Kuchiki Shinichi

Kuchiki Shinichi (朽木 新一, Kuchiki Shin'ichi, lit. "One Truth, Decayed Log") is a from the noble  and the current lieutenant of the  under the captaincy of Kazuya Kuchiki, his younger brother. Though the older of the two siblings, Shinichi is the less talented of the two and it is a testament to his adherence to the rules that he has swallowed his pride to work under his younger brother. One of the more senior lieutenants in the Gotei 13, many of the other lieutenants tend to look up to him due to his unwavering sense of duty and his loyalty towards his division and its captain, irrespective of his personal differences with the man.

Appearance
Shinichi is tall, leanly built with cool gray eyes and long black hair which he keeps tied in a loose ponytail at the back of his head with two strands framing his face. As a member of the noble Kuchiki clan, he wears a kenseikan on the right side of his head to symbolize his nobility. As a member of the Gotei 13 he wears the standard Shinigami Shihakushō, though without his Division's Lieutenant badge. When not on duty he is seen wearing a simple violet-blue kimono which a pattern consisting of four squares in a diamond formation present on both sleeves, over his chest and back of his kimono.

He is normally seen with a very serious expression on his face, rarely is ever smiling. The spectacles that he wears only exacerbate the somberness of his appearance.

Personality
Shinichi is a very strict and uptight person, very much a disciplinarian. He believes in a rigid adherence of the rules, something he shares with his, and placing ones duty above everything else. Though not what one would call a charismatic leader, he does command great respect from both his subordinates and his peers and his tendency to not discriminate against anyone has a great role to play in this. Due to the way his own life has played out he tends to look down on any kind of favoritism shown by others and never shows any on his own part either.

For the greater part of a century after his birth he grew up expecting to become the head of the Kuchiki Clan. Born with skills above those of most others, he was treated with deference and respect beyond anything that could be shown to a young man without it going to his head, and it did. Though he was skilled with a blade and showed potential as a shinigami, his own opinion of his abilities was much greater. Having been more or less raised within the confines of the Kuchiki manor, he was not exposed to the greater shinigami populace and was not aware of just how much he had overestimated himself. As almost no one in the manor was capable of telling the then future head of the clan that his skills did not match his own measures, he became arrogant and overly confident of his skills.

It was only after enrolling in the Shinō Academy that he began to see how naive he had been. While he had talent, due to him being a scion of the Kuchiki house everyone expected him to accomplish things that were beyond him. His pride was hard hit as he met students such as Kaito Kurui and Saitō Hajime, whose skills were superior to his own, and he became aware of the true limitations of his talent. Though angry at first that someone with weaker blood than his own could be more skilled than him, he slowly started to come to terms with the situation. The fact that his own younger brother has managed to surpass him and was selected to be the new clan head and not him has managed to wash away any pride and arrogance that might have been left over from his youth.

He puts great value in following the rules and though he was initially resentful that his brother took his place as the Kuchiki clan heir and ultimately the head of the clan, he has never gone against his brother's wishes or even once undermined his authority as clan head and captain. As it is his duty as a member of the Kuchiki clan and the 6th Division to follow Kazuya's order's, he does so without any hesitation whatsoever. But this not mean that he is overly fond of his brother. His relationship with him has been strained ever since Kazuya caught the attention of their uncle Byakuya and began gaining favor with the then head of the clan. When Byakuya replaced Shinichi with Kazuya as his chosen heir, his relationship with Byakuya soured as well. He is perfectly civil and polite with both of them, but now feels an underlying sense of betrayal that prevents him from being truly close and open with them. His affections for them have not gone, but his resentment towards the choices that changed his life have buried that affection below a layer anger and a loss of trust.

Powers and Abilities
Though his spiritual powers are equal to and maybe greater than an average lieutenant's, they still fall short of the levels achieved by his brother and even the potential of his own son. It was evident to him from a very young age that he simply did not have the strength to become a captain, and the level of strength that he currently boasts is probably as strong as he can get. Compared to the lofty expectations placed on him upon being born in the Kuchiki clan, he falls well short and regardless of how strong he might be he is seen by some within his family as a disappointment, more so in comparison to the vastly superior powers of his younger brother. But what he lacks in strength he makes up in control and the refined nature of his ability to use his spiritual energy. At a very young age he was made aware of his own weaknesses by his own family members and ultimately he put all his effort into turning that weakness into his strength. He realized that where others might be able to waste their spiritual energy to get things done, he simply did not have the luxury to do the same and still hope to compete with captain level opponents. Through rigorous training and a great deal of hard work he has trained himself to use his spiritual energy in as efficient manner as possible. He only uses as much Reiatsu as is required and at this point of time, after almost two centuries worth of training, the amount of control that he has over his spiritual energy is matched by few others in the ranks of the Gotei 13.





What little he can accomplish is a result of his determination and the hours of effort he put into learning what little he could. Knowing that he did not have the skill to properly execute high level spells, he went about methodically learning a few low level spells and learning them to the best of his abilities. With the benefit of having an exceptionally high level of control over his spiritual energy, he was able to achieve with hard work what he could not do on talent alone. Spells like are well within his abilities and he can execute them with a level of proficiency that he had been told he could never have. Another spell that he has learned to a level where he can comfortably use is. The highest level spell that he has been known to use is, with spells above the 50s being beyond his reach, even after all his training. Even with spells like Tenran he has to use the full incantation, the spell being nearly powerless without it.

While many are born with an innate talent for the ways of the sword, Shinichi has achieved this level not on the basis of any amazing talent for swordsmanship, but rather his undying will and inability to give up. He is a master of classical zanjutsu and such is his ability that even Ryū Kagami, one of the most skilled swordsmen of the current generation, has acknowledged him as a worthy adversary.

Zanpakutō
Juzumaru (数珠丸, Rosary Circle) is the name of Shinichi's Zanpakutō. In its sealed state it exists as a daisho sword pair, consisting of a tachi and a wakizashi. Their cross guards are simple rectangles, and the handle a violet-blue in color. Juzumaru is a plant-type Zanpakutō, a rare occurrence in Soul Society.

Upon activation of its shikai the two blades merge into a simple katana, similar in appearance to the daisho pair.

Shikai Special Ability: Juzumaru's special abilities revolve around the creation of artificially grown plants that can be used in a number of ways. Juzumaru allows Shinichi to seeds made out of his spiritual energy which can then grow into a variety of plants that can each be used in a different manner.


 * Kuishinbō (食いしん坊, Gluttonous): Shinichi grows a simple rose whose petals fall away as soon as the flower blooms and float away towards his enemy and as soon as they approach the target they suddenly rush in towards him and upon contact stick to the target. Though the petals appear to be just that, on closer inspection they reveal a monstrous face on each petal, with sharp, barbed teeth that sink into the target. The faces start to eat the target, bite by bite, chunk by chunk. As the barbed teeth sink into the target, they pull out chunks of flesh with them as they are pulled out and if destroyed, then the petals crumble to form a layer of "spiritual soil" which can be used to grow even more plants. Shinichi can also grow multiple roses at once and launch a greater number of these petals if needed.



Bankai Special Ability: Unknown.

Trivia

 * Credit for Shinichi's Zanpakutō goes to User:Njalm2 who originally created many of the techniques and ideas used here in his character Tsubasa Kokusa.