Ryunosuke Fujiyama

Ryunosuke Fujiyama is a shinigami of the 6th Squad. A perpetual social outcast, the ranks of the Gotei 13 changed his world forever when they offered him opportunity for growth, success, and of course, camraderie. He believes that by steadily working his way up the ranks of Seireitei, he will gain the knowledge, experience, and authority needed to improve Seireitei and the whole of Soul Society.

Zanpakto
While writing Fujiyama I came to realize he's very much a zodialogical dragon type, so when I decided to make a fire-type zanpakto, a little digging revealed the obvious choice for a theme - the Phoenix! In the Chinese Zodiac, the Phoenix is used to represent the female counterpart to the male Dragon, and the more ying qualities of the unbalanced, fiery animal. Of course, in the West the Phoenix means something different: rebirth! I loved rebirth as a theme for a Weapon of Fiery Doom. For me, it helped keep the zanpakto a full, stylized character, instead of merely a set of powers. Unfortunately (well fortunately really, very very fortunately) the concept of rebirth as a game mechanism doesn't fit into Bleach Fest's rules, so I had to be a little creative in implementing my theme in Kaika Ou's powers. Luckily it all played out well, and now she's Krom's favorite zanpakto! Possibly ever!!

Name: Blossoming Firebird (Kaika Ou, 開花凰)


 * Bankai: Blossoming Firebird of the Imperial Pearl (Ama Shinju No Kaika Ou, 天真珠の開花凰)

Release Command: Soar, Blossoming Firebird

Appearance
Unreleased, Blossoming Firebird is a long, thin, curved katana with a circular guard and red diamond-patterned hilt wrapping. A red-and-silver tassel dangles from the end. Arm outstretched, the blade reaches nearly to Fujiyama’s far elbow, a length that favors mid-range, aggressive fighting style and usually requires more care than Fujiyama has to spare when backed into a tight corner.

Upon release, his off-hand comes up to grip the hilt and, tilted sideways to parallel the floor, sweeps across the entire length of the blade. Restrained fire follows the path of his hand, and as he passes over the katana it glows, straightens out, and lengthens even further. A small bell appears on the tassel. As the sword completes its (her?) transformation, the phoenix fire suddenly ignites and encapsulates both arms, trailing behind in a fiery shadow of feathers and wings. It’s Ban Kai requires no change to the blade - however, the entire composition of flame alters. Fire moves to Fujiyama’s back, and solidifies into giant, curved wings capable of both fight AND flight (ha?). As the form condenses, so does the essence, each flame hardening into a ruby of glittering, crystalline pyrotechnics. The piercing cry of an eagle can be heard in the distance as, with a single, powerful flap, the user is catapulted into the skies.

Avatar &amp; Inner World
The world of Kaika Ou is centered around a single path, from which visitors are advised not to stray. The dirt is rich and fresh, and a wonderful smell of To either side of this path is a great forest of bamboo, softly rustling in a perpetual, sourceless breeze. To the north, the sky is a brilliant sapphire blue; immediately overhead the blue is scored with streaks of fiery red and umber orange. Along the path walks a solitary Lady clad in long-flowing robes of mandarin red silk.

If you stop and ask her to show you, she’ll smile, and hold out her arms, and your eyes will trace a ferocious, static hunt between a phoenix and a dragon. Who is chasing whom changes before your eyes, depending on the light, and the angle, and on your own changing whim. But please, don’t ask her to stop. For in front of her a new stretch of gently-packed earth appears, pleading to be walked upon, and behind her rages a faceless storm of destruction, turning forest and pathway into blank nothingness as if it had never existed at all. So quickly now, catch up with the Lady, lest you too be caught up in the maelstrom. Her pace is not too hasty, and her company quite soothing.

As you meander down the pathway, you can’t help but realize she looks familiar to you. Between the warm slant to her eyes and the gentle curve to the nape of her neck, some base reaction stirs within you. Your fingers itch as you long to pluck away the comb of diamonds that crowns her head, and tease out the strands of raven black that cling so tightly to each other in her shell of hard black. You know her in another form. Caught up in your fantasy, you see a sudden flash of bone-white, a solid bunny mask, without even slots for eyes.

Kaika Ou turns to you, and politely murmurs a question about the weather in Seireitei. You take a deep breath and try to push the stark, unbidden image from your mind. Chatting inanely, you learn that her favorite color is, in point of fact, bubblegum pink; her favorite author is Milan Kundera; and if she could be any animal, it would be a slightly overweight chipmunk. She smiles gently at you, as if she somehow knew exactly what went through your mind, and wants nothing more than to put you at ease. For she is nothing if not graceful, in stature and in spirit, the complete opposite of that heinous Naoko Nakagawa.

Shikai
Ability 1) - Fireclaw - By focusing the flame into the palm of his hands, Fujiyama can build up and refine the phoenix fire into a direct attack. Released in a cross-body swipe, the fire forms a giant talon that can then be used as an extension of the zanpaktou, reaching up to a full body-length's away from Blossoming Firebird.

Ability 2) - Ashes to Ashes - So great is the Phoenix's virtue, she can conjure life from any destruction she may come across. Naturally, as the weapon of a protector of Soul Society, this includes the random acts of violence such protection wreaks upon a battle's general surroundings. Starting with the fifth post of a thread, Blooming Firebird may summon miniature fire birds (three per thread?) from the general rubble caused by the fight. About the size of a baby chick, these firelings explode on contact, causing minor damage and upsetting the balance of anyone who comes within pecking range.

Bankai
Ability 1) - Flamesheath - Blossoming Firebird, by increasingly generating and condensing flame around its blade, superheats to levels far beyond that which would evaporate a sword made of earthly materials. In this draining state, it can cut through anything not spiritually charged.

Ability 2) - Tears of a Phoenix - With a flap of its wings, Blossoming Firebird sets its curious crystalline embers into a whirling rage, and hurls them with the accuracy and precision of a hail cloud, blanketing an area the size of a tennis court. This move can only be used while in flight.

Kidou
Bakudou 4 - Hainawa (Binding Rope)

Bakudou 30 - Shitotsu Sansen (Beak-Stab Triple Beam)

Description
When creating Fujiyama, I envisioned him very much as a solitary outcast. He likes to think of himself as a 'tough guy' who scares away the faint of heart, but he never quite gets the look right. He always feels a little childish around most of Rukongai, because his human body died while he was still a newborn - he entered Soul Society without memories, with less than a week's worth of a past life. His peers always took the time to remind him of his oddity, and as such he developed a great fascination, and distaste, for the Real World and its inhabitants' daily lives.

Appearance
The first thing I noticed about Fujiyama was his short, spiky black hair and deceptively soft silver eyes. Those shadowy eyes sink into impossibly high cheekbones, giving him the appearance of a Tolkein-esque elf gone mad. Hands shoved into pockets of a pilot’s jacket, cigarette hanging loosely from his lips, looking for all the world as if he were off to a friends house to play video games, or talk about girls. You’d never guess he was a member of the elite 13 squads. That always made the strongest impression on me, his disdain for Shinigami garb.

Personality
And, well, the suit fits. Fujiyama was a douche. Ask anyone from his high school - they’ll tell you so, after glancing about from habit, checking the shadows and corners for his signature skulking form. Oh sure, maybe the occasional “fangirl” or two will gush on if you push the right buttons, but that’s just typical hormonal mess. Nobody who knew him ever had anything good to say about him. Period.

Okay, maybe that’s going a little far. But you never knew the guy. There was this one time he was called in to the principal’s office. We all thought he was in trouble, suspended for his latest misdeed, but he came back ten minutes later. Sat down just in time to orate Hamlet’s “What a piece of work is man” speech. You should have seen his face when our teacher chose him to read it, he’s been asking for the part for weeks. I think it was the first time he paid attention in class in four years and he looked like he was receiving the goddam Blood of Christ. Anyhow, he reads it, with perfect timing I might add, and then folds right back into himself once he’s done. Nothing more of interest that day for Fujiyama.

I had all but forgotten his little sojourn to the principal’s until some girl comes up to me after class and says “Hey, did you hear about Ryunosuke-kun’s mom? I guess she was held up as a hostage in a bank robbery earlier today, and the guy went nuts and shot everyone. She took two bullets to the head and one right through her neck!” Of course, right as she’s saying this who walks around the corner but Fujiyama. His mother was dead in a horrible twist of fate, desperation and psychosis, and the dude could care less. Probably heard the whole thing and didn’t even bat an eyelash.

Background
Rumor has it he’s the son of a Yakuza boss. Not that anyone takes it seriously though...there’s this one girl who fiercely denies it, in fact. Name’s Honda. I once interviewed her for the school paper. Nothing big, some filler article about new school policy on drinking fountains. We somehow got on the subject of Fujiyama, and she had some crazy story from when they were friends, years ago. Now I always thought this guy was so mean he just sprang into existence nasty and cruel, as if from a stone egg atop the Mountain of Wisteria and Mean-Spiritedness*, and I wasn’t too far off - apparently this kid hasn’t been nice to anyone for fifteen years.

But I digress. According to Ms. Honda, when she and Fujiyama were four, they were among the few survivors of a tragic temple fire on New Years. Nearly everyone inside the temple was caught in the fire, except for those two. If we’re to believe her story, a feat I’m not quite sure I’m capable of, they were in the heart of the temple, about to ring the bell when the panic hit. Ms. Honda doesn’t even remember the fire at all. Her memory jumps from the first few muffled screams right to Fujiyama half-dragging her by the hand through the adjacent forest. Crying. For whatever reason, Fujiyama completely blamed himself for the fire that day, and no matter what Ms. Honda or anyone else told him he obstinately insisted he somehow caused the fire. After a while he grew sullen and refused to talk about it. Ms. Honda reckons he couldn’t deal with the constant arguments maintaining his guilt led him to. And, ever since then, he’s been the cold-hearted Ryunosuke we all know now.

It's a shame, you know. He died an infant, and the couple who took him in are good folks, the kind of people you raising kids. I can't imagine what they went through, after the incident. Suddenly their wonderful, kind, pious child turns inward, refuses to talk, and comes out the other end this all-around hated Yakuza-wannabe. The part that kills me is, how many of us can say we raised our kids practically from birth? Honda tells me he died a stillborn - he couldn't have been outside the womb for more than a minute or so beforehand! Such opportunity, such potential, and nothing gained but more destruction.
 * Fujiyama (藤山) literally translates as Wisteria Mountain - according to legend, the famously wicked and mischievous Monkey King was “born” fully-formed from a stone egg on the peak of the Mountain of Fruit and Flower.