Rukia Kuchiki (Darknesslover5000)/Tropes

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Alternate Universe Counterpart: This Rukia, who appears in Rasenhiden, is different from the Rukia that appears in canon. While she possesses similar abilities and personality, her past is starkly different, and she holds a new position in the Gotei 13; Kidou Corps Lieutenant.

An Ice Person: Her zanpakuto, Sode no Shirayuki, can generate towers and waves of ice. Sode no Shirayuki's true power lets her be a literal example by lowering her own body temperature all the way down to absolute zero.


 * Her Bankai, Hakka no Togame, goes even further, freezing everything in its initial blast radius, including herself. Her body begins to fracture if she does not properly return to normal temperature.

Dark and Troubled Past: While Rukia may not have gone through the emotional trauma of killing a superior that the Rukia from canon has gone through, Rasenhiden's Rukia has experienced her own fair share of unnecessary pain. Initially raised by her sister, Hisana, Rukia accidentally killed her sister at a young age due to overexposure to her spiritual pressure. From then on, Rukia grew up in general solitude, and people avoided the girl with good reason; her reiatsu, uncontrolled as it was, would constantly leak out, creating a cold fog whever she went and freezing the area solid. She was naturally feared by people in the Rukongai, who went so far as to call her a demon, and tried to kill her. Having to flee to a forest where she lived for a few decades (after having killed several villagers in a violent outburst of reiatsu, freezing them to their cores), she was found by the head of the Kidou Corps, her soon-to-be-older brother, who pitied her and took her into his family.

Death By A Thousand Cuts: A Kidō created by Rukia, Kuchiki-Ryū Kidō: Fukyūya Hanamichi (朽木流鬼道=不朽夜花道, Kuchiki-Style Kidō: Imperishable Night of the Path of Blossoms), solidifies thousands of spiritons in the air into blades that reflect the light to resemble rose petals. This trope is the end result of the Kidō hitting a target.

Full-Contact Magic: Rukia has created a special style of fighting referred to as "Kitōjin", which combines Zanjutsu with the aspects of Kidō; a simple swing of her blade doesn't need to connect when it can be projected off from the blade as reishi that will connect even if the blade strike misses.

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Harmless Freezing: Sode no Shirayuki's ability freezes Rukia's targets by first freezing her body solid. Although she can return to a perfectly healthy state afterwards, she has to "thaw" slowly to avoid killing herself.

Human Popsicle: As a user of ice, this is the general after-effect of her powers. When using techniques such as Tsukishiro in Bankai, the range of the blast is so large it freezes her as well, invoking this treatment on her own body.

Holding Back the Phlebotinum: Rukia's Bankai — and by association, her full power — are strong, almost obscenely so. When activated, her Bankai has the potential to flash freeze everything around her, including herself. While Rukia can control the ice applied to her own body, it requires absolute precision; one mistake and she could wind up shattered and dead. Due to this drawback, she often refrains from Bankai, despite its immense powers.

Hot-Blooded: While Rukia normally acts acts calm, snarky, and aloof, befitting her status as the adopted daughter of a noble family, she gets is shown getting very tempermental and emotional, especially around Ahatake, whose attitude easily draws Rukia's ire.

Lady of War: Her rough, hot-tempered exterior hides an inner grace that becomes visible when she fights. Her powers and fighting techniques are inspired by Chinese water and ribbon dancing and her activation commands are dance-based.

Power Of The Storm: To a different degree than Hyōrinmaru; while Hyōrinmaru controls the weather as its primary power, Rukia's very spiritual pressure creates light snowfall in Bankai. She is also able to create massive blizzards through spreading her own spirit energy into the air, augmenting the snow her spirit pressure creates simply by existing.

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Red Baron: Snow Woman of the Frost Forest (凍寒森の雪女, Tōkanmori no Yukion'na lit. Snow Woman of the Bitter Cold Forest)

Terrible Artist: One of her defining traits. Just don't tell her that.

Self-Made Orphan: Rukia grew up as alone from a young child to her early teens physically (bear in mind she's a Soul, thus this took at least 40 to 50 years). Didn't she have any siblings? Oh she did. A sister, Hisana. What happened? Rukia's spirit energy went out of control as a young child and froze the woman solid.

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Walking Wasteland: As a young child, Rukia had absolutely no control over her immense spiritual energy, and just being in any given area dropped the temperature severely, freezing over buildings, water, and the like. When she got upset, this would only increase, outright freezing people solid. In fact, the easiest way to find a young Rukia would have been simply look for an area frozen over and covered in white fog.
 * She regains this trait when she uses her Zanpakutō.

Yōkai: While she isn't one herself, Rukia gains an appearance akin to one in her Bankai state, Hakka no Togame. Sode no Shirayuki's Zanpakutō spirit itself also resembles a Yuki-onna.