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□ Name: Chizuru Yukimura
□ Journal:![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
deasil
□ Series: Hakuouki
□ Canon point: The very end of the Kazama/"You didn't end up with any specific Shinsengumi member so everyone died" route.
□ History: Many years before the start of the series, the Yukimura family was a prominent demon family in eastern Japan. But humans suck, so they slaughtered them all, except for the twin children of the head of the family and a few lesser demons of the branch family. One of the twins was sent to live with the Nagumo clan; the other was given to Kodo Yukimura to raise in Edo.
In 1864, Chizuru Yukimura left Edo to search for Kodo, who she believed to be her father and who raised her to believe that she was a human with an inexplicably fast capability to heal from wounds, in Kyoto. He had left long before to conduct work for the Shogunate; however, they fell out of contact and she made the journey alone, dressed as a boy, with the intention of meeting up wit his friend Ryojun Matsumoto to help her find him. Even the best-laid plans tend to fall through, though, and rather than immediately finding her father she got mugged because some ronin wanted to steal her sword. She ran away only for her attackers to be viciously killed by bloodsucking, man-shaped monsters, who were in turn killed by members of the Shinsengumi, who in turn captured her and took her back to their headquarters to interrogate her and find out what she had witnessed.
The next morning, she met with the captains of the Shinsengumi to discuss her fate. During the course of the discussion it came out that not only was her Kodo working for them, he's missing; it also came out that she was, in fact, a girl (and the way it came out impressed Heisuke Toudou), and that she was the "daughter" of the very person they're looking for. Luckily for Chizuru, they decided to keep her alive to help search for her father, on the condition that she continue to live as a boy to keep the rank-and-file soldiers from being distracted. She was also made to be the page of Toshizo Hijikata, the Shinsegumi's vice-commander. Which, all in all, translated to her being told to stay in her room all the time. She did occasionally spend time with some of the captains, but nothing incredibly noteworthy happened until dinner one night when Toudou nearly let one of the Shinsegumi's big secrets slip, and then a little later Hijikata allowed her to join the captains on their patrols for the first time six months after her arrival.
The next "big thing" Chizuru experienced was the Ikedaya affair in July. Though in this series of events she did not accompany Kondou and the others directly to the Ikedaya, she was at the Shinsegumi compound when the information that the location Hijikata's group was investigating wasn't the proper location came in, and left the compound to deliver the message to him so he could get Kondou some backup. In this way, she managed to avoid encountering either Kazama or Amagiri at the Ikedaya, and witnessed Hijikata single-handedly keeping Aizu officials from stealing the Shinsengumi's glory.
Later, while out on patrol with Sanosuke Harada and Shinpachi Nagakura, Chizuru decided she wanted to come with them on their next mission; this wish came true when they received orders from Aizu to help curbstomp some Choshu loyalists who were causing trouble in Kyoto. Unfortunately, when they arrive, they were told by the official to go to the Kujo riverside to wait there as backup; the official at the Kujo riverside told them they hadn't received any orders to let them stay, and some back-and-forth arguing led to the Shinsengumi being allowed to stay at the riverside as backup. The next morning there was gunfire and Hijikata, being Hijikata, bitched the official out when they were told to wait for orders instead of immediately going to assist the soldiers at the Imperial estate. He then led the Shinsengumi there and found that oops, yeah, the Imperial estate had sort of been trashed. From there the Shinsengumi split into three groups and Chizuru accompanied Hijikata to Mount Ten'nou in pursuit of the Choshu troops that were fleeing, and Chikage Kazama, a demon, interfered just long enough for the Choshu troops to commit honorable suicide before Hijikata could catch them.
It was back to business as usual for the Shinsengumi until the arrival of Kashitaro Itou, who employed his biting wit to be rude to Keisuke Sannan, a longtime member of the group with an injured arm. Itou's taunting of Sannan caused Sannan to make the incredibly poor life decision to drink the ochimizu, a substance that transforms a man into the bloodthirsty monsters Chizuru encountered a full year before. This had the fortunate effect of healing his arm, but the unfortunate side-effect of making him attempt to kill Chizuru, who stumbled upon him as he was doing it. It also came out that Chizuru's "father," Kodo, was the one who had developed the ochimizu, on the Shogunate's orders. The ochimizu, while having uncanny regenerative properties and making the drinker unnaturally strong, also imbued them with an irresistible bloodlust that made them go crazy. Sannan, thankfully, did not immediately go mad! But because he was now incredibly weak during daylight hours and could go crazy at a moment's notice, it was announced to everyone that he died.
As everyone adjusted to the change, business continued as usual. One day when on patrol with Okita and Toudou, Chizuru encountered a young woman who was being harassed by some men on the street. She, Okita, and Toudou intervened, and Okita noticed that Chizuru and the young woman they rescued look eerily similar to one another. Toudou didn't agree, but the woman introduced herself as Kaoru before leaving, and Chizuru was left to be puzzled about it for a long while after.
The Shinsengumi was later asked to be part of the guard for Iemochi Tokugawa, and Chizuru accompanied them to the castle to serve as a guard. While there, she encountered Kazama and his two cronies, Kyuju Amagiri and Kyo Shiranui, who informed her of two things: One, she was a demon, and two, they would be taking her with them. The Shinsegumi intervened and she was safely conducted back to the compound by Susumu Yamazaki, where she stays with Toudou until it's safe for her to come back.
The Shinsengumi received a visit from Chizuru's father's friend, Matsumoto, not too long later; after he conducted a medical examination of the troops, he spoke to Chizuru about her father, the ochimizu, and the rasetsu - the name for what people become after drinking the ochimizu. After instructing them to clean, Matsumoto left to speak with Okita, and Chizuru overheard that he has been disagnosed with tuberculosis. Not too long after that, they got the news that Shogun Iemochi died, and Chizuru and Saitou rescued another wayward young woman while on patrol. This time the young woman was named Sen, who said she didn't actually need the help but thanked Chizuru anyway and then said she knew Chizuru was a girl before leaving abruptly.
Further drama continued in Kyoto as people started vandalizing a notice board that had denounced the Choshu as traitorous; Harada and others from the Shinsengumi were dispatched to deal with it. One night after they were celebrating their victory, Sannan, consumed with fascination by the ochimizu and the new rasetsu they had managed to create with it, began harrassing Chizuru. He was interrupted by some of the other captains from the Shinsengumi, and Toudou mentioned that someone who looked like Chizuru had impeded the Shinsengumi's efforts to apprehend the notice board vandals.
Later that winter, while on patrol, they encountered Kaoru again; Chizuru confronted her and asked if she had been the one to do it, and Kaoru answered coyly that she did occasionally go to that bridge, which was basically Kaoru-speak for "I sure did, what are you going to do about it?"
Also that winter, a rasetsu broke into Chizuru's room and attacked her. A group of Shinsengumi captains saved her life, but after the rasetsu was killed Itou stumbled onto the scene, which was basically terrible for everyone involved. Sannan blew his cover by arriving after Itou and then drinking Chizuru's blood, which triggered Itou splitting off into his own group, the Guardians of the Imperial Tomb, and taking Toudou and Saitou with him, much to Chizuru's disappointment.
Later that night Chizuru received a visit from Sen and her companion Kimigiku, who came to take Chizuru away. Sen was a demon princess who was well aware of Kazama's intentions toward Chizuru, and didn't believe that the Shinsengumi was capable of protecting her - Kazama being the head of a prominent demon family and Chizuru being the sole surviving member of the Yukimura family, he was hell-bent on making her his bride and having her bear his child to produce an even more powerful demon, even if it meant slaughtering anyone in his way. Sen spoke to Chizuru privately, and Chizuru said she wanted to stay. Sen left...
...which would have been all well and good if not for the fact that Kazama attacked even later that night. Despite being told to do otherwise, Chizuru left her room to go see what was happening and ended up getting grabbed by Kazama, only for the Shinsengumi to fight to free her. Kazama retreated after the humans proved capable of holding their own for a short time and vowed that he would be returning. Unfortunately for the Shinsengumi, the monks housing them didn't take too kindly to a demon deathmatch on their property, so they were relocated to another property for their headquarters after two years at the Nishi Honganji temple.
More than six months after Itou split away from the group, the Shinsengumi received word that Ryoma Sakamoto was assassinated and that someone was spreading a rumor that Harada had done the killing. That "someone" would be Itou and his Guardians, a fact which was brought to the Shinsengumi by none other than Saitou... who had only joined Itou as a spy. Saitou also brought the information that Itou was out to have Kondou assassinated, and Hijikata immediately decided that it was time for Itou to die.
The problem with this was that Toudou was still with Itou's group, and that he hadn't been planted as a spy. Chizuru worried, but wasn't sure if she would be able to get him back safely; trusting Harada and Nagakura to bring him back alive, she chose to stay behind during this operation to keep an eye on Okita, who was still sick. Unfortunately, there was yet another attack by demons, and in the chaos Okita and Chizuru were approached by a young man named Kaoru... yeah. Same Kaoru as the woman they met on the street. It turned out that Kaoru was actually Kaoru Nagumo, the Yukimura twin who was sent to live with a different clan... he was also Chizuru's twin brother. He wasn't interested in seeing Chizuru become a "demonic broodmare" for Kazama and so he wanted Okita to become a rasetsu in order to protect her, and also told him that it would cure his tuberculosis. When a rasetsu broke into the room and attacked Okita took the ochimizu, killed the rasetsu, and was then informed that the ochimizu wouldn't actually cure him, and that Kaoru didn't actually care about Chizuru's safety but he had been so miserable with the Nagumo family that he couldn't bear to see her so happy. To top it all off, after Kaoru won the Brother of the Year award, they were informed that Toudou had been fatally wounded at Aburano Koji and had to take the ochimizu in order to survive.
A month or so later, Sannan decided that he wanted to experiment with the effects of drinking Chizuru's blood and how it could be used to improve the rasetsu. He was totally ready to cut her and collect her blood when Hijikata intervened and reminded him that the Shinsengumi code prohibited personal fights until he backed off. Luckily, the night was salvaged when Harada and Nagakura came to spend some time with Chizuru and they talked about the morality surrounding creating the rasetsu. Which was a lot less awkward than it sounds, give that Chizuru's father was the one who developed the ochimizu.
Unfortunately, the idyllic days and nights with the Shinsengumi were soon to come to an end. At the beginning of 1868, Kondou was shot while returning for a meeting, which would have been bad enough on its own except for the fact that things were getting more and more tense. When he and Okita were taken to Osaka Castle to be treated by Doctor Matsumoto, the remaining members of the Shinsengumi faced battle at Toba-Fushimi.
The situation got worse and worse, and the Shinsengumi was eventually forced to retreat, pulling back to Yodo Castle. Chizuru was to be escorted to Yodo Castle by Inoue while the others secured their retreat and gathered the wounded. Unfortunately, this was yet another thing that did not go as planned - as they were retreating there was a crash of cannonfire and Chizuru was knocked unconscious.
When she woke, she was alone with rubble and corpses. Knowing they were headed for Yodo, Chizuru set out alone, which was one of the worst decisions she could possibly have made because in a turn of events that surprised absolutely no one, she was found by soldiers that were supposed to be allies with the Shinsengumi, but had actually turned on them, and upon realizing she had been with the Shinsengumi they attacked. While she was fighting back, Kazama happened upon them and killed the soldiers because that's what he does. He also told her that Yodo Castle was about to turn traitor as well, because that is something else he does.
Sen came across them as Kazama was explaining the situation to Chizuru, and after some discussion it was decided that Chizuru would go to Edo and that Kazama would accompany her. Upon arriving there, they discovered that the Shinsengumi had changed its name to the Kouyou Regulatory Company, and that they were at Koufu Castle. Chizuru made plans to go there, but stopped by her old house first and came across Kodo, her "father," who informed her that he was still researching the rasetsu for the Imperial Army and that the plan was to use them to set Edo aflame.
After a tense standoff with Kodo, Chizuru chose to stay in Edo and investigate what he was doing with his specialized rasetsu; Kazama and Amagiri chose to help her. Kazama infiltrated the mansion Kodo was said to be staying in along with Chizuru and they confronted him, and in a moment of lapsed judgment Chizuru did not stop Kazama from killing Kodo, which she immediately regretted once he was dead and all the memories from her childhood came rushing back.
With Kodo handled, Chizuru set to discovering the fate of the Shinsengumi. She learned that the shogunate surrendered Edo Castle, that Harada and Nagakura left the group, that Okita's tuberculosis had worsened ad he'd been sent away, and that Kondou had surrendered to the Imperial Army. In June of 1868, Chizuru and Kazama arrived at Utsunomiya Castle, where Kazama informed her that Kondou had been beheaded.
They continued their journey to find the remaining members of the Shinsengumi and discovered that Saitou was said to have died at the Battle of Bonari Pass, and that Hijikata was on the island of Ezo, but that they could not go there until the end of the Battle of Hakodate. When the battle finally ended and they arrived, they heard the order of events: The Imperial Army landed on Ezo on May 9th, they began an attack on June 20th, the shogunate army surrendered at Benten fortress, and the shogunate army surrendered at Goryokaku, the final stronghold, on June 27th. Chizuru discovered that Hijikata died on the 20th, while trying to rescue the Shinsengumi trapped in Benten, and found a heavily damaged Shinsengumi flag.
After some talking with Kazama, she decided to stay on Ezo for a little while longer, and that is where Chizuru Yukimura's story ends.
□ Personality: The term "demon" has a tendency to bring some very specific characteristics to mind: bloodthirsty, murderous, and wicked, for example. Well, forget all of that, because even though Chizuru is one of the few remaining pure-blooded demons in Japan, you could not be further from the truth if you tried to describe her that way.
It isn't quite enough to call Chizuru entirely pacifistic, as she can and will take up a blade when truly necessary - to defend herself, or to defend those who are precious to her, or (depending on how emotionally drained she is) to take revenge for someone who is killed while defending her (this is an option for her in the game when Kazama kills Inoue, and in the anime, Hijikata says he knew the enemy soldiers were the ones to have killed him because she wouldn't have left her kodachi unraised against Inoue's killers). Still, these are extreme examples, and most of the time Chizuru is a kind and gentle soul. She doesn't like bloodshed and violence - in fact, she even admits that she is "rather afraid" of blades shortly after meeting the Shinsengumi - and finds herself much more at ease when she is in - or can create - a homey environment. That isn't to say she can't function while she's in dangerous situations (because she can, and she even chooses to put herself in dangerous situations for the sake of people she cares about), but she much prefers to be able to remind people of the comforts of home and country which they fight to protect. She generally has kind words and gentle (or not-so-gentle, when they need a more potent reminder) encouragement for the people she surrounds herself with, urging them to do their best and to take care of themselves while reminding them that they have people supporting them. It makes her happy to make others happy and to know that she is helping to create a world where people can live peacefully.
Having been raised in 1800s Japan, Chizuru is outwardly modest, sometimes to a fault. Things like "I know it isn't my place to say..." and "If it isn't presuming too much..." are common to hear from her, and it isn't just because those are the polite things to say. She often feels like she is very much a burden, especially because of how exceptional the people she spends most of her time around are, and when she says that she isn't sure what she has to contribute she's not being self-depreciating for the sake of modesty or politeness, but because she honestly isn't sure what she has to give. She desperately wants to be able to find her place and find something she can do to help those she cares about, but she is very unsure about whether or not she has the ability to do so. She doubts and second-guesses herself very often, and her opinion of herself is generally much lower than others' opinions of her. This sometimes leads her to push herself to and past her limits in an attempt to live up to the people around her, to the point that it has been said that if she keeps it up she'll "use herself up" until there is nothing left.
In spite of how unsure she can be about herself and the way she relates to others, Chizuru is a sociable person. She is the type of girl that manages to make friends in the strangest of places, befriending humans and demons alike (though some might argue that the Shinsengumi, with all of their skill and intensity, hardly count as humans). Even when her first impression of someone is far from stellar, spending time around them usually leads her to find one or two things she likes about them. (In Kazama's route, for example, she is able to find things about him that she admires, despite spending the first three or four chapters of the game pretty much hating his guts, or as close to hating as she can really manage.) She is also the type of girl that believes in the best parts of the people around her - the Shinsengumi is the best example of this, because in spite of their reputation as ruthless killers (which she admits that she is aware of at the onset of her time with them), she finds things to admire in all of them and comes to care for them greatly. She believes in Sen and Kimigiku, as well, in spite of limited interactions with them; she firmly believes in her father and is unwilling to believe that he betrayed the shogunate until she sees it with her own eyes; she wants to believe that if she can make Kaoru understand what her feelings are, the two of them will be able to live as brother and sister. At times her idealism is taken to almost foolish levels.
She can also be incredibly stubborn in her own way. What this means is that she makes decisions and sticks to them - she isn't the type to constantly change her mind about what it is that she wants to do. When she decided that she wanted to see her father again after a long absence, she journeyed to Kyoto all on her own - not the safest course of action, really. She can also be rash when she is worried about someone (as we see in how she goes all the way to Kyoto without waiting for a reply from the person she contacted to help her). It can sometimes take extreme situations for her to make a decision - such as having no word from her father for a month, or seeing people she cares about bearing burdens that are too great to bear alone - but once she commits to it, she won't stray from her path for anything, not even if that means she puts herself at great personal risk. She absolutely will not abandon her friends, especially when they have not abandoned her; she is the type of person who views being safe but not knowing how her friends are faring as a fate worse than death. When she has decided to be there for someone, she also will not abandon them even if they say that she ought to stay away from them for her own good - we see this strongly in Hijikata's route, when she makes arrangements behind Hijikata's back to come to Ezo and then refuses to leave once there, and in other routes as well - Okita's, where she refuses to leave him even after he says he's no good for her, Heisuke's, where she refuses to leave him even after he becomes a rasetsu, and so on and so forth.
Part of the reason Chizuru refuses to leave people alone is also because she honestly wants to be helpful. She tries hard to make herself as light a burden as possible on the people who help her - and because they have done so many things for her, she wants to be able to do things for them in return. She is the type to take mundane tasks on for herself, just so that the others won't have to pull their attention away from "more important" things they have to do. The way she sees it, there isn't a whole lot she can do to help them on the battlefield (save for acting as a shield, which is apparently out of the question), so she has taken it upon herself to make life off the battlefield as easy and as comfortable for them as possible. The times she does accompany them to battle, she is motivated to work hard in whatever limited capacity she can - by using her knowledge as a doctor's daughter, for example, or by serving as a messenger, because since she doesn't wear the Shinsengumi blues she's a lot less noticeable. In spite of how hard she works to be useful, she often feels as if she falls short of it - which leads her to ask for more and more ways to be able to help her friends, even when they feel that just her very presence has been helpful.
She is the type of person who is at her best when the people who are most precious to her are at their best. She highly values the bonds between herself and her friends and would be completely lost without them, and her mood will often mirror the moods of those she surrounds herself with. She picks up on how people are feeling very easily. If her friends are in good spirits, that is good enough for her - if her friends are feeling down, she will most likely agonize over what she can do to make it better. She spends more time thinking of her friends than she does thinking about herself, sometimes to the point of completely overlooking things that should be obvious - ("I'm so glad you found a reason to keep on living..." "My reason to live is you, Chizuru." "E-eh?!") - and would quite honestly journey to Hell and back if it would mean that her friends were safe. There have been many times when she has contemplated turning herself over to the other demons to keep the Shinsengumi safe, though ultimately she chooses to stay with them. That is because she feels that it is better to face danger together and be able to keep your precious people in your sight than it is to be separated and have to spend your days praying that they will be safe. So while she is at her best when her friends are at their best, she is at her worst when she is alone and isolated.
It would have been very easy for her to end up embittered and alone, or for her to turn out like Kaoru. But her time being raised as a normal human girl has taught her that there are things that are gentle and kind within humanity, and her adoptive father taught her the value of a life. Her time in Edo taught her that there are precious moments in everyday life that she can treasure. Her time with the Shinsengumi - in Kyoto and beyond - taught her that there is something bigger than just herself in the world, an ideal for which to strive. They taught her of loyalty and devotion and she doesn't think that she can ever thank them enough for all the gifts they have given her. The Shinsengumi is arguably one of the most important influences in Chizuru's life, and while she does have the potential to get romantically involved with a number of them (the various branching routes are proof enough of that), even when she is only involved with them on a platonic level it is obvious that, if it were within her power, she would do anything for them. Their influence on her is made most obvious in the monologue that plays at the end of Kazama's route:
"The bright summer sky stretched out above me. Gazing up at it, I thought I could almost see the backs of the men I'd known so well, if only for a short time.
The Shinsengumi had faced many challenges, but always with their heads high and their hearts strong.
Kind and gentle Kondou. Stern but sincere Hijikata. Okita, who was brave even in sickness. Earnest and faithful Saitou. Harada, the man who always had a kind word for his friends. Cheerful Heisuke, who'd always given me courage. Nagakura, a man of indomitable spirit. And Sannan, who risked everything to continue the fight.
This was it. This was farewell.
A gentle wind caressed my cheek. Somewhere far away, I could hear their voices..."
□ Age: Somewhere between the ages of 20-22; neither the game nor the anime is very specific regarding her age at the start of the series, and several years pass before her canon pont.
□ Gender: Female
□ Appearance: A Japanese woman in her early twenties, of average height and weight. She has brown eyes and brown hair that, when worn down, hangs down her back; she typically ties it up into a high ponytail. She has spent the last four years or so crossdressing (badly); while many will say that it's fairly obvious she's a girl, her disguise is good enough that there weren't people pitching a fit about how the Shinsengumi commanders had a woman around. She isn't so curvy that she is obviously a woman, then - people who don't get a close look at her do actually believe she is just a very feminine boy. That said, when she puts effort into picking out the right clothing and doing her hair and makeup, there is absolutely no mistaking her for a boy.
As far as clothing goes, she has tended toward male clothing for the past few years - her top may have been pink but she wore it like a man when she ran around in hakama, and after making the switch to Western clothing she kept wearing pants even though the pattern on her vest was a bit more feminine. She does still have the clothing to dress as a girl, but even after being separated from the Shinsengumi she didn't see much use in doing so. She dresses for practicality rather than comfort.
□ Abilities/Powers: Chizuru, being a "demon of a pure lineage," recovers from most injuries very quickly - to the point that she at one point proposes that she act as a shield for Kondou, because a wound that would kill him would essentially be nothing to her so long as her head isn't lopped off or her heart isn't pierced. This is the ability that is most prevalent for her within her canon - when her arm is badly wounded when she's attacked by a Rasetsu in the middle of the night, it is healed the next morning, despite arm injuries leading to loss of use of the arm in other characters.
Unfortunately, this ability has led her to ignore and outright suppress the other abilities she could have that come as second nature to other demons, because she was worried about seeming to be different from humans when she was growing up - she avoids fights whenever she can in an attempt to keep her healing abilities a secret, and as such she displays none of the superhuman strength and speed possessed by others of her kind. And while she was taught the basics of swordplay in order to defend herself, her skills are not at all on par with those of the people she surrounds herself with - Saitou, at one point, does say that her skills are good enough for her to accompany the captains on their patrols, but that's about it. Having "passable skills," in the context of the Shinsengumi and demons, simply isn't enough to stand out.
That is not to say that she could never learn to make use of these abilities; they are there, and we see this most clearly in her encounter with Shiranui during chapter four of Harada's route: she recovers from a gunshot wound instantly ("I barely had time to think about it, however, before the wound began to close. In mere moments it was gone, as if it had never been there to begin with.") and is able to use her demonic speed to dodge bullets as they come right at her ("Instead of passing immediately through my head, the bullet slowed almost to a crawl. I could see it move through the air, and I felt my body move instinctively to avoid it.") - though this seems to be an instinctive reaction to danger, rather than something she can use at will at present.
□ Personal Items: Her Western-style outfit, her hakama outfit, two casual kimono, a much more formally elaborate kimono, her Shotsuren short sword, the charred good-luck amulet she gave her father before he left for Kyoto, the charred and bloodied Shinsegumi flag she found on Ezo, a vial of ochimizu (which will not transform anyone into a rasetsu until she reaches a higher status level), a silk pouch to hide the vial in so the men of the Shinsengumi don't flip their shit
□ Journal:
deasil□ Series: Hakuouki
□ Canon point: The very end of the Kazama/"You didn't end up with any specific Shinsengumi member so everyone died" route.
□ History: Many years before the start of the series, the Yukimura family was a prominent demon family in eastern Japan. But humans suck, so they slaughtered them all, except for the twin children of the head of the family and a few lesser demons of the branch family. One of the twins was sent to live with the Nagumo clan; the other was given to Kodo Yukimura to raise in Edo.
In 1864, Chizuru Yukimura left Edo to search for Kodo, who she believed to be her father and who raised her to believe that she was a human with an inexplicably fast capability to heal from wounds, in Kyoto. He had left long before to conduct work for the Shogunate; however, they fell out of contact and she made the journey alone, dressed as a boy, with the intention of meeting up wit his friend Ryojun Matsumoto to help her find him. Even the best-laid plans tend to fall through, though, and rather than immediately finding her father she got mugged because some ronin wanted to steal her sword. She ran away only for her attackers to be viciously killed by bloodsucking, man-shaped monsters, who were in turn killed by members of the Shinsengumi, who in turn captured her and took her back to their headquarters to interrogate her and find out what she had witnessed.
The next morning, she met with the captains of the Shinsengumi to discuss her fate. During the course of the discussion it came out that not only was her Kodo working for them, he's missing; it also came out that she was, in fact, a girl (and the way it came out impressed Heisuke Toudou), and that she was the "daughter" of the very person they're looking for. Luckily for Chizuru, they decided to keep her alive to help search for her father, on the condition that she continue to live as a boy to keep the rank-and-file soldiers from being distracted. She was also made to be the page of Toshizo Hijikata, the Shinsegumi's vice-commander. Which, all in all, translated to her being told to stay in her room all the time. She did occasionally spend time with some of the captains, but nothing incredibly noteworthy happened until dinner one night when Toudou nearly let one of the Shinsegumi's big secrets slip, and then a little later Hijikata allowed her to join the captains on their patrols for the first time six months after her arrival.
The next "big thing" Chizuru experienced was the Ikedaya affair in July. Though in this series of events she did not accompany Kondou and the others directly to the Ikedaya, she was at the Shinsegumi compound when the information that the location Hijikata's group was investigating wasn't the proper location came in, and left the compound to deliver the message to him so he could get Kondou some backup. In this way, she managed to avoid encountering either Kazama or Amagiri at the Ikedaya, and witnessed Hijikata single-handedly keeping Aizu officials from stealing the Shinsengumi's glory.
Later, while out on patrol with Sanosuke Harada and Shinpachi Nagakura, Chizuru decided she wanted to come with them on their next mission; this wish came true when they received orders from Aizu to help curbstomp some Choshu loyalists who were causing trouble in Kyoto. Unfortunately, when they arrive, they were told by the official to go to the Kujo riverside to wait there as backup; the official at the Kujo riverside told them they hadn't received any orders to let them stay, and some back-and-forth arguing led to the Shinsengumi being allowed to stay at the riverside as backup. The next morning there was gunfire and Hijikata, being Hijikata, bitched the official out when they were told to wait for orders instead of immediately going to assist the soldiers at the Imperial estate. He then led the Shinsengumi there and found that oops, yeah, the Imperial estate had sort of been trashed. From there the Shinsengumi split into three groups and Chizuru accompanied Hijikata to Mount Ten'nou in pursuit of the Choshu troops that were fleeing, and Chikage Kazama, a demon, interfered just long enough for the Choshu troops to commit honorable suicide before Hijikata could catch them.
It was back to business as usual for the Shinsengumi until the arrival of Kashitaro Itou, who employed his biting wit to be rude to Keisuke Sannan, a longtime member of the group with an injured arm. Itou's taunting of Sannan caused Sannan to make the incredibly poor life decision to drink the ochimizu, a substance that transforms a man into the bloodthirsty monsters Chizuru encountered a full year before. This had the fortunate effect of healing his arm, but the unfortunate side-effect of making him attempt to kill Chizuru, who stumbled upon him as he was doing it. It also came out that Chizuru's "father," Kodo, was the one who had developed the ochimizu, on the Shogunate's orders. The ochimizu, while having uncanny regenerative properties and making the drinker unnaturally strong, also imbued them with an irresistible bloodlust that made them go crazy. Sannan, thankfully, did not immediately go mad! But because he was now incredibly weak during daylight hours and could go crazy at a moment's notice, it was announced to everyone that he died.
As everyone adjusted to the change, business continued as usual. One day when on patrol with Okita and Toudou, Chizuru encountered a young woman who was being harassed by some men on the street. She, Okita, and Toudou intervened, and Okita noticed that Chizuru and the young woman they rescued look eerily similar to one another. Toudou didn't agree, but the woman introduced herself as Kaoru before leaving, and Chizuru was left to be puzzled about it for a long while after.
The Shinsengumi was later asked to be part of the guard for Iemochi Tokugawa, and Chizuru accompanied them to the castle to serve as a guard. While there, she encountered Kazama and his two cronies, Kyuju Amagiri and Kyo Shiranui, who informed her of two things: One, she was a demon, and two, they would be taking her with them. The Shinsegumi intervened and she was safely conducted back to the compound by Susumu Yamazaki, where she stays with Toudou until it's safe for her to come back.
The Shinsengumi received a visit from Chizuru's father's friend, Matsumoto, not too long later; after he conducted a medical examination of the troops, he spoke to Chizuru about her father, the ochimizu, and the rasetsu - the name for what people become after drinking the ochimizu. After instructing them to clean, Matsumoto left to speak with Okita, and Chizuru overheard that he has been disagnosed with tuberculosis. Not too long after that, they got the news that Shogun Iemochi died, and Chizuru and Saitou rescued another wayward young woman while on patrol. This time the young woman was named Sen, who said she didn't actually need the help but thanked Chizuru anyway and then said she knew Chizuru was a girl before leaving abruptly.
Further drama continued in Kyoto as people started vandalizing a notice board that had denounced the Choshu as traitorous; Harada and others from the Shinsengumi were dispatched to deal with it. One night after they were celebrating their victory, Sannan, consumed with fascination by the ochimizu and the new rasetsu they had managed to create with it, began harrassing Chizuru. He was interrupted by some of the other captains from the Shinsengumi, and Toudou mentioned that someone who looked like Chizuru had impeded the Shinsengumi's efforts to apprehend the notice board vandals.
Later that winter, while on patrol, they encountered Kaoru again; Chizuru confronted her and asked if she had been the one to do it, and Kaoru answered coyly that she did occasionally go to that bridge, which was basically Kaoru-speak for "I sure did, what are you going to do about it?"
Also that winter, a rasetsu broke into Chizuru's room and attacked her. A group of Shinsengumi captains saved her life, but after the rasetsu was killed Itou stumbled onto the scene, which was basically terrible for everyone involved. Sannan blew his cover by arriving after Itou and then drinking Chizuru's blood, which triggered Itou splitting off into his own group, the Guardians of the Imperial Tomb, and taking Toudou and Saitou with him, much to Chizuru's disappointment.
Later that night Chizuru received a visit from Sen and her companion Kimigiku, who came to take Chizuru away. Sen was a demon princess who was well aware of Kazama's intentions toward Chizuru, and didn't believe that the Shinsengumi was capable of protecting her - Kazama being the head of a prominent demon family and Chizuru being the sole surviving member of the Yukimura family, he was hell-bent on making her his bride and having her bear his child to produce an even more powerful demon, even if it meant slaughtering anyone in his way. Sen spoke to Chizuru privately, and Chizuru said she wanted to stay. Sen left...
...which would have been all well and good if not for the fact that Kazama attacked even later that night. Despite being told to do otherwise, Chizuru left her room to go see what was happening and ended up getting grabbed by Kazama, only for the Shinsengumi to fight to free her. Kazama retreated after the humans proved capable of holding their own for a short time and vowed that he would be returning. Unfortunately for the Shinsengumi, the monks housing them didn't take too kindly to a demon deathmatch on their property, so they were relocated to another property for their headquarters after two years at the Nishi Honganji temple.
More than six months after Itou split away from the group, the Shinsengumi received word that Ryoma Sakamoto was assassinated and that someone was spreading a rumor that Harada had done the killing. That "someone" would be Itou and his Guardians, a fact which was brought to the Shinsengumi by none other than Saitou... who had only joined Itou as a spy. Saitou also brought the information that Itou was out to have Kondou assassinated, and Hijikata immediately decided that it was time for Itou to die.
The problem with this was that Toudou was still with Itou's group, and that he hadn't been planted as a spy. Chizuru worried, but wasn't sure if she would be able to get him back safely; trusting Harada and Nagakura to bring him back alive, she chose to stay behind during this operation to keep an eye on Okita, who was still sick. Unfortunately, there was yet another attack by demons, and in the chaos Okita and Chizuru were approached by a young man named Kaoru... yeah. Same Kaoru as the woman they met on the street. It turned out that Kaoru was actually Kaoru Nagumo, the Yukimura twin who was sent to live with a different clan... he was also Chizuru's twin brother. He wasn't interested in seeing Chizuru become a "demonic broodmare" for Kazama and so he wanted Okita to become a rasetsu in order to protect her, and also told him that it would cure his tuberculosis. When a rasetsu broke into the room and attacked Okita took the ochimizu, killed the rasetsu, and was then informed that the ochimizu wouldn't actually cure him, and that Kaoru didn't actually care about Chizuru's safety but he had been so miserable with the Nagumo family that he couldn't bear to see her so happy. To top it all off, after Kaoru won the Brother of the Year award, they were informed that Toudou had been fatally wounded at Aburano Koji and had to take the ochimizu in order to survive.
A month or so later, Sannan decided that he wanted to experiment with the effects of drinking Chizuru's blood and how it could be used to improve the rasetsu. He was totally ready to cut her and collect her blood when Hijikata intervened and reminded him that the Shinsengumi code prohibited personal fights until he backed off. Luckily, the night was salvaged when Harada and Nagakura came to spend some time with Chizuru and they talked about the morality surrounding creating the rasetsu. Which was a lot less awkward than it sounds, give that Chizuru's father was the one who developed the ochimizu.
Unfortunately, the idyllic days and nights with the Shinsengumi were soon to come to an end. At the beginning of 1868, Kondou was shot while returning for a meeting, which would have been bad enough on its own except for the fact that things were getting more and more tense. When he and Okita were taken to Osaka Castle to be treated by Doctor Matsumoto, the remaining members of the Shinsengumi faced battle at Toba-Fushimi.
The situation got worse and worse, and the Shinsengumi was eventually forced to retreat, pulling back to Yodo Castle. Chizuru was to be escorted to Yodo Castle by Inoue while the others secured their retreat and gathered the wounded. Unfortunately, this was yet another thing that did not go as planned - as they were retreating there was a crash of cannonfire and Chizuru was knocked unconscious.
When she woke, she was alone with rubble and corpses. Knowing they were headed for Yodo, Chizuru set out alone, which was one of the worst decisions she could possibly have made because in a turn of events that surprised absolutely no one, she was found by soldiers that were supposed to be allies with the Shinsengumi, but had actually turned on them, and upon realizing she had been with the Shinsengumi they attacked. While she was fighting back, Kazama happened upon them and killed the soldiers because that's what he does. He also told her that Yodo Castle was about to turn traitor as well, because that is something else he does.
Sen came across them as Kazama was explaining the situation to Chizuru, and after some discussion it was decided that Chizuru would go to Edo and that Kazama would accompany her. Upon arriving there, they discovered that the Shinsengumi had changed its name to the Kouyou Regulatory Company, and that they were at Koufu Castle. Chizuru made plans to go there, but stopped by her old house first and came across Kodo, her "father," who informed her that he was still researching the rasetsu for the Imperial Army and that the plan was to use them to set Edo aflame.
After a tense standoff with Kodo, Chizuru chose to stay in Edo and investigate what he was doing with his specialized rasetsu; Kazama and Amagiri chose to help her. Kazama infiltrated the mansion Kodo was said to be staying in along with Chizuru and they confronted him, and in a moment of lapsed judgment Chizuru did not stop Kazama from killing Kodo, which she immediately regretted once he was dead and all the memories from her childhood came rushing back.
With Kodo handled, Chizuru set to discovering the fate of the Shinsengumi. She learned that the shogunate surrendered Edo Castle, that Harada and Nagakura left the group, that Okita's tuberculosis had worsened ad he'd been sent away, and that Kondou had surrendered to the Imperial Army. In June of 1868, Chizuru and Kazama arrived at Utsunomiya Castle, where Kazama informed her that Kondou had been beheaded.
They continued their journey to find the remaining members of the Shinsengumi and discovered that Saitou was said to have died at the Battle of Bonari Pass, and that Hijikata was on the island of Ezo, but that they could not go there until the end of the Battle of Hakodate. When the battle finally ended and they arrived, they heard the order of events: The Imperial Army landed on Ezo on May 9th, they began an attack on June 20th, the shogunate army surrendered at Benten fortress, and the shogunate army surrendered at Goryokaku, the final stronghold, on June 27th. Chizuru discovered that Hijikata died on the 20th, while trying to rescue the Shinsengumi trapped in Benten, and found a heavily damaged Shinsengumi flag.
After some talking with Kazama, she decided to stay on Ezo for a little while longer, and that is where Chizuru Yukimura's story ends.
□ Personality: The term "demon" has a tendency to bring some very specific characteristics to mind: bloodthirsty, murderous, and wicked, for example. Well, forget all of that, because even though Chizuru is one of the few remaining pure-blooded demons in Japan, you could not be further from the truth if you tried to describe her that way.
It isn't quite enough to call Chizuru entirely pacifistic, as she can and will take up a blade when truly necessary - to defend herself, or to defend those who are precious to her, or (depending on how emotionally drained she is) to take revenge for someone who is killed while defending her (this is an option for her in the game when Kazama kills Inoue, and in the anime, Hijikata says he knew the enemy soldiers were the ones to have killed him because she wouldn't have left her kodachi unraised against Inoue's killers). Still, these are extreme examples, and most of the time Chizuru is a kind and gentle soul. She doesn't like bloodshed and violence - in fact, she even admits that she is "rather afraid" of blades shortly after meeting the Shinsengumi - and finds herself much more at ease when she is in - or can create - a homey environment. That isn't to say she can't function while she's in dangerous situations (because she can, and she even chooses to put herself in dangerous situations for the sake of people she cares about), but she much prefers to be able to remind people of the comforts of home and country which they fight to protect. She generally has kind words and gentle (or not-so-gentle, when they need a more potent reminder) encouragement for the people she surrounds herself with, urging them to do their best and to take care of themselves while reminding them that they have people supporting them. It makes her happy to make others happy and to know that she is helping to create a world where people can live peacefully.
Having been raised in 1800s Japan, Chizuru is outwardly modest, sometimes to a fault. Things like "I know it isn't my place to say..." and "If it isn't presuming too much..." are common to hear from her, and it isn't just because those are the polite things to say. She often feels like she is very much a burden, especially because of how exceptional the people she spends most of her time around are, and when she says that she isn't sure what she has to contribute she's not being self-depreciating for the sake of modesty or politeness, but because she honestly isn't sure what she has to give. She desperately wants to be able to find her place and find something she can do to help those she cares about, but she is very unsure about whether or not she has the ability to do so. She doubts and second-guesses herself very often, and her opinion of herself is generally much lower than others' opinions of her. This sometimes leads her to push herself to and past her limits in an attempt to live up to the people around her, to the point that it has been said that if she keeps it up she'll "use herself up" until there is nothing left.
In spite of how unsure she can be about herself and the way she relates to others, Chizuru is a sociable person. She is the type of girl that manages to make friends in the strangest of places, befriending humans and demons alike (though some might argue that the Shinsengumi, with all of their skill and intensity, hardly count as humans). Even when her first impression of someone is far from stellar, spending time around them usually leads her to find one or two things she likes about them. (In Kazama's route, for example, she is able to find things about him that she admires, despite spending the first three or four chapters of the game pretty much hating his guts, or as close to hating as she can really manage.) She is also the type of girl that believes in the best parts of the people around her - the Shinsengumi is the best example of this, because in spite of their reputation as ruthless killers (which she admits that she is aware of at the onset of her time with them), she finds things to admire in all of them and comes to care for them greatly. She believes in Sen and Kimigiku, as well, in spite of limited interactions with them; she firmly believes in her father and is unwilling to believe that he betrayed the shogunate until she sees it with her own eyes; she wants to believe that if she can make Kaoru understand what her feelings are, the two of them will be able to live as brother and sister. At times her idealism is taken to almost foolish levels.
She can also be incredibly stubborn in her own way. What this means is that she makes decisions and sticks to them - she isn't the type to constantly change her mind about what it is that she wants to do. When she decided that she wanted to see her father again after a long absence, she journeyed to Kyoto all on her own - not the safest course of action, really. She can also be rash when she is worried about someone (as we see in how she goes all the way to Kyoto without waiting for a reply from the person she contacted to help her). It can sometimes take extreme situations for her to make a decision - such as having no word from her father for a month, or seeing people she cares about bearing burdens that are too great to bear alone - but once she commits to it, she won't stray from her path for anything, not even if that means she puts herself at great personal risk. She absolutely will not abandon her friends, especially when they have not abandoned her; she is the type of person who views being safe but not knowing how her friends are faring as a fate worse than death. When she has decided to be there for someone, she also will not abandon them even if they say that she ought to stay away from them for her own good - we see this strongly in Hijikata's route, when she makes arrangements behind Hijikata's back to come to Ezo and then refuses to leave once there, and in other routes as well - Okita's, where she refuses to leave him even after he says he's no good for her, Heisuke's, where she refuses to leave him even after he becomes a rasetsu, and so on and so forth.
Part of the reason Chizuru refuses to leave people alone is also because she honestly wants to be helpful. She tries hard to make herself as light a burden as possible on the people who help her - and because they have done so many things for her, she wants to be able to do things for them in return. She is the type to take mundane tasks on for herself, just so that the others won't have to pull their attention away from "more important" things they have to do. The way she sees it, there isn't a whole lot she can do to help them on the battlefield (save for acting as a shield, which is apparently out of the question), so she has taken it upon herself to make life off the battlefield as easy and as comfortable for them as possible. The times she does accompany them to battle, she is motivated to work hard in whatever limited capacity she can - by using her knowledge as a doctor's daughter, for example, or by serving as a messenger, because since she doesn't wear the Shinsengumi blues she's a lot less noticeable. In spite of how hard she works to be useful, she often feels as if she falls short of it - which leads her to ask for more and more ways to be able to help her friends, even when they feel that just her very presence has been helpful.
She is the type of person who is at her best when the people who are most precious to her are at their best. She highly values the bonds between herself and her friends and would be completely lost without them, and her mood will often mirror the moods of those she surrounds herself with. She picks up on how people are feeling very easily. If her friends are in good spirits, that is good enough for her - if her friends are feeling down, she will most likely agonize over what she can do to make it better. She spends more time thinking of her friends than she does thinking about herself, sometimes to the point of completely overlooking things that should be obvious - ("I'm so glad you found a reason to keep on living..." "My reason to live is you, Chizuru." "E-eh?!") - and would quite honestly journey to Hell and back if it would mean that her friends were safe. There have been many times when she has contemplated turning herself over to the other demons to keep the Shinsengumi safe, though ultimately she chooses to stay with them. That is because she feels that it is better to face danger together and be able to keep your precious people in your sight than it is to be separated and have to spend your days praying that they will be safe. So while she is at her best when her friends are at their best, she is at her worst when she is alone and isolated.
It would have been very easy for her to end up embittered and alone, or for her to turn out like Kaoru. But her time being raised as a normal human girl has taught her that there are things that are gentle and kind within humanity, and her adoptive father taught her the value of a life. Her time in Edo taught her that there are precious moments in everyday life that she can treasure. Her time with the Shinsengumi - in Kyoto and beyond - taught her that there is something bigger than just herself in the world, an ideal for which to strive. They taught her of loyalty and devotion and she doesn't think that she can ever thank them enough for all the gifts they have given her. The Shinsengumi is arguably one of the most important influences in Chizuru's life, and while she does have the potential to get romantically involved with a number of them (the various branching routes are proof enough of that), even when she is only involved with them on a platonic level it is obvious that, if it were within her power, she would do anything for them. Their influence on her is made most obvious in the monologue that plays at the end of Kazama's route:
"The bright summer sky stretched out above me. Gazing up at it, I thought I could almost see the backs of the men I'd known so well, if only for a short time.
The Shinsengumi had faced many challenges, but always with their heads high and their hearts strong.
Kind and gentle Kondou. Stern but sincere Hijikata. Okita, who was brave even in sickness. Earnest and faithful Saitou. Harada, the man who always had a kind word for his friends. Cheerful Heisuke, who'd always given me courage. Nagakura, a man of indomitable spirit. And Sannan, who risked everything to continue the fight.
This was it. This was farewell.
A gentle wind caressed my cheek. Somewhere far away, I could hear their voices..."
□ Age: Somewhere between the ages of 20-22; neither the game nor the anime is very specific regarding her age at the start of the series, and several years pass before her canon pont.
□ Gender: Female
□ Appearance: A Japanese woman in her early twenties, of average height and weight. She has brown eyes and brown hair that, when worn down, hangs down her back; she typically ties it up into a high ponytail. She has spent the last four years or so crossdressing (badly); while many will say that it's fairly obvious she's a girl, her disguise is good enough that there weren't people pitching a fit about how the Shinsengumi commanders had a woman around. She isn't so curvy that she is obviously a woman, then - people who don't get a close look at her do actually believe she is just a very feminine boy. That said, when she puts effort into picking out the right clothing and doing her hair and makeup, there is absolutely no mistaking her for a boy.
As far as clothing goes, she has tended toward male clothing for the past few years - her top may have been pink but she wore it like a man when she ran around in hakama, and after making the switch to Western clothing she kept wearing pants even though the pattern on her vest was a bit more feminine. She does still have the clothing to dress as a girl, but even after being separated from the Shinsengumi she didn't see much use in doing so. She dresses for practicality rather than comfort.
□ Abilities/Powers: Chizuru, being a "demon of a pure lineage," recovers from most injuries very quickly - to the point that she at one point proposes that she act as a shield for Kondou, because a wound that would kill him would essentially be nothing to her so long as her head isn't lopped off or her heart isn't pierced. This is the ability that is most prevalent for her within her canon - when her arm is badly wounded when she's attacked by a Rasetsu in the middle of the night, it is healed the next morning, despite arm injuries leading to loss of use of the arm in other characters.
Unfortunately, this ability has led her to ignore and outright suppress the other abilities she could have that come as second nature to other demons, because she was worried about seeming to be different from humans when she was growing up - she avoids fights whenever she can in an attempt to keep her healing abilities a secret, and as such she displays none of the superhuman strength and speed possessed by others of her kind. And while she was taught the basics of swordplay in order to defend herself, her skills are not at all on par with those of the people she surrounds herself with - Saitou, at one point, does say that her skills are good enough for her to accompany the captains on their patrols, but that's about it. Having "passable skills," in the context of the Shinsengumi and demons, simply isn't enough to stand out.
That is not to say that she could never learn to make use of these abilities; they are there, and we see this most clearly in her encounter with Shiranui during chapter four of Harada's route: she recovers from a gunshot wound instantly ("I barely had time to think about it, however, before the wound began to close. In mere moments it was gone, as if it had never been there to begin with.") and is able to use her demonic speed to dodge bullets as they come right at her ("Instead of passing immediately through my head, the bullet slowed almost to a crawl. I could see it move through the air, and I felt my body move instinctively to avoid it.") - though this seems to be an instinctive reaction to danger, rather than something she can use at will at present.
□ Personal Items: Her Western-style outfit, her hakama outfit, two casual kimono, a much more formally elaborate kimono, her Shotsuren short sword, the charred good-luck amulet she gave her father before he left for Kyoto, the charred and bloodied Shinsegumi flag she found on Ezo, a vial of ochimizu (which will not transform anyone into a rasetsu until she reaches a higher status level), a silk pouch to hide the vial in so the men of the Shinsengumi don't flip their shit