Kichirou Yoshida, Runaway from Dist 11 (Complete)

Ki is of Japanese descent, though he doesn't look purely Japanese. He has slanted dark brown eyes, jet black hair, and a slightly tan complexion. He's a bit short and thin for his age (mostly because of lack of food), standing at 5'6", though he's fairly in-shape because he's so used to being on-the-run.

Often times, he may appear distant, though this usually means he is simply lost in thought, and the spaced-out look on his face will confirm this. When he's not daydreaming, his face betrays the average emotions--happiness, sadness, embarrassment, etc. It's not that his expression is frozen into a permanent smile or frown or anything. Though his "neutral" look may come off as sad, he's usually just feeling no emotion at all at times like these. Most importantly, however, his eyes are the best indicator of how he is feeling.

He's not so much shy as he is a little introverted. He enjoys having and hanging out with friends, but amongst his small group of friends, he's the one who generally keeps to himself, usually only confiding the most important things to his older brother. Only to his very close friends can he tell what’s going on in his personal life, and it is with these people only that he shares secrets. After his mother and father’s deaths, he began to lose his ability to trust "outsiders". Since then, however, he has been gaining his trust back, however slowly. He is also more humble because of my parents’ deaths and has worked very hard to support himself and his new group of friends, including his brother. Though he greatly dislikes the Capitol and the general upper-class population of Panem, he has developed a patience and tolerance for other people, and is probably one of the more understanding in his group of friends. He is also very kind, caring, loyal, and sensitive. Of course, all that being said, like any 16-year-old, there's still a prankster side to him that can get him into some massive trouble if he's not careful.

One of his strengths is that he has the ability to tell when someone is lying to him. He is extremely able to judge a person's intentions, making it difficult for someone to double-cross him. Another trait of his that could be considered a strength is his generally nice-guy/neutral outlook. Even though his parents were killed early in his life, he moved on and got on with his life. In fact, when he is sure he has made a friend, he is very open and friendly with that person. Another strength of his includes his honesty.. In general, he also displays common manners and hopefully comes off as a nice person.

That being said, of course Ki also has weaknesses. First of all, his feelings for his friends and remaining family could be considered a weakness. He loves these people to death, and he'd never let anything bad happen to them. If anyone were ever to threaten them in any way, He's the type of guy who would jump to their rescue immediately, without thinking of the consequences. In general, he tries to maintain a good outlook on life, but sometimes even the smallest things can upset him. His sensitive nature makes him less able to cope with problematic situations. And when it comes to situations that he considers "unfair", he is also the type to jump in without thinking, fighitng for what he feels is right. Even if he knows he's going to lose, one of the life lessons he's learned so far is that he has to be tough, when it comes to defending what matters to him most.

Ki was born into a rather normal family, consisting of mother Naomi, father Shun, and older brother, Naoki, by two years. The Yoshida family lived in District 11, as a farming family. Like most of the farming families in this District, the majority of the food they worked hard to grow was turned over to the Capitol, leaving them with very little to feed themselves. Ki grew up a normal childhood otherwise, being home-schooled along with his brother, whom he was extremely close to.

At age 11, the first tragedy hit. Ki's father had simply been in the wrong place at the wrong time. Even though the hunters from District 9 were not allowed to hunt outside of their own territory, it was because of a stray hunter by their farm that Ki's father was accidentally shot and killed. After that--and despite Ki's mother's attempts to keep their family happy--life went downhill. With the ever-impending threat of Ki's older brother being a potential tribute to the games, and with Ki soon becoming old enough to be entered as well, there was always a lingering fear every day of their lives. Though all three remaining family members continued to work hard on the farm, they could not cover for the loss of Shun, and soon the amount of food they produced could not even meet the requirements of the Capitol. Since their family began to owe the Capitol, there was no food left to actually feed themselves. Ki and his brother Naoki had to start taking up hunting and doing more fishing, to at least try to get some food for their family. But still, it ended up not being enough.

By the time Ki was 13 years old, Naomi had become very sick. Between worrying whether she would lose one of her sons as a tribute, giving most of her share of the food to them to keep them alive and well, and over-working herself, she had been unable to keep up her health. Whatever disease she had contracted, Ki and Naoki didn't have the money or the means to get her proper medicine or treatment, though they tried their best to take care of her. In the end, however, there was nothing they could do, and Naomi passed on.

Left alone to take care of each other, Naoki 15 years old and Ki only 13, the two brothers ended up abandoning their farm. There was no way they'd be able to keep up with the Capitol's quota, and they no longer had the will. Instead, they took the little food that was left of their crops, packed up some of their things, and ran away. It's been three years since then, and Ki has been living with his brother and some other friends, all runaways, and now all a big family. They spend every day surviving, trying to make enough money (in various ways, some of which include things Ki isn't very proud of). But the biggest, lingering fear of all is that one of them will somehow be caught and used as a tribute.

I am very excited to be a part of this site! ;D And I have also recommended my sister to it, so she should be joining soon as well!