Rangiku Matsumoto

**Rangiku Matsumoto**is the lieutenant of the 10th Division of the Gotei 13, serving under Captain Tōshirō Hitsugaya.

## Physical Appearance

Rangiku is a slender, very attractive woman of average height. She has long and wavy strawberry blonde hair, pale-blue eyes, fair skin, full lips, and a beauty mark located under the right side of her mouth. She is well known for her voluptuous figure; her most distinctive feature of it is her very large breasts. She dresses in the typical Shinigami garbs, though she lets her robes hang loose for her ample bosom to be revealed. She wears a thin silver necklace tucked between her cleavage and a long pink scarf over her shoulders. In addition, her lieutenant's armband is worn on her uniform's sash, as opposes to around the arm. She carries her Zanpakutō around her back.

## Personality

Rangiku tends to be a slacker who dislikes paperwork and loves to drink. She is not the slightest bit modest about her appearance, frequently referring or complaining about her large breasts in normal casual conversation, much to the embarrassment/amusement of anyone around at the time. She is not above using her considerable feminine charms to get her way, as shown when she tries - albeit unsuccessfully - to bribe Ichigo Kurosaki into letting her stay at his house during the Arrancar invasion.

Her easy-going, nonchalant, laid-back, and free-spirited personality makes a sharp contrast to the serious, aloof, and short-tempered Hitsugaya, but the two seem to be quite close regardless. Rangiku met the young boy prior to him utilizing his power and encouraged him to enter the Shinigami academy. As a lieutenant, she is extremely causal around him, almost constantly by his side and showing deep loyalty to him on several occasions, even though her laziness frequently annoys him. While she seems somewhat self-centered, she is sensitive and empathic to the feelings of others, evident when she sees the concern Hitsugaya has for Momo Hinamori, the guilt Izuru Kira shares with her when Gin Ichimaru is revealed as a traitor, and when Orihime feels depressed about her role in Ichigo Kurosaki's life. Despite her lackadaisical image, she can be extremely serious, focused, and thoughtful when needed and is a capable fighter and strategist, best-shown when she uses clever teasing to manipulate the Tercera Espada's Fracción into squabbling among themselves long enough to drop their guard and leave them open for an attack.

Rangiku's favorite food is dried persimmon, just like that of Ichimaru. She also shares Orihime's very strange taste in food. She dislikes bamboo shoots because she finds their taste too strong and their texture unpleasant. She likes Japanese dancing, and in addition to her shihakusho robes, she enjoys buying superfluous amounts of clothing from various department stores in the Human World. When she feels like drinking, she finds free people and invites them to come out with her, and then has them treat her to drinks, so that she wouldn't have to spend any money. She is drinking buddies with Shunsui Kyōraku and Shūhei Hisagi.

## Abilities

**Expert Swordsman Specialist**: Rangiku shows a great proficiency in wielding her Zanpakutō. While she can obviously hold her own in a fight, her skill in the wielding of her Zanpakutō comes from her mastery of its special ability. Through sheer imagination in conjunction with her Zanpakutō's special ability, Rangiku has become skilled at taking on large groups at once.

**Kidō Expert**: As a lieutenant, Rangiku has enough of an understanding of Kidō spells to identify them on sight. Though she is not a common user of this art, she is able to use Bakudō No. 77 without incantation. Rangiku can also use Hadō No. 31 and Hadō No. 58.

**Shunpo Practitioner**: Rangiku's Shunpo are great enough to keep up with her captain, but her skill at it is most likely of the same level as most lieutenants. Her skill has proven great enough to easily out-maneuver Arrancar capable of fighting at lieutenant-level skill.

**Hakuda Practitioner**: While mainly using her Zanpakutō in actual combat, Rangiku has, on various occasions showed some noticeable skill unarmed. During various missions to the Human World while in a Gigai, she would use well-coordinated kicks and punches on people with perverted advances. Ikkaku has noted that she should hold back more on her strikes, as she tends to knock out the target.

**Expert Tactician**: Rangiku has proven to be quite intelligent when she needs to be such as in her battle with Nakeem whom she fooled into believing that she was unconscious in-order to request that the limiters be removed more easily, as well as in her battle with Harribel's Fracción and caused them to argue with one another and attempt to defeat them with one concentrated attack.

**High Spiritual Power**: Being a lieutenant of the Gotei 13, Rangiku boasts a high level of spiritual energy. She has manifested her Reiatsu and successfully intimidated both Chad and Noba. Her Reiatsu is white.

**Enhanced Strength**: Despite her highly feminine appearance, Rangiku has shown herself to be deceptively strong. During her battle against Nakeem Grindina, she was easily able to hold back the Arrancar's large stomping foot with a single hand and his fist with her forearm, the former while her limiter was still active.

**Enhanced Endurance**: Rangiku has been shown to have a high endurance. Even fighting against three Arrancar Fracción, she was able to hold her own against the three of them at once without showing fatigue.

**Enhanced Durability**: Rangiku has shown to have a high durability. As she has taken a direct hit from the hollow creature Ayon resulting in the loss of the entire right side of her abdomen and she still was alive, though was breathing heavily.

### Zanpakutō

**Haineko** (*Ash Cat*): Her Zanpakutō's sealed form  is that of a straight-bladed katana. The tsuba is in the shape of a cat's head, with two triangles on the top half curving into ear-points and the bottom half tapering down into a single point. It has a dark red handle. Rangiku keeps Haineko behind her clipped onto her waist obi.

* **Shikai**: The Shikai release command is "**Growl**".

**Shikai Special Ability**: In its Shikai, Haineko's blade turns to ash, and with a flick of the hilt, she can cut anywhere the ash has landed on. All the ash that surrounds her opponent(s) might as well be her sword. With simple hand gestures and a thought she can control where the ash goes as well as make it take various forms. So far she has created an enveloping cloud which she can then enclose around her opponents turning it into a deadly tornado. This provides her an advantage while fighting groups of enemies. Though it now takes on the look of scattered ash, each particle is a tiny blade. Rangiku controls the ash to attack from any direction as soon as she moves the hilt, ultimately enveloping and tearing up the enemy. So evidently, Haineko is very hard to fight against in this form. The main attack strength of Haineko comes from how much ash makes contact, thus why it is clumped together. If the ash was to attack the opponent in single particles, the damage would be little to nothing. The ash can cut through objects as easily as a sword would, similar in principle to Byakuya Kuchiki's **Senbonzakura**. Rangiku has shown that Haineko can be a defensive weapon as well by having it take the form of a shield to defend against Apacci's attack. This katana is incredibly difficult to use.
* **Neko Rinbu** (*Cat Round Dance*): Rangiku can create an enveloping cloud which she can then enclose around her opponents, turning it into a deadly tornado. This provides her an advantage while fighting groups of enemies.

## Relationships

### Friends/Allies

* Tōshirō Hitsugaya (Captain and best friend)