Tsukuyo 月詠 ♣ Death God Courtesan 死神太夫 (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
sekimorinashi) wrote2015-10-26 10:07 pm
sekimorinashi) wrote2015-10-26 10:07 pm
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Tossino or AIM @ thetossedone
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IC Information
Name: Tsukuyo
Canon: Gintama
Gender: Female
Age: Tsukuyo's only canon confirmed age is 20+, meaning early twenties. In a flashback from four years ago she looks a decent bit younger, so I'd put her at about 19 or 20 there. Headcanon at time of death: 24.
History: Her wiki page. It's decent, but as you can see some arcs are a little lacking. So just click the links to the arcs' wiki pages if you want more? If needed, I'll write a summary, but the important stuff should be covered, really.
Personality: Tsukuyo was raised in the darkness. Darkness was all she knew for her whole life until she met Gintoki, with the only thing she had to call light her master Jiraia and her dear friend Hinowa. For all women raised in Yoshiwara - the hidden red light city under Edo - Hinowa was the only light they knew.
The "hi" in Hinowa's name is written with the kanji for sun, and the "tsuku" in Tsukuyo's name is written with the kanji for moon. Together they were seen as the sun and moon of Yoshiwara, the hope for the women bathed in darkness. For many years, when Tsukuyo thought her master was long dead and gone, her greatest motivation in life was Hinowa. To be as strong as Hinowa had told her to be. To carry on. If someone like Hinowa, who seemed so trapped and without power, could carry on with such strength, then so could Tsukuyo.
For Hinowa, and for the city Hinowa loved, Tsukuyo did what she could. She worked under Housen, officially, but she never truly considered herself under his rule. She was supposed to protect the law of Yoshiwara, as the head of its police force, but what she truly did was protect the women of Yoshiwara. Trying to escape was punishable with death, but Tsukuyo never did kill those women: She hurt them enough for it to look like she punished them, and then recruited them into the force. She saved their lives.
Tsukuyo does what she can. To her it doesn't matter what the consequences may be, because she refuses to live a life in which she does nothing. At the very least, she can endure. As long as you are alive, you can endure, you can do something. Hinowa taught her that what matters is that you live.
Then she learned there are things worth dying for.
When Gintoki came to Yoshiwara, she was prepared to die for something as simple as opening the roof over their heads and letting in the sun. Housen was a Yato, an alien race weak to the sun, and covered the whole city in darkness to escape its rays. Tsukuyo had never thought overly much about fighting to bring it back, and considered Housen unbeatable. Instead she did what she could, and protected the women trapped in the city.
Gintoki said he'd bring back the sun, and so she learned to aim higher. She almost lost her life doing it, but in the end they did bring back the sun. She protects the city with an even fiercer determination than before, fighting for the place she considers her home.
All of her life she has fought for someone else, and tossed herself aside to do so. To become strong, her master Jiraia told her to forget who she was, forget being a woman, because it would weaken her. For a long time, to herself she wasn't enough. People came to love her for her, but she never understood, never thought about it, until Gintoki told her that she is enough. Strong enough, good enough, kind enough, beautiful enough, no matter how scarred or fragile.
After they took the sun back is the first time others have started to see her for who she is, and the first time she's tried doing so herself.
Her struggles with her own identity shows in many ways. When she doesn't want people to look at her because she can't be what she thinks she should be at that moment. When she protests people seeing her as a woman because she doesn't think that's good enough. When she argues that she isn't pretty or beautiful or even trying to accomplish such a thing, because she is scarred and weak and ugly. But she is so much more than that, and she's slowly starting to see it.
She is kind and she values life so much. She saved the women rather than punish them for trying to run away, and intruders she was told to kill she instead tried to help escape the city. She follows her own rule, or Hinowa's, no matter how bad the situation is. She will not kill just because she is ordered to. She wants to save as many as she possibly can.
And she is strong enough to carry her master's burdens. Jiraia manipulated her, tried to form her into his image of perfection, into something he wanted, and as far as he was concerned her new friends were ruining all of his hard work. To make her stronger he was going to burn down all of Yoshiwara and she begged him to stop, to spare them, that she'd go with him and do anything he wanted if he just spared them.
They were too important to her, in his mind. Made her weak. But her care and kindness is what made her able to carry him in the end, when Gintoki had beat him around a while and Tsukuyo in the end killed him to protect Gintoki, she was able to carry her teacher. But more than that, she accepted everything with a quiet resolution, forgave him, and ended it on a silent, peaceful note for the both of them. One that she could carry on from, even with his blood on her hands.
She has struggled and fought and worked hard all her life. From a child in training to become a Yoshiwara woman, to a student under a master shinobi to become something not a woman at all, to a protector and champion of Hinowa and all Yoshiwara's women. She knows how to work hard, and she carries far too much on her shoulders to make herself someone others can rely, and make sure she takes responsibility. Too much responsibility. That's something Jiraia tried to teach her. Everything is her fault.
What she has more trouble with is having fun. After her master's death, Hinowa worries and asks the Yorozuya to help bring Tsukuyo out of her shell and spend some time with her. Gintoki is reluctant and seems to think it's best to leave her alone, but in the end they're both tricked into it, as Tsukuyo is given a task to take care of a "very special guest" and Gintoki is offered an evening on the house.
It ends a complete mess. Tsukuyo is very weak to alcohol and scares the life out of not only Gintoki, but everyone but Hinowa, with how violent and angry she gets. Though all she really scares them into is joining them in the drinking and knocking them all out. And as soon as she is sober enough, she immediately gets up to patrol.
She is, however, grateful for the effort they put into making her have fun and feel better. It isn't something people do for her often, and it could even possibly be the very first time. Tsukuyo has never had friends like that before the Yorozuya came into her life and Hinowa was freed.
Finally, she can start living her own life, for her. There is no longer anything that holds her back, and it goes only up from there as she finds more and more of herself.
Hinowa is her strength, her saviour, and her life. When Tsukuyo was young and hurt and lost, Hinowa gave her the strength to carry on. She brought her food when she was locked in, and motivated her. As she got older, she considered it only fair, her duty, that she was strong enough to carry Hinowa as Hinowa had carried her, and for many years refused to put herself in what she saw as the weaker position again.
But Hinowa only ever wanted to keep helping her, as well. They are the most loyal to each other, never truly leaving the other's side, and protecting Yoshiwara together. With their freedom regained, they are able to truly develop a friendship, and they become even more inseperable than before.
Jiraia is her maker, her teacher, and her destruction. Jiraia built her up and tore her down as he saw fit, with an iron fist around her will, her fire and her heart. If Hinowa built her up, he ruined her so that instead she would put herself together according to the strings he pulled. He taught her everything she knows about fighting and leading, but ruined her in the process because in comparison to Hinowa, the Yorozuya and all her other friends he never wanted her, but a copy of him.
Being free of Housen and darkness was one thing. Being free of Jiraia something entirely else. He was her world, and with that world gone she has had to build a new one.
Gintoki is her motivation, her heart, and her sword. With his blazing, shining soul and unwavering resolve, he time and time again shows her that you can always fight, and you can accomplish the seemingly impossible. She loves him not because he is Yoshiwara's saviour, almost a Messiah, but because he is beautiful and shows her things no one else does.
He shows her herself in a way no one else can. With a gentle, guiding hand he leads her to where she can find what she needs in herself, without having to rely on anyone else. When he is around, she finds the best parts of her own soul, and he seems to do so effortlessly.
Seita is her hope, her light, and her beauty. While the Yoshiwara woman who was Seita's actual mother died, all women of Yoshiwara consider him their son. Thus, naturally, Tsukuyo does too. Housen always made sure that his women wouldn't have anything else except Yoshiwara, so the idea that there was a child out there that got out of the city with his life was a beacon of hope for all of them.
And now that he is back in their custody under Hinowa's protection, Tsukuyo's care for the city of course reaches to him too. He is perhaps more important than anything, because he is so important to Hinowa.
Kagura is her childhood, her light feet, and her warmth. Kagura is the first to call her "Tsukki," the first to reach out a hand of friendship in such a way. Together with the Yorozuya, Kagura invited her in, treating her like a person and a friend. All simple things, but all firsts, and they mean so much.
Shinpachi is her kindness, her silence, and her rope. He is a boy that treats people with a slight distance, something she recognises, but he is gentle and he is kind and he worries. He worries for her, and worries about doing anything that pushes her too much. Kagura is very straight forward in her approach, but Shinpachi reaches out quietly, with hesitation, hoping he doesn't step on any toes. It hovers between precious and annoying. But Tsukuyo can understand it, because she doesn't quite know how to reach out a helping, comforting hand either.
Tae is her womanhood, her smile, and her guide. In the center of the women of Gintama, there is Tae. Tsukuyo is not an Edo woman, but just like the Yorozuya, Tae reached out a hand and invited her in as one of them, even when Tsukuyo isn't sure if she even considers herself a woman or anything at all. Tae most certainly is a woman, and together with Hinowa she teaches Tsukuyo what it really entails. The strenght and beauty in it.
Kyuubei is her warrior, her battle, and her in between. Kyuubei is a woman, except she isn't, because Kyuubei is really neither man or woman, and Tsukuyo recognises that in herself. Whereas Kyuubei dresses as a man, Tsukuyo dresses as a woman, but they are nearly one and the same, and they fight similar battles. At least now, they are not alone on that battlefield and fighting that battle. They both may have their best friends at their sides, but they are the only ones that can fight it.
Sacchan is her love, her force, and her kunai. They are the women in Gintama that have long term and clear interest in Gintoki, but they were also both trained in the ways of the shinobi. Both trained to reside in the shadows, and yet both drawn to Gintoki's bright light. Perhaps that is what happens when you've lived a great part of your life in darkness.
The police force, Hyakka, is her purpose, her creation, and her soul. While it was technically founded by Jiraia, it was made to what it is today by Tsukuyo's own hands, and she knows this. It is the one thing she can truly feel she made.
Powers/Abilities: Tsukuyo is far from as frighteningly fast as her master Jiraia was, but she can still hold up well against a war veteran like Gintoki with her speed and her kunai. But that's about as far as special abilities go, unless a complete lack of alcohol tolerance also counts.
She's as human as they come.
Keepsakes/Mementos: Pipe. Tsukuyo lost her old one to the battle to free Yoshiwara, when Gintoki used it to stab Housen's eye and buy himself some time. But it's something Tsukuyo thinks of as her pride, one that comes from outside and not stuck in the prison that was Yoshiwara. It's more than just a pipe, but a symbol for the surface and the fresh air and bright sun up there, and as bright as the fire in Hinowa's and Gintoki's eyes.
Kunai. Not only is it her weapon of choice, but it is also what marked her face with scars meant to ruin her beauty and make her forget her womanhood. The blade of a kunai is connected to her identity in many ways.
Rice balls. When Tsukuyo is tied up and locked away as a little girl, as punishment for fighting back during training to become a Yoshiwara woman, Hinowa brings her food in the shape of rice balls. She motivates Tsukuyo to find her strength that time, and later Tsukuyo brings Hinowa rice balls in turn, and those are things Tsukuyo will never forget.
Spiderweb. Her master, Jiraia, was also known as the spider, building spiderwebs with bait to trap his prey in and eliminate them. Something he tried to do to her, but that she with Gintoki's help got out of.
Cage. Tsukuyo of course saw Yoshiwara as a prison, and told Hinowa such when Hinowa brought her the food. Hinowa told her that Yoshiwara may be a cage, but they all have one within them and that is the cage they need to fight their way out of. It could perhaps be seen as giving up, but Hinowa very likely saved Tsukuyo's life when she kept her from fighting what she couldn't escape at the time. But it was also something that motivated her when the chance to free Yoshiwara finally came.
Hairpin. She puts her hair up with pins that not only put her hair out of the way, and has been doing it since she was a child.
The moon.
The sun.
Sample: The funny thing was Jiraia had warned her about bonds. About having important people. People she relied on. Tsukuyo would never say she actually regretted any of it, not for the world, but he'd warned her about it and he'd had a point. It was almost as though the world itself turned upside down because Gintoki was no longer in it.
Or perhaps it was just that utterly absurd and stupid way to die. Or perhaps it was just her own world, and the kids' world. Seita's too. That useless, lazy perm had left such deep footsteps beside them all in their paths of life, and then he just left them, which was just completely unfair.
But then Tsukuyo couldn't tell if she was genuinely furious with him, or if she was just opting for that instead of a deep pit of sadness she risked getting dragged into.
Yoshiwara was largely untouched by the things going on on the surface, but since the sky opened to them again things trickled in. It was easy to see things were going to hell, and Tsukuyo was more than prepared for the worst. She couldn't protect Edo: That was Gintoki's job, the Yorozuya's, and surely there were still people around to do it. She had hers.
But when it trickled down to Yoshiwara, when the Bakufu and Amanto forces moved there, she wondered if perhaps she should have tried. Perhaps she shouldn't have focused entirely on Yoshiwara, even if she truly had her hands full with just that.
Hinowa had to be safe. They all had to be safe, and Tsukuyo had to ensure that.
She didn't stop for ages. Hours, surely, unless it only felt that way. She could see her forces falling one by one, but Hinowa had to be safe and they were all willing to die for it. They all knew the risks. She couldn't linger on it.
There was so much dust and smoke in her lungs and throat it made breathing hard. She could hear it rasping, wheezing through her teeth. Her limbs were burning as much as her chest, and tears ran down her cheeks due to the fire once again swallowing their city. It seemed the universe was intent on making it perish in flames.
At least, in this case, it wasn't set by her master.
No matter how many kunai she threw, the enemies surrounding her didn't seem to lessen. She refused to let them pass, refused to let them get to Hinowa, but she was so tired, she could hardly see, and she wasn't sure how long she could keep it up. One arm was already out of condition, and one leg would surely have a limp. She couldn't move like this. Couldn't fight. Couldn't do anything.
She had to protect Hinowa.
She screamed, and the next wave of her kunai brought down several more. But a rain of bullets was the response, and there was no way for her to block all of them or jump out of the way in time. The next moment she was on one knee, and she breathed, in, out, in, out. She was so tired ...
A blade flew at her throat, and that was the last thing she saw.
Mindset: Tsukuyo won't quite know what to think about the fact that she died. On the one hand she died protecting what mattered to her, but on another she can't be sure it turned out okay. It isn't the first time she's been near death, but she had an easier time accepting it because then she was not alone and Gintoki and his Yorozuya were there. This was not the case this time.
If you are supposed to have an afterlife, why have to spend it there worrying about what you left behind? Tsukuyo, despite being the Death God Courtesan, truly never thought much about the existence of an afterlife. Whether it exists or not wasn't important. Believable? Hard to say. But the people that have died are there, so what does it all mean?
She'll want to get to the bottom of it. There has to be answers.
G̶̶l̨͡i̵͢t̷c͝͠h̕é͠s̷̷͡: Tsukuyo struggles constantly with her own identity, her womanhood and what it means for her capabilities. She knows now that being a woman doesn't necessarily mean she can't protect Hinowa and whoever else she might want to protect, but sometimes when she sees her scarred face in the mirror she has her doubts.
Spiders and spiderwebs, things connected to many parts of her that she is not proud of, are a thing. While she came to terms with what her master did and forgave him, sometimes his teachings and the doubts rear their ugly heads.
Being unable to protect people and losing them, and it somehow being her fault. Jiraia tried to put the blame of the fire he set on Yoshiwara and Gintoki's supposed death on her, and she tends to do so herself.
That is also part of her cage, and she is scared of ending up in a cage again, whether her own or Yoshiwara's. She never wants to. She never wants to feel completely helpless ever again.
She first thought she lost Jiraia in a fire, and then the day she lost her faith in him he set Yoshiwara on fire again. And then there was once again fire the day she died. As a result, fire is something that makes her very uncomfortable.
Canon: Gintama
Gender: Female
Age: Tsukuyo's only canon confirmed age is 20+, meaning early twenties. In a flashback from four years ago she looks a decent bit younger, so I'd put her at about 19 or 20 there. Headcanon at time of death: 24.
History: Her wiki page. It's decent, but as you can see some arcs are a little lacking. So just click the links to the arcs' wiki pages if you want more? If needed, I'll write a summary, but the important stuff should be covered, really.
Personality: Tsukuyo was raised in the darkness. Darkness was all she knew for her whole life until she met Gintoki, with the only thing she had to call light her master Jiraia and her dear friend Hinowa. For all women raised in Yoshiwara - the hidden red light city under Edo - Hinowa was the only light they knew.
The "hi" in Hinowa's name is written with the kanji for sun, and the "tsuku" in Tsukuyo's name is written with the kanji for moon. Together they were seen as the sun and moon of Yoshiwara, the hope for the women bathed in darkness. For many years, when Tsukuyo thought her master was long dead and gone, her greatest motivation in life was Hinowa. To be as strong as Hinowa had told her to be. To carry on. If someone like Hinowa, who seemed so trapped and without power, could carry on with such strength, then so could Tsukuyo.
For Hinowa, and for the city Hinowa loved, Tsukuyo did what she could. She worked under Housen, officially, but she never truly considered herself under his rule. She was supposed to protect the law of Yoshiwara, as the head of its police force, but what she truly did was protect the women of Yoshiwara. Trying to escape was punishable with death, but Tsukuyo never did kill those women: She hurt them enough for it to look like she punished them, and then recruited them into the force. She saved their lives.
Tsukuyo does what she can. To her it doesn't matter what the consequences may be, because she refuses to live a life in which she does nothing. At the very least, she can endure. As long as you are alive, you can endure, you can do something. Hinowa taught her that what matters is that you live.
Then she learned there are things worth dying for.
When Gintoki came to Yoshiwara, she was prepared to die for something as simple as opening the roof over their heads and letting in the sun. Housen was a Yato, an alien race weak to the sun, and covered the whole city in darkness to escape its rays. Tsukuyo had never thought overly much about fighting to bring it back, and considered Housen unbeatable. Instead she did what she could, and protected the women trapped in the city.
Gintoki said he'd bring back the sun, and so she learned to aim higher. She almost lost her life doing it, but in the end they did bring back the sun. She protects the city with an even fiercer determination than before, fighting for the place she considers her home.
All of her life she has fought for someone else, and tossed herself aside to do so. To become strong, her master Jiraia told her to forget who she was, forget being a woman, because it would weaken her. For a long time, to herself she wasn't enough. People came to love her for her, but she never understood, never thought about it, until Gintoki told her that she is enough. Strong enough, good enough, kind enough, beautiful enough, no matter how scarred or fragile.
After they took the sun back is the first time others have started to see her for who she is, and the first time she's tried doing so herself.
Her struggles with her own identity shows in many ways. When she doesn't want people to look at her because she can't be what she thinks she should be at that moment. When she protests people seeing her as a woman because she doesn't think that's good enough. When she argues that she isn't pretty or beautiful or even trying to accomplish such a thing, because she is scarred and weak and ugly. But she is so much more than that, and she's slowly starting to see it.
She is kind and she values life so much. She saved the women rather than punish them for trying to run away, and intruders she was told to kill she instead tried to help escape the city. She follows her own rule, or Hinowa's, no matter how bad the situation is. She will not kill just because she is ordered to. She wants to save as many as she possibly can.
And she is strong enough to carry her master's burdens. Jiraia manipulated her, tried to form her into his image of perfection, into something he wanted, and as far as he was concerned her new friends were ruining all of his hard work. To make her stronger he was going to burn down all of Yoshiwara and she begged him to stop, to spare them, that she'd go with him and do anything he wanted if he just spared them.
They were too important to her, in his mind. Made her weak. But her care and kindness is what made her able to carry him in the end, when Gintoki had beat him around a while and Tsukuyo in the end killed him to protect Gintoki, she was able to carry her teacher. But more than that, she accepted everything with a quiet resolution, forgave him, and ended it on a silent, peaceful note for the both of them. One that she could carry on from, even with his blood on her hands.
She has struggled and fought and worked hard all her life. From a child in training to become a Yoshiwara woman, to a student under a master shinobi to become something not a woman at all, to a protector and champion of Hinowa and all Yoshiwara's women. She knows how to work hard, and she carries far too much on her shoulders to make herself someone others can rely, and make sure she takes responsibility. Too much responsibility. That's something Jiraia tried to teach her. Everything is her fault.
What she has more trouble with is having fun. After her master's death, Hinowa worries and asks the Yorozuya to help bring Tsukuyo out of her shell and spend some time with her. Gintoki is reluctant and seems to think it's best to leave her alone, but in the end they're both tricked into it, as Tsukuyo is given a task to take care of a "very special guest" and Gintoki is offered an evening on the house.
It ends a complete mess. Tsukuyo is very weak to alcohol and scares the life out of not only Gintoki, but everyone but Hinowa, with how violent and angry she gets. Though all she really scares them into is joining them in the drinking and knocking them all out. And as soon as she is sober enough, she immediately gets up to patrol.
She is, however, grateful for the effort they put into making her have fun and feel better. It isn't something people do for her often, and it could even possibly be the very first time. Tsukuyo has never had friends like that before the Yorozuya came into her life and Hinowa was freed.
Finally, she can start living her own life, for her. There is no longer anything that holds her back, and it goes only up from there as she finds more and more of herself.
Hinowa is her strength, her saviour, and her life. When Tsukuyo was young and hurt and lost, Hinowa gave her the strength to carry on. She brought her food when she was locked in, and motivated her. As she got older, she considered it only fair, her duty, that she was strong enough to carry Hinowa as Hinowa had carried her, and for many years refused to put herself in what she saw as the weaker position again.
But Hinowa only ever wanted to keep helping her, as well. They are the most loyal to each other, never truly leaving the other's side, and protecting Yoshiwara together. With their freedom regained, they are able to truly develop a friendship, and they become even more inseperable than before.
Jiraia is her maker, her teacher, and her destruction. Jiraia built her up and tore her down as he saw fit, with an iron fist around her will, her fire and her heart. If Hinowa built her up, he ruined her so that instead she would put herself together according to the strings he pulled. He taught her everything she knows about fighting and leading, but ruined her in the process because in comparison to Hinowa, the Yorozuya and all her other friends he never wanted her, but a copy of him.
Being free of Housen and darkness was one thing. Being free of Jiraia something entirely else. He was her world, and with that world gone she has had to build a new one.
Gintoki is her motivation, her heart, and her sword. With his blazing, shining soul and unwavering resolve, he time and time again shows her that you can always fight, and you can accomplish the seemingly impossible. She loves him not because he is Yoshiwara's saviour, almost a Messiah, but because he is beautiful and shows her things no one else does.
He shows her herself in a way no one else can. With a gentle, guiding hand he leads her to where she can find what she needs in herself, without having to rely on anyone else. When he is around, she finds the best parts of her own soul, and he seems to do so effortlessly.
Seita is her hope, her light, and her beauty. While the Yoshiwara woman who was Seita's actual mother died, all women of Yoshiwara consider him their son. Thus, naturally, Tsukuyo does too. Housen always made sure that his women wouldn't have anything else except Yoshiwara, so the idea that there was a child out there that got out of the city with his life was a beacon of hope for all of them.
And now that he is back in their custody under Hinowa's protection, Tsukuyo's care for the city of course reaches to him too. He is perhaps more important than anything, because he is so important to Hinowa.
Kagura is her childhood, her light feet, and her warmth. Kagura is the first to call her "Tsukki," the first to reach out a hand of friendship in such a way. Together with the Yorozuya, Kagura invited her in, treating her like a person and a friend. All simple things, but all firsts, and they mean so much.
Shinpachi is her kindness, her silence, and her rope. He is a boy that treats people with a slight distance, something she recognises, but he is gentle and he is kind and he worries. He worries for her, and worries about doing anything that pushes her too much. Kagura is very straight forward in her approach, but Shinpachi reaches out quietly, with hesitation, hoping he doesn't step on any toes. It hovers between precious and annoying. But Tsukuyo can understand it, because she doesn't quite know how to reach out a helping, comforting hand either.
Tae is her womanhood, her smile, and her guide. In the center of the women of Gintama, there is Tae. Tsukuyo is not an Edo woman, but just like the Yorozuya, Tae reached out a hand and invited her in as one of them, even when Tsukuyo isn't sure if she even considers herself a woman or anything at all. Tae most certainly is a woman, and together with Hinowa she teaches Tsukuyo what it really entails. The strenght and beauty in it.
Kyuubei is her warrior, her battle, and her in between. Kyuubei is a woman, except she isn't, because Kyuubei is really neither man or woman, and Tsukuyo recognises that in herself. Whereas Kyuubei dresses as a man, Tsukuyo dresses as a woman, but they are nearly one and the same, and they fight similar battles. At least now, they are not alone on that battlefield and fighting that battle. They both may have their best friends at their sides, but they are the only ones that can fight it.
Sacchan is her love, her force, and her kunai. They are the women in Gintama that have long term and clear interest in Gintoki, but they were also both trained in the ways of the shinobi. Both trained to reside in the shadows, and yet both drawn to Gintoki's bright light. Perhaps that is what happens when you've lived a great part of your life in darkness.
The police force, Hyakka, is her purpose, her creation, and her soul. While it was technically founded by Jiraia, it was made to what it is today by Tsukuyo's own hands, and she knows this. It is the one thing she can truly feel she made.
Powers/Abilities: Tsukuyo is far from as frighteningly fast as her master Jiraia was, but she can still hold up well against a war veteran like Gintoki with her speed and her kunai. But that's about as far as special abilities go, unless a complete lack of alcohol tolerance also counts.
She's as human as they come.
Keepsakes/Mementos: Pipe. Tsukuyo lost her old one to the battle to free Yoshiwara, when Gintoki used it to stab Housen's eye and buy himself some time. But it's something Tsukuyo thinks of as her pride, one that comes from outside and not stuck in the prison that was Yoshiwara. It's more than just a pipe, but a symbol for the surface and the fresh air and bright sun up there, and as bright as the fire in Hinowa's and Gintoki's eyes.
Kunai. Not only is it her weapon of choice, but it is also what marked her face with scars meant to ruin her beauty and make her forget her womanhood. The blade of a kunai is connected to her identity in many ways.
Rice balls. When Tsukuyo is tied up and locked away as a little girl, as punishment for fighting back during training to become a Yoshiwara woman, Hinowa brings her food in the shape of rice balls. She motivates Tsukuyo to find her strength that time, and later Tsukuyo brings Hinowa rice balls in turn, and those are things Tsukuyo will never forget.
Spiderweb. Her master, Jiraia, was also known as the spider, building spiderwebs with bait to trap his prey in and eliminate them. Something he tried to do to her, but that she with Gintoki's help got out of.
Cage. Tsukuyo of course saw Yoshiwara as a prison, and told Hinowa such when Hinowa brought her the food. Hinowa told her that Yoshiwara may be a cage, but they all have one within them and that is the cage they need to fight their way out of. It could perhaps be seen as giving up, but Hinowa very likely saved Tsukuyo's life when she kept her from fighting what she couldn't escape at the time. But it was also something that motivated her when the chance to free Yoshiwara finally came.
Hairpin. She puts her hair up with pins that not only put her hair out of the way, and has been doing it since she was a child.
The moon.
The sun.
Sample: The funny thing was Jiraia had warned her about bonds. About having important people. People she relied on. Tsukuyo would never say she actually regretted any of it, not for the world, but he'd warned her about it and he'd had a point. It was almost as though the world itself turned upside down because Gintoki was no longer in it.
Or perhaps it was just that utterly absurd and stupid way to die. Or perhaps it was just her own world, and the kids' world. Seita's too. That useless, lazy perm had left such deep footsteps beside them all in their paths of life, and then he just left them, which was just completely unfair.
But then Tsukuyo couldn't tell if she was genuinely furious with him, or if she was just opting for that instead of a deep pit of sadness she risked getting dragged into.
Yoshiwara was largely untouched by the things going on on the surface, but since the sky opened to them again things trickled in. It was easy to see things were going to hell, and Tsukuyo was more than prepared for the worst. She couldn't protect Edo: That was Gintoki's job, the Yorozuya's, and surely there were still people around to do it. She had hers.
But when it trickled down to Yoshiwara, when the Bakufu and Amanto forces moved there, she wondered if perhaps she should have tried. Perhaps she shouldn't have focused entirely on Yoshiwara, even if she truly had her hands full with just that.
Hinowa had to be safe. They all had to be safe, and Tsukuyo had to ensure that.
She didn't stop for ages. Hours, surely, unless it only felt that way. She could see her forces falling one by one, but Hinowa had to be safe and they were all willing to die for it. They all knew the risks. She couldn't linger on it.
There was so much dust and smoke in her lungs and throat it made breathing hard. She could hear it rasping, wheezing through her teeth. Her limbs were burning as much as her chest, and tears ran down her cheeks due to the fire once again swallowing their city. It seemed the universe was intent on making it perish in flames.
At least, in this case, it wasn't set by her master.
No matter how many kunai she threw, the enemies surrounding her didn't seem to lessen. She refused to let them pass, refused to let them get to Hinowa, but she was so tired, she could hardly see, and she wasn't sure how long she could keep it up. One arm was already out of condition, and one leg would surely have a limp. She couldn't move like this. Couldn't fight. Couldn't do anything.
She had to protect Hinowa.
She screamed, and the next wave of her kunai brought down several more. But a rain of bullets was the response, and there was no way for her to block all of them or jump out of the way in time. The next moment she was on one knee, and she breathed, in, out, in, out. She was so tired ...
A blade flew at her throat, and that was the last thing she saw.
Mindset: Tsukuyo won't quite know what to think about the fact that she died. On the one hand she died protecting what mattered to her, but on another she can't be sure it turned out okay. It isn't the first time she's been near death, but she had an easier time accepting it because then she was not alone and Gintoki and his Yorozuya were there. This was not the case this time.
If you are supposed to have an afterlife, why have to spend it there worrying about what you left behind? Tsukuyo, despite being the Death God Courtesan, truly never thought much about the existence of an afterlife. Whether it exists or not wasn't important. Believable? Hard to say. But the people that have died are there, so what does it all mean?
She'll want to get to the bottom of it. There has to be answers.
G̶̶l̨͡i̵͢t̷c͝͠h̕é͠s̷̷͡: Tsukuyo struggles constantly with her own identity, her womanhood and what it means for her capabilities. She knows now that being a woman doesn't necessarily mean she can't protect Hinowa and whoever else she might want to protect, but sometimes when she sees her scarred face in the mirror she has her doubts.
Spiders and spiderwebs, things connected to many parts of her that she is not proud of, are a thing. While she came to terms with what her master did and forgave him, sometimes his teachings and the doubts rear their ugly heads.
Being unable to protect people and losing them, and it somehow being her fault. Jiraia tried to put the blame of the fire he set on Yoshiwara and Gintoki's supposed death on her, and she tends to do so herself.
That is also part of her cage, and she is scared of ending up in a cage again, whether her own or Yoshiwara's. She never wants to. She never wants to feel completely helpless ever again.
She first thought she lost Jiraia in a fire, and then the day she lost her faith in him he set Yoshiwara on fire again. And then there was once again fire the day she died. As a result, fire is something that makes her very uncomfortable.