The Yami Clan

People, may I introduce you one of my oldest characters, properly revamped.

Since I started those homemade comics thingies I created a group of six evil kunoichis as one of the top evildoers of the Homeheroes universe (back then "The Dynamicals" universe). Few years ago, when I began revamping them, I accidentally found out about Chiyome Mochizuki (a.k.a. Chiyojo Mochizuki). Perfect opportunity to turn the leader of such group into a fictional descendent of the historical noblewoman credited to create a big group of kunoichis back in the 16th century Japan. And, likely, following the steps of her ancestress. Yeah, call it direct influence from Lupin the Third concepts.  With that change of character background, also came a change on their nationalities to fit it all: each member was from a different Asian country, now all of them are Japanese. Not only that, their clan changed its name as well, replacing "Shadow Claw Clan" by Yami Clan (meaning "darkness" in Japanese).

Along with power and wealth - usual objectives of every criminal faction out there -, the Yami Clan also seeks to completely dominate and/or erradicate every other ninja clan in the world. It is not known how many exact members such clan has, but it's esteemed in something between 200 to 400. Every member must have the official badge either in a specific earring (that can be properly identified by another member to avoid impostors) or permanently tattooed at both toes (a secret kept between members). Although the top members follows a dressing code as we can see here, lower-ranked members doesn't need to mandatorily follow it, but if they do they can't use the colors of the top members.

Speaking of which, the top members are known as "Yami-Sanjo" (meaning something like "Yami's mountain top"). They are (by color):

CHIYOKO MOCHIZUKI
The leader of the clan. Apart from growing up in the streets of Tokyo, everything else is a mystery about Chiyoko, what to tell about how she got that scar, but one can wonder knowing about her superhuman fighting skills and resistance, which many believe it's a well-kept secret about a scientific experiment, and for some the result of any kind of supernatural experience. Possibly every law enforcement group out there ranks her among the ten most dangerous people in the world.

RIN KONDO
The tallest, strongest and most cold-blooded of the six. Born in Yokohama, it is said Rin rarely shows other emotions rather than seriousness or anger, which is associated to traumatic childhood and teenhood experiences among her Yakuza-member-relatives. She is best known for never taking more than one minute to end a fight, either for "taking care" of her foe quickly like that or to make it run once this realizes it's nearly impossible to beat her.

HANAE FUJITA
Coming from Kyoto, Hanae is the most qualified in the group after Chiyoko to take care of business of all kinds: she always seems to have the right "ace in the hole" for every occasion to get what she wants without using brute force. Some says without her the Yami Clan wouldn't be half as wealthy as it is today. But she's a skilled fighter too (although gossips says she's the least skilled one in the group).

AKANE UEMURA
From the snowy outskirts of Sapporo comes a talented weapon forger and chemist. Not only she can create unique melee weapons out of almost any raw material, she also enjoys testing all kinds of mixes to come up with her own experiments fitted to whatever are the plans of the clan. Such advanced chemistry knowledge is the source of the theory about Chiyoko's superhumanness.

ARIKO TETSUYAMA
This nutcase, sake-lover, digital addict sharpshooter from Kobe, although an essential part of the group, is also a big worry as well: Ariko tends to be too daredevil and quite careless, sometimes even to the point of compromising the group in any ways. But her admirable loyalty and dedication to her partners makes her always find a way to make up for her flaws.

MAKI INAMOTO
There's something about this former lead singer of a little known J-pop band from Osaka that drives men crazy. Maybe it's her charisma, maybe it's her cuteness, maybe her strong personality... well, probably all of that put together. Not that the other members don't attract men, but Maki has a curious ease to do it, quite like a magnet. One of the most adorable femme-fatales you can find, for sure.



Although the picture might give such idea, they don't have designated weapons for each member. Whatever they bring with them or whatever is in range is good enough. They also make plenty of use of firearms and explosives.

So, yeah, this here is what I meant with "Chiyoko and the Yami Clan" when listing the featured characters at the "Before the Sun Rises" chapter summary. Only when I was linking those images to the summaries there I realized I had no material at all referring to this group in my gallery... until now.

_{TRIVIA: the former nationality of these characters was, respectively, North Korea, China PR, Hong Kong, South Korea, Phillipines and Japan.
CHALLENGE: one of these kunoichis is the sister of a previously presented character. Free traditional pic for the first comment here with the right answer.}