Sawabe Kihaku (9th Division Lieutenant)

[Makoto]

Name: Sawabe Kihaku

Current Race: Shinigami

Rank: 9th Division Lieutenant

Age: 180 (Appears 26)

Gender: Male

Hair colour: Pitch black

Looks: Sawabe has a very stern, thin face that matches his rather lean body. Despite his thin body he still has a bit of visible muscle mass but nothing above average. His short black has a slightly spiky shape to it with no real neatness to its shape. The only otherwise irregular feature of his body is a scar that runs from his right shoulder down diagonally across his chest.

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Personality: Sawabe is usually a serious, calculating type of person. He tends to not let his real feelings show and tries to not let his emotions cloud his judgment. He is very loyal to his division and his fellow shinigami and obeys almost any order he's given. When in moments of leisure Sawabe has shown that he can still have fun. Laughing, smiling, and even sometimes dancing are things he's done if he's in the right mood and with the right people, though this doesn't happen often since he actually tends to get a bit embarrassed by this behavior.

Likes: Sawabe likes to try new things, especially food, but he's also comfortable with doing things the same old way. He likes to be able to relax once in a while despite how seriously he takes his job and he likes to have friends to relax with. He also has a strong liking for sake but doesn't like to drink too much.

Dislikes: Sawabe is easily irritated by people who have no sense of responsibility and try to avoid work, but only if they try to do it all the time or very frequently. Since he was young he has had uneasy feelings when in cold, snowy weather.

Crushes: Sawabe likes someone who has a personality to off set his own. He likes someone who is happy and cheerful most of the time but still knows the importance of work. He really likes someone who is accepting and casual around him so that he himself can feel more laid back and not have to stay so serious.

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Skills/Abilities: Sawabe is a bit of an escape artist, excelling at getting out of tough situations with some smart thinking and skill. He can slip out of handcuffs, ropes, chains, or any other sort of binding or restraining device that has no spiritual applications. He also has a very agile and flexible body because of this which makes him quick and able to react and dodge more easily then most.

Specialties: Sawabe is unnaturally adept at telling people's true nature. He is very insightful on others and can usually tell what type a person someone is just by looking at them. He is also good at parlor tricks though he almost never does them.

History: Sawabe grew up as any normal kid would. Nothing spectacular or amazing really happened. He was well liked at school except by a few kids but it's not like they hated him. He was never really serious about school or his studies yet he still got some of the best grades out of any of the students in his class. He lived a rather dull existence but it was a happy one. That changed a few days before his seventh birthday.

Sawabe had always felt that there was more to the world around him and he had finally caught a glimpse of what that was a little bit before he turned seven. He could start seeing people that apparently others couldn't see. He saw children, men, women; all of them seemed normal except for a chain on their chest. He began to wonder what this chain was and what it meant. He figured it must've had something to do with why no one else could see them but him and he was also a little scared of them because of this, always keeping his distance and never talking to them. He eventually got over his fear and tried to talk to one of these mysterious children after a year of simply wondering and hiding. He was walking home from school one winter day and saw one of these chained children and ran over to talk to him, unfortunately when he attempted to speak to them a Hollow was also after the strange child, trying to feed on him. Sawabe found himself caught in the middle of some sort of chase between the child and this horrible monster. As the monster chased the child it knocked over and collapsed anything in its way, including some construction scaffolding the Sawabe was unlucky enough to hide under. When the scaffolding came down everything went dark, his last sight was the falling of scaffolding and snow, and when he woke up, he was completely fine and normal except for a chain hanging from his chest. Only now did he realize what the meaning behind the chain was, he was dead.

Sawabe knew nothing else to do beside simply "haunting" his own house as the case may be. He spent hours trying to get his parents attention some how, to let them know he was okay, but they were grieving too much to notice any of his signs. A few days of this went by until he was trying to sleep in his bed, trying to return to any bit of normality he could, when he heard a loud crash from the front of their house. When he ran out to see what had happened he was filled with an immense sense of shock and fear. The same kind of monster that had killed him had crashed into his house and killed his parents, but the monster wasn't looking for them, it was Sawabe it wanted. Once he had ran out to see what happened the monster tried to attack him, fortunately the monster had trouble moving in their small house which gave him enough time to be able to get away from the monster but he only had one chance, to run. He ran out of his house and darted into the small forest nearby. The only thing he remembers from then is hot tears running down his face and the snow surrounding him on all sides, on the ground, on the trees, and falling from the sky. This image somehow manifested itself as an internal fear within that sticks with him to this day.

There was a tug on his shoulder from behind but he was too scared to look, it was a shinigami who had come to take him back to the Seireitei because of his high spiritual pressure. He fought kicking and screaming with his eyes closed all the way there. When they had arrived he finally was able to stop crying and realize that he had been saved. He was informed of where he was, who the shinigami were and what they did, and that he'd be able to become one of them. He agreed almost immediately, he would do anything now if it meant protecting others from what happened to him.

He went through the academy in a similar way he went through school, except that now almost no one seemed to like him because he never let anyone get close. He mostly blamed himself for what happened to his parents since the Hollow that killed them was looking for him. He felt that he didn't deserve to try and be care free or even show happiness. He was only supposed to graduate, become a shinigami and protect others at his own expense. When all he did was focus on his work it was easy for him to pass almost all his studies with flying colors, except he couldn't control his zanpaktou quite right yet. Every time he released its shikai he could feel some sort of furious presence almost fight back against him.

Despite this draw back he was accepted into the 9th Division in the 7th seat due to his mostly exceptional grades. He trained diligently to master control over his own zanpaktou's power and slowly became better and better, As he did so he slowly began to rise in rank within his squad. One day while training to control his own power, which he had pretty much already mastered his shikai but he felt there was still room to improve, he saw his zanpaktou's spirit in perfect clarity. It told Sawabe that it didn't like being controlled but it had no choice since he was only a weapon and needed a wielder to draw out its power, but as long as he was going to be controlled he figured he might as well give Sawabe the power he wanted. It was at this time that he was finally able to unlock his true potential that lied within his bankai. This new level of power presented a whole new different range of power that he had to work to control. Though he hasn't yet mastered this power it was enough to finally get him promoted to the rank of lieutenant.

He has lightened up a bit since his days in the academy, no longer blaming himself for his parents death though the way he acted still sticks with him, keeping his emotions hidden and trying to only focus on the mission. Part of him wishes to return to the fun kid he was but that part of him was buried beneath the anguish and fear within him.

Picture of Character: (None as of now)

Sample Chapter: Sawabe felt his body heave up and down with each heavy breath and he joints strain with each movement. Training so hard for so long had had an obvious toll on his body but he had no time to quit and rest. He had a nagging voice in his head telling him he wasn't good enough to protect anyone at his current strength. He needed to become stronger, to obtain more power, to be satisfied with himself and his capability to serve as well as he wanted to.

"This isn't enough. I need to push myself harder..." He straightened himself out and took a deep, long breath. He figured that if he wanted to control the power of his zanpaktou he would first have to train his own body so that he would be able to push his own control further. He turned to face the nearest tree to him, standing a few feet away from it. He closed his eyes and tried to concentrate only on the tree infront of him. He opened his eyes suddenly and at the same instant he ran at the tree, putting all his weight behind his right hand and he drew it back and shot it forward into the tree's bark, causing a snapping sound to emit, though it wasn't quite clear if it was from the tree or his hand.

He felt a sharp sting run up his arm and down though his body to his feet. He drew a shaking hand back from the cracked and fractured bark on the tree. His knuckles had begun to bleed, though he couldn't feel anything else broken in his hand. It wasn't good enough. The Hollows wouldn't stop if they just made him bleed a little. He knew he needed to try harder but he knew no other way then to continue. He continuously brought his hand into the air and drove it back into the tree, opening his wounds more and more with every impact, splintering his own hand and coating more of his blood on the bark. He wasn't really sure of why he wold put such a strain on his body but he had instincts that had told him that if he didn't do everything he could to push himself he would never be able to accept himself and no one else would accept him.

After a few minutes of this act of pure instincts taking over common sense and reasoning his body had finally decided to shut itself down on him, which was its own way of telling him it was enough and he could stop. He leaned his weak and battered body against the tree, each breath shaking his entire body down to his bones. He collapsed and fell onto the ground next to the tree, unable to push himself up with his quivering arms. Despite how damaged and exhausted he knew he was, he couldn't help but smile to himself. Some might think his training style was reckless and senseless but at the end of each training session he couldn't help but feel proud. Each time he collapsed was just another step closer to being able to protect the innocent souls of the world but first thing was first, "I need to get some people from the 4th Division to look at me. They sure aren't going to be happy about seeing me again." He chuckled to himself quietly, exerting the last of his strength to stand and walk his way back to the Seireitei. Maybe he could actually relax now but then again, how could he train if all he does is relax?

[Monty2289]

Why does majority of the history sound like a recent filler that just passed as of couple of nights ago on adult swim. XD.

Ah well...As long as nothing was descriptive and generally known (i.e. talking about something in great detail that everyone here - being Bleach fans - already knows about) And you have a sample chapter so Approved.

[Monty2289]

((Double Post))

Oh yeah that reminds me. I'm not sure if you're aware but the previous captain is Shizuku (Shizuku Tokiha) a.k.a. nee-chan. So um...as the vice captain of the 9th Division you have no captain ^^

[Shizuku]

Wait! Hold your horses! Technically. I'm still the Captain of 9th Company. That is.. until you defect. So He does have a leader.... (So Bleh!)

[Monty2289]

Considering that you're now an arrancar hun, no afraid you're not. But unless it will be an NPC he will have no rank higher than him. Oh wait...NPCs can't be captain. So right now he has no superior. I mean other than nee-chan but that's only because you're still stuck as group leader.

[Shizuku]

We haven't actually completed the HD Arc. So technically, I'm two people, until one is deleted or one is dead. So until we get that defect, I am omnipotent.

[Makoto]

Should I be captain then if there's no one higher than me? I assumed from the rank listing that there was already a captain of the 9th Division but if there's not I might as well apply for that position, right?

[Shizuku]

NO! I'm captain.... and until the situation changes.... that is how it will stay!... Damn.

[Makoto]

Okay, okay. Sorry...MA'AM! Gosh!

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