Amaya Shirogane

Amaya Shirogane (白銀あまや Shirogane, Amaya)

Background
Born to a typical family, Amaya lived a fairly average life during her early years, it would be at the age of 12 when her world crumbled.

It was a cold night, when raiders assaulted her families settlement; Demanding food and supplies which the poor settlement didn't have to give. In the ensuing carnage, most of the settlement was wiped out and Amaya herself was brutally injured-her arm sliced above the elbow. As her village and home burned, she fled.

Skipping ahead a few years, Amaya had become an accomplished thief through the sometimes harsh teachings of Machigai Shirogane, her sometimes Senpai and always friend.He'd found her in some broken down building and had taken her in, teaching her his trade.

From pickpocketing to pilfering, she'd learnt it all; Even picking up some of his more unusual tricks, such as the body flicker technique (though she didn't know it at the time). His greatest gift however, was a puppet arm...As it turns out, the blow she took to the arm had turned gangrenous and had been removed by the swing of a back alley surgeon.

Alongside her new puppet arm, he taught her the skills necessary to use it. Puppetry, the art of manipulation through chakra strings.

Amaya took to it immediately, and in her most quiet moments she had a habit of looking at her new arm with a look of pure awe.

And this is how she lived her life quite happily, or she did until a painfully familiar emblem came to her new home.

It was the raiders, the very same who had burnt her home and family to ashes...

In a sickening parody of their former actions, the raiders once again demanded succour from a village already stricken with the hungry and it would be in the following conflict that Amaya, the "false arm queen" would be born.

It was a bitter conflict, the savage raiders descending on the farm tool wielding villagers...In a small corner of the settlement, stood Amaya and her sometimes mentor Machigai, fearing for the girl he'd come to think of his daughter, Machigai hatched a plan to escape out the east gate.

It was a hectic, if luckily safe journey and it was only at the very gate itself they met their first group of raiders. In a moment Amaya would always remember, Machigai revealed the darker side of puppetry; Taking control of a sword wielding merc, Machigai brutally fought back against the raiders and all seemed well, until the moment a cold piece of iron found it's way to the centre of his chest, brutally ending his life.

In that moment, consumed by rage Amaya went to work on the now fear stricken raiders. To this day, she cannot recall the events that occurred after that moment, all she knew is she walked away a changed person.

It would be several weeks before Amaya encountered another being, and that person would later be known to her as Mozara.

It was in some dingy clearing she'd found him, his peculiar stance offsetting his extremely scruffy appearance.Despite his less then stellar appearance, they'd struck up the first conversation each had spoken in what felt like a century.

Mozara was a samurai, or perhaps a former samurai he explained as his arms were quite simply ruined.Over a fire, with some weak tea brewed under Mozara's guidance they told each other their story. It was not quite fair to say they became instant friends, but they did become something-for they both knew the pain of loss, and both carried shame they refused to speak of.

It comes as no great surprise, they agreed to travel together and through a little help from Amaya, Mozara was brought back from the pitiful state he was found in and through a little help from Mozara, Amaya began to soften from her former ordeals regaining a little of her former chattiness.

In the coming weeks, Mozara and Amaya both let slips of their past lives, their skills and other tipbits of information. It was through this occurrence, Mozara would find his salvation.

There were two pieces of information, one from Amaya and one from Mozara which were the inspiration for what would come next. From Amaya, the fact she was a puppet user-a wielder of chakra strings, from Mozara his shame at being unable to even use the very skills, his father and people had given to him.

From this, Amaya found a solution: She'd give Mozara a way to reclaim his ability to fight. Recalling Machigai's instructions Amaya realised she could teach Mozara puppetry, and allow him to use his skills...If only through a puppet proxy.

It was thus so, Mozara's training in puppetry began. It was at first, a difficult process both due to his inexperience and a sense of deep unease in learning a "ninja art". In very little time however, Mozara had his first chakra string and he rapidly advanced until he finally managed to manipulate a crude puppet Amaya had formed from some would-be-kindling.

It would be many months before, they managed to create even a vaguely functional puppet but for Mozara it was perhaps, the most redeeming moment of his life. In return for her kindness, Mozara chose to give her what little he could, he would give her exactly what she gave him. A new art.

It was thus so, Amaya's training in swordmanship began. Using his puppet, Mozara quickly took Amaya through the same training he himself had undertaken those many years ago. Unlike Mozara, Amaya quickly took to the art of the sword with enthusiasm.

Over many months, Amaya was taken through her paces with Mozara complaining increasingly that his puppet "did not have the correct tools to teach Amaya". It;s crude mechanics, limited it's mobility and dexterity and the simple lack of duel blades left Mozara frustrated.

It was on this premise, they swore to find a suitable replacement as soon as they were able. A lofty goal, for a pair whose meals were foraged but they had become hopeful in each others company.

Appearance
Amaya is a relatively tall women, typically dressed in light but flexible armour. Amaya's most distinguishing features is her cloak "Steve', (given to her as a gift by Akihiko Uzumaki) and her right prosthetic arm.

"Steve" has the unique feature of bending light due to seals woven inside, granting the wearer a limited cloaking effect when remaining stationary.

Personality
Amaya is by far, the most childish of clan leaders and is well known, for taking things to the extreme. Regardless of that fact she takes the well being of her fellow clan members very seriously, even if that does mean clunking some sense into them.

While most would describe her as a cold individual in battle, most of her fellow Shirogane would describe her as somewhat ditsy, and an incredible chatterbox.

Kenjutsu
A swordsmen by trade,following the loss of her arm, Amayo quickly transferred her sword skills to her puppet blade, granting her exceptional close range potential which alongside her regular applications of poison, renders her devastating in close range engagements.

Dokujutsu

Like most of the Shirogane, Amaya has a particular fondness for poison. Utilizing the unusually well equipped Shirogane stockpile, Amaya has successfully (and enthusiastically) created an extensive number of poisons: Her "volunteers" are significantly less enthusiastic about her experimentation.

Ninjutsu

Unlike most Shinobi, Amaya has only a passing talent in ninjutsu; Mainly stemming from a distinct lack of formal training. Her most trademark use however, is the transformation jutsu which she has used to great effect in both her pranking and in infiltration.

Puppetry
Like any Shirogane, Amaya is trained formally in the use of puppets and informally in the use of chakra strings, for use against living opponents.

Miscellaneous
Amaya is unusually gifted in both her reactions and her raw speed. Years of escaping unhappy situations has left her relatively cocky about her escape skills.

Alongside her other skills Amaya is a skilled con-artist; Alongside her penchant for the transformation jutsu, has led many to feeling uneasy when dealing with people, with Amaya out of sight.

As a result of accidental exposure (and "accidental" exposure) to poisons, Amaya has a limited resistance to poisons.