Yūichi Shibata

A little boy with tousled, shoulder-brushing brown hair and brown eyes, Yūichi died wearing a green jumper over red shorts. His wardrobe changed after he crossed into Soul Society, where he took to a plain kimono patterned with small circles over a single shoulder.

A soft-hearted child, Yūichi carries guilt heavily, faulting himself whenever those who shelter him come to harm. His longing to find his mother again shapes almost everything he does, and he never forgets the kindness Sado shows him, thanking him warmly for guarding him from every danger.

The boy's suffering traces back to Shrieker, a murderer in life who attacked his mother on a balcony. Despite her injuries she fought to protect him, and Yūichi caused the man's fatal fall by grabbing at his shoelaces. Once Shrieker rose as a Hollow, he extracted Yūichi's soul and trapped it within a parakeet, lying that three months of successful flight would restore his mother.

The cursed bird, whose owners kept dying horribly, was handed to Yasutora Sado by his friend Harutoki Ide. Sado protected the parakeet through a near-fatal accident and later showed him to Ichigo, Rukia, and the others. Since a lonely soul like Yūichi risked becoming a Hollow, Rukia decided a soul burial was necessary. When Shrieker tracked them and threatened the boy with detonating leeches, Ichigo stepped in so Sado could rescue him, and the Hollow was destroyed. Unable to return to any living body, Yūichi accepted being sent to Soul Society, cheered by the thought of seeing his mother once more. He appears a final time during the Soul Society invasion, having gained a surrogate brother in Hironari Horiuchi, still searching the divided wards of Rukongai for the woman he lost.