Katsumi Kenbu

Katsumi Kenbu (剣舞 克美, Kenbu Katsumi) is the 3dr seat of the 8th division of the Gotei 13. She has held the position both before and after the TYBW arc having not wishing to be promoted to captain or lieutenant as she felt she lacked the leadership skills

## Appearance

Katsumi is a slender and well-endowed woman of average height. She has soft tanned skin, green eyes, full lips, and extremely long red hair. Her hair is long enough to reach past her knees when loose though usually kept in a long braid, chin-length a-symmetrical bangs framing the sides of her face with several strands of hair always hanging between her eyes. she wears purple lipstick and has her nails painted a similar shade on both her fingers and toes. it has been noted that she is considered rather beautiful by the male Shinigami.

Initially she wore a sleeveless variation of the standard Shinigami uniform that was left partially open to expose her ample chest. instead of wearing the standard Shinigami sandals with tabi, she wears golden sandals with her feet uncovered. her hair is held in place with a golden band at the top of her long braid and tied at the base with a white fabric.

Sometime between the Aizen and Quincy incidents she modified this further cropping the length of the top, so it sits just below her chest exposing her midriff and lowering the back.

She accessorized her uniform with various pieces of golden jewellery, including double gold bands around her wrists, ankles and neck. She also has multiple piercings in each ear, also gold to match her other jewellery, originally studs in her lobes and a hoop around outer ear, later replacing the studs for larger hoops.

Along with her jewellery she also wares a green silk sari (garment from the Indian subcontinent) that is wrapped around her waist, with one end draped up over her shoulder.

## Personality

Prior to the Quincy invasion Katsumi was a slacker who disliked work and loved to drink. She is very aware of her appearance, frequently using her considerable feminine charms to get her way. Despite her version to doing her own work she is very good at delegation work to others often giving tasks to Shinigami who will achieve the best results, thanks to this she had been able to hold her position in the division. She often gets a hard time from the lieutenant due to her lazy approach to work.

In her younger days she was quite full of herself having come from a richer family she felt the others where lower class than her this attitude softened over time since joining the Gotei 13 but can resurface at times.

During the Quincy invasion Katsumi had to take charge of her division temporally when captain Kyōraku and Lieutenant Ise promoted to the 1st division. She didn’t take to the position well with the pressure of commanding paired with war she struggled to make the best decisions.

She is reluctant to enter a battle but will if she absolutely must. In combat Katsumi prefers to keep her distance from her opponents holding them back using low level Kido or her ranged Shikai abilities. She has achieved bankai but hardly ever uses it due to lack of training it buts to big a strain on her.

After the Quincy invasion she has become more involved in general work after having more responsibility put on her during the transition between captains. She can now handle a heavier workload without getting too overloaded but when she doses, she seeks the comfort of her husband to help calm her down.

She has a good friendship with Rangiku Matsumoto as the two both share similar interests like shopping in the Human world and going out for drinks. When she is out drinking, she will sometimes have men offer to buy her drinks, but she often refuses them as she likes the expensive stuff that most can afford.

## History

**Early life**: Katsumi comes from one of the lower noble families. She is the granddaughter of the family head. Her father is the second son of the family as such Katsumi isn’t in line to be the family leader. Due to Her families influence she was spoiled form a young age. Due to getting everything she wanted as a child she developed a less than pleasant attitude mostly to the staff that worked for her family.

At some point, at what would during Katsumi’s pre-adult years, one servant had enough and attempted to get rid of her. One day Katsumi got bored and thanks to a suggestion from the servant decided to venture out into the Rukongai so see how the less fortunate lived. During her trip she “accidently” got separated from her servants and ends up in a rough part of the district surrounded by a large group of thugs. The group takes her deeper into the rukongai making it obvious to her what their intentions were to the attractive young girl. She tried to call out for help but to no avail. Eventually when things seemed to be at its worst, another young man entered the crowd, instantly punched one of the thugs in the face and smiled. The young man single handily defeated everyone the thugs, saving Katsumi. It would be years later before she discovered that the young man that saved her was in fact her future husband, Masaru.

After being returning to her household Katsumi was placed under house arrest for her own protection much to her disappointment. After much begging to be let out of her home Katsumi came to an agreement with her family. If she wanted to be out, she would have to attend the academy and learn how to protect herself.

**Academy**: At the academy Katsumi was an average student not excelling in any particular classes though she did have a harder time with her swordsmanship. This was a time that her slacker attitude really came to the forefront only doing the bare minimum to pass her classes without out overexerting herself preferring to use her time socialise rather than study.

When at home her grandfather tried to make her practice her sword skills, but she would come up any excuse to get out of it when she could. Instead, she would stay in her room and look at Kido incantations so make it look like she is taking her studies seriously, though she did learn a good amount of them despite her intentions.

## Power and Abilities

**Swordsmanship**: by the time she graduated the academy she had become a proficient sword fighter though her skills are better displayed when wielding her zanpakuto in its shikai form and using its ability to keep her distance form her opponents. When wielding her zanpakuto in her sealed from she lacks the strength to effectively use the blade in battle.

**Kido expert**: from her studies Katsumi is rather knowledgeable of Kido though still lacks some practical skills to effectively in combat without having back up. She can use a verity of different level spells and is capable using some lower-level spells without the need for incantations.

**Shunpo practitioner**: Katsumi can use shunpo but only at a very basic level that most other Shinigami can use. She mostly uses shunpo to get distance from her opponents so she can use her zanpakuto more effectively.

**expert tactician**: due to her position in her division Katsumi is able to delegate a lot of work her the lower ranking members, this originally stemmed from her own reluctance to work but soon proved to be a strength as she learned which members when best suited to certain tasks.

## Zanpakuto

**Hebihime** [ 蛇姫] (Snake Princess) in its sealed form looks like a regular katana with a purple hilt. The tsuba resembles a lotus flower made up of seven petals. Katsumi usually carries her zanpakuto behind her back tucked into her sari wrap.

### Shikai

When releasing her Shikai Katsumi holds the hilt of the blade with both hand and says the command “Twirl” (Hinekuru[ひねくる]) the blade will be enveloped in light. The blade will then bend around itself becoming circular blade connecting back round the base of the hilt. Katsumi will then pull her hands apart as she doses the blade will double its splitting into two different weapons. She will often also spin around as she moved her hands. This isn’t required to release the shikai but Katsumi dose it for dramatic effect.

In its shikai form Hebihime takes the form of two chakrams (disc-like blades) with a handle taking a faction of its incomplete ring. The ring itself is mostly dark grey with a lighter silver outer edge. The inner side of the ring as a golden design with a pattern that looks like an expanded version of the former tsuba now with small purple gems.

The shikai is an elemental type that lets Kasumi manipulate the flow od air around the edge of the Shikai’s blade. By slashing the blade, she can produce blade like gust capable of cutting enemies at a distance. The disc-like blades are primarily a throwing weapon. When thrown the wind spins around the blade giving it incredible speed. While Katsumi is unable to control the blades movements once it leaves her hand it will always arc back around and return to her.

### Bankai

**Ameno Hebihime** [天の 蛇姫] (heavenly snake princess)

Katsumi achieved bankai during an extremely difficult battle. While in the desperate need for more power, Hebihime appeared before Katsumi and willingly offered her more power. This was unusual as the spirit is usually not very cooperative. When the bankai was first activated it had a unique quality in the way that the Katsumi doesn’t actively control it by herself, hebihime itself is partly in control using parts independently of Katsumi.

In its Bankai form Hebihime separates into even more blades, seven total, each looking the same as in its shikai form except for one large ring with seven long purple ribbons attached to it. The large ring levitates behind Kasumi and the other disc blades orbit around her. Unlike with her shikai each blade can now be moved around with out having to be thrown and can manipulated mid-air.

In addition to the blades the bankai form also equips Katsumi with and additional set arms each made of the same golden material as the gold parts of the blades. The arms are attached to her back that respond to her movements as is they were her real arms, although initially these arm where controlled by hebihime independently of Katsumi.

## Trivia

* katsumi’s design is partly based on the hindu goddess of snakes, Manasa. This reflected mostly in her shikai and bankai with the uses of 7 and a recurring theme representing the seven cobras that is often depicted sheltering Manasa.

* Katsumi’s name is written using the kanji 克 meaning triumph and 美 meaning beauty.
* Her surname is written as 剣舞 which translates to sword dance.