Orion Howell


 * O10.png: Orion Howell
 * Date of Birth: October 7th
 * Status: Resistance Fighter
 * Unit: Pistols
 * SBUI (Subject Behavior Under the Influence): Massively accelerated strength and reflexes, acrobatic abilities
 * Alignment: Squad 3
 * Likes: Dogs, sweets, junk food, fried & sugar-coated bread, fruity teas, snakes, rice cakes, solitude, reading
 * Dislikes: Incompetence, bad hair days, black coffee, parties, loud/obnoxious people

Background
Orion is the second and youngest son of the Brooch captain and Howell family head: Vespasian Howell, and his wife Mika. Mika named him after the father of the great hunter Orion in hopes that he would grow up to be a great mercenary like his name's sake. As a child, Orion grew up in the shadow of his older brother, Titus Howell, who was an acknowledged prodigy viewed by the city as a genius, and whose work would further strengthen the bonds between the city and his family. Orion's father in particular took an active interest in Titus, thereby neglecting Orion. Titus, on the other hand, was rather ambivalent and full of oddly conflicting undercurrents, acknowledging Orion by taking interest in his progress as a mercenary and spending time playing with him when even their father did not. Even after Orion enrolled in the Academy, he was still unable to escape Titus' shadow. Despite consistently scoring at the top of every class, Orion failed to receive any recognition from his father, who defined Orion's success only in terms of his older brother. Titus acknowledged the rivalry Orion felt telling him: "We are brothers. I am the wall you must climb over, so you and I will continue to exist together." Nevertheless, Titus deeply cared for his younger brother. Orion looked up to Titus, wanting to be more like him.

When Orion was at age 7, the relationship between Titus and his father deteriorated after Titus was questioned by other members of the village regarding the suicide of his best friend, Fen. As Titus' behaviour became increasingly bizarre, Orion's father began spending more time with Orion, and began teaching him to use the cantus, seen as a sign of coming of age in the Howell family. When Orion first tried to perform a technique, he only produced a small flame and after that, some smoke. His father said that Titus was able to do it on his first try at Orion's age, which disappointed him. Later, with one week of training, Orion performed the technique in front of his father, proving himself a prodigy as well in his own right and finally receiving his father's individual recognition rather than comparison to Titus. Orion's father told him that he could now proudly wear the clan's emblem on his back. Following this, Orion also received a stern warning not to follow in Itachi's footsteps any further, surprising him as before, he was told to be like him; and his father showing he was proud of Orion for the first time the same way as he used to with Itachi.

On one fateful night, Itachi killed Vespasian in front of Orion, saying that he was not even worth killing. In addition, Itachi told him, "You've always wanted to surpass me. That's why I'm going to let you live… if you wish to kill me, then hate me, despise me… and by all means flee, cling to your wretched life." Itachi also revealed to Orion where the secret meeting place of the Uchiha was hidden, and suggested that Orion go there to learn what the true history and purpose of the Sharingan was. He told him that "to awaken the Mangekyō Sharingan," he "had to kill the person he was closest to", and that "when we battle, we should have the same eyes". The loss of his father and brother

Personality
Many people check Orion off as a delinquent when they first meet him. He simply does not care for his grades or how others percieve him and he openly hates the system around him. This frightens his peers and worries his teachers. Almost everyone in his class is scared of him. Because of his persona, people initially assume that he has a violent, temperamental, "do not mess with me" attitude. However, Orion is quite the opposite. Social wise, he's usually casual and tries to be friendly, but he can be a bit awkward. This was especially so early on, and it's mostly evident through his (fail) interactions with Minori. Whenever he gets nervous, he'll become something like a stammering, flustered idiot unable to think of what to do. He gets flustered very easily, which is evident when Tiga teases him.
 * Positive: Calm, intuitive, intelligent, kind, loving, caring, skilled, philosophical, "street-smart", ambitious, charismatic, courageous, selfless, witty/funny (in a sarcastic manner)
 * Negative: Too selfless, overconfident in his power, self-loathing, blunt, reclusive, awkward, prideful, vengeful, envious, melancholic, vindictive, private, easily flustered

jake stands 6 feet and 3 inches when he's not slouching over. he has swooshy brown hair that's usually in a mess and beautiful green eyes that hide behind his over grown fringe and that slight slouch that tiga noticed some tall people have.

Orion is a complicated individual to accurately describe. He’s not the type of person who views things in black and white. He rather abhors the idea of categorizing anything by ‘likes’ or ‘dislikes.’ Orion is an incredibly deep thinker, and he has a habit of philosophically reflecting upon the people around him and life in general, although his playful nature tends to be misleading. Having said that, Orion is abnormally perceptive when it comes to recognizing certain character traits; however his honesty can sometimes be upsetting. He seldom sugar coats anything, and speaks openly about his thoughts.

Orion is a somewhat laid-back and cheerful boy, not growing over-concerned about things such as appointments, or even most mundane manners which he doesn’t consider very pressing. He has been known in the past to be quite frequently tardy, having a habit of losing time during visits to the memorial when feeling rather nostalgic about his fallen comrades Obito and Rin. Of course, despite this, when something is truly important everything is fully business, and Hatake quickly becomes one of the most efficient shinobi in the ninja world.

Rather apathetic and blunt most of the time, Kakashi will never put things in a gentle or kind manner. This is driven by the belief that it is, in fact, more cruel to soften the impact of things, thereby robbing the person of what would make them stronger through such experiences, and will usually say things exactly as they are. After years of explaining subjects in this manner, Kakashi will often come off as uncaring or insensitive, when in reality he is highly empathetic and will typically understand exactly what another is going through oftentimes.

Even after he came to grips with his friend’s gruesome deaths, Kakashi developed a sort of PTSD, often having nightmarish flashbacks to these scenes, particularly when he killed Rin. He will compulsively wash his hand, specifically the one which created the chidori which dealt the blow. In order to hid the deeper impact of these memories, Kakashi actively became detached and absent emotionally, though he still holds very deep affection for his friends and new family. His students had a particular influence on Hatake’s life, even bringing about a certain fatherly-mentality that he’d never had before.

Orion starts as an extremely private person. As the book progresses, he opens up, revealing a sarcastic and good-humored, caring, and skillful boy behind his uncaring facade. He even jokes that he has a lot of "pent up feelings" and Tiga once mentioned to Theo that they have daily ranting sessions.

But while Orion is tired of listening to what everyone else wants, he's not quite ready to do the talking either. He's always been a big fan of keeping things to himself (until he breaks, because when he breaks he doesn't just crack, he shatters). Orion holds his tongue, tips his square chin down and smiles at whoever he's listening with dull grey eyes that may or may not be glazed like the fried sugar-coated bread he does so love.



He’s conscious to the responsibilities he is required to uphold. Protecting his friends is one of the few things Orion takes seriously; probably due to his failure to protect his family. Though he regularly teases them, Orion admires his team‘s capabilities. Even still, he cannot help but worry about their emotional and psychological tolerances, among other shortcomings. Of course, he is careful not to express his concerns too much, as he prefers to keep his nonchalant facade--mostly because of his pride. For that reason, he tries to take the hardest missions and carry the burden of murders and other things--because he's used to it and doesn't want anybody he cares about to have to go through what he went through. He goes to great lengths to do this as well, and often puts himself in dangerous situations that he's confident he can get out of with his skills. This shows he's a bit too selfless, a little reckless, and overconfident in his abilities.

Despite that, Ryuuji has a calm and usually level headed nature. He kind of goes with the flow with whatever is happening, usually being the passive observer than an active participant. Of course he will join in every now and then, but tends to watch from the sidelines instead of trying to stand out. He already has that problem just by his looks, anyway. But if someone is stressed or upset, he'll try to be the shoulder they can lean on. Even though he may also be upset, he'll still try to be the stronger one so as to help the other. But Ryuuji is still a young teenager. He can get angry, frustrated, and upset. It doesn't happen too often, but he does have the occasional outburst and can get quite emotional. Sometimes these outbursts can drive him to do uncharacteristic things, but they can also drive him to give it his all.

He's also both a capable and responsible young man. Due to his peers' childish nature, he is the one who does most of the housework. Organizing, cleaning, even literally taking care of his friends and helping them when they're too tired to help herself. This carries over to when he takes care of Tiga and constantly lectures her whenever she does anything sloppy or is being irresponsible. This also means he doesn't slack off. When it comes to schoolwork, Ryuuji is actually studious and makes good grades. He always tries his hardest at whatever task is given to him and makes sure it's done properly—or properly as possible. This isn't because he's trying to be a perfectionist—it's just easier to do it right the first time. Still, if things don't go as planned, he usually doesn't get too worked up about it.

One of Ryuuji's personality quirks is his obsession for cleaning. If he sees a mess, he'll have this irresistible urge to pull out all the stops to clean it up. He'll even clean an entire apartment or house (or even the school bathroom). If he sees a lone sock, he'll try to find "its partner" to pair them up properly. He also gets a bit excited whenever he cleans, particularly if he's up against a particularly difficult cleaning task and attacks it with great vigor. Of course he won't clean up everything and anything that's out of place, but if he can he will.

The Tiga Tamer


Ryuji has both realistic and idealistic images in mind like a normal person. He wants to be able to fit in with everyone, but his scary looks have created an image of him that is of a delinquent. His reputation even scares the teachers away from him at the beginning of the school year. The only people that he can list as close would be his friend Kitamura and his mother Yasuko. Likely due to his reputation and his lack of friends, he has put himself into studies so that he can feel productive.

It’s no secret that Ryuji begins the series with a huge crush on Minori that borders near obsessive. Like most male leads in anime, he tends to be very cautious around her near the beginning of the series but events that Taiga puts together helps him be able to improve himself around her. Strangely enough like Taiga, he gains more confidence after confronting her about a relationship and eventually grows to become close enough for her to share her utmost secret with him. But that’s not the main progression of the series…

From the very first prologue in Toradora!, we’re told that Ryuji and Taiga are meant to be together. Contrasting to how he approaches Minori, Ryuji immediately is able to converse and assist Taiga after she stops her attack. While she’s not consciously the most important person in his life, he constantly thinks about her and her life almost to the same amount that he’s concerned about his own. When Ryuji is confused about where he’s going to head in life, it’s Taiga that he turns to over everyone else. It’s repeated again and again in the anime how many times he gives up other things to check on Taiga; I think only the time in the sea house is the exception. He’s going to be a great husband for her.

Ryuji is, like most male characters in romantic comedies, an extremely nice guy. He’s meant to be the person you’d want to either date (female) or have as a wingman (male) and thus be able to be liked by anyone. I like the fact that he’s had to become more of a feminine character due to taking care of the household because it sets him apart from others. His obsession with cleaning, while not emphasized nearly as much in the anime adaptation, is a great quirk that shows his dedication both to setting things right as well as doing nice things for others. He’s never going to be a fully macho-type character, but he’s not meant to be unless the situation calls for it. That would compromise the rest of his personality and demean him.

Ryuji doesn’t have the sarcastic wit of Kyon nor the desire to play pranks like Tomoya, but his charm is that he cares more than those guys. He does suffer from main male blindness, but he doesn’t mean to hurt Minori, Ami, or even Yasuko (not romantically). I admire that he changes his plans to go away from everyone so that Yasuko could reunite with her parents not for his sake, but so Yasuko could gain back that family relationship she was craving. You’re a good guy Ryuji.

Taiga has mixed feelings about the name "palmtop tiger," but Ryuuji secretly thinks it's cute. He buys her tiger-printed towels, mugs, pillowcases and clothes (only stuff like sleepwear and underwear as it'd be far too obvious if she wore it in public view) to see how far he can push it, and feels a little mischievous when doing so. So far Taiga has caught on, but hasn't yet mentioned it to him...





Appearance

 * Height: 6'0"
 * Weight: 158 lbs
 * Hair: Medium-length, messy and thick black hair
 * Eyes: Slanted, pale, dark blue/gray-ish eyes
 * Other: He hates dressing formally and

They'll call him "pretty boy" for his unruly black hair and delicately pale skin, nudge each other like it's funny in some way, but nobody's actually shoved Orion around. He's all sharp edges and long limbs, really, and Tiga notices that he developed that slight slouch that some tall people have. She supposes he puts them off, having fought them all; in the fights he doesn't win (very many), he leaves them as badly damaged as they leave him. Besides, Orion knows they're all good with punches, but none of them, in his opinion, can get even close to his level of archery. He's quite smug about it, toothy, grin spread across his face, never mind that he's not even the best archer the Academy has.



He's smug, nevertheless, lithe body tall and strong as he bends the bow with great ease, wiry limbs in a somewhat odd ratio to his torso, scars crisscrossing across his sparsely scar-covered skin. He plays the bow as though it were a lyre, the musical twang of the string followed by a solid thud as the knife hits (a little left of) its mark.

Orion thinks he's done good, anyway.

Hades, he's decided from the start, is a mystery he's not sure he wants to figure out.

Except that he might have to.

At the beginning of the book, Tiga describes Orion as a "skinny boy who looks like he needs a nap." She's constantly asking him why he looks so "dead" and tired all the time. In reality, Orion fits the trope "tall, dark, and handsome" to a T. His eyes are a pale, eerily gray color. He's tall and lanky with medium-length, tousled black-as-coal hair. He keeps it meticulously clean, but constant grooming leaves it sticking up oddly at times. He has a thin, slouchy build, with a sparrow figure, and, according to Tiga, the "shoulder-to-waist ratio of an inverted triangle". He also sports a crooked grin and thick, drooping eyelashes.

He generally wears too-big sweats and sometimes clips his bangs to the center of his head with one of Tiga's hairpins.

With his piercing blue-green eyes, set high like an otter’s, cheekbones like car bumpers, and unruly mop of chestnut hair, Orion has the kind of looks that seem to call out across alpine mountain-tops for the adjective “Byronic”.

Alexander has short black hair that hangs in two main layers. The first layer is two sweeps of hair that fall down to frame either side of his pale face. The remainder of his hair sort of poofs up behind him in a manner vaguely reminiscent to the hind end of a duck. Reference this, however, and you will get a good punch to the face. He is not a duck. He is a human. He has onyx eyes that are often either hard as obsidian or near molten with emotion. As far as his complexion goes, he's rather pale considering that he spends so much time outside with horses. His arms and chest are rather toned, the muscles turned into little less than steel cords from pushing around two ton animals all day for a living ever since he was sixteen. In spite of this, however, he still has quite a bit of a feminine figure, particularly a certain curve to his hips that hearkens back to a woman vaguely. He stands five foot six inches, but when taken in conjunction with the fact that he only weighs one hundred and twenty-eight pounds, it's not hard to see that he's a little underweight, stemming from the fact that he will sometimes have to skip a meal so that he can work harder or save up a little money to continue to live on his own.

Covering Alexander's forehead is a dark blue headband with a silver plate that has a swirling leaf design on it. He likes to wear blue or black short-sleeve riding jackets over white tee-shirts, though he will also wear plain tees when he's on his own time and not having to work down at the stables Usually he adds in a pair of black- or blue-trimmed white arm warmers to complete the look, along with a pair of black or white shorts - when on his own time - or some black blue jeans - when at work at the stables - and blue or black Converse shoes. He also has a pair of black leather riding boots, but he doesn't usually wear them outside the barn because, despite the fact that they're broken in, they look absolutely horrible along with the shorts. On the few occasions where someone manages to catch a glimpse of his midriff, they will notice a piercing in his belly button. He's also been contemplating a tongue piercing, but he's never had the money to do so, never mind that it would be a horrible risk to do so while working with the horses.

Creation and Conception
Although Sakura is the most recurring female character in Naruto, Masashi Kishimoto did not originally intend for Sakura to be the heroine of the series, even stating on occasion that he still has a hard time viewing her as a heroine. Kishimoto attributes this to him being unable to draw good heroine characters, and fashioned Sakura as a girl who cannot understand men, the best example of a heroine he could come up with. Sakura's creation is a result of Kishimoto's desire to make a somewhat irritating character who was well-intentioned. Despite these elements, Kishimoto grew fond of Sakura, feeling that many of her personality traits are common among all people, thus giving her a sense of real humanity. When designing Sakura, Kishimoto focused on her silhouette and created a costume as simple as possible. This is a divergence from the other main characters of the series, whose costumes are very detailed. The leggings are the most notable aspect of her design, as they are meant to show that she is very active. At the start of the series her leggings extended below her knees and closely resembled trousers. As Part I progressed, the leggings became increasingly shorter and tighter. Similar to his inexperience with drawing heroines, Kishimoto lacked the experience needed to make Sakura "cute" when he first began drawi

ng her. Although he implies that her appearance has become cuter since then, Kishimoto and much of the Naruto manga staff agree that Sakura was "far from cute" at the start of the series.

Sakura's most well-known physical characteristic is her broad forehead. Because of this, Kishimoto at times focuses too much effort on drawing it in scenes or promotional artwork where Sakura is featured prominently. This results in her forehead appearing too large. When designing Sakura in her Part II appearance, Kishimoto decided to change her clothes to a more lively karate suit style. The upper part, though, still has a China-esque feeling to it, so as to make her more feminine.

In colour illustrations of Sakura from Part I of the manga, her leggings, boots, and forehead protector are almost exclusively depicted as being teal, and she frequently has her nails painted sea-foam green, with matching or pink eye shadow. In the original Naruto anime, however, her leggings are a darker green and her forehead protector and boots are the same blue as those worn by other ninja, and she wears no visible cosmetics. Her colour scheme in Naruto: Shippūden accurately reflects her appearance in colour illustration from Part II of the manga.

Kishimoto's staff have said that Sakura's pink hair was originally intended to give her a unique style and to resemble cherry blossoms, after which she is named.

Trivia

 * The name "Haruno" means "spring field", and the name "Sakura" means "cherry blossom", a flower which is cherished in Japan due to its beauty and its almost-tragically short life span (cherry blossoms have historically been associated with the samurai). The cherry blossom also serves as the national flower for the nation of Japan. In Japanese, Haruno Sakura" (春野・桜) means "spring field of cherry blossoms", which may be an origin of the name. It can be also used in the game, Hanafuda, as a month card of (桜, flowering cherry).
 * Sakura's name, when read as (春の桜), can also be interpreted as "cherry blossoms in spring".
 * In the June 2006 issue of Shōnen Jump, Kishimoto stated that Sakura would be the best ninja instructor out of Team 7 and is the closest to being normal, despite having flaws in her personality.
 * In the Naruto character popularity polls Sakura is the second most popular female character behind Hinata.
 * During a 2010 interview, Kishimoto stated that many who work with him have told him Hinata would have made a better heroine than Sakura. Kishimoto said that despite not being portrayed like one Sakura would be showing a more heroine side of her from then on.
 * Studio Pierrot's Settei sheets of Sakura show her sandals add 1 cm on to her height.
 * According to the databook(s):


 * Sakura's hobbies are playing trivia games and memorising new material for her medical studies.
 * Sakura wishes for a rematch with Ino.
 * Sakura's favourite foods are syrup-coated anko dumplings, umeboshi, and anmitsu, while her least favourites are anything spicy.
 * Sakura has completed 34 official missions in total: 12 D-rank, 9 C-rank, 6 B-rank, 7 A-rank, 0 S-rank.
 * Sakura's favourite phrase according to the first databook is A life with love throughout!" (一生愛の人生よ!, Isshōai no jinsei yo!) and her favourite word according to the second and third databooks is courage" (勇気, yūki).

Quotes

 * "Hmm."
 * "Whatever..."
 * "So that's how it is?"
 * (to Theo saying 'am I right?') "I wasn't listening but I'm almost certain you're not."
 * "I could use some melanin right now but nope, this pale as a corpse shit runs in the family."
 * "Props to me for dealing with the most annoying people in the world. And all it takes is a rambunctious cocktail of Advil, Benadryl, and Prozac."
 * "Everywhere's a bed if you try hard enough."
 * "I trust in you... and your strength."
 * One by one, Captain plucked her fingers off of the knife, until it was released from her clasp and slid from her palm to the floor. "Your hands aren't made for killing people, Tiga. They're for helping them live."
 * "No matter how hard I wish for it, my father's never coming back!"
 * "What? You can't be busy. You're my only friend."
 * (you're so high maintenance, Orion) "I just like nice things!"
 * "I think we belong together because we're both too weird for anyone else."
 * "The best story I could ever tell is the one where I'm growing old with you."
 * "I didn't grow more mature. I grew tired."
 * "How the hell did you do that? I tried to draw a tree yesterday and I got so angry I had to lay down and count to ten."
 * "How the hell did you do that? I tried to draw a tree yesterday and I got so angry I had to lay down and count to ten."