Izuru Kira (Alter)

is the lieutenant of the 3rd Squad in the 13 Court Guard Squads, formerly under Captain Gin Ichimaru and currently under Captain Arthur Pendragon.

Appearance
Izuru has blue eyes; and, shoulder-length, blond hair that is combed into three points, with two in the back of his head, and a third combed to cover his left eye. He also wears the standard Shinigami robes, and the third division's lieutenant armband on his left arm. When he was a student at the SoulAcademy, his hair was shorter, and shaggier, with his bangs hanging just above his left eye; and, he wore the standard blue uniform for the males.

Personality
Izuru is a gloomy and introspective person, not easily able to socialise with others. He generally appears weak and indifferent, leading many to believe he lacks the ability to be a leader. As an officer, he does not tend to inspire confidence or boost morale the way other lieutenants do. However, Izuru is loyal to both his friends and his duties. Despite the close friendship he shares with Yuki Cross, Izuru shows that his loyalty to his former captain knows no boundaries when he defends his captain while she is in a grief-induced rage from her own captain's apparent death. Despite this, he calls himself a "monster" afterwards for raising his sword against her. Izuru considers the essence of war to be despair, as exemplified by the symbol of his Division, the marigold. He also hates to fight unless prompted to or given orders. However, in combat he shows ruthless determination. Izuru has shown himself remorseless with this, beheading an opponent who was pleading for mercy.

His personality flaws are also assets: his introspection coupled with his tendency to worry makes him indecisive, but it also makes him sensitive to unusual behaviour. His loyalty to his division inspires him to great efforts in their defense, as seen when Yuki Cross attacks Gin Ichimaru and again when Makoto Kibune's attacks endanger other members of the 3rd Division. Izuru's current personality greatly differs from his days in the Soul Academy where he was shown to be much happier and slightly cocky after noting that Roland Paladin had failed his entrance exam twice, whereas Izuru passed at the top of his class, giving him the idea that his talent was greater.

Izuru likes to write haiku and he was also awarded for one of his pieces by Seireitei Communication, which is as follows: "The persimmon tree bears fruit. Aaah, the persimmon tree bears fruit again this year." His dislike for dried persimmon (a huge difference between him and his former captain) sheds some light on the background of the poem. He likes agar-agar instead. He also writes a serial novel titled "I Want to Apologise to You." It runs in Seireitei Communication and every new chapter begins with a haiku piece. He is also the author of Kira Izuru's Haiku Time. He is on good terms with fellow author Roland Paladin and in their free time, they participate in gatherings of haiku lovers. Izuru also gives a special lecture of poetry on the Soul Academy. It is also known that he is skilled in playing cat's cradle.

History
Izuru Kira was born into a family of lesser nobility, his parents having been dead since he was young. On the day he first entered into the Soul Academy, he visited his parent's grave. It is there that he met fellow student Renji Abarai when he fell out a tree onto his parent's burial marker. Renji was scolded by his friend, Rukia Kuchiki, for falling asleep in the tree. Upon entrance into the academy, Izuru was placed in the special accelerated class alongside Renji and Yuki Cross. Later that day, the students engaged in using Hadō in their Kidō class, with Izuru excelling over the rest of his class. However, he was only able to defend against the aggressive nature and fighting style of Renji in their swordsmanship class. While the two were resting underneath a tree Renji and Izuru introduced themselves and struck up a friendship with each other; it was also on this day that 5th Division Captain Sōsuke Aizen and his lieutenant, Gin Ichimaru, came to the Academy to inspect the freshman class.

Two months later, the class was given leave to go to the World of the Living for a training session in Konsō. The training session was to be lead by 6th year student Roland Paladin and two of his classmates, Kanisawa and Kaien Lancelot. The fact that Paladin was leading the mission caused a ruckus, which prompted Izuru to explain to Renji why Paladin was so famous. Izuru then noted that he himself, as that year's top student, probably had more talent than Paladin. The various students were then placed into three-person teams, Izuru and Renji were placed with Yuki. The class then set out for the World of the Living to begin their training mission.

As the training session was coming to a close, the class was surprised when a Corrupted Soul attacked them and killed Kanisawa. When Kaien saw this he went to fight the Corrupted Soul, but was also killed. Paladin then called for all the students to fall back and run for their lives, while he held the Corrupted Soul off. When Yuki stopped running, Izuru asked her why, to which she responded that she didn't understand why they were fleeing, despite Izuru and Renji trying to reason with her she went back to attack the Corrupted Soul and save Paladin. Realising there was no getting through to her, Izuru and Renji decided that they had to try and help her. Much to the surprise of Paladin, the three of them appeared just in time to block the attacks of the Corrupted Soul. Izuru asked for forgiveness in not following Paladin's orders, and then congratulated Yuki when she used Hadō #31 Shakkahō. But to their surprise the small victory was cut short by the arrival of many more Corrupted Soul. They were then saved by the timely arrival of Captain Sōsuke Aizen and then Lieutenant Gin Ichimaru, who effortlessly took out all the Hollows, while the three students stood amazed.

After graduation, Izuru, along with Renji and Yuki, was sent to the 5th Squad, where he stayed until Gin Ichimaru became captain of the 3rd Squad. It is known that Izuru spent some time in the 4th Squad, as noted by Roland, and the fact that he carries medical implements like shinten, a trait virtually exclusive to members of the 4th Squad.

Equipment
Kazeshini]] Explosive Bands: The band on Izuru's right arm possess explosive properties. By removing them, he can use them to produce blinding explosions that expel a large amount of smoke.


 * A green liquid which can knock out a target with a single drop (provided the target has weak enough spiritual energy).

Powers & Abilities
Expert Swordsman: Izuru is shown to be highly proficient in the wielding of his Zanpakutō. Mixing his mastery of his sword's unique shape with the special ability it has, he is coldly proficient during its use and application.

Expert Tactician: He is highly conscious of his weaknesses and strengths, commonly devising methods which take advantage of his Zanpakutō's special ability, even in situations when the odds are against him.

Kidō Expert: He has great talent for Kidō, even back at the Shinigami Academy, and he is often seen applying Kidō spells during fights. He is skilled enough to use '''Bakudō #63. Sajō Sabaku, Hadō #58. Tenran, and Bakudō #73. Tozanshō''' without the incantation and with relative ease.


 * Kaidō (回道, Turn Way): Izuru has shown to be proficient in healing Kidō due to his time spent as a member of the 4th Division.

Shunpo Practitioner: Izuru is proficient in the use of Shunpo, allowing him to keep up with at least other lieutenant-level Shinigami. His skill in Shunpo was shown great enough to appear behind Abirama, surprising the Arrancar.

Healer: It was noted by Hisagi that Izuru was once part of the 4th Division, and therefore, knows healing-type Kidō and technique. Though he is considerably out of practice, he is still shown able to quickly determine a person's ailments from a single glance, as shown from his quick analysis of Rangiku's and Momo's condition after they fell against Ayon and heal the otherwise fatal injuries. He has a number of medical supplies that he carries with him, supposedly from his time in the 4th.

High Spiritual Power: Being a lieutenant of the Gotei 13, Izuru boasts a high amount of spiritual energy. His Reiatsu is blue.

Zanpakutō
Wabisuke redirects here. For the manifested spirit that appears in the Zanpakutō Unknown Tales arc see Wabisuke (Zanpakutō spirit).


 * Wabisuke is very simple and plain in design. Its normal form is indistinguishable from a plain katana. The cross guard is a normal rectangular one, with only an omega design on the top and bottom half.


 * Shikai: Its Shikai command is . When activated, the blade loses its curve and straightens, and where a normal katana would end, Wabisuke's blade makes two 90 degree angles, forming three sides of a square, reminiscent of a hook and has its cutting edge on the inside of the angles.


 * Shikai Special Ability: In this form, Wabisuke doubles the weight of any object it strikes. The ability can affect both inanimate objects and living beings, and is cumulative. For example, the first strike on an opponent wielding a 10 lb sword doubles the opposing sword's weight to 20 lbs. If Izuru strikes the sword a second time, the weight of the sword doubles to 40 lbs. Izuru can continue doubling the weight of his opponent's sword indefinitely. After about eight or nine strikes, most opponents would be unable to lift their swords and are brought down to their knees by the weight of their own weapon. Though the potential of this ability is limitless; a small number of strikes to an opponent's blade is usually all that is needed to render them immobile. Its ability makes it look like he is forcing his opponents to bow their heads in apology for a past decision since it brings his opponents to their knees before him. With them immobile, the hook end of his blade can now show its gruesome function: Izuru can decapitate a fallen opponent by holding the square hook beneath his opponent's neck and lifting, like a reverse guillotine.


 * Bankai: Not Yet Achieved

Zanpakutō
Range: While his Zanpakutō possesses a special ability it is limited to close-quarters combat.

Shikai Power: It is possible for Wabisuke's special ability to be used against itself and Izuru, such as having something it has struck multiple times be used to pin it in place.

Trivia

 * Izuru's name is sometimes romanized as Iduru Kira.
 * Izuru was voted the 9th most popular character in the fourth character poll (in previous ones he placed 18th and 11th).
 * His Zanpakutō, Wabisuke, was voted the fourth most popular Zanpakutō in the Zanpakutō poll.
 * In the dubbed anime only, when Momo Hinamori tries to attack Gin Ichimaru with her Shikai, Izuru says "Raise your head and prepare to die" to release his Zanpakutō, omitting Wabisuke's name.
 * Information came from the official Bleach wikia, altered for fanon use.