Rukia Kuchiki

Rukia Kuchiki is an unseated shinigami in the 13th Division under Jūshirō Ukitake. She meets Ichigo Kurosaki, a high school student, and through a set of circumstances, he obtains her powers, forcing her to take up residence in his home and him to take her place as a shinigami. Rukia is also the second most popular character in Bleach and is the most popular female character next to Senna.

History
Rukia and her older sister, Hisana, were brought together to 78th District of Rukongai after they died in the human world. Hisana abandoned Rukia when she was still a baby since she could not continue to support both herself and Rukia. Rukia grew up on her own until she met Renji Abarai and other children her age. They worked together to steal food in order to survive and became a makeshift family. During this time, Rukia and Renji showed signs of having spiritual power. While they initially opted against becoming shinigami, the death of all their friends prompted Rukia to suggest joining the academy for a better life.

At the shinigami academy, Renji was admitted into the top class and Rukia into the second ranked one. Renji and Rukia started growing further apart as Renji got further ahead in his training. The emotional distance continued until Rukia was asked to join the Kuchiki family. Renji expressed happiness for Rukia's opportunity but both did not admit that they disagreed with the arrangement since they would likely never see each other again. Rukia reluctantly joined the family and was immediately inducted into the 13th Division without having to graduate or take a squad entrance exam. Unknown to Rukia, Byakuya Kuchiki had adopted her in order to fulfill the last wish of Hisana, whom he had once taken as his wife.

In the 13th Division, Rukia was not given a seat position, due to Byakuya Kuchiki's influence, since he did not want her sent on dangerous missions. She became friends with the division lieutenant, Kaien Shiba, who trained and mentored her. Their first training location was Mount Koifushi of Hokutan, the 3rd district of West Rukongai.

Rukia greatly admired Kaien's wife, 3rd Seat Miyako Shiba. When Miyako was killed by a hollow, Rukia, Kaien, and the division's captain, Jūshirō Ukitake hunted the hollow down. Kaien faced the hollow alone but the hollow's special ability destroyed his zanpakutō. Rukia attempted to draw her sword and help but was stopped by Ukitake. He told her that Kaien's fight was one of honor rather than a fight for his life. If Rukia helped, Kaien would be saved but his honor would be damaged forever. Meanwhile, the hollow entered Kaien and possessed him. Ukitake faced the hollow but his illness allowed the hollow the opportunity to attack Rukia. Kaien momentarily regained control and thrust himself through Rukia's zanpakutō. He thanked Rukia and Ukitake for letting him fight for his honor and died in Rukia's arms. Rukia brought the corpse to the Shiba family but was afraid to apologize since she felt guilty about her role in Kaien's death.

Personality
Initially born into a lower class, Rukia retains her modesty even as an adopted member of the nobility: she is graceful and "clean", yet chooses to talk to ordinary people. However, her cool and lone demeanor often forces her to hide her personal troubles even from her friends. Although she tells Ichigo that she is nearly ten times older than he, she is endearingly clueless about the ways of the modern living world (since Soul Society resembles Japan's Edo period). She is initially unable to figure out how to drink from a simple juice box, and learns to speak modern Japanese through the manga she reads.

In the Bount Arc, Ririn, one of the modsouls that Kisuke Urahara invented, is jealous of Rukia's familiarity with Ichigo, while Rukia instantly takes a liking to Kurōdo, who resembles Chappy the Rabbit in his plushie form. This makes Kon break down and start crying, as he believes that no one (meaning Rukia) likes him anymore. Nel Tu also becomes somewhat jealous of Rukia's friendship with Ichigo.

Her attitude towards Ichigo varies throughout the series. At times, she is a bickering adversary, and at other times, she worries about him and dispatches advice like a wise old sage. Most of their scenes together have them yelling and making faces at each other like bickering siblings (perhaps because she often resembles his sister Karin). Despite these quarrels, the two have a deep understanding of each other, often being the only ones able to talk each other out of a funk.

There is a deeply serious side to Rukia as well, best shown during the time she was taken back to Soul Society for giving her powers to Ichigo. In her time in Soul Society, which she spent in various holding cells, she is constantly seen resigned to her fate or in deep thought. She and Ichigo also have similar feelings of loss and guilt. Ichigo thought he was responsible for his mother's death and Rukia's near execution. Rukia thought she was responsible for the death of one of her commanding officers, Kaien Shiba, and considered Ichigo's apparent death her fault.

Rukia also seems to befriend males easier than she does to females and probably enjoys their company more, as she hardly ever goes to Shinigami Women Association meetings and seems to be around Ichigo and Renji the most. Rukia's apparent first love was her division's now-deceased lieutenant, Kaien Shiba, who bears a striking resemblance to Ichigo. That might be the reason why she spends so much time with him, although Ichigo is unaware of his resemblance to Kaien or Rukia's past love.

Appearance
Short and petite, Rukia is among the shortest characters in Bleach (especially for her physical "age"), easily being towered over by people of Chad's height. She has pale skin and dark hair, she somehow manages to always keep a stray bang in between her eyes. She has a purple-ish eye color which at times looks as if they have some dark-blue in them.

Hobbies
Rukia is an accomplished actress, being able to act her way through a number of tough situations, such as getting out of trouble with school teachers or managing to get a room at Ichigo's house much to his embarrassment that his own family would fall for such a lame act. Ichigo seems to be the only one to always pick up on it and accuse her of pretending. She also seems to enjoy drawing (albeit horribly); her drawings of people and hollows seem to resemble rabbits and teddy bears, respectively. Rukia's inability to draw well (and her taking offense when told as much) is a running gag in the series. Rukia loves Chappy the Rabbit (and basically anything rabbit-themed) and is rather put out when she is unable to obtain Chappy Soul Candy because of its popularity in Soul Society (although she is able to obtain it during the Arrancar Arc). She also likes to climb to high places and her favorite foods are cucumbers and shira-tama (but the list could get longer).

Powers and Abilities
Though Rukia is an unseated officer in the 13th Division, she is actually powerful and skilled enough to qualify as a seated officer. As this would require her to accomplish much more dangerous missions, Byakuya pulled some strings to keep her name off the list of qualified officers.

Rukia, as a shinigami of the 13th Division, has a standard array of skills required of shinigami troops. Upon her introduction, she has the basic-level zanpakutō, of which she seemed to have only mastered the rudimentary skills. She was also seen in a gigai fighting enemies with her physical strength (kicking, punching, etc.).

Kido Expert: Rukia's greatest strength is her knowledge of the kidō, a set of magic spells she can use in the performance of her duties; amongst her known skills are those for binding, healing, purifying, and destruction. However, as she said herself, while her kido grades at the shinigami academy were good they were just average when she joined 13th division.

After losing her powers, Rukia is able to use kidō spells in a limited fashion, but they are so weak that they have almost no effect on their targets. The anime's Bount arc, in contrast, shows her using at least one spell on a level similar to Renji (this difference can be attributed to the different gigai used in each situation). Since the events at the Soul Society, Rukia's shinigami powers have made a near complete recovery.

Flash Steps: Renji says that Rukia is also useful because of her speed.

Swordsmanship: By her own admission, she has less talent in swordsmanship than kidō.

Zanpakutō
Sode no Shirayuki (Sleeve of White Snow)


 * Shikai: Sode no Shirayuki is regarded as one of the most beautiful zanpakutō in Soul Society. It is completely white, including the hilt, crossguard, and blade. The tsuba turns to a circle and a white ribbon forms from the pommel. Its shikai command is "dance" (mai). Sode no Shirayuki has control over ice, much like Tōshirō Hitsugaya's Hyōrinmaru, but uses it in a different manner. Like Kaname Tōsen's Suzumushi and Kisuke Urahara's Benihime, Sode no Shirayuki possesses more than one ability.


 * Shikai Special Ability: Sode no Shirayuki's abilities are labeled as "dances" by Rukia.


 * First Dance, White Moon (some no mai, tsukishiro): Rukia can create a circle of influence around her intended target and freeze everything within the circle from the ground upwards until it reaches the sky.


 * Next Dance, White Ripple (tsugi no mai, hakuren): Fires a massive wave of ice from Sode no Shirayuki's blade.


 * Third Dance, White Sword (san no mai, shirafune): Allows Rukia to reforge her zanpakutō with ice particles if it is broken, piercing through objects in its path. After piercing its target, it continues to freeze any surrounding objects, including the battlefield.