Renji Abarai (CuppyCake)

Renji Abarai is the lieutenant of the 6th Division under Byakuya Kuchiki.

Appearance
Renji has brown eyes and long crimson hair, which is usually kept in a high ponytail. As a child, Renji's hairline was leveled. Later, he styled it in a large widow's-peak. His upper body is covered in tribal tattoos, which have increased over time, starting from his early days as an academy student to covering his entire back, much of his chest, his extremities, and even much of his forehead. He wears a standard Shinigami outfit, though he usually includes some sort of headgear, usually expensive glasses or a white headband when he is saving up to purchase some new glasses. Despite being of appropriate rank, Renji does not wear his Division's lieutenant badge. While out of uniform, Renji often wears a white kimono-like type of night clothing, with pink floral patterns on it, and a dark grey sash tied around his waist. It has also been said that the women within his Division do not mind that he usually walks around in his night clothing.

Seventeen months after Aizen's defeat, Renji's hair has grown longer and he wears a maroon colored bandanna covering all of the tattoos on his forehead. He also wears long dark straps on each wrist with bandages over his arms.

Personality
Renji is quite dynamic. His personality varies from smug and cocky to disquieted and depressed after a major defeat, but shows himself to be an incredibly serious and determined fighter when confronted with an actual threat. Willing to fight, kill, and die for whatever he believes in, Renji is a dangerous man to those who stand in his way. Yasutora Sado compares his fighting style to that of Ichigo Kurosaki. Renji is determined to surpass his Captain Byakuya Kuchiki, it's this determination that drives Renji to grow stronger. Renji likes taiyaki (a popular fish-shaped pancake usually filled with sweet bean paste) and has a dislike for spicy food.Renji also likes futsal, and in his free time works on assembling a team from the 6th Division, with success, more or less. The current members are himself, Rikichi and the 4th, 8th, 13th, and 20th seated officers.

All of Renji's sunglasses are purchased from Seireitei's popular Gin Tonbo store and cost half a year's worth of his pay check. However, every time he wears a pair, they are broken in one way or another. On these occasions, he replaces them with a tied white bandana, until he can purchase a new pair of goggles. His dream is to wear a pair that he himself designed at least once.

History
Renji grew up in the 78th District of Rukongai, Inuzuri (hanging dog), with several other children. Having come to Soul Society alone, they helped each other to search for their families. One day, after stealing a jug of water, Renji and his friends were chased by a kama-wielding adult. Rukia Kuchiki tripped the adult and urged Renji's group to follow her to avoid losing the water. Rukia joined their group and they lived together as a family. They all hated Inuzuri and the people there. Renji disliked the fact that Rukia had spiritual power like he did. Ten years after Rukia joined their group, with all of their friends dead, Rukia proposed that they become Shinigami, which Renji agreed to do. As they were quite gifted with spiritual powers, they entered the Shin'o Academy with ease, where they struggled to prove their worth among those from noble families.

The night before the welcoming ceremony for the new students of the Academy, Renji slept in a tree, against Rukia’s advice. The following morning, he fell out of the tree and landed on a headstone where a startled Izuru Kira had been praying. Having scored among the highest grades in the entrance exam, Renji was admitted into the top class along with Izuru and Momo Hinamori. Sometime later in the Shin'o Academy, when Renji had moved up at least a grade, he repeatedly bumped into first year Hana Takara. He never got her name, however, and didn't realize it until now. He always heard Koharu Tanaka and Hana Takura calling him a "Red Pineapple", which highly annoyed him. He grew even more irritated when the nickname began to spread.

Quotes

 * (To Ichigo Kurosaki) "Don't make me laugh! It is your fault that Rukia lost her power. That's why her sentence is so heavy. Don't you get it? It's all because of you that Rukia is going to die! What right do you have to say you want to save her? Quit joking around."
 * "I am really a tramp down to my bones. I hate myself. I bark at the moon, but I don't have the courage to jump and grab it."
 * (To Ichigo Kurosaki) "I never won once against Captain Kuchiki. Ever since Rukia left, I trained every day, but I still failed. He is too strong. Fighting to get Rukia back is nothing but an impossible dream to me. Kurosaki, I'm probably shameless for doing this, but I have to ask you. Please, you have to save Rukia!"
 * (About Byakuya Kuchiki) "I have always been afraid, always been pretending to follow you closely, always been pretending to sharpen my teeth, when the truth is, I am scared to death just treading on your shadow."
 * (To Byakuya Kuchiki) "For a long time now, before I joined the Gotei 13, the only person that I have always wanted to surpass is you, Captain Kuchiki!"
 * (To Ichigo Kurosaki) "Showing concern for a warrior's life on the battlefield is an insult to that warrior."
 * "We at this moment head into the decisive battle. Have faith that our blades will not shatter. Have faith that our hearts will not waiver. And even if our paths should diverge, we all share a heart of iron. Swear that even if the ground beneath us should be rent asunder we will live and return to this place again."
 * (To Hana Takura) " It's understandable if Captain Kuchiki forgot his birthday. To a guy like him, those things aren't very important. He has much more important things to worry about."