Kaito Hisakawa

"If you're gonna make the jump, then I'll be there to launch you forward."

- Kaito

Kaito Hisakawa is a 2nd year student of Beacon Academy and the leader of team KZNT. Known as the "Boy of Great Harmony" due to his skill with the erhu and as the "Dark Dragon" due to his appearance when using his semblance and fierce fighting style.

Appearance
Kaito has messy, short black hair with bangs, sharp blue eyes, and a light complexion. He dons a blue yukata with white wave patterns at the bottom and at the end of his sleeves. The right sleeve is rolled up to his elbow. His emblem is on the back of his yukata. He wears a red obi belt with dark purple pants and knee-high boots.

Personality
Kaito is a mischevious and lazy person, always preferring to stay home than do work. He was the slowpoke of the group, always being the one who comes in last without the care in the world. He cherishes company and the people around him. He loves to make inappropriate jokes and deadpan statements. He'd never discriminate and very accepting of other people, no matter their appearance, age, race, or past. He welcomed them with open arms. Despite being lazy, Kaito is highly dedicated to helping anyone in need to the best of his abilities.

Kaito has a love for sweets and the music gifted from his father. Due to his mischevious nature, Kaito was known to be a sadist. He didn't mind seeing his friends being mistreat in various extreme ways and his tendencies to quit easily can lead to someone's punishment or worse. However, he somehow manages to take control of the situation and enjoys it. Kaito also has a difficulty expressing his true emotions, often disguising it under a cold, outer layer. This would advertently pushing people away despite having good intentions for them. He is willing to risk his life for anyone and extremely caring towards his friends, willing to defeat or kill anyone to protect them. He's willing to jump in head first without considering the consequences to help someone out, even it's the smallest wish.

Despite all of this, Kaito possesses immense amount of charisma. When needed, he can impart words of wisdom and make people feel much more alive even with his inappropriate jokes and deadpan statements. This has given him many loyal allies, friends, and even former enemies.

Nurarihyon
Kaito's weapon is a full length blunt katana called Nuraihyon due to its average appearance but destructive properties. The katana's "tsuba" or guard is decorated with a dragon motif. The eye of the dragon holds a gravity dust crystal. With the use of aura, Kaito can decrease the mass of the blade, allowing for quicker strikes.

At the end of the scabbard conceals a tanto which is used as a secondary weapon or a throwing weapon. It can also transform into a nodachi. By placing into the sheath, the sheath folds inwards on one side, creating a longer and stronger blade. The tanto can still be removed.

However, the gravity dust crystal's properties can only be activated through Kaito's aura. So if he loses the sword during combat, he would be unable to use the crystal's properties and nodachi form.

Strengths & Abilities
Kaito was known as the "Dark Dragon" due to his and fierce swordplay. He is capable of turning the tide in battle. He is capable of killing a person and isn't afraid to do so if push becomes a shove. His biggest weakness is his rage. In the end, he is only a berserker who aims to defeat or kill his enemies. This leads to opponents who are equal or stronger than him to defeat him or hold him off.

Enchanced Strength and Agility: Kaito is fairly strong despite how he appears as he could wield his Toyotama one-handed with ease. He also very nimble and his reflexes are great enough to dodge, deflect, or sometimes, throw back projectiles. He focuses his aura on these two traits, enhancing his natural strength and speed.

Tremendous Endurance: One of his defining traits is his tremendous physical endurance. In a fight, Kaito fights without consideration of his life, most of the time, allowing him to fight without limits. It's also a testament to how little he values his own life. Due to his own semblance, he developed an high pain tolerance, allowing him to extending the duration of a fight.

Master Swordsmanship Specialist: His swordsmanship is rough but far from unrefined. He wields his sword one-handed with fair wide but quick chops. His swordsmanship isn't taught but developed by Kaito himself.

Expert Hand-to-Hand Combatant: He regularly uses punches or kicks with his sword. When disarmed, Kaito isn't afraid to use his fists in combat. Even though the final blow to an opponent comes from his sword, his consistent damage comes from his kicks to the chest.

Combat Intuition: He is capable of developing adaptive strategies during a fight, often in seconds, to gain an advantage over an opponent. Knows exactly where to land his hits on a opponent.

Charisma and Leadership Skills: He is a very charismatic leader. He may not look or act like it, but his ability to attract others gained allies and friends by both his words and actions.

Weapon Expertise: Though he mainly prefers to make use of his swordsmanship, he is also well-versed in other kinds of weapons from melee to ranged. He can incorporate the use of almost anything he finds in a fight, frequently catching his opponents off guard by using his surroundings.

Besides combat, Kaito is capable of playing an erhu, a two stringed instrument, to a great degree which earned his nickname "Boy of Great Harmony". He is also an excellent cook as his teacher can't cook himself.

Semblance: Storm's Embrace
Kaito's semblance, Storm's Embrace, steals the strength and capacity of movement of others while gaining more strength and speed.

It weakens the target by robbing their physical strength and movement through physical contact. In order to "steal", his aura has to be in contact with another person's aura. For example, it cannot steal another person's strength if it clashes with an offensive or defensive weapon. Kaito must physically touch an opponent's body with his sword or hands. This gives him an advantage in melee fights. His aura also gains a shimmering of some kind flowing through his aura, giving it an appearance simliar to rippling water.

There are weaknesses to this semblance. There's a limit to how much he can rob a person's strength, in order to not damage his own body. His sense of pain increases to the amount of physical strength he gains. For example, a light attack that does a minor damage will feel like it would do moderate damage. He has to use his own aura to steal, which weakens his defensive properties of his aura, making his aura reserves to deplete faster if he gets hit. It only affects physical strength and movement as it doesn't absorb another person's aura. This gives him an disadvantage as those who can use ranged can counter his semblance.

Background
Located in Mistral, Kaito was born in the hidden city of Sakiko. The only child to two loving parents, an architect and an musician. Lived in lower class of the city, his parents owned a music shop which was designed and built by his mother. His father did music classes for the locals, teaching kids to play music. During his childhood, his father would teach him to play the erhu and his mother would teach the basics of architecture. As a gift for his birthday, his father gave him his own erhu to play. Kaito was very delighted and quickly learned to play it.

At the age of nine, his father was wrongfully arrested and was punished by death by the corrupt Karasu Clan. The Kami govern Sakiko and other settlements who followed the old traditions of Mantle before and during the Great War. This included the mistreatment of the lower class, use of slavery, and their insistence that their way of life is better. Those who oppose or potential to oppose were arrested or executed. Amongst the people who opposed was his parents. Despite being angry, Kaito chose to endure the pain given to him by the Karasu. After the lost of his father, his mother was forced to serve under the Karasu Clan. Before being taken away, his mother told him to run away and never to come back, knowing that she would lose her only child would also be taken away. The music shop closed and he left Sakiko along with his father's erhu.

For the next two years, Kaito wandered across Anima, playing his erhu to the ears of Mistral. He was given the nickname "Boy of Great Harmony", for his music brought harmony between the lower and upper class. However, he was lost and filled with grief. His music helped others but it didn't helped himself. As he was passing through a settlement, he encounters Shouyou Kichiro, who heard rumors of a boy who brought harmony. Taking a liking to the child, Shouyou asked him to come with him. Kaito became Shouyou's second student of his newly opened school, where he learned basic swordmanship and academic skills. Shouyou's goal was to teach students to become the person they ideally want to be while struggling against themselves to find that. The first student was a passionate, energetic girl called Ume Kobayashi. The two became very close and stick together. Kaito and Ume would spar everyday after finishing their lesson, honing their swordplay. After gathering many students, whom were poor, it attracted the attention and scrutiny of the upper class. It also gained the attention of a military academic student, Galathe Xanthe, who later joined the school.

One day, the Karasu Clan came to arrest Shouyou as he opposed as a potential risk. Despite the student's best efforts to stop them, the Karasu arrested Shoyou and burned their school. At the age of sixteen, Kaito along with Ume, Galanthe, and other fellow students decided to fight against the Karasu. During the battles that ensued, Kaito earned another nickname "Dark Dragon" known for his fierce fighting style and his semblance. After a year of fighting, they were to able to beat the Karasu Clan and saved their teacher. After the conflict, Kaito decided to return to Sakiko along with Ume and Shouyou. Galathe along with his fellow students created the mercenary group, Night Parade. The Karasu Clan fell out of power and the Yamada Clan took over, reverting Sakiko and other settlements under their jurisdiction back to their artistic roots. Kaito would later reunite with his mother and helped opened up his father's music shop again. Shouyou would also open up a new school in Sakiko. Together with Ume and his mother, they helped manage the music shop.

After a year, Kaito ended up meeting Ozpin in the music store, who heard of a black snake who ate the crows. Ozpin asked him if he wanted to go to Beacon. At first, he was reluctant as he didn't feel like moving to another place, especially when it's across the ocean. Ume and Shouyou convinced him to go, that someone of his caliber would be wasted in Mistral. Later, he would go to Beacon Academy and became leader of KYNT. With his newly formed team, they completed multiple missions and became well known during their first year.

Post - Fall of Beacon
Kaito and his team defended the residential district of Vale during the Grimm breach. After the conflict subsided, they stayed in Vale and helped establish a Huntsmen Base. Kaito left Vale to return to his hometown in Mistral to help his family business. However, his team secretly followed him back.

Team KYNT:
Yorgos Helmuth: One of Kaito's teammates. Kaito gets along with Yorgos as both came from lower class families. He respects Yorgos' and both have complete trust with each other and are close friends. He believes in Yorgos' strength and gets angry if anyone insults him.

Nina Hai: Kaito and Nina share many of the same ideals. Both want to protect the people they love and willing to sacrifice their lives for them. They are also like oil and water as they tend to argue or making snide comments about each other. This results in frequently clashing as rivals. She would yell at him for being lazy and unproductive. Despite this, Kaito still cares for her and respects her fiery determination and never-give-up attitude. Nina does care for him and willing to step up to protect her leader.

Tuuli Vibeke: Kaito and Tuuli are close friends. He often sees her as an annoyance but isn't bothered by it. Kaito believes that Tuuli is strong but her head is empty. He is one of the few people who never mistreated her. Tuuli is more playful and energetic when he's around. She highly respects her leader's words and is willing to follow those actions given to her.

Others:
Ayane Hisakawa: His mother and another important person in his life. She gave up her life as a huntress to become an architect and an mother. She let her son escape on his own because she was worried about his safety and believed in him that he can overcome anything.

Shouyou Kichiro: His mentor was one of most important people in his life. After the death of his father, he was another father-figure in his life. Shouyou saved Kaito from his endless and rough journey. He highly respects him to the extend where he would get furious if anyone dirties the name of being a master. During his days as his student, he learned how to cook as his teacher's cooking was unsafe.

Ume Kobayashi: Kaito has been with her since the day he met Shouyou. Together along with Galanthe, fought against the Karasu Clan. Often viewed as his girlfriend on multiple occasions, Ume supports him whenever she can as she understands his feelings. She would scold him for being reckless however, she doesn't stop him from doing what he desires.

Galanthe Xanthes: Both were disciples of the same teacher and fought in their war against the Karasu. Even after separating to make his own mercenary group, they attain a close friendship with each other. Galanthe would like to challenge Kaito on his free time, as a sign of respect towards his close friend. Kaito finds this annoying as it gets in the way of his own work.

Trivia

 * In Japanese 久 (hisa) meaning "long time ago" and 川 (kawa) meaning "river, stream".
 * In Japanese 海 (kai) meaning "sea, ocean" combined with 斗 (to), which refers to a Chinese constellation, or 翔 (to) meaning "soar, fly."
 * Kaito is modeled after Gintoki Sakata from Gintama, Nicolas Brown from Gangsta, and Hak from Yona of the Dawn.
 * His sword name refers to the Nurarihyon, a yokai in Japanese Mythology. Nurarihyon resembled an benign old man. However, Nurarihyon is the most powerful yokai. He was also known to lead the "Night Parade of One Hundred Demons" as their supreme commander.