Rukia Kuchiki

Rukia Kuchiki (朽木 ルキア) is a major character in the manga and anime series Bleach. Rukia is a shinigami. 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. Although Tōshirō Hitsugaya recently usurped her position, Rukia had been consistently the second most popular Bleach character in Shonen Jump's polls.

Character outline
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. Although she tells Ichigo that she is nearly ten times older than he, she is endearingly clueless about the ways of the living world (seen in the case of the juice box) and learns to speak modern Japanese through the manga she reads. According to Kubo, when (in book five) the semester final exam scores were announced, Rukia's rank was 302 out of 322. With the exception of Japanese, she failed most of her exams.

Rukia is an accomplished actress, being able to act her way through a number of tough situations. Ichigo seems to be the only one to always pick up on it and accuse her of pretending. She also seems to enjoy drawing (rather badly); 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 will often draw something as an explanation to Ichigo, he'll insult its quality, and she'll hit him very hard. 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. She also likes to climb to high places and her favourite foods are eggs and cucumbers.

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 scenes are shown with her and Ichigo yelling and making faces at each other. 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. However, 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 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.

Residence
Due to her circumstances during the early story and the anime Bount arc, Rukia lives in Ichigo's closet with Kon; she uses the bedroom window as an entryway into the Kurosaki household. Additionally, she has obtained casual clothing and school uniforms for her day-to-day activities, some of which were stolen from Ichigo's sister Yuzu, and the rest of which were supplied by Urahara on credit.

Several months after the incidents at the Soul Society, Rukia returns to the living world with five other shinigami to combat the rising arrancar threat. She manages to convince the Kurosaki family to let her stay with them, using a flimsy sob story that instantly convinces Yuzu and Isshin, and shares a crowded room with Karin and Yuzu.

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 due to his elite status. 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 had adopted her in order to fulfill Hisana's last wish, who had also been accepted into the Kuchiki family as Byakuya's wife.

In the 13th Division, Rukia was not given a seat position. It is later revealed that this was 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, and greatly admired his 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.

Early story
While patrolling Karakura Town, Rukia enters Ichigo's room to do a soul burial on a spirit that had been following him. Rukia is caught by surprise when Ichigo kicks her, not expecting a mere human to be able to see and touch a shinigami. A hollow attacks Ichigo's house and Rukia is injured defending Ichigo from the hollow. Unable to fight, she tries to transfer some of her powers to him, only for Ichigo to sap nearly every ounce of her power instead. Thus endowed with shinigami abilities, Ichigo easily dispatches the hollow and Rukia leaves.

As a result of Ichigo's draining of her powers, Rukia is unable to return to Soul Society and is forced to live in a gigai given to her by Kisuke Urahara and wait for her powers to return. During this time, she convinces Ichigo to assume her duties and enrolls in Ichigo's high school. Unfortunately, Ichigo's new duties set off a flurry of activity both in the human and soul worlds. An increased amount of hollows (and at one point, even a Menos Grande) come to the human world and are dispatched in one form or another by Ichigo, Rukia, and eventually a group of friends whose own powers awaken after prolonged exposure to Ichigo's increased abilities.

As Rukia remains longer in the human world, she begins to grow comfortable with the life she is living there. Fearing she is growing too attached to the human world, she runs away from Ichigo's house. Two shinigami from Soul Society, her childhood friend Renji and older brother Byakuya, come to arrest her and nearly kill Ichigo in the process. Fearing for Ichigo's safety, she begs him to forget about her, and returns to Soul Society as a prisoner.

Soul Society arc
Rukia is imprisoned in a holding cell in the 6th Division and is sentenced to death. While Ichigo and his friends make their way into Soul Society, she meets Hanatarō Yamada, who is assigned to clean her cell, and tells him about Ichigo and the human world. The circumstances of her sentence begin to look suspicious when the date is moved up not once, but twice, leaving the total grace period at twenty-five days instead of the normal thirty-five. Additionally, the Sōkyoku, a massive weapon capable of instantly killing the strongest of shinigami and mainly used on those at captain level, is determined as the mode of execution. Days later, she is moved to the Shrine of Penitence which overlooks the Sōkyoku. Renji oversees the transfer and informs her that one of the intruders that has infiltrated Soul Society is Ichigo.

During her time in the Shrine of Penitence, Rukia sees the intruders enter the Seireitei through the sky, is informed of Renji being defeated, and feels the moment when Ichigo and Kenpachi are both incapacitated. Three days before her execution, Ganju Shiba and Hanatarō Yamada manage to disable the guards of the Shrine of Penitence and break in. Upon seeing Rukia, Ganju realizes the shinigami that killed his brother was her and threatens to kill her. They are interrupted by Byakuya and, after some convincing from Hanatarō, Ganju decides to face Byakuya to protect Rukia. He is nearly killed, but an interruption by Ichigo saves him. A subsequent interruption by Jūshirō Ukitake and Yoruichi Shihouin saves everyone else, but Rukia is forced back in the shrine.

Three days later, Rukia is taken out of the Shrine of Penitence to be executed. Along the way, she senses Renji being defeated again and is confronted by Gin Ichimaru. He offers to save her, Renji, and the intruders, but once Rukia begins to regain hope, he admits he is lying. She is brought to the Sōkyoku and as her last wish, asks for the intruders to be brought back to the living world unharmed. The Sōkyoku is released and is about to kill her before Ichigo blocks it with his zanpakutō. Ukitake and Kyōraku arrive and destroy the Sōkyoku while Ichigo destroys the execution grounds. Renji arrives and Ichigo turns Rukia over to him while dealing with the remaining lieutenants and Byakuya.

Renji carries Rukia away but is stopped by Kaname Tōsen, who teleports them back to Sōkyoku hill. Aizen, Tōsen, and Ichimaru reveal themselves as traitors and Aizen asks Renji to turn Rukia over. Renji refuses, but is easily defeated before Ichigo shows up. Ichigo is also defeated and Aizen reveals that he arranged Rukia's execution in order to retrieve the Orb of Distortion, a device that has the power to break down the barrier between the shinigami and the hollows. The Orb was placed in Rukia when she inhabited the gigai given to her by Urahara. Urahara had created the gigai to be untraceable, allowing the user to go unnoticed, and drain spiritual power rather than restore it. Had things gone as planned, Rukia would have simply become human. Aizen had planned to retrieve the Orb after Rukia's execution, but Ichigo's interference forced him to use a less harmful method devised by Urahara, which kept Rukia alive after removing the Orb. Despite being able to remove the Orb without harming Rukia, Aizen orders Ichimaru to kill Rukia anyway. She is saved by Byakuya, who pushes her out of the path of Ichimaru's attack. The remaining captains, humans, and lieutenants arrive as backup, but Aizen, Tōsen, and Ichimaru are saved by hollows, who draw them into Hueco Mundo.

While Byakuya is being healed, he tells Rukia the truth about Rukia's sister and explains his insistence to kill her was due to a vow he made to his parents to never break the law again. As Ishida, Chad, Ichigo, and Orihime prepare to depart for the human world, Rukia decides to finally ask for forgiveness from the Shiba family. She also decides to remain in Soul Society.

Bount arc
In the anime, Rukia returns to the real world just as the Bounts begin surfacing. She is not informed of this fact, instead sent under orders to fight hollows. Thus, she is surprised when she arrives in the real world during the middle of a fight between Ichigo Kurosaki and Yoshino Sōma.

Once the battle is over, Rukia is brought up to speed and meets Urahara's three Bount-tracking modsouls. Ririn is jealous of Rukia's familiarity with Ichigo, while Rukia instantly takes a liking to Kuroud, who resembles Chappy the Rabbit in his plushie form. Rukia then spends most of her time in the real world with Ichigo and his group and starts to attend Ichigo's high school like she did at the beginning of the story, using an improved memory-altering device to convince them she was already attending school.

During a battle with the Bount Mabashi, she is possessed by his doll Ritz. Ritz is able to force Rukia to assume her shinigami form and even rematerializes her zanpakutō, but doesn't use its released form. Orihime Inoue is able to undo the possession by using her powers to "reject" the possesion of the doll.

Later, she accompanies Ichigo and the others to the Bount cave and finally returns to Soul Society with the others when the Bounts attack Soul Society. While heading back to her squad, she is attacked by Yoshi. She manages to evade Yoshi for a while with Ririn's help, but is injured and forced to submit when Yoshi takes a small child hostage. Yoshi slashes Rukia several times and stabs one of her legs, but Byakuya arrives in time to keep Yoshi from killing Rukia.

While recuperating in bed, Rukia overhears several servants mention Ichigo fighting with Jin Kariya at Sōkyoku, and attempts to go to him. She encounters Renji as she is departing and, realizing her still weakened condition, asks him to take her to Sōkyoku. She initially wants to help, but is convinced by Renji that it's Ichigo's fight. While watching the fight, she convinces Orihime to let Ichigo fight alone, since both Jin and Ichigo have similar backgrounds.

Arrancar arc
In the manga, Rukia reappears after Ichigo's dismal defeat by the two arrancar. She reignites his ambition after to protect his friends and then drags him back first to Orihime Inoue, who had been previously injured because of Ichigo's failure. Afterwards, she makes her way to the Kurosaki household where the rest of the shinigami explain the current situation with Aizen. She easily overcomes D-Roy, a lesser arrancar, by using the initial release of her zanpakutō. Later on, however, a surprise attack by Grimmjow leaves Ichigo questioning his resolve again, and he leaves without informing her of his whereabouts.

Rukia talks to Orihime when the latter feels she is a burden due to hard words from Urahara. After Orihime sorts out some business with the vizard, Rukia takes her to Soul Society so they can train together and become stronger. After another attack from the arrancar in the real world, she returns ahead of Orihime and saves Ichigo from attack by Grimmjow. He breaks free and just as she is about to be killed by Grimmjow, Shinji Hirako interferes. Rukia remains curious about Ichigo's interactions with these "new people" (she is not aware of vizard situation), but is too distracted by her communication with Soul Society to do anything more.

Later on, she appears in Orihime's apartment to hear about her capture. As Ichigo vows to save Orihime, Rukia is denied that option and is taken back with the rest of the shinigami to Soul Society by Byakuya and Kenpachi.

Hueco Mundo arc
Not long after Ichigo, Ishida, and Chad arrive in Hueco Mundo, Rukia and Renji manage to join them and end up saving them from a hollow attack. As usual, she greets Ichigo with a punch (Renji follows up with an elbow) and tells him that he should have waited for her, reminding him that they are companions and part of a team. She also reveals that she received permission from her brother Byakuya (but not from General Yamamoto) to join Ichigo's mission to save Orihime from Aizen and the Espada. The group proceeds to Aizen's headquarters and, encountering a room with five exits, split up after vowing that they shall meet again alive.

After sensing Chad's defeat, Rukia makes her way across a bridge in Las Noches. After seeing daylight rather than constant darkness, an Espada arrives and leads her into a building in the center. Once inside, the Espada introduces himself as Espada #9, Arroniro Arulueri and takes off his mask, revealing the face of Kaien Shiba.

Powers
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.

Rukia's greatest strength is her knowledge of the demon arts, a set of magic spells she can use in the performance of her duties; amongst her known skills are those for binding, purifying, and destruction. After losing her powers, she is able to use these abilities in a limited fashion, but they're 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). Renji says that Rukia is also useful because of her speed. Since the events at the Soul Society, Rukia's shinigami powers have made a near complete recovery and she has revealed that she is fully capable of executing the initial release of her zanpakutō.

Sode no Shirayuki
Rukia's zanpakutō is named Sode no Shirayuki (袖の白雪 or 袖白雪, roughly Sleeve of White Snow or Snow White's Sleeve, given that Shirayuki also stands for Snow White in Japanese). It goes unnamed until after the Soul Society arc in the manga, since she initially gave her shinigami powers to Ichigo. Rukia first reveals her released zanpakutō in chapter 201, having regained enough of her powers to use it. Bleach: Memories of Nobody marks the animated debut of Rukia's zanpakutō. Its initial release command is "dance" (舞え).

In its initial release state, 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. 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. With the phrase "first dance, white moon" (初めの舞, 月白), 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. With the command "next dance, white ripple" (次の舞, 白漣), Rukia can perform a directed version of the first attack. Her second form allows her to attack her enemies from mid-range by creating a massive wave of ice in the direction in which she points her blade.