Post by ming on Jan 28, 2015 16:55:21 GMT
somethings
just
fade
away
name: Kōhei Sakurai (桜井 恒平; Sakurai Kōhei)
age: 641
apparent age: 24
gender: Male
division: 4th Division
seat: Captain
personality
With a lopsided, knowing grin perpetually on his face, Kōhei is perhaps one of the most enigmatic of the thirteen captains. Few things faze and surprise him, and even in the rare moments when he is surprised, his reaction tends to be nothing more than a bemused understatement: "aa… omoshiroi" ("ah… that's interesting"). His eccentricity aside, Kōhei is extremely relaxed, managing his division in a laissez faire manner. (More accurately, he barely manages the division; he pushes the boring affairs such as administration, logistics and discipline to his unfortunate lieutenant and 'shares' the rest of the workload.) He cares deeply about the people around him and rarely takes offense when his subordinates make any mistakes. "If you knew it was a bad decision you wouldn't have made it, right?" he would say while flashing his trademarked lopsided grin, an expression that can be either very reassuring (if it had been an honest mistake) or extremely frightening (if the fault had been committed knowingly).
Kōhei also stands out as the captain with next to no animosity against the Arrancar and the Hollows. While he sees them as abominations that defy the natural order of things, he pities them and believes that they are the result of ignorance: deceased souls that are unable to recognize their place in the natural order and attempt to go against it, but instead end up turning themselves into Hollows. As such he has adopted a more passive role within the Gotei 13 by providing medical care and support so that "the angrier folks can have their fun".
Because of his fox-like appearance and his love for aburaage, he has earned all kinds of fox-related nicknames that he readily responds to. However, his habit of consuming finger food (especially onigiri) while holding it in both hands has also led to some people calling him "Risu" (squirrel), a nickname he outright ignores.
history
Hailing from one of the roughest and poorest districts, Kōhei is no stranger to violence. In a place where the strong rule over the weak, he quickly learnt how to fight, and became one of the many protectors of the common folk. As time went by, he realized that there was no way anyone of them could bring peace and harmony to the troubled district. That set him thinking about about the root of the problem that plagued his district. Seeing how desperation can drive even the most peaceful person to violence and crime, he began to have a very different understanding of the issue: people do what they must in order to survive, and given the chance none of them would pick a life of crime. By chance he came across a kind resident who offered to share what she had with a young child who tried to steal from her, and that was when Kōhei realized that the very people who would not hesitate to steal and rob were equally quick to cease hostility the moment they were offered kindness instead. And it did not take much to satisfy the child: the lady noticed that the boy was barefooted and gave him an old pair of straw zōri (sandals), and that was enough to make the child happy.
As such he worked to restore order to his district, not by fighting against the criminals, but by helping them satisfy their basic needs. Due to years of social unrest and endless street fighting, the district's infrastructure was ill-maintained and inadequate. Together with several like-minded individuals, they began to rebuild the district street by street. It was difficult at first: the local gangs were still running rampant and violent clashes between the gangs and the protectors were still as frequent as before. But Kōhei could see that things were starting to change. Residents of the restored street areas were more content with their living conditions, and crime rates began to drop. Some of them even stepped up to help Kōhei rebuild the entire district, speeding up the process of change. With the help of these residents, Kōhei finally managed to lower the crime rates to a manageable level, restoring the peace and order of his district. People started to see him as the district's de facto leader as well, approaching him for help whenever they needed it, and though he was uncomfortable being in such a position, he was always willing to help.
Hence, when the unknown horror came to their realm, he naturally stepped up to defend Soul Society from this creature. He came to regard her not with hostility but with pity. What had forced her to take such drastic measures to ensure her own survival? He sought to understand her pain, but he was never able to arrive at any conclusion. Furthermore, the other twelve were adamant about adopting a militant approach to protect their society. Kōhei could not convince them otherwise, or rather, he saw no point in doing so. As such, he chose to back them up in his own way, providing medical support as a way to protect Soul Society.
Subsequently when the black masked creatures descended on their realm, he began to study their behavior and physiology in order to understand what these beings were and how they came to be. Eventually he finally figured out what they were: souls of the deceased who did not properly move on into Soul Society, but were instead corrupted and transformed into malicious beings. They came to become known as Hollows, a name Kōhei considers as a fitting description of what they are.
appearance
The first thing people notice about Kōhei is his startling crimson eyes that slant slightly upwards, giving him a certain fox-like appearance. His slim build, pale complexion and dark hair makes him look slightly creepy, like some sort of vampire, a stark contrast to his easygoing personality. (It must be noted, however, that Kōhei's shikai has been described as being vampiric in nature.) He also possesses a power seal on his right forearm in the shape of a bellflower, the symbol of the 4th Division.
Kōhei is normally seen wearing his Shinigami attire. While his Shihakushō is standard-issue, Kōhei's haori is almost ankle-length and has voluminous sleeves, and often billows out behind him when he moves around. He also has a customized medical kit that is attached to his sash on his right side, while his zanpakutō is worn on the left side.
Occasionally, he adopts a more casual attire, such as a yukata or even a more modern outfit, such as t-shirt, dark jeans, a black blazer, and white sneakers. He still wears his zanpakutō on his belt, and carries his medical supplies in a bag slung over his shoulder.
Kōhei's Reiatsu changes in colour depending on the season of his inner world: bright pink during spring, gold during summer, russet during autumn, and ice blue during winter.
battle techniques
Name: Kaidō
Type: Kidō (Kaidō)
Incantation: N/A
Description: Kōhei holds his hands over a patient's wounds, and his hands glow green as he begins to heal the patient.
Name: 銀針 (Ginshin; Silver Needle)
Type: Kidō (Kaidō)
Incantation: N/A
Description: A unique Kaidō technique that creates silver needles and threads to stitch a wound shut. After the wound is stitched together, the needles and threads continue to heal the wound through a combination of acupuncture and Kaidō. It is predominantly used as first aid before a more specialized Kaidō technique can be used to properly treat the patient. Kōhei is proficient enough to use it in combat as well to perform minor healing on himself or his allies.
Name: 毒針 (Dokushin; Toxic Needle)
Type: Kidō (Bakudō)
Incantation: N/A
Description: A variation of Ginshin, this is a Kaidō technique adapted for combat purposes. Similar to its original version it conjures needles and threads, but these are black in colour, and they are used to restrain enemies in a way similar to Bakudō #4. Hainawa (Crawling Rope). Furthermore, it releases a poison that numbs and paralyzes the target to further incapacitate it. Dokushin can also be aimed at acupoints, though the needles have to hit their mark accurately before they can disrupt the target's energy flow.
Name: 五養蓋 (Goyōgai; Five Support Cover)
Type: Kidō (Kekkai)
Incantation: N/A
Description: Kōhei creates a translucent, yellow prism of Reiatsu that surrounds the target and places it in stasis. This prevents the target's health from deteriorating further, and buys Kōhei enough time to evacuate the target to a safer place for treatment.
Name: Shunpo
Type: Hohō
Description: Kōhei's mastery of Shunpo is profound for a non-member of the 2nd Division. Apart from its speed, what makes Kōhei's Shunpo stand out is his ability to carry other people without sacrificing his speed, allowing him to extract wounded allies from the battlefield and carry them to safety.
Name: 万剣帰宗 (Banken Kisō; "The One Sword")
Type: Hohō/Zanjutsu
Description: A culmination of Kōhei's study in swordplay and a martial philosophy that is simple, elegant and direct. For many years Kōhei has tried different techniques: attacking from various angles, parrying and riposting, and even brute force. Eventually he arrived at a simple conclusion: the ideal sword technique is one that is so fast that it simply cannot be blocked or avoided. As such, Banken Kisō is a very simple technique: the user moves as quickly as possible towards the target via the shortest path (usually a straight line) and delivers a powerful stroke. While Kōhei's execution of Banken Kisō is in no way perfect and impossible to defend against (in fact, due to its simplicity it can be very predictable), it is nonetheless an effective technique and a mainstay of Kōhei's speed-based midrange swordplay.
zanpakuto
name 残花 (Zanka; Last Flower in Bloom)
sealed form
As Zanka is a constant-release zanpakutō, it no longer appears in its sealed form. However, Kōhei has described it as a "plain-looking version, like a cheap knockoff" of the shikai form.
spirit appearance
Zanka appears as an elegant young lady in her early twenties, with black hair, dark eyes and fair skin. She is always dressed in a kimono, except during summer in the inner world where she dons a yukata instead. She is described by Kōhei to be "entrancingly beautiful yet terrifying because of her otherworldly mannerisms".
spirit personality
Kōhei describes her as a true force of nature: amoral, apathetic and utterly indifferent. She worries about absolutely nothing, having no worldly concerns at all to begin with. "We are but stardust," she says, "insignificant as grains of sand in the grand scheme of things." Indeed, she is an even more mysterious version of Kōhei. In fact, Kōhei admits that he is far from enlightenment and he has a lot to learn from her.
inner world
Kōhei's inner world is vast: a magnificent forested area that is almost untouched by civilization. There are several major landmarks: a mountain range, rivers, waterfalls, a lake, a couple of pavilions, a large forest clearing, and a pagoda. According to Kōhei, the inner world is constantly in a state of flux: most notably, the rivers change their course, and the seasons change. Kōhei instinctively knows what time of the day or which season it is in his inner world, and how to navigate it in spite of its ever-changing landscape.
shikai
call out phrase As Zanka is a constant-release zanpakutō, it does not have a release phrase.
type Kidō
appearance
Zanka is a katana of average length with a round tsuba (hand guard) shaped to resemble two sakura blossoms. However, the pommel features a bellflower motif, the symbol of the 4th Division and the other half of the power limit placed on Kōhei. The hilt is wrapped with white ray skin, matching the while lacquered sheathe and the white sageo (the cord by which the sheathe is attached to a person's sash).
When the zanpakutō is drawn, one immediately notices a row of seven glowing sakura motifs etched into both sides of the blade; these motifs glow pink in colour and reflect the amount of energy stored within the zanpakutō.
abilities
name: 諸行無常 (Shogyōmujō; "Impermanence of All Things")
type: Kidō (passive)
rank: Adept
description: Whenever Zanka's blade hits and damages an object or being, it also drains the target's spiritual energy; the amount is equivalent to the amount of physical damage dealt by the attack. Consequently, an object begins to rot or crumble when it has taken enough hits, and beings are weakened with every hit as they are drained of their spiritual energy. In addition, wounds inflicted by Zanka tend to fester quickly and take twice as long to fully heal, a trait that Kōhei is rather uncomfortable with as the captain of the 4th Division.
Zanka is also capable of draining spiritual energy from a spell (e.g. Kidō, Cero), either weakening or completely absorbing the spell, depending on the caster's level of mastery. In order to do so, Kōhei must 'attack' the spell by slashing at it with Zanka. For weaker spells cast by the typical practitioner or novice, Zanka is able to completely or almost completely absorb them even without a direct hit. A typical adept's spell would require a direct hit to weaken drastically (up to 75%), and a typical master's spell would have its effectiveness halved. A typical grandmaster's spell, however, would remain at around 75% strength even on a direct hit by Zanka.
Shogyōmujō is not able to affect Chains of Fate. Neither does it affect Zanka's own sheathe, since the sheathe is actually part of the zanpakutō's shikai form, meant specifically to contain Zanka's passive ability.
Oddly enough, when a Hollow is hit by Zanka's blade, it is still subject to the effects of Shogyōmujō on top of the purifications effects that all zanpakutō possess. Kōhei has to suppress Shogyōmujō using the shikai technique Onmyōdō if he wants to avoid draining the Hollow's spiritual energy. Kōhei is also not immune to the effects of his own shikai, and he can allow Zanka to drain his strength to accumulate more energy.
Due to the way Shogyōmujō works, the easiest way to reduce its effectiveness is to minimize the amount of damage taken. In other words, a strong defense would prevent Kōhei from wounding his opponent (though the opponent's weapon or shield would be affected). It is also advisable to parry Kōhei's attacks, rather than block them, since parrying reduces the amount of damage sustained by the weapon or shield.
This energy absorbing ability forms the basis of Zanka's full range of powers: whenever Zanka drains an object or a being of its energy, it absorbs the 'lost' energy and uses it to repair itself, storing the rest of the energy for future use. The amount of energy stored corresponds to how brightly the sakura motifs on the blade glow. It is precisely because of the sheer amount of energy that Zanka has stored within itself that forces it to stay in its released form. Whenever Kōhei needs to mask his zanpakutō's presence and the sheer amount of energy stored within it, he simply sheathes the zanpakutō.
There is a maximum limit to how much energy Zanka can store within it, due to the power limit placed on both Kōhei and Zanka. Kōhei notes that the limit is pretty high, and he rarely reaches the limit due to his frequent use of Onmyōdō.
name: 陰陽道 (Onmyōdō; "The Way of Yin and Yang")
type: Kidō
rank: Adept
description: The only other shikai technique (and the only one that is an active technique), Kōhei temporarily reverses the effects of Shogyōmujō, restoring an object's structural integrity or a being's health at the expense of Zanka's accumulated energy. Kōhei does hot have to strike the target using Zanka. Instead, physical contact with Zanka's blade is required. One second of physical contact heals injuries or repairs damage equivalent to a direct hit from Zanka.
In addition, spells made up of spiritual energy can be empowered by physical contact with Zanka's blade; Kōhei frequently uses this technique in concert with Kaidō to further augment his impressive healing abilities. Unlike Shogyōmujō, Onmyōdō affects Chains of Fate and can be used to counter the effects of Encroachment.
There are limitations to this technique, however: Zanka cannot make an object or being stronger than its prime state, and it cannot revive the dead.
bankai
name 落葉帰根 (Rakuyō Kikon; "Fallen Leaves Return to the Roots")
release command While there is no special bankai release command for Zanka, Kōhei likes to use a conversational phrase as a release command, referencing the concept of mono no aware (物の哀れ; an empathy toward things, a sensitivity to ephemera):
"いい天気ですね?" (Ii tenki desu ne?; "Fine weather, isn't it?")
type Kidō
appearance
In its bankai form, Zanka's white shikai form darkens dramatically to a black and dark purplish-red coloration: the tsuba, pommel, hilt wrapping and sageo turn black, and the sheathe takes on a dark purplish-red coloration and gains a sakura pattern on both sides. The blade retains the sakura motifs, and the size of the zanpakutō does not change.
abilities
name: 落葉帰根 (Rakuyō Kikon; "Fallen Leaves Return to the Roots")
type: Kidō
rank: Master
description: Kōhei's bankai comprises of a single technique, and it is extremely powerful and deadly, not only to his opponents but also himself. As Kōhei recites the release command, he holds the sword in a vertical position, with the blade pointing down. Then, he stabs Zanka into the ground, and a wave of energy ripples forth as the zanpakutō forcibly manifests Kōhei's inner world into the real world, creating a forest that matches his inner world's season in a mile-wide area around him. This forest is a region of warped space: anyone caught inside it cannot exit the forest, instead finding himself or herself reappearing on the opposite end of the forest, while anyone outside simply cannot enter the forest or affect it in any way.
Zanka retains its passive shikai ability Shogyōmujō, but not the active technique Onmyōdō. In addition, everything in the forest, including Kōhei, is subject to an energy-draining effect similar to Shogyōmujō; only Zanka itself is immune to this effect. The rate of draining is constant and percentage based: all objects (regardless of their structural integrity) will be reduced to a quarter of their structural integrity after fifteen minutes, and beings (regardless of their spiritual energy) will be drained at a rate such that they fall unconscious within fifteen minutes. Energy-based spells are reduced to half strength, and can be reduced even further if Kōhei drains the spells using Shogyōmujō (i.e. by 'attacking' the spells).
All the energy that is 'lost' is absorbed by Zanka, and as it does so its cutting power and durability increases dramatically. As a result of the power seal, Zanka easily hits the maximum amount of energy it can store, and excess energy is bled out of the zanpakutō, creating a corona of light that surrounds the blade.
The forest lasts for as long as Kōhei remains conscious; that is to say, exactly fifteen minutes. Kōhei cannot voluntarily end his bankai until there is only one conscious person left within its area of influence. Consequently, as long as there are more than one person inside the forest, they must fight to the death or until they fall unconscious: Kōhei has to be the last man standing, and anyone else has to either kill Kōhei or knock him unconscious in order to end the bankai.
This bankai is especially dangerous for Kōhei as he is unable to utilize Onmyōdō during bankai (and hence he cannot heal himself), his Shunpo is greatly weakened, and he constantly loses spiritual energy. Furthermore, if he is up against more than one adversary, he has to fight all of then by himself within fifteen minutes. Even against a enemy with stronger spiritual power, the percentage-based rate of draining means that his spiritual power would never be higher than his enemy's, unless he manages to score enough hits using Zanka. His only advantages are that his zanpakutō becomes stronger over time (while an opponent's zanpakutō would become increasingly weakened) with each passing moment, and that his zanpakutō attacks can be used to further sap his opponent's strength. As such, Kōhei avoids using his bankai whenever he can, and always insists that his allies vacate the area before unleashing this technique. And even after he successfully ends his bankai, the entire mile-wide area would be reduced to derelict ruins.
masteries
zanjutsu Master
hakuda Novice
shunpo Master
reiatsu Adept
kidou Adept
shikai Master
bankai Novice
CREATED BY PUNK
