Life in Yanxia
For the once-proud-warrior Nobuharu, life in Eorzea is much different from life in the Azim Steppe. Nobuharu would spend years roaming the wilds of the Onsal Hakair mountains, his only companion being Hoshikiri, the great katana bestowed upon him by his deceased father as a coming-of-age gift. This sword and the bare traditional tribal armor of his home would be his two companions through years of combat and survival against the forces that threatened to end him like they ended his family. Eventually, he would find himself coming off the mountain and entering the plains of the Steppe for the first time. Enamored by this land he had only heard of in the legends of the Namat, he soon felt that even on his knees, his failures rendered him unworthy of stepping foot on such hallowed land for the Au Ra. It was in this moment of sadness that he stumbled upon a tribe of nomads called the Mol situated at the foot of the mountains. To his surprise, the tribe was full of people like him, be they younger or older, male or female. These were the people who would nurse his wounds, give him warm cooked food for the first time in years and welcome him as one of their own. It would also be this group of quiet nomads who would give the Namat exile his first taste of life outside the tribe, showing him how they hunted and survived off the fat of the land and cared for each other as their own.While Nobuharu was appreciative of these Mol for their support and care, a part of him knew he couldn't stay here. If he did, he would always be bound to the tribe he had left...and the bodies of the family he had never been able to bury. It was for these reasons that Nobuharu packed his things and traveled southward, into the land called Yanxia, where he would make his name known to the people by using Hoshikiri to strike down a pack of feral wolves and beetles threatening the harvest of the village of Namai. While he would be heralded for his victory, the wolves would get one up on him with bites and wounds to his chest that almost ended his journey. It would have been...had it not been for a young healer woman named Sakura. She was a beautiful woman, with long flowing black hair, blue eyes, a warm smile and a calm, reassuring presence that calmed Nobuharu's fears for the first time in years. As she treated his wounds, they talked about their lives in their parts of the world; his isolation and trials and failures and her desire to leave Namai and become her own woman, with a family and kids to care for like she cared for him. With his recovery came added time for them to reminisce about their lives and wonder what could be if they made off on their own...if only he wasn't addressing threats to his new temporary home and she wasn't always patching his wounds. Through their time together, Nobuharu and Sakura came close to falling in love, a love that the former would come to cherish...until like so many other things, it was taken away from him by fate.
The day the fallen warrior lost Sakura was the day he was exposed to the greatest fear of the Namai villagers: the Garlean Empire. Though he had seen little of these Garleans in the isolation of his mountain tribe, Nobuharu would soon come face-to-face with the depravity their soldiers were capable of in the name of "order." One day, while Kobuharu was away in the Glittering Basin hunting food for Sakura and her elders, a squadron of Garlean soldiers commenced a ritual round-up of possible servants and soldiers from among the Namai villagers. As Sakura was a talented medic and apothecary of age, it was inevitable that she was selected for conscription into the Garlean army. As the soldiers left with their claims, Nobuharu returned with his prize, which he soon neglected when he was told what had happened. Perceiving they were still close, he rushed to follow the tribe to their loading position at a place the villagers called "Castrum Fluminis." It was here that he would engage the squadron to free the villagers and his beloved, a fight that he expected to win handily with Hoshikiri. However, the Garleans put up a tougher fight with their advanced magitek weapons and armor difficult for him to get around and cut through. Surely, this was a losing battle, one he would lose in the presence of the one he loved. Yet again, though, fate had other ideas.As the Garleans swarmed him and beat him for his rebellion, Sakura was powerless to stop them and could only watch as the Au Ra she strived to protect and care for was beaten. It was the sight of a centurion lifting his gunblade into the air to deliver a killing blow to the fallen warrior, however, that compelled her to commit the ultimate sacrifice. She rushed past the guards, ran to give cover to Nobuharu and took the blow meant to end his life. Nobuharu was powerless to stop the blow and all he could do was hold her bleeding, dying corpse in his hands, tears in his eyes as he watched another beloved person die before him. It was her last words that haunted him the most: "Run, Nobu...run...and live." They echoed the words of his mother so many years ago and the pain the memories and Sakura's death ignited in him sent him into a rage. Hoshikiri was drowned in Garlean blood that day, as the force of Nobuharu's blows cut through the bodies of the soldiers like paper. As the last soldier fell to the wrath of the angered Au Ra, he let out a cry that shook the stars as the villagers fled. Refusing to abandon Sakura, he buried her on a hill near Namai where they would walk to eat and trade stories...and kisses. He refused to return to the village for fear of being called a traitor and failure again, leading to a self-imposed exile that took him across the Ruby Sea to the bustling city of Kugane. It was here that his life as a freelancer would begin, as he would learn about the need for warriors like him to lead teams on "duties" into "dungeons" for gold and fame. It was also here that he would cast off the name Uzuka, choosing instead the name Kurogane to represent his new homes: Kugane and the nearby living quarters of Shirogane.