Naoki Ueno

Name: Naoki Ueno

Age: 23

Years Since Gaining Quincy Powers: 18

Gender: Female

Current Location: Karakura Town

Occupation: Naoki owns and tends a small bar on the western edge of Karakura Town.

Quincy Rank: Knight

Appearance: Naoki Ueno [Quincy outfit][Street clothes]

Personality: Naoki is the kind of person who lives for today and worries about tomorrow when it comes. She is a risk-taker, living for the moment, laughing in the face of whatever mysterious force seeks to control her. When it comes to taking orders, she's not the best; she does whatever she wants, when she wants. This is not to say that she has no rationale or reason, it's just a question of whether or not she will use it. She is considered to be an uncontrollable and unpredictable force, a loose-cannon, and sometimes even a liability.

As leaders go, it is well-known that most people can only follow leaders of certain types. Naoki is the type of leader who inspires her subordinates by her actions and by her fearless disregard for anything that would stand in her way. People who expect leaders to consider their decisions carefully will not do well working under Naoki. Rather, those who can respect instant action, an unwavering will in the face of danger, and an unwillingness to be defeated or denied will do well under Naoki's leadership.

Fighting Style: Unlike most Quincy who fight solely with their ranged weapons, Naoki is a very upfront and in-your-face fighter. She likes to fool people into believing that she is one of these standard types of Quincy before rushing in to utilize the element of surprise. Being that she's been a martial artist practically since birth, she is extremely competent with hand-to-hand combat. She also enjoys using her Quincy bow and other instruments in unconventional ways. The element of surprise is something that Naoki enjoys having on her side.

Background: Naoki lived as a normal human for the first five years of her life. Her father went to work in the day, and her mother would stay home to clean the house and take care of her. She had begged them to let her take karate when she turned four, and so she would go to her lessons once a week. It wasn't until she was playing with a few of her friends in the woods that she discovered her Quincy powers - quite on accident. They were playing some kind of pretend game, as kids do, and the young Naoki decided that she wanted to have a bow. As she held up her hand, clenched around an imaginary bow, and made the motion of drawing a string back, she felt something well up within her. Her palms began to sweat, and she gasped before suddenly releasing her 'arrow'...then both she and her friends watched in amazement as a bolt of blue light flew from her hands and shattered a nearby boulder. After returning home, the young girl excitedly recalled the event to her parents, expecting them to laugh and say how amazing it was. Their reaction was less than satisfactory.

With expressions as cold as death, Naoki's parents explained to their young daughter that they were both a race called Quincy, and that Quincy were people with holy powers that were used to fight evil spirits called Hollow. Hollow were malevolent spirits that ate ghosts and even humans sometimes, they said, and that the Quincy powers were a thing that would destroy them, completely erasing them from this world and the next. As she was young and could not read the situation, Naoki became excited, expressing that this story was very fun, and that she wanted to learn how to be a Quincy. Her parents had other things in mind. They told her no, she would not be receiving Quincy training. She would live the rest of her life as a normal human. When she asked why, they told her that it was too dangerous, but she had a feeling there was more to it.

After a few years, Naoki utilized her natural resourcefulness to locate another Quincy. He was an old man, but a Quincy nonetheless. What he told her made her blood boil. Her parents had both been powerful Quincy, he said, but they had retired after learning of the ongoing and ever-present conflict between the Quincy and the Shinigami of Seireitei. They had sided with the Shinigami on the issue, believing that the way the Quincy's powers worked was wrong. They had retired as a protest to this, and also to get away from the mounting conflict that would inevitably result. Naoki felt disgusted...if Hollow were evil beings as they all said, what was the problem with destroying them? Besides, she thought, the Quincy cause was just, no matter how they went about it. It seemed stupid to abandon their duty to defend normal humans just because they disagreed with the methods. If thought it was wrong, they should have tried to fix it, she thought.

Over the course of the next several years, Naoki learned of her Quincy powers from the old man. When she turned sixteen, she told her parents that she was going to become a great Quincy, and that they should never expect to hear from her again. However, she returned a month later, feeling drawn by the invisible bond between parent and child. It was then that she found her mother being attacked by a Hollow, and just as the beast was preparing to land the final blow, Naoki jumped in front of the attack, losing one eye and permanently scarring the other. Even through the pain and the blood blurring her sight, she killed the Hollow. However, her mother did not thank her; rather, she yelled at her for destroying the Hollow. Naoki did not understand - she had just saved this woman from certain doom, even gotten injured in the process, and now she was getting lectured for it? She lashed out, telling her mother she was an idiot and that it was a miracle she had any brains at all, because neither of her parents did. Then she stormed away, resolving that this time, she would not come back.

Since then, Naoki swore to herself that she would become an extremely powerful Quincy, and prove that her idiot parents were wrong and could not change her destiny. They had wanted a normal daughter, but she knew better; she knew that she was a Quincy, and if they didn't, it was their loss.

APPROVED

Time to work on your bow.