'Dusk and Daybreak'

Hi... yes, I'm submitting more crappy artwork- though actually, I worked really hard on this one, and offline, it looks really awesome.
The scanner just didn't do this work justice, and I don't know how to fix it up with any computer programs, and make it so you can all see its real glory. I do ask that you at least full-view it, because it helps a bit... The scanner didn't pick up the detailing, left a lot of my coloring and shading out, and with what it did put in, left it lookng all liney and like a 5 year old did this- but if you full view, it helps a bit, although it's nothing like the real awesomeness of my actual drawing. What does this teach me?... That I need to learn how to make art on the computer. But till then, please don't be too critical or hateful, please imagine for yourself what it really looks like, and please full-view it!!! And I love reviews, even if they're mean and say that my art sucks- because even mean reviews are good for me- they help me to improve. So PLEASE take time out to review!! It means a lot to me!!!


This is a submission for the , for their contest this month. We're supposed to make up our own Akatsuki member, and draw them, and then explain where they're from, what their abilities are, etc. So... from what I understood of the contest rules, the character is supposed to be based loosely off of ourselves- and so she looks quite a deal like myself(though her history is totally made up). Also, we need to explain the character's background, age, village, etc., so all that is below(and you can see her village headband in the pic). I'm not proficient in Japanese so I didn't really give names to jutsus or anything- I just decided to explain what I meant about Mai's abilities. Sorry if that's not okay. Okay, well, since for the contest, I need to give her info, here it is(and then later I'll explain more about the pic itself):



NAME~ Hoshikori Mai (meaning: bright star child... And Mai is her first name, in case there was any question as to that.)


AGE~ 20


HEIGHT/WEIGHT~ 5'7"; 124 lbs.


VILLAGE Of ORIGIN~ Kumogakure no Sato (Hidden Cloud Village) in Kaminari no Kuni (Land of Thunder).


JUTSUS~ NINJUTSU: Visible Light- Raiton: Mai no Hagane (Lighting Release: Brightness of the Sun) This jutsu is able to focus the visible light portion of the spectrum, thereby creating an area that is lit up with light 'as bright as the sun'. The rays can be focused or spread out, depending on the brightness desired, though even when spread out it is still enough to blind victims temporarily.

X-rays- Raiton: Toushi Seru Toukai Inmetsu (Lightning Release: X-ray Cell Hidden Destruction)
Much like Mai's most powerful jutsu(see below), this jutsu causes damage to cells- but doesn't destroy them or their atomic structure. It is unable to even pierce the cell walls of some types of body cells(muscle cells, neurons, etc.) This jutsu doesn't normally kill its victims, but does incapacitate them for a time, and render most victims unconscious- and can kill if Mai uses enough of chakra, even though she'll wind up almost dead from chakra depletion afterwards. Since it uses high energy, long wavelength X-rays, the jutsu also usually causes long term damage like cancer later in life, even from 1 attack. These sure aren't the X-rays you get at the hospital!! This attack has a wide range and therefore can be used on a large group at once, and from a sizable distance away.

Gamma Rays- Raiton: Kujo, Ranpu Ichidou no Kokushibyou (Lightning Release: Extermination, Light Ray of Black)
This jutsu is so called because it doesn't use visible light, but hard to detect and invisible high energy, long gamma ray bursts. A powerful and focused attack, it sends the electromangetic rays at a fixed target, and breaks down and destroys their cells, causing a quick and very painful death. It also has a slight affect on inanimate targets, causing slight damage and breakdown of atomic structure, but not destroying the object as it does when it breaks down atomic structure in cells. This is Mai's most powerful jutsu, but can only be used on smaller targets, like three people or less, and only at close range, Also, it understandably drains almost all of her chakra, so isn't used by her often.

GENJUTSU: Visible Light- Raiton: Seishin'ijousha Niji no Konmei (Lightning Release: Psychedelic Rainbow Of Confusion)
This jutsu splits visible white light into its spectrum of colors, and surrounds the victim with sporadically changing, spinning colors. The victim, in essence, sees 'psychedelic colors' as though they were high, and is unable to see anything else around them. But it is easily countered, and is really not a very powerful jutsu.

Infrared- Raiton: Akai Konmei (Lightning Release: Red Confusion)
Makes everything around the victim look almost as though they were wearing night vision goggles; shapes become discolored, obsure, and distorted, and the victim becomes disoriented. This jutsu isn't too powerful though, but Mai is able to change the the appearance and apparant shape of the way things look sporadically, confusing the victims even more. The genjutsu can be used on a few people at once- up to 3- but it causes no lasting affects, or unconsciousness, etc.

Ultraviolet- Raiton: Akumu no Shigai (Lightning Release: Nightmare of Ultraviolet)
This jutsu uses ultraviolet light to disorient and incapacitate its victim. As you can understand, things look different in UV, and our eyes and brain are not wired for seeing at that wavelength. This jutsu however surrounds the victim in UV, and messes with their brain so that they can see partially in it. However, the victim becomes very disoriented and frightened, and eventually begins to be driven mad, and passes out from the stress on their brain. Like the X-ray ninjutsu, this genjutsu can also cause damage in later years such as cancer- but only after prolonged exposure like if it was used on a victim over and over.

Microwaves- Raiton: Kyokkai no Hi (Lightning Release: Distortion of Light) a genjutsu in which the world around the victim- or more precisely the light that they see, appears distorted, and they find themselves in a hellish looking world of spinning blackness, or flashing lights, etc.(whatever Mai wants to happen really), and they feel as though they are being burned by the heat of the sun. It drives the victim mad, even though in reality, nothing has happened to their body, or to the light around them. She has a few more jutsus too, but these are her most powerful.

TAIJUTSU: Radio Waves- Raiton: Rajio Shuuha no Bangai Riki (Lighting Release: Radio Waves Enhanced Strength)
Mai uses chakra and focused radio waves to enhance and speed up punches, kicks, etc. All in all though, it's a very weak jutsu, and pretty much useless(Mai's weakest, since she's really weak in taijutsu overall), but is the only taijutsu she really knows.


WEAPON Of CHOICE~ Um... kunai I guess. Mai doesn't carry a specific weapon, like Kisame does for example. Aside from the normal kunais, shuriken, and exploding tags and waht not that pretty much all shinobi carry with them, she doesn't carry any other weapons- she has no real need to.


KEKKAI GENKAI~ Mai's bloodline limit, is technically in keeping with the general abilities of her village. Kumo shinobi can supposedly use jutsus that deal with electricity- like lightning, etc. Well, Mai's family bloodline did one better. Her kekkai genkai allows her to use extremely powerful jutsus dealing not just with electricity, but with electromagnetism(which yes, you may have realized by now that I'm obsessed with since I use it wherever I can-see one of my other drawings), which in case you don't know is light energy. Oh, but not just visible light- visible too, but also X-ray wavelengths, gamma ray wavelengths, UV wavelengths, radio... well, you get the idea. Some of these can obviously kill people pretty quickly and painfully- others slowly and painfully. And the radio waves- well, it can mess up communications, etc. So, she has a whole slew of jutsus that deal with all forms of electromagnetism, most being ninjutsu, but a few genjutsus too(which you can understand, since she can manipulate the light around her, distorting the way people percieve things, and screwing them up in the head.) The bloodline focuses mainly on Genjutsu, though there are a few decent ninjutsu that can be learned as well. Um, yeah..so, I guess that her kekkai genkai makes her pretty special.


HISTORY~ Mai has been with the Akatsuki for almost 2 years now.
You know how some villages have 'issues' with people with bloodline limits and all. Kumogakure was pretty cool with people like that though, regardless, but after a new Raikage was appointed about 3 1/2 years ago, things started spiraling downwards- at least for the Hoshikori family. See, the new Raikage was an old classmate and rival of her father's- and when I say rival, I don't mean like Sasuke and Naruto, who always go at it, but were technically friends too. No, I mean real rivals, like each would give anything on earth to just murder the other in the most coldblooded, horrible way possible. Mai's father couldn't even recall the reason that fostered this hatred, but anyway...
Now that the guy was Raikage, he began doing everything in his power to turn the village against the Hoshikori family. He couldn't just outright kill them after all- they were a nice respectable family, and Mai was a teacher at the ninja academy(because she had been offered other, better positions, since she was said to be the best kunoichi to come out of Kumogakure in the last 25 years without doubt, maybe longer even... But she turned down other opportunites because she liked kids, and wanted to teach them.) Her father was head of ANBU, and her younger brother, who was at that time 12 had just become a jounin(she was 16 1/2 if you must know, and had become a genin at 9, a chunin the next year, and a jounin at 11).
But, there was one little problem, that even she didn't know about- in fact only her parents and a select few other older, village leaders did. Her brother was one of the 9 jinchuuriki- even though unlike someone like Gaara, he didn't show any inclination towards having a bijuu inside of him. The seal that had been put on him contained it really well. At any rate, the Raikage didn't know about her brother at first either, but in his attempt to dig up dirt on the family, and since he was Raikage, the guy chanced upon some classfied documents that told in great detail about the sealing of the Rokubi(the 6 tails, most likely thought to be a thunder demon of some sort) into Hoshikori Akeno(bright, shining morning field).
Now, since the boy had never done anything wrong, the Raikage knew it would be hard to persuade the villagers to believe he had the Rokubi in him at all, let alone to hate him and his family, and hunt them down and either drive them from the village or kill them. So, on one of Mai's brother's routine missions, this time to Sunagakure, the Raikage had hired out ninja from Kusagakure no Sato (Hidden Grass Village) to attack Akeno and his 2 teammates, since he knew that electric jutsus would not work against these ninja, and they would easily be able to kill Akeno's comrades, and, per the Raikage's request, knock out and gravely injure Akeno, and significantly weaken the seal that had been placed on him.(When he hired these ninja from Kusagakure, he told them exactly how to do it, since he'd learned how from his top secret scrolls).
After the attack, ANBU came and brought Mai's brother back to Kumogakure, and he woke up after a week in the hospital. But everyone could tell there was something different about him. And then, when he was walking home one day a few months later, he just randomly killed 5 little kids playing in front of their house, and continued on his way.(The stupid parents should have watched their kids better....).
There were a few witnesses, 2 actually, but they were too shocked and scared to do anything but run to the Raikage's office- which was exactly what he'd been waiting for. He immediately sent out an announcement to all the households in the village(except Mai's) telling about what Mai's brother had done, and how the Hoshikori family had gone crazy, and was using their powerful bloodline abilities to kill all the young children in the village, because they felt they were superior to everyone else, because of those abilities. Not only that, but that their oldest son had a demon in him which they were using to their personal advantage, in killing everyone inferior to them in the village, so they could take it over, and have all the money and power they wanted. Now, think about it- if your Raikage himself is telling you this(albeit in a letter), and you just saw one of that family killing 5 young innocent children, or heard of it from friends and neighbors in the daily town gossip, what would you do?
Well, the townspeople, shinobi included, did get scared. After all, Mai's father was head of ANBU, and very powerful already. Mai was the most powerful and promising kunoichi in at least the last 1/4 of a century, and her brother was almost on par with her. And now he had some demon in him?!
They went to the Hoshikori clan estate- at least 3/4 of the village, and started beating down the gates, demanding that Akeno and his father Nikkomaru be sent out(some demanded Mai too, but she was still at work, unbeknownest to most of them in their rage). The family was pretty scared, well, except Nikkomaru, and he went out to try to talk some sense into the mob of crazy villagers and ninjas, who wanted his and his eldest son's heads(literally). And well... he always thought the best of people, and didn't expect that when he went out to talk to them and calm them down that they would ambush him- even a huge number of his own ANBU with the rest. He was getting old(the guy was already 62), and hadn't been on an actual mission in 11 years, and so wasn't in the best of shape. And... even though he put up a good fight, and considering his age and all, a long one too, the raging mob killed him.
But it gave Mai's mother, Midori, time to get her 4 younger siblings out of the back entrance to the estate. Mai arrived home soon after, wondering at why a group of people were standing in front of her estate's entrance. She too didn't think anything was wrong, since her family had always been popular, but as she tried to brush past some of the people, she saw her dead father, and that the door had just been broken down, and they were going into her home to probably kill her family. Not sure of what she should do, Mai jumped up onto the huge wall of the estate, and over into the courtyard, and was able to get ahead of most of the crowd. And when they saw her, the shinobi started attacking her much as they had her father. Bu she acted quickly, and not even wanting anything to do with Kumogakure anymore, had resolved to kill as many of the ninja as she could. She immediately used Raiton: Mai no Hagane (Lighting Release: Brightness of the Sun) which was a jutsu that has no effect on its user, but otherwise has an extremely wide range, and gives off a brightness equivalent to looking at the sun while right next to it(aka in space). After the mob was blinded, a few of the highly trained and skilled ninja kept coming though, able to hear her, and so she used Raiton: Ranpu Ichidou no Kokushibyou(literally Lightning Release: Light Ray of Black- called such because it doesn't use visible light, but extremely high frequency gamma rays, which destroy the body's cells and bring about almost instant, and very painful death. Since it's still light energy, the rays have a wide range and direction too, and can kill lots of people- but can be focused in one direction by the user if so desired). And so they were all dead- half the townspeople, easily. Some of them had been good friends with Mai's family, and the sudden turn in them really troubled her- she knew she would never trust anyone again- especially when, as she walked over the corpses towards the house, hoping her family was there and still safe, she saw her best friend among the dead. When she reached the house, her family was gone though, and she knew they must have left through the back. She grabbed some of their belongings, and hurried back out the way she'd come, oping to find them, which didn't take as long as she thought it would. After reaching them, she collapsed in exhaustion from having used the jutsus(only her fear for her family and her adrenaline had been keeping her going till she found them.) Her brother Akeno picked her up, and on they went.
They left the village, and lived moving from town to town, staying at random inns for a while. But.. Mai's brother was acting irractically, and everyone soon took notice. One night, after everyone was asleep, her mother told her about his demon, and that somehow his seal must have been damaged. She was concerned, but he had only killed twice in all the towns they'd stayed in so far, so they figured that he was doing well to control it.
Eventually, the family couldnt deal with moving anymore, and bought a small house in a village in the Rice Country. Mai meanwhile went out and got a job, as a waitress, to support her brothers and sisters education. Not all of them wanted to be ninja after all, especially after what had happened, and her second oldest brother and sister wanted to go to college someday and be lawyers- so someone needed to pay for their schooling.
But one day, about a month after they'd finally, happily settled, tragedy struck again. Mai came home late from the decrepit diner in which she worked to find her house burning down, and to hear her family screaming inside. She ran in, and found her two sisters hiding under the table, and immediately grabbed them and ran outside. She was about to go back in for her two brothers and mother, since she guessed they must still be inside, when the house collapsed. She started running for it anyway, but her sisters held her back, screaming that their mother and younger brother were already dead, even before the house had started burning, and screaming for her to protect them.
She turned around to see that Akeno had appeared, seemingly out of nowhere, and had an aura of yellow chakra surrounding him, as well as two strange yellow tail things coming from his back. He grabbed one of the girls, 11 year old Kikyo, and ripped her apart, before Mai had time to react at all. She screamed and collapsed into a crying heap, grabbing her other sister to her, before he could kill the youngest one. But even though both girls had been traumatized beyond words, Mai was a fully trained ninja, and had seen horrible things(though seeing your younger sister ripped apart takes the cake), and so she recovered and ran. She ran into the nearby woods and found a hollow tree to hide Aiko in(cause the kid was only 5, and pretty small), and then wiated for the inevitable, after telling her sister to keep quiet, and stay there, even though Mai left the immediate area so Aiko wouldn't die too.
Akeno had indeed followed them into the woods, and even though he was starting to recover from his 'demon takeover', attacked her anyway. (Now I'm bad at battle scenes, and have written like a story here already, so I'm not going into the details here- sorry!!!) At any rate, it was a pretty long battle, because true, he had the demon and all, but Mai was an exceptionally skilled ninja, and her brother was never able to properly harness their bloodline abilities either. Eventually though, she took a bad hit, and was sure she was going to die, but suddenly, her brother collapsed too, from the strain of the demon on his body.
When she awoke hours later, her brother was nursing her back to health, not even remembering the events of the past evening(weird I know, but heck, it could happen, ok?) When she realized that he was right there, acting as though nothing was wrong, she attacked him in a rage, and even though he had recovered and she hadn't fully, because he didn't expect or see her first attack, she hit him- hard(with the above mentioned Raiton: Ranpu Ichidou no Kokushibyou, her second most powerful attack, and all she could manage in her weakened state.)
After he fell down, she grabbed a kunai, and started stabbing him, over and over, until he was just about dead- and just as she was about to deliver the final few blows, tears streaming down her face, and exhaustion taking her over so that she was barely even able to lift the kunai above her head to ready the blow, hands grabbed her raised one from behind, and told her to stop, that he was needed alive. When she turned around Zetsu was there(cause since he's a spy, he'd heard about her brother and all, and had witnessed the events of the previous night, and that afternoon). She got angry and said it wasn't any of his business whether her own brother should live or die, especially after what he'd done, and Zetsu assured that he'd be dealt with, but not yet. She asked why the hell he was interested in her brother, and that if he wouldn't let her kill him, he'd better explain. And he did, giving as little info as he could to her, but enough to appease her.
She said that he could have her brother, but only if she could watch him die, and needing the bijuu in him, and realizing that she might make a good addition to the organization herself, he agreed. Before they left, she went back for Aiko, but Aiko was nowhere to be found. Zetsu didn't give Mai much opportunity to look for her sister, but even if he had, Mai realized that wherever Aiko was, she probably wouldn't find her. Her family was gone, her friends and village had betrayed her. When she was brought to the Akatsuki, and after giving them a demonstration of her abilities and being asked to join(after getting a chance to rest and recover for a bit of course, since she could barely stand when she arrived), she didn't hesitate for even a second. Not even after they told her what their purpose was. Her heart had been hardened to the world, and she was happy to first aid in the taking of the bijuu from her brother, and his subsequent death, and then missions afterwards to search for others like her brother, killing random people in the process- after all, if she couldn't have a happy family life, why should anyone else? Whenever she gets a chance though, she does search for her sister though, her last semblance of normalcy and love in this terrible world, though she has pretty much come to the realization that some wild animal must have carried the girl off and killed her.




Okay, in this picture, Mai is relaxing and watching the sunset after returning from a long hard mission in pursuit of one of the jinchuuriki. After all, even hardened criminals need a break sometimes....
The title was chosen because it's sunset, or dusk at the moment, and Mai is in the Akatsuki, which obviously means daybreak. I thought it sounded nice, and the title I wanted to use was too long, so I settled for this.
Her appearance may seem a pathetic cop-out of Deidara but it's not, really. Like I said, the character is supposed to based off ourselves. My hair really is this long, and this color and style, and my eyes really are that blue(a bit like Dei's eyes- or, eye, lol). Nothing else is really coping Deidara, so, please don't get that idea. I just wanted to put that forth, so people don't get the wrong idea. I'm paranoid, what can I say?
The flowers may seem huge, but they are realistically sized, believe it or not. I figured, the whole cherry blossom thing has been done so much, that I'd better pick another flower, if I was to have any at all- and I knew from the start that I wanted some. So, as I was drawing, the Magnolia tree outside my window began blooming- and is now in full bloom. Those flowers can grow to well over a foot in width, much bigger than your hand- though of course not every single one does. Now, true, magnolias probably don't grow in Japan- but I don't care. They're pretty, this is my picture, and I like them and the affect they add to my drawing.

I hope you like it, and PLEASE REVIEW, GOOD OR BAD!!!