Hikaru Kurosaki

Hikaru Kurosaki (ヒかるくろさき, Kurosaki Hikaru) is the Captain of the Seventh Division in the Gotei 13. He is the strongest captain among the Gotei, but refuses to be Head-Captain due to his loyalty and commitment to his troops in the Seventh Division.

Appearance
Hikaru is a very tall and highly fit Shinigami. He is often seen with a cheerful demeanor, until he enters battle, in which he puts on a very serious and analytical look. He has long crimson hair, tied back in a pony tail, sapphire blue eyes, and a large scar in the shape of an 'x' on his right cheek. His shinigami robes are colored differently than most Shinigami. His top is red, with his white captains-haori underneath it. The robe's bottom piece is white, in contrast to the normal black color of regular shinigami. He zanpakuto sits on his waist, tied to a white obi.

Personality
Hikaru is a cheeful type of person, not really having a care in the world. He also is somewhat of a pacifist; he'd rather negotiate than fight it out, but he still likes to poke fun at other Shinigami, especially captains, leading to fights. At first glance, even the lowest class of Shinigami will assume he is weak, but in battle, Hikaru has tremendous powers, surpassing most Shinigami Captains. He also is a worshiper of the one true God, YHWH. Due to this, he acts very intelligent in his speech to avoid certain conversations.

Background
Hikaru is one of the oldest Soul Reapers in the Soul Society. He originally arrived in the Rukongai approximately at 3000 B.C. He joined up with a caravan which would become the Gotei 13. They were full of warriors who exhibited powers which would be come to known as Kido and Hado. At the time, the barriers around the Soul Society could not fend off Hollows, so some Menos Grande slipped through into the Rukongai, namely an Arrancar. One day, the Arrancar and his group of Hollows attacked the caravan. The warriors were able to defeat the Hollows, but the Arrancar wiped out a majority of them. Their group numbered 500, and over 80% of them were killed by the Arrancar. Hikaru tried to escape, but the Arrancar was quick on the uptake. He cut off Hikaru's chance of escape, and beat him brutally until Hikaru couldn't even stand without feeling pain. The Arrancar laughed at his misery and said that he would enjoy killing Hikaru. As he said this, a girl who was very close to Hikaru shot a Kido blast at the Arrancar, leaving a small wound to the head. The Arrancar turned his attention toward the girl, firing a high powered Cero at her. The blast would have killed her, but she quickly put up a strange barrier that took the majority of the damage, but it left her coverered in blood from the after shock of the blast. From the way she looked, the Arrancar declared her to be dead. As this, Hikaru burst into a rage, and tried to attack the Arrancar, but he couldn't since he was unable to stand. As he struggled to get up, the Arrancar was about to fire a Cero at Hikaru. The blast would have killed him, but a strange, crimson path which resembled a wall directed the blast to the sky. The red wall was Hikaru's blood. It wrapped around him, and lifted him up to stand. His wounds that he sustained were healing, and a faint purple glow surrounded him. The Arrancar tried to kill him, but all his attacks were deflected by Hikaru's blood. The blood then lunged at the Arracncar, trapping him in a coffin like structure. Hikaru was able to instantly kill the Arrancar, but he passed out. When he came to, the girl who was attacked by the Arrancar was being healed, and Hikaru was completely healed from the incident as if nothing had happened to him. However, Hikaru appeared to have aged from that of a 15 year old to a 20 year old.

Hikaru’s experience in fighting the Arrancar was the spark for him eventually becoming a Soul Reaper. After that incident, he continued to travel with the diminished numbers of the caravan, continuing to practice his blood manipulation. He couldn’t summon the same amount of power that he exhibited when fighting the Arrancar. At the time when he fought the Arrancar, his power level was equivalent to that of a mid-level lieutenant. Hikaru’s power level after the fight was that of a 6th seat’s. As Hikaru and the caravan were traveling, they encountered 3 other souls who had recently entered the Soul Society. At first, they seemed to mean the caravan no harm. As time went on, Hikaru discovered that the 3 Souls were actually high level Arrancars after they killed the Caravan’s leader at the time. 1 of the Arrancars was killed by some of the other caravan members, but they barely could beat the other 2. As the fight drew on, Hikaru tried to trap them in a blood coffin like the Arrancar before, but they easily dispelled the blood coffins, and they mortally wounded Hikaru by using a barrage of Ceros. They then told him that the Arrancar he fought before was only a low level Arrancar, and that Hikaru couldn’t even beat them. Hikaru resigned himself to defeat, but the same girl who attacked the Arrancar from before told him that he could not give up because all the people who had died to protect all of them would have given their lives in vain. She was then silenced when one of the Arrancars stomped on her chest, causing her to lose all the oxygen in her lungs. This put Hikaru into the same rage as when he fought the previous Arrancar. He tried to attack these Arrancars in the same fashion as before, but he could not defeat these Arrancars with sheer berserker rage. As he was pushed away, the Arrancar continued to crush the girl’s lungs. Hikaru left behind all sense of reason, and charged at the Arrancar. As he went toward the Arrancar, he felt something like a sword materialize in his hands. He slashed the first Arrancar standing on the girl, splitting his head in the process. After he did this, he took a look at his sword, because he felt that is was heavy, and saw that it was 6 feet long. At this, the second Arrancar fired a few Ceros in surprise. Hikaru was able to swat the Ceros away with his sword, and slashed off the left arm of the other Arrancar. The Arrancar, stunned by this display of power, called out his Resurrección, and attacked Hikaru. The destructive power of this Arrancar was too much for Hikaru to handle, and he tried to run away. As he did this, he heard a voice telling him he was a coward. When he stopped, he saw a wolf in front of him, and the wolf said for him to turn and face his enemy. Hikaru did so, and shouted out the name of his Zanpakutou, Tenshito. As he did this, his power spiked to extremely high levels, and he killed the Arrancar with this new power. He did not have access to Tenshito’s powers, so he only used his increased spirit energy to defeat the Arrancar. When it was over, both he and the girl were completely healed, and a red pool remained around both of them.

As time went on, Hikaru met Genryūsai Shigekuni Yamamoto. This was around the time when Yamamoto founded the Soul Reaper Academy. Hikaru still looked the same as he did in his first battle with the first Arrancar he fought, so that led Yamamoto to assume that Hikaru was a young soul. He allowed Hikaru to attend the academy after sparring with him. He saw much promise in Hikaru, so he enrolled Hikaru into the academy. Many years later, Hikaru became the assistant captain to the Seventh Division, but was presumed killed in an attack made by a large group Menos Grande. He actually disappeared and was training by himself to surpass his old rival Genryūsai Shigekuni Yamamoto. Upon his return to Soul Society he became Captain of Squad Seven.

He has been presumed to be related to Ichigo Kurosaki, but this has yet to be confirmed.

Powers & Abilities
Ketsueki Kansei (血コントロール, Blood Control); This is one of Hikaru's special abilities that allows him to have manipulation over blood. His pores are linked directly into his bloodstream, often giving the impression that Hikaru "sweats blood." His bone marrow is also mutated, so he can produce gallons upon gallons of blood. His limit in blood production is unknown, but he never goes past 150 gallons of blood. This is yet to be determined why he does not do so. Hikaru has shown to rely mostly on his blood, rarely drawing his sword at all. His pupil, Ryan, speculates that he only draws his sword against opponents he considers "worthy". Hikaru also seems to prefer applying an "on-and-off-the-ground" method of combat, often being seen attacking opponents from aerial standpoints, such as when he attempted to use his zanpakuto on an offending Shinigami by attacking him from the air above his head, or when he jumped upwards with a Shunpo in an attempt to catch Ryan off guard during their most recent training confrontation confrontation, before then attack from bellow, using shunpo to virtually teleport below the enemy, then using his blood to trap them.

Master Swordsmanship Specialist: Though he rarely engages in it, Hikaru appears to be highly skilled in swordsmanship. He is capable of using his speed for flawless precision and to inflict lethal attacks without much effort. Hikaru prefers to wield his sword with his one hand (he doesn't seem to have a preferred hand), leaving the other hand free, though it usually remains in his pocket. He is quite adept at blocking. He was able to fend off Ryan using his Hollow mask-enhanced Bankai long enough to reach the end of Ryan's vast energy reserves, though his Zanpakutō was nearly broken. He has also demonstrated the ability to perform tremendously powerful and precise strikes, capable of striking through very sturdy targets, such as Matthew's Kido barrier and Ryan's Resurreccion Hierro.

Immense Spiritual Power: Even by captain-level standards, Hikaru has shown to have tremendous spiritual energy. Mashiro Kuna commented that Hikaru's very presence is monstrously overwhelming. A hint to his actual level of spirit power is given when he first demonstrated his shikai; before activating his zanpakuto, and states that despite its sealed state, it is still fully deadly, as his Zanpakuto spirit demanded that he be someone with twice as much spiritual power as an average captain-level Shinigami before it would work together with him. The force of Hikaru's spiritual power is also great enough to, without any visible effort, bring the Inner Hollow of Ryan to his knees. He has commented that it takes a lot for him to keep his reiatsu hidden. He also claims that he is more powerful than all of the current captains.

Master Strategist & Tactician: Despite his aloof and unkempt nature, Hikaru has repeatedly shown himself to be a very insightful and cunning man with a talent for thinking things well in advance as well and able to perceive any situation at hand. He generally has shown himself to also be a crafty tactician from how easily he can deceive both allies and enemies. He has also shown to be a very perceptive and analytical man from how quickly he can analyze an opponent's power and attack patterns to ultimately make them useless against him.

Flash Steps Master: As the former vice captain of the 7th Division and a current captain of the 7th Division, Hikaru has an exceptional understanding and skill in the use of Flash Steps even being so fast that an opponent does not notice when he replaces himself with an illusion made by his zanpakuto as a means of misdirection. In addition, the fact that he was always able to keep up with Yoruichi's speed during sparring sessions is further proof of his high mastery in this skill.

Nentō Densō: This is the name given to Hikaru's ability to speak to a person with his thoughts. He often uses this seeing as it does not use any Spirit Energy, so it cannot be located.

Seireijōmae: This is an ability that allows Hikaru to neutralize anyone's spirit energy. However, it seems to work only on Vice Captains, or lower ranks as they do not have the reiatsu necessary to deflect such attacks, whereas captains do. It can be used on Captains, but the effect isn't as high. Although, this is a variable to how much power he put's into the Spirit Lock.

Equipment
Unlike most Shinigami, Hikaru has a Zanpakuto, and another type of sword called a Shadow Blade. Similar to the way Kenpachi Zaraki seals his power with an eye-patch, Hikaru's power is beyond normal measurement, to the point that he had to seal half of his energy into his Zanpakutou, and form a new sword with the other half. Due to this, he rarely fights at full power, except if he is in an area that can withstand the pressure of his energy. He is skilled in fighting with two blades, so in most cases, he fights with both his Shadow Blade and his Zanpakutou, but that is only after he can determine if his opponent could withstand fighting two blades of incredible power.

Shadow Blade: Hikaru's Shadow Blade is a weakened version of his original Zanpakuto. He often uses this blade in a fight, seeing as he wants to get a challenge out of it. They seem to resemble Ichigo Kurosaki's Bankai, but this is mere coincidence. Hikaru stated in a meeting with Ichigo that the blades did not have the same powers, despite their appearence. However, when Hikaru uses the blades in battle, the swords change dramatically. His Shadow Blade's spirit looks like a werewolf with wings.

Zanpakuto
Tenshitō (天私闘, Heaven's Personal Struggle) is Hikaru's zanpakuto. It is a sakabatō (逆刃刀?, lit. "reverse-blade sword"), a katana that has the cutting edge on the inwardly curved side of the sword, thus being nearly incapable of killing.


 * Shikai: Tenshitō is released by the phrase, Descend from Heaven. His shikai has little known about it. Hikaru does not use his blade's release often seeing as how it's effects can last long after it has been resealed. The blade is now actually two swords once in it's shikai; one with a violet color blade, and the other as white as snow. They seem to have different powers depending upon the blades. Hikaru's zanpakuto spirit resembles a Ten-Tailed Wolf. The humanoid version looks like a teenage girl with white hair, and a white fire in the shape of a wolf surrounding her. Tenshitō has 2 main powers in its arsenal: Maboroshi, Hikaru's ability to generate illusions, and the Shiden, the blasts that are generated by Tenshitō.


 * Maboroshi: (Phantom) Upon its release, Hikaru can use Tenshitō to generate very powerful illusions. Unlike Aizen's Kyoka Suigetsu, his opponent doesn't have to see his release to be ensnared in the ability of Tenshitō, however, this comes with a downside; if his opponent is skilled enough, they can dispel illusions, though Hikaru states that the only way to break Tenshitō's power is to figure out how it is set up, which can be somewhat difficult depending on the complexity of the illusion. Tenshitō's purple blade can generate illusion's which mess with the opponent's mind, while the white blade affects the senses. Used together, the blades of Tenshitō's shikai are a deadly combination. Unlike common zanpakuto, Tenshitō's powers remain in affect until Hikaru wills it, or until the opponent at hand shatters it. Meaning it will remain in affect that person even if Hikaru re-seals his zanpakuto.


 * Shiden I: Tetsukaze: (Swordflash I: Iron Breeze) Tetsukaze is Tenshitō's ability which coincides with Hikaru's blood manipulation. It is able to turn particles of Hikaru's blood into microscopic needles which are able to slice through nearly all substances. Hikaru can use Tenshitō to amplify his blood manipulation through the use of Tetsukaze. The speed of these needles are 20 times faster than if Hikaru controls them himself. However, the blood used for these needles cannot be purified, and disintegrate after slicing through their target once. Due to this, Hikaru rarely uses this ability.


 * Shiden II: KuroShiro: (Swordflash II: Black and White) KuroShiro is Tenshitō's ability to enhance the lethality of Hikaru's blades. The purple blade resonates with evil energy and the white blade with good energy. This is a strange ability in which the blades inflict more damage upon their enemy depending on which side dominates the victim's heart more. If the enemy has a heart full of evil, the white blade will inflict more damage. If they have a heart of good, the purple blade will inflict the greatest damage. If the enemy is his with the blade of their state of mind (ex. purple blade hitting evil person), the damage is halved. Usually, Hikaru almost always uses the white blade when he activates this attack.


 * Shiden III: Shiden Arashi: (Swordflash III: Purple Lightning Storm) Shiden Arashi is the most simplistic, yet the most potent of Hikaru's 3 Shiden. This ability allows Hikaru to discharge purple lightning from his swords. He also is able use the lightning in natural thunderstorms to fuel his power. He uses his white sword as a lightning-rod and then uses his purple sword to discharge the captured lightning. There is only one serious side effect. Hikaru needs to direct the lightning correctly between his two swords without having the lightning go through his heart. If it does, the damage to his heart can cause death.


 * Bankai: Not Yet Revealed.

Weakness
Even though Hikaru has immeasurable amounts of spirit energy, is skilled in swordplay, and is able to use his blood as a weapon, he cannot fight in hand-to-hand combat. If he ever uses his fists for any reason. shackles of spirit energy appear on his wrists. The reason behind this is unknown, but Hikaru has stated that the shcakles are not of his own doing, and he is unable to break them. He also lacks the ability to cast Kido and Hado because he overloads any spell with his spirit energy that it backfires on him. In addition, Hikaru's Bankai has enormous amounts of power used in it. Even if Hikaru doesn't use 100% of his Bankai, he can actually damage his arms if he uses it for over 8 minutes, regardless of how much energy he exerts. This is due to the strain that his Bankai itself presents. Under normal circumstances, he can heal himself with his blood. Unfortunatly, as he continues to use his Bankai, the strain increases due to the power increase with each successive hit. If he exceeds the 8 minute time limit, it leaves his arms gravely wounded, and unable to fight for 4 days, leaving him vulnerable. If he exceeds 12 minutes of using his Bankai, his blood will no longer heal him, and his energy would disintigrate anything he touches. Also, Hikaru would essentially lose his arms.

Quotes

 * (when escaping arrest from Shinigami) "Again with the chasing..."
 * (To Seireitou when they first meet) "Huh, even I have my original hair color, and I'm older than you."

Trivia

 * Hikaru's appearance is based off of Himura Kenshin from the famous Samurai manga Rurourni Kenshin.
 * Hikaru has a habit of calling Kenpachi Kiba "Weasel-chan". He often does this to annoy him on occasion.
 * Hikaru has writing on the back of his shihakusho which is seen as "天地晦冥" (translation: The world is covered in darkness, or All is plunged into darkness).