Kenshin Suzuki

Kenshin Suzuki (太郎・団扇, Suzuki Kenshin), a descendant of the once famed Suzuki Clan, is a who currently serves in the  as the Lieutenant of the. More than one and a half century ago, during the late shogunate period of Japan, he was a samurai operating out of the area that is now called. Having unknowingly awakened his own spiritual powers, one of the few in that era to have awakened shinigami powers, he grew up to be a famous samurai and made a name for himself as a Vice-Commander of a unit of the Shinsengumi. Though he never really learned to consciously use his shinigami powers, none the less kept a close watch on him and he unwittingly helped their cause on a number of occasions. After his death he was given a soul burial by his mentor and uncle Ryū Kagami and sent to.

Following his arrival in Soul Society he did not have any recollection of his life as a human and until he was found by Ryū living in, where he had made friends with another youth by the name of Kurama Kaito, he was completely unaware of his past and his own spiritual awareness. He and Kurama ultimately enrolled in the and after graduating joined the Gotei 13, first joining the  before transferring to the 10th division, where he now holds the position of Lieutenant. Having served in that role for over a decade now, he is now a well respected shinigami and is known throughout the Gotei 13 for his masterful swordsmanship and mastery of Kidō.

Appearance
Kenshin is a tall young man in the peak of his physical fitness. Decently built with a well toned body, Kenshin has the physique of a natural athlete. Some might say he is slightly lean for his age but this is mostly due to his height that makes him look more lean than he really is. As such he best resembles a long distance runner, being tall, lithe, and trim. He is considered by quite a few members of the fairer sex to be a handsome man, and to have a very serene appearance. He is fair skinned with slightly sharp features and has a certain grace about himself. His long black hair is kept tied at the back of his head with a piece of cloth and a number of long locks frame his face. He has bright blue eyes and fair skin like most members of his family.

He wears the standard shinigami uniform consisting of a white shitagi, a black kosode, a black hakama, a white hakama-himo, white tabi, and waraji. He also wears a white scarf around his neck which is a family heirloom which signifies his position as the next head of the Suzuki clan and was gifted to him after he graduated from the academy. The scarf is made from the silver-white, windflower light silk and has been handed down from generation to generation to each Suzuki family head. It is the only treasure that remains from the once wealthy Suzuki family coffers and as such is the only inheritance he received from his family. His two katana are kept tucked into the sash wrapped around his waist. In remembrance of his former affiliation to the Shinsengumi he sometimes wears a blue colored haori with triangular patterns in white on the sleeves and edges, the trademark haori worn by members of the group.

Personality
Kenshin is a stubborn but sensible individual with a kind heart and a brilliant head on his shoulders. He is the kind of person who will be willing enough to listen to another's advice, but then be just as likely to completely ignore that advice if it goes against what he believes to be right. He will ultimately make every decision on his own terms and though he is a honorable and dutiful person, he is not above bending or even breaking a few rules to do what he thinks is right. He is also a man of his word and once he has given it to someone he will not break a promise, not unless he thinks the person he made the promise is no longer worth keeping a promise for. He does not care much what others think about him or anyone else and will make his own opinions about an individual based on his own observations.

He possesses a natural curiosity that is one of the defining features of his personality. In his own words the desire to solve a puzzle or learn the truth about something he does not know leaves him with an "itch" that keeps on bouncing around in the back of his mind until he has learned the truth. He wants to know what is going around him and not knowing irritates him to no end. The fact that he does not remember much of his past life bothers him incessantly and discovering the truth about his past is something that drives him forward every day. He loves a good mystery and upon hearing of something unique and off the beaten track, he tries to get himself involved, one way or another.

While he can be serious, grim, and intent at times, he is normally much more relaxed and fun loving than most people believe him to be. Growing up as a human he was a prankster and despite not remembering much from his human life, that is something he has retained. He is also a womanizer, free with praise for individuals of the fairer sex and can be seen with a new date on his arms every other month. The fun loving and playful side to him becomes even more apparent when he is drunk and at such times he can be quite difficult to control. The fact that he possesses an above average resistance towards intoxicants does help, but due to his inability to judge when he has had enough, he does manage to get highly inebriated from time to time.

But despite his kind heart there is a darkness within him that he cannot explain and keeps hidden from everyone else. Though he has lost all memories of his human life, he has started to hear a voice in his head which he thinks might be his human memories resurfacing. Unlike what he has heard about his human life, the voice in his head is more or less crazy, and Kenshin now thinks that he must have gone insane at the end of his human life. Kenshin keeps the existence of the voice in his head hidden from almost everyone, trusting only a select few with this secret, from fear of being considered to be a lunatic. The voice displays characteristics similar to Kenshin's own personality, but is much more extreme and harsh in its outlook towards life. The voice seems to want Kenshin to always do what he believes to be the right thing, no matter what the cost and irrespective of who his actions might hurts. The voice also seems to think that Kenshin is a voice in his head and has somehow taken control of his body. But at times the voice can show some signs of sanity and help Kenshin with its experience and wisdom. Kenshin tends to hear the voice in his head with much greater regularity and clarity when he is drunk as the voice seems to enjoy drinking as much as Kenshin. Another trait of the voice is that whenever he notices a beautiful woman it starts whistling a tune, the more appealing the woman, the faster the melody produced by the voice.

As a Human
Born to Shinta and Misa Suzuki, Kenshin's early life was fairly common and devoid of any special incident. His sister, Meera, was born two years after him and the two of them were brought up by their parents in a kind and loving environment. Living in a tiny village, Kenshin helped his father run the tiny ramen store that they owned. Studying, playing and then helping out in the shop, Kenshin's life had a pattern to it, one that led to a highly happy and satisfied existence for him. By the time he was ten he was a very good cook, being trusted by his father to cook the ramen that was served to customers becoming a great source of pride and satisfaction for the young boy.

But then the incident occurred that changed his life for ever. Kenshin's parents often took him and Meera to the nearby town to spend the day there and show them the sights, days which both siblings looked forward to. Unknown to Kenshin, he and his sister were spiritually aware, and for years their strong presences along with that of their father had been attracting hollows. Kenshin's father had been exterminating any Hollows who came close to their tiny village, keeping his family safe from their threat. After one particular visit to the town, while they were on their way back to their home, they were attacked by a group of hollows. The ferocity and suddenness of the attack caught Shinta off guard and he was injured before he had a chance to defend himself or his family. By the time he switched into his spiritual form his wife was already within a hollow's clutches. Ordering Kenshin to take his sister and run, the injured Shinta rushed to his wife's aid.

Despite the odds stacked against him, Shinta would most probably managed to defeat the hollows and save his family if only Kenshin had heard his order and made a run for it. But in that critical moment Kenshin froze up in fear and stopped moving, despite his sister's attempts to drag him away. As a result Shinta was forced to divide his concentration between trying to rescue his wife and protect his children. Though on the verge of saving his wife, he became aware of a hollow heading straight for his children, and with his wife urging him to forget about her and save them instead, Shinta rushed forward to save them. While he rushed forward to protect Kenshin and Meera, he felt his wife's presence vanish as she was killed. That caused him to slow down for a second and that moments hesitation cost him dearly as though he managed to protect his children, the effort cost him his life. With both his parents dead Kenshin and his sister were taken in by Ryū Kagami, who they knew as an old friend of their father's. What was unknown to them was that Ryū was actually Shinta's younger brother and their uncle. He took up the role of guardian and older brother for both of them and even began teaching Kenshin the ways of the sword. History books contain records of how Kenshin grew up to be a highly skilled swordsman and ultimately joined the Shinsengumi and participated in many battles in the late shogunate period. He was said to have ultimately died during the Boshin War when he and his unit sacrificed themselves to allow the greater portion of their forces to escape.

But the true story of his life is a little more grizzly and something that was regarded as a blotch on the name of the Shinsengumi. While he did indeed join the Shinsengumi after having emerged as an almost peerless swordsman, just like the books mention, the fact that he slowly descended into madness in the last few years of his life is not remembered anywhere but in Soul Society. Constant fighting during and before the Boshin War, along with his spiritual awareness, that allowed him to see spirits all around him, drove him crazy. He would see the spirits of dead comrades, loved ones and worse of all opponents all the time. With the amount of blood that was spilled in the war and pain and suffering that was born from it, spirits would appear before they could be given a soul burial, spirits that would haunt Kenshin.

It is unknown to any but Ryū exactly how he died, but in the end he had descended so far into madness that it is said that he could no longer distinguish friend from foe, family from total strangers. Even the death of his own sister did not seem to affect him, other than maybe fueling his paranoia. While searching for him in Rukongai, Ryū later commented to Kenshin's sister Meera that in the end death was almost a welcome gift to Kenhin, a release from all the suffering he had to face near end and he was glad knowing that Kenshin would be going to a better place with a chance at a better life.

Synopsis

 * Whiskey in the Jar

Powers & Abilities
Genius Intellect: Probably one of the main reasons behind Kenshin's various talents are his brains and high intellect. He is said to have the potential to go down as one of the most gifted Shinigami of all time. He achieved Shikai very soon after joining the academy and even as a human, while completely unaware of his powers, he had been unconsciously drawing upon the powers of his Zanpakutō. It did not take him long to master his shikai and he is one of the few lieutenants to have already achieved Bankai. Even the powers of his Zanpakutō are in fact an extension of his perceptive nature and even without them he is a quick study, picking up on techniques at an astonishingly fast pace, a feat that left many in the academy dumbfounded. Partly due to the powers of his Zanpakutō but to a greater degree due to his own intellect, he is able to see patterns and link together a series of events with relative ease. Due to his sharp mind and his steadily increasing proficiency in combat, he is becoming more and more tactically aware, strategizing and coming up with plans with increasing ease. When he first joined the academy, his ignorance of his past life and by extension of the years of battle experience that he possessed meant that he was as inexperienced as any of his peers, and this proved to be a stumbling block in his development as despite mastering techniques faster than expected he was still unaware of how to best use those abilities in response to certain scenarios. But over the years he has learned from each defeat and each setback makes him capable of accounting for more and more outcomes. : Kenshin is a highly proficient swordsmen whose skills with the blade, honed over the course of his human life and his time as a soul, are matched by few in Soul Society. Though he does not fully remember his time as a human, the skills that he accumulated as a swordsman in his past life are not lost to the ravages of his mind. Just like muscle memory, his body still remembers what his mind has forgotten and even as a soul living in Rukongai he demonstrated an innate affinity for swordsmanship that earned him the name of The Swordsman (剣士, Kenshi). A swordsman with his skill with the blade had not been seen in Rukongai in years and the fact that he readily took up his blade to fight against anything he thought of as injustice and corrupt soon caught the eye of Seireitei and lead to his ultimate discovery by Ryū. The greatest strength of his swordsmanship is his ability to adapt to varying situations and being ambidextrous he is a highly versatile fighter. His fighting style consists of graceful and quick movements and he prefers finishing his fights quickly rather than dragging them on. Not one to make use of pure brute force, he tries to deal accurate blows and perform quick maneuvers, finesse and restraint forming a great part of his style. He is capable of keeping track of multiple opponents or a single opponent with multiple blades and effectively withstanding their attacks. Though he is ambidextrous, he tends to most commonly use his left hand at the start of a fight in order to misguiding his opponent into believing that his left hand is his dominant one. But the truth is that he is slightly more proficient with his right hand than his left and at any point in a battle he can switch his sword from his left hand to his right to through off his opponent and use the element of surprise to his advantage.

Kidō Abilities
He has a very fine grasp over the control and manipulation of his spiritual energy and that in turn enables him to perform his Kidō with a level of control that not many can match. Almost a century worth of practice along with his advanced growth rate have enabled him to reach such a level of proficiency that he can even cast spells in the 90s without incantations and those lying in the 50s range without even speaking. Such was his talent with Kidō that upon gradating from the academy he was asked to join the Kidō Corps, an offer he turned down to join the 3rd Division.

A master at transforming Kidō, he is most skilled at modifying a spell to make it work as per his requirements. He has shown himself to be capable of changing the very nature of spells, before or after they have been fired and given enough time to react, can even modify spells to make them harm their own casters instead of him. He can make a based on fire instead of lightning, or a  based on ice that freezes its targets in place.

Onigiri (鬼斬り, "Demon Sword"): A powerful technique that combines Zanjutsu with Kidō, the original technique was created by Ryū who later passed on the knowledge of how to use it to Kenshin. The original technique created an exceedingly thin layer of reiryoku around the blade, capable of cutting through almost anything. This variation involves replacing the reiryoku with Kidō, ensuring the cutting power remains; but also adding unique properties to the technique based on the Kidō being used. Should one utilize Shakkahō, then the sword incinerates anything in its path, while Raikōhō shocks and numbs instead. By control how much Kidō energy is used Kenshin can vary the potency of any variation, making even lower-leveled spells potentially fatal when directed through his zanpakutō. Onigiri can also b used in conjection with other Zanjutsu techniques such as Nadegiri or Suikawari. By channeling a specific Kidō into the blade by dispersing it into loose spiritrons, Kenshin is capable of altering the composition of the particular Kidō to fit the specific technique he wishes to imitate.


 * Shichi Fukujin (七福神, Seven Gods of Fortune):


 * Nanatsunotaizai (七つの大罪, Seven Deadly Sins):

Renkinjutsu
Renkinjutsu (錬金術, Alchemy): Due to his high level of control and understanding of his own Reiatsu and a heightened understanding of how come together to build everything in Soul Society, a result of the powers of his Zanpakutō, Kenshin was able to develop a new and potentially unique skill that he named Rekinjutsu. In a manner somewhat similar to manipulation of Reiatsu and Kidō, Kenshin is able to manipulate the Reishi composition of certain objects in Soul Society, Heuco Mundo and to a lesser degree in the Human world. He can manipulate particles on the molecular level to change how they bind with one another to affect the shape and size of objects, even their very chemical composition. Thus he can combine raw materials to create something new or reshape something that already exists. But to accomplish any of this Kenshin has to feed his own spiritual energy into the object being modified, which acts as a catalyst for the process. Thus he has to be physically in contact with the object to be modified.

Rekinjutsu is a very versatile and adaptable art as with it Kenshin can seemingly do anything from reshaping steel into weapons to making the ground shoot up to form a barrier around him. But like any science it has its own limitations. Kenshin has stated that his abilities are limited by the laws of conservation of mass and energy as he cannot create new matter, but only manipulate that which already exists. He has described what he does to be a series of high speed chemical reactions with him acting as the catalyst facilitating their occurrence.
 * Golem (ゴーレム, Goremu): This is one of the few named Renkinjutsu spells, and possibly the one with the greatest destructive and defensive ability. Kenshin manipulates a large amount of the very earth below his feet to transform it into a giant, vaguely humanoid entity that he has named the Golem. The Golem possesses nine eyes, numerous spike-like protrusions on its back and shackles on its arms and legs. The Golem can be called upon to simply act as a shield, or can evenbe controlled by Kenshin, though this drains his Reiatsu.

Zanpakutō
Hōkatsu (包括, Comprehension) is the name of Kenshin's Zanpakutō. Hōkatsu is unique as far as Zanpakutō go because in its sealed state it exists as two completely separate swords which form a daisho sword pair, consisting of a tachi and a wakizashi. Both swords are similar in appearance with circular cross guards with two arcs cut off within at diametrically opposite points, and black handles. He keeps them sheathed, slipped through the obi around his wait on his right side, to give an illusion of being left handed.

Shikai: Released by the command Kataru (語る, Talk), Hōkatsu does not undergo any drastic change in it's physical appearance, looking the same as in its sealed state. When first activated, it used to result in Kenshin experiencing a blinding head ache for a short period of time, as his senses were overloaded by Hōkatsu's powers, but over time he has managed to gain enough control over the shikai that this no longer occurs. As the blades undergoes no change upon the activation of the Zanpakutō's shikai, Kenshin often activated the shikai silently without anyone being aware of it. This not only gives him an edge in combat, but also allows him to access Hōkatsu's powers at any time without most people being aware of it. He can even suppress any change that would appear in his spiritual pressure so as to prevent it from giving him away..

Shikai Special Ability: Hōkatsu's power stems from Kenshin's own curious nature and grants him the ability to understand how things work, enabling him to recognize and study patterns, help him to better analyze any system that he encounters and how to fix them if they are broken. Kenshin has used this power to read both mechanical and biological systems as well as Kidō and Zanpakutō abilities. Though he is yet to fully master this aspect of its powers, Hōkatsu also allows him to analyze human behavior.

In battle this also allows Kenshin to understand how a person thinks and fights, to study their behavior in battle and gain an insight into the way an opponent thinks and fighting style and use that to anticipate their moves. Once he has understood an enemies fighting style and the way they strategize in battle, he locate the flaws and weaknesses in their style and use that against them.

Like with any other skill, Hōkatsu's powers strengthen up with use; for systems that Kenshin is familiar with he can detect and identify flaws with only a cursory inspection. But for things he is unfamiliar with and has never encountered before, a more extensive study is required.


 * Sakugen (削減, Reduce): He is able to analyze an opponent's attack and by studying its spiritual makeup, can respond with an equal and opposite attack to nullify its effects. He can cancel out any attack with this technique as long as the attack's strength is not beyond his own strength.


 * Kōgai (口外, Reveal): By cutting something with the blade of his wakizashi, Kenshin learns everything there is to know about that object, but only on a physical level. If he cuts an inanimate object, then he learns all there is to know about its physical and chemical buildup. If he stabs his wakizashi into the ground then he learns everything about the ground around him, an example being him having once used this technique to locate an underground river. On a sentient being the effect is slightly different. He learns about the physical condition of a person, locating sicknesses, weaknesses and injuries. He can use this to help heal an ally or discover a weakness to exploit against an enemy.

Bankai: Fuhen Hōkatsu (普遍包括, Universal Comprehension) is the name of Kenshin's bankai. Unlike most Bankai forms, which usually create some sort of massive creature or effect, Kenshin's Bankai actually remains the same as his shikai as far as appearance is concerned. The only visible change is in Kenshin's appearance is eyes glow with a faint blue light, to signify his increased sensed of perception.

Bankai Special Ability: Fuhen Hōkatsu, much like its Shikai provides Kenshin with the ability to study and understand how varies systems work along with the added ability to modify those systems as he sees fit. The true power of Fuhen Hōkatsu is the ability to understand the complexities of cause and effect, allowing Kenshin to truly understand the consequences of his actions and to some degree influence the future.

Kenshin can weigh the probability of the outcomes arising from the choices he makes, weighing the options to almost predict the outcomes of certain situations, and then to proceed along the path of causality he feels is most suitable. He can in a way see all the variables of any situation and to a limited degree predict the outcome. Kenshin has described this ability as being akin to a holographic display projecting the various paths in front of him, possible courses of action playing out in front of him, allowing him to foresee the best option from a tactical point of view.


 * Enhanced Shikai Abilities: All of Kenshin's Shikai skills are enhanced to a great degree and their range is vastly increased. He can now use Sakugen to counter much stronger attacks which would have been beyond him while in Shikai. He can also analyze systems from a greater distance and can study the inner workings of a systems even when not in close proximity to it.


 * Seishin Tate (精神盾, Spirit Shield): An advanced form of Sakugen, learned after achieving his Bankai, this technique involves the creation of a square barrier around Kenshin which, instead of simply cancelling an incoming attack, absorbs any Reiatsu based attacks that fall upon it and accumulates the absorbed Reiatsu in a sphere at the center of the barrier. Kenshin can then launch this gathered Reiatsu as a concentrated beam of spiritual energy which he directs by placing both or one hand behind the sphere, with the blast being launched in the direction pointed by his palm. Despite attempts to do so, Kenshin cannot absorb this gathered Reiatsu to replenish his own Reiatsu levels.


 * Utsushi (写し, Duplicate): Such is his understanding of various systems while in Bankai that Kenshin can completely determine the means of creation of a technique and can decipher how to reproduce the technique. Thus by completely understanding a technique he can recreate that technique at a later time and use it as it were his own.


 * Shūryō Taihen (終了大変, Dreadful Ending): The first technique to have been learned by him, this attack was learned during his encounter with Sōsuke Yūhi. An energy based offensive attack, in its original form used by Sōsuke it involved making use of the blue energy shroud that covers his Zanpakutō in it's Blue Form and releasing the energy stored within the energy shroud in the form of blue-colored energy blasts. Kenshin has learned how to use this technique but does so in a manner slightly different from the original. Instead of utilizing any energy already covering his blade in a shroud of blue spiritual energy, something that is unique to Sōsuke's Irohime, Kenshin instead transfers his own spiritual energy into the blade which is then concentrated around the blade as it seeps out from the length of the blade when he is about to launch the attack. Another difference is that while for Sōsuke this attack appeared as light blue blasts, in Kenshin's case the attack is much a darker violet in color with the edges tinged by a lighter bluish-white hue. He can change the shape, size, and intensity of the blasts, being capable of releasing the energy as one powerful blast or a number of small "bullets" of lesser strength but greater speed. On the whole it is a very powerful and versatile technique, capable of causing large-scale damage and destruction.

Trivia

 * Kenshin's appearance is based on Saitou Hajime from Hakuouki Shinsengumi Kitan.
 * Renkinjutsu is inspired by Alchemy from the series Fullmetal Alchemist.