Rōnin Shiba

Rōnin Shiba (浪人芝, Shiba Ronin), who is better known by the name of Kenji Hiroshi (健児博, Hiroshi Kenji), is a of the  in the.

Personality
Kenji tends to think only of himself and rarely looks to the needs of others, leading many to consider him a loner. His survival as a child hinged on his ability to stay one-step-ahead of the others, especially the other children; a trait of his that had barely diminished throughout his six-year academy stint.

History
Despite being born into the noble as Rōnin Shiba, Kenji spent his childhood in the vast  that surrounded the  unaware of his birthright as a noble, specifically one of the harsher Northern districts. The only link he had to his past was a picture of his mother. He spent his days battling for survival in a world that neither cared nor offered help, which served to embitter him at an early age. Kenji would later look back and remark: "Everyday was a struggle; split between life and death."

One particular day Kenji was sizing up a market stall for food when its owner discovered him and accused him of thievery. Kenji received a harsh beating and was left lying in the middle of the street. He drifted in and out of consciousness for quite some time but when he finally came to he found himself in a small room occupied by a woman wearing the tell-tale clothing of a Shinigami, who explained she had found him unconscious during her rounds. She detailed to him the extent of his injuries and assured him that the concussion he had suffered had been treated successfully, but stressed his need for rest. Kenji retorted that if he spent all his time resting then he wouldn't be able to get anything to eat. The woman introduced herself as Maya Zhijun of the. When she again insisted that Kenji rest she subsequently knocked him unconscious via, leaving him in a peaceful slumber. This time when he awoke he was alone but a generous quantity of food had been left behind, along with a note that red: "From your friend -- Maya." This meeting was the driving force behind Kenji's decision to become a Shinigami.

Kenji applied to the in hopes of escaping the barbaric Rukongai, but failed not only on his first attempt but also on his second. He was ready to pack it all in and resign himself to a sorry life scraping a living in the Rukongai, only he was again found by Maya. She berated him for his lackluster showings during both of his examinations and reasoned that he was merely wasting his time, and that his dream of becoming a Shinigami was nothing but a pipe-dream. Her words had the desired affect for an enraged Kenji passed his exam on the third attempt and was admitted into the academy. When asked by Maya afterwards how he managed to do it the third time he responded: "If only to prove you wrong."

During his studies Kenji proved himself a loner. He rarely interacted with his peers or sought their help. Any progress he made was on his own terms; an attitude which vexed his instructors and alienated him from his fellow students. He performed poorest in the classes that required teamwork and was also notorious amongst the staff for having no skill (or interest) in interacting with his. He performed well in both and  but was nevertheless criticized for his overly-vicious combat-style that tended to result in the injury of his sparring partners. He was also the laughing stock of the academy for his lackluster Kidō skills; his attempts to gain any mastery of the art was met with disastrous results, as the spells tended to backfire and explode in his face. He did, however, progress to the point he could use some low-level spells with decent success rate and power.

When he graduated Kenji struggled to gain admission to any of the squads he applied to join. His attitude played a large role in this though he finally managed to secure a position in the 13th Division due to the glowing reference he received from Maya, which is where Kenji stayed for a great deal of his Shinigami career.