Kurosaki Ichigo (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
hollowfied) wrote2011-07-05 09:01 pm
hollowfied) wrote2011-07-05 09:01 pm
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thewake_rp
Personal Information
Name: Arden
Age: 26
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Current Character(s): None!
Character Information
Character Name: Kurosaki Ichigo
Fandom: Bleach
Source: Here!
Character History:
As bizarre as Ichigo's life has become over the course of his experiences upon becoming a Soul Reaper, he didn't exactly start out as an average Joe, either. Though he didn't know it, his father Isshin Kurosaki had actually been a shinigami himself, which gave a very unique (and decidedly violent) atmosphere to his upbringing.
Oh yeah. And he could also see ghosts.
Not that he even realized they were ghosts at first. He just figured they were people like anyone else, and so lots of people got to think he was six shades of crazy-chan when he'd go on talking to thin air all the time or staring off into space. Of course, this had more dire consequences than just earning him really weird looks, because the fact that he thought a little ghost girl was actually suicidal led directly to the death of his mother when Ichigo was only nine. In truth, it wasn't actually a ghost at all, but rather the lure of a Hollow called the Grand Fisher. When he was twelve, he met Orihime Inoue when she showed up at his home after her brother had been injured in a car accident. His father was unable to save him, and Sora Inoue died.
Ichigo was haunted by the guilt of his mother's death, and his failure to protect her, and started skipping school and getting into fights with bullies in Junior High. It was in one of these fights that he met and befriended Chad. He also began assisting spirits, which he came to be able to tell apart from the living.
His life was forever altered upon meeting Shinigami Rukia Kuchiki who appeared in his bedroom. She explained what she was, though she hadn't expected anyone to be able to see her in her spiritual form. A Hollow attacked his family, and Ichigo fought to protect them at any cost. Rukia was severely injured trying to keep him safe, and decided to transfer half her powers to him. Except failed and transferred them all. OOPS. He was able to defeat the Hollow, and also became a shinigami. Rad.
Rukia proceeded to stalk the shit out of his life, because she couldn't do her job anymore, so she was determined to make Ichigo do it. He wasn't exactly happy about signing onto the job, but she didn't really give him a choice. She taught him about fighting Hollows, and exactly what they were and what a Soul Reaper's duty was in defeating them: not just destroying the monster, but purifying their souls to send them onward to Soul Society.
Wacky hilarious school hijinks ensued, complete with parakeets and brass knuckles, and perverted talking stuffed animals. During all this, Ichigo continued to get used to his new powers and learn all about Substitute Shinigami-ing.
He confronted the Grand Fisher once again, now able to actually fight the thing that had killed his mom, but it got away. He admitted to Rukia then that the powers he hadn't wanted at first he now wished to maintain, so that he could eventually defeat the Grand Fisher, and also protect others from Hollows, in order to be able to feel that he was not letting his mother down anymore.
Ichigo then earned himself yet another stalker in the form of Uryu Ishida, a Quincy who HATED SHINIGAMI!!!111 and forced grudge matches on Ichigo against his will, who just couldn't believe how ridiculous this guy was. When Ishida drew in some super powerful Hollows, they had to work together, paving the road for their eventual friendship.
When Renji Abarai and Byakuya Kuchiki came to retrieve Rukia, Ichigo confronted them both and got his butt kicked by Byakuya. The shinigami took off with Rukia, and Ichigo was saved by Kisuke Urahara and company. Kisuke helped goad Ichigo into resolving to go into Soul Society and rescue Rukia from execution, and offered to train him. Cue Karate Kid montage, in which Urahara's intense crazy training included almost turning Ichigo into a Hollow, which would cause all kinds of fun issues later. He learned the name of his Zanpakuto (Zangetsu) and they got to play all kinds of fun head games while Ichigo wrestled with learning to control his abilities. Passing Kisuke's crazy training course, Ichigo was ready to head off on Operation: Insane Rescue, along with his buddies Chad, Orihime, and That Quincy Guy who Hated Him.
The party totally failed at getting inside the Seiretei at first, thanks to Gin Ichimaru, but they got help from Kukaku Shiba,
He managed to very dramatically halt Rukia's execution at the last second for maximum suspense, halting the Sokyoku, which held the power of a million Zanpakuto. Yeah. He's that badass. Then he got to fight Byakuya again, which was all he really wanted, because man, that guy was an asshole. During the fight, however, Ichigo hollowified and went psycho, which resulted in one of the only expressions of genuine surprise Byakuya had ever made in his entire life. Ichigo got a hold of himself finally, and then won the fight.
With that over, he found out the truth about who was the bad guy: that
ONE. FINGER.
Then he monologued at Ichigo about his evil designs for awhile, until Captain
Ichigo finally gets an official Substitute Soul Reaper badge, before going home. Yeahhh boi.
It'd been awhile since Ichigo had had anyone stalking his life, so this time Shinji Hirako showed up to fill the gap. He turned out to be what was called a Visored, which meant - surprise! He was just like Ichigo in that whole weird-turn-into-a-Hollow-and-then-back way. He informed Ichigo that if he didn't learn how to deal with it, his internal Hollow would take over entirely and tear up the town, but Ichigo still didn't want to join their clubhouse.
Some Arrancar (Hollows with Shinigami powers) showed up on the scene, and in the ensuing fight, sure enough, Ichigo's Hollow took over, and Orihime got injured. Ichigo got super depressed by his massive amounts of fail, and then six of the Shinigami he'd met in Soul Society, including Rukia, showed up at his school, under the command of Captain Hitsugaya. They filled him in on who the Arrancar were, and then more of those fun guys showed up, going after any reiatsu they could sense. It was during this that Ichigo first faced off with the Arrancar Grimmjow. When Tosen, one of the shinigami who had defected to follow Aizen, showed up basically to send Grimmjow back to his room, Ichigo got angry at the Arrancar for not wanting to finish the fight.
Angry at himself for all of his lack of control in the face of his inner Hollow, Ichigo finally accepted Shinji's offer, and spent a month doing yet another exciting training montage, learning how to control his Hollowification. The Arrancar showed back up again, and Ichigo headed off to fight Grimmjow, but he could only maintain his Hollow mask for 11 seconds, and... still failed. Rukia and then Shinji joined in to help fight, until the Arrancar were recalled back to their home in the spiritual realm of Hueco Mundo.
Orihime was taken into Hueco Mundo as well by one of the top Arrancar, Ulquiorra, and Ichigo asked the leader of the Shinigami for permission to go after but got DEnied. Ichigo ... sure didn't care though, and went to Urahara for help getting to Hueco Mundo himself. Chad and Ishida went with him, because the power of friendship is just that awesome.
Ichigo fought his way through Hueco Mundo, and squared off against Ulquiorra, who he initially didn't want to fight with, but was angered enough to when Ulquiorra revealed his role in kidnapping Orihime. However, he totally lost that fight and got stabbed through the chest by Ulquiorra's HAND. Grimmjow was super disappointed, because he just wanted to fight Ichigo himself, and it wouldn't be any fun when he was half dead, so he ordered Orihime to heal him back up. The two proceeded to square off in a closely matched fight, and Ichigo ended up taking him down more or less, thought the end of the fray was interrupted by the more powerful Espada, Nnoitra. Ichigo was almost killed by Nnoitra's follower, Tesra, but Kenpachi showed up to be crazy and save the day. Orihime healed Ichigo back up, and then got kidnapped again. :|
Aizen announced he was heading off to go destroy Ichigo's home city, but Ichigo's priority was to save his friends first, so he went after Orihime and got to have a final face off with Ulquiorra. Despite Ulquiorra's superior power, Ichigo refused to give in, and Ulquiorra seemed to triumph by firing a Cero blast into Ichigo's chest that should have been fatal. Instead, however, Ichigo's Hollow took over to an extreme new degree, and allowed him to defeat Ulquiorra, and heal his own injuries.
He also sort of almost killed Ishida, but who's counting?
He then got in a fight with Yammy, the most powerful Espada, but Kenpachi and Byakuya showed up to take that over, so Ichigo could head back to Karakura Town to stop Aizen. It turned out that Aizen's ability to manipulate the senses of anyone who had seen his sword release meant that he could beat ANYBODY who had with ease - which meant Ichigo was really truly their only hope.
Ichigo joined the already on-going battle, and just stared as everybody attacked one of the shinigami, Momo Hinamori, and seemed to act like they had won the battle. It turned out Aizen was using his hypnosis powers to fool them all, and Ichigo was the only one who could see the battle for what it really was. Aizen proceeded to pwninate everyone, and even survive the Captain-Commander of the shinigami's most powerful attack. Ichigo finally moved in to attack him himself, and Aizen annoyed him by revealing that he was actually the most dedicated Ichigo stalker of them all, and that everything that had happened to him was what Aizen had wanted, to help him research Hollow/Shinigami hybrids, and create an opponent to test his skills on.
Then Ichigo's Dad showed up, which was a gigantic WTF moment in his life. He promised to explain later, but Ichigo figured he had pretty good reasons for keeping the whole shinigami thing secret, and headed off to fight Gin. Aizen himself stopped Gin from killing Ichigo, and then the two bad guys took off outta there. His dad took him after them, and in the extradimensional traveling space that the shinigami used to get from one place to another quickly, Isshin took 3 months to help teach Ichigo the Final Getsuga Tensho: the move that could ultimately have a chance at defeating Aizen. Since time worked differently there, they had the luxury of using it to advance Ichigo's training. Ichigo got to have some more nice metaphorical mental battles with his inner Hollow / Zangetsu, until he realized that the essence of the final Getsuga Tensho was that he'd have to sacrifice all of his powers in order to execute it.
It was through using that technique that Ichigo was able to best Aizen, and weaken him to the effects of a Kido barrier spell placed on him by Urahara. Just as he knew would happen, his powers began to fade, and as everyone else gathered around, he collapsed. He woke up back home surrounded by his friends, and found out time had more or less reversed for him, rewinding him back 3 months. He said his farewell to Rukia in private, as the last of his powers faded away, and she disappeared from his sight. He thanked her and told her goodbye, and a million fan tears were shed.
And with that, Ichigo returned to his 'normal' life.
Character Personality:
Call Ichigo Kurosaki a 'hero' to his face and he's likely to produce some kind of dismissive reaction. It's not a title he's comfortable with, and not the role he's ever wanted to play. He'd prefer, quite honestly, to be known for the very same role that he's named for: as a 'protector'. In fact, this is so essential to the core of who he is, that it's the exact reason why his character is so heroic, whether he sees it that way or not.
Ichigo's motivations to fight, to face incredible odds, or to thrust himself into danger have nothing to do with a desire for glory or personal satisfaction, and everything to do with his desire to keep safe from harm his friends and those who he sees as in his care - as well as to not let them down. When he was younger, the person he chose to see as his to protect was his mother, and his failure to be able to prevent her death - a failure that robbed his family of her far too soon - haunted him and fueled his intense resolve to not let this occur again. From there, he extended his personal sense of duty to include protecting his younger sisters - which is what drove him to success and advancement in hand to hand combat even as a child. As he grew, his natural sense of compassion caused him to further extend his circle of protection, to not just those he called his friends, but to innocent strangers he encountered in situations where they could not defend themselves against a threat. Even when his powers would later make him practically unrivaled in combat, Ichigo had no desire to see himself as the protector of the entire world. He doesn't like to deal in absolutes or ideologies, which is one thing that separates him from many of those he encounters. He fights to protect individuals from other individuals, rather than for 'good' or even for the shinigami. He sees those more general types of allegiances as too large and impersonal, which is just not how he operates.
The truth is that Ichigo is all about the individual, and as such, he tends to approach everyone on a level playing field. Those with a very regimented sense of honor or status would look at him as impertinent or disrespectful, but that's not the case at all. He simply doesn't look up to or down upon anyone; instead, he looks at people, and sees them for who they are. This is very poignantly represented in the way he talks about being able to '"see" people through their blade when he fights them. While he can be angry at a person's motivations or actions, he still sees even his not-fully human enemies as people, and judges them based solely on who they are. He even expresses an understanding of Aizen's deep internal loneliness after fighting him. Ichigo's inability to judge a person by their rank or allegiance also leads to his comical fail at remembering people's titles (or even their names for that matter). He defines people by his experiences with them, not by their labels, and he won't fight someone just because they're supposed to be the 'bad guy'. In Hueco Mundo, for example, Ulquiorra actually had to provoke Ichigo into fighting him by revealing his role in bringing Orihime there, and it was that threat to his friends that drove Ichigo to respond. He picks his battles entirely based on who he is protecting, which ties back into the way he doesn't simply fight for any ideal or creed. While it might seem as if the heroic sentiment would be to fight for honor and distance oneself, Ichigo is incapable of this because of his empathic, emotional nature, and in fact does the complete opposite, making fights often very personal.
It isn't that he's without any sense of honor - in fact, he has his own definition of what honor is, and adheres strictly to it. This is part of what was so difficult for him about his Hollowification, as he did not feel right in turning to that power to win battles. Central to Ichigo's personal code of honor is loyalty to one's friends and allies. Given this, nothing insults him more quickly than someone who won't stand by their comrades. Anyone who turns on or abandons someone they should be fighting with can spark his ire or disrespect. He would literally do anything for his friends, including laying down his life, but he's not just concerned about their physical safety.
Ichigo holds himself to incredibly high standards, and failure to live up to them (like with his mother, or when he loses a fight), sticks with him and can drag him down into depression. He also shows deep fear when confronted with the idea of losing himself to the Hollow that threatens to overtake his soul, afraid of the injury he might bring to those he holds dear. While he was an incredibly happy child before his mother's death, he grew into an almost perpetually scowling teen, and tries to maintain a 'cool' exterior, working hard to counterbalance the assumptions people have about him as a result of both his unusual appearance, and bizarre behavior due to his ability to see and interact with spirits his entire life. One of his other reasons, however, for trying to keep this image of nonchalance is to not burden the people he cares about with this inner demons that plague him. He'd rather shoulder that burden alone wherever he can, seeing it as a way of emotionally protecting the people in his life.
Of course, calling him 'cool headed' would be taking it pretty far - he actually has an incredibly hot temper, and a low threshold of patience. It's really easy to annoy him or make him go off, and he tends to embarrass pretty easily. Silly situations or even well natured teasing can be enough to frustrate him, because he doesn't always know how to deal with it while maintaining that cool kid image of his. He also tends to not have a great deal of self control in his demeanor, and tends to snap quickly and act impulsively. He's incredibly stubborn, proud, and independent, and likes to comport himself in a casually serious way. When angered, however, he can be extremely outspoken about his views, and his language can make him seem rude or disrespectful.
On the flip side of this, he really is a compassionate guy, who enjoys making his friends happy, is pretty empathetic, and never purposefully cruel or callous. He also possesses an exceptional power of will, thanks to his belief that he simply cannot fail those who put faith in him. If he did not have that to fight for, it's likely he would not have become the powerhouse that he did, and would have had no reason to keep fighting.
It's also of note that he grew up in a house with his incredibly bizarre father, who made a sport out of violence and keeping Ichigo on his toes, so violence isn't something that Ichigo views as bad in and of itself. It's just, to him, a part of every day life, which was probably his Father's intentions all along.
Ichigo's also incredibly uncomfortable with girls when it comes to anything romantic or sexual, and he's seriously a dumbass teenage boy when it comes to reading signs from them. As in, he can't. At all.
Powers:
Here's a shocker: NONE.
Yeah. That's right.
Taking down Aizen came at a cost to Ichigo, which was that he lost all of his shinigami powers, and all of his spiritual reiatsu. He can no longer so much as even see spiritual beings or creatures.
Of course, he still has non-magical abilities, like his physical fighting prowess. His dad trained him as a martial artist since he was little, and he also took lessons. His attacks show not only strength and dexterity, but a great understanding of the complexities of hand to hand combat, and wisdom in choosing the right moves to make. He's also incredibly tough, and his fortitude allows him to take a beating even in his regular mortal body.
He's also able to catch on to new abilities and powers incredibly quickly - although I'm taking him from before this point in canon, he will later be able to unlock his 'Fullbring' powers with the same astonishing speed he brought to his shinigami abilities before.
He's also keenly intelligent, and tactically minded, which is one of his advantages in battle.
Prior to losing his abilities, he possessed immense quantities of spiritual energy, and found with a zanpakuto in the Spirit World - a weapon that was an extension of his spiritual essence, but with its own personality and abilities. He could release the blade into the more powerful shikai state, in which he could unleash an attack called Getsuga Tensho, which unleashed an incredibly potent destructive blast of spiritual power. He could also release his weapon into Bankai form, in which his sword shrinks, but becomes much stronger, and able to withstand intense attacks. Fighting with his bankai allows him to perform at hyper-speed, which is just what it sounds like. His strength, spiritual power, and the abilities of Getsuga Tensho are all heightened in this state.
Ichigo was also subject to Hollowification, which at first was a result of his internal Hollow taking him over, but became something he could control at will after his training with the Vizards. This Hollowification fighting technique increased his spiritual power, strength, and the power of Getsuga Tensho even further. While it increases his stamina, endurance, and fighting prowess, it also bends his personality and fighting tactics towards the more ruthless powers of a Hollow.
Samples
First person:
What the hell?! What happened to this thing? [A pause as he... examines it further]
Yeah, ok ... It's never done this before. [There's a tapping noise over his comm as he raps his finger against the sudden screen that's manifested on the back of his badge]
.... Hello?
[loudly, as he speaks with his mouth right next to it] Hey! Can anybody hear me? ...
[grumble, grumble] .... If this is some kinda spy stuff to monitor me or whatever, it's pretty dumb to just STICK IT ON HERE and expect me not to notice.
Just how stupid do you think I am??
And it's a pretty lame prank, if that's what it's supposed to be. Just fess up already or else-- [But he never finishes that thought, because he's interrupted by noticing something much more important]
... Hey, wait a minute. [pauuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuse]
Where the hell am I?
[Groan] You've gotta be fucking kidding me.
Third Person:
When Orihime shouted at him to make the Hollow that was clutching her hold still so she could direct an attack at it, he couldn't help but frown as he realized that was easier said than done. Either the thing was going to charge him if he incited it to attack, or it would ignore him and try to eat Orihime. He doubted it was going to be interested in sticking around for a chat. He figured he could probably get it to chase him, but he knew he wasn't likely to out-pace it very far, and it would only prove to make it shakier for Inoue to attack. Plus it might rip her house apart even further in the process.
It struck him very suddenly that he could see the Hollow, even though he shouldn't be able to, and that only served to unnerve him more. It wasn't as if he felt any lingering spiritual power reserves deep inside he could draw on, and he couldn't waste time trying.
But even back when his friends didn't have anywhere near the same power he did, they sure as hell never gave up, and he wasn't about to do that when one of them was at stake.
So he yanked his Substitute Shinigami badge out of his back pocket and held it up very forcefully in front of him, shouting at the thing and hoping to get it to pause long enough to listen, while he... lied his ass off.
"You see this? This means I'm a shinigami," he declared. Of course, the Hollow wasn't going to be able to sense any spiritual power coming off from him, but then again, maybe he'd just assume that was because Ichigo was that damn powerful. After all, he used to be. "And it's my job to cleanse Karakura of filth like you."