Erica Sugiyama Kuchiki

"I'm just one of those people whose light will shine even in the darkest of hours. I'll never give up on my friends and family."

Erica Sugiyama Kuchiki, (エリカ杉山朽木 ) Is a usually quiet girl. Friendly in nature and very loyal to friends and family. She is known to devote herself to everything she does and always places those around her before herself.

Appearance
Erica is five foot eight inches tall with chemically altered brilliant blue eyes, [her original eye colour however, is the same as her father's, slate grey]. Her eyes are always filled with light and reflect her bubbly yet quiet nature. She is of average build and her skin is light to pale in tone by nature. Her flowing black hair reaches down as far as the middle of her back and frames her face lightly on both sides, hanging down just above her eyes in a straight cut fringe. Usually she is found to wear the traditional shihakushō of the Gotei 13 with her division number (squad 12) inside the robes. But is also known to wear other floral and light coloured kimono on her days off. She appears completely normal, nothing about the outward appearance of the young girl would give any indication as to what lurks within the young woman or as to what exactly happend to her. She usually carries her zanpakuto at her left hip, secured with a tie of red and white silk, braided to look like a chain of petals.

Personality.
Erica's personality is best described as light and bubbly. She is always willing to help those in need and has been known to put everyone before herself. She tends to worry alot and in the early years of her life in the soul society she was seen to have many traits of kindness thought to no longer exist in the world. She will push herself above and beyond what is seen as possible for a woman of her age, going to extreme lengths to look after her family and friends, stand up for her beliefs and follow the laws of the Soul Society. The most notable example of these traits comes from her relationship with the Lieutenant of Squad Six, Renji Abarai. Where she single handedly sacrificed greatly to save the young male lieutenant's life without a second thought as to what it would do to herself.

Her personality has seen several changes over the years, since she first entered the Soul Society, loosing the warm and outwardly friendly apperance and nature to become more stone faced and "cold" like her father. She will keep up several thick emotional walls and barriers to protect herself and conceal her true feelings about certain things like hearing the name of her first love being spoken ill of, or when confronted with an emotionally conflicting choice.

Like her father before her, Erica is a firm believer in law and order and will usually follow the commands of her captain or any captain without question even if she disagrees with them. She views that all law-breakers must be punished, even if that goes against her own wishes or even if it means having to suffer for actions she herself has undertaken. It is this belief which leads the young female into many conflicting battles of heart and mind, along with what makes the young woman follow the orders of her cruel and calculating captain. Even when those orders are to inflict harm upon herself or test out his newest chemical compounds. These orders usually leading to levels of injury ranging from minor to major.

In her spare time, Erica enjoys reading, writing poetry, listening to soft music and flower viewing. She is also partial to enjoying foods that compliment the balance of sweet and savory, many times combining human foods like fries with vanilla icecream. Her favorite flavours of ice cream are Mint chocolate and sea salt.

History.
Born into the Kuchiki family under Byakuya and Hisana Kuchiki, Erica grew up in the Kuchiki mansion in Seireitei where she spent much of her childhood training in the art of swordsmanship and caretaking. Unable to be the next head of the family due to being female, this never stopped the young girl in training hard to impress her father and hopefully make him proud of her one day by taking her place among the other great family members in the Gotei 13.

Curious by nature, the young woman often found herself dreaming of the human world that her father would visit on assignments. She wanted to know everything and anything on the world so alien to her and hoped to one day see it for herself. However her father refused to allow her accompany him on any assignments to that world, claiming it was far too dangerous for a soul like herself who had little training in the abilities needed to protect herself less a hollow or threat attacked her. Or so he had told her anyway. Byakuya was actually trying to protect one of the last remaining glimmers of light in his life since the passing of his wife and her mother, Hisana, by sheltering the young girl as much as possible. As such, the young girl ended up spending most of her time alone in the manor, reading and observing the flowers.

However, fifteen years ago, just before the young girl was due to start her training in the soul academy, the young woman met a group of shinigami who offered her a way to see the world of the living, promising her that she would be safe and return to the manor before her father even knew she was missing. Being the curious child that she was, the young woman agreed to accompany them to the world of the living, using a gigai that she had hoped to use after she had graduated Shino accademy. Not long after this however, the party which the female had found herself in had come under attack from a very powerful hollow, causing the young girl to flee in terror because she could not fight. After witnessing the deaths of those shinigami, and with no way to return home, the young girl had been forced to flee from the hollow. For hours the young girl had run for her life before an accident caused the young woman to slide into a coma and her memories to become lost.

When the young woman awoke in the human world, she knew nothing of who she was. A human couple by the name of Rosa and Tamaki Sugiyama had found the girl uncontious in the street and taken her to hospital. After her recovery, the young woman was adopted by the couple and made believe that she was infact their child. She was sent to school in a small highschool on Samayou-Island where she would be isolated by the other human teenagers for her obsession with "manga" and her ability to see ghosts. The feeling of lonliness, isolation and utter hopelessness soon over taking the young girl because she could not find even a single friend. This however changed one day, three years later when Erica skipped school. She had heard about the beach on the otherside of the island, it was apparently haunted and alot of explosions, cries and other sounds usually where heard coming from it late in the night.

Her curious nature returning, the young girl decided to visit the otherside of the island. There she met her two best friends, Tristan and Steven. Two apparently normal boys who could also see ghosts and held the same obsession with her. One whole year passed with the girl and her two best friends, causing her to meet many great people, including her aunt, Rukia, whom the girl did not recognise at the time. It was on the beach that the young woman met Abarai Renji, Lieutenant of squad six of the Gotei 13 and fell madly in love with him. Powerless however, the young girl's strangely high reaitsu attracted many hollows toward her. Two of which being an nameless adjuchas who was interested in her for her high reaitsu and another by the name of Teino Bagu. Teino took great pleasure in emotionally tormenting the young woman, often firing ceros at her, chasing her, and on two occations, kidnapping her to the Menos forest where he played games of Cat and mouse with her. Pushing her to the limits of her survival abilities.

Return to the Soul Society.
Nineteen years after the young woman had vanished from the Seireitei, Erica returned alongside the Lieutenant whom she loved deeply. Unable to stay with him, the young woman was forced to live in the Rukongai until she applied to join Shino accademy in the hopes of becoming a shinigami like her lover, Renji. Erica used the name she knew from the past few years, Sugiyama, to apply and was accepted with no trouble, passing the entrance exam with extreme ease. This granted her a place in the top advanced class where she would spend the next while studying.

However, shortly after the young girl had joined the academy one of the captains of the current Gotei 13 squads came to review the classes. His name was Mayuri Kurotsuchi of squad 12, as he reviewed and watched the young woman's class, he was drawn to her abnormally high Reiatsu and the frequent "spikes" which would course through the female. These traits facinated the calculating and scientific mind of the captain and caused him to arrange a meeting with her after her lessons one day. It was at this meeting that the Captain asked the female to allow him to do a simple test on her. Innocent and oblivious to his cruel ways, the young woman had agreed and found herself subject to an excrutiatingly painful experiment which almost claimed her life then and there. But the captain found great interest in how her body had responded and wanted to probe further into this process. Crafting her an extremely advanced body which replaced the soul version of her original pre-gigai body. The young girl, unable to breathe or move from the pain was forced to accept the new body just to be able to get back to normality and her studies on the condition that she would allow him to do further "study" of her abilities as they grew.

Unknown to her though, by accepting that new body the young girl had effectively sealed her own fate, entering into a contract with the captain to be his test subject or he would revoke her right to the technology and allow her to die. As such, she returned to the academy and studied hard, reading more books and maintaining a top grade across the board.

Meeting Sokaru and the spiltting of her zanpakuto.
One day the female's lover, Renji Abarai brought the young woman back to the Island to spend a day there with him, enjoying a break from study and staying under his protection since she had still not learned the name of her own zanpakuto. It was there that the young woman learned of the crimes of a male shinigami by the name of Sokaru Hikumatsa. The wicked man was using the abilities of his own zanpakuto to control those whom he captured from within. Sokaru was brother to another of the evil men that had terrorised the Island by the name of Joshua Hikumatsa, and had been outraged to learn of his brother's death at the hands of the islanders. As such he was out for cold blooded revenge. He used the ability of his zanpakuto to take control of the young woman and have her remind those of the locals who he had taken control of to be loyal to him. His order to the young girl being to take her zanpakuto and carve the words "be loyal or die" into her abdomen. Forced to do this on pain of death, the young woman, who had been so close to learning the name of her zanpakuto had found herself unaware of what her actions had done to her zanpakuto. The once innocent spirit of the blade splitting personalities into two half souls, polar opposites to eachother. The kind side, Shiroi Tenshi Ga Bara, who only wanted to help the young girl, and Kuro Tenshi Ga Bara, the evil side who wanted nothing more then to see the girl suffer. A result to this split was a large lace glove like pattern being burned into the young girl's right hand that would flouresce either bright white or blood red depending on which side of the soul was in control of the blade's main power at the time. Erica spent most of her time since then training doubly hard to keep herself in control of her split minded zanpakuto. Sokaru, the man who had caused this however, seemed to have vanished into thin air, never to have been heard from again.

Sacrifice!: The bond of eternity to save another.
Shortly after returning to daily life and study in shino academy, the young girl was called upon once again by her soon -to-be captain for testing. These latest batch of tests leading on to leaving the young girl extremely ill and blind for a period of three days. Her lover, Renji, grew outraged by the abuse the captain was inflicting on the young girl and challenged him to a fight. Out matched in strength and out-smarted, the young man had found himself poisoned infront of the young girl and dying painfully on his knees at the captain's cold and uncaring feet. Erica, heartbroken at having to witness the man she loved die so painfully for trying to save her, to stand up for her and stop the suffering under the cruel gaze of Mayuri, begged him to save the male. She begged and pleaded with the captain before falling into a state of uncontiousness. Shiroi Tenshi Ga Bara having used something that made the young woman pass out and allow her to speak for the three of them, took her place. It was Shiroi's words of begging and pleading that sparkted the interest of the male captain and caused him to give the antidote to Lieutenant Abarai. In exchange for the cure, Shirio, Kuro and Erica had entered into an unbreakable soul bond with the captain, Sacrificing their eternal loyalty and freedom to become his slaves and test subjects no matter what he asked of them. The bond being sealed in the form of a butterfly marking on both Erica and the captain's wrists. This bond ment no matter where, no matter the time of day or night, if the captain called upon the female by pressing on that mark, she would instantly go to him.

After this bond had been made, the young female had been ordered to remove the lieutenant from the sight of the captain. As such, she had brought Renji back to her home in Rukongai to allow him to recover while she went about performing tests and experiments for her new master. For several days she worked tirelessly, keeping herself ontop of the ever increasing work load while also maintaining her studies for Shino. After her lover awoke, the young girl had told him that everything would be fine and he was going to recover. Deep down hiding the facts that she had lost any hope of being free from the man who now controlled her life. Erica continued on as normal for several years, undergoing many painfull experiments which would forever change her. Each was more barbaric then before and left her recovering for longer periods of time.

On several occations, the young woman's friends had tried to save her from this fate by challenging the captain, these actions only serving to gain the female more punishment as the time went on.

Move to the ranks of the Gotei 13.
After several years of punishing and tiresome study below the captain ontop of her time in the academy, the young woman at last graduated Shino at the top of her class and learned the name of her zanpakuto. This ability along with several others setting her appart from other candidates in the graduating class. As such, the young girl found herself prime candidate for the position of Lieutenant of squad twelve. Her predecessor, Nemu, having been scrapped by the Captain for one too many faults in her later life. For several months the young woman laboured on under the captain, working hard and sleeping little. Seeing her lover less and less as the time went on. Maintaining the regular experimentations and upgrades which where build into her body to keep her at optimal level for the time being. Each new upgrade coming with heavy and grueling training against the captain himself to test the performance of the body and document it all. Yet through out it all, the young woman managed to maintain a strong and loving personality. Serving for a number of years as his lieutenant.

Kimiko is born
After a rather crude and strange few weeks, the young woman had found herself pregnant with the child of her lover. A feeling of joy and family being spread throughout the pair of soon to be parents. Erica spent the next few months leading up too and post the birth of her beautiful daughter, Kimiko Naomi Abarai, at home. Nursing her and caring for the child until she was old enough for Erica to return to work, leaving Kimiko in the care of her father or a trusted friend when she needed to be away from home.

Changes begin. Coming to terms with loss.
After several years of being with her lover, Renji Abarai. The young woman had planned an elaborate day out for the two of them to spend the human holiday known as "Valentine's Day" together. Erica had planned out a picnic by the lake where the pair had held their first date and then to head to the Valentine's Day carnival down on the island. She had been saving her earnings to buy him a new pair of goggles from his favorite store in the Seireitei, not to mention, she had worked in her spare time to create a kimono which embodied how she viewed the male. His strong heart and kind nature. She herself had even pulled out her most beautiful kimono and spent ages dressing and making herself look wonderful for the day. Erica waited for several hours at the spot on the shore by the lake, her heart growing heavier and heavier because the man did not show up. Finally, after six hours, and just as she was about to give up hope, the sound of hurried footsteps approaching made her look up from the shore. But it was not the man she loved, no. It was a young girl carrying what looked to be a heavy bag which she proceeded to drop at Erica's feet before rushing off and proclaiming the bag had been from her lover. Wondering what had been inside and why the girl had run off, the female had opened the bag to find the head of her lover, severed and blood soaked. Shock set in, then despair at realising that her lover was dead, that he would never be coming. For days the female wept, lonliness and isolation once more creeping in. For now Erica had nothing and no-one, the man whom she had given up everything lay dead and she couldn't do anything to change that. So, she had tried her best to carry on. Working long hours in the labs and socalising less and less.

A vizard is born.
Another year passes and the female returns once again to the island, there she is hunted by her old foe, Teino Bagu. Once again the game of cat and mouse commences, Teino kidnapped the young woman and brought her once more to the Menos Forest. There the game lasts for several days in the cold, dark and lonely forest before he eventually out matches, out manovers and traps Erica. Firing a cero which rips into the woman's body causing her grave injury just before her friends arrive to save her. Devistation kicks in, causing her friends to call out, to beg her not to give up.

But the girl's heart is too strong to simply die, no, instead she fights back, willing herself to survive, hearing the pained cries of her friends as she lays inches from death in that dark and cold forest. This will power and determination to survive for her friends, for her loved ones, even for the man she had lost causes the birth of a strong inner hollow, Chiyoko. Granting the female crude hollow powers which allow her to survive and fend Teino off for another day. Passing out in the forest however, one of her friends by the name of Uesari_Bagu saves her life, transporting her and the others back to the Soul society where she heals up and recovers. Unaware of what now lives within her own mind or the dangers it poses to herself and those around herself.

For several weeks the young girl labours on, suffering nightmares, delusions and feeling as if she was drowning. Until one day Uesari takes her aside, despair in his eyes as he explains that she is infact a vizard, cursed with a hollow inside of her that will destroy her if it is left untamed.

Not alone anymore: Meeting the other Vizards.
Not long after hearing the news of the fact she has an inner hollow, the young girl is taken to meet a group of people by Uesari. Being told that they'll help her control her powers and tame the hollow within herself. Terrified, Erica agrees and is brought to the Vizard hideout where she meets Shinji_Hirako and trains with him for a time, to get her hollow under control. But before she can finish her training with the former captain, the young girl is ordered back to her master and captain's side. She leaves the vizards after making a few new and life long friends which would aid her in the future and become a strong part of her life.

Father?: Learning who she was.
Shortly after leaving the Vizard hideout and returning to the Seireitei, the young woman runs into the captain of her former lover, Renji Abarai and is instantly in awe of him. She had heard much about the captain and head of the Noble Kuchiki clan, about how he was one of the strongest and also one of the most revered through out the land. Common manors had taught her to bow before a man of his rank and speak respectively to him at all times. Byakuya at first had passed her off as another normal shinigami until however she had smiled. He had been stunned and in disbelief as recognition grew within his eyes. His daughter was alive and well, standing before him with no memory of who she was. At this he had been inwardly disappointed, his cold eyes not letting on a single thing. Byakuya then asked her to accompany him to the Manor for a private conversation. There Erica found herself getting the feeling of dejavu, as if she had been there before. He brought her to where her old room had been, watching her intensely as the young woman had wandered around, touching at things with furrowed brow as memories slowly flooded back. Turning slowly, Erica had sunk into a low bow, tears in her eyes. Her voice had broken several times as she spoke to her father, remembering him and being too nervous to look at him. She appologised perfusely and remained on her knees for almost a half hour, apologizing over and over and crying in joy at being home.

Erica had spent several days getting to speak with her father again, learning what had happend since she had been missing and relaxing, she had informed him that she had made Lieutenant of squad twelve and that she was working hard to be a good shinigami. Leaving out the bond she held with Mayuri for the moment so as to not worry him.

To love again?: Meeting Ikkaku Madarame
After returning once again to Samayou Island, the young female had discovered it had been exctly two years since the death of her lover and still no action had been taken. Renji had all but been forgotten by those on the Island and no-one cared for getting justice for his murder. Erica had held a heavy heart on her return, it was Valentine's day again and the lonely feeling had once again taken route deep inside, leaving her drifting through the day there. Deciding to have a firm drink in memory of her lover, the young woman had ducked into a local bar and ordered sake. Shortly after her order had been brought to her the tall and muscular third seat of squad Eleven had asked to join her at her table. He had been wanting to drink the day away out of boredom, where as she wanted to drink it away from pain. There the two had ended up talking for a while and their relationship had started to form, building stronger and stronger as time went on. Erica found herself head over heels for Ikkaku, but the same fear and memories of what had happend with Renji plagued her mind like ghosts. As such, the young woman had tried to shield him from what had happend to her under Mayuri at all costs. Going as far as to blame her injuries on training or lab explosions rather then on punishment and experimentation. Herself, Kimiko and Ikkaku grew closer and stronger as a family over time. Ikkaku spending time looking after Kimiko and playing with her, teaching her the basics of how to fight and trying to keep her safe from harm.

Winds of change: Central 46 orders the arrest of the Vizards
Since the threat and eventual fall of Sosuke Aizen security levels within the Soul Society had been raised to a strong high level, every subgroup of people, the quinceys, bounts, modified souls etc have been under secret surveillance. Each subgroup being classified by threat level to the seireitei one by one. The potential threat level percieved for the Vizards jumping high in the line due to the fact many of the captains had seen exactly how strong a vizard was in battle. As such, Central 46 ordered the apprehension of every single vizard known in the soul society and hiding out in the world of the living. This action forced Erica to flee for her life shortly after having an arguement with her lover. She vanished into thin air, taken in by one of the shinigami. Never having gotten the chance to talk to Ikkaku, to explain, appogise or to tell him that she was a Vizard. All that was known to the world was the woman had been killed in battle.

Mayuri's punishment
No more then a month after being taken into the encampment by one of the stealth force, the young woman found herself face to face with none other than that of her captain. He was outraged at the fact his "creation" and slave as he called her, had refused to tell him about the fact she had become a Vizard. As such, his anger at full peak and cruel, venomus nature poised to strike, Mayuri had taken her from the camp and lead her to his lab where he had claimed she would be subject to a "test". But that was not the case, Once alone Mayuri had not tested on the young woman. He had unleashed cold-hearted fury upon her. Viciously slashing, slicing and carving the woman's body and face up badly enough that it was almost all but unrecognisable. After the vicious attack, the male had ordered her to stop her bleeding but not to let her scars heal or fade. He then had marched her back to the camp where he threw her in, leaving and calling her a disgusting waste of space and technology.

After spending several days healing to some degree, the young woman had covered herself up as much as possible. Her body weakened, damaged and disfigured from such a savage attack that she could not bear to show her face. As a solution, the female had created a papermache mask with spaces for her eyes, a thin slit at the lips for her to speak and breathe.



She wanders the encampment, curious to see who else was there and if there was any hope of escaping the godless, rainstarved land which spread out before her feet. Meeting up with Uesari and then Shinji on the inside, the female felt glad to see a familar pair of faces. After spending sometime talking with her old friends, the young woman is asked why she wears the mask. Hesitating and starting to cry, the female moves aside the mask, revealing the truth about her face.

Tucking herself away inside of one of the huts to explain what had happened to her, the young woman had sat there, her body still aching in several areas. For over an hour she spoke, telling of how she had ended up inside the camp, how Mayuri had abused and disfigured her in blind rage upon learning of what she had become. Rage, blind and intense, was seen on the faces of her friends for several minutes before being replaced by pity. After explaining her story to the men, Erica slides the papermache mask back in place to spare them the horror and sickening punishment of having to look at her face. Erica keeps that mask on twenty four hours a day, for it is the only way she feels comfortable to talk to her friends or be seen outside. The mask granting her some sence of normality as those around her once more can bear to look into her eyes and not turn green.

Days turn into weeks, weeks into months and months into years for the captured band of friends. The draining nature of the encampment, long hot days and freezing cold nights being less then ideal. Forced to endure these conditions and the horrific, barbaric abuse and treatment at the hands of the guards which police the interior of the camp, Erica found herself watching many of her friends fall to despair or madness. She herself falling not too far behind them. For unknown to her or any of her friends, one of the experiments which had been done to the girl several years earlier was gaining momentum. Corrupting the fragile mind of the young woman and even effecting the hollow within her, creating a new and rather more dangerous hollow. One who started twisting Erica's thoughts, making her see, hear and sence things that did not exist in reality in short outbursts.

A meeting of fate
Loosing hope of ever seeing her lover or her child again, the young woman had all but given up. It had been six years of suffering, pain and isolation away from those she loved. One day a guard, by the name of Kouki Watashima decided it would be interesting to single the girl out for a game of cat and mouse. He chased her through the streets of the encampment, forcing her further and further away from her friends in the name of sport. Fear takes hold of the young woman as the male approaches, a look of sadistic pleasure and deep hatred in his eyes. He had cornered her in the furthest reach of the encampment, far away from any possible form of help reaching her. Kouki had ripped the mask from her face by force, making Erica witness as the only sence of normality is destroyed before her eyes. Shortly after this the male had proceeded to attack viciously, beating the young woman almost to nothing. Reminding her that the world had turned on her and those who had now become her friends, her family.

However, all had not lost as the young woman thought. For another guard intervened, feeling pitty for the young and condemned vizard. This guard however, had been revealed to be none other then the man she loved, Ikkaku Madarame. Ikkaku had been stationed there to keep an eye on the prisoners and as a deterrent so none of them would try to escape or uprise in an attempt for freedom.

Stunned to see him, the young woman had burst into tears of joy. Ikkaku had helped her up from the ground slowly, not recognising her, for he only could see the pathetic condition of the young woman; her abused and broken body, wirey thin frame and ever-weakening strength. He did not recognise the woman for who she was. Erica however had wrapped her arms around him, weeping in silence for what seemed like hours before finally speaking. She told him how she had missed him, how she was sorry for everything and that she had never ment to fight with him.

Still oblivious to who she was due to her condition, not to mention because he had been told she was dead, Ikkaku was hesitant to listen to her and believe her. Thinking instead that she had lost her mind like many others in the camp. It was only when the young, fragile and pathetic woman had spoke a phrase only the pair of them knew that he realised that he had been lied too and that this woman was his long missing lover. Ikkaku then had spent the next few days nursing the woman back to a better condition, bandaging and treating her wounds while being informed of what had gone on in the camp these past years and informing her of the changes in the Seireitei since her disapperance.

The idea is formed.
For several weeks Ikkaku visits her while he is stationed in the camp, giving her information on what had been going on in the Seireitei and world of the living, Informing her also of those Vizards who where still on the run and who had been captured. It was on one of the days that Ikkaku was away that the young woman's mind first started to race, for she knew soon enough the order would come. The order for the Vizards to be erased just like so many sub groups before them. She started to access the data bank which contained the history, workings and total archived network of the seireitei. A back up which Mayuri had implanted less the main computers where attacked and taken out of service. Quickly learning of the original state which the area the encampment lay in, Erica had begun to cross reference this information with other information that lay within her mind, opening up back channels of data and allowing her to start looking for a way to get the vizards out. She would not allow her friends to die for such futile reasons as being deemed a "potential threat". The vizards had stood by the shinigami, the gotei 13 and Ichigo Kurosaki during the battle against Sosuke Aizen. Why would they have done this if only to turn on the Seireitei after? Erica had drawn the conclusion that the Seireitei had become afraid of anyone that differed from them in anyway and that this was why the Vizards had infact been locked away here to die. These actions bore the mark of cowardice in her mind and she would not let it stand any longer. There and then, Erica had sworn to herself that the Vizards would escape, that they would get away and come hell or high water, they would remain free.

Day after day passed inside of the camp, Erica working hard in the confinds of a small hut, searching for anything that would light the way forward. After hours pouring over scraps of papers with names and information scrawled on them, it finally had hit her. There was one vizard with the ability to create an escape still left on the run. One vizard that could negate the barrier and return part of the area surrounding the camp back to how it had been before the barrier had been erected and enclosed the area. Hachigen Ushōda, a former member of the Kido Corps, would be the key piece to her plan and lucky for her he was still outside of the draining effects of the barrier.

The escape is planned.
Time passes inside of the camp, the guard grows more wrestless and bored of the ever diminising strength of the Vizards. Yet still, within that same hut the young girl works on, taking in every tactical advance, every detail of the camp, support areas, weaknesses and patrol routes. Unlike the others, she had once again found hope, strength, something to stave off the insanity which so many others had fallen into. Heavily weakened and malnurished as she was, Erica was not going to simply roll over and die in that hell. Ikkaku still recognised her, still needed and loved her and her daughter still needed her mother. She wanted out, but also wanted to show that the seireitei had been hiding the truth, lying to the Shinigami about her and probably about the others who lived in the camp with her. It was this determination to find escape that changed the young woman from a loving, innocent and caring woman into a stricter, colder and more stone faced individual.

Erica worked day and night, plotting the route which they would take, working out the time needed, average travelling speed for her friends and the best area for a teleportation Kido to be used. Naturally, the very nature of the barrier around the camp would mean that a teleportation kido would not be fully effective in the mile radius around the area. She spent days checking and rechecking every detail. Calculating and recalculating. The young female worked and worked until at last the plan was completed. Informing Ikkaku upon his return that he would have to find out the last known whereabouts of Hachigen before he departed again.

Accept there was one problem..

Hidden strength: Heart of a Kuchiki
After weeks of planning and exhausting work, the young girl had felt overwhelmed by the sence of pride and strength within herself. She had done it, created the plan which would lead them out of the camp to freedom. To a life without borders, boundaries, prison guards or fear. Everything was working so perfectly until she caught sight of the condition of her friends once again as she informed them of her plan. The now conciderably colder female, military in mind, more stone faced in apperance, her hair now cut short with thoughts trained on the escape saw the lack of strength, the wasting muscle and decaying endurance. Erica realised that her friends couldn't out run the guard in this condition, the fit and healthy shinigami would out match them move for move. The vizards where too weak, too slow. They'd never make it out to the area needed to activate a strong teleportation kido.

Falling into despair with her plan nothing but a far off dream now, Erica caught sight of the mark of her slavery to the captain of squad twelve. It made her stop and think. Slowly, the young woman realised that for any chance of her friends to survive, a sacrifice must be made. Someone would have to hold off the guard and troops, someone who could not only fight, but who could use kido too. Someone who had nothing left to loose, who could never out run the captains or troops no matter where they went. Who could always be found with the slightest of ease. Erica realised that she would have to stay back, that there was no freedom out there waiting for her, no life of safety with her friends or future with loved ones.

Breaking into tears for the first time in over two years, the young woman cried for over an hour at her realisation, the first real emotion she had shown and would show for the conciderable future. After that hour of tears had been shed, Erica swore then and there that she would no longer show emotions. To save her friends the worry of thinking her plan would not work and to keep their hope alive, the young woman put up a facade much like that of her father.

Move to freedom: Preperation beguins
The next few days became a bustle of activity, whispers between Vizards of the plan spread between them like sake at a festival. Erica spent hours relaying the details of the plan to Shinji and the others while awaiting the return of Ikkaku. She had spent the nights working on a long letter which she had marked for Hachigen's eyes only. This letter informed him of her detailed plan and what she had worked out for the escape. It also told him that she wouldn't be accompanying the others in escape and that he was to get them along with Ikkaku to safety and not look back.

Appart from that letter, the woman had also been working on modifications, once again opening back channels for data in her body, over writing protocals and creating more energy reserves within herself that she would use to enable herself to fight on longer even with her pathetically weak condition. The feeling of strength slowly returning to her as she could see the physical cogs and wheels turning. Her plan would work and she knew it. She just hoped that her strength and abilities would be enough to save her friends.

Powers & Abilities
Master Swordsmanship Specialist: Due to the training she has recieved in her younger years with her father, her training in Shino academy and personal training rounds against captain Mayuri Kurotsuchi, Erica shows great capability to use flawless precision and lethal attacks without expending much energy.

Kidō Master: Like her captain and her father, Erica is known to have knowledge of high level Kidō spells, able to cast several in quick succession without the incantation and with almost no effort while maintaining her speed, accuracey and strength. She has been seen to use Kidō spells up as far as hado number 88 while also have been known to partake in research into new, powerful Hados and Bakudos.

Immense Spiritual Power: She is capable of exerting a vast Spiritual Pressure due to her abnormally high levels as a child. Which, in league with her already admirable combat skills learned from two of the stronger captains in the Gotei 13, makes her much stronger then she appears.

Hakuda Combatant: While hardly seen to use this form of fighting, Erica is both strong enough and knowledgeable enough to be able to render enemies uncontious with a few well placed blows to the body.

Tactician: In her years training and studying under captain Mayuri, Erica developed a strong tactical mind thanks to her hard work. She is seen to be able to analyze and counter opponants movements and manovers quickly and efficently. Further proof of the tactical mind is shown while imprisoned in the encampment where she single handedly planned the escape of the Vizards.

Enhanced Endurance: While not having the most threatening appearance compared to other Shinigami, Erica has been known to show great stamina in battle. Often fighting effectively and even ignoring wounds to the point that she can appear uneffected by them. This stamina being aquired after many long, grueling training battles against Mayuri which she was pushed to the limit of her strength time and time again.

Shunpo (flashstep) Master: As with many abilities that the young girl has aquired over the years, Erica learned her mastery of the Shunpo manover from her captain, often having to use it to avoid attacks and keep moving in times of training battles where every second counts.

Highly resistant almost Hierro like body: Due to the nature of her job as both a slave and a member of the Gotei 13, Erica's body has been upgraded with technology which mimics the properties of a hollow's Hierro, allowing for her to endure much longer in battles or training matches with minimal damage.

Poison resistance: As an experiment, Erica's body and systems are programmed with a high resistance to toxins, being able to breathe in any that her captain uses and survive them unharmed. This ability also gives her a higher immune system, fazing out the human ability to become sick like her mother.

Built in Reaitsu Recognition system: Erica's body was modified to contain a highly advanced Reaitsu recognition system that not only allows her to see the reaitsu that naturally radiates form another being, but to identify and lock in on the source much like a tracking system. Allowing her the ability to locate someone no matter where they might be.

Vizard Powers
Even though Erica is by far one of the youngest of all the Vizards, she is still able to maintain some level of control over her inner hollow. In the beguinning she found it hard to do but thanks to Hirako Shinji and the others, she managed to get it under control for the moment. However, due to the amount of experimentation done to both Erica and her hollow, it is unclear as to if her hollow will resurface or indeed when. If her hollow does resurface there is no telling what new powers and abilities it will possess.

Hollow Mask: According to Aizen, the fusion of the two spiritual entities allows these Shinigami to reach power levels far surpassing that of either a Hollow or a Shinigami. As such it grants Erica extra abilities.

Enhanced Speed & Enhanced Strength: Erica gains a great boost in speed and physical strength while Hollowfied.

Mask Protection: Body damage can seemingly be ignored while wearing the mask.

Cero: Due to her hollow powers, Erica can fire what is known as a Cero, it consists of firing a powerful blast of concentrated spiritual energy at the enemy, however she is hesitant to use it.