[Spirit Class 5] Kurata, Hitoshi

» Name: Kurata, Hitoshi __________________________ » Alias: The Butcher's Son Second of the Kurata » Age: 277 » Birthday: July 18th » Gender: Male » Race: Shinigami » Association: Kurata Noble Family » Alignment: Personal Interests » Marital Status: Bachelor » Nationality: Japanese » Sexuality: Heterosexual » Height: 6'0" » Weight: 186 lb. » Hair Colour: White » Eye Colour: Green

Spiteful and entitled, ready to take what he cannot otherwise attain. Sociopathic by some endeavor, he lacks much of empathy, seeing the nature of when and where someone was born a guiding bolt of fate. He is outwardly calm and collected, carrying a large degree of composure with day to day activities. This mask rarely slips, giving the impression to many that he is somewhat stiff and robotic. in reality, he prefers the clinical approach to 'separate' himself from the so-called riffraff, becoming a nearly different person whenever he interacts with his family or fellow natural born nobles.

Notably more open, he falls quite a far way from being cheerful or braggadocious, but amicable nonetheless. He does anger quickly, although any expression of it is reserved for behind closed doors, or whispered over a shoulder. Very capable of holding a grudge, and waiting for the right moment to strike, he exercises a fair bit of caution when it comes to his emotions, knowing just how easily they can be used to manipulate someone. This does leave him somewhat arrogant in this regard, seeing himself as 'above' being manipulated.

Under extreme stressors and triggers, his façade of composure and collected planning slips back into the spoilt child he always was. Not one for physical combat, he never learned to handle getting his ass beat, nor the pitfalls that come with failure in those situations. Without any experiences of fear or personal love, he thrives entirely on what perverse pleasure he gets from controlling those around him. An entirely unpleasant person, all around.


Born of the Kurata Noble Family, known for their brutish entry as nobles. Amassing wealth through a monopolization of imports throughout several rukongai districts, they began as a upstart family ran butcher and grocer, using muscle to push out competition. Over time, they'd manage to gain some reputation for cheap, high quality product, although their ethics came into question early and often. They were quieted through money, mostly, eventually coming to rise off their purchases to the name of Noble. Butchers, thieves, and brutish gang tendencies, shoved deep into the shadows as they took on their new 'presentable' role in society.

Money came much easier with politics, they'd found.

While not the oldest family, or of the most prestige, there is always a wariness of 'the cutthroat Kurata'. If they wanted something, they got it - "An offer will always come around," as they used to say. Some level of fear has been instilled from the security protocols they take with shipping, leaving a further imprint on those driven to steal from the business. Continuing into the modern day to act as food transportation, they have in no small part been the cause of many poorer districts within the rukongai, siphoning resources to generate further profit. With their status and financial contribution, any and all of these 'crimes' were looked at blindly at best, positively at worst.

Their family symbol is a boar's head, ensconced in a four sided diamond. They have not been fairing well with the Noble's power stripped.

Early in life, he bonded well with his sister and various other caregivers, becoming something of a 'daddy's boy', as it were. His father, a large and boisterous man, often sought to include Hitoshi in various day to day activities when it came to running the business that found their family so wealthy. A gesture of goodwill and faith that would only serve to damage his perception of the world. Of who he was, of what he was worth. That the little things weren't worth his time - labor was for the ants.

Second born of the family's third father, Hitoshi arrived with a silver spoon in his mouth. The first son, he was treated with childlike awe from his father; spoiled not by choice, but by fate. Taught that he was born incredibly, an impossibility of man that would want for nothing, need for nothing, and one day, everything would be given to him. A day with no limits, an heir - it guided him, for many of his early years. Studying to be a career politician, taking pride in his heritage as a Shinigami to enroll in Shin'o, it had purpose in it. Until he met his first wall.

As with many who have been handed everything in life, Hitoshi did not take well to conflict. At the first brush with innate failure, the calm and upright persona he had built as a noble coming crashing down to the tantrum of a child. He'd manage some passing excellence in the control and adaption of his asauchi, and possess some passing talent with hoho and kendo, becoming a raging pissbaby when forced to interact with kido or hakuda as a form of learning. Possessing no natural talent or any willingness to learn in these fields, to this day he only holds an honorary graduation, from the 'suggestion' of his family.

He'd spend a short stint as an active member of the Gotei, although it would quickly be found to be an unnatural fit. Not much of a team player, not much one to take orders from those he viewed as lesser. They'd split ways quickly, although he retains a particular disdain for the Gotei, particularly after events later in his life further cemented them. To Hitoshi, the rukongai would be better off without.

The ability granted to him by his zankpakuto made him obsessive, for the first and only time in his life. The only thing that kept him with the gotei for as long as he did, the idea that he could wring them around his fingers. An unforgiving talent, it shaped his less forgiving tendencies in record time, shaving away what little positive qualities that remained in the man. This obsession resulted in even obtaining his bankai, although it has never met true combat.

Politically, his attempts to form a base were found shallow and manipulative, using whatever muscle he could scrounge off the excess of his family's business in an attempt to coerce citizens of the rukongai. What outright criminal activities were brushed away under their influence, although the shaky footing wouldn't make for a robust career. He managed to stay afloat for the majority of his years, although once the Noble's power was weakened, it came crumbling down around him. Nowadays, he manages a street level operation of blackmail and extortion, operating with those he has directly manipulated into being his underlings.

Incredibly recently, he has begun the efforts of gathering support for noble houses to return to power, only to fail at every turn. The only thing keeping him afloat his family's money - their name left in the dirt.


Subdued Spiritual Pressure: Between his sealed state and shikai, Hitoshi shows no change in his spiritual pressure. This, while not evident of a constant release zanpakutô, is about as close as he can manage with his current level. His shikai can remain active for several hours without concern for his wellbeing, although it shortens in length with more usage of its ability, and exertion of his reiatsu.

Fearless March: A hoho technique meant for direct conflict and assassination, used to cover a short distance when face to face with a target. Ideally, the technique places the user face to face from their target, roughly three inches apart; if that. Originated for particularly close ranged combatants, Hitoshi has appropriated the technique as a means to fulfill the conditions of his shikai in situations where it proves apt. Otherwise, his proficiency is middling at best with the movement techniques, capable of disengaging situations when put under stress.

Kendo Trained: Lacking in much hand to hand combat ability, Hitoshi came as something of a natural to the kendo taught in Shin'o, falling away from it over time as his zankpakuto has shaped more to him, and become less offensively viable in day to day situations. This talent still shines through when he does wield a full sized sword, having a fairly practiced ease to simple techniques, and capable of improvising flashier attacks when pressed. His strength leaves the cutting power to be desired, although it's not something he tends to rely on either way.


» Zanpakutô Name: Sanzukiko

» Zanpakutô Spirit Summary: A slender woman that seems to reside in Hitoshi's shadow when summoned or present in the inner world. Long black hair obscures her face, although gold trim and a purple sash bleed through the light blue of her kimono. Incredibly pale with what skin that does show through, her face remains unseen no matter how much her hair shifts, a private matter between her master and herself.

» Inner World: A vast grazing field, split down the center by a singular river. Large rocks form a barrier, one point of the shore reaching outwards. Atop it, a towering tree, with a shadow that looms over the land, shifting as it pleases. The water turns to oil as the shadow traces over it, turning the grass it touches rotten. Nothing else seems to grow here, nor is there any wildlife.

» Zanpakutô Appearance: A wakizashi worn on the inside of Hitoshi's kimono, it has a plain black hilt and sheath with no tsuba. His family's insignia has been stamped on the blade's base, silver peeking through the black. It holds a sharp, reflective edge, and is fairly nondescript.


» Release Phrase: "Come."

» Appearance: A large parasol, made of dark wood and light blue cloth.

» Abilities:

Ushirogami wo Hikikaeru: The parasol, indiscriminate of weather, casts a shadow; a small ball of light hanging close underneath its center. A rough spotlight of shade underneath, a few feet in diameter. For it's ability to function, the shadow must make contact with a target, maintained for 3 consecutive posts. Once this condition is met, the user gains the ability to manipulate their emotional state.

The user's ability to manipulate emotion is based on their own experiences; meaning if they have not experienced said emotion, they cannot recreate it. Currently, this limit is his understanding of love and fear, incapable of manipulating them. Once an emotional change is decided for a target, it connects through pre-established memories in connotation with those emotions, making it a unique experience each time.

Thief of Joy: A block is put in place on the target's ability to process joy, it's variants, or anger - largely a suppressant in nature, it is an aptly named technique. One may not come to notice this immediately, usually becoming aware of its existence whenever they find difficulty with remembering any happy or angry moments. This is functionally permanent, unless the user chooses to dispel it, or the zankpakuto is destroyed. Even the user's own death will not dispel it.

Blooming Lotus: Targeting bliss, happiness, lust; excitement distilled and exploded within a target's skull. An undiluted shot of happiness that draws upon every single positive, exciting, or otherwise enjoyable moment in the user's life. Experienced in a singular moment, it can overload a target to the point of temporarily paralysis, although it wouldn't be much useful in combat aside from breaking concentration. This is due to a particular 'post-nut clarity', where they seem to have a short period of greatly enhanced reaction time. Those who have experienced this multiple times tend to find life more dull, with tastes and noises becoming duller, eventually to fade away entirely.

Wilting Lotus: Grief and sadness, loss and pain. Aiming directly at whatever makes a person the most vulnerable, this technique attempts to drive a target into a depressive, if not outright suicidal, state. These negative emotions have a much stronger, prolonged effects on individuals, and can grow in magnitude against those with particularly nightmarish pasts. Major depressive episodes if not mental breakdowns on particularly weak willed individuals, often predicated by reflexively crying.

Coward Seeking Shadow: A technique wherein the user channels their reiatsu through the parasol, causing the shadow it casts to expand and surge in shape, chasing a target of their choice. Extended reiatsu usage makes it far easier to intercept and predict the movement of. The control the shadow, the user rotates the parasol's handle, progressing forward or backward as it is spun either right or left in turn. The shadow requires a surface to travel along to function, possessing the same requirements as general.

Lasting effects of emotional manipulation or side effects of Shikai require OOC Permissions agreed to beforehand by any participants.


» Release Action: Pulling the parasol forward, the user snaps it shut as they point it forwards, shouting:

"Bankai!"

» Appearance: The user explodes with a torrent of spiritual pressure, shadows rising in a wall before dissipating. Hitoshi's kimono gains a golden trim, and the clasps on his hair undone; a singular black streak on the left. His usual cord belt is replaced by a deep purple sash, reminiscent of his Sanzukiko's clothing. The parasol has been replaced by a nagamaki, a highly polished ornate wooden handle inlaid at the center with golden rope. The blade's edge shimmers like oil on water, stark against a nearly white polish of its metal.

» Abilities:

Kawagishi no Datsu Ba-Ba: As the bankai is released, the user's shadow bubbles upwards, frothing into an oil slick. Swinging the nagamaki, Hitoshi's shadow swells into a wave, oil flying forward to follow the strike. This allows for medium and close range applications of the oil, although it also possesses techniques that require the user to submerge the weapon into the substance. This oil acts as a similar enabler to the requirements of the shikai, but it acts somewhat independently.

Once a target has been tagged by the oil, it sticks to them as an adhesive, slowly spreading and propagating further along their bodies. It can be assumed to progress exponentially, multiplying whatever initial contact they made each post. This starts at 25%, doubling the amount it covers each post. While the oil adheres to them, their emotional state will begin to warp to that of their most traumatic experiences, forming hallucinations of the events that caused their trauma as they are further covered.

The intensity, frequency, and tangibility of the hallucinations scales with the covering. Targeting the head tends to exacerbate this somewhat, allowing for the corresponding senses to be more easily fooled. Fully covered, these hallucinations become nigh indiscernible from reality, thickly layered atop everything else, replaying their lifetime's trauma in real time. Once the bankai ends, assuming they are still alive, the targets are set free of any illusion, although their mental states will more than likely be damaged.

The oil, being oil, can be lit on fire - capable of negating the emotional toll inflicted on his targets in exchange for severe burns. Burning the oil eats away at Hitoshi's spiritual pressure, preventing him from using the more intensive techniques of his bankai for five posts. Being so personal as to weave hallucinations of their own memories, it can also have adverse, unplanned for effects on targets, beneficial or otherwise.

Skinning Cloth: Dredging the blade through the substance, Hitoshi draws the blade up as he rotates, drawing it along with his reiatsu. This forms a two post barrier around the user, applying a fairly large area of effect around themselves to splash the oil, although it can only be used three times per thread. This can block spiritual attacks, being far less capable of interacting as a physical barrier. By stabbing through the barrier for the short period it hangs in the air, a pillar of the oil can be caused to erupt off the barrier - roughly three meters in length, half a meter in diameter - although it consumes a rather large amount of reiatsu, making it a single use technique.

Sanzu River Crossing: Stabbing into the substance that has replaced their shadow, the user pours an incredible amount of spiritual energy outward, creating a massive wave of oil around them - roughly a 15 meter diameter. This exertion allows for the 'infection' of an innumerable amount of targets, and turns his bankai into nothing but a plain nagamaki for ten posts. A toddler of a technique, awkward and clumsy; waiting to grow.



General Skills

• Durability: D
  
• General Speed: D
  
• Strength: E
  
• Soul: S

Shinigami Skills

• Hoho: Adept
  
• Kidō: Untrained
  
• Zanjutsu: Elite
  
• Hakuda: Untrained

Will Skills

• Willpower/Determination: Advanced
  
• Mental Deduction: Advanced
  
• Focus: Adept