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Overview

Tetsuya Kuchiki (朽木 徹夜, Kuchiki Tetsuya) is the half-noble son of Takao Kuchiki and Kiko from  a town in the mid- western Rukongai. Tetsuya means "Clear Night". He is also Byakuya Kuchiki personal bodyguard. His father, Takao was close to Soujun Kuchiki, Byakuya's father, as the two grew up together and were first cousins.

Appearance

Tetsuya is a few inches shorter than Byakuya with a more delicate looking build. He have bright, blue sapphire eyes and long, wavy black hair with longer length braid at the left side which he keeps up with purple porcelain headpiece. Tetsuya wears dark navy standard shihakusho uniform under a variation of a lighter blue outer coat, featuring a high collar with dark navy edges and mismatched sleeves. The right side is a folded armsleeve while the left side is a long kimono sleeve.

He wears black fingerless gloves under a fingerless white tekkō, similar to Byakuya's, which extend above his elbows. As a Kuchiki personal bodyguard, He wears a Kuchiki crest Badge around his uniform's left sleeve. On the back of his right shoulder is a branding from the prison, his name in Japanese and the name of the prison, Itamigiri (place of honorable pain).

Personality

Tetsuya is extremely shy of meeting new people, but when he knows someone, he becomes smiling and friendly, often surprising people with warmth not expected of a young noble male. He spends most of his time alternating between seeing to security at Kuchiki Manor and guarding Byakuya, and socializes rarely, only attending formal occasions as Byakuya's bodyguard or with his adoptive family. Tetsuya was traumatized by what he saw and experienced in the prison, so he views sex as a form of violence. He will not have sex with a woman and is deeply protective of women and children. He mostly bottoms with male partners, only changing roles when coaxed into doing so (as Byakuya and Renji did in Love Not in Vain Part 2: Love That Never Dies). When with lovers like Renji or Ichigo, he becomes playful and feisty in bed. He is well-skilled because Orochi sexually trained him to be. With Byakuya, he is more reserved and respectful, but will exhibit that wilder side when his defenses come down.

Tetsuya mostly acts to incapacitate enemies, only killing in extreme situations. Tetsuya has a deep respect for all life, even the lives of evil folk and will only kill when he has to. He is an 'old soul' because of what he has suffered, but has a polite, childlike, innocent personality most of the time, just the same. He speaks very formally, as Byakuya does, although he still harbors that wilder, uncivilized side that enjoys being naked and sleeping out in nature sometimes. Tetsuya's freedom is very important to him, and he can't stand to be physically confined. He is taken off guard by Renji's quick sense of humor and playfulness, but secretly enjoys being teased in a friendly way. Arashi is protective of Tetsuya and unmercifully teases his master's lovers, especially Renji! (He'll be doing the same in Heart of Ice as Tetsuya's relationship with Grimmjow progresses!).

History

Tetsuya Kuchiki is the half-noble son of Takao Kuchiki and Kiko of a town in the mid- western Rukongai. Takao was close to Soujun Kuchiki, Byakuya's father, as the two grew up together and were first cousins. But when the Kuchiki elders heard that Takao had left the family estate to marry the commoner, Kiko, a few rogue councilors conspired to capture Takao and Kiko and to deliver them to the secret and illegal noble's prison, Itamigiri. When they were captured and incarcerated, Kiko was already carrying their child, Tetsuya. Takao was executed shortly after arriving at the prison, but Kiko was kept alive and imprisoned. She gave birth to Tetsuya and cared for him until he was six years old and deemed old enough to be moved to the children's cells.

Tetsuya was placed with a cellmate, a slightly older boy named Yukihana Naoki, also a half-noble, who mentored and later fell in love with Tetsuya. Tetsuya was noticed early on by wicked cousin, Orochi, who had been instructed by Byakuya to find and infiltrate the hidden prison. Orochi noticed Tetsuya and when Tetsuya was considered 'of age,' he claimed Tetsuya as his and began using Naoki and Tetsuya as sexual slaves. (Luckily for poor Tetsuya, Naoki gently claimed his virginity before Orochi could.). Some time later, the teen lord Byakuya's troops invaded the prison and were able to rescue Tetsuya, although Naoki was killed defending his lover from the guards.

When Tetsuya was rescued from the prison, his body was very weak and incapable of managing the extremes of his power. Even as he healed, his powers began to bloom exponentially and finally could not be housed in his physical body. (This is because Tetsuya is a young transcendent. He is a shinigami now, but later will be called to serve in the soul king's mounted guard.). Because of this, a portion of his power left his body and became a tall black Arabian stallion with sapphire eyes that Tetsuya named Arashi (Storm).

Byakuya convinced Ginrei Kuchiki to take Tetsuya into the family and eventually, Tetsuya was adopted by Sadao, the leader of one of the Kuchiki subfamilies, and his wife, Mai. Sadao and Mai had lost a son, who had been a young soldier in the Gotei 13 (Mitsuru Kuchiki) and had also two daughters, the elder girl slightly older than Tetsuya and named Aratani, and the younger and spunkier girl named Kohana.

At first, Tetsuya had no idea how to cope outside the prison, but Koji Kuchiki, a young male cousin was assigned by Byakuya to act as Tetsuya's bodyguard, attendant and to help him learn how to live in a noble home. Aratani and Byakuya also assisted in Tetsuya's assimilation into the clan. Yet although Tetsuya was able to learn the ways of the noble, and because of Byakuya came to respect and obey the rules, he continued to harbor a wilder, more untamed side that translated into a fierce love of animals and nature, as well as a powerful loyalty to Byakuya, and steadfast determination to protect his cousin. Byakuya saw to the bulk of Tetsuya's training himself, and Tetsuya's abilities blossomed over the years.

Powers & Abilities

• Innate ability: able to slow the absorption of poison. This ability can be used with or without zanpakuto

Zanpakutō

Tetsuya's zanpakutou is a grey steel sword with a navy hilt wrapping and sapphire insides (It matches his sapphire colored eyes) and a bronze colored tsuba bearing sapphire colored gemstone, and lavender-colored sheath. The sword's name is Re-kuhime (Lake Princess). She is a fiery little pixie spirit with sapphire eyes and very pale blue skin, who also dresses in tones of blue.

• Shikai: It is triggered by the command "Reflection" (Touei)
  • Ability: allows Tetsuya to create waterforms on the battlefield, which he can use to position himself to attack, or to escape attacks. He can also use waterforms to invoke stealth so that he can observe without being seen.
  • Special ability:
    • The wielder able to breathe under water
    • Tetsuya can freeze his own body as a means of self-protection
    • Able to impale and freeze targets from the inside out. Tetsuya only uses this attack when he is meaning to kill
    • Summoning Familiar: Tetsuya can summon a tall black Arabian stallion with sapphire eyes named Arashi (lit.Storm).

• Bankai: Koori no Bakuha (Ice Blast): 

• • The waterforms become small, compacted ice blades that both cut and explode as they impact a target.

• Inner World: Evernight
  

  • His inner world is always a clear night, so that the moon can be seen like the moon watches over him.

  • Moon represents Byakuya in his inner world, which is a symbol of their connection.

Weaknesses

When Tetsuya activated his waterform zanpakuto’s ability, He must avoid direct light or the forms can be detected, and if a waterform is hit, it is destroyed. If Tetsuya is hit twice in battle before he can shift from one waterform to the next, he can be cut, but as long as he is only hit once before shifting, he takes no damage to his own body.

Tetsuya very rarely drinks alcohol because his body reacts strongly to it (As in, one drink makes him dizzy and confused).

Trivia

Purple porcelain headpiece

• This was a gift from Byakuya's father to his mother. Later Byakuya gave it to Tetsuya as a sign of their bond.

Uneven length of hair

• Originally Tetsuya’s hair was longer, but Orochi chopped it in a fit of anger and he kept it shorter after that. After Tetsuya was rescued by Byakuya, he weaves it into the clump of longer hairs left on the side of his face after Orochi chops most of the longer hair away.

Tetsuya's wavy hair

• Tetsuya’s wavy black hair always misbehaves constantly (a reminder of Tetsuya's feisty spirits and stubbornness).

Waterform usage

• Because of Tetsuya's extreme shyness, he often uses waterforms to conceal himself while invisibly guarding Byakuya.

Likes & Dislikes in foods

• Having been deprived of any variety of foods as a child in the prison, Tetsuya loves foods found readily in nature, nuts, berries and most fruits and vegetables. He will eat meat as well, but doesn't prefer it.

Arashi

• Arashi and Tetsuya can look through each others' eyes and speak into each others' minds. Arashi is able to use Tetsuya's abilities and can take on the form of a black Pegasus or when merged with Tetsuya to make their divine form, can become an armored, horned Pegasus.
• In the recent story, Moonfall, Tetsuya also was given a Vollstandig by Ywach that turned his divine form white.) If the divine form is used in Soul Society, Hueco Mundo or the living world, it takes a heavy toll on Tetsuya, making him fall unconscious after the battle for seven to ten days, then requiring up to a month before his spirit centers recover and he is able to use any of his powers again. When he becomes fully transcended, he can use his divine form readily, without that tradeoff.

Quotes

• (On first chapter of Scattered Petals Part 1: Blue Eyes, Silent Tears) "I wonder if that cruelty is a poison...if it will poison me and make me hard and foul inside, like they are. I want so much to hate them. But they were poisoned because they hated. I do not want that poison in me. I do not want their poison in me... I will not hate them, but I will hate what they do. I will not be poisoned with their hatred." 

Notes: TBA=To be added