his glasses in the front. He wears two golden, egg-shaped earrings.

His standard battle attire consists of a shogun-esque aesthetic, donning shoulder plates and an arm bracer on his right arm and protective waist plates in addition to a black hakama. Under his large quiver of spears, he wears a multi-layered jacket with long collars almost completely covering his neck. His left arm lacks armor and instead, he wears a traditional decorative veil over his jacket sleeve that signifies his royal lineage as a member of his clan. He wears black gloves on both hands, and tabi sandals that are armor-plated in the front and back, giving them a greave-like appearance.

When wearing the standard Beacon uniform, he still wears the veil over his left arm. On his right arm, like all members of the Beacon Academy Disciplinary Committee, he wears an armband with the Beacon Academy logo on it.


 * Concept art will be added later.

Personality
Prior to his enrollment at Beacon, Kuro was raised to become his clan's ninth-generation leader. As such, he acts in a very calm, focused, composed, and elegant manner even during battles or dire situations. He rarely shows much emotion or empathy towards others, even his teammates at times. He also has difficulty interpreting other's emotions, leading others to think to think he is heartless at times. He prefers to maintain mostly formal relationships with others, usually addressing them by their last names or by known titles. He tends to address his teammates by their first names.

As the leader of the designated Beacon Academy Disciplinary Committee team, he adamantly believes in protecting the law and removing whatever he feels is a threat to it. He believes that the actions he performs as a leader are in the name of justice. His mentality can be likened to that of a detective: deductive and logical. He is very analytical in judging others, and making decisions in certain situations, and will usually act towards others in accordance to what he deems as just. If he feels someone is a threat to the law he will act hostile towards them, but if not, he will usually act indifferent towards them.

Regardless of his past, he is still partly attached to his clan and the idea of being able to lead it. Because of this, he feels obligated to represent himself and his clan in the best way possible. Because he refuses to talk about his past, others do not know that he was exiled from his own clan.

Whenever something causes him to reminisce about his previous life as royalty, he become excited at the thought of killing his brother. He thinks of it committing the ultimate justice for stealing his personal connection with the clan.

On a side note, he has a habit of cleaning off and readjusting his glasses.

Team Relationships
Argent Acherbus - He is Kuro's partner, the first student he came into contact with during initiation. He and Kuro are on mostly good terms, and he is the one Kuro trusts the most. Kuro feels that he can be aggrivatingly overly-exuberant at times, which he feels is unbecoming of a member of a team in their line of work. However, he feels that he is a very competent ally to have in battle and can be serious enough at the appropriate time.

Gylfie Wolfbane - Kuro is mostly on good terms with her, and feels she is a valueable ally to the team. However, he suspects that, while she can be well-focused when it comes to helping uncover suspects, she is hiding something about her motives. Because of this, he does not trust her as much as the other members.

Elvira Nightshade - Kuro's relationship with her is somewhat shaky. He feels she can be slightly aggitating as she does not seem very invested or focused in the activities of the Committee and more focused on sports. However, Kuro acknowledges her as a very strong fighter and a powerful ally to have in battle whenever they are tasked with bringing down powerful enemies.

History
The Kusanagi Clan was founded and led by a snake faunus, commonly referred to by the clan's members as "the Orochi". Since snake faunii were a rarity in the world of Remnant, they considered themselves "pure" and superior to other faunii. They eventually secluded themselves in an isolated part of Remnant where they could grow and prosper. After the eventual passing of the Orochi, a new leader was elected from one of his children. Subsequent elections were determined a different way. When the Orochi was elected and had children, he would choose an heir which he believed had the most potential to lead it.

The eighth Orochi, Takeru Kusanagi would chose one of his two children: Kuro Kusanagi.

The principles of Orochi were passed down from generation to generation and generally reflected the skills that the first Orochi himself had. Kuro and his brother Kojiki underwent intensive training from age 9 to 15 in martial arts, were educated in the clan's ideologies and were taught the way the populace should be led. Despite being relatively inept in his martial arts training, Kuro showed a high level of curiosity and intelligence for his age, able to pick up on the teachings quickly. Kojiki was extremely childish compared to Kuro and wanted to become Orochi in order to satisfy his personal desires with absolute power. He believed that he should get the title of Orochi unconditionally and that he was overall, better than his brother in every aspect. He despised Kuro and showed his disapproval of him by disparaging him at every opportunity. Kuro was initially timid due to his brother's treatment, but after several years eventually grew to ignore and feel nothing toward him. Their parents also spent very little time with them due to their duties. Despite the neglect he received from his family, the populace always showered Kuro with kindness and admiration. He was rarely given the opportunity to step outside the royal dwelling and so he was always taken aback by the change in atmosphere around him whenever he did. Growing up, Kuro had not understood why the clan's villagers had received him in this way, but it made him feel content. His greatest desire eventually was to become Orochi in order to lead and protect the clan, and to repay their kindness.

When both siblings came of age, a private royal ceremony was held, and Takeru Kusanagi made the decision: when he passed, Kuro would become the ninth Orochi. His queen, and the siblings' mother, Hibana Kusanagi bestowed upon Kuro the sacred relic belonging to the first Orochi that was passed on for eight generations: the Tsurugi blade. This symbol would properly signify him as a true leader of the Kusanagi. Kojiki was dumbfounded, distraught, and outraged. He could not comprehend how Kuro possibly could have received his parent's blessing in his stead. However, he refused to lose the title to Kuro, and thus planned for his permanent removal. Before his brother had noticed, Kojiki would find out how to break into the secret treasury, kill his own parents and then impale Takeru with the relic. When Kuro went to see his parents and recieve the official royal blessing, he was immediately detained by guards. Kojiki told them that he found his parents' bloodied corpses in the throne room and since only Kuro knew how to reach the treasury only he could have used the sword.

Kuro was sentenced to immediate execution, thereafter. The villagers, having heard this, were dumbfounded as to how Kuro could have done such a thing. They were now hostile towards him as he was led to and tied to a pillar in an open grass field outside the village.

Executions of members of the Kusanagi Clan consisted of cutting off the tail, then burning the body alive using gas and fire arrows. The clan members, Kojiki included, had gathered to watch Kuro's execution. Just when the royal executioner was about to dismember Kuro's tail, a horde of Grimm arrived and attacked the villagers. A fight ensued between the royal guard and the horde. At some point during the skirmish, an Ursa Major was knocked into the pillar, completely destroying it. Taken aback both by his predicament and his luck, he ran as far as he possibly could from the village.

* * *

Distraught, Kuro wandered Remnant in an attempt to find a food, shelter, a new purpose, any of those would have been fine. However after a few days having found nothing, collapsed of exhaustion and hunger. Just when he had lost his will to live and survive, a nomadic hunter found him while he was unconscious. When Kuro had awoken, he found himself inside the tent belonging to the hunter. After he offered Kuro some food, he noticed that he was dressed in strange clothes he had not seen before. When inquired about his reasons for why he was wandering by himself, Kuro was despondent. The hunter then assumed that it would have been better not to know the answer to those questions, and assumed that he had no knowledge of how to survive by himself. The hunter offered to teach Kuro how to hunt, craft tools, and fend for himself in the wild. Kuro had not known why the hunter helped him, but he agreed to his offer.

The next few days, Kuro would accompany the hunter on his travels and train in the ways of using the spear to fight and hunt creatures in the forest, which he picked up on extremely fast. The hunter was surprised as to how fast and efficient he was at learning these skills, and commended him for it. When it was time for them to part ways, Kuro personally thanked the hunter and promised to repay him somehow if they crossed paths again.

When Kuro had resumed his travels, he was determined to learn as much as he could about the outside world and become as strong as he could so that he could someday exact revenge on his brother for his usurping the throne that he had earned.

During his travels, which lasted almost a full year, he encountered, observed, and fought against many creatures of Grimm learning their behavioral patterns and natural habitats. In addition to Grimm and animals, he also learned more about the role of humans and faunus and how many faunii were subjected to prejudice by humans. Because of his upbringing on his clan's social ideologies, he assumed that humans were exercising their jealousy towards the faunii's superiority. In addition to learning about other villages, towns, and cities in Remnant, he also came across events held that allowed him to test his strength. Kuro entered in as many tournaments, as an anonymous fighter, he possibly could while passing through the many regions of Remnant in order to improve his strength and learn as much about fighting styles as possible. While his knowledge was limited to his clan's hand-to-hand fighting style, and the spear, he initially placed very low in these tournaments. However, over time, he began placing higher, and higher due to his growing fighting experience, endurance, reflexes, knowledge, and aura. He eventually began placing first in many of them.

* * *

One day, almost a year from when he began his travels, Kuro discovered Vytal. While walking through, he discovered a faunus child surrounded by a gang of humans. It appeared that the gang leader was infuriated that the child had spilled a drink on his jacket. Kuro decided he could not let him that become subject to wrongful judgement as he had while he was a member of the clan. He threatened the gang to leave the child alone immediately. The child ran while the gang was distracted. The gang leader, predictably scoffed at Kuro's threat and ordered his members to attack him. Kuro proceeded to dispatch the entire gang with virtually no trouble. The leader, frightened, turned and ran.

A professor at Beacon Academy arrived in time to see Kuro's fight with the gang and offered him a place in the honors program. Kuro was unsure of whether or not to trust him, and so the professor told him to find him at the same place and time they met when he made a decision.

Kuro thought about the offer the professor gave him. If Beacon Academy was really the organization the professor had made it out to be, he would be able to improve his skills more efficiently and effectively. He could possibly become strong enough to return to his clan and save them from his brother's inevitable tyranny. He had nothing to lose at this point by looking into this academy. The next day, Kuro returned to the location where he saved the child and found the professor.

Kuro having found a new purpose, accepted the offer.

Kuro and his partners Argent Acherbus, Gylfie Wolfbane, and Elvira Nightshade had been the first to arrived at the altar and retrieve a relic during initiation. Kuro had encountered the monsters they found in the forest before. Relaying his knowledge to his team, they were able to exploit the monsters' weaknesses and advance through the forest quickly.

Professor Ozpin, recognizing Kuro as both knowledgeable and strong, assigned him as his team's leader. Being one of the strongest teams of that year, Team KAGE was offered the opportunity to become the Beacon Academy Disciplinary Committee. This designation was only offered to the strongest teams at Beacon Academy and was given the responsibility of protecting the law within the school, going on the some of the highest rated missions, and punishing any traitors to the school.

Kuro seeing this as the opportunity to become a true harbinger of justice and to ensure that people like his brother were punished and purified from this world, accepted.

( When RWBY starts Kuro's team has existed for three years, completed many missions and condemned many villains. )

Abilites & Powers
Weapon: Akusatsugai-sha (Cross-Ranged Dust Halberd)

Akusatsugai-sha is Kuro Kusanagi's weapon of choice. It has two primary forms for battle: a "halberd" form and an "explosive crossbow" form.

Akusatsugai-sha resembles a crossbow with two long axe blades on each side as its limbs. Gears embedded in the sides of the barrel rotate, extend, retract, and compress the blades for its various forms. The barrel has a dark green finish and the handle a black finish. The handle has an extension inside of it before it curves downward, that extends whenever the weapon's halberd mode activates, allowing the wielder to hold it like a polearm weapon. A switch under the handle's trigger, when fully inserted into the base of the handle, releases the handle extension for its halberd mode and vice-versa for its crossbow mode.

The weapon's ammunition is unique, as it can also be used for melee combat. Akusatsugai-sha takes large, spear-like bolts that can be loaded inside of the weapon's barrel. The blades at the tip of the bolts resemble that of a Japanese yari spear and come infused with two types of dust: fire or wind. The spear-bolts are locked in the weapons barrel and do not release unless fired or removed manually: this allows the wielder to use the spear blades as a thrusting weapon.

The dust used inside of the bolts do not explode unless a significant amount of inertia is applied. When a dust-infused bolt is fired, while Akusatsugai-sha is in crossbow mode, it increases velocity until it hits an object. The size and effectiveness of the explosion that occurs when the bolt hits depends on the distance it travels and the velocity it gains. Because of this Akusatsugai-sha's firing mode is best utilized at long distances.

In halberd mode, the weapon can be swung in an axe like fashion. the blades on the outside of the barrel are durable and sharp able to inflict high damage if a lot of power is applied. If a spear is loaded, it can be used as a both a thrusting and swinging weapon.

* Sheathed Form:

In its inactive form, Akusatsugai-sha's blades are compressed together and retracted towards the barrel. The handle extension is also completely withdrawn. It is able to take this form regardless of whether or not an "bolt" is loaded.

* Halberd Form:

Akusatsugai-sha's main form for melee combat. When the weapon transforms from its sheathed form into this form, the blades on both sides of the barrel are separated and extended about a foot from it. The handle of the weapon extends fully allowing Kuro to wield it with both hands. It is able to take this form regardless of whether or not an "bolt" is loaded.

* Explosive Crossbow Form:

Akusatasugai-sha's main form for ranged combat. When the weapon takes this transformation, the blades on both sides are rotated outwards and the metal strings are stretched out from the primer in the center. If transforming from its halberd form, the handle extension is retracted. It can only take this form if a "bolt" is loaded.


 * Weapon concept art will be added later.

Innate:

* Physical: Kuro possessed poor physical ability when he was young. After wandering, his physical capabilities improved. He has average speed, strength and offense.

His strengths in battle come from his vast knowledge on fighting styles and basic fighting experience. He possesses great reflexes and can dodge, deflect, and counter enemy attacks efficiently.

His clan's fighting style can be likened to martial arts such as Aikido or Judo, when involve mainly grappling moves. In addition to human body parts, it also incorporates usage of the tail. Kuro can use his tail as sort of a fifth limb: he can strike enemies behind him and pick up very light objects with it. His semblance allows him to compensate for his comparatively low physical strength with others of his fighting skill.

* Aura:

Kuro's aura while he was wandering was small and had a light green color. However, over time his aura grew significantly and is now dark green with a white outer ring.

* Semblance: "Shell" 

Kuro's semblance developed while he was wandering. Kuro's semblance gives his skin the properties of a reptile's skin. His skin absorbs heat and dissipates sweat faster than others of his fighting ability, allowing him to fight for longer periods of time. Because of this, he can also swing his relatively heavy weapon without tiring too quickly.

Images










Trivia

 * The name, "Kuro Kusanagi", is completely derived from Japanese origin. His first name, "Kuro" is derived from the Japanese characters meaning "nine"(ku-)and "son"(-ro). This name was given to him because he was supposed to be the ninth heir of the clan's leadership. His last name, "Kusanagi" is inspired by the Japanese folktale of Kusanagi-no-Tsurugi in which an eight-headed serpent called the Yamata-no-Orochi is slain by the god, Susano'o. "Kuro" can also mean, "dark" (in this case dark green) or "black".
 * Kuro's character is loosely based upon Yamato Takeru and the Yamata-no-Orochi. His backstory contains some parallels with Yamato Takeru and his heritage gives him the appearance of a serpent. The pieces of cloth on the veil on his left arm represent the eight heads of Yamata-no-Orochi.
 * His weapon's name, "Akusatsugai-sha", roughly translates to "evil slayer".
 * Kuro's symbol is a balance, behind a snake bitting its own tail. The balance represents his dedication to the law while the snake represents his faunus heritage. The snake bitting its own tail has a different meaning from its conventional meaning: It looks like the number "eight" to represent the eight heads of Yamata-no-Orochi, as well as the eight Kusanagi clan heads before him.