Law of the Iron Fist.

Character Solidifying // Accepting

What are your character’s manners like?

Pretty atrocious, in all honesty. As a young teenager in Rukongai, the only manners Kensei was ever taught were a means to control him; he didn’t really understand them or the purpose they served, right up to the very end. After that point, Kensei grew into a very blunt person, one who says what he means and doesn’t beat around the bush very much. 

That’s not to say he never uses manners. He can be polite, particularly in situations where he can genuinely apologize to someone or might naturally be inclined to compliment them. However, he doesn’t soften his tone or hold back his words when he doesn’t feel like he needs to — or he doesn’t feel like the other person deserves it.

What is their type of hero?

As far as he will tell anyone, he doesn’t have one.

As a young person, he very often dreamed of some sort of great leader, bold and brave and strong, sweeping through Soul Society and bringing the established power to its knees, replacing the existing rules with something or someone that would fix everything that was wrong with it. Of course, that didn’t happen, and so Kensei tried to accept that no one was going to rescue him. And he had to rescue himself.

Whom do they hate?

Kensei doesn’t hate as many people as he seems like he might. He hates, more than anything, certain aspects of people — arrogance, incompetence, hypocrisy, malice, and blithe optimism, to name a few. However, he reserves true hatred for a select few people who really have no redeemable qualities. People like Aizen and Gin.

To be more accurate, he did not get a dog; rather, it was given to him by his lieutenant Hisagi Shuuhei (deuxscythetango). One of the dogs owned by Shuuhei’s partner, Renji, had recently given birth to a litter of puppies, and they needed to find homes for them. Kensei was an easy mark, since he has a soft spot for babies and animals and baby animals. 

“What?” Shuuhei had fallen into the weird, trance-like state that comes with repetitive motions, but he snaps out of it at his Captain’s approach. He sheathes Kazeshini. “Yeah. Yes sir.” He slept. Not well, admittedly, but he’s run important missions on less sleep than this. He’s had plenty of practice working on little sleep– as a child, in the Academy, and now as a seated officer with mountains of paperwork to complete. 

The apple comes flying towards him and it’s only reflex that has him snatching it out of the air before really registering what it is. He turns it over in his hand a few times, noting the part that had already been sliced out. Had Kensei eaten some of it? The cut is neat and perfectly sized, and Shuuhei wonders if he’d used Tachikaze to cut it. He wonders how the zanpaktou would feel about being used for such menial tasks. Kazeshini, at least, has too much pride for such a thing. 

He bites into it, listens to his Captain update him on the mission status. Nothing fire-proof. Unfortunate, but not a huge problem. They’re both fairly fast and light on their feet, and should be able to avoid any serious burns. Oxygen masks– helpful. Shuuhei hadn’t even thought about the oxygen deprivation. He seriously doubts the usefulness of the lotion, but that might be because he associates the phrase ‘lotion’ with the smelly stuff Rangiku smears on his hands when they crack during the winter.

“I’m ready.” He nods. “Thank you.” He adds, lifting the apple slightly. He feels, admittedly, a bit uncomfortable with everything. The memory of Tousen running point on missions is still strong in his mind, and he can’t help but compare everything Kensei does with Tousen. Tousen never bothered to feed him before a mission, but there was always careful planning, maps and reviewing and he always trusted Shuuhei to show up at his very best. Tousen never bothered to ask if Shuuhei slept, and he’s not sure if he feels insulted or comforted by Kensei having asked. He takes another bite of the apple. 

None of this is to say he doesn’t trust Shuuhei. He trusts Shuuhei — not with everything, not with anything to do with his past — but he at least entrusts his life to him, which is more than he can say for most people. Shuuhei is capable, strong, a leader, someone who needs to be here in the coming years. He’s the rock of the Ninth Division, far more than Kensei can be. Not now, not for a century. 

That said, he does not want Shuuhei on this mission, any more than he wants Mashiro on this mission. 

What he wants is a small group of capable officers, subordinates he can rely upon but not entirely. Warriors whose expendability is as implicit to them as it is to him, who understand that he’ll protect them as much as he can but he can’t be everywhere, even if he wanted to be. What he wants is his Muguruma Squad, but they’re ashes just as much as the 18th and 19th Districts.

He watches Shuuhei eat the apple, thinking. Shuuhei is even more vulnerable to the fire than he is, mainly because his Captain’s haori is supposedly fire-resistant. Not that he trusts it against a full-on onslaught, but anything is better than nothing. Once they get out to around 16th District, he’ll make sure they take the time to actually put on that lotion. Hopefully that officer knew what he was talking about; hopefully it won’t be like lotion on a sunburn (just cooking them from the inside out).

He is hesitating, putting off the inevitable. The longer they wait, the longer it will take, and the more likely Mashiro will come looking for them. He tugs the bag with equipment even further onto his shoulder and says, “Let’s go.”

Kensei Muguruma was one of the original members of Overwatch. After the initial crisis, Kensei was sent to Lijiang, China to command a Watchpoint there. He ran a tight, clean ship and was mostly unaffected by the intricate politics that plagued Overwatch’s central command. 

When Overwatch suddenly disbanded and left him unemployed, Kensei eventually became the owner of what turned into a world-class restaurant in Lijang. He didn’t answer Overwatch’s recall and it’s only after Talon’s efforts to eliminate him became a danger to his own life and the lives of those around him that he reluctantly made his way to the new headquarters. In spite of others’ encouragement, he refused to resume a command position within the organization itself, though he does end up taking the lead often in field assignments.

UNIT TYPE // TANK

Pulse Machine Gun | Kensei’s automatic energy weapon has significant charge but a slow recharge time. [Ammo: 40]

Earth Severing | Kensei expends all of his weapon’s charge at once to create a larger blast, which also has knockback effect.

Armor | Kensei has armor and shields that drastically increase his health, though they aren’t self-healing. [Max health: 450]

“Uh- yeah, like cooking!” Part of Shuuhei is really, really tempted to bring up the fact that Tousen used to have a very popular cooking segment when he was still writing for the paper, but he decides against it. There’s no need to remind Muguruma that no matter what he writes, people will no doubt be comparing it to Tousen. 

Besides, it’s been a long time since anybody brought up the ‘T word’, and their last few conversations about him didn’t exactly end on a positive note.

“Pieces like that are often pretty popular, since a lot of people can relate.”

He knows that Muguruma is trying, and that by itself is pretty special. Shuuhei doesn’t want to make him nervous or discouraged.

“I run into that problem a lot. You could try sitting down and setting a timer for two minutes, then in those two minutes make a list of anything you might want to try writing about. Maybe one of those ideas will stick.”

No, let’s bring up the ‘T word’, shall we? That way Kensei can go on a far-too-emotionally-charged rampage about ‘fucking Tousen’ and ‘of course he had to take everything from me, even cooking’. But he’s not bitter or anything like that. Certainly that’s exactly what Shuuhei wants to hear, right?

It’ll be a quick enough discovery when Kensei flips through the archives later for inspiration, noticing Tousen’s name and Tousen’s column and so on, so forth. And it’ll surely be a mess when the time comes. But that’s not quite yet. Not just yet.

“Huh... what else do people write? Advice columns? Fiction?” He hasn’t actually read the Communication in over a century; who fucking knows what’s in it these days. That aside... he could give advice! He knows shit. He’s been alive a long time; surely that gives him some level of expertise. 

After the end of the Thousand Year Blood War, most of Soul Society was left devastated in the wreckage and destruction that had occurred, not the least of whom were the Visoreds and Kensei himself. Somehow, all of them managed to survive the war, though there was a lasting impact on Kensei and Rose in particular. 

It would be crude and unrealistic to say that the war is a blip in their pasts. In addition to the physical and psychological impact of zombification, regulations and laws passed just after the end of the war made for a tense social climate as Kensei considered where he wanted to go next. He found himself directly opposing many of the laws that put Seireitei at opposition with Rukongai, as well as outright despising some of his colleagues even more than he did before. Certainly not an ideal work situation for him.

Not all changes were negative, of course. Kensei has been growing closer to Shuuhei, even to the point of assisting with his wedding to Izuru Kira and Renji Abarai. It didn’t hurt that he was able to befriend Shuuhei’s adopted daughter, Kyoko, who he enjoys helping with whenever she’s around the division.