Profile Meme
[Character Name] Seishirou Sakurazuka
[Canon] X
[Point Taken from Canon] volume 16/ after his death
[Age] 34
[Gender] Male
[Sexual Orientation] ...pansexual? (we've only ever seen him interested in Subaru and uh, his mother, so...idk he just likes pretty people.)
[Eye Color] Left: light brown/amber Right: white; prosthetic
[Hair Color] Black
[Height] 6'2" (or somewhere around there)
[Other] Just the fake eyeball.
[Clothing] Typically something like this. Ignore Subaru there. He's just trying to angst all over Seishirou's swag.
[Background] And so today, I will let you go.
[Personality] So this turned out like a hideous hybrid of background and personality, but I swear it's important information.
Seishirou was raised from a young age to be an emotionless killer in order to become the heir to his family’s line of magical assassins. He also frequently kills puppies, makes bets with small boys, and eats ice cream while watching thousands of people die by his own hand. Basically, he’s an unrepentant asshole.
…Okay, now that we’ve got that out of the way, let’s go into a little more depth.
Seishirou Sakurazuka is a hard-working, charismatic, handsome man with a heart of gold and a love for animals. He can often be a little too silly, has an odd sense of humor, and sometimes comes on a bit strong, but he is overall a harmless, big, gay dork. He is a doctor of veterinary medicine and runs a small clinic in Shinjuku, Tokyo, which has a wonderful reputation, much like the head vet himself. He is well-informed on a wide variety of subjects, clearly a man who keeps up with current events, and knows a great deal about the occult, which, while strange, isn’t exactly suspicious. Besides, Seishirou Sakurazuka would never willfully harm anyone; he’s too kind.
…or at least, this is who he allows everyone to think he is. The reality is much, much different.
Seishirou’s childhood was an abnormal one, to say the least. Just to have some perspective: he was born into the Sakurazuka clan, a family of onmyōji who, since the 6th century, had served Japan in the shadows by quietly assassinating anyone who might be or become a possible threat to the country in any way. (They also sometimes carry out killings in order to further their own agenda, but shhh.) They were and are the direct inverse of the Sumeragi clan, also onmyōji, but who served Japan in the light, a well-respected family of high standing (especially in the occult community), taking care of the country’s spiritual wellbeing. These clans, understandably, were rivals, to say the least. The Sumeragi did not approve of the Sakurazukamori’s methods, and the Sakurazukamori thought the Sumeragi got in the way. The head of the Sumeragi and the Sakurazukamori have always been at odds. In Sumeragi history, there have been numerous killings of members attributed to the Sakurazukamori, generation after generation.
In some ways, though, it’s actually incorrect to call the Sakurazukamori a clan leader, when there is actually no 'clan' to lead. In Seishirou’s own words, “The Sakurazukamori has always been a clan of one.” He further explains, “The Sakurazukamori have clients, and we do not lack for collaborators. You see, that is why we are sometimes called a clan of assassins. When the Sakurazukamori inherits his rightful place, he naturally must kill his predecessor, as well as those who were connected to him.”
Seishirou preformed this rite at the tender age of fifteen, killing his mother, the previous clan head, in the garden of their home, and became the 13th Sakurazukamori. This was his first kill. He had been raised, before then, presumably in a way that discouraged and punished emotions-an assassin should be cold and ruthless, after all; he would have no need of them- most likely in the same manner as other Sakurazukamori before him. If he was not born with sociopathic tendencies, he certainly developed them over the course of his childhood. He was likely trained physically, as well, developing his body’s strength and endurance in preparation for his future role. His relationship with his mother, Setsuka-a beautiful, doll-like woman who never seemed to age-before he killed her was…questionable, to say the least. (Oedipus complex, ahoy!) Though mother and son had never truly met one another until Seishirou was nine years old-he’d been taken away from her at birth to be raised and taught without her influence for the first few years of his life-she clearly adored him (too much), and even professed to love him, despite likely receiving the same emotional desensitizing as a child that he had. She asked for him to kill her, and as she lay dying in his arms, she romanticized the beauty of being killed by someone you love, and prophesized that he, too, would be killed by the person he would come to love most. He denied this possibility, of course. “But I will never come to love anyone. You know that,” he said. He looked on her as she died with a certain detachment. She was his mother, and she was his mentor, and he respected and revered her, but he didn’t care that he would never see her again. He didn’t care that he’d just killed her. Even when she whispered, “I love you, Seishirou,” and he replied, “I love you as well, Mother,” and kissed her as her life ended, his expression didn’t change at all.
Seishirou is almost a textbook example of a sociopath. He constantly asserts that he has no emotions whatsoever, and he certainly doesn’t appear to, judging by his actions and his complete lack of shame or remorse. When remembering, ten years later, the day that he killed his mother, he said, almost fondly: "I felt nothing. Though drenched in my mother's blood... I felt nothing. And those I killed after that were the same. I have never felt anything in particular." As he is in the midst of torturing poor Subaru Sumeragi-his so-called ‘prey,’ whose significance in his life would come to be unparalleled-before killing him (or intending to kill him, at least) he continued, “For the longest time, I have not been able to distinguish between ‘people’ and things.’ For instance: to break your arm like this,” and he snapped Subaru’s arm quite clinically, ignoring the boy’s screams, “or to break a glass cup? Where is the difference? Corpses, wreckage…they are one in the same to me.” And, smiling, he added, “I suppose in that sense I am well-suited to be the Sakurazkamori.” There is a more than obvious flavor of sadism in Seishirou as well, but it isn’t that he takes particular pleasure in inflicting pain; rather, what he finds intriguing is the person’s reaction. But while he might be mildly interested in one thing or another--one person or another, even--ultimately, he simply doesn’t care. He doesn’t care about anything-including himself. He has no feelings of guilt or remorse, nor concern for people around him, no matter how ‘close’ they may be, no concept of responsibility or shame. He does whatever he likes, unfettered by the burden of a conscience. That is the root of his identity.
That isn’t to say, however, that there is nothing that Seishirou likes or enjoys doing outside of making susceptible young boys fall in love with him and then breaking their hearts (and their arms). He likes food! He has a keen sweet tooth in particular. He seems enjoy cooking, and is quite skilled in the kitchen. He enjoys things which are aesthetically pleasing: flowers, sharp suits, and good-looking people being only a few examples. But Seishirou has few close relationships. (‘Few,’ as in ‘one,’ honestly.) He did, however, manage to develop the strangest sort of pseudo-friendship with the Kamui of the Dragons of Earth in 1999. While watching the destruction of Shibuya Station-which Seishirou had caused by soiling the barrier with blood from one of his victims-from the top of a nearby building, Kamui shared his ice cream cone with Seishirou, who enjoyed it, and the two of them lamented the fact that the ice cream shop where he got it was likely up in flames. They then vowed to sample all of the finest eateries in Tokyo together before the city was destroyed-which, presumably, they did, at least to some extent.
His only truly close relationship, however, is with Subaru Sumeragi, and even then there is a void between them. Subaru, nine years Seishirou’s junior, is the head of the Sumeragi clan-remember them?-and therefore Seishirou’s ‘twin star,’ as it’s put in the X universe: his opposite, as all Dragons of Earth have an opposite among the Dragons of Heaven. They are the two sides of the same coin, which makes sense, as they practice the dark and light sides of onmyōdō-a magical tradition based on the concept of Yin and Yang-respectively. Since Seishirou and Subaru’s relationship is covered extensively in the ‘background’ article link, I’ll assume knowledge of that and concentrate on describing his emotional influence on Seishirou.
Wait…emotional?
It’s tough to say if Seishirou had genuine feelings for Subaru. On one hand, we have Setsuka’s prophecy: “You, too, will be killed by the one you love most.” Thinking that it was Subaru’s Wish to do so, Seishirou used Hokuto’s final spell to his advantage, forcing Subaru to kill him. Was this Seishirou’s way of admitting-if only to himself-that Subaru was the one he loved most?
On the other hand, Seishirou is a very possessive man. This is demonstrated on several occasions, the most notable of which both have to do with eyes. (This is a CLAMP manga, after all!) In Tokyo Babylon, when a woman is about to stab Subaru, Seishirou steps in the way, resulting in the loss of his right eye. He would rather become half-blind than have someone else get to his prey before he can. (Consequently, this is also an obvious example of his complete lack of self-preservation. Harkening back to a few paragraphs ago: he doesn’t care about anything, including himself. And yet somehow he still manages to be incredibly selfish.) The second instance is after his death. It was his final Wish for Subaru to receive his working eye-his left one-to replace the eye Subaru had lost to Kamui, because, as Kamui puts it, “He couldn’t stand that there was now a scar on your body left by one other than himself. The Sakurazukamori’s desire was to erase that scar.” So, by essentially committing suicide by Subaru’s hand, he may have wanted to simply ensure that he left a mark on Subaru forever, so that Subaru would belong to him completely, even after his death. If that was his goal, he succeeded. (Again, total lack of self-preservation; he was completely cool with dying if it meant he could ensure Subaru’s devotion to him--quite selfishly.)
The complete answer is left ambiguous, along with Seishirou’s last words, whispered in Subaru’s ear. Of course, the audience isn't privy to the most important part. Personally, I lean towards option number two: he's being his usual possessive self. Once a manipulative bastard, always a manipulative bastard.
[Specialties/Abilities] Seishirou is one of the two most powerful practitioners of onmyōdō in modern-day Japan. As such, he has extensive knowledge of the occult, as well as the spiritual practices of a variety of different religions, particularly Shintoism, Buddhism, and Taoism, and he is shown to know great deal about other religions and their practices as well, though he does not utilize them. Onmyōji have a wide variety of magical skills, including divination, mediumship, and exorcism, which rely heavily on ritual. They also know about spells and curses, both how to create and deflect them. In addition, they control shikigami, which act as something of a familiar which appears when they call on it. Seishirou’s takes the form of a black hawk. In the Tokyo Babylon/X universe, onmyōji are known to be able to enter another person’s mind while they are asleep, though it is at great personal risk to themselves, and they must also put themselves into something of a dreaming trance before they do so. They can also dreamwalk, though understandably, these powers won't be used in Somarium, but rather replaced with the abilities Somarium grants. Though likely he'll be pretty good at it.
As far as combat goes, in X, the onmyōji typically use ofuda-slips of paper bearing a spell on them-to attack. These ofuda do any number of things depending on the spell, but most of the time explode, or transform into a flock of magical birds. He’s also able to create a shield in front of himself by drawing an inverted pentagram-the traditional symbol used by the Sakurazukamori; the Sumeragi use an upright pentagram-in the air, usually, amusingly enough, with the end of a lit cigarette.
There are also couple of things unique to Seishirou. He can teleport short distances by essentially disintegrating his body into cherry blossom petals, then reforming it elsewhere. He can manipulate memories, to a certain extent. He can’t falsify them, and he can’t delete them, but he can bury them in a person’s subconscious. The person will likely still have dreams along the lines of these memories, but unless something happens to trigger them, or Seishirou brings them back to the surface himself, they remain buried. He likely can’t do anything to past memories, however, only very recent ones, as in ‘right after they occur’ recent. Lastly, and perhaps most importantly, is an infamous skill of the Sakurazukamori: the ability to create intricate and powerful illusions-spaces separate from the world itself, it seems, as nothing which happens within them affects the world outside-which can encompass an entire area; on a few occasions, he created illusions in which giant boulders rained from the sky to crush his opponents, though the illusion Seishirou favors most often is one of a simple cherry tree, always in full bloom despite the season, with deep pink petals. (It is under this illusionary tree, in fact, that he made the bet with Subaru, who had the power to wander into his illusion.) Often, he drags his victims into this illusion before he kills them. (Sometimes with a hand driven straight through their chest, and sometimes by seemingly suffocating them in a whirling vortex of cherry blossom petals.) I'll be restricting his illusionary powers to a smaller scale than he's used to, and as far as the memory-manipulating one goes, it would be used exclusively with player permission only, and even then, very rarely, if at all.
[Affection] Do your worst. He doesn't care.
[Fighting] He likely isn't going to start fights, and even if you attempt to fight with him, he may not take the bait. Likely won't, in fact, unless he finds it amusing, or it would be advantageous for him somehow. But he's relatively powerful, so tread cautiously, anyway.
[Other Permissions]
Telepaths: You can definitely try, but it likely won't come back with much. Given his training, it won't be easy to enter his mind.
Fourth wall: If they'd know he's fictional, then go ahead, I guess?
Please check out his permissions post.
[Other Facts] He is a huge creep so if he makes you uncomfortable please let me know.
[Canon] X
[Point Taken from Canon] volume 16/ after his death
[Age] 34
[Gender] Male
[Sexual Orientation] ...pansexual? (we've only ever seen him interested in Subaru and uh, his mother, so...idk he just likes pretty people.)
[Eye Color] Left: light brown/amber Right: white; prosthetic
[Hair Color] Black
[Height] 6'2" (or somewhere around there)
[Other] Just the fake eyeball.
[Clothing] Typically something like this. Ignore Subaru there. He's just trying to angst all over Seishirou's swag.
[Background] And so today, I will let you go.
[Personality] So this turned out like a hideous hybrid of background and personality, but I swear it's important information.
Seishirou was raised from a young age to be an emotionless killer in order to become the heir to his family’s line of magical assassins. He also frequently kills puppies, makes bets with small boys, and eats ice cream while watching thousands of people die by his own hand. Basically, he’s an unrepentant asshole.
…Okay, now that we’ve got that out of the way, let’s go into a little more depth.
Seishirou Sakurazuka is a hard-working, charismatic, handsome man with a heart of gold and a love for animals. He can often be a little too silly, has an odd sense of humor, and sometimes comes on a bit strong, but he is overall a harmless, big, gay dork. He is a doctor of veterinary medicine and runs a small clinic in Shinjuku, Tokyo, which has a wonderful reputation, much like the head vet himself. He is well-informed on a wide variety of subjects, clearly a man who keeps up with current events, and knows a great deal about the occult, which, while strange, isn’t exactly suspicious. Besides, Seishirou Sakurazuka would never willfully harm anyone; he’s too kind.
…or at least, this is who he allows everyone to think he is. The reality is much, much different.
Seishirou’s childhood was an abnormal one, to say the least. Just to have some perspective: he was born into the Sakurazuka clan, a family of onmyōji who, since the 6th century, had served Japan in the shadows by quietly assassinating anyone who might be or become a possible threat to the country in any way. (They also sometimes carry out killings in order to further their own agenda, but shhh.) They were and are the direct inverse of the Sumeragi clan, also onmyōji, but who served Japan in the light, a well-respected family of high standing (especially in the occult community), taking care of the country’s spiritual wellbeing. These clans, understandably, were rivals, to say the least. The Sumeragi did not approve of the Sakurazukamori’s methods, and the Sakurazukamori thought the Sumeragi got in the way. The head of the Sumeragi and the Sakurazukamori have always been at odds. In Sumeragi history, there have been numerous killings of members attributed to the Sakurazukamori, generation after generation.
In some ways, though, it’s actually incorrect to call the Sakurazukamori a clan leader, when there is actually no 'clan' to lead. In Seishirou’s own words, “The Sakurazukamori has always been a clan of one.” He further explains, “The Sakurazukamori have clients, and we do not lack for collaborators. You see, that is why we are sometimes called a clan of assassins. When the Sakurazukamori inherits his rightful place, he naturally must kill his predecessor, as well as those who were connected to him.”
Seishirou preformed this rite at the tender age of fifteen, killing his mother, the previous clan head, in the garden of their home, and became the 13th Sakurazukamori. This was his first kill. He had been raised, before then, presumably in a way that discouraged and punished emotions-an assassin should be cold and ruthless, after all; he would have no need of them- most likely in the same manner as other Sakurazukamori before him. If he was not born with sociopathic tendencies, he certainly developed them over the course of his childhood. He was likely trained physically, as well, developing his body’s strength and endurance in preparation for his future role. His relationship with his mother, Setsuka-a beautiful, doll-like woman who never seemed to age-before he killed her was…questionable, to say the least. (Oedipus complex, ahoy!) Though mother and son had never truly met one another until Seishirou was nine years old-he’d been taken away from her at birth to be raised and taught without her influence for the first few years of his life-she clearly adored him (too much), and even professed to love him, despite likely receiving the same emotional desensitizing as a child that he had. She asked for him to kill her, and as she lay dying in his arms, she romanticized the beauty of being killed by someone you love, and prophesized that he, too, would be killed by the person he would come to love most. He denied this possibility, of course. “But I will never come to love anyone. You know that,” he said. He looked on her as she died with a certain detachment. She was his mother, and she was his mentor, and he respected and revered her, but he didn’t care that he would never see her again. He didn’t care that he’d just killed her. Even when she whispered, “I love you, Seishirou,” and he replied, “I love you as well, Mother,” and kissed her as her life ended, his expression didn’t change at all.
Seishirou is almost a textbook example of a sociopath. He constantly asserts that he has no emotions whatsoever, and he certainly doesn’t appear to, judging by his actions and his complete lack of shame or remorse. When remembering, ten years later, the day that he killed his mother, he said, almost fondly: "I felt nothing. Though drenched in my mother's blood... I felt nothing. And those I killed after that were the same. I have never felt anything in particular." As he is in the midst of torturing poor Subaru Sumeragi-his so-called ‘prey,’ whose significance in his life would come to be unparalleled-before killing him (or intending to kill him, at least) he continued, “For the longest time, I have not been able to distinguish between ‘people’ and things.’ For instance: to break your arm like this,” and he snapped Subaru’s arm quite clinically, ignoring the boy’s screams, “or to break a glass cup? Where is the difference? Corpses, wreckage…they are one in the same to me.” And, smiling, he added, “I suppose in that sense I am well-suited to be the Sakurazkamori.” There is a more than obvious flavor of sadism in Seishirou as well, but it isn’t that he takes particular pleasure in inflicting pain; rather, what he finds intriguing is the person’s reaction. But while he might be mildly interested in one thing or another--one person or another, even--ultimately, he simply doesn’t care. He doesn’t care about anything-including himself. He has no feelings of guilt or remorse, nor concern for people around him, no matter how ‘close’ they may be, no concept of responsibility or shame. He does whatever he likes, unfettered by the burden of a conscience. That is the root of his identity.
That isn’t to say, however, that there is nothing that Seishirou likes or enjoys doing outside of making susceptible young boys fall in love with him and then breaking their hearts (and their arms). He likes food! He has a keen sweet tooth in particular. He seems enjoy cooking, and is quite skilled in the kitchen. He enjoys things which are aesthetically pleasing: flowers, sharp suits, and good-looking people being only a few examples. But Seishirou has few close relationships. (‘Few,’ as in ‘one,’ honestly.) He did, however, manage to develop the strangest sort of pseudo-friendship with the Kamui of the Dragons of Earth in 1999. While watching the destruction of Shibuya Station-which Seishirou had caused by soiling the barrier with blood from one of his victims-from the top of a nearby building, Kamui shared his ice cream cone with Seishirou, who enjoyed it, and the two of them lamented the fact that the ice cream shop where he got it was likely up in flames. They then vowed to sample all of the finest eateries in Tokyo together before the city was destroyed-which, presumably, they did, at least to some extent.
His only truly close relationship, however, is with Subaru Sumeragi, and even then there is a void between them. Subaru, nine years Seishirou’s junior, is the head of the Sumeragi clan-remember them?-and therefore Seishirou’s ‘twin star,’ as it’s put in the X universe: his opposite, as all Dragons of Earth have an opposite among the Dragons of Heaven. They are the two sides of the same coin, which makes sense, as they practice the dark and light sides of onmyōdō-a magical tradition based on the concept of Yin and Yang-respectively. Since Seishirou and Subaru’s relationship is covered extensively in the ‘background’ article link, I’ll assume knowledge of that and concentrate on describing his emotional influence on Seishirou.
Wait…emotional?
It’s tough to say if Seishirou had genuine feelings for Subaru. On one hand, we have Setsuka’s prophecy: “You, too, will be killed by the one you love most.” Thinking that it was Subaru’s Wish to do so, Seishirou used Hokuto’s final spell to his advantage, forcing Subaru to kill him. Was this Seishirou’s way of admitting-if only to himself-that Subaru was the one he loved most?
On the other hand, Seishirou is a very possessive man. This is demonstrated on several occasions, the most notable of which both have to do with eyes. (This is a CLAMP manga, after all!) In Tokyo Babylon, when a woman is about to stab Subaru, Seishirou steps in the way, resulting in the loss of his right eye. He would rather become half-blind than have someone else get to his prey before he can. (Consequently, this is also an obvious example of his complete lack of self-preservation. Harkening back to a few paragraphs ago: he doesn’t care about anything, including himself. And yet somehow he still manages to be incredibly selfish.) The second instance is after his death. It was his final Wish for Subaru to receive his working eye-his left one-to replace the eye Subaru had lost to Kamui, because, as Kamui puts it, “He couldn’t stand that there was now a scar on your body left by one other than himself. The Sakurazukamori’s desire was to erase that scar.” So, by essentially committing suicide by Subaru’s hand, he may have wanted to simply ensure that he left a mark on Subaru forever, so that Subaru would belong to him completely, even after his death. If that was his goal, he succeeded. (Again, total lack of self-preservation; he was completely cool with dying if it meant he could ensure Subaru’s devotion to him--quite selfishly.)
The complete answer is left ambiguous, along with Seishirou’s last words, whispered in Subaru’s ear. Of course, the audience isn't privy to the most important part. Personally, I lean towards option number two: he's being his usual possessive self. Once a manipulative bastard, always a manipulative bastard.
[Specialties/Abilities] Seishirou is one of the two most powerful practitioners of onmyōdō in modern-day Japan. As such, he has extensive knowledge of the occult, as well as the spiritual practices of a variety of different religions, particularly Shintoism, Buddhism, and Taoism, and he is shown to know great deal about other religions and their practices as well, though he does not utilize them. Onmyōji have a wide variety of magical skills, including divination, mediumship, and exorcism, which rely heavily on ritual. They also know about spells and curses, both how to create and deflect them. In addition, they control shikigami, which act as something of a familiar which appears when they call on it. Seishirou’s takes the form of a black hawk. In the Tokyo Babylon/X universe, onmyōji are known to be able to enter another person’s mind while they are asleep, though it is at great personal risk to themselves, and they must also put themselves into something of a dreaming trance before they do so. They can also dreamwalk, though understandably, these powers won't be used in Somarium, but rather replaced with the abilities Somarium grants. Though likely he'll be pretty good at it.
As far as combat goes, in X, the onmyōji typically use ofuda-slips of paper bearing a spell on them-to attack. These ofuda do any number of things depending on the spell, but most of the time explode, or transform into a flock of magical birds. He’s also able to create a shield in front of himself by drawing an inverted pentagram-the traditional symbol used by the Sakurazukamori; the Sumeragi use an upright pentagram-in the air, usually, amusingly enough, with the end of a lit cigarette.
There are also couple of things unique to Seishirou. He can teleport short distances by essentially disintegrating his body into cherry blossom petals, then reforming it elsewhere. He can manipulate memories, to a certain extent. He can’t falsify them, and he can’t delete them, but he can bury them in a person’s subconscious. The person will likely still have dreams along the lines of these memories, but unless something happens to trigger them, or Seishirou brings them back to the surface himself, they remain buried. He likely can’t do anything to past memories, however, only very recent ones, as in ‘right after they occur’ recent. Lastly, and perhaps most importantly, is an infamous skill of the Sakurazukamori: the ability to create intricate and powerful illusions-spaces separate from the world itself, it seems, as nothing which happens within them affects the world outside-which can encompass an entire area; on a few occasions, he created illusions in which giant boulders rained from the sky to crush his opponents, though the illusion Seishirou favors most often is one of a simple cherry tree, always in full bloom despite the season, with deep pink petals. (It is under this illusionary tree, in fact, that he made the bet with Subaru, who had the power to wander into his illusion.) Often, he drags his victims into this illusion before he kills them. (Sometimes with a hand driven straight through their chest, and sometimes by seemingly suffocating them in a whirling vortex of cherry blossom petals.) I'll be restricting his illusionary powers to a smaller scale than he's used to, and as far as the memory-manipulating one goes, it would be used exclusively with player permission only, and even then, very rarely, if at all.
[Affection] Do your worst. He doesn't care.
[Fighting] He likely isn't going to start fights, and even if you attempt to fight with him, he may not take the bait. Likely won't, in fact, unless he finds it amusing, or it would be advantageous for him somehow. But he's relatively powerful, so tread cautiously, anyway.
[Other Permissions]
Telepaths: You can definitely try, but it likely won't come back with much. Given his training, it won't be easy to enter his mind.
Fourth wall: If they'd know he's fictional, then go ahead, I guess?
Please check out his permissions post.
[Other Facts] He is a huge creep so if he makes you uncomfortable please let me know.