Masayoshi

Masayoshi was a former member of the Gotei 13 who travelled around Soul Society with Partisan Squad that hunted down drifting Hollows.

Appearance
Masayoshi has dark grey eyes and messy, dark hair that falls to his neck with a bang that falls between his eyes. The line of his jaw has stubble all across it giving him an unkempt appearance. Masayoshi is leanly muscled and wears the standard garb of a Shinigami, only over the top he wears a ragged cloak suited for his travelling lifestyle.

Personality
Due to the nature of his existence, Masayoshi’s personality is one of many contrasts. He is very serious and appears to believe strongly in justice, constantly seeking it out. He acts swiftly while in battle, and shoulders many burdens especially if he knows he could have saved somebody’s life. He can become very frustrated if something he does results in a death or if he struggles to remember something. While with Yachiru, he is warm and welcoming and in the past he loved sweets just as much as she does. While maintaining some of his personality, he will put the lives of others before himself, even if he has mostly been taken over by a Hollow.

History
Masayoshi was once a member of the Gotei 13 and during his time there, was good friends with Yachiru Kusajishi. They were close and both shared a love for sweets, which Yachiru would bring to their meetings and share between them. During that time, he had a wife, whom he dearly loved. One day he argued with her just before leaving for a mission and the next time he saw her, she had been killed by a hollow. Unknown to Masayoshi, he had actually been possessed by a Hollow during the mission and in fact, as the Hollow, he had been the one who had killed his wife; the trauma of the event reverted Masayoshi to his former self when he looked into the mirror and he forgot what had occurred, blaming the unknown Hollow. The guilt of this episode would strongly influence his life so tht he left the Gotei 13 and became a wandering Shinigami with the aim of personally eradicating all the Hollows in existence, especially the one who killed his wife, in retribution for what had occurred.

Plot
When Masayoshi is travelling in a forest outside the Seireitei one day, he comes across Mayu, who is being chased by the Hollow that had previously killed the other members of her family. Masayoshi immediately cuts down the Hollow and saves the young woman’s life. He also seriously apologizes to her for not arriving soon enough to save her family, insisting it was his fault they died, despite Mayu’s strong denials to the contrary. They introduce themselves to each other, and regardless of his serious nature, Mayu is glad he saved her. When their meeting is interrupted by Masayoshi’s old friend Yachiru, and the two reunite gladly with Yachiru using his nickname Mappy.

Yachiru and Mayu help Masayoshi by collecting fire wood for his campsite supplies before sitting down to catch up. When Yachiru offers Masayoshi sweets he declines before congratulating her on the current positions she holds in the Seireitei. Masayoshi tells them the story of how he lost his wife and tells them that he plans on hunting every Hollow in existence so that nobody else has to suffer the way he and Mayu now have to suffer the loss of their loved ones.

The next morning, Masayoshi is woken from a nightmare by Mayu, who offers him rice cakes that she cooked for him. Yachiru arrives again and asks him what he fought about with his wife the last time he seen her alive. Masayoshi can’t seem to remember and gets frustrated as a result of this. He then senses a Hollow nearby and thus moves to chase it. However, it springs from the bush to go after the girls but Masayoshi cuts it down before it can harm either of them. That night, Mayu asks him that, since she has nobody else in her life, if she can go with him on her travels, to which Masayoshi appears shocked about. Yachiru interrupts and take Mayu home before Masayoshi can reply.

The next morning, he senses Mayu’s capture by a Hollow, and rushed to her aid. It becomes clear that he has just walked into an ambush when the Hollow releases her and other Hollows begin to surround them. However, the Shinigami reaffirms his position on eradicating Hollows once more. After defeating the many Hollows, Masayoshi appears affected, his eyes turning black and his irises becoming red. He returns to normal when Yachiru arrives however she still won’t let him near Mayu.

Yachiru accuses Masayoshi of being a Hollow, which he vehemently denies but when she asks him the name of his wife, he seems to have lost that memory. Yachiru then informs him of the truth of how he is possessed by a Hollow that is gradually consuming him and how he killed his wife. The stress of this knowledge causes Masayoshi to lose some control to the Hollow, causing him to morph into a strange hybrid that scares Mayu. The Hollow from before suddenly ambushes Mayu, which Masayoshi sees and gets in the way of the attack, killing the Hollow and getting mortally wounded in the process. The Hollow inside him dissipates and he dies after thanking Mayu and eating one last sweet with Yachiru.