Jiyūjin Shinkirō

Jiyūjin Shinkirō (蜃気楼自由人, Shinkirō Jiyūjin) is a Shinigami and seventh year student at the Shinō Academy. His actual origins lie within the World of the Living, there he existed as a human teenager till he was killed after being hit by a car. After his death he was brought to the Soul Society and taken to the slums of the Rukongai where he lived as a street rat. When he accidentally discovered that he possessed spiritual energy, he immediately decided to join the academy without a second thought. He is ranked at the very bottom of his class and is considered to be unskilled as he cannot even control his spiritual energy.

His struggling in the academy made him instantly unpopular with many of the students who saw him to be nothing more than a nuisance. His class clown attitude also made him very unliked by his instructors. Despite his poor reputation he managed to find great friends in Kuma Matoke and Ami Okano who both were only ranked slightly above him.

Appearance
Jiyūjin's natural appearance is that of a teenage boy. When compared to other boys he is of average height standing at around five feet and five inches tall. He also has a slender body build. Other features about Jiyūjin include his smooth fair skin, firery orange hair which goes down to his neck, and emerald green eyes which often sparkle in the light. The expression most people appear to get upon first meeting Jiyūjin is that of a doofus. According to most this is generally due to the usual look on his face. Of course he obviously takes offend to this. While in the academy Jiyūjin's usual attire consists of the basic uniform for male students which is a white shirt with blue stripes, a blue undershirt, and blue trousers. During his time in the academy his Zanpakutō is mostly carried on his back.

Personality
Jiyūjin is described as an upbeat, carefree, and optimstic person who lives life the way that makes him happy the most. Most of the time he can be described as a clown as he will commonly make jokes. The only time Jiyūjin is seen acting serious is whenever either his honor or pride have been violated. In these situations Jiyūjin is quick to anger as he feels he do what is right and defend himself. Despite his mostly positive outlook and open minded behavior he has been left a little bit short changed in a few departments.

Jiyūjin isn't the smartest guy around and has always been behind academically. When he was a living human teenager he never did attend school due to the fact that he was always suspended and eventually expelled from school. Jiyūjin therefore did not get much of an education because of his poor attendance in the classroom. Joining the Shinigami Academy was the only real chance that Jiyūjin ever had to get an actual education.

Jiyūjin can also be shown to be a bit naive and gulliable. He will believe almost anything that he is told by his superiors. This has left him open to be tricked on numerous occasions in his past. This is something that Jiyūjin himself is ashamed and often wishes to put behind him. Revenge is something that Jiyūjin holds dear however and he isn't afraid to get someone back if he feels they have done wrong unto him. Likewise this has gathered Jiyūjin many enemies.

Jiyūjin's misfortunes are backed up by his high self-confidence and determination. Do to his optimisim he does not let the opinions of others get under his skin (too much). As long as he feels good about himself then Jiyūjin is okay. Jiyūjin is very determined as he has never been known to give up. This is proven when he was revealed to have failed the entrance exam to the academy six times with him finally passing on his seventh try. Also during his tenure in the academy he was pressured by instructors and students to drop out. Jiyūjin refused to do so as it had became a lifetime goal of his to join the Gotei 13.

Loyalty and friendship are held dear to Jiyūjin. Although he hasn't made many friends in his life he cherishes the ones that he has. Whenever Jiyūjin allies himself with someone they have his full trust till proven otherwise. Jiyūjin is quick to lend his trust out to others but is also quick to take it away also. If one loses Jiyūjin's trust it is very hard to gain it back as he is a very stern individual. Also whenever Jiyūjin has his mind made up about something it is almost impossible to for someone else to change his mind.

Life and Death
When alive Jiyūjin was originally a citizen of Karakura Town where he lived in a very abusive home. His father was an alcholic who often beat on him, his mother, and his younger brother. Growing up Jiyūjin grew to hate his father as he eventually found himself unable to withstand watching him beat on his mother. Jiyūjin would often run away from home in order to get away from all of the chaos going on in his household. Whenever he ran away he would often remain gone for weeks at a time. Jiyūjin was a very poor performant in school likewise as he rarely ever showed up. This was also do to the fact that he was often suspended for getting into brawls with the other students. Eventually he was expelled from school altogether.

The few times that Jiyūjin saw himself at home were spent taking care of his little brother. Neither Jiyūjin or his younger sibling had a strong relationship but they at times depended on one another for help when things got rough between their parents. Jiyūjin would at times tell his younger brother stories about the things he saw and did when he left home. Jiyūjin's stories often comforted his brother and even sent the younger child to sleep while their parents fought with one another. Alas Jiyūjin found himself unable to permenantly remain in his unstable household and soon fled once more.

When Jiyūjin finally returned home it would be for the last time. The events of his final homecoming would be catastrophic to say the least. Jiyūjin arrived home to find his drunken father attacking his mother. Acting completely on impulse Jiyūjin did not hesitate to murder his father in order to save the life of his mother. Startled Jiyūjin's younger brother ran from the house in fear. Jiyūjin quickly went after him as he had ran right into the middle of a busy road with a speedy car headed straight towards him. To prevent his brother from taking the impact of the car Jiyūjin pushed the boy away and took the full force of the car. Jiyūjin was killed instantly.

Life in the Rukongai
Not long after his death, Jiyūjin was found by a Shinigami and had a Konsō performed on him. He was then taken to the Soul Society were he found himself a home in the slums of the Rukongai's 90th district. Once again Jiyūjin was forced to live under terrible conditions but this time he didn't have any limits whatsoever. Commonly Jiyūjin would roam around and pillage others for their belongings just for the sake of doing so. He quickly gathered many enemies while living in the Rukongai.

One day another group of boys came across Jiyūjin attempting to steal some fruit from them. The boys quickly surrounded Jiyūjin and preceded to beat him as punishment for attempting to take from them. A helpless Jiyūjin could do nothing against the boys who had mauled him. He found himself battered and robbed of the belongings which he had earlier taken from others. After his defeat Jiyūjin had mixed feelings of embarrasment and hatred. He had a deep longing for revenge. Jiyūjin headed back to a small alleyway which he had called home and began to train so that he could grow stronger and fight against the boys who had beaten him. While training Jiyūjin triggered spiritual energy from within him and set off a small explosion which then blew him back. Shortly afterwards Jiyūjin forgot all about getting revenge on the boys and decided to become a Shinigami instead.

First Six Years in the Shinō Academy
It often appeared that Jiyūjin's dreams of becoming a Shinigami would be cut short due to his difficulty with simply passing the entrance exam to the Shinigami Academy. Jiyūjin found himself unable to successfully manipulate his spiritual energy each time he took the admission exam and ended up failing a total of six times before finally passing on the seventh try. From the get go he marked as a failure due to the fact that he had been so unsuccessful in his attempts to pass just the entrance exam.

Things only got rougher for Jiyūjin when he finally gained admitance to the academy. Once inside word quickly got around about the number of times he had failed the entrance exam. Students immediately ridiculed him for his inability to control his spiritual energy. He was even encouraged to drop out of the academy many times by both peers and instructors who felt that he had no place in the Gotei 13. Still Jiyūjin believed that he was met to become a Shinigami because he had spiritual energy and refused to give in to those who wanted to see him out of the academy.

During his first year he came across fellow dead last student Kuma Matoke who had been placed in the same remedial courses he had been. Together Kuma and Jiyūjin continued to struggle and fail on their path to joining the Gotei 13. Soon Ami Oakano joined the two in the remedial classes and the three oromptly developed a strong bond with one another. With their support for one another fueling them the trio made it through year after year of the academy with their many ups and downs. In his third year at the academy Jiyūjin came across his soon to be arch rival, Tetsuya Miura who was the exact opposite of him in just about every aspect. Tetsuya was popular and skilled while Jiyūjin was well hated and untalented. Jiyūjin immediately became jealous of him and a one sided rivalry soon developed between the two.

Powers and Abilities
Spiritual Energy: Jiyūjin first accessed his spiritual energy while living in the slums of the Rukongai's 90th district. The first time he accessed said energy was on a complete accident. Jiyūjin even blew himself back upon accidentally releasing his spiritual energy in front of him. This is a sign that he possesses a good amount of innate spiritual energy. However it is known that he has great trouble controlling his spiritual energy. This was revealed when he attempted to gain admission to the academy. His trouble maintaining his spiritual energy led to his failing the entrance exam to the academy six times with him finally passing on the seventh. Jiyūjin's spiritual energy takes on a emerald coloration, the same exact color as his eyes.

Expert Hand-to-Hand Combatant: A skill carried on with him from his life in the World of the Living. Jiyūjin has always been an excellent physical combatant even before being formally trained in Hakuda in the academy. As a human he would often get into street fights with other boys. His skill then was persumed to be rather good as he appeared to fight all of the time and be confident in his combat ability. Since entering the academy hand-to-hand combat has been the only thing that he actually excelled in.

Trivia

 * He is based somewhat off Yusuke Urameshi and Naruto Uzumaki.
 * There is another incarnation of this character on Naruto Fanon.
 * Jiyūjin can translate to either "son of freedom" or "free spirit" while Shinkirō translates to "mirage".