Hiyori Sarugaki

Hiyori Sarugaki (猿柿 ひよ里, Sarugaki Hiyori) is a former lieutenant of the 12th Division under captains Kirio Hikifune and Kisuke Urahara.

Personality
Despite her small size, Hiyori is an aggressive and short-tempered girl with rather violent tendencies. Her most common victim is Shinji Hirako who she frequently abuses, usually by slapping him with one of her sandals. She has even made it a reflex to use him as a human shield when necessary. This behavior dates back to her time as a lieutenant, despite the fact that Shinji outranked her. She shows very little respect to the majority of people around her, easily loosing her temper or getting into fights. She viewed her former captain Hikifune as a mother figure, and thus was quite hurt by her departure and initially refused to accept Urahara as her replacement treating him with her trademark violence and disrespect.

Hiyori seems to harbour a hatred of both shinigami and humans, which she noted in a rare quiet moment with Shinji, implying she has some identity issues. It could also be said that her violence is a form of defense mechanism.

Hiyori is the one who makes Ichigo pass the test but he nearly killed her with one hand and all the other vizards had to intervene. She got him to train on her "super walker" though he lost temper. She seemed to be worried when he fought his inner hollow, unusually quiet and serious. Love Aikawa said she was quite happy of Ichigo's appeareance in their group because their family was growing as Hachigen is happy to see Orihime. Hiyori is the one who trains Ichigo. She never succeded in making him call her "Hiyori-san".

Appearance
Hiyori is a tiny, blonde-haired girl who wears her blond hair in pigtails. As a shinigami she wore a standard lieutenants' uniform, while as a vizard she wears a red jogging outfit decorated with the first kanji of her name. She also has a overlong fang on the left side of her mouth.

History
Hiyori was the former lieutenant of the 12th division before the development of the Shinigami Research Institute. She served under both Hikifune and Urahara Kisuke before their respective promotions and later exile. Somehow she and a number of other shinigami acquired hollow powers becoming vizard and left Soul Society to live in the human world.

Powers and Abilities


As a vizard and former lieutenant Hiyori is a capable fighter, while her aggressive tendencies often make her lash out at other people even under normal circumstances. The name of her zanpakutō is unknown and her Shikai (First release) has not been shown. Her zanpakutō is standard in appearance though its tsuba (decorated sword guard) is decorated in small hearts, a contrast to her not-so-girlish personality. She normally carries her sword from her right shoulder.

She took the longest to defeat her inner hollow out of all the current vizard (excluding Ichigo, who took about the same amount of time), at 69 minutes and 2 seconds. Her hollow mask is rhinoceros-like in appearance, sporting a prominent horn centered on the forehead with a row of diamond shaped markings over one eyebrow.