Suzumebachi

Compact and doll-like, this spirit presents as a youthful woman wrapped in a hornet's palette of yellow and black. Twin brown pigtails fall behind her, framed at the neck by a ruff of white fur, and her eyes carry a pink tint. Striped puffed shorts, matching leggings, and dark shoes make up her outfit, with small plated pieces at the chest and short banded sleeves capping each shoulder. Her right arm is her weapon, a jointed stinger that runs longer than she is tall. A soft golden light clings to her at all times.

Muramasa's brainwashing leaves her vain and sharp-tongued. She scorns impatience as an ugly trait and boasts that, once free, she deliberately built herself a bold new look. In a fight she is calculating rather than reckless, chiding allies who charge in carelessly and insisting that when two rivals match speeds, the smaller one holds the edge; she tends to laugh as she slips past incoming blows.

Much of her scorn lands on Suì-Fēng, whose plain taste she mocks and whose worship of Yoruichi she dismisses as a waste, urging her master to look after herself instead. Even so, she doles out praise when Suì-Fēng earns it. Once the spell breaks, a warmer streak surfaces, and she greets old acquaintances cheerfully and cannot resist teasing Hyōrinmaru for his sentimental moods.

Suzumebachi first appears among the sword spirits gathered in Muramasa's cavern, then joins their march to confront the assembled Shinigami. When the spirits attack, she ambushes Suì-Fēng from behind, planting the butterfly-shaped Hōmonka that marks a target for her lethal two-strike method. Her captain, doubting this brash figure is truly her blade, is challenged to be struck a second time. After Kenpachi Zaraki's arrival scatters the combatants, Suì-Fēng draws the spirit onto ground better suited to herself.

Though the pair move at nearly the same speed, Suzumebachi's tiny frame lets her weave around every attack, yet the duel turns when Suì-Fēng answers a finishing thrust with Shunkō, shears off the stinger, and claims victory. The two later fight side by side in Karakura Town, culling the Gillians pouring from Muramasa's Garganta and lending their power to seal the rift. Once Ichigo Kurosaki ends Muramasa, she withdraws into her sword. During the later Tōjū crisis she resurfaces to help hunt the last renegade blade, Kirikaze, feeding the remainder of her energy to Renji Abarai so he can finish it, before her borrowed physical form fades for good.