Hotaru Fujibayashi

Hotaru Fujibayashi (藤林 蛍; Fujibayashi Hotaru) was a shinigami of the minor noble family Fujibayashi and former corps commander of the Onmitsukidō's Patrol Corps. She was arrested, charged and convicted with treason by the Central 46, but was later rescued by Yoruichi Shihōin. Spending much of her time hidden in the human world, Hotaru opted not to help Soul Society in its later missions, including when Sōsuke Aizen commenced assault on Karakura Town to obtain the King's Key. She was one of the few shinigami who suspected Aizen of treasonous activity before his defection, though a victim of Aizen's schemes.

Years after Aizen's fall, Hotaru was approached by Seireitou Kawahiru and reluctantly accepted membership in the Vizards, under the condition of not having to actually become one. She was later revealed to be affiliated with the Order of the Vizards, sometime after her father and uncle helped her be released from her sentencing from the Central 46.

Early years
As the young heir of the Fujibayashi Family, Hotaru was expected to be raised as an ideal head of family for the noble house. This was met, however, with opposition from Hotaru herself. She cared little for noble status and wanted to live the life of an ordinary female shinigami. Out of respect for her family, however, Hotaru was taught the most common applications of noble behavior.

In her academy years, Hotaru was given respectable regard by her classmates due to her noble status. However, she put off other shinigamis' attempts to use honorary suffixes with her name, and insisted to be treated like an "ordinary" shinigami. Even though she had a small coterie of "friends", Hotaru saw them as those who stuck to her because of her background rather than as a true friendship. Inside, she still felt lonely and without cushion to fall on when her family attempted to push its influence on her.

When Hotaru graduated from the academy, she immediately went to apply for the Onmitsukidō, out of self-interest. Hotaru barely passed the examination process, creating more friction between herself and her family who claimed that her scores proved that she was not meant for the harsher forms of work as a shinigami. Despite this, Hotaru plowed through her new job as a lesser member of the Patrol Corps.

The Patrol Corps


Although she enjoyed her work, Hotaru was always nervous when going on a new mission, out of fear that she would fail and disenfranchise her family even more. But, her team has made it through all of its assignments successfully. Her initial fright for work faded with every successful mission and she eventually transformed that accomplishment into an advantage. Hotaru eventually began taking on a great leadership role within her team, eventually garnering some attention from the Commander-in-Chief of the time, Yoruichi Shihōin.

A time arose when Hotaru's team was in mortal danger while attempting to apprehend a "criminal" to send to the Nest of Maggots. The unit commander was badly wounded and on the brink of death after a devastating kidō spell. Hotaru was quick to step into the role of leadership, coordinating the other team members to neutralize the shinigami resister. She was applauded for her work and was promoted to unit commander. From there, Hotaru's leadership skills blossomed, leaving little space between her time as a unit commander and succeeding as the Corps Commander of the Patrol Corps.

As the head of the Patrol Corps, Hotaru spent most of her time within Seireitei's walls: dealing out assignments to her subordinates. It was at this time that Hotaru met and became acquainted with Kisuke Urahara, the Corps Commander of the Detention Unit and future Captain of the Twelfth Division. It was this acquaintance that led to the demise of Hotaru's career; Aizen was watching everything.

While spending time by herself in Rukongai, Hotaru encountered one of the first vizards. She initially was going to call in reinforcements and kill the shinigami-hollow hybrid, but it was later described, by her, as something within its eyes made it seem less primitive and more civilized. She let it into the human world, to test its reaction in a tempting setting. It did nothing of the sort, and Hotaru reluctantly returned to Soul Society, not reporting the incident. This shinigami-hollow hybrid was a hollowfied Seireitou Kawahiru. This incident was discovered and manipulated into evidence of Hotaru's supposed involvement in the uncovered hollowfication experiments not long later.

Hotaru also aided the 10th Division Captain of the time, Takashi Ishigawa, 130 years before the main Bleach storyline. During the Indoyuigon Crisis, she led the Patrol Corps in the Kongoukai, providing cover for Ishigawa's men when they fell under attack by demonic monsters. Her forces were devastated, though unable to retreat to Soul Society to recuperate. Instead, they joined forces with the 10th Division and fought the Indoyuigon cultists. Hotaru found herself beside Takashi, and helped him break into the Tower of Divination. However, when Irkura and Takashi unleashed their reiatsu, Hotaru was forced to the sidelines from having a much smaller reserve of reiatsu than them. When Takashi was kicked off the top of the tower, Hotaru was there to attempt to capture him, though the other disappeared before she could take him down. In any case, the battle was won.

After Takashi gave his report to the Central 46 Chambers, Hotaru had to give her own report of the enormous casualties as a result of the mission. Takashi's judgment, being relieved of his captaincy, frightened her, though it was futile to attempt to appeal his loss. The legislative body saw that the Patrol Corps' losses were higher than what was expected, though she performed as to expectations. Inside, Hotaru was angered by the revelation that she was expected to have significant casualties, though accepted it without voicing discontent.

Arrest and escape


Roughly 100 years before the events of the main storyline of Bleach, Hotaru was approached by members of the Executive Militia, declaring her arrest for aiding terrorist action against Soul Society in the form of helping convicted then-Captains Urahara and Tsukabishi escape with the hollowfied shinigami. She did not resist arrest, voicing her protest of innocence before the Central 46. Her words were left unheard, and she was sentenced to imprisonment in an underground prison.

It was later revealed that Hotaru was completely innocent of the alleged involvement in the hollowfication experiments: documents were planted in Hotaru's office, as well as in Urahara's laboratory, with information suggesting the false accusation to be true, as well as Hotaru's presence in Soul Society throughout the incident.

As she was being transported to a holding cell to serve her prison sentence, Yoruichi came to her rescue, to clean up her act before going into hiding. Though Hotaru expressed her gratitude for the release, she and the ex-commander in chief split up to avoid getting caught; they only met again right before entering the human world by entering the same senkaimon, in the northern Rukongai districts, heading for Japan. Neither saw the other for many years.

The human world
Hotaru originally sought refuge in Tokyo, but ended up leaving for a more spiritually vibrant community after numerous attempts by the Onmitsukidō to capture her in Japan's capital. After years of experimentation with different locations, Hotaru settled down in Karakura Town, purchasing a gigai from Urahara's shop to serve as a guise for communicating with the humans of the town. At this time, Hotaru began investigating the incident that forced her into exile.

In order to integrate herself into society, Hotaru became a student at Karakura High School in order to help get herself a job later on. Despite the fact that she could see shinigami activity about her, Hotaru said and thought little of it, to remain in obscurity. Even when Aizen commenced the attack on Karakura Town in order to create the King's Key, Hotaru did nothing: she was positive that the shinigami would prevent it from happening at all costs. If Baraggan's fracción was successful in breaking the four pillars that kept the fake Karakura Town in place, Hotaru may have stepped forth from the shadows to fight Aizen's forces.

Years after Aizen's fall, Hotaru met an older Seireitou. He approached her with an offer of joining the Vizards, as a way to repay his debt to Hotaru from the many years before and with the promise of greater power to protect loved ones. Hotaru initially refused the invitation, but Seireitou persisted, in which Hotaru asked for time to reflect upon the choices presented to her.

The next day, Hotaru concluded that she will join the vizards, but under the condition of not having to actually become one. Seireitou laughed and said that she never had to in the first place, taking her to the vizards' hideout to introduce her to the others.

There, she met Rika Koneko, and was quick to notice that vizard was abnormal. Though she questioned Seireitou as to the meaning behind it, Hotaru received no concrete information about it. With the vizards, Hotaru refreshed her shinigami abilities in training sessions with the group, spending nights on the hideout's rooftop with Seireitou. One of those nights, Hotaru was confronted by her uncle, who arrived in the human world in order to take her back to Soul Society so that he and Kohaku could lift Hotaru's sentence and rescue the noble house.

Seireitou was furious by Masaru's intentions, and the two had a brief fight while Hotaru was conflicted between her duty and independence. She, however, chose to return home on her own choice, ending the duel. Seireitou willingly let Hotaru leave, but not without gifting her with a skull necklace. Hotaru promised to return to the human world, and she and Masaru went through the senkaimon to return to the family mansion.

With the help of her father and uncle, Hotaru returned to Central 46 in order to appeal her sentence. At first, the assembly was unwilling to release Hotaru, though it has been understood that Hotaru stayed out of Soul Society's way since her exile. Although Central 46 did not want Hotaru to be let off the hook, it has been stated that it was willing to lessen the severity of Hotaru's sentence. After much time and effort, including the naming of involved peoples who were already forgiven (in a fashion) at that time, Hotaru was released from her century-old sentence.

It was sometime after her return to Soul Society did Hotaru encounter and performed a soul burial on Michiko Ito, who later became a well known member of the Kido Corps.

Personality and traits
A rebellious nature marked Hotaru's early life, which was maintained throughout her life. It unwittingly helped Aizen frame Hotaru for participation in the hollowfication experiments, suspecting Urahara's connections in the Onmitsukidō would come into play when arrested. Aizen's goal in this was to prevent Urahara's more powerful friends and acquaintances from investigating the matter further by scattering the more powerful connections.

Hotaru has uncanny dedication when committed to a task, displayed when she defiantly remained in the Onmitsukidō, against her family's bidding, and by the amount of information she has uncovered about the hollowfication incident while in exile in the human world.

An interesting thing to note is that Hotaru generally avoids flirtatious actions involving her, though not immune to a romantic behavior. This was best seen when Seireitou gave her a kiss as thanks for saving him, which Hotaru did not lash back for, though a kiss the next day resulted in a light slap to the cheek.

Powers and abilities
Hotaru is most skilled in hakuda and shunpo, often combining them to devastating effect. Though she does not appear to know shunko (lit. "flash cry"), Hotaru's combative abilities are far from lacking. As a veteran of the Indoyuigon Crisis, Hotaru has amassed considerable experience in combat and strategy, making her a dangerous opponent to fight.

Expert Swordsmanship Specialist: Though she does not focus much in zanjutsu, Hotaru is capable of fighting most lieutenant level opponents in a sword-fight.

Master Spiritual Anatomy Specialist: She has shown high proficiency in spiritual anatomy, especially in the art of seishin-koshijutsu, capable of temporarily paralyzing, or even kill, an opponent with a single, well-placed blow.

Master Strategist and Tactician: Hotaru has shown high competence in her ability to overcome superior opponents, as well as deduce facts with little information. A prime example was when she suspected Sōsuke Aizen as a possible traitor of Soul Society before Ichigo's excursion to Soul Society to rescue Rukia, revealed the fact.

Flash Step Expert: As a former member of the Onmitsukidō, learning shunpo was among the most important skills she had to learn. Hotaru's skill in flash stepping is substantial enough to keep up with at least lieutenant level shinigami.

Master Hand-to-Hand Combatant: Since hakuda is her specialty, Hotaru is assumed to have high proficiency in this field.

Master Assassin: Hotaru believes that the best way to win a fight is to keep it from beginning in the first place, and has trained herself to be able to sneak up on her victims and subdue them quickly.

Kidō Expert: Hotaru has not been seen using any, though her training in the Onmitsukidō and her zanpakutō abilities make it a safe to assume that she is proficient in the study.

Enhanced Endurance: Combining her will to accomplish what she sets her mind towards, Hotaru has shown capability in ignoring weaknesses in her own body and standing up to daunting challenges with no doubts.

Zanpakutō
Takame (鷹目; lit. Hawk Eyes) resembled a tantō and was classified as a kidō-type. It remains unclear when Hotaru gained shikai, but it is presumed to be during her time in the Onmitsukidō; Hotaru has been seen dual-wielding tantō, despite the fact that Takame is not a dual-weapon type.


 * Shikai: The incantation for release is "Break the limit, Takame" (限界を破る, 鷹目; Genkai wo yaburu, Takame). Takame changes from its tantō form into small metal seals that could be used as a form of body armor or as a medium for special kidō-like attacks. Despite the disappearance of anything that would resemble a blade, Hotaru makes up for the disability with her skill in hand-to-hand combat.


 * Innokyohi (印の拒否; lit. Rejection of seals): Surrounding herself in Takame's seals, Hotaru can activate this seal by performing several hand seals. Upon activation, Hotaru would be temporarily protected from kidō attacks with energy that clings to her body and garments, storing the energy for a counterattack at twice the damage potential. The energy could be stored for half a minute before its damage potential fades. However, Innokyohi is not impervious: the shield-like barrier can be broken with a powerful enough attack. Innokyohi's barrier does not lessen the blow if it is broken, leaving it unreliable against powerful foes (though it does take a moment to break, alerting Hotaru to the attack). Physical attacks merely bounce off of Innokyohi's barrier with equal force, unless its power can overwhelm it. This ability allows Hotaru to quickly overwhelm an opponent when on the offensive, since Innokyohi does not distinguish the difference between friendly or enemy attacks.


 * Kibakuin (起爆印; lit. Exploding seal): Hotaru can prime one or more of her metal seals to explode. These seals are usually thrown at the opponent, capable of adjusting its course enroute to the target. A more devastating variation, Taijū Kibakuin (多重起爆印; lit. Multiple exploding seals), can create an area of exploding seals. This does massive damage to the enemy, though it rapidly wears out the zanpakutō, forcing the shikai to end and temporarily weakening the blade of Takame.


 * Bankai: Daitsuki Jo'ō Takame (大突き女王鷹目; lit. Great Piercing Hawk Eyes of the Queen). Hotaru's appearance makes a drastic change, causing her to share physical attributes with her zanpakutō's spirit. Instead of seals floating in the air, Hotaru is the "seal" comparison of her shikai, so extra seals are completely unnecessary. This allows Hotaru to utilize all of her techniques without exterior mediums, which is much more convenient for her. However, Hotaru commented that her bankai lacked as many abilities as other bankai, but she made up for it with finesse and skill. Hotaru's bankai bears one notable similarity to Kenji Fujibayashi's shikai release: the change in eye coloration.
 * Bankai special ability: While in bankai, Hotaru's speed is enhanced to levels surpassing advanced flash step techniques. In this form, Hotaru moves so quickly that the trained eye sees multiple images of her. By itself, the ability does not offer much. However, when combined with Hotaru's previous abilities, it makes her a force to be reckoned with.


 * Enhanced Innokyohi: In bankai form, Hotaru can activate and deactivate Innokyohi at will, making it virtually impossible for physical strikes to penetrate it. The damage that Innokyohi absorbs also does not fade, giving Hotaru near-omnipotent attack power while in bankai.

Appearances

 * The Offer (First appearance)

Reception
The creator, Lavi shared this article with a variety of people for review and criticism. They have responded extremely positively, with words like "well-written" and "outstanding". Hotaru was chosen as the Character of the Month for June 2009 on the Bleach Fan Fiction Wiki.

Behind the scenes
There has been no indication that Hotaru was also the lieutenant of the Second Division, despite the suggested link between leading the Patrol Corps and the second seated officer position from the current BLEACH continuity, though that may be because the Onmitsukidō was not yet interwoven into the Gotei 13. On top of that, Hotaru and Yoruichi were rarely seen together, judging from Soifon's flashbacks from her time as one of Yoruichi's bodyguards, despite the importance of their respective positions. There is no indication of any sort suggesting that they had poor relations.

Before Aizen's betrayal and capture of the Hōgyoku, Hotaru did not suspect Aizen to be the one behind the hollowfication experiments. By the time Aizen defected from Soul Society and fled to Hueco Mundo, Hotaru suspected Aizen to be involved in some form, from the scraps of information she was able to retrieve over the years. The likelihood of Hotaru communicating with the former captains about the incident is slim.

Hotaru means "firefly" in Japanese, used as a representation of her rebellious nature (the light of the firefly standing out against the darkness of night).

Takame was originally named Takanome (鷹の目; lit Eyes of the Hawk). However, the possessive particle was taken out to place equal emphasis on "eyes" and "hawk" instead of one over the other.