#he does care about Ichigo though so Ichigo wanting him has actual value and importance to him

[white--moon]

That explanation makes a lot of sense, actually. No wonder Ichigo ignored his advances for so long. He's practically irresistible and Ichigo was just not thinking about it, the same way he's just not thinking about screwing around with Renji. But he's thinking about Shiro screwing Renji, which is where that starts to get interesting. "Ok." He says kind of slowly. "So. Do you prefer to watch, or...? No judgement. There's plenty'a people who do." And they're just having a conversation. It doesn't mean anything is going to happen at all. He hasn't even actually confirmed that Renji would be game. "Or maybe watch us warm up and join when and if you're ready, maybe."

He nods. "Yeah, I think so too." That he deserves answers. It's just the part about whether or not he wants them. There's still the very real concern that he'll get those answers and wish he hadn't. At best, they don't change anything, they don't mean anything.

"A lot of people don't look very hard." Nothing makes a person more invisible than being something others don't want to see, like an addict on the street, right there in front of them. He thinks a lot of people still see that when they look at him. Even Ichigo, when they were still getting to know each other. The people at the warehouse too, but the difference there is that they're all in the same boat, so there's no real judgement about it. He exists somewhere between societal tiers and doesn't quite fit in either one. He shrugs to Ichigo's returned question. "I wouldn't know what to do with that anymore than I'd know what to say."

He watches Ichigo smile at him and he thinks for second he might puke. But in a good way? It's weird and not totally uncomfortable. The restaurant around them seems like a blank space and some vague white noise. He's so focused on Ichigo that the quiet clink of glasses and the server's voice earns a little flinch of surprise. His attention flickers that direction for a second but returns right back to Ichigo. But honestly, thank god for the arrival of booze and food. That will help settle his stomach. He barely waits for the server to step back before he reaches for his wineglass.

“Tonight?” He asks right back, a little surprised. His brows go up slightly and he sort of shrugs a noncommittal motion. “I can ask him. I haven’t actually talked to him about it, I wanted to talk to you first, make sure you were actually comfortable with it. But he couldn’t keep his eyes off us on the couch, he’s probably interested.”

He nods, happy to hear it. He’d probably be pissed if he found out after the whole car fiasco, after they’d already ordered, that Ichigo actually wasn’t that impressed and didn’t like it here.

He watches the server turn away, then lets his attention do a brief sweep around them, before realizing Ichigo’s leaning toward him. He blinks, then settles back in his chair again and thinks about that for a second. It’s a subject he hasn’t put any thought into for a long time. This feels a little like their first real conversation about his situation growing up, and how confused, maybe even upset, Ichigo was that he didn’t really care why he’d been given up by his mother.

He studies the invested way Ichigo leans forward, then shrugs. “I don’t know. I don’t know that it really matters. Findin’ out if I do or don’t have siblings out there somewhere, it doesn’t change anything. I could try to connect with them, I guess, but why? If I had a sibling that was given up at the same time, I don’t remember them.” This is the first time it has occurred to him that, if that were an older sibling, they might remember him even though he was too young to remember them. It has him pausing for a second, but not long. He shakes his head slightly. If he’s starting to sound a little lost, it’s because that’s how he feels about the whole subject. It’s easier just to not bother, not think about it, worry about himself and his day to day. “Even if I did find them, what would I say? I mean, my history isn’t exactly impressive. I’m literally the poster child of what parents don’t want their kids to be. I’d look like I was seeking handouts. Or worse, maybe they’d be in a worse spot than me. What am I supposed to do about that?”

[skania]

Replies to AquaKane Asks (Part 1)

Tumblr has an image limit so I'll have to split my replies into different posts 😂

The first 30 replies are here under the cut, the rest will follow in a few days or so!

It's kind of crazy that it's been a month since you sent this message and we still don't know what's going to happen with Miyako and Ichigo lol

I think that's the part some people don't get. Aqua didn't need to date Akane to protect her, he could've simply stayed close friends with her. He chose to enter a romantic relationship with her after deciding that it may be okay for him to fall in love. Aqua isn't the self-serving type, he couldn't even bring himself to lead Akane on back when he wanted to use her. Why would he start to do so after he no longer wants to use her?

Yeah some of the comment sections feel like echo-chambers. Doesn't matter though, the entire fandom could be against it and I'd still find Aqua and Akane's dynamic the most compelling in the manga. Not my fault Aka's writing (so far) has been at his best when it comes to them 😂

Lmao you're right, she has been the closest to therapy that he has gotten so far 😂

I'm curious about how Mengo would portray Akane, but I'm keeping my expectations very low. Better to be surprised if it happens than to be disappointed if it doesn't. I wouldn't mind getting a chapter about Himekawa though!

Thanks anon!! I think the characters involved in the movie arc are supposed to be the ones that will be important to the narrative, but we'll have to wait and see. It may take years at this point considering the constant breaks, so if that keeps up I may also just drop it and pick it up again when Akane shows up lol

I'm quite late so I hope you've been having good days, anon!

I'm not sure if Aka would let Mengo write anything that is actually plot-relevant, but I'd love to be wrong! Personally, I think seeing Akane's colleagues react to to the current her would be a nice .5 chapter, but seeing Akane may be too much to ask for at this point lol

Hmmm I think it'd be kind of forced to have Akane find the body, because why would she be looking for Yura in the first place? There's no way for her to know that there's a connection between her and Kamiki. That said, Aka literally had a Crow Child/Deus-ex-machina-in-wait show up when he needed to pull Ruby into the plot, so crazier things have happened 😂 I rolled with that so I'll roll with anything that brings back Akane back to the forefront.

In all honesty anon, I have been trying not to think about it so I can take whatever Aka comes up with in stride.

But the way I see it, Akane can more or less let Aqua have his way when it comes to the movie, but she needs to stop whatever is coming after. The best way to do it would be by finding an alternative way of bringing Kamiki to justice, but that won't take care of Aqua's guilt complex and of the reasons pushing him to sacrifice himself like that. So I'd like to imagine that Akane may recruit the help of the people close to Aqua in order to stand in his way and make him understand that his life has value, but that may just be wishful thinking on my part. It's hard to guess without having more insight into her current mindset.

I definitely do think that she hasn't gone after Kamiki again because Aqua asked her not to though, so Akane must've understood that she was going about things the wrong way. I hope that she has realized just how reckless she was being.

I don't think Frill needs to know the details, just knowing that they dated for that long and broke up recently is enough. Not to mention that the first thing Akane does after saying hi is asking how Aqua is, so I feel like it wasn't very hard to tell that pulling the Aqua card may catch Akane's interest.

I think Akane knows that Aqua is beyond the point where he can simply be talked out of his revenge, so she likely assumed that a conversation would lead them nowhere.

Anon it isn't only your brain, we definitely haven't gotten enough Akane 😢

(So sorry for the image quality of your ask, anon! I originally split it in two but Tumblr's image limit got in my way. I delete asks as I go so it's easier to keep track of what I have replied to, so I had to take a screenshot of my screenshot ;-;)

Personally, I respect that! I totally get why some people wouldn't feel comfortable with it. In my case, I've made my peace with it because it's not like he is an adult that magically found himself in a teenager's body and that is now hooking up with teenagers. He has lived as Aqua from birth, so he is going through puberty, growing-pains, etc. the way any boy his age would. At that point you have to make concessions, because it'd be unfair to expect him to wait until he is physically thirty to date someone. It'd also defeat the entire purpose of reincarnating, since this is supposed to be his chance at living a happier, more fulfilling life.

I think that as long as there isn't a big emotional and/or intellectual gap between him and the person he is dating, then it's all good. Luckily, Akane clears that condition pretty easily!

It'll be lots of fun to see Akane play one of them! I wonder if she will play the girl from Viewpoint B?

Don't Aqua and Goro share a tag? "Hoshino Aquamarine | Goro" is how it appears for me.

No worries anon! I have seen people trying to clearly separate Aqua and Goro but I don't think things necessarily work that way, so I understand why you had a hard time doing so. Do let me know if you had a breakthrough, though!

Thanks for asking anon! I do have Twitter but I rarely use it, so Tumblr is definitely where I go talk fandom :D

Anon I've already written like thirty posts about it lol

Ideally? I'd love for Akane to:

Realize that Aqua is Goro and confront him about it

Team up with Ruby and everyone else in order to accomplish her goal of saving Aqua

Be instrumental in getting Kamiki

Recognize her own worth and to have a heart to heart with Aqua, because if they end up together I'd like it to be after Akane is certain that she isn't sharing his heart

I'd also love for her to continue being recognized for how brilliant she is as an actress and to keep getting all the prizes under the sun, because she deserves all of them.

All in all, I want her to end the manga feeling happy and fulfilled with all aspects of her life!

No can do, anon! I want you all to trust me that if you ask me to keep something private, I will keep it private 😂

Don't remind me anon, I want the answer to all those questions too!! 😭

Thank you so much for your kind words, anon! I think the one carrying the fandom on his back is Aka, so he better feed us something soon 😂

Now that you mention it, I think I don't! I've been trying to stick to their relationship the way it's presented in the manga, so that hasn't left me much room to imagine what they're like when we don't see them. I'll definitely think about it, though!

edit: after reading another anon ask, I'd like to headcanon that Aqua snuck in Akane's graduation ceremony and/or at least watched her from afar lol

I think my issue with that line of thinking are the implications. Because if Aqua was never willing and/or open to the possibility of falling for her, then that means that he was leading her on when he decided to date her for real, which would be incredibly selfish of him and very unfair to Akane. Personally, I would not ship Akane with Aqua if I thought that was the case.

Unless you're talking about something else?

In either case, I do agree that it would be great to get a third kiss with a proper confession!

My thoughts about that are here 1 and here 2!

Thank you so much for dropping by anon, I'm happy you've enjoyed the read!

NOOOOO I didn't think of that! You're right, Akane must have graduated by now :( Okay this calls for a headcanon, hopefully Aqua found a way to sneak in and see her from afar 😭

The stairs leading to the bridge are next to a road while the stairs in ch 116 are surrounded by grass and trees, so I'm afraid they aren't the same anon.

I'm sure it's just a matter of time before the AquaKane bridge makes its grand comeback, though :D

I'd love to say yes anon, I'd have loved to see Akane tell Aqua some of the things Aqua told Ruby 😭 But in truth, I think that Aqua wouldn't be able to move on knowing that Ruby and Ichigo were planning to have revenge. So I think that if Aqua and Akane had been honest to each other during that conversation, the best case scenario would be AquaKane working together and coming up with a less self-destructive plan than the one they came up with on their own.

That would be amazing, anon! I love the way you think and I'm praying Aka will think the same lmao

Thank you for the kind words too, I'm honored!

My advice would be to just mute it/block it, anon! I never joined it because I always avoid joining subreddits for fandoms involving love triangles, but I did check it while the anime was airing because it seemed like an easy way to keep up with news and translations. After that, Reddit wouldn't stop recommending random posts to me, and just like you I sometimes bit the bait as well. So I just muted it. Out of sight, out of mind lol

I think whether or not that works for you would also depend on what you get from checking the subreddit. For example, if you just check it to keep up with Onk news, you may as well follow the OnK Twitter accounts to get the news straight from the source.

Good question, anon! It is entirely possible that feeling like her bond with him was just adding to Aqua's guilt, aka the opposite of what she wanted, brought her to tears.

Personally, I do think that played a part in it but I also think there's another reason to why Akane's demeanor changes. When they talk on the bridge, Akane says that she doesn't quite understand what kind of relationship she has with Aqua and what she feels for him. In Chapter 78, she begins her speech by saying that she can finally put her feelings into words. Not to mention, one thing is thinking about the possibility of parting ways with someone and another thing is actually doing it.

So I think that once the moment of truth comes, Akane finds that parting ways with Aqua is more painful than she thought it would be :(

No, as far as we know Aqua and Akane have never addressed how they feel for each other 😭

Hello there anon!

Hmmm I don't have anything against that take either, if people enjoy their relationship and find that it resonates more with them that way, then good for them!

I personally don't see them that way though, since we have Aqua outright admitting that he feels lust and and that he has "definitely" thought about it. We also have Akane blushing up a storm when she remembers Aqua kissing her, wanting Aqua to see her in that gorgeous dress she wore when she received the award, etc. So I think that Akane is just inexperienced and Aqua on the emotionally-stunted side due to all the trauma he has gone through.

That's just my personal take, though!

I have to agree, anon! The way I see it, there are two possible reasons for why it was skipped: either we're going the AquaKane route (so it's being saved for later because it'd say too much) or we aren't (so it was skipped because it isn't relevant).

So if Aka is going for AquaKane, then I do definitely think we'll see some flashbacks to their time together as we go!

[bleachbleachbleach]

Do either of you like any bleach ships? Which ones if so?

@whipplefilter's answer: I’m not a shipper, and a lot of that probably has to do with the fact that I’m unclear on the concept of romance just like, generally, lol, and shipping tends to imply some kind of romance. But I am very invested in relationships! It just doesn’t really matter to me whether the relationship is romantic or non-romantic, and I really love it when non-romantic relationships get focus and airtime. But I’m certainly not anti-ship! I probably consume more fannish shippy content than non-shippy content, by pure virtue of the fact that there is more shippy content, and I’m perfectly happy about that because if it’s about characters I like—and to have my cake and eat it to, about relationships between characters I like—then I’m probably excited about it.

Personally, I don’t feel strong distinctions, or a strong need to identify distinctions, between what’s a ship and what’s a friendship. I think that’s part of the reason why shipwars always take me by surprise. I don’t feel like a character not being in a romantic relationship with someone automatically devalues the relationship they have. I mean, I think if the character thinks about their relationships in that way, then that’s what happens. Or if the character tends to be a single-minded kind of person, such that they really can’t imagine themselves having multiple intense relationships of varying stripes. These aren’t Bleach examples, but in Nana, Hachi treated her friends like complete shit in pursuit of/focus on her romantic partner. In that case, yeah, she was totally the one devaluing her friendships! Or in Chihayafuru, Taichi ends up heartbroken because Chihaya doesn’t reciprocate his confession of love, and he knows that Chihaya is a one-track-mind kind of person.

By contrast, I see Ichigo as someone with huge capacity to have, well, a mountainload of intense and meaningful relationships, in ways that distinguish him from a lot of "one goal to rule them all" 15-year old manga protagonists. (No shade to single-minded love! I mean… We run a very monogamous and single-minded Bleach blog.) I’d say the same is true of many of his friends.

Beyond that, I do think my level of excitement re: shipping varies in terms of how central romance feels to [my interpretation of] a character. Like, in terms of how important *I feel* their love life *feels to them*. XD (And also how proximal the "things that make this pairing tick" are to the "things that excite me personally about this character.") So like, I am very excited by the idea of Hisagi/most fucking anyone, because, paraphrasing @ippoddity, his desire to make connections and be perceived is both important to him and to my investment in him. I think Hisagi is thirsty for any kind of connection, but I think he’d really like it if some of them involved romance. Also sex.

As a writer, I’m pretty committed to gen, because it’s my fave and there doesn’t tend to be as much of it in fandom spaces and I want it to exist. In one of my other fandoms, I have run a gen fic exchange for over a decade and people are still unclear on what "gen" even is! People constantly confuse gen for "anything that’s not porn" and submit shippy stuff lolol. Though, on the flipside… long long ago in a kingdom far far away, I did once run, like, THE Naruto porn meme of its time. XDDD Which is weird to look back on, but I think that was really because I happen to be pretty good at organizing things and it was a way of hanging out with my horny friends, LOL. Porn itself does nothing for me outside of its potential aesthetic value, and/or its potential to show me things about the characters/their relationship. And while a lot of porn is interested in both those things, if it weren't also very interested in the actual fucking then what would be the point?

-----------------------------------------

@ippoddity's answer: I'm on a similar page as @whipplefilter when it comes to shipping. It's not like I don't ship, because I certainly do have preferences, but I am more invested in (and interested in) relationships (whether they be romantic or not).

I really love that in canon, Ichigo's relationship with Rukia is deep and meaningful, but not necessarily romantic. I really like the idea of soulmates (or twin stars or twin flames or whatever you want to call them), but like, not romantic soul mates. I think what makes IchiRuki so appealing to many people is that they have a close connection. And I'd love to see more of that explored (not just in regards to IchiRuki, but all relationships in general), sans romance.

This isn't to say that I don't also consume shippy fanworks! I do it all the time! I am sort of an equal opportunity shipper, and will try out anything at least once. I feel like I can appreciate a good piece of content, whether it's for something I ship or not. Like GrimmIchi works?? SO MUCH GOOD STUFF OUT THERE (y'all are amazing). It's not necessarily a ship I'm actively sailing on or contributing to, but I'm there for the fun ride. Like my co-blogger said, I also think that Hisagi can be shipped with almost anyone. The poor man is just so desperate for connection and acknowledgement. So if someone is gonna give him a relationship that gives him what he wants, I'm down for it. And something else I've gotten into since starting this blog? Akon/almost anyone. He has so much potential and I've really gotten onto this Akon stan train.

When it comes to shipping or not, for me the most important thing is "does this relationship make them happy?" And that's really all I care about. For example, I think Renji's happiness very much weighs on his connection with Rukia, so I'm happy that he's happy with her (if that makes any sense at all). For the same reason I'm down with IkkaYumi, because I love Yumichika and think he deserves to be happy and I think his relationship with Ikkaku makes him happy. LOOK I JUST WANT HAPPY ENDINGS FOR EVERYONE.

(ngl I was scared of writing this post because I didn't want to get stuck in between some kind of shipwars. The fervor of shipwars honestly baffle me because I do not think I could ever feel so strongly about a ship that I get dragged into hateful discourse, especially for series that ended a long time ago?? But I am also very against confrontation to begin with, so I would probably just apologize and bow out anyway.)

--

ALSO we are sorry we are so bad at answering asks in a timely manner! But I assure you, we are DELIGHTED every time we receive one and love interacting with everyone! Our asks are always open!

[recurring-polynya]

What comparisons can be made between renruki and Ichiruki? I often wondered about this.

This is such a hot button issue that as soon as I received this (perfectly polite) ask, my body tensed up and my brain went Am I being trolled?

It’s honestly a shame that there is so much bad blood behind this, because it is, in fact, a very interesting thing to talk about, and I am going to attempt to do so in good faith, because I love thinking about this kind of thing. Even though I am very openly a Renruki shipper, I love all three of these characters very much, and I think that Ichigo and Rukia’s relationship is very important! I am doing my best to be neutral, although I have not read very much Ichiruki fanfic/meta, so please give me a benefit of a doubt. Obviously, I can’t stop anyone from reblogging this and putting their own comments on it, but I have no interest in getting in debates over it, so don’t be surprised if I don’t engage.

This is both long, and I am sure some people don’t care, so I’m gonna put the rest under a cut. I have tried to hard to write this in a way that will not make anyone mad, but if you think it will make you mad, please give yourself the gift of not clicking on it.

So, what is the same between Ichigo and Renji? Lots, actually. Physically, they are both tall, strong, and have ridiculously colored spiky hair. They are outwardly grumpy, but secretly have soft, gooey centers. Neither one of them is dumb, but they are both dumbasses. They are protectors: they would rather take any amount of pain or damage onto themselves than see a loved one hurt. Their friends are everything to them, and that goes triple for Rukia.

How are they different, then? There are three major bullets:

- Ichigo is alive. Renji is dead. Perhaps this is a little flip, but Renji belongs to same world that Rukia does, and Ichigo does not. This is not a value judgment, it is just a fact: If Rukia ends up with Renji, she stays where she is. If she ends up with Ichigo, either Rukia or Ichigo have to make a huge change. I will get back to this.

- Youth vs. Experience. Ichigo is a 15-year old boy, as we are told about 1000 times. There is some mystery over how old Rukia and Renji are, but they have graduated from secondary education and are currently employed. I think it’s safe to assume that they are roughly close in age to each other, but I think Rukia may perceive Renji as seeming older than herself-- he graduated from school, and she didn’t; he’s on his third squad transfer, whereas she’s hasn’t budged from her initial, entry-level job, and he’s now middle management. However, the arc of the story we don’t get to see, is that over the timeskips, Rukia not only catches up to, but surpasses him. Also, not for nothing, but I think that in the same way Rukia is immediately drawn to Ichigo because of his resemblance to Kaien, I think she is also drawn to him for his resemblance to Young Renji-- a grumpy, prickly young man, leaking self-doubt from every pore, whom she is more able to be generous towards through the lens of age and experience. (And I think this comparison could support either ship)

- Ichigo is the protagonist. Rules don’t apply to him. Fate breaks on his sword. He represents the triumph of love or hard work or dreams or what have you over the cruel millstone of the world. Renji, on the other hand, is firmly bound to the rules of the world in which he inhabits. In fact, that is arguably the entire purpose of his character. Renji’s fights are often used to set the stakes of the conflict-- ah, Renji got mangled, this guy must be tough. In the Soul Society Arc, he is an antagonist because he is doing what he is supposed to. In the TYBW, Kubo literally throws the two of them in a pit to fight some asauchi just to make the point that Renji is a shinigami and Ichigo is something else.

Let’s jump over to Rukia for a moment. Rukia is a great character, one of my favorite characters in any media. Rukia contains multitudes. She is tough and strong, but often melancholy. She can be beautiful and elegant, but she also lies and breaks rules and tried to put Kon in a dead cat once. Emotionally, she likes to present a cool front, but she has a big, loving heart, and she feels deeply. As a character, all of this makes her very easy to project onto, which is why I think so many people OTP her with someone, no matter who.Some people choose to try to make her into one of these things or another, and some people try to keep her as the full bundle of contradictions that she is.

There is no romantic content in canon Bleach. There is no romantic content in canon Bleach. There are many, many scenes that can be interpreted romantically, but no one goes on a date, no one kisses. Ichigo gazes longingly into the eyes of all his friends, it’s just a thing he does. Orihime does explicitly proclaim at one point that she loves Rukia, although I suspect that in the original Japanese, it’s the word for “friendship love” and not the very-rarely-used “romantic love.” I have seen a scene-for-scene comparison of IchiHime “romantic moments” only it’s Chad and Uryuu (which I choose to believe supports IshiChad, rather than negates IchiHime, but we may all choose for ourselves!) My point is that shipping in Bleach is a DIY craft, which, when we’re all having a good time, is what makes it so fun.

So, bringing all of this together, given that Ichigo and Renji are fairly similar characters, why are the ships so different, and what makes one appeal to some people and be abhorrent to someone else?

I think about romance stories a lot. I actually took a class on romance novels in college and I just really like to think about the mechanics of stories. In the truest sense of the word, “romance” is about extremes-- about sailing the high seas and wearing ostentatious shirts and shouting off a cliff in a rainstorm. When we talk about romance as a genre, the characters tend to behave in a way that we would not prefer our actual romantic partners do, but the over-the-top nature of it makes us swoon and our hearts drop -- except when it doesn’t. What is heart-breakingly romantic to some people can be a huge turn-off to others. The biggest fight my husband and I have ever had was over a kdrama. The male lead was hiding his identity from the female lead in order to help her, and I found it all to be deeply, deeply romantic, and my husband turned to me and said “He is being dishonest with her and I think it’s morally wrong” and I almost died.

So, let’s break down some of the themes of the two ships, which I think gets at the meat of what you were asking. Now, like I said, shipping is very participatory, and anyone may have their own ideas of how these relationships would be, and I am a big fan of “a great writer can get away with anything”, but in broad strokes, I think that these are the themes of the two ships:

IchiRuki:

Love conquers all/ Love is enough to overcome differences of class, age, lifestyle, geography, etc.

Instant connections/Love at first sight

Love is a force of the universe that cannot be denied or defeated

Young love

Grand gestures

Your partner changes you (in a positive way)/You effect change in your partner

Your partner is the center of your world

Your partner is the one person who can get through to you/You are the one person who can get through to your partner

Banter

Dumbassery

RenRuki:

Love takes work

Best friends to lovers

Second chances/Broken things can be repaired

Love is a choice

You improve with age

Shared experiences build love

Pining

Working together with your partner to create a mutually satisfying life together

Your partner enriches your world, but your independence is maintained

Banter

Dumbassery

There is also some degree of character interpretation at work, too-- there seems to be a huge degree of disagreement between fans as to whether:

a) Ichigo enjoys his normal, human life, and even though he do anything to protect what he loves, he would prefer to live a human existence with his human friends and family. He credits Rukia will helping him realize his strength and powers.

b) Ichigo is unsatisfied with his human life and that meeting Rukia opened the doorway to a life of excitement and adventure, on top of being given the strength to protect his loved ones.

As far as Ichigo pairings go, I think that most IchiHime people fall in category (a) and most IchiRuki (and GrimmIchi) shippers fall in (b). In both cases, peoples’ ships align with their view of what makes Ichigo happy. Most IchiRuki content I have seen  seems to feature Ichigo moving to Soul Society, rather than Rukia moving to Karakura. Rukia pretty explicitly indicates at the end of the Soul Society Arc that she wants to stay in Soul Society, plus she’s got a pretty established life there. Contrast that to the story of Isshin and Masaki-- Isshin seems pretty flippant and disaffected about his life in Soul Society; it doesn’t seem like it was a particularly hard choice for him to give up being a shinigami. Also, it’s pretty clear that what Isshin did was illegal, and I’m not sure there would be an easy way for Rukia to just say “WELP, I’m off to live as a human, smell you jerks later.”

To try to wrap things up, I think the actual dynamics of an IchiRuki or RenRuki relationship would be very similar, actually. They would banter a lot and dive headfirst into danger and support each other no matter what. Byakuya would treat either guy with the vaguest, most grudging amount of respect. The primary perpetual, unresolved argument between Rukia and Ichigo would be “The Living World is dumb/Soul Society is dumb”, whereas with Rukia and Renji, it would be “Squad 6 is dumb/Squad 13 is dumb wait no I didn’t mean that Captain Ukitake is an angel.”

Personally, I headcanon Renji as being more able than Ichigo to step back and be the support person in the relationship (see that bullet about Ichigo being the protag), so I think that RenRuki could manage to run a functional household, whereas Ichigo and Rukia would just go on adventures until they got arrested for tax evasion.

*For the record, I am very pro-IchiRenRuki, except that they would be even worse at running a household. It’s just Renji trying to explain how a chore wheel works while Rukia and Ichigo walk out the door on him.

[shinigamikarinkurosaki-archive]

ur last text post piqued my interest, so headcanons on how karin's temper is (how she lets it out) depending on the person?

This post? I’m actually glad you asked!! I don’t get to explore this part of Karin often.

Largely shinigami!Karin.Just forewarning– this is about as long as a Doctoral thesis which is totally your fault, & the entire thing contains potentially triggering content. Warnings include alcoholism, implied BDSM, minor character hate, mentioned suicide, discussion of: dysfunctional family units, violence, racism, LGBT+ prejudice, misogyny, sexual harassment, & various manifestations of abusive situations. I would like to publicly apologize to mobile users.

Karin’s expression of her anger his highly dependent person to person. I’d first like to say that Karin rarely gets angry. Most of her anger is frustration. Of course, she does get angry, but that is caused by violation of her values which I’ll explore after her expression of frustration with specific relationships.

With her loved ones, her reaction to her frustration is a slider of violent to nonviolent highly dependent upon individual to individual, rather than offense. When Karin does become violent, it’s not to achieve an end like Aizen’s abuse, it’s because she’s legitimately reached the end of her rope & violence is her best method to get back at her slights, perceived or otherwise. Mostly.

With Toushirou, violence is a part of their sexuality. I won’t discuss this much because expression of sexuality in teenagers is Wrong™ which throws Me & literally every COCSA survivor under a fucking bus & promotes conservative sex ed which doesn’t work & I will get yelled at. I will say that any violence between Karin & Toushirou is perfectly consensual & performed after they’ve compromised in an argument to blow off steam & I will also say that aftercare is of utmost importance to them.

Karin will never be violent with Momo ever. Don’t get me wrong, Karin does get frustrated with Momo. Karin gets frustrated when any guardian figure won’t let her do something– namely dangerous, possibly fatal things. For instance, if Momo & Karin are on a senpai-kouhai day date & there’s a hollow, Momo will normally let Karin slay it herself if Momo thinks it’s in Karin’s capability. If Momo thinks Karin will get worse that little scratches, Momo will force Karin to sit on the sidelines while she takes care of it. Well, Momo isn’t around all the time, & Karin knows she can take anything up to a Menos Grande, so Momo denying her this is very frustrating to Karin because Karin knows she can take a lot on despite the injuries she may suffer. But like I said, Karin will never get violent with Momo. Momo is too important to Karin, as Momo is one of the few people whom would respect Karin’s autonomy so long as nobody is harmed, including Karin. Karin expresses her infrequent frustration with Momo by pouting, but Momo easily diffuses Karin’s frustration with affectionate gestures like baking Karin cookies or giving her a big ol’ wet senpai forehead kiss.

Yuzu is the person Karin gets frustrated with second most. Now, Yuzu doesn’t do anything to really trigger Karin’s frustration. Even Yuzu’s infatuation with their brother doesn’t really tick Karin off. Karin loves Ichigo just as much as Yuzu does, the only difference is Ichigo’s treatment of them. Ichigo’s favoritism of Yuzu– namely he giving Yuzu more freedom than Karin, such as not policing Yuzu’s friendships– isn’t Yuzu’s fault. That said, Yuzu is the only reason Karin doesn’t kill herself through junior high & high school. Yuzu is legitimately the other half of Karin’s soul. But keep in mind Karin isn’t fulfilled by a normal human life. It’s only a matter of time before Karin resents Yuzu for keeping her from living a happy life as a shinigami. Karin hates herself for feeling this resentment towards sweet Yuzu but never gets the resources to really soothe herself. Karin snaps at Yuzu a lot because of this resentment. As sweet as Yuzu is, Yuzu is still a Kurosaki & won’t roll over for Karin. Their frequent screaming matches eventually get as heated as Ichigo & Karin’s. Really, the only difference between them is that Karin has never struck Yuzu.

Karin has struck Izuru on occasion. They mostly fight about Izuru’s passive aggressive treatment of Toushirou. Toushirou was one of the most important support systems while Karin was still alive. While she doesn’t support Toushirou’s harassment of Izuru simply because of Izuru’s proximity to Momo, Izuru’s equally assholish behavior is offensive to all the things Toushirou has helped her through. When Karin & Izuru are fighting about Toushirou, Karin normally storms out. If Izuru follows her, regardless of his intent to apologize, Karin normally socks him. Thankfully, Toushirou & Izuru start getting along while Karin is in the academy so she & Izuru don’t actually fight much anymore. When they do, they’re mostly drunk, not sure what they’re fighting about, & end up just being petty & scathing & totally cool in the morning.

Karin isn’t infrequently frustrated with Ururu & Jinta. That said, she’s never been violent with either of them while she’s frustrated. Karin is mostly frustrated by their refusal to divulge much about shinigami for fear of retaliation from Ichigo. These are Karin’s battle partners. They’re her longest & most important friends. It’s offensive & demeaning that the two most important people in Karin’s life won’t be honest with her, just like Ichigo. Karin throws tantrums, she screams & bawls her eyes out, she begs for them to have the decency to love her like she loves them– with total trust & devotion, but to little avail. Karin may not speak to Jinta & Ururu for a few days after these tantrums, but that’s about all. Karin can’t stay away from them, they’re simply too important to her.

Ichigo is the person Karin is most often frustrated by. I won’t discuss this much since I already talk about Karin & Ichigo so much, but Karin hasn’t gone one argument with Ichigo without trying to hit him. She’s at the end of her rope the minute Ichigo walks in.

Where do I even start with Ichigo’s crew? I was originally going to do original sections for each of them but Karin’s reasons for her frustration with them & reactions to them are virtually the same. Karin does not like anybody in close proximity to Ichigo. At all. Karin thinks all of them are blindly loyal to Ichigo & agree with Ichigo’s treatment of Karin. This isn’t true, Yasutora & Rukia are especially offended by Ichigo stifling Karin’s potential so. Even so, neither of them do anything to put Ichigo in place which, in my opinion, is almost as bad as agreeing with Ichigo. The only person spared from Karin’s violence is Orihime, & only because Karin gets very soft, kind vibes from Orihime which reminds Karin too much of Yuzu to raise a hand against Orihime. Otherwise, everybody else is fair game. Byakuya is included in this category.

Renji is not included with them. Karin harbors complex feelings for Renji. On one hand, Renji reminds Karin strongly of her brother. Renji & Ichigo share similar body language, syntax, & “vibes,” & Renji’s proximity to Ichigo worries Karin. That said, Momo trusts Renji & Karin trusts Momo’s opinion. There’s not one thing that ticks Karin off with or about Renji, because her mixed feelings themselves trigger her frustration. Now, Karin doesn’t act on her frustration herself. Karin gets violent when she feels trapped her pestered by Renji. Her attacks rarely work since Renji is so much larger & stronger than Karin, but Renji is very respectful of Karin’s space for the most part so there aren’t a lot of altercations between them. The rare times Karin tries to beat the shit out of Renji normally result in Renji putting her in time out with Momo & Momo making Karin apologize for her behavior after Karin has cooled off. Karin’s never sure if she’s really sorry.

Isshin genuinely loves his children. Isshin doesn’t know how to be a father. That’s perfectly reasonable, it’s not like there’s a manual for raising children at all, let alone children with troubles such as the Kurosaki siblings. That said, Karin doesn’t feel like Isshin takes her seriously. This makes it hard for Karin to go to Isshin for any amount of help because he just makes a joke out of everything. Of course, nobody can bottle up the turmoil Karin experiences without it negatively impacting their behavior. When Karin feels mocked by Isshin, she gets violent with him. It’s mostly spontaneous violence, while Isshin is being a goofball.

Karin’s relationship with Shuuhei is hard to articulate. It’s pretty uncomplicated since Karin doesn’t hang out with Shuuhei as much as she hangs out with Izuru, Momo, & Toushirou. Karin has never been violent with Shuuhei, she hasn’t even really fought with him. I just want to touch on this though because Karin does get frustrated with Shuuhei on occasion. Shuuhei is still very loyal to Tousen despite Tousen manipulation & hypocrisy. THIS doesn’t anger Karin. Karin knows emotional abuse is extremely complex & takes time for the survivor to process their experience, heal, & relearn self-respect. Karin admires Shuuhei incredibly though as Momo admires him too, which is rare for Momo. Karin just wants Shuuhei to learn to give himself the respect he deserves, she just wants Shuuhei to see how wonderful he is. She mostly keeps this to herself though.

Karin generally loves Rangiku. Rangiku is fun & bright & is almost as good as Rose & Momo at cheering Karin up. Karin just has one complaint– Rangiku’s avoidance of work & Toushirou consequentially picking up her slack. Rangiku isn’t a bad person, but Toushirou is very overworked & a good partnership requires lifting one’s weight in & out of battle. Karin’s frustration with Rangiku slacker habits never escalates into a screaming match or a fight, but Karin can be quite venomous if she catches Rangiku slacking off somewhere. It never really hurts Rangiku’s feelings. Rangiku knows Karin loves her but loves Toushirou just as much, & Rangiku knows Karin is right, Rangiku’s just so sad that it’s hard to sit down & concentrate. Karin understands, she was disassociated her entire senior year & literally flunked out because she got nothing done, but being sad doesn’t excuse burdening loved ones.

Yukio rarely triggers Karin’s frustration. There’s this ease between them Karin doesn’t get with many individuals at all. I’m not even sure what they’d fight about, let alone either of their reactions. Yukio’s initial disdain for Toushirou would tick Karin off at first, but Yukio & Toushirou eventually develop a friendship of their own eliminating any reason for Karin to get upset over that, & Karin can easily see through Yukio’s aloof, sarcastic facade because it’s exactly like her own. I think any problems Karin & Yukio would have with each other would be resolved quickly & maturely.

Karin’s friends Ryohei, Heita, Kei, & Kazuya are people Karin considers “underdogs” like herself. I’ll make another post about my headcanons for Karin’s friends another time– probably reblog it from my roleplay blog– but Karin has only been violent with these four once. Like, with the intent to get back at them instead of just shut them up when they’re being obnoxious. It’s just after the five of them enter junior high. It’s weird for boys & girls to be friends now, & Ryohei, Heita, Kei, & Kazuya don’t like being teased for being friends with a girl. They try to just stop talking to Karin, “let her down easy” so to speak, but Karin’s having none of that. When Karin confronts them about their distant behavior, they really don’t have any choice but to tell Karin they don’t want to be friends with Karin anymore. Of course, Karin is broken-hearted. Kazuya, Ryohei, Kei, & Heita have given Karin a sense of normalcy throughout elementary school. She throws a fit, throwing two of them into the river, dislocating one’s arm, breaking another’s nose, & storms off. She never sees them again. Fine by her, she tells everybody, despite how her chest aches.

Karin is scarcely frustrated with Shinji to point of violence. His lax demeanor in the office gets on Karin’s nerves frequently, but she respects Shinji too greatly to throw a temper tantrum of any sort. This wasn’t always true. Oftentimes, Karin felt Shinji was comparing her to her brother, but Momo talked to Shinji about Karin’s disdain for her brother & Shinji respects that Ichigo hurt Karin very much, so even if Shinji still cares about Ichigo he & Karin just don’t talk about anything having to do with Ichigo.

Rose normally doesn’t irritate Karin in any capacity. Rose used to sound condescending, with his insistence to make the most of life & exploration & art, but after Rose & Karin converse about making oneself happy, pursuing the things that bring them joy instead of seething in misery, Karin likes him. It’s summarily what she did when she killed herself, however tragic. The most Rose does is irritate Karin when he’s being prissy & finicky. It doesn’t even elicit any smart comments from Karin, mostly just an eyeroll. Nothing ever escalates into violence.

Kensei, on the other hand, can make Karin go from 0 to 100 in a third of a second. Karin doesn’t totally despise Kensei. She actually doesn’t know Kensei very well as a person, but she knows how Kensei treats Shuuhei & it’s totally unacceptable. I’ll cover more about Karin’s reactions towards witnessing abusive situations in a couple of paragraphs. But the moment Kensei snaps at Shuuhei while Karin’s in the vicinity, she’s almost immediately up in Kensei’s face screaming at him how he’s a captain & should know better, how Shuuhei’s done jackshit to deserve being berated like Kensei sometimes does. I think Kensei would be ticked off that some kid is screaming at him like Karin is, but Karin has a lot of good points. I won’t explore my thoughts about the dynamic of Squad 9 in this post so I’ll stop there.

Karin doesn’t really know what she thinks about Mashiro overall. I do think Karin is sometimes annoyed by Mashiro’s immaturity but otherwise Karin doesn’t find a lot to get annoyed with Mashiro, nothing that warrants more than a couple of ticked off remarks at least.

That’s all for Karin’s individual relationships– 2.3k words of it…. Just real quick, I’d like to cover a little bit about Karin’s biases towards certain relationships.

Karin’s family relationships leave much to be desired. She doesn’t really care much for her family, since they’re so distant & Yuzu is the only one who hasn’t betrayed Karin in some fashion. She doesn’t think very highly of her family as a whole because of their dysfunction, however much she may love them. She responds to anger with them similarly to her friendships.

Karin is a very insecure person. There aren’t many people whom are forward with her, & she’s already ostracized from her classmates thanks to shit that went down with ghosts in her primary school years. When Karin gets a new friend, she is entirely loyal & loving of them. Anything she may view as wrong or as a betrayal Karin will react to with incredible hostility. Like her family, she thinks friendships are based in honesty & when that is violated she’s broken-hearted & volatile.

Boyfriends & girlfriends are a different matter altogether. Karin will forgive a lot more with them. You see, Karin is a very physical person. Her two primary expressions of love are physical affection & emotional support. It’s more normal for romantic partners to snuggle, so if Karin is ticked off or just finished throwing a tantrum, she’s going to forgive pretty much anything & everything. If her tantrum is interrupted however, Karin will immediately equate this action to Ichigo’s demeaning behavior & she will turn violent & terminate the relationship.

Moving onto violations of Karin’s values. Overall, if Karin even thinks something is amiss she’ll get ticked off & start screaming or beating the shit out of someone. Karin is intolerant of intolerance, even from her loved ones. Truthfully, if any of her loved ones violate her morals, she’ll react even more hostilely than she will a stranger because her loved ones know better. It’s not to say she’ll never forgive anyone for these, of course, but she believes that cruelty needs to be met threefold.

Karin’s biggest trigger to violent action is LGBT+ discrimination. Being bisexual herself, Karin is directly impacted by homophobia & biphobia. She doesn’t care who or where or when this occurs, she will destroy anyone who exhibits homophobia, biphobia, transphobia, aphobia, et cetera. However, Japan has a very repressed culture, & Karin is aware that some people aren’t malicious, simply ignorant. While she’s most likely to respond violently to LGBT+ prejudice, she’s also most likely to forgive it in the future.

Karin is also really ticked off by xenophobia. The Kurosaki kids are biracial– German/Japanese mix, Masaki being German/Japanese herself– so Karin & her family are impacted by this. Less so Karin since she looks more traditionally Japanese, but Yuzu gets a lot of unwarranted harassment because of Yuzu’s more Western appearance. Karin will react violently to any amount of racially or culturally centric discrimination, regardless if Yuzu is on the receiving end or not. This is an unforgivable offense to Karin & if she sees the same individual over & over again, still behaving xenophobically, Karin will beat the shit out of them until they totally disappear from Karakura.

Misogyny is a good way to elicit Karin’s wrath. It reminds Karin of Ichigo’s treatment of her, & seeing as how Karin & Ichigo can’t go a day without trying to rip out each other’s throats, of course Karin acts hostilely towards this behavior.

Abuse & rape apologism wasn’t high on Karin’s radar until she met Momo. Of course, it was on there, but it had more to do with misogyny than abuse itself. Karin’s violent streak is triggered by praise of known abusers & belittlement or harassment of survivors. This is an unforgivable offense & Karin will at least try to chase said offender out of town.

Any form of harassment or abuse of Karin’s loved ones will result in hostile reaction by Karin. Karin is incredibly protective over her “clan” & would risk her own life for anybody she cares about. While Karin won’t immediately resort to violence, an example being Kensei, if the situation is taking a turn Karin doesn’t like or the behavior against her loved ones continues, somebody’s gonna end up with a knife in their lung. This offense is rarely forgivable to Karin, but she’s not so black & white minded to think that everything is simple as it seems. Sometimes, abusive behavior really is just a mistake that can be remedied, but Karin never receives mistreatment of her loved ones peacefully.

Karin would react just as protectively over strangers. It’s the violation of her morals that triggers her violent behavior, not the person, it just so happens that her loved ones can trigger more volatile reaction.

I want to cover relationship violence specifically for one reason– Karin will plainly murder any romantic or sexual partner of her loved ones whom are mistreating them. No warning, no forgiveness. This is basically because of Toushirou. It’s hard for Karin to watch Toushirou be sad in any capacity, especially when Toushirou blames himself for Aizen’s abuse of Momo. That, & Momo has a huge influence over Karin. Momo talking about Aizen’s abuse make Karin’s blood boil. Between those two influences, Karin has no tolerance nor forgiveness for abusive spouses or partners.

Hm. I was revising this when I noticed Karin’s misandry. I want to specify something here too– Karin does not give preferential treatment to women because they’re women. Most of the offenses Karin has suffered have been via men, & most of Momo’s horror stories are of Aizen. Karin has a very skewed perspective of men therefore she more likely to react violently against men, not because women need to be protected.

[saranel]

Hi! I'm not the previous anon but I also had a question about byakuya and renji as a couple. As I am usually put off by captain/lieutenant couples b/c power differential, I was wondering about your opinion on that. I always found them less problematic thanother pairs, but it is still an issue so I was wondering how you saw it and if you were planning on addressing it! I trust your judgement having seen how you write :) also lots of compliments/thanks on the TEF update!

This is something that’s always been an issue for me as well, so thank you for giving me the opportunity to discuss it, anon!  But before I get into this, please allow me to say that your trust in me, as a writer, to handle this matter with grace is truly humbling and more flattering than I can put into words.  

So thank you for that beautiful compliment, I was genuinely moved. 

Like you, my main concern in such pairs is the power discrepancy.  For me, one of the most important elements in a relationship is for the two people involved to be on the same wavelength, to be peers.  Age, especially in a universe like Bleach, is only secondary, unless of course we’re talking about an inherently problematic age difference.  

Because again, it’s not the pure numbers that make the age difference an issue, it’s the difference in mentality, power and/or life experience. A relationship between the average 17-year-old and a 30-year-old is no different than that between an 18-year-old and a 30-year-old, it’s just that the law has to set a numerical cut-off point for practical reasons.     

So, if one of my biggest problems is power discrepancy, how do I feel about such couples in Bleach?  

(cut for analysis & a clarification re: the char development in TEF)

The answer is that it depends.  I don’t have set rules for this (with one exception I’ll get to in a sec), and even though I’m predisposed to dislike such relationships, I try to look at them critically on a case-by-case basis and reserve final judgment until I’ve seen them interact to a satisfying degree.  Especially if said interaction involves having their relationship grow and develop over the course of the story.

The one subtype of such a relationship I’m even more negatively predisposed to is a mentor/student situation, especially in cases where the student spent all/part of their youth with their mentor.  Again, the problem isn’t the age: even if the student is an adult when the relationship kicks off, I’m still not sold on it.  The problem is that I’m uncomfortable with the idea of a person spending their formative years cultivating a platonic relationship with their mentor, then having that relationship turn romantic.  It’s the idea of a mentor essentially helping raise their student, being a parental figure in their life, and then becoming their lover.

Which is precisely why I’m not a fan of Yoruichi x Byakuya, Soifon or Ichigo, Kisuke x Ichigo etc even if it happens after the student becomes an adult (and yes, just in case anyone’s wondering, Kubo’s choice to have Yoruichi tease teenage boys with nudity squicks the hell out of me).  I certainly don’t judge people who enjoy those pairings with both characters as consenting adults, it’s just a personal thing.  And of course, it’s not uncommon for students to develop crushes on their mentors; it’s probably happened to most of us at a certain point, but the weight always falls on the party that holds the power when it comes to whether that relationship will become romantic or not.

That doesn’t mean that I’m averse to seeing stories like Soifon’s where they fall for their mentor!  I absolutely loved that flashback, and found it heartbreaking in all the right ways.  I just wasn’t open to seeing this relationship become romantic in the end, but was totally there for watching Soifon deal with her lingering feelings as an adult and eventually move on.   

So, in a nutshell: these relationships are a big no-no for me when the platonic aspect starts off while the younger character is still, for all intents and purposes, a child and vastly inexperienced.

Which brings us over to student/mentor relationships between characters who meet when both are adults.

Story time: for years, I was really into Shunsui x Nanao (and still am, to some degree), but what ruined the relationship for me wasn’t the latest reveal.  Incest is another huge no-no, but there’s still no definitive answer on whether Nanao is actually Shunsui’s niece or if she was fathered by a potential future lover after the death of Shunsui’s brother.  In all honesty, she probably is his niece, because romance between cousins doesn’t hold the same stigma in Japan as it does in other countries (in fact, it’s perfectly legal), though my research tells me that, as with most things, it’s a lot more common in manga/anime (see Ryūken and Masaki) than it is in real life.  So while it does squick me personally, it’s hard for me, as a reader, to just switch off my feelings for a couple when the reveal happens so late in the game, and since the canon allows for that little loophole, I made it my headcanon.

But I digress, the point I was originally trying to make is that this wasn’t what turned me off to the couple, at least partially.  It was the TBTP reveal that Nanao knew Shunsui when she was only a little girl.  

It was idea that they bonded over their common love for Lisa and became very close (as is implied) that really ruined this for me.  Again, the revelation came after I had already grown attached, so while they’re certainly not a NOTP, I don’t feel the same way about them as I did in the past, though I do still like them.

So how does this apply to other Captain/Lieutenant relationships?  Like I said earlier on, I judge on a case-by-case basis.  A Cpt/Lt relationship involves (in most cases) two people who begin to interact as adults.  Obviously, the fact that the Captain holds power over their Lieutenant is potentially problematic and even the narrative itself acknowledges this by way of Aizen manipulating Momo, who was not only fiercely loyal to him, but was also very obviously in love with him.  Whether Aizen took things too far we don’t know (personally, I don’t think he did; having her pine worked better for his keikaku), but the torment he put her through was very real either way.

But when we speak of two individuals who meet when they’re more or less fully developed as personalities, when they know who they are and where they stand on their own, I have no issue with their relationship if they manage to find a balance that works for them.

Obviously, Byakuya and Renji have a lot of issues, both individually and between them.  But what makes me enjoy their relationship is that they work on those issues and develop their relationship, to the point that by their last appearance they’re almost unrecognizable to the people who first showed up to arrest Rukia.  Renji deals with his resentment, Byakuya works on his blind devotion to the law even when it’s fundumentally unjust, and though it’s clear Renji still holds respect for him as his superior, the most significant change is that this also holds true for Byakuya. By the final arc, Byakuya is shown to care for, and more importantly value Renji, which brings them much closer to being peers.

In closing, I just wanted to say that when it comes to TEF in particular (and this is a very minor spoiler), Byakuya and Renji are not romantically involved in the latest chapter.  But… they’re getting there.  

Of course, I don’t expect the reader to just take my word for it.  The problem with TEF is that it’s going to be told out of order, so there will be instances where you’ll hear about certain events/relationships, but won’t get to see them until a later point in time.  

With a cast as huge as that of Bleach, it’s practically impossible to juggle everything, from the plot, to character development, to romance simultaneously and make each chapter interesting.  So the way I chose to do it is focus on one character/set of characters to tell a particular story (in this case, Kisuke and Yoruichi for the Soul King and stabilization of the worlds).  This allows me to address plot points one by one, while dealing with character development in batches.  Which means that when it’s time to tackle Byakuya and Renji’s relationship, it will be to highlight a different plot-related issue that ties directly to them.  Same with Soifon, Ichigo and Rukia, the Visored, and all the characters who will eventually feature in the story.

That’s not to say that other characters will be entirely absent (as is evident in the last two chapters of TEF); I still need to set up their individual plots and have them develop along with the rest of the story, I just won’t get down to the details until it’s their turn.