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, as well as the President of the Shinigami Women's Association.

Appearance
Eleventh Division Lieutenant Yachiru Kusajishi is a very small character with pink hair. She wears the normal Shinigami robes, and thus far we have only seen her with the Lieutenant insignia on her arm. She appears to be the youngest as well as the smallest, among the captains and lieutenants.

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 ("Ken-chan" as she calls him, "Kenny" in the English Dub and manga), 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 funny. 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.

Yachiru's favorite free-time activity is eating sweets, though she will eat pretty much anything. She attends Head 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 known that Yachiru's specialty is infiltration, which she uses mostly for mischievous deeds. During the time when Kenpachi takes his usual afternoon nap, she goes to play around Seireitei. She appears to have dug secret tunnels through the Kuchiki house, as she was seen searching for Ichigo Kurosaki ("Icchi" as she calls him), to show them to him. The tunnels are shown again 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 seen 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. In a recent omake, she has been seen dressed up in a cat costume, catching the koi in Byakuya's pond. While visiting Ukitake and "helping" him finish his food, Rukia mentions that there are no more koi in the pond, which Byakuya is upset about.

History
She first met Kenpachi in one of the worst districts of Rukongai, the 79th district of the North Alley, Kusajishi, as a nameless child. She crawled over to him after he had killed several other men with his unnamed Zanpakutō, and was completely unfazed by the violence she had just witnessed or the blood on the sword. Even as Kenpachi warned her that the sword was dangerous, she reached out and touched it, giggling as her hand was covered in the blood of dead men. He adopted her after that, saving her from certain death in Rukongai. He named her "Yachiru" in memory of the only person he ever admired. Since that day she has spent much of her time clinging to his back for transport.

Soul Society arc
Yachiru is first seen directing Zaraki through Seireitei (albeit badly). She then becomes quite fond of Ichigo and his friends after Ichigo defeats Zaraki. She leads Ganju Shiba, Chad, Orihime, and Uryū to where Rukia is being executed.

Bount arc
She becomes interested after Ikkaku, Yumichika, and Aramaki report that Maki Ichinose, a rogue 11th division member, has been spotted in the human world. Later, she watches the fight with Maki and Kenpachi when the Bounts invaid the Soul Society.

Hueco Mundo arc
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 "I think you should look behind you," before Zaraki cuts off one of Nnoitra's arms. After he discards it, Yachiru says "You should watch out! Ken-chan'll get mad if you start attacking me!" to which Zaraki replies, "Who d'you think you're callin' mad?"

Powers & Abilities
Despite her childlike appearance and immature personality, Yachiru is apparently quite strong, since she is the current Lieutenant of the combat division within Soul Society. Grown men have been shown to be afraid of her, and Rangiku Matsumoto was able to scare Ikkaku Madarame by theatening to tell on him to Yachiru if he didn't stop harassing Keigo Asano.

Enhanced Strength: She is strong enough to easily lift Kenpachi and leap between buildings while carrying him.

Enhanced Speed: Yachiru is also incredibly fast despite her compact 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.

High Spiritual Power: 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 spiritual pressure.

Infiltration Expert: Yachiru is an expert at infiltration, which she unfortunately only uses to undertake mischief.

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.


 * Shikai: Not Yet Revealed


 * Bankai: Not Yet Achieved

Appearance In Other Media
In Bleach: The Blade of Fate, Yachiru hits enemies with her Zanpakutō sheathed. She can also summon a cat made of yellow spiritual energy. In Bleach: Shattered Blade, she uses the same fighting style as Ikkaku before he uses shikai and hits with her scabard and Zanpakutō.

Kenpachi Zaraki
Yachiru seems to share a very close relationship with Kenpachi Zaraki. This relationship is more than often realized as a sort of father-daughter relationship.

Ikkaku Madarame
Yachiru doesn't seem to be on good terms with Ikkaku as they are seen getting on each other's nerves. (For example, when annoyed, Yachiru sometimes yells at Ikkaku "Shut up, Cueball!" referring to his baldness.) Their feuds have raised a few jokes throughout the series.

Trivia

 * Her theme song, as chosen by Tite Kubo, is Andre Previn's "Veni, Veni, Venias" (Yachiru Theme #1) and Izumikawa Sora's Yahoo! (Yachiru Theme #2)
 * Yachiru's last name came from the district in Rukongai where Kenpachi found her.