SP App
Player Information
Name: Cat
Age: 30s
AIM SN: LadyFoxstone
email: catrood [at] gmail [dot] com
Have you played in an LJ based game before? Yep
Currrently Played Characters: vw_coyote (Mercy Thompson) and thelittlestbub (Jubilee)
Conditional: Activity Check Link: HERE
Character Information
General
Canon Source: Bleach
Canon Format: Manga/Anime
Character's Name: Byakuya Kuchiki (Kuchiki Byakuya)
Character's Age: Never implicitly stated but he’s at least 120 years old.
Conditional: If your character is 13 years of age or under, please clarify how they will be played. N/A
What form will your character's NV take? IPad with a stylus for text messages. It’s black with pink cherry blossoms on it.
Abilities
Character's Canon Abilities: Byakuya is one of the highest ranking swordsmen in all of Soul Society. He is capable of flawless precision and lethal attacks, despite taking numerous near-fatal wounds. While grievously wounded, he’s still capable of using shunpo. As a master of the flash-step, he knows several techniques taught by the Shihoin house and uses it in battle with lethal results.
As a Captain of the Gotei 13, Byakuya possesses immense spiritual pressure. He’s also shown to be able to sense other reiatsu and identify the owner. It’s speculated that he’s one of, if not the, strongest head of the Kuchiki clan.
Although he rarely uses it in combat, Byakuya is a proficient hand to hand combatant.
Byakuya can use high level Kidou spells (he’s been shown to use up to level 81) without the incantation, and can use the lower level spells with devastating effects and as counters to attacks.
His zanpakuto is Senbonzakura. The spirit within it is a very honorable samurai warrior. He actually considers it beneath him to release the sword into its bankai state. He triggers the shikai - initial release - of the sword with the command ‘Scatter’. In this state, the sword separates into a thousand slender tiny blade fragments that look like pink cherry blossoms. (The release can be stopped merely by wrapping the blade in fabric before it’s complete.) Byakuya can control the blade fragments by moving the hilt that remains in his hand.
If something happens and Byakuya does release Senbonzakura’s bankai, it is a greater spectacle than the shikai. The sword disappears into the ground, as if falling into water. Large blades appear to grow from the ground on either side of him and then collapse into the tiny blade fragments reminiscent of his shikai. However, in bankai, there are exponentially more of the ‘flower petals’.
Commonly, Byakuya uses the blades in large masses, designed to obliterate opponents. It looks like cherry blossoms on the wind as it moves like a wave on the air. He can also use these blades as a shield. The bankai is completely mentally controlled, though if he does use his hands, the speed of the blades increases three-fold.
The bankai has several special abilities:
- Senkei Byakuya flicks a bit of his own blood onto the blades, and they unite to form glowing swords. These swords form into four rows and surround Byakuya and his opponent, in a continuous moving column array. It’s strictly for concentrated offence and abandons a lot of defensive purposes. It’s not for attack from all sides, but rather concentrates his offence into fewer blades. He can mentally control them, but will often call one to his hand for melee combat. This form is only used when Byakuya has sworn to cut down an opponent with his own two hands.
- Gokei The number of blades increases immensely. It creates a sphere that swirls around an opponent. Then, the blades fly into the opponent from every possible angle, negating the blind spots and completely obliterating the person inside. The resulting shockwave is powerful enough that Byakuya has to shunpo out of the way.
- Shukei: Hakuteiken This attack can only be used once. All of the blades coalesce into a single sword, increasing the cutting power dramatically. White wings form on Byakuya’s back and a halo appears above his head - these are both made of immense spiritual energy. The blade also appears completely white. The wings can be used for flight. The attack causes grievous injuries in a single hit.
Byakuya is also accomplished at calligraphy and it’s implied at poetry as well. He’s the head of the calligraphy club, and uses it as a relaxation technique when he is troubled by something and needs to settle his mind.
However, the man cannot draw. He has absolutely no artistic sense in that area at all. He thinks he does, which just makes his attempts that much sadder.
Conditional: If your character has no superhuman canon abilities, what dormant ability will you give them? N/A
Weapons: His weapon is only Senbonzakura. That is enough. Senbonzakura is a regular katana with a simple cross guard, which looks like a four pane window. It has a white hilt and sheathe.
History/Personality/Plans/etc.
Character History: Byakuya was born into the very powerful Kuchiki clan - one of the four great noble houses of Soul Society. He lost his parents at a young age, and was raised by his grandfather, Ginrei Kuchiki.
Spending countless hours training, he prepared for the day when he would become not only the twenty-eighth head of the Kuchiki clan, but also when he would take over as Captain of the Sixth Division. He was also trained by Yoruichi Shihoin in uses of flash-step, and does not hold polite feelings for her at all, even after all these years.
After joining the Gotei 13, Byakuya met, fell in love with and married Hisana, a commoner from Rukongai - something his family did not approve of. When she died five years later, she begged him to find and adopt her little sister Rukia - whom she had abandoned. After her death, he went through a monumental personality change.
He found Rukia one year later at the academy and did as his late wife wished, once again defying the rules of the nobility. He then made a promise to his parents to never again break the rules. He never looked straight at Rukia, until much later. It hurt too much, because she looked almost exactly like Hisana.
Shortly after Rukia joined the Gotei 13, he became Captain of the Sixth Division (on the same day that Ichimaru became Captain of the Third).
When Rukia went missing in the mortal realm, Byakuya and his lieutenant were the ones to go find her and return her to Soul Society for judgment. This was his first experience with Kurosaki, whom he defeated and almost killed right before returning to Soul Society.
After Rukia was sentenced to death, he delivered the sentence to her, but he didn’t attempt to stop the execution. (And almost fought Kenpachi when he started making comments about it.)
Ichigo Kurosaki and the ryoka invaded and Kuchiki was rather unimpressed with this turn of events. When Ganju Shiba and Hanatarou Yamada almost rescued Rukia, he nearly killed Ganju and was going to finish off both of them - and return Rukia to jail - before he was stopped by Captain Ukitake. Then, he decided that neither were worth his time and left them to Ukitake.
Shortly thereafter, Ichigo Kurosaki appeared and talked to Rukia. After dismissing him as no one, Kuchiki attempted the same attack as before on Ichigo, but it was blocked. Seeing as Ichigo had gained strength, Byakuya almost released his shikai - stopped by Yoruichi wrapping the blade in fabric.
After she left with Ichigo, he left as well, telling Ukitake to do as he wished with Shiba and Yamada. He later refused to do anything about Rukia’s execution.
On his way to the execution, Byakuya was forced to fight his lieutenant. He defeated Renji, but left his scarf as a mark of regard for the boy’s tenacity and honor.
His arrival at the execution was soon followed by Ichigo’s arrival and the two once again fought. Following a very intense battle where both displayed skills the other hadn’t seen before, Byakuya conceded the fight and shunpo’d away. (It’s speculated that because he had the wherewithal to shunpo, that he actually might have thrown the fight in such a way to save his own honor, and to give Ichigo the chance to save Rukia.)
He returned very shortly after to save Rukia from Ichimaru, and then broke his promise to his wife and told Rukia about Hisana.
Byakuya - along with Kenpachi - retrieved Hitsugaya’s team from the mortal realm where they were investigating the Arrancar. Upon returning to Soul Society, he told Renji and Rukia that he had fulfilled his duty and brought them back, but he had not been ordered to keep them there.
He showed no emotion at all when told they were missing.
He, along with several other Captains, arrived in Hueco Mundo, to help stop the Arrancar from going to Karakura Town. He arrived, in time, to stop the Seventh Espada from killing Rukia. The two fought, and Byakuya had to sever his own tendons, and confine Rukia in a kidou spell in order to win. But he did win, and was later healed by both Hanatarou Yamada and the lieutenant of the Fourth Division, Isane Kotetsu.
Byakuya later arrived just in time to save Ichigo from the Cero Espada. He refused to get engaged in the fight, waiting until Kenpachi made the mistake of thinking the Espada completely defeated, only to be proven wrong. Then, alongside Kenpachi, he defeated Yammy - though he refused to admit that Kenpachi had anything to do with it.
Have a history link too
Point in Canon: right before he arrives in Karakura town in chapter 422
Conditional: Brief summary of previous RP history: N/A
Character Personality: When he was young, Byakuya was loud, brash, impulsive, and prone to fits of rage. He said what was on his mind, and made no bones about what he thought about people. He could be easily goaded, and often did things without a single thought to the consequences. He also had absolutely no patience at all.
Then, he fell in love with and married Hisana. He’d grown out of most of his childish behavior, but even his marriage was considered rash and impulsive (not to mention beneath him). But still, he defied the clan and went ahead with it; he loved her that much. Her death shattered him, and he withdrew into himself, becoming someone completely different.
Kuchiki is, on the outside, cold, unfeeling, regal and more than a little apathetic towards those he has deemed of a lower station. (Which includes pretty much everyone.) He holds his face a mask of indifference, and rarely shows any emotion at all.
Despite his outward appearance of calm collection, Byakuya is often deeply conflicted about what he should do. For the longest time, he couldn’t even look at Rukia, because she looked so much like his late wife.
He believes in law and order, and works toward a peaceful society. He has stated that as a head of a great noble house, if he does not follow the rules as a good example, then no one else will either. To this end, Byakuya believes that law breakers should be punished, no matter how close they are to him - hence why he almost allowed Rukia’s execution to go forward. He also made a promise to his late parents (that he later broke) that he would follow the rules and the laws of the nobility.
However, Byakuya can be, and has been a little ruthless and hypocritical. He will, seemingly, turn his back on his precious rules in order to do something that he feels is for the good of the society. He will usually do this through the loopholes of the rules, but has outright supposedly betrayed Soul Society for the honor of his clan, and because he thought he was the only one who could stop a catastrophe.
He cares very deeply and can even show great compassion to others, in some of the oddest ways. Such as leaving his scarf - a great symbol of his house - on his lieutenant’s body (despite the boy trying to fight him to force him to do something) as a gesture of honor after their battle. He also allows Kusajishi Yachiru to build extra rooms and tunnels in his home, without repercussions. (He also, often, carries cakes in his sleeves for said fukutaichō of Eleventh Division.)
His compassion, and need to show it, is why he eventually broke the promise to Hisana and told Rukia just why she was adopted into the Kuchiki clan and why he could never look at her.
He is immensely protective of those closest to him and has been known to go to great lengths to insure that they are safe - including blocking Rukia from becoming a seated officer, despite her having the ability to do so.
During the fight on the hill with Ichigo, instead of continuing the fight - something he obviously had the skill/energy to do - he turned and simply shun-po’d away, allowing the younger man to rescue Rukia. Then, despite those injuries, he returned, and took a near fatal injury for Rukia from Ichimaru. Not just because she looked like his late wife, but because he’d come to hold regard for her in her own right. It was during this that Kurosaki managed to gain a tiny bit of Byakuya’s respect. Something that not even all his fellow Captains have done.
He is not the most welcoming of men, and can be easily offended. He takes great pride in his family and his name and feels it a slight when not used properly. He openly shows disdain for people who do so, and those who have been disgraced or are annoyingly overconfident Kurosaki. Hence why he had no problem openly attacking Ganju Shiba, as the Shiba house was disgraced.
Kuchiki can also be just slightly petty - showing how his younger self truly isn’t gone, just buried. When Rukia was sentenced to die, he pointedly needled Ukitake about losing subordinates.
Byakuya does have a sense of humor. He’s a great big troll. He basically makes his own fun, and does so in such a way that no one can quite figure out if they’re being made fun of, or not. He’ll attend lieutenant meetings for his lieutenant and Shinigami Women’s Associations meetings for his sister. He also will go to extreme measures to punish someone who has done something to his property (See also; using his shikai on a pool put there by the Women’s Association). He thinks these things are hilarious.
Kuchiki almost never admits that he’s wrong. Not outright, anyway. He’s pretty confident in his own perceptions and knows his own limitations very well. But just because he doesn’t come out and say “I’m wrong.” Doesn’t mean he doesn’t know when he’s made a mistake. He will usually make some other gesture - including someone in a fight/plan, ending a fight early, pointing out that he has followed the rules but there is a loophole that isn’t his to close, etc - to show that he has seen the mistake and is owning up to it.
He might also be slightly obsessed with a character he created called The Seaweed Ambassador.
Conditional: Personality development in previous game: N/A
Character Plans: To settle him in and see if he can troll everyonesurvive without his servants.
Also, he’s going to have to deal with Aizen. He will take the cautious approach, but with fellow Captains like his BFF Kenpachi here, he just might attempt to organize them, and attempt to take the man down - not necessarily kill him, since he is not judge, jury and executioner, but contain him. Then, of course, he’s going to have to find a way home and deliver that traitor to the soutaichou.
Byakuya will also not be handling well the entire ‘timeline’ thing. He won’t understand what Ishida is talking about if he says “their return to Karakura” or Hitsugaya speaking about still fighting the Arrancar. As far as he’s concerned, the battle is over and justice will be served. He’ll be delightfully confused.
I also cannot wait to play him against Edgeworth. Their senses of justice, law and order should be interesting to see.
Appearance/PB: Byakuya Kuchiki
Writing Samples
First Person Sample
[The video feed clicks on and the face in the feed looks unimpressed. Cold grey eyes look at the camera, under half-closed lids. Fingers steeple in front of the man’s mouth and after a moment, he speaks:]
I will take reports on the restless souls at night, as well as the laws of this society now.
[He studies the feed for a moment more, and his eyebrow ticks up. He says nothing more and merely clicks off the feed.]
Third Person Sample
He remembered stepping through the senkaimon/garganta that Kurotsuchi-taichou had made to Karakura Town. He remembered standing next to that insufferable Kenpachi.
His sword flashed and yet another of the monsters that had greeted him in this place fell in pieces. Byakuya wiped Senbonzakura off and slid the sword into his sheath. He looked around. The man who had met him had run away.
A disdainful sniff. These restless souls had been weak, tainted, beneath him. He was out here performing such menial tasks when he should have been meeting with the others in Karakura. He should have known to never trust Kurotsuchi-taichou.
He took a step and almost stumbled. The wound on his side began leaking blood yet again. Damned Espada. And that beast who called himself a Captain. He sucked in a breath and forced himself to take another step.
No matter where he was, he was still the Kuchiki and he would not show weakness. He would find out where he was and why, and he would fix it.
A soft sound to his right made him pause. His hand rested against Senbonzakura’s hilt as he waited for whatever it was to reveal itself.
Additional Samples:
First Person Sample
[He could sense other shinigami in the city. He knew who some of them were. But he’s ignoring them for now.]
Is the night so lawless that not even those entrusted to protect journey out?
[His voice is soft, even and more than a little disdainful for such cowardice.]
What keeps you away from your duty? Fear? Pain? Duty first. Perhaps all of you should remember that.
Third Person Sample:
Cool grey eyes swept over the eager faces filing into the classroom in front of him. Without a current way home, his haori, or anyway to draw upon the Kuchiki name, becoming a teacher had seemed the least offensive way to survive. He brushed his fingers over the scarf of his house and pushed himself to his feet.
Behind him, the Wakame Ambassador stood, staring at the students that had come in. Some stared back; some whispered amongst themselves and pointed. Byakuya didn’t explain himself. He just opened a book in front of him and read a brief passage from the poetry book in front of him:
We are, you and me,
Like two pine needles
Which will dry and fall
But never separate.
He stepped back, standing next to the Ambassador and watched them, waiting for someone to begin the analyzing of the poem. Eyes flicked between him and the Ambassador. He watched the confusion skitter across faces and just barely managed to keep his face impassive.
He just waited.
Name: Cat
Age: 30s
AIM SN: LadyFoxstone
email: catrood [at] gmail [dot] com
Have you played in an LJ based game before? Yep
Currrently Played Characters: vw_coyote (Mercy Thompson) and thelittlestbub (Jubilee)
Conditional: Activity Check Link: HERE
Character Information
General
Canon Source: Bleach
Canon Format: Manga/Anime
Character's Name: Byakuya Kuchiki (Kuchiki Byakuya)
Character's Age: Never implicitly stated but he’s at least 120 years old.
Conditional: If your character is 13 years of age or under, please clarify how they will be played. N/A
What form will your character's NV take? IPad with a stylus for text messages. It’s black with pink cherry blossoms on it.
Abilities
Character's Canon Abilities: Byakuya is one of the highest ranking swordsmen in all of Soul Society. He is capable of flawless precision and lethal attacks, despite taking numerous near-fatal wounds. While grievously wounded, he’s still capable of using shunpo. As a master of the flash-step, he knows several techniques taught by the Shihoin house and uses it in battle with lethal results.
As a Captain of the Gotei 13, Byakuya possesses immense spiritual pressure. He’s also shown to be able to sense other reiatsu and identify the owner. It’s speculated that he’s one of, if not the, strongest head of the Kuchiki clan.
Although he rarely uses it in combat, Byakuya is a proficient hand to hand combatant.
Byakuya can use high level Kidou spells (he’s been shown to use up to level 81) without the incantation, and can use the lower level spells with devastating effects and as counters to attacks.
His zanpakuto is Senbonzakura. The spirit within it is a very honorable samurai warrior. He actually considers it beneath him to release the sword into its bankai state. He triggers the shikai - initial release - of the sword with the command ‘Scatter’. In this state, the sword separates into a thousand slender tiny blade fragments that look like pink cherry blossoms. (The release can be stopped merely by wrapping the blade in fabric before it’s complete.) Byakuya can control the blade fragments by moving the hilt that remains in his hand.
If something happens and Byakuya does release Senbonzakura’s bankai, it is a greater spectacle than the shikai. The sword disappears into the ground, as if falling into water. Large blades appear to grow from the ground on either side of him and then collapse into the tiny blade fragments reminiscent of his shikai. However, in bankai, there are exponentially more of the ‘flower petals’.
Commonly, Byakuya uses the blades in large masses, designed to obliterate opponents. It looks like cherry blossoms on the wind as it moves like a wave on the air. He can also use these blades as a shield. The bankai is completely mentally controlled, though if he does use his hands, the speed of the blades increases three-fold.
The bankai has several special abilities:
- Senkei Byakuya flicks a bit of his own blood onto the blades, and they unite to form glowing swords. These swords form into four rows and surround Byakuya and his opponent, in a continuous moving column array. It’s strictly for concentrated offence and abandons a lot of defensive purposes. It’s not for attack from all sides, but rather concentrates his offence into fewer blades. He can mentally control them, but will often call one to his hand for melee combat. This form is only used when Byakuya has sworn to cut down an opponent with his own two hands.
- Gokei The number of blades increases immensely. It creates a sphere that swirls around an opponent. Then, the blades fly into the opponent from every possible angle, negating the blind spots and completely obliterating the person inside. The resulting shockwave is powerful enough that Byakuya has to shunpo out of the way.
- Shukei: Hakuteiken This attack can only be used once. All of the blades coalesce into a single sword, increasing the cutting power dramatically. White wings form on Byakuya’s back and a halo appears above his head - these are both made of immense spiritual energy. The blade also appears completely white. The wings can be used for flight. The attack causes grievous injuries in a single hit.
Byakuya is also accomplished at calligraphy and it’s implied at poetry as well. He’s the head of the calligraphy club, and uses it as a relaxation technique when he is troubled by something and needs to settle his mind.
However, the man cannot draw. He has absolutely no artistic sense in that area at all. He thinks he does, which just makes his attempts that much sadder.
Conditional: If your character has no superhuman canon abilities, what dormant ability will you give them? N/A
Weapons: His weapon is only Senbonzakura. That is enough. Senbonzakura is a regular katana with a simple cross guard, which looks like a four pane window. It has a white hilt and sheathe.
History/Personality/Plans/etc.
Character History: Byakuya was born into the very powerful Kuchiki clan - one of the four great noble houses of Soul Society. He lost his parents at a young age, and was raised by his grandfather, Ginrei Kuchiki.
Spending countless hours training, he prepared for the day when he would become not only the twenty-eighth head of the Kuchiki clan, but also when he would take over as Captain of the Sixth Division. He was also trained by Yoruichi Shihoin in uses of flash-step, and does not hold polite feelings for her at all, even after all these years.
After joining the Gotei 13, Byakuya met, fell in love with and married Hisana, a commoner from Rukongai - something his family did not approve of. When she died five years later, she begged him to find and adopt her little sister Rukia - whom she had abandoned. After her death, he went through a monumental personality change.
He found Rukia one year later at the academy and did as his late wife wished, once again defying the rules of the nobility. He then made a promise to his parents to never again break the rules. He never looked straight at Rukia, until much later. It hurt too much, because she looked almost exactly like Hisana.
Shortly after Rukia joined the Gotei 13, he became Captain of the Sixth Division (on the same day that Ichimaru became Captain of the Third).
When Rukia went missing in the mortal realm, Byakuya and his lieutenant were the ones to go find her and return her to Soul Society for judgment. This was his first experience with Kurosaki, whom he defeated and almost killed right before returning to Soul Society.
After Rukia was sentenced to death, he delivered the sentence to her, but he didn’t attempt to stop the execution. (And almost fought Kenpachi when he started making comments about it.)
Ichigo Kurosaki and the ryoka invaded and Kuchiki was rather unimpressed with this turn of events. When Ganju Shiba and Hanatarou Yamada almost rescued Rukia, he nearly killed Ganju and was going to finish off both of them - and return Rukia to jail - before he was stopped by Captain Ukitake. Then, he decided that neither were worth his time and left them to Ukitake.
Shortly thereafter, Ichigo Kurosaki appeared and talked to Rukia. After dismissing him as no one, Kuchiki attempted the same attack as before on Ichigo, but it was blocked. Seeing as Ichigo had gained strength, Byakuya almost released his shikai - stopped by Yoruichi wrapping the blade in fabric.
After she left with Ichigo, he left as well, telling Ukitake to do as he wished with Shiba and Yamada. He later refused to do anything about Rukia’s execution.
On his way to the execution, Byakuya was forced to fight his lieutenant. He defeated Renji, but left his scarf as a mark of regard for the boy’s tenacity and honor.
His arrival at the execution was soon followed by Ichigo’s arrival and the two once again fought. Following a very intense battle where both displayed skills the other hadn’t seen before, Byakuya conceded the fight and shunpo’d away. (It’s speculated that because he had the wherewithal to shunpo, that he actually might have thrown the fight in such a way to save his own honor, and to give Ichigo the chance to save Rukia.)
He returned very shortly after to save Rukia from Ichimaru, and then broke his promise to his wife and told Rukia about Hisana.
Byakuya - along with Kenpachi - retrieved Hitsugaya’s team from the mortal realm where they were investigating the Arrancar. Upon returning to Soul Society, he told Renji and Rukia that he had fulfilled his duty and brought them back, but he had not been ordered to keep them there.
He showed no emotion at all when told they were missing.
He, along with several other Captains, arrived in Hueco Mundo, to help stop the Arrancar from going to Karakura Town. He arrived, in time, to stop the Seventh Espada from killing Rukia. The two fought, and Byakuya had to sever his own tendons, and confine Rukia in a kidou spell in order to win. But he did win, and was later healed by both Hanatarou Yamada and the lieutenant of the Fourth Division, Isane Kotetsu.
Byakuya later arrived just in time to save Ichigo from the Cero Espada. He refused to get engaged in the fight, waiting until Kenpachi made the mistake of thinking the Espada completely defeated, only to be proven wrong. Then, alongside Kenpachi, he defeated Yammy - though he refused to admit that Kenpachi had anything to do with it.
Have a history link too
Point in Canon: right before he arrives in Karakura town in chapter 422
Conditional: Brief summary of previous RP history: N/A
Character Personality: When he was young, Byakuya was loud, brash, impulsive, and prone to fits of rage. He said what was on his mind, and made no bones about what he thought about people. He could be easily goaded, and often did things without a single thought to the consequences. He also had absolutely no patience at all.
Then, he fell in love with and married Hisana. He’d grown out of most of his childish behavior, but even his marriage was considered rash and impulsive (not to mention beneath him). But still, he defied the clan and went ahead with it; he loved her that much. Her death shattered him, and he withdrew into himself, becoming someone completely different.
Kuchiki is, on the outside, cold, unfeeling, regal and more than a little apathetic towards those he has deemed of a lower station. (Which includes pretty much everyone.) He holds his face a mask of indifference, and rarely shows any emotion at all.
Despite his outward appearance of calm collection, Byakuya is often deeply conflicted about what he should do. For the longest time, he couldn’t even look at Rukia, because she looked so much like his late wife.
He believes in law and order, and works toward a peaceful society. He has stated that as a head of a great noble house, if he does not follow the rules as a good example, then no one else will either. To this end, Byakuya believes that law breakers should be punished, no matter how close they are to him - hence why he almost allowed Rukia’s execution to go forward. He also made a promise to his late parents (that he later broke) that he would follow the rules and the laws of the nobility.
However, Byakuya can be, and has been a little ruthless and hypocritical. He will, seemingly, turn his back on his precious rules in order to do something that he feels is for the good of the society. He will usually do this through the loopholes of the rules, but has outright supposedly betrayed Soul Society for the honor of his clan, and because he thought he was the only one who could stop a catastrophe.
He cares very deeply and can even show great compassion to others, in some of the oddest ways. Such as leaving his scarf - a great symbol of his house - on his lieutenant’s body (despite the boy trying to fight him to force him to do something) as a gesture of honor after their battle. He also allows Kusajishi Yachiru to build extra rooms and tunnels in his home, without repercussions. (He also, often, carries cakes in his sleeves for said fukutaichō of Eleventh Division.)
His compassion, and need to show it, is why he eventually broke the promise to Hisana and told Rukia just why she was adopted into the Kuchiki clan and why he could never look at her.
He is immensely protective of those closest to him and has been known to go to great lengths to insure that they are safe - including blocking Rukia from becoming a seated officer, despite her having the ability to do so.
During the fight on the hill with Ichigo, instead of continuing the fight - something he obviously had the skill/energy to do - he turned and simply shun-po’d away, allowing the younger man to rescue Rukia. Then, despite those injuries, he returned, and took a near fatal injury for Rukia from Ichimaru. Not just because she looked like his late wife, but because he’d come to hold regard for her in her own right. It was during this that Kurosaki managed to gain a tiny bit of Byakuya’s respect. Something that not even all his fellow Captains have done.
He is not the most welcoming of men, and can be easily offended. He takes great pride in his family and his name and feels it a slight when not used properly. He openly shows disdain for people who do so, and those who have been disgraced or are annoyingly overconfident Kurosaki. Hence why he had no problem openly attacking Ganju Shiba, as the Shiba house was disgraced.
Kuchiki can also be just slightly petty - showing how his younger self truly isn’t gone, just buried. When Rukia was sentenced to die, he pointedly needled Ukitake about losing subordinates.
Byakuya does have a sense of humor. He’s a great big troll. He basically makes his own fun, and does so in such a way that no one can quite figure out if they’re being made fun of, or not. He’ll attend lieutenant meetings for his lieutenant and Shinigami Women’s Associations meetings for his sister. He also will go to extreme measures to punish someone who has done something to his property (See also; using his shikai on a pool put there by the Women’s Association). He thinks these things are hilarious.
Kuchiki almost never admits that he’s wrong. Not outright, anyway. He’s pretty confident in his own perceptions and knows his own limitations very well. But just because he doesn’t come out and say “I’m wrong.” Doesn’t mean he doesn’t know when he’s made a mistake. He will usually make some other gesture - including someone in a fight/plan, ending a fight early, pointing out that he has followed the rules but there is a loophole that isn’t his to close, etc - to show that he has seen the mistake and is owning up to it.
He might also be slightly obsessed with a character he created called The Seaweed Ambassador.
Conditional: Personality development in previous game: N/A
Character Plans: To settle him in and see if he can troll everyonesurvive without his servants.
Also, he’s going to have to deal with Aizen. He will take the cautious approach, but with fellow Captains like his BFF Kenpachi here, he just might attempt to organize them, and attempt to take the man down - not necessarily kill him, since he is not judge, jury and executioner, but contain him. Then, of course, he’s going to have to find a way home and deliver that traitor to the soutaichou.
Byakuya will also not be handling well the entire ‘timeline’ thing. He won’t understand what Ishida is talking about if he says “their return to Karakura” or Hitsugaya speaking about still fighting the Arrancar. As far as he’s concerned, the battle is over and justice will be served. He’ll be delightfully confused.
I also cannot wait to play him against Edgeworth. Their senses of justice, law and order should be interesting to see.
Appearance/PB: Byakuya Kuchiki
Writing Samples
First Person Sample
[The video feed clicks on and the face in the feed looks unimpressed. Cold grey eyes look at the camera, under half-closed lids. Fingers steeple in front of the man’s mouth and after a moment, he speaks:]
I will take reports on the restless souls at night, as well as the laws of this society now.
[He studies the feed for a moment more, and his eyebrow ticks up. He says nothing more and merely clicks off the feed.]
Third Person Sample
He remembered stepping through the senkaimon/garganta that Kurotsuchi-taichou had made to Karakura Town. He remembered standing next to that insufferable Kenpachi.
His sword flashed and yet another of the monsters that had greeted him in this place fell in pieces. Byakuya wiped Senbonzakura off and slid the sword into his sheath. He looked around. The man who had met him had run away.
A disdainful sniff. These restless souls had been weak, tainted, beneath him. He was out here performing such menial tasks when he should have been meeting with the others in Karakura. He should have known to never trust Kurotsuchi-taichou.
He took a step and almost stumbled. The wound on his side began leaking blood yet again. Damned Espada. And that beast who called himself a Captain. He sucked in a breath and forced himself to take another step.
No matter where he was, he was still the Kuchiki and he would not show weakness. He would find out where he was and why, and he would fix it.
A soft sound to his right made him pause. His hand rested against Senbonzakura’s hilt as he waited for whatever it was to reveal itself.
Additional Samples:
First Person Sample
[He could sense other shinigami in the city. He knew who some of them were. But he’s ignoring them for now.]
Is the night so lawless that not even those entrusted to protect journey out?
[His voice is soft, even and more than a little disdainful for such cowardice.]
What keeps you away from your duty? Fear? Pain? Duty first. Perhaps all of you should remember that.
Third Person Sample:
Cool grey eyes swept over the eager faces filing into the classroom in front of him. Without a current way home, his haori, or anyway to draw upon the Kuchiki name, becoming a teacher had seemed the least offensive way to survive. He brushed his fingers over the scarf of his house and pushed himself to his feet.
Behind him, the Wakame Ambassador stood, staring at the students that had come in. Some stared back; some whispered amongst themselves and pointed. Byakuya didn’t explain himself. He just opened a book in front of him and read a brief passage from the poetry book in front of him:
We are, you and me,
Like two pine needles
Which will dry and fall
But never separate.
He stepped back, standing next to the Ambassador and watched them, waiting for someone to begin the analyzing of the poem. Eyes flicked between him and the Ambassador. He watched the confusion skitter across faces and just barely managed to keep his face impassive.
He just waited.