Haruko Shihōin

Haruko Shihōin (四楓院春子, Shihōin Haruko) is a level four captain in the Royal Guard and holds the position of Second-in-Command of the Ring of Four under Renge Yamato. She is a former captain of the Second Division in the Gotei 13 as well as the former leader of the Onmitsukidō. She is a main supporting character in User:Ten Tailed Fox's stories.

Appearance
Haruko is a tall, fit, and beautiful woman as well as a member of the Shihōin clan. She has tan colored skin, long black hair and piercing golden eyes. Her normal attire consists of a sleeveless Shinigami robe with long, black, hakama and a cerulean-colored scarf wrapped around her neck. Back in her days as a Captain, she wore her hair much shorter while wearing the same outfit, only with a traditional captain's haori over the top of it. At some point prior to this she wore the white Onmitsukidō uniform of the correction corps.

Personality
Haruko is a witty and highly intelligent woman of the Shihōin clan. As a former captain in the Gotei 13 as well as the former leader of Onmitsukidō, she hold immense knowledge of Soul Society, Reiji Maigo, and Yūrei Ōkoku, as well as how they work and their leaderships. She is of noble birth, but does not act like a normal noble-class Shinigami in that she associates herself with non-nobles such as her childhood friend and High Marshal, Renge Yamato. She, like the rest of the women in the Shihōin clan, refuses to be called by honorifics among her subordinates, though she lets it slide with Renge, who refers to her as "Haruko-nee". She has proven to be quite aloof and comical, as she tends to tease her opponents in combat and when living her daily life, she usually likes to play pranks on members of her division, especially the High Marshal. She has also been shown to be quite lazy, as she hates doing the paperwork of the Ring of Four, which is the job of the twelve lower captains in the Ring, which is every member of the Ring other than the High Marshal.

While sometimes appearing to be self-centered, she is at all times concerned with the well being of Renge, as she has known him all her life. She tends to go much further for him than anyone else, and will even abandon her other subordinates in mid battle to go to his side. She is on good terms with fellow Royal Guard captains, Shunsui Kyōraku and Tōshirō Hitsugaya.

History
As a child, she was very good friends with Renge Yamato. Both were trained to become Shinigami around the same time, and both were eventually promoted to captain in the Gotei 13, with Renge being in the Third Division and Haruko being in the Second Division. Upon her rise to captain, she also became the Princess of the Shihōin clan and later became it's 20th leader. At some point after this, she became a member of the Royal Guard and left her Captain's seat to her niece, Yoruichi.

Powers & Abilities
Master Hand-to-Hand Combatant: As a former leader of the Onmitsukidō, Haruko is exceptionally proficient at using hand-based fighting. Her fighting style is enhanced even greater due to the form her zanpakutō takes in it's Shikai form, foregoing the need for a typical sword. She can take down large amounts of foes and even powerful captain-level individuals with just her hakuda skills. She can even fight on par with an Espada-level Arrancar with just her skills in Hand-to-hand combat. She is regarded by most of the Captains in the Gotei 13 as "very dangerous".

Swordsmanship Specialist: While not her preferred form of combat, she has been shown to wield her sealed zanpakutō with relative ease. She can effortlessly take down Adjucas-level Hollows or several Menos Grande with just her sealed sword.

Flash Steps Master: As the former captain of the Second Division and Commander-in-Chief of the Onmitsukidō, as well as being a Captain in the Ring of Four, she has unnatural levels of speed. She has claimed that among anyone in the Royal Guard, she is the fastest, and that her speed alone would have allowed her to be in the Ring of One had she not been as lazy as she is. Her mastery with Flash Steps allows her to appear as if she is in multiple places at once, a form of afterimages. She can also close the distance between herself and her opponents while completely slipping through their senses. She has managed to learn and master all of the Onmitsukidō's hohō-based techniques and, much like her High Marshal with kidō, created some of her own. It is unknown exactly how far he abilities with Flash Steps can go, but it is shown that she can easily outstrip most fighters without tiring easily.

Tremendous Strength: Despite her slender appearance, Haruko is immensely strong. A single kick from her can shatter bones, cause massive shockwaves upon contact with the ground, and even shatter and Arrancar's hierro. She can easily carry wounded comrades on her shoulders while using her Flash Steps to bring them to safety, even if that means traveling long distances. She can also throw extremely heavy objects, such as large chunks of debris or even large Hollows. A concentrated punch from her can demolish an entire building.

Enhanced Endurance: She has been shown to take multiple energy blasts as well as sustain substantial beatings and still be able to continue fighting.

Master Assassin: As the former Commander-in-Chief of the Onmitsukidō, Haruko is one of the foremost masters of the art of assassination. She has repeatedly shown impressive skill in staying hidden and unseen. When necessary, she can effectively exploit having a advantage against an opponent or hiding her presence.

Master Strategist: As the former head of her clan and ex-commander of the Secret Mobile Corps, Haruko has shown herself to be a capable leader. Repeatedly, Haruko has shown to be insightful and crafty, quickly capable of understanding any situation that presents itself and adjust to it effectively.

Shunkō (瞬閧, Flash Cry): While not particularly versed in the many Kidō spells, she is very capable at using Kidō energy in her Shunkō technique. It is an advanced technique that combines hand-to-hand combat with kidō. She fights by surrounding her back and arms with pressurized kidō. The keisen uniform has no back or sleeves since they'll rip apart when it's activated. What is known of it so far, is that it can allow her to instantly neutralize an opponent's movement. Haruko's version of the technique was developed and studied by her a century ago alongside her niece, Yourichi. Therefore, the technique is complete.
 * Hanki (反鬼, Reverse Demon): This technique is an ability Haruko can use during Shunkō, which nullifies an opponent's Kidō by hitting it with a Kidō of perfectly opposite speed and energy. The ability can even neutralize an opponent's movements.

Tremendous Spiritual Energy: As a fourth level captain in the Royal Guard, a former Captain of the Gotei 13, and a former leader of the Shihōin clan, she possess a tremendous amount of spiritual energy. Like with her high marshal, her reiatsu is several times higher than a typical Gotei captain's own reiatsu. The release of her spiritual energy causes a strong, cold, wind to blow and the ground beneath her to crack slightly. While manifesting, her reiatsu is bright purple and takes the form of a radiating aura around her body. While using Shunkō, her concentrated spiritual power becomes far greater than normal.

Zanpakutō
Sōkōte (装甲手, Armored Arm) is Haruko's zanpakutō. It takes the form of a standard katana with a star-shaped guard and a red handle. She rarely keeps her zanpakutō in it's sealed state, instead preferring to keep it in it's shikai state. When it is sealed, she caries it in it's crimson sheathe on her back.
 * Shikai: Sōkōte's Shikai is released by the phrase "Punch madly" (穿孔猛進, Senkō mōshin). In it's released form, Sōkōte takes the form of a set of metal gloves and boots that vastly improves her hand-to-hand combat. They are exceptionally durable, capable of protecting the wearer's limbs even during the event of their destruction.
 * Shikai Special Ability: Her shikai enables a vast improvement of her Hakuda abilities.
 * Enhanced Defense: While in Shikai, the gloves and boots act similar to an Arrancar's hierro and can deflect all but the strongest attacks. The enable her to plow through high level kidō with relative ease.
 * Enhanced Strength: In Shikai, her strength is argumented to an even greater level. One punch from the gloves can kill multiple Hollows even if it only strikes one, due to the shockwave it produces. Her kicks now have the power to demolish several city blocks. She can also completely deflect attacks like Cero and other energy attacks with ease.
 * Enhanced Shunkō: In this form, Haruko's Shunkō is tremendously argumented to the point where it is almost unrecognizable as the same technique.
 * Shindō (震動, Tremor): A power that emanates from her Shunkō while in Shikai. It is the ability to manipulate gravity at Haruko's will to repulse matter away. Depending on the amount of force Haruko puts in this technique, it can easily shatter wood, bones, stone, metal, or even some of the most powerful defenses. By using this technique as a defensive measure, all attacks directed to Haruko will be deflected, no matter the size, power or mass. The only downside to this technique is that it temporarily deactivates her Shunkō.


 * Bankai: Not Yet Revealed.