[OOC - History]
Tatsuki was born a figher. What else can you say about a girl who started training in a dojo at the tender age of four? A girl brought up with a peaceful childhood and two loving parents, she was still a spitfire little whirlwind even at that young an age. That karate dojo is the place where she'd meet a lifelong friend and sometime-rival: Ichigo Kurosaki. The young Tatsuki saw Ichigo as kind of a useless crybaby; he'd lose every fight and start bawling afterwards. But she'd remember later how he always cheered up with a huge smile when his mother arrived to pick him up.
The two friends passed a relatively peaceful childhood training at that dojo together for the next five years. All was calm and normal - until one fateful, rainy day. Ichigo's mother was killed right in front of him in what was thought to be a horrible accident. The horrible news affected even Tatsuki, who couldn't help but feel the pain of her friend's loss. It was all she could do to watch as Ichigo went back to that spot where his mother had died, day after day.. but he never cried again. The incident remained deeply imprinted on Tatsuki for years, though she said little about it.
In Tatsuki's own life, things continued to pass without incident for years. That is, until she met a girl named Orihime Inoue when the two were in middle school. Orihime's long, orange hair made her the target of bullying and ridicule - until Tatsuki came roaring in one day and swore she'd beat up anyone who made the girl cry. It was a show of chivalry that would make the two into fast friends for years to come. Tatsuki told her new friend not to cry, and to be strong - and thereafter, the two were inseperable. Tatsuki quickly grew fond of her infinitely kind, sometimes spacy, but always there friend, and developed an intense loyalty towards Orihime. She even swore that she'd beat up anyone who ever made Orihime cry, no matter who it was.
She held fast to that promise all through middle school and into high school. When Orihime became the love object of the resident crazyass lesbian, Chizuru, Tatsuki was always there to knock Chizuru into next week when the girl would try to feel Orihime up. When Orihime developed feelings for Ichigo, Tatsuki was there to give incredibly misguided advice about how to land a boy. Throughout it all, Tatsuki remained fairly solid in her studies: a good, if not a great, student. Her karate, however, remained top notch. Tatsuki trained relentlessly her whole life and, when she turned fifteen, she made it all the way to the national tournament for her age group. She would have placed first, and only came in second due to breaking her arm - or so she claimed. By now, Tatsuki had developed something of a love of her own singing voice and would strive, now and then, to get on camera and "be discovered." Most of her antics were confined to her friends at school - people like Orihime, Ichigo, Keigo, Mizuiro, Chizuru, and all the rest. It was a happy life, for Tatsuki.
At some point during that year, though, after Tatsuki had turned fifteen, strange things began to happen. Strange attacks were reported, with buildings left destroyed and uneasy feelings all over. Tatsuki was one of those people feeling uneasy - she kept .. seeing things. Strange things. She could never see definite shapes, but she'd see murky, blurry things out of the corner of her eye. These things weren't natural. But Tatsuki largely brushed those things off. At least, until she started to get the sneaking suspicion her friends, especially Ichigo, were involved.
It all started with one night at Orihime's house when Orihime's angry, half-hollow brother paid a visit. The incident was neatly taken care of by Ichigo and Rukia, and both Tatsuki and Orihime had their memories modified to forget the event. But it wouldn't be the last attack the two girls would undergo. More hollows came to play in Karakura - dangerous ones. A cocky young Quincy, Ishida, made the nearly fatal error of calling dozens and dozens of Hollows to the town in the name of some stupid contest. The hollows kept Ichigo, Rukia, and Ishida very busy - leaving one very nasty Hollow to target a girl with great spiritual power - Orihime.
Both Tatsuki and Chizuru were around when the Hollow tracked Orihime down. Near panicking, Orihime tried to send her friends away - but to no avail. Tatsuki, in her karate uniform, went to go change, and missed a good portion of the Hollow's torture. However, she charges onto the scene just in time to keep Orihime's classmates, possessed and controlled by the Hollow, from killing poor Orihime with their bare hands. Tatsuki goes on an absolute rampage, taking down student after student without even breaking a sweat, even going to far as to challenge them and shout, "is that all you've got?!" Chizuru, however, had yet to leave - and was possessed by the Hollow. Unable to attack her friend, Tatsuki was taken down by Chizuru - and shot with the bullets the Hollow used to possess people. Even then Tatsuki tried to fight - bleeding and injured, she fought so hard, but in the end couldn't fight off the influence of the many bullets in her body, and was forced to try to strangle her best friend.
But Orihime woke up her latent powers and took over. In short order, the Hollow was gone, and Tatsuki and Chizuru were saved. It's not clear if Tatsuki remembers everything that happened that day - but she certainly feels its affects. Before then, spiritual entities only showed up as vague blurs to her. Now, she could see every spirit, every shinigami, and every Hollow in clear and perfect detail. And she started seeing a great deal more strange things going on in her town.
She saw more fights break out. She kept seeing Ichigo in a strange black uniform she didn't recognize - and more people, still in those strange uniforms. She saw dangerous fights and more of those crazy, bloodthirsty spirits she didn't yet know were called Hollows. She tried to carry on with her life as planned - even when Orihime left for the Soul Society. Through it all, Tatsuki tried to remain steadfast, bearing her friends' absences with a fairly stoic face and the rock solid knowledge in her heart that they'd come back to her, safe.
Things would take a turn for the worse, though. Even more powerful enemies would begin to show up. A strange boy named Shinji would show up at school, and Tatsuki would see him and Ichigo talking about something strange - much to her quiet worry and chagrin. Even more strange people would show up - Rukia would return, along with people named Renji and Matsumoto and Hitsugaya, all looking out of place in their school uniforms and showing up in perfect time with more fights, more strange events.
Tatsuki knew something was wrong. She saw Ichigo fighting Grimmjow the night the arrancar attacked and worried even more. The arrancar Yammi would attack and kill her entire karate club, leaving only her alive thanks to her meager spiritual power - and even then, she would have died had Ichigo and Orihime not showed up to save her life. Things were getting bad, and it was a war in which, for the first time, Tatsuki could not fight. The idea scared her more than she wanted to admit.
Then the worst happened. The one absolutely terrible thing which Tatsuki could not stand.
Orihime vanished.
All through their years of close friendship, Tatsuki had been able to sense Orihime's presence. Even when Orihime went to the Soul Society, Tatsuki could still feel her. But one day, Tatsuki felt a barrier come between her and Orihime. Something she couldn't place, but she knew Orihime was far away. Then that presence, so dear to her, vanished completely. Tatsuki completely panicked. She tore all around town, searching desperately for her friend before bolting to the school - where she knew Ichigo Kurosaki would be waiting. In a hallway she cornered him, shouting him down and demanding to know where Orihime was. This was when Tatsuki decided to finally play all her cards and tell Ichigo she'd seen him in that uniform; that she'd seen the others, seen the strange fights and all the spirits; and that she knew he had to know where Orihime was.
Ichigo just told her to forget it. In a fit of blind rage, Tatsuki punched him so hard his head crashed through a window. Keigo and Mizuiro had to hold her back as she screamed at her long time friend, demanding to know why he wouldn't tell her, his nakama (like a best friend or partner), the truth. Ichigo, though visibly affected, still told her to stay out of it and walked away. Torn between rage, grief, and utter confusion, Tatsuki let him go.
But not for long. Tatsuki, along with Keigo and Mizuiro, decided to chase Ichigo down and follow him to wherever the hell it was he was going after school. Tatsuki, in her haste, would make a fatal mistake. She rushed across a street without looking, and she never saw the car coming.
She woke up in Template.