User:Nekura Wabizumai

"Insane, not stupid." - Some Crazy Son-of-a-Bitch

is a Shinigami in the Gotei 13 who had served 2nd Division Captain Soifon as Lieutenant and Head Interrogator of the Onmitsukido 100 years before the main storyline. He is currently the 3rd Seated Officer in the 2nd Division and primary candidate for the Captaincy of the 5th Division.

Appearance
Nekura has the appearance of a caucasian male in his mid to late 20's with broad, muscular build. He has brown eyes dark brown eyes hair that is slicked back, tied in a ponytail that is braided into four seperate braids and reaches halfway down his back. His attire consists of a sleeveless Shihakusho with a black belt with a silver buckle depicting the Cross of Confusion, and spiked leather armbands on his forearms. He also has a tattoo of the Cross of Confusion on his left bicep, he occaisionally wears black half-framed reading glasses when fulfilling his administrative duties for his respective Division, and he has dark bags under his eyes due to insomnia and past habits of exhaustion.

Personality
Nekura is an extremely introverted and serious individual. He tends to spend his time fulfilling all administrative duties in his Division and spends his free time either helping other Shingami with their own office work (namely Shuhei Hisagi and Kenpachi Zaraki) due partially to his pwn excessive work ethic, reading horror fiction novels, writing poetry or playing his bass guitar. While being largely silent and seemingly indifferent to everything around him, he is actually very shy and timid, often worrying about his disposition with others and being ridiculed in an extremely over-exaggerated fear of being ostracized and hated. It is because of this fear that he often turns down Shuhei Hisagi, Rangiku Matsumoto and Izuru Kira when they offer him to drink with them and helps his possible future lieutenant Momo Hinamori in her duties without her knowledge. Nekura has shown an excessive and near obsessive work ethic; often skipping meals, sleep, and refusing drink offers to complete not only his work, but that of Divisions 9 and 11 as well. However, it has been stated by Matsumoto that he was much more obsessed with his work when he was a lieutenant 100 years ago. So much so, that on more that one of the many occaisions he had worked himself to complete exhaustion; he passed out after three days of going without sleep and going without food two and a half weeks beforehand, he hit his head on the end of the desk as he fell, and he spent more than three weeks in the 4th Division's infirmary recovering from his self-neglect.

While being the quiet and brooding individual he is, he also contiuously shows deep empathy and understanding towards many of his colleagues. Such as when he offers Hisagi help with his duties as temporary captain, saying that he knows what it's like to "be screwed over by someone who [he] looked up to" and to "clean up someone else's mess", and when he talks with Hinamori about his sudden candidacy for Captain, saying he wishes he "could have had an opportunity to turn away someone [he] positively loathed, like [she did]". This conversation shows his near non-existent self esteem due to his fear of being hated, as shown when he called himself a "spineless and sordid wretch unworthy of anyone's recognition or respect" while talking with Hinamori. Nekura's sense of humor is among the most morbid of any Shinigami in the Gotei 13, such as when he told the sadistic 12 Division Captain Mayuri Kurotsuchi a joke about a "village idiot and a church bell", Kurotsuchi was visibly disturbed by the joke and called him a "sick bastard".

He is also shy around women around women in particular. Such as when meeting Hinamori for the first time, he had tried to get drunk to "loosen up" so he could actually talk to her, but due to his high alcohol tolerance, he ended up running from the room when he failed at even returning her greeting before being intercepted by Matsumoto in the hallway. He also embarrased himself when first meeting Nanao Ise in the 8th Division barracks by repeatedly punching himself in the face because he accidentally told her that he thought she was attractive when he compliimented her glasses. When he was Soifon's lieutenant, he was so nervous about giving her a souvenir of a black cat plush-toy from the human world, he gave himself a peptic ulcer, which he still suffers from to the current day.

Nekura has also shown an interest in Heavy Metal music, going as far to adopt its fashion (his armbands, belt and tattoo) and obtaining an MP3 player in the human world so he could better store his music, since the whole of one of his room's walls is covered with a bookshelf that is completely filled with CDs of various Heavy Metal bands. Some bands that he has stated as his favorites are Devildriver, Behemoth, KoRn, Coal Chamber, Dimmu Borgir, Slayer, Cannibal Corpse, System of a Down, and Lamb of God. He also bought a bass guitar from the human world as an extension of his musical interests and has shown great skill in playing, leaving Yasutora Sado in awe of a solo he had played for him and Hisagi literally begging Nekura to teach him.

History
Nekura was Lieutenant in the 2nd Division serving under Captain Soifon 100 years before the main stortline and had held his position for about 50 years, due to his work ethic and thourough and precise methods as an interrogator for the Onmitsukido. Over the years, he began to suffer from insomnia and severe exhaustion, though he refused any and all treatments and did not change his lifestyle due to wanting to impress his Captain, Soifon. 50 years before the main storyline, his Zanpakuto visited him in his dreams one night, mocking him for his weakness. The same night, an alert was sent out to the 2nd Division of an incoming Hollow attack in the Seireitei, and Nekura was the first to respond. When he released his Zanpakuto and began to cut down the horde of Gillians, he became disoriented because of his Zanpakuto's influence, and was hit with a collective Cero blast in front of the whole of the 2nd Division.

He survived the blast by releasing his Bankai, which he had learned several months prior, much to the 2nd Division's surprise, especially Captain Soifon's. When he defeated the Hollows, Nekura became ill because of his Zanpakuto's corrupting reiatsu; his vision was distorted beyond use, his hearing was plagued by piercing ringing at all times, and he felt as though his body was "dripping away" from him. Because of this, he was demoted as Lieutenant of the 2nd Division and an Officer of the Gotei 13, and spent the next 30 years being treated by 4th Division Captain Retsu Unohana.

20 years before the main storyline, Nekura and his Zanpakuto made amends, as it was his Zanpakuto that made him ill in the first place, and so made a full recovery. When he was made 3rd Seated Officer in the 2nd Division, Soifon recommended Nekura to Head Captain Yamamoto as a candidate for Captain if a position ever opened up, and was recogized for acheiving Bankai. He spent the next 20 years working as he normally did, but due to making a promise to Rangiku Matsumoto, Nekura was often forced to cut his work short, but he never fell behind.

Powers &amp; Abilities
Master Swordsmanship Specialist: Nekura is masterful at swordsmanship, capable of flawless precision and lethal attacks without much effort. Nekura's fighting involves a mainly defensive fighting style, often remaining stationary throughout a fight while counterattacking and evading an opponent's strikes. His offensive strategy involves evasion and attacking an opponent either in the front or back using the element of surprise to overwhelm them, as well as releasing his Zanpakuto.

Enhanced Strength: Due to his muscular build, Nekura has great physical strength. He was able lift and hold the weight of a multi-story building as it collapsed on top of him and several other Shinigami, and threw it back with little difficulty.

Enhanced Durability: Nekura has been shown to be capable of taking considerable amounts of damage and still continue on despite the severity of his injuries, as shown when he willingly took a sord thrust to his chest to protect several critically injured Shinigami and retaliated by head-butting the attacker, while showing little sign of injury when fighting later on.

Immense Spiritual Power: Nekura's spiritual power has the same effect as his Zanpakutō, as it is a physical embodiment of madness. He tends to eminate with a black aura which has the potential to corrupt and destroy the reiatsu of his surroundings and opponents without the use of his Zanpakutō. Nekura possesses an exceedingly powerful Reiatsu, capable of making high-ranking Espada and Kaname Tosen in particular succumb to anxiety and hallucinations of self-injury. His reiatsu has been shown to be jet black.

Perceptive Combatant: Nekura has demonstrated an ability to be very detail oriented when it comes to fighting. He notices his opponent's mannerisms and discerns with ease the reasons behind those actions and the weaknesses and strengths of his opponents. In battle, Nekura has proven to be very adept at noticing and understanding details in an opponent's skills or attack patterns.

Flash Steps Master: Nekura is highly proficient in flash steps. As the former lieutenant of the 2nd Division and Head Interrogator in the Onmitskido, his skill in flash steps is extremely high.

Kidō Expert: Nekura is highly proficient in Kidō and is capable of performing high-level Kidō spells without the incantation.

Master Hand-to-Hand Combat: As the former Head Interrogator of the Onmitsukido and former lieutenant of the 2nd Division, Nekura's skill in hand-to-hand combat is enough to warrant the praise of fellow Hakuda master Soifon. As with his skill in swordsmanship, he also has skill in hand-to-hand combat, as evident from his ability to evade a series of attacks from two high-ranking Espadas at once without any visible difficulty and with his Zanpakuto sheathed.