Yachiru Kusajishi

"Whatever happens and at anytime, Yachiru is always Kenpachi's supporter." - Tite Kubo

is the Lieutenant of the 11th Division in the Gotei 13, under Captain Kenpachi Zaraki.

Appearance and personality
Yachiru is child-like in most aspects, as she is small, cheerful, energetic, and carefree most of the time. She is often seen latched onto the back of her captain, Kenpachi Zaraki, just over his left shoulder, and is somewhat territorial about this position. She is surprisingly intimidating at times, especially when annoyed. Like Kenpachi, she has no sense of direction, even though he relies on her for directions. Yachiru resents being criticized in any way and will often attack the perpetrator. Further reflecting her child-like nature, Yachiru likes to give people nicknames like she gave a man the name "Maki-Maki" and later when he reminds her of that name she finds it amusing. The anime suggests that Kenpachi simply walked in and killed the former 11th Division captain, thus becoming the current one, so it stands to reason she became a Shinigami at the same time. In an interview, Tite Kubo mentioned that he plans on revealing Yachiru's namesake (It was Kenpachi who gave her a name so perhaps there is a connection with his Zanpakutō.

Yachiru's favorite free-time activity is eating sweets, though she likes to eat pretty much everything. She attends Captain Yamamoto's tea sessions,Captain Unohana's ikebana lessons, and also Captain Kuchiki's Calligraphy Club, but only to eat up the snacks and cakes served during these occasions and then disappear within moments.

It is also knwon that Yachiru's specialty is infiltration, which she uses mostly for mischievous deeds. During when Kenpachi takes his usual afternoon nap, she goes to play around Seireitei. She appears to have dug secret tunnels through the Kuchiki house, she was searching for Ichigo ("Icchi" as she calls him), to show them to him. The tunnels are shown when Lieutenants Isane Kotetsu and Nemu Kurotsuchi try to take a photograph of Byakuya Kuchiki.

Yachiru is the president of the Shinigami Women's Association, and holds its funds as such, spending it mostly on toys and candies. She stores her "treasures" in the hideout on the Kuchiki grounds mentioned above. It seems that she uses the whole Association to order the other members around, who are doing various, mostly childish pranks and other "tasks" to please her.

Yachiru seems to show a little-girl crush on Byakuya Kuchiki. She refers to him by affectionate nicknames like "Bya-kun" and "Byakushi," invites him to come eat with her (which she never asks anyone else) and at once point is seem offering him her drool-covered lollipop. Byakuya seems to find her crush annoying and mostly ignores her, although he apparently keeps buns on hand to jam into her mouth if she gets too assertive.

Synopsis
Yachiru is first seen directing Zaraki through the Seireitei (albeit badly). She then becomes quite fond of Ichigo and his friends after Ichigo defeats Zaraki. She leads Ganju Shiba, Chad, Orihime, and Uryu Ishida to where Rukia is being executed. Later when Zaraki enters Hueco Mundo, she follows him and stands back while he fights Nnoitra Jiruga. During a portion of the fight when Nnoitra managed to briefly knock out Zaraki, he sets his sights on killing Yachiru. Yachiru however states that "You should turn around, if you attack me Ken-chan will be mad."

Shinigami Powers
Enhanced Strength: Despite her child-like appearance, Yachiru is apparently quite strong, since she is the current lieutenant of the combat division within Soul Society. She is strong enough to lift Kenpachi and leap between buildings while carrying him.

Enhanced Speed: Yachiru is also incredibly fast despite her size, running from the ground-level area of Seireitei to the mountain that holds the execution grounds in a fairly short period of time, without Shunpo.

Enhanced Spiritual Energy: She is also capable of emitting a great amount of spiritual power when she is angry, which forms into a large, pink, angry cat face. She also seems to be immune to her Captain's spirtual pressure.

Zanpakutō
The name and ability of Yachiru's Zanpakutō are both unknown. She carries it around with a loose cord, rather than at the sash of her uniform. Her Zanpakutō's scabbard is also unusual in that it has a pair of wheels for transport, which were installed by Ikkaku Madarame, who turns out to be handy with tools, after she continually pestered him to do it. It also has a child-like flower pattern on the crossguard.