Yoshino Sōma

is one of the Bounts, as well as Jin Kariya's former wife.

Appearance
Yoshino has long, soft brown hair, parted on the side. She wears a large-collared shirt with a vest over it that fans out at the bottom, giving it the appearance of tails. She compliments her outfit with a red tie. The bracelet and claw that she wears are actually her sealed doll.

Personality
As remarked by Uryū Ishida, Yoshino chooses to live next to a clock, waiting for the chance to live, rather than watch the passage of time. In the past, she was accepted only by Kariya, and was fiercely loyal to him. However, over time, their love faded away and she was left opposing him after he started attacking the living.

History
Yoshino, many years ago, thought that she was different from all the others. She tried to hide it. She also tried desperately to hide the fact from her friends. Time went by, as she saw her friends age, she saw her surroundings change. She escaped from the village as angry villagers hunted her down, calling her a witch. She hated herself as much as they did. She always looked for ways to die. Driven with loneliness and despair, she decided to end her own life. Before she could do anything, Jin Kariya walked in through the door. He asked Yoshino to live with him, and that he will give her a reason to live. Kariya claims that his reason for living is her, and that their love is deeper than the ocean, that knows no limits. She then saw Kariya take a living soul. She was disappointed because she couldn't do anything to stop him. Ever since then, she couldn't forgive him. She also says that it was his lies that gave her a reason to live: which was to kill Kariya.

Bount arc (anime only)
Note: Events occurring in this arc are only in the anime and do not constitute canon material.

When she first appears, Yoruichi Shihōin stops her from taking a living soul. Ichigo Kurosaki and Ririn then corner her and she releases her doll, Goethe. They fight for a while as Ichigo kept trying to cut the doll into pieces. It fell apart when Ichigo stabbed the doll right through his heart. It fell to pieces, and all of them attacked him. When the attack hit him, it trapped him in wood and metal, immobilizing him. Yoshino ordered Goethe to finish him off. The fiery doll almost kills him, but Rukia Kuchiki appears and saves him. Goethe generates a large fireball between the palms of his hands and attempts to fire it at Rukia. Rukia realizes that she can't stop the attack. Shortly afterwards, several snakes (made out of pipes) capture her doll and his fellow Bount, Yoshino. Yoshino attempts to re-summon Goethe, but gets threatened to be killed by Ryō Utagawa's doll.

She is then taken back to the mansion by Fried and Utagawa. Kariya talks to Yoshino while Utagawa teases her. He attempts to summon his doll as Yoshino attempts to summon hers. Later that evening, she is taken to a storage room where Utagawa locks her up. Even though the window was sealed, she was able to escape and rushes to Uryū's rescue.

Soon, while Uryū was caught and knocked out by one of Utagawa's snakes, Yoshino saves Uryū and takes him to her hotel room, where she explains to Uryū about the Bounts. She also explains the life she has lived as a Bount, and her life with Kariya, but Uryū loses consciousness. She then takes him to his father's hospital, where he is attacked by Hō and Ban. Feeling like a burden, Uryū wanders from his friends and Yoshino picks him up once more. The two talk and she explains that Kariya must want to go to Hueco Mundo. It is then that Gō Koga and his doll attack. Koga summons his doll right after Yoshino summons hers. Dalk then attacks Uryū and Yoshino with many metal balls. Goethe breaks through a window as Yoshino and Uryū jump out from the opening.

Dalk keeps manipulating her body, continually injuring Goethe. Goethe attacks with many fireballs, but they all get dodged. Uryū and Yoshino escape when Goethe hits Dalk with a fireball. Unfortunately, the metallic Dalk is impervious to fire. Dalk then attacks Goethe by shooting him with bullets coming from her gun. This opens a water tank, making Goethe disappear. The doll then attacks Uryū, but Yoshino uses her body as a shield to protect him from Dalk's attack. They are then taken back to Kariya's mansion. Utagawa injures Yoshino and locks her up in a storage room. She is later taken to the Urahara Shop where she was healed and rested. The night, after their attempt to save them, was when she escaped from Urahara's shop and headed over to Kariya's mansion. Uryū then wakes up astonished, grabs Ririn, and runs over to the mansion as well. Yoshino finally arrives to where Kariya is and summons Goethe, ready to battle Kariya.

She asks Goethe if he was ready to die with her. The doll claims that he is. He generates a fire ball and throws it at Kariya. Kariya dodges it by jumping away to another platform. Kariya makes a sarcastic comment on how dangerous Goethe was, which gets him even madder. He throws a fireball at Kariya which nearly gets him. Kariya jumps away from the attack and from inside the house. He then charges at Kariya, making many explosions around the house. Yoshino runs near to where Goethe is as Kariya speeds up to a platform above her. Goethe generates a fireball and throws it at Kariya. The fireball is dodged, and make an explosion above Yoshino, making many rocks fall.

Some of the rocks hit her shoulder, worrying Goethe. Yoshino tells Goethe to not worry and to keep on fighting. Kariya talks to Yoshino, on how her crest (probably the doll's sealed form) is used to utilize the greatest power from this world. Also, if the user loses balance, then that power will go out of whack, or even turn on its user. He then tells Uryū to come out of where he was hiding. His appearance greatly surprises Yoshino, as Kariya guesses that he has an old-fashion thinking of being a hero by coming to a woman's aid when she is in distress. Kariya then gets behind Yoshino and grabs her Manshō, the crest which she uses to control her doll's power.

Kariya explains to Uryū that Yoshino has a rare maternal power. Also, after many years of experience, he has come to know that sucking out living souls doesn't give him power at maximum effect. That was when he realized Yoshino's great power. He then breaks Yoshino's Manshō. Goethe's power then goes out of whack. The doll then charges at Kariya with great strength, causing an explosion. The attack hits Kariya, but barely injures him. He blows away the fire as Kariya shows his crest, which is inside of his body. Yoshino now realizes why he was always strong, and that all those years of them being together was only Kariya using Yoshino.

Yoshino then holds up her hand to Goethe and generates her blue Spiritual Power. Goethe turns blue and charges at Kariya with great speed. Goethe, nearly delivering a blow strong enough to kill Kariya, explodes. Yoshino walks up to him and carries the infant form of Goethe. His last words to Yoshino are "mother." The infant then merges with Yoshino as an explosion occurs. Yoshino and Goethe jump together into the air and prepare to battle Kariya. She charges at Kariya and attacks him. The fight takes them up into the air as they continue to fight at close range. Yoshino throws a fireball which goes far beyond the speed of when Goethe would throw one.

They continue to fight at close range. Kariya grabs Yoshino's neck and claims that that was the power that he wanted for so long and that she couldn't waste it. Yoshino then pushes Kariya away from her. She then charges at Kariya, but gets impaled somewhere around her stomach. Goethe disintegrates and she falls to the ground. Uryū runs to her as she claims that she died the right way. Uryū claims back to her that there is no right way to die. She calmly says that the way she was dying then was right as it was. She then says her goodbyes to Uryū as she disintegrates. Upon her death, Kariya begins chanting ancient words as the Bittos begin to emerge from the Bount's symbol.

Powers & Abilities
Enhanced Agility: Yoshino has shown noticeable acrobatic skills, as she was able to escape from places that were sealed without her Doll, how she was able to jump over a fence without climbing it, and how she backed away from Yoruichi doing many back flips.

Enhanced Strength: While of slender build, Yoshino showed considerable strength, able to jump considerably high while carrying Uryū.

Expert Hand-to-Hand Combatant: In her battle with Kariya, she had shown great skill in unarmed combat. She was able to dodge most of the attacks from Kariya, until she got impaled through the chest. She was able to keep up with him, but only for a short amount of time, as Kariya is a master at close combat himself.

Hypnosis: Yoshino possesses the ability to hypnotize the souls of the living by singing a soft tune. She is able to specifically target someone in a crowd and can force that person to walk unwittingly to her.

High Spiritual Power: Her spiritual power is the most unique of the Bounts, as she has a maternal power. This power greatly affects her doll, to the point where it didn't leave her side when she was at her weakest. Even with her crest gone, when they merged, Goethe didn't absorb her. Kariya also stated that Yoshino would gain full effect from sucking a living soul. Her Spiritual Power is light-blue in color.

Doll
is Yoshino Sōma's doll. It takes the form of a finger claw (on her left middle finger) and bracelet (on her right wrist) when sealed. To unseal Goethe, Yoshino strikes the two pieces together to create a spark, which releases him when she takes the fire created from the spark and creates an arc over her head, as a fire rages around the area. Goethe is a fire elemental, able to create and control flame. While mostly humanoid in appearance consisting of hardened magma and flames, it has no legs, but fire acting as propulsion jets.

Fire Generation: Goethe's attacks primarily consist of fireballs and jets of flame. These manipulations of fire vary in intensity and size and commonly have a lot of concussive force behind them.

Reconstitution: If attacked physically it can reform itself if dispersed, as it is a being made of flame. When Ichigo Kurosaki attempts to strike him through the heart, believing it to be his weakness, Goethe splits apart and shows the ability to fire each body part as a weapon.


 * Hybrid Form: In Yoshino's last moments, she and Goethe merge to create a stronger, hybrid being, allowing Yoshino to manipulate fire herself. Both Yoshino and Goethe are able to talk in this form, but Yoshino is the more dominant one. The fire they are composed of is a light yellow, in contrast to the original orange. In this form the resultant creature is a female humanoid. Unfortunately, her full capabilities were not shown, as Kariya impaled and killed her in their last battle. The hybrid form is only an outer shell and easily crumbles away upon her defeat. It should also be noted that at the time of the symbiosis, her Manshō was broken, making this a product of her unique reproductive capabilities.


 * Enhanced Speed: Upon her fusion with Goethe, her speed increases greatly, as she was able to keep up with Kariya.


 * Enhanced Strength: Her strength also increases, as when she first attacked him with a punch in this form, she caused an explosion.


 * Fire Generation: Because she is merged with Goethe, who can manipulate fire, she also has this ability, but can generate fire at higher speeds than Goethe.


 * Enhanced Agility & Co-ordination: Her agility and co-ordination also increase upon her fusion.

Quotes

 * (To Kariya) "I have done nothing that requires your forgiveness."