Rukia Kuchiki

Personality
Although there was nothing she could have done to prevent Kaien's death, Rukia continually feels guilty about what happened to him throughout the series. Because she immediately killed Kaien without first trying to find a way to help him, Rukia convinces herself that she valued her own life over his. The only solace she is able to find in his death is the belief that she saved him from a hollow's control. This guilt-ridden attitude carries over to her relationship with Ichigo Kurosaki; when Rukia is taken into custody and Ichigo is gravely wounded in an attempt to save her, she assumes that he dies of his injuries. Feeling that Ichigo's death would have been avoided had she never met him, Rukia loses her reason for living and resigns herself to her sentenced execution.

Because of the amount of time she has spent with Ichigo, Rukia has been able to gain a keen understanding of his inner workings. She is as such always able to help him overcome his own self-doubts, showing him that he can and wants to complete a given task when he himself thinks otherwise. Rukia's relationship with Ichigo is unique, for despite the relatively short amount of time they have known each other, Ichigo can easily confide in her and considers her a true friend because she is encouraging and understands what he is feeling. Rukia's ability to get into others' heads comes into play a number of other times throughout the series, most commonly while in the human world. By playing the part of a poor, innocent girl, Rukia is able to get others to side with her and otherwise focus their scrutiny on an unrelated topic so that her peculiar actions might go unnoticed.

A recurring gag throughout the series is Rukia's drawing ability, or lack thereof. When needing to explain something to someone, most commonly Ichigo, Rukia uses poorly drawn pictures to illustrate the topic. Regardless of what the subject might be, all of her works most closely resemble bears, rabbits, or some other typical woodland creature. Ichigo is always quick to comment on this deficiency, and promptly receives either a beating and/or graffiti to the face for bringing it up.

Abilities
Rukia's only initial ability are her kidō spells, which she uses for such purposes as restraining, healing, or attacking others. At the start of the series her spells are severely limited, being both weak and of a small variety, due to the bulk of her powers being given to Ichigo. After returning to Soul Society and regaining her Soul Reaper abilities, Rukia is able to cast spells at her previous capacities, such that she can cast multiple spells in quick succession and even use two spells at the same time. Rukia's kidō skills are of great caliber amongst Soul Reapers, and by her own admission her mastery over kidō far surpasses her mastery with a blade.

Rukia's zanpakutō, Sode no Shirayuki (袖の白雪 or 袖白雪, Sode no Shirayuki? literally "sleeve's white snow"), is released with the command "dance" (舞え, mae?). In its released state the blade becomes completely white and a ribbon forms from the pommel, earning it the recognition as the most beautiful snow and ice zanpakutō in Soul Society. Sode no Shirayuki utilizes ice to attack, each of its three abilities being labeled as "dances" by Rukia. "First dance, white moon" (初の舞・月白, some no mai, tsukishiro?) denotes a circular area around Rukia's target and freezes everything within the circle from the ground upwards until it reaches the sky.[29] "The next dance, white ripple" (次の舞・白漣, tsugi no mai, hakuren?) fires a massive wave of ice from Sode no Shirayuki's blade. "Third dance, white sword" (参の舞・白刀, san no mai, shirafune?), her final ability reserved only for when her blade is broken, reforges her zanpakutō with ice particles, piercing through any object in its path and freezing anything in the vicinity.

Profile
Species Soul Reaper
Date of birth Jan 14
Occupation Soul Reaper in the 13th Division
Known relatives Hisana Kuchiki (sister, deceased), Byakuya Kuchiki (brother-in-law, adoptive brother)
Zanpakutō Sode no Shirayuki