Saori Sumeragi

"We can change. We'll be able to change. I'm sure of it. We really are weak creatures, but that's why we can strive to become stronger. Even if you feel it's useless, each step we take leads to something great. That's why I'm sure we'll be able to change. Because we're weak... and because death is inevitable... We try our best to live, and end up becoming stronger. If your heart is still hesitating... Try to remember. The ones that truly care for you."

- Saori speaking to Seireitou Kawahiru


 * "Beautiful, ingenious... and drunk at least 50% of the time." - Seireitou-shishō

Saori Sumeragi (沙織スメラギ, Sumeragi Saori) is one of the few remaining Miko, considered by Kisuke Urahara as the last one of her kind alive. She finds residence in the World of the Living, where she is a chemistry teacher at the University of Karakura. Upon siding with Seireitou Kawahiru in recent chapters, she also works as an part-time instructor at the Kawahiru Dojang.

Appearance
Saori has natural long midnight-purple hair which is kept in a manner similar to one of Seireitou's earlier styles, light-pink eyes that glow bright pink when she is using any form of spiritual energy, and full lips. When in the human world, Saori is depicted in average human clothing, consisting of a pink suit and a short black skirt. While in her teacher garb, she keeps her hair in a japanese knot. However, when outside of her gigai, she is shown to let her hair go loose. Saori wears traditional priestess clothing, complete with a dark red hakama kept on by a robe-comprised obi. Her top is a silk kimono that fully seems to cover her chest. The upper parts of her arms are visible, as both the shoulder and sleeves are separated from one another, though kept together by small red laces. The ends of her sleeves end in tan grey edges, designed with similar red laces that run around the horizontal edges of the sleeves. Saori is shown to have quite massive breasts, shockingly bigger than Shiori Miyamoto, though kept as hidden underneath her kimono; despite this, the shape makes them clearly obvious. Due to their size, Raian Getsueikirite comically stated that they "have their own gravitational pull." Saori wears a dark red tomoe necklace around her neck, which seems to glow red and black at particular intervals for unknown reasons.

Once she allied herself with Seireitou Kawahiru, Saori took to wearing a very short purple Chinese dress which shows her cleavage and belly button. She is probably the most mature-looking person, let alone woman, in Seireitou's group. Like Shiori, she has a well-developed body figure as well as being the most firm (Shiori being the second most firm). She always ties her hair up after waking up and is often seen with an alcohol bottle. Despite this being her normal attire, along with her Miko attire, Saori enjoys wearing a medley of rather revealing clothing during moments of leisure. While in the World of the Living, Saori dresses in rather casual clothing, consisting of a blue blouse with a short skirt, along with a light yellow jacket, which show off her curvaceous figure. It should also be noted that Saori wears glasses when in the human world, and keeps her hair in curls, as opposed to the way she keeps it normally.

While training at the Dojang, Saori wears a small pink kimono and long purple stockings. Underneath, she wears bandages over her chest and a fundoshi. At times, she's also seen wearing a variation of her former Miko attire, although with a more provocative feel to its style. This makes Saori one of the few characters in the series to have a medley of outfits to be seen in during significant events.

Personality
Similar to Shiori Miyamoto, Saori is shown to have a gentle and warm personality that augments her appearance. She is a passionate yet soft-spoken, and caring woman who uses honorifics when addressing those that hold a sort of importance to her, regardless whether they be her allies or her enemies. Saori often thinks of others before herself, risking her life to help anyone who needs her. She is also extremely brave when she needs to be, going up against powerful enemies to help her friends despite clearly being outmatched. Her selflessness and sense of responsibility are what pushes her to carry her burden of being the only survivor of her people. Saori is rather carefree at times, and revels the idea of a free spirit, refusing to be chained to anyone else's will. It should be noted that Saori is often in a drunken stupor, revealing a faint blush whenever in this state. Her personality also becomes completely like that of a naive child, though this quickly turns into a flirtatious attitude when near older men, and sometimes even younger men.

Normally, Saori displays a very relaxed personality, but often becomes giddy when discussing matters of love. She is not above using witty or sarcastic remarks when the situation arises, especially with Seireitou. She's also confident in her natural sex appeal and not afraid to speak her mind as she openly admitted in front of others. In fact, her beauty has caused almost every male to happen upon her to develop some form of lust toward her (only Seireitou and Raian being the only exceptions). No matter the appropriate level of the matter, Saori is more than willing to admit her feelings to both herself and select others. It is shown that she is not above using her beauty to get her way, and often points out when she believes she is more beautiful than other females around her. Even though Saori displays most of the time a cheerful attitude towards life, she has shown that she can become serious when the situation demands it. For instance, she doesn't tolerate people that talk down to her. When it happens, she displays cruel usage of her powers and allows nobody, except for Seireitou Kawahiru, and afterwards Raian Getsueikirite, to talk down to her again. She adamantly believes in the strength of bonds, and goes out of her way to protect the bonds she forms. Raian once stated that she and Seireitou share a similar mindset in this regard. Saori is accustomed to addressing Seireitou as "Kawahiru-kun."

Saori has also demonstrated that she is perceptive when it comes to people's mental and emotional state, especially in regards to Seireitou, able to tell what kind of driving force is pushing someone. In appears that during their continued partnership, Saori has began to develop a crush on Seireitou. She consistently sees herself as a big sister toward Seireitou, implying she is much older than him. It is too early to say if this is either a fleeting infatuation or deep love, but she seems rather obsessed with having relations with him. This is best seen that whenever she assists Seireitou, in moments when he collapses from his injuries or exhaustion, she always has his head fall in-between her bosom. Despite this, she cares deeply for him, and vowed that she'd follow him no matter where he goes.

She likes Japanese dancing, and in addition to her shihakushō robes, she enjoys buying superfluous amounts of clothing from various department stores in the human world. When she feels like drinking, she finds free people and invites them to come out with her, and then has them treat her to drinks, so that she wouldn't have to spend any money. This is shown when Saori decided to spare an enemy's life, in exchange for said enemy paying for sake.

History
Saori's past isn't explained much, but it appears that she survived the massacre of her people, becoming the last of the Miko altogether. She was a rather exceptional Miko in her own right, and was a teacher to a younger generation of Miko. As per to her escape, she fled to the World of the Living and took residence with Kisuke Urahara. During which time, she took up a position at the University of Karakura, becoming a chemistry professor. When Sōsuke Aizen and his followers invaded Karakura, Saori set up a barrier around the Urahara shop that protected it from the output of spiritual energy being given off by Aizen's followers and the Captains.

Equipment

 * Sword: Saori wields a standard-sized katana, which is worn on her back, given to her by Seireitou as a birthday gift (it should be noted that she would've preferred jewelry, in lieu of a weapon). While not often, she uses it during battles of which she has sworn to kill her opponent. It sports a dark lavender-colored circular tsuba, with small protrusions at each ninety-degree interval, and a moon-like design wrapped around the hilt's collar. The hilt itself is a pink color, and the sheath is a makeshift grip of bandages.

Powers & Abilities
Immense Spiritual Power: According to Seireitou Kawahiru, even by Seijin-level standards, Saori possesses tremendous spiritual energy. While not able to be projected as spiritual pressure, Saori's reiryoku quantities are monstrously vast, to the point where Seireitou feared to even attempt to sense her presence, for fear of feeling lost in their spiritual power. The color of it is shown to be silk pink, and at times, can even turn into a more white color. However, the color is shown to revert to a light purple when releasing her Mikodō power. Similar to Shiori Miyamoto, Saori's spiritual power possess purification elements; being almost holy, to which demons fear to come near her. In fact, it's purification power is so great, that no Hollow can come into contact with Saori's reiatsu without being purified. It leaves a warming presence whenever she allowed her energy to flow. Saori is also able to erect barriers and break seals with her energy.


 * Spirit Blossoms: Saori is capable of manipulating her spiritual power to form several cherry blossoms that surround her body. Normally, she initiates this technique while dancing in circles with her arms extended outwards, making some sort of reference to her love of japanese dance. Once formed, Saori can mentally control the blossoms, or even direct them with her hands. As the blossoms moves through the air like torrents of waves, it gives the appearance of cherry blossoms flowing swiftly along with the wind, shown in traditional japanese settings. Whether or not these blossoms carry destructive cutting force is subjective, but they are capable of blasting away opponents a far distance, being mistaken for bursts of wind. By keeping a blossom on a target's person, Saori is capable of tracking them, no matter to what degree they conceal their spiritual energy.

Emotional Perception: Saori is occasionally able to see a person's emotions in physical form. To her, the darkness in Sao Jiang's soul appeared as heavy, black robes constantly weighing him down, even when he was laughing or smiling. When Raian Getsueikirite felt remorse for his failure to defeat Dante, Saori noticed a strange purple aura surrounding the brown-haired man. She is also able to easily track someone by a specific combination of personaility traits, in which she is able to find hidden opponents by simply noticing their hue.

Rejection of Phenomena: Saori has the power to reject fate by denying or undoing events in various forms. This power can be used for attack, defense, or healing. When being used, the color of this power is examplified by lavender. In Urahara's words, she "violates the realm of the gods." Saori's mood directly influences the effectiveness of her powers. Feelings like doubt or worry make them weaker, while conviction makes them stronger. At their height, her powers resemble those of a deity in strength. It is this power that causes Seireitou to nickname her the Girl who surpasses God (神を超えた少女, Kami o Tsugu Shōjo).
 * Santen Kesshun (三天結盾, Three Sacred Links Shield) is Saori's defensive technique. The incantation arranges her spiritual power into a triangle that has the ability to repel the "outer shield." A shield is raised between her and her enemy, and it repels the attack she receives. Because the barrier rejects negative events, it can also function as an airbag of sorts, allowing Saori and anyone else nearby to survive a potentially lethal fall unharmed.
 * Sōten Kisshun (双天帰盾, Twin Sacred Return Shield) is Saori's "healing" technique. The incantation allows her to form a half-oval barrier around whatever or whomever Saori wishes. Their ability is to repel the "inner shield." The shield placed inside means that they repel the damage within a limited area. In other words, they return a subject covered by the shield to the state that they were before taking damage. Saori is capable of fully restoring Raian's destroyed arm from nothing, to which Urahara deduces this as "The Rejection of Events". Her ability is to limit, reject, and negate any kind of event that has happened to her target. It is an ability that returns her target to its former state no matter what has happened to them. Seireitou comments that the technique's healing speed is potentially faster than Retsu Unohana. However, it is far more powerful than "Temporal Regression" or "Spatial Regression" as it easily tramples into the horizon of events that God has decided. It is a power that trespasses into God's territory. She seems to be fully capable of resurrect the dead, but this hasn't been fully proven quite yet. Saori is also able to use foreign spiritual power to influence the healing rate of her target.
 * Tan'itsu Assaizan (裏撃破周波, Sole Crushing Slayer) is Saori's main offensive technique. It summons a massive wave of spiritual energy from her being, or even a specific part of her body, that has the ability to repel "both sides of the shield." This means that this attack is assumed to be capable of cutting through anything, but is only as strong as Saori's will to win. However, this can be misplaced with the will to protect another, which ends up strengthening the power of this ability. Besides this, it is a technique similar to the Getsuga Tenshō, in which the blast destroys a massive portion, if not the entirety, of the desired target. Saori can also use her sword as a focus for this technique, and launch it from her blade

Hand-to-Hand Prowess: While it is unknown how proficient her abilities are in hand-to-hand combat, she works as an assistant instructor at the Kawahiru Dojang, implying she has great ability. It is clear that she holds great acrobatic talent, however, normally catching Seireitou off-guard by hanging upside down from the ceiling of the Dojang.

Expert Swordsmanship Specialist: Trained by Seireitou, Saori is skilled in the art of swordsmanship, usually only employing her sword when she faces a opponent with a drawn weapon. Her body flows elegantly when engaging in combat, so finely tuned that she can stop her attacks at a moment's notice and subsequently execute lethal attacks with absolute precision. Seireitou comically claims that the only thing stopping Saori from achieving masterful technique is that fact that her large breasts get in the way of her sword forms. Despite this, Saori shows exceptional usage of Kendō sword techniques. It should be noted that even though her sword attacks are strong and lethal, she provides no raw force behind her attacks, and focuses her style entirely on skills. Raian nicknamed this "zero gravity" fighting, and Mūhana Nura described the way she fights with her sword as "being like a feather that can slice through the wind".

Mikodō
Saori, being the sole survivor of the Miko, is the only living utilizer of the Mikodō arts. She is capable of using the techniques with special incantations, similar to Kidō. However, the true extent of the power of Mikodō is when its user accesses a transformation due to a change in their heart; this is usually sparked when forming a new powerful bond, such as Saori forming a bond with Seireitou Kawahiru.

Winged Form: Saori's usage of Mikodō is indicated by the awakening of her spirit wings. When accessing her true powers, several purple feather-like spiritual energy bars appear from Saori's back, giving her the appearance of a multi-winged seraph. Following suit, her eyes also glow the same color, and remain glowing whenever she initiates a Mikodō spell. Similar to the Quincy, Saori's wings draw in sources of reishi in rest, and use it to supplement her own power while in this state. She has an easier time collecting this energy in environments with higher concentrations of spiritual particles, such as Soul Society or Hueco Mundo. Saori has revealed once that attaining a particular amount of reishi will allow her to evolve her powers. As opposed to Quincy, Saori explains that Miko hold on to the spiritual power they capture. It is unknown if this holds any importance, but it should be noted that when Saori felt some sort of compassion for Seireitou when the latter was severely damaged, her wings had turned into a deep pink color. These wings allow acceleration in flight, providing an advantage in mid-air combat.
 * Tremendous Spiritual Power: Saori's spiritual energy has become great enough that even Haru Kurosaki could not sense it. According to Haru, by achieving evolution into a dimension separate from the Shinigami, both Shinigami and Humans have become unable to feel her reiatsu unless she voluntarily lowers her level and allows them to interfere. Despite this, Saori's spiritual energy amount is staggering, but its limits are unknown.
 * Terrifying Strength: Whilst in this form, Saori's physical strength is absolutely astonishing. Her physical attacks are mostly punches and kicks which are supported by her ridiculous strength. With a single punch, Saori cracked the concrete underneath her effortlessly.
 * Immense Speed: As per all of her physical abilities, Saori's speed is greatly enhanced. She is able to move swiftly, dodging several point-blank attacks by skilled Shinigami. Whenever she moves, she leaves behind a purple body-shaped residue of her spiritual energy.
 * Mikodō Spells: Saori's main power while in the winged state is the ability to use Mikodō spells that are unique to her. Very much like Kidō, her spells do not possess any correlation amongst themselves, making up a very broad range of abilities and effects. Each of her spells requires an incantation, which must be spoken in order for the technique to be used.
 * Kaminari (神の歌, "God's Song"): In order to preform this technique, Saori states the command, "The thunderclap of my spirit, do not allow anything to strike me down!" Purple sparks of spiritual energy form around the tips of her energy wings, which gather to her fingertips in the form of lightning. Saori can direct this energy in any direction or shape she sees fit. She can even allow the current to stabilize, and allow lightning to continuously flow from her hands, even while moving. These sparks are capable of causing immense damage, and can even tear through solid concrete. Saori can also coat her hands in the lightning, allowing her to intensify the damage by physically attacking an opponent's vital spots. It is also possible to direct the lightning through her body, providing herself with an impenetrable shield.

Kitsune Form: The second Mikodō form she had accessed, Saori's powers evolved once she had accepted the feelings she had for Seireitou, and declared that she would protect him and those who are important to him. In this form, Saori's hair becomes longer and untamed, changing from the midnight purple color to a hot pink. She gains an appearance akin to that of a kitsune, hence the name given for this transformation. Along with a slightly long and bushy pink tail, she also grows two fox-like ears atop her head, also pink in coloration. It was stated that this transformation is very similar to the form Seireitou takes in his awakened Shinkūmyō form. Around her arms, between the region of her elbow to her wrists, is slightly greyish white fur. Whenever she charges her spiritual energy, the fur begins glowing silk pink, the same coloration of her spiritual energy. Saori's outfit seems to often rip between the midsection, which seems to be the output of her power upon the activation of the kitsune form, separating her chinese dress into the top part which barely covers her cleavage, and the lower part which is worn around her waist.
 * Power Augmentation: All of her attributes increase by a factor of five to ten, being considered similar to that of a Shinigami's Bankai. Her spiritual power continues to be undetectable, but her body now permeates with a soft pink spiritual energy. She is also capable of molding this permeating spiritual power into the form of seraph wings.

Third Mikodō Form: Under Construction

Shiori's Power
When she saw Seireitou being attacked by Kamui, and pushed to the point of being killed, Saori's heart cried out for the power to protect Seireitou, finally coming to terms with her feelings. While what happened exactly is unknown, Kamui noted that Shiori Miyamoto's power was coursing through Saori's own Mikodō. The transformation caused Saori's hair to become longer, and bright blue in coloration. Her clothes seem to have taken a slightly pinkish pearl color now. The powers exhibited in this form are still unknown, as Kamui felt that he no longer needed to continue fighting, but it is implied Saori's powers are far greater than before, possibly meaning she has become a transcendent.

Ama no Habakiri (天羽々斬, "Slash of Heavenly Wings"): Under Construction

Quotes

 * "Every single one of us has a fanged beast hidden within the depths of our minds. It lies there, waiting in the dark reaches of a person's soul and it appears in our lowest moments. It doesn't matter how strong you think you are. When the beast comes, it is impossible to control. It can even end up hurting those who are closest to you. But if the monster can be tamed, reigned in with the strength of your will, it can become a magnificent power... and can even make your dreams reality."
 * "I'm not drunk, I'm just exhausted because I've been up all night drinking."
 * (To Seireitou Kawahiru) "Yes, I have no basis for this. Do you want me? I wouldn't ask that. I... I want you. You worry for me. You cry for me. You've become the bond that brings me strength. I've become reliant on the wind that blows from you... Kawahiru-kun."

Behind the Scenes
Saori's official theme is "If" by Kana Nishino