BleachITP Reborn Character Registry

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Hayashi Izumi

Image by Prime32

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Age: 16
Speaking Color: Dark Slate Blue
Appearance: Izumi is a girl of about 16 years old, with long, black hair, light skin, and blue eyes, and who has been commented by many as quite stunning in appearance. She generally wears a typical Japanese school uniform, although outside of school, she generally wears jeans and a t-shirt. There is a hint of Caucasian in her features, but it is difficult to pick out, and she doesn't actually know which of her ancestors came from the West.

Personality: Izumi has a kind personality to her friends, and will work in any way she can to defend them if they’re getting hurt, although she prefers to act as support and let them solve a problem themselves unless they’re unable to. She’s also quite hard-working, doing consistently well in school as well as a number of extracurricular activities, particularly the kendo club and singing.

Abilities: Izumi is quite skilled at swordsmanship, from her long-standing interest in the kendo club at school. She is quite agile, and is also extremely smart, able to figure out a way to defeat most opponents.

Zanpakuto: Kaminari (雷)

Sealed state: Kaminari appears as a simple daisho pair (katana and wakizashi), with a pattern of stormclouds carved along both blades

Inner World: Izumi's inner world takes the form of a bamboo forest, in the middle of which is a Shinto-style shrine. Her Zanpaktou spirit takes the form of a japanese samurai, with lightning patterns engraved in his armor. He generally is harsh to her, but will acknowledge when she's done well.

Shikai: "The lightning god brings his wrath upon the earth,
The thunder god laughs as the battle rages on,
Kaminari!"

As Izumi speaks the command, she slides the blades along each other. As she does this, they become a pair of huge, heavily-curved, black Chinese scimitars with silver edges.

Abilities granted by shikai: Izumi is capable of charging either blade with electricity, anything from a light shock to the intensity of a lightning bolt.
‘Inazuma’: This attack summons a bolt of lightning, either from directly above, or using one of the blades of the Zanpaktou itself as a source.

Bankai: not achieved.

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Hayashi Natsuko, 13th Squad Captain

Image by Terry576

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Speaking Color: Dark Red
Reiatsu: Dark Orange, with hints of fire.
Height: 5'5"
Weight: "Not very heavy. I haven't weighed myself in a while though. Isn't it impolite to ask a woman her weight, anyway?"
Age: 200 (Appears about 20)

Appearance: Natsuko is a beautiful young woman, with brown hair, sparkling blue eyes, and fair skin. She wears the standard Shinigami shihakushō, with a white haori over it. The symbol on the Captain's haori she wears is that of the 13th division, and the color on the inside is a deep red. The haori has no sleeves, allowing a slightly greater ease of movement. She wears her Zanpaktou slung over her back, although in length it's just a standard katana.

Personality: Natsuko has a firey personality, living life to the fullest extent- although she completes all of her work, she also sets time aside for her own personal life, and often mingles with the rest of the division, creating a great sense of comradeship in the division. She also has a quick sense of humor, which can often irritate the more serious Captains- but on the other hand, she does take her job seriously. She can be quickly angered when someone under her command is threatened, or when someone who she likes or owes her loyalty to is insulted- and insults to herself aren't taken that well, either. Although she won't draw steel over the issue, the offending party is highly likely to know exactly what she thinks of them, very quickly.

Backstory:

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Natsuko was born to Hayashi Akemi and Hayashi Kichirou of the Hayashi Noble House about 200 years ago. She was trained by the House, and then joined the Shinigami Academy at age 50. After the six year course, she joined 13th Division, in the same squad as future Commander-General Ryouichi, under whom she served for 26 years, before he transferred to 1st Division. His dedication to making sure his subordinates all survived the situations they found themselves in was a major influence for her.

Shortly after he left, she was promoted into the now-vacant 5th seat position, and awakened her Shikai at about the same time. She tried to lead her squad with the same fatality rate as Ryouichi- that is to say, none- and she almost succeeded, having had only one death in her squad over her 80 years of leading a squad, before being promoted to Vice-Captain by Captain Ito, as he saw her leadership abilities, and how different her style of leadership was from his own.

Ito aided her in achieving Bankai, as he saw her potential (and, quite frankly, wanted an excuse to retire by then, having been in the Gotei for over 800 years). She achieved it after 20 years as Vice-Captain, and he took the opportunity to retire. She was a natural choice, as not only did she fufill all the prerequisites, she passed the Captaincy Exam with distinction, and the Division trusted and liked her.

When she walked into her first Captains’ Meeting, she met Taiki. The two didn’t fall in love at first sight, but they did strike up a friendship, growing to trust each other over time. Eventually, they started going out together, and after five years of this- ten years since their first meeting as fellow Captains- they were married at the Hayashi estate. That was ten years ago, and they have been very, very happy together, which has only been increased by Natsuko’s pregnancy, one that has been going on for seven and a half months…

Abilities:
Natsuko is a great all-round fighter, being about equal in Zanjutsu, Hakuda, Hoho and Kido (she is able to use up to number 80 with incantation, and 60 without), and often mixes them up in battle, making it tricky for the opponent to read what exactly she's going to do next- although she does have a slight preference for using her Shikai over using Hado spells.

Zanpakuto: Karinmaru (火輪丸)

Sealed state
Karinmaru takes the form of a standard katana, with a light red hilt, dark red sheath, and a dark bronze, round crossguard with a flame engraving on it. The sheath completely dissolves when she draws Karinmaru, leaving only the strap it's attached to.

Inner World
Natsuko's inner world, interestingly, is almost identical to Izumi's- a bamboo forest, with a traditional Shinto shrine in the middle. However, the shrine has some differences- there are ceremonial flames in prevalence.

Shikai: "Bring down the fires of heaven, Karinmaru!"

In Shikai, Natsuko gains control over fire- in particular, her spiritual pressure overflows from the blade, and becomes fire in the form of a large Chinese dragon. The dragon flies towards and can burn opponents, as well as actually exerting physical force on whatever it hits, almost as if the fire was a physical substance. Multiple dragons can be created by this power, and Natsuko can also expel a wave of fire from the blade that rushes along the ground, overwhelming opponents.

Bankai: 'Daiguren Karinmaru' (大紅蓮 火輪丸)

When Bankai is activated, fire flows up from Karinmaru onto Natsuko, starting at her right arm, where it forms into a dragon's head, enveloping the sword up to the hilt. The fire continues to form over her shoulders, forming two large wings and a tail, all three of which can be used to attack opponents along with the sword. It also envelops her left arm in the form of a claw, along with both her legs. None of this fire is capable of burning her- or any of her clothing, for that matter- and indeed, she is highly resistant to fire in this form.

13th Division

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Division Size: 500. 50 Seated Officers, 450 Unseated.
Division Training Levels: Generally high. The 13th division spends the most time in the Mortal World, and they need to be able to take care of themselves for at least long enough for backup to arrive- the division emphasises that if you don't think you can beat it, you delay it long enough for someone else to arrive and kick its ass.

Duties

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Patrol

The fundamental function of 13th Division is the fact that it is the patrol division, meant to perform most of the work of Seretei in the Mortal world. As such, either individual Shinigami or patrols are assigned to certain areas of the Mortal World, based on a variety of factors which determine whether a single Shingami or a group patrol is sent, and also the general skill level of any Shinigami stationed in an area. Each group patrol consists of 10 to 20 members, and is lead by a Seated Officer.

Analysis

The fact is that the forces of Seretei can't be everywhere in the world at once, especially since they have other jobs as well- therefore, about 20 members of 13th division form the Analysis section. This section has one job- assign areas of the Mortal World, and 'rank' each area. This rank is based on a number of factors- history of the area (both spiritual history and mortal history), the level and number of spiritual beings that are known to reside there, the current level of political stability, and even the road safety statistics (although the last is considered the least important factor). The ultimate objective of this analysis, of course, is to determine the likely number of Hollows that could arise from a certain area (as well as be drawn to it). The ranking of an area is the most important factor when determining what forces are sent to patrol an area. This section has been pioneered by Natsuko, and is already quite effective.

Strike Teams

The fact is, a patrol sometimes runs into unexpected difficulties. When this happens, the standing orders are to call it into 13th Division HQ, which does two things. Firstly, they contact Captain Hayashi, no matter where she is (which can lead to minor embarrassment). Secondly, they send the on-duty 'strike team', consisting of 5 Seated Officers who have attained Shikai from 13th division. Their job is twofold- firstly, they are to get the patrol out of the immediate danger, and they are to assess and report the situation. If the threat is deemed more serious than they can put down, either, Captain Hayashi has to make a judgement call whether to take the time to contact the other divisions and gather a multi-division team, or to send a third set of 13th Division reinforcements while the other divisions are contacted. If the latter option is taken, Captain Hayashi or her Vice-Captain always accompanies this third force.

Promotion
The 13th division generally promotes based on skill in making decisions, rather than sheer combat ability, with officers being expected to be able to make good snap decisions if they're attacked. Officers leading squads (from 20th to 10th seat) may or may not have Shikai- indeed, at this level, it is not unknown for the officer in a squad to not be the strongest member, as the entrance test is mainly based on decision-making skills.

At higher levels, Shikai is expected, as these officers are the members of the three 'strike teams', which operate on a rotational basis. They are also expected to make quick decisions, and indeed, are expected to be better at this than the leaders of patrols.

Previous Captains

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Ito Haruki
Natsuko's predecessor, Haruki was a serious man who lead the 13th division for over 400 years, pioneering the concept of the 'Strike Teams'. He chose Natsuko as his Vice-Captain specifically because she was so different to him, and aided her in achieving Bankai. After 450 years of leading the divsion, he retired, and now teaches at the Shinigami Academy in the leadership classes. His style was fairly strict, but despite this, he was well-respected among the division and in Seretei as a whole, and Natsuko has felt some pressure to live up to his legacy.

Hayashi Household

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Hayashi Household

Status: One of the four Greater Noble Houses

Main Estate: The Hayashi estate is located in the Seretei proper, and like many other noble estates, is big- several hectares of land are covered by the estates, at the center of which is a massive, sprawling mansion in the traditional Japanese style, with sliding doors, and built in traditional architecture, with enough rooms for the majority of the House as well as servants. At times, this can become jarring, however, as the mansion also include such modern affections as TVs (over 200 mortal channels available, and the new Seretei TV channel!), some telephones hooked into the reshi telephone network, and even a full swimming facility.

The other part of the estate is dominated by a large garden, tended by both the servants and by the more botanically inclined among the Hayashi family. It also includes a training area that can be set up into a variety of configurations for different types of training if necessary.

Unusual Features: The main unusual feature of the Hayashi Noble House is that they have a remarkable tendency, at the end of their spiritual lives (whatever the cause of that ending was) to be reincarnated into a particular family in Japan- even more remarkably, this family shares the same family name as the Noble House. The reaction of the Noble House to this is that members never truly leave- when a Hayashi family member dies and is sent on to Soul Society, the Noble House adopts them right back into the House. This has formed a number of their beliefs, given that a not insignificant (although a minority- many Hayashi family members refuse the adoption, and in this case, they are not bothered again, unless they then come to the House of their own free will) of members lived lives that they remember and have carried over beliefs from these lives. The only restriction is that the head of the Noble House is always someone who was born in Soul Society.

Beliefs: The Hayashi house holds to the belief that the noble houses aren't inherently superior- just lucky in the circumstances of their birth. This is borne out by a large number of their actions- while they keep to a large amount of the behavior 'expected' of the Noble Houses, they also divert a large amount of income to bettering the lot of the commoners, and more importantly, listening to their complaints. This has only increased in recent years, due to the increased influence of Hayashi family members being adopted in. On the other hand, a degree of the noble affectations is required if the Hayashi Noble House is to interact with the other Great Houses (or even the minor Houses), and so lessons in etiquette and in Bushido are given to all members, and are expected to be absorbed, at the very least (although not necessarily followed). The other belief of the House is that if someone has a gift, they should be prepared to use it- delinquency is considered an utter waste, and therefore, a large number of the Hayashis enter the Shinigami Academy (and the family makes a point of advancing in the Gotei 13, Kido Corps, or Ommnisukido by merit and not because of noble birth). Their view on the law is that the spirit of the law is far more important than the letter of it- the law’s purpose must be followed, or the justification for having those laws is lost.
The Hayashi house, at the moment, is pushing for a certain amount of discreet interference in the politics of the Mortal World to reduce the amount of work that the Shinigami have to do in purifying Hollows.

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Cheng Mei, Octava Espada candidate