Sign Up The First Yakuza: Series 1

[BlueYoshi]

[color=teal][CENTER][size=3][b][u]The Prologue[/u][/b][/size][/CENTER]

Looking down the distant hallway, the sounds of echoed footsteps could be heard. They were from loafers; nothing could be more irritating than loafers on a hard and subtle surface. It got louder and louder, whoever was coming was getting closer and closer at every step, and finally, behind the wave of heat that had spread like mist throughout the entire corridor, the images of two blurred men appeared as they continued walking. They arrived at the recollection centre and stopped, it was a Japanese man and his escort--a prison warden. His appearance was extremely scruffy; you could almost call him a bum. A puddle of sweat had gathered by his feet, each drop trickled down his rough, rugged face before hitting the floor, but his eyes were the worst, those red blood shot eyes popped out of his skull as if they were ready to explode, it looked like he hadn?t had a wink of sleep for days? and then suddenly, it hit me?

He was no bum; this man was a legend in the slammer. He ruled the cells and everyone in them when only one month in, it was him who told the guards what to do and when to do it, nobody would mess with him. He did what he had t do, for he was no ordinary con, that man was a part of the notorious Kagome crime family, he is--

?Ken Kagome, serial number 88628, right this was please?, said Ken?s warden. He went round through the door and into the office as he held the door open for Ken on his way in. The warden took a big brown envelope out of a huge filing cabinet and spilled the contents out on the desk.

?Cigarettes, a lighter, and? your wallet.? The warden went through Ken?s things one by on, naming them each separately.

Ken just returned a sharp yet direct nod to acknowledge him. The warden then pointed at the forms and said,

?Then if you?d just sign here sir you?ll be good to go.? Ken picked up the box of cigarettes and slowly took one out; he lit it, took a puff, and then released a cloud of smoke from his mouth in the warden?s direction.

It had gotten into the warden?s eyes and as they distinctly started to tear he lightly waved his hand back and forth to redirect the smoke. He was continuously hinting small coughs from time to time, trying to maintain a tough guy act. As his vision started to come to, he replied to Ken in a slightly agitated tone.

?Sir--I?ll have to ask you again--?, but was interrupted as he noticed Ken?s signature on the paper. The warden merely returned a puzzled look in comparison to the cheeky grin on Ken?s face. He always loved fooling around, but then again who could blame him? He had just done four years inside, and that ain?t no walk in the park either.

?Very well sir. Have a nice day and, er, try to stay out of trouble?. The warden winked at Ken and then adjourned their little meeting by closing all the files previously opened. Ken slipped his belongings into his blazer pockets and then left the building.

Ken made his way outside and walked promptly through the sandy prison grounds. You could clearly hear the grit crunching underneath his shoes. Ken scouted the car park briefly, left to right to left, and then noticed a shiny, new-looking limousine with tinted black windows and a Japanese man leaning on the back door. The man looked really slick, neat hair do, expensive sunglasses, flashy clothes--the works, his gun poked out slightly from underneath his blazer.

As Ken approached the man, he gave him a bow and opened the car door for him, and entered it quickly.

?These ******* hacks?, Ken straightened his blazer and put a cigarette in his mouth, ?who the hell are you??

?Shuya Matsumoto. Your father assigned me as your new lieutenant. It is my duty to lay my life on the line for you sir.? Shuya shut the door behind him and went inside the car from the other side.

?Spare me the tough guy crap. Any word from my father?? Ken uttered his words quickly and precisely while randomly hitting his palms against his pockets in search of a lighter.

Shuya pulled out his lighter and reached out towards Ken to light his cigarette as he replied, ?Kagome-san, the Boss requests that you see him immediately regarding the start of your rehabilitation courses.?

Ken took his wallet out of pocket and opened it; he counted the money inside, $1500, more than enough to start out on. He took a deep puff from cigarette and told Shuya,

?I don?t think so.? Ken blew smoke out of both his nostrils. ?Driver, we?re going to New Tokyo Casino? step on it!?

[CENTER][size=3][u][b]A Life of Crime[/b][/u][/size][/CENTER]

The First Yakuza, a life of crime in the Japanese-American underworld where predominantly the strongest survive and the weak get wiped out. Set in New York City at the present, the story revolves around the Kagome crime family run by Yakuza veteran, Akira Kagome, along side his own two sons, Ken and Jacky, and a pack of barbaric henchmen who all strive to join Akira as the Boss of all Bosses in the current syndicate going on. This is the liberty they?ve all taken since the Kagome?s acceptance into the Circle--the united Yakuza bosses of New York? and they will use any means necessary to meet it.

Loyalty, Pride, Honour--in a life led by those three codes of conduct, the Kagome?s will learn that only together will they shadow over each problem thrown at them as they are constantly overthrown by abuse, praise, and even death.

The First Yakuza: Series one takes us through the eyes of Ken Kagome. After being sentenced to four years in prison for pursuing an armed robbery on a jewellery store, his father, Akira, made him promise to quit his mischievous ways in the Yakuza and to start flying straight, in the opposite direction of the law. Ken believes that the Yakuza lives inside of him and nothing will ever change that. However, it?s Akira who has the last laugh as he [I]forces[/I] Ken to agree with him under oath as it was down to him who narrowed Ken?s sentence down..

And now, four years to the day, Ken is released from prison. After being picked up by his men, he develops a sudden craving for cigarettes, alcohol, and gambling. So, on his first day of rehabilitation he heads for the casinos, only to fall horribly in debt with the highly acclaimed Hatzo family, and it?s only then that Ken realises the significance of his father?s words. Forced back into the life without Akira?s consent, Ken must fight his way through New York?s ruthless crime Circle and raise enough cash to save his own life.

[CENTER][size=3][b][u]The Characters[/u][/b][/size][/CENTER]

As of Series 1, there will only be a select cast of characters so far, and they will vary from the two families involved within the story?s plot: the Kagome?s, and the Tanegashima?s. Each family has a set of the Boss?s own subordinates in which you, my friends, will represent. What your character has been up to before the events leading up to this point are entirely and conclusively up to you, along, with their personalities and up bringing. There will be more chances to recruit for this RPG in the series to come, since I?m hoping to kill some characters off, and introduce some new ones, so the mix will be pretty balanced.

One thing I really want to stress however, so read carefully, is that I don?t want to see everyone?s character as a ?hardcore, self-centred, badass?. I?d really like to limit this factor to its minimum, so please work with me here. Obviously, I will pick the best recruits in contrast to their post quality, commitment, detail, punctuation and grammar to join the RPG. The specific roles of each character are as follows: (Remember, these are the [I]roles[/I], and not your character?s personality/background).

[u]The Kagome Family[/u]

Akira Kagome ? The Boss of the Kagome family.
Ken Kagome ? Second in command of the family, Akira?s personal bodyguard and gun.
Jacky Kagome ? Family accountant and successor to the Kagome family after Akira.
Shuya Matsumoto ? Ken?s lieutenant, friend, and best gun.
Ash Tatsuya ? Shuya?s sworn brother (not blood related). Will do anything for each other.

[u]The Tanegashima Family[/u]

Taka Tanegashima ? The Boss of the Tanegashima family.
Ryo Tsubame ? Boss?s adopted son, bodyguard and personal gun.
Sasuke Itari ? An undercover cop working for the Tanegashima?s in order to try and bust them. He merely serves Taka as a henchman.

One final point before we press on to the sign-up sheets, I?d like to clear up the fuss about names. In the process of writing The First Yakuza, I used names that relate to original Japanese names that I gathered from my knowledge of anime and video games. These are also the names listen above with the character roles--they are only default names that are there to indicate you to who?s who in order to avoid any confusion. Therefore, I?m actually going to let you choose your own names, and if you choose to do so, please state it clearly in your sign up. There?s a catch though, for those of you who choose a character who?s related to either of the Bosses, i.e. son, brother, etc, you must remain with the assigned surname. So if your Akira then your own name would be something like:

BlueYoshi Kagome.

Or if you?d like a full name then it will be like:

BlueYoshi Akuma Kagome

They are just examples. Oh, and don?t worry about the fact that names have already been used in the prologue, I?ll edit those accordingly if need doing so.

[CENTER][size=3][b][u]The sign-up[/u][/b][/size][/CENTER]

Okay, with that aside, here is the structure of the sign-up sheet:

[u][b]Name[/b][/u]: This is the name that [b]you[/b] choose. Please leave blank if you?re going to stick with your character?s Default Name.

[u][b]Character/Default Name[/b][/u]: The character you choose from the list above. Please fill this in even if you?re using your own name so we know exactly whom you?re playing as.

[u][b]Age[/b][/u]: Your character?s age. Please be realistic and in proportion to others age?s. So, a father would be a lot older than his son.

[u][b]Appearance[/b][/u]: What your character will look like in terms of dress code, body features, etc.

[u][b]Background/Biography[/b][/u]: Relive your character?s past and tell us about the events that took place up to this point. Like where they went to school or their up bringing, Try to be specific and compelling as these will affect the direction of the stories. [b]Important:[/b] with the exception of Sasuke, you may put what you want. Sasuke is an undercover cop so the bulk of his background must relate and be relevant to that.

[u][b]Current Family[/b][/u]: You can ignore this for now. Reason being is because in later series to come, characters will be either killed off, or moved to other families. You?ll have a better view of this as the story progresses.

Now, the only way I see this RPG working is if all of the positions are taken, so I guess we?ll start as soon as they?re filled. And, I?m going to reserve the role of Akira Kagome for myself since I haven?t the time to do it yet, so I?ll post my sing-up later.[/color]

[DeadSeraphim]

[font=Arial Narrow][size=1][color=indigo]Intersting concept. Here's my sign up sheet.[/color][/size][/font]

---

[color=teal][u][b]
[font=Arial Narrow][size=1][color=Indigo] Name[/color][/size][/font][/b][/u][font=Arial Narrow][size=1][color=Indigo]:

[u][b]Character/Default Name[/b][/u]: [/color][/size][/font] [/color][font=Arial Narrow][size=1][color=Indigo] Shuya Matsumoto[/color][/size][/font][font=Arial Narrow][size=1][color=Indigo]
[/color][/size][/font] [font=Arial Narrow][size=1][color=Indigo]
[u][b]Age[/b][/u]: 25

[u][b]Appearance[/b][/u]: Wallflower. Shuya is the kind of person that is hard to pick out of a crowd, as he tends to blend in with everyone else. Dull black hair and tired brown eyes do nothing to compliment a drawn face, and often serves to make his clothing, which is impeccably clean and extremely expensive, seem irrelevant. This, however, works in his favour, as it is not often that he is identified in a police line-up.

[/color][/size][/font][font=Arial Narrow][size=1][color=Indigo] [u][b]Background/Biography[/b][/u]: Born to American parents of Japanese decent, Shuya is all-American in every way. Except appearance. This lead, unfortunately, to terrible teasing in his child-hood, which in turn forced him onto a route of temporary-insanity during his pre-teens.

Almost as soon as he turned thirteen, having spent the last three years on medication, he seemed to get better again. But this was not the case. After only a short year living a normal life he snapped and murdered the family pets in a rage, which had him sent to a juvenile asylum.

When he emerged once more, at the age of 18, Shuya was a changed man. He seemed to be able to control his emotions and didn't fly off the handle at things. Or so everyone thought. But a month after being released he moved in with his parents, but, having forgotten to take the prescribed medication, he strangled his mother unto the point of death before realizing what he had done and fleeing.

Fractured and still a little bit insane, he wandered America for a term before he meet Akira. Akira, feeling generous, took the poor man in, and slowly made a true yakuza out of him. The rest, as they say, is history...
[u][b]
Current Family[/b][/u]: ??[/color][/size][/font]

[BlueYoshi]

[color=teal]Thanks for your reply CrH, your recruitment sheet is satisfactory. One thing that I'll have to ask you to change though, you've taken the role of Shuya Matsumoto, and you say him and Ken are old friends. In the prologue they've actually just met so do you think you can say that Akira or Jacky befriended him and took him in?

I'm sorry for the confusion there; it just didn't make sense that's all.

EDIT: I added Akira Kagome's personality to the sign-up sheet, and even though I didn't ask for one, I felt it would be important that we all know his since he's the main character after all. Anyway, here it is...

[b][u]Name:[/b][/u] Akira Kagome

[b][u]Age:[/b][/u] 52

[b][u]Appearance:[/b][/u] Akira has got natural ink black hair that is always combed back. Sometimes, he can be found in front of a mirror combing his hair slowly since he is extremely paranoid about the way he looks in a socially embedded environment, and like every other member of the Kagome family, he will sport a set of large sunglasses when out in the open. Though not a fan of jewellery or any other accessories of the type, Akira wears a very thin gold chain around his neck that was given to him by his wife, which he sees more as a symbolic token, and also a gold watch that he received as an acceptance gift from other members from back when when he first became a Yakuza Boss.

As a result of having been shot in the leg, right underneath the knee cap above the shin to be specific, Akira will always be carrying an oak brown cane walking stick that has a small Samurai warrior helmet on the handle to help him walk. Concealed within the cane is a half- sized, razor sharp Tanto blade, which he uses for domestic purposes as well as savage. He is still capable of walking however, just with a limp that?s most likely to slow him down.

Besides the fact that Akira resents jewellery, he does have incredibly expensive taste, ranging from the cigars he smokes to the vehicles he rides in, Akira will always behold top of the line items, and his dress code is no different. Akira's suits, shirts, and shoes are all custom made to his liking and size by the number one designer wear manufacturers known. Very rarely will you see him in a more casual, country looking style, but the rest of the time it?s 'business before pleasure'.

[b][u]Personality:[/b][/u] Usually a calm and subtle individual, Akira is not one you want to mess around with. He will open his heart to his two sons and anyone who remains loyal and devoted to him during any rough peril they may encounter. Coming from a rough childhood and background, Akira is very old fashioned, which has caused him to develop a rash hatred towards Western technology, and will ultimately try to avoid any form of interaction with alleged Westerners since he finds them crude and not to be trusted. Thus explaining why he prefers to carry a blade rather than a firearm.

For a man who only speaks when he feels the need to, Akira is a ruthless and as cold hearted as they come, and generally lacks the hesitation to make the harsh snap decisions of busting one's business partnership or killing a fellow or rival Yakuza gang member, whatever their position may be. But, as arrogant as he may be, Akira has a tongue for a glass of warm sake every now and then, and is actually quite light-hearted and humorous to be around with when drunk--he is particularly famous for his sexist jokes and remarks, though he has never fooled around with woman since the death of his wife.

Previously an avid gambler back in his late teens, Akira forced his way through the slums by his exceptional talent in Poker. You would only see him in the games with the highest stakes involved and considered the rest as a waste of his time. After losing almost all of his money and winnings in a game with many other Japanese syndicate leaders and crime lords, Akira made an oath never to gamble again. From time to time Akira would play a friendly game or two with some of his co-workers, but nothing too serious though.

[b][u]Biography/Background:[/b][/u] Born in 1952 and brought up in the rough neck of the woods in New York, Akira lived with his father, Kenji. Before enrolling at high school, Akira would work a part-time job at a small coffee shop stall to scrape in a few extra dollars to pay the rent, and would usually receive a lot of stick from the other American kids whilst working. This is where he developed a stereotype for these 'snobby kids' as he called them, and decided to protest against them in his years at high school. Forming a coalition with a few other Japanese boys, Akira took satisfaction in beating up other gangs and it wasn't soon before he was fired from his daily job.

In response to Akira's unsoundly ways, his father would punish him by beating him up. Akira condemned this and became even more so juvenile and decided to boycott school. At the age of seventeen and as a result of many years of stress from this, Kenji suffered a heart attack and died three hours later in hospital. It was at this point that Akira decided to stop attending school altogether, and it was only months later that he was convicted of his first crime. He had gotten drunk with his friends and out of the blue they severely beat on a patrolling police officer--only Akira got six months in the juvenile hall for GBH since he was the only one to have gotten caught and refused to rat on any of his friends during his interrogation.

It was in the juvenille halls where Akira met a Japanese guy called Tetsuya who was in there for petty crimes. They had both learned how to play poker together as a means of passing time. After weeks practise Tetsuya realised that Akira had a gift for the game and decided to put it to use by betting cigarettes and matches in the joint. Upon their releases, Akira and Tetsuya decided to up the stakes a little, so they went around town hustling any sucker they could find on the street just to skim in a few extra bucks, and it wasn't long before they ran into a Yakuza member called Tatsuro. He knew the tricks and only played along to see the kid's talent. After revealing himself as a Yakuza gang member he made them an offer that they couldn't refuse. Basically, Tatsuro as a Yakuza member, was connected in the streets, he would find the games going on and send in Akira and Tetsuya to play and win in those games. As long as Akira and Tetsuya got some of the winnings, and Tatsuro got his cut, everyone was happy.

You'd think that Tatsuro's Boss, Boss Kuragame, would have been outraged at this when he found out, but he actually held his own stake in it all, too.

One night, Kuragame told Akira and Tetsuya about a big Poker game that was coming up. He told them that is was with the other Yakuza crime lords and that it would be tougher than usual. Obviously, they agreed, and so spent the next few days polishing up on their skills. Hours before the game though, Tetsuya had managed to get himself beaten up by other gang members, it turned out that he was drunk because he was over clouded with nervousness. Unfortunately, Akira only found out about this while he was at the Poker table and about to begin the game, which forced him to play alone. Akira fell nervous and isolated and lost the game even quicker than he thought he would. He lost everything; the money, his money, all the winnings, it was all gone. Boss Kuragame didn't accept this either, and decided to have young Tetsuya killed for his foolishness. He understood Akira's circumstances and forced him to lay his life for him, thus he worked as another of Kuragame's henchmen.

Boss Kuragame was still in debt from the severe Poker loss and was receiving threats from all over the place. He now had a week to pay off the debt or he'd be killed. Kuragame was in a mental distress until he thought a plan; he thought that he could use Akira to get him out of this mess, though he tried to plan it legally so it was a guaranteed score for him. The plan was to send Akira off to deliver five keys of cocaine to an abandoned warehouse where a man would be waiting to collect it. Kuragame told Akira that the man would be dressed in blue, so he tipped off the cops and told them the situation. Poor Akira got six years for the possession of and intent to supply cocaine. All of his assets went to Kuragame through a legal contract and he used them to pay off his debt, meaning Akira would have nowhere to go when he got out, he would literally be a bum. During his interrogation Akira never said a word as usual? instead he followed his instincts and decided to take matters into his own hands.

Six years later, Akira was released from prison and then immediately embarked on his mission to kill Boss Kuragame as revenge for stealing his life and possessions. With a few hired guns and a pretty nice arsenal, it would be easy; in and out. Upon his successful assassination attempt on the Yakuza Boss, Akira suffered a bullet to the leg--everyone else was dead.

Days later, the word got around. All kinds of stories spread around the city, but it didn't matter at all to Akira. He had just toppled the Kuragame Empire and became a made man from it all, Akira was now a Yakuza mob Boss, practically taking Kuragame's place. The other Bosses gave him a mutual equity amongst the New York underworld. Akira was set for life.

One year later he met the love of his life in a small and old county club restaurant. She was a Japanese woman called Sakura Mitsiko, she was beautiful. Almost two months later they got married and had their first-born child, Ken. However, due to Akira's involvement with the Yakuza and the mob life, he spent much time outside of the house and away from Sakura. Because she never saw much of him and became lonely and deeply depressed, she started to persistently drink to take away the pain. Due to this, she developed a major stomach ulcer during the late stages of her second pregnancy and had to be hospitalised. Sakura died shortly after giving birth to their second son, Jacky.

Nowadays, Akira stands tall as the head of the Kagome crime family. His sweat, blood, and tears have gone into it and he won?t let anybody take it away from him.[/color]