Kazuki Fuuchoin (SFW)

Kazuki is the scion of the noble Fuuchouin family, and his fighting abilities derive from the family school, which emphasizes grace (麗). He is graceful and charming, and is often mistaken for a woman. Kazuki appears feminine due to his training as the Fuuchouin's scion because their technique emphasizes speed and grace. But when angered, his fury is such that his notorious other title is "Prince of Fear". Sometimes Ban mocks Kazuki for his feminine appearance. It does not help that he sometimes does wear women's clothes in his line of job as an information-seeker, as is shown when he coerces information about the Hall of Hell out of an Ura follower in a bar.

Kazuki is also often depicted as a naive person in terms of his relationships. He trusted his friends even after they betrayed him, leading to him being taken advantages by the likes of Saizou Toufuuin and Toshiki Uryuu. However, it is also his unerring trust that keeps his friends and followers to flock to him. Due to his job as an annaiya or information seeker, Kazuki knows a lot of things concerning the Infinity Fortress. His origins as the heir to a famous and ancient martial arts' school provides him with the privilege of knowing the truth about the estrangement between the Miroku clan and Mido Ban, as was shown during the Hot Spring Rest chapters. Kazuki is also knowledgeable about religions, history and cults.

His family house was destroyed, and his family killed, in a mysterious fire when Kazuki was in his early teens (which was revealed to be an attack by an enemy clan, who uses black strings); he subsequently fled to the Infinity Fortress with Juubei and Sakura Kakei, where he led a gang known as 'Fuuga' (風雅 Fūga, translation: 'Elegance') before joining Volts under the Thunder Emperor. He left the Infinity Fortress after the departure of Ginji and Shido, leaving Juubei behind. However, the IL retrieval brought them back together. Kazuki is usually an ally of the GetBackers, due to his friendship with Ginji. He and Ban tolerate each other, but are not close; Ban's unflattering nickname for him is "Ito-maki" (thread spool). As the leader of Fuuga, he once ascended into the Beltline to test his strength. At that time he was only able to survive for a week, but during that time he gained the nickname the "Prince of Fear" due to the cruelty he exhibited in order to survive the undead creatures of the Beltline. The cruelty was induced by the "Stigma" his left eye carries, as a sign of time lost to the Beltline.

As one of the Four Kings of VOLTS during its heyday, Kazuki was respected and feared by many, and also known outside underground circles due to his noble past. Even without using his Stigma his powers, rendered from the Fuuchouin arts, were already formidable enough to send enemies quaking. He was often considered the most powerful of the Four Kings, as was stated by Hevn during the IL Retrieval arc, due to his own fighting prowess, his connection with the ex-Fuuga members (who were themselves very highly placed in the VOLTS hierarchy, with Juubei alongside Kazuki as his aide and Sakura as MakubeX' caretaker) and his knowledge of the dangers of the Beltline and the nature of its people. However, Kazuki's gentle and compassionate nature, when not using the Stigma, often made him less confident to face his enemy, as was shown when he fought three of his comrades form

Kazuki uses white koto strings (in the manga's English translation, they were described as harp strings) in battle;it is used to affect a persons facial feature and is very very sharp and can even tear up solid earth, bones, skin, muscles and sometimes steel based on the vibrations of the finger; the strings also have other uses such as listening in on distant conversations. The Fuuchouin String Arts is regarded as one of the most versatile fighting techniques in the Infinity Fortress as it comprises attack and defense using the same weapon. Because of these skills, he is often called "Ito no Kazuki" (絃の花月 Kazuki of the Strings), an epithet which, albeit sounding harmless enough, is one of the most feared names of the Infinite Fortress. The strings are stored in two bells tied to the front right strand of his hair to ease manipulation (most of the time, Kazuki is portrayed as a dominantly left-handed person, as he wields the bells among his left fingers and manipulate them with his right—a task usually linked with the less dominant hand. However, in his battle against Saizou Tofuuin, he displays some dexterity with his right hand). Ayamine Rando once joked that Kazuki's strings come from the fourth dimension (referring to Doraemon; Kazuki's bells are resemblance to the blue cat robot).

Though his fighting skills are far above average, Ban often discredits them. Also, it can be noted that he often ends up badly hurt even if he wins a fight. Sometimes, he even loses them as well. (To be fair to him, Ban often gets whacked up too before he wins a fight.) To emphasize his "mid-tier" status, even as he was berserking as the Prince of Fear, Shido Fuyuki was able to stop him easily by grabbing his arm firmly without using any special powers. Indeed, Yohan mentioned to the Voodoo King that perhaps the Beastmaster would be an even greater threat than Kazuki. However, this is mainly because of the influence of Shido's Chimera, a relic of the Maryuudo and one of the three key

Among the Fuuchouin-ryuu techniques commonly used by Kazuki are:

Rain Showers or Rain Spears (multitude of strings falling on an assailant whenever the subject moves. Used on Kakei Juubei, Toshiki Uryuu, and Saizou Toufuuin), This seems to be Kazuki's signature attack as it is the most commonly used. In retrospect, however, the effect of this technique is trivial compared to other styles. Misty Rain (a technique in which the strings seem to disappear only to attack the assailant from an unexpected direction. Kazuki explained that the technique resembles a wet man trapped in a mist; allowing no chance whatsoever of escaping. Used as the final coup de grâce against Juubei in IL arc) Jade Shield (strings emanating from the bell in Kazuki's hand form an inverted triangle. Used for frontal attack. Has been compared to the Santen Kesshun technique of Orihime Inoue) Cursed Binds (to paralyze enemies. Said to cut enemies into seven pieces if he or she moves. Also used by Saizou Toufuuin to bind Emishi Haruki) Book of Defense 15:3 - String Cocoon (strings surround Kazuki and anyone else and protect him (them) from any attack. Used against Semimaru Kanade).

Aside from the usual white strings, Kazuki also uses a special string, the Red String. In the Divine Design arc, when Kazuki's soul was trapped by Uryuu, the Red String flew from his side to Juubei so that Juubei knew that Kazuki was in grave danger. In an intense moment it is revealed that the Red String is a symbol of an oath between Kazuki and Juubei, apparently made after the massacre of the Fuuchouin clan, that whenever Kazuki 'strays' (as is shown when he is under the Divine Design spell), Juubei is to kill him to save others from Kazuki's purges. Juubei, however, does not kill Kazuki in the moment but let his blood, derived when he received the 'Comet' from Kazuki, reddens Kazuki's white strings so that the illusion of 'red' strings will remind Kazuki of their oath and release his ensnared soul from the Divine Design world. In the manga, Kazuki also used the Red String to summon Saizou Toufuuin, another member of the Fuuchouin String School, to him when the Fuuga team was assembling to get ready for the tournament in the Voodoo Child arc.

In Japanese culture, the "red thread" has a symbolic meaning comparable to the ideology of "soul-mates" in Western culture. The fact that Kazuki's Red String represents his oath with Juubei had been taken by fans of the series to imply a romantic relationship.

Dance of the Red Sparrow (used against Saizou during the duel of their youth. Kazuki runs towards the enemy, with strings surrounding his person. Unknown effect. Equivalent to Higashi Fuuchouin-ryuu technique Dance of the Green Dragon). Coffin (used against Hevn during the Divine Design arc, under his alter ego Orpheus) Comet (used against Juubei during the Divine Design arc) String Shield (three mere strings which can stop a heavy demolition ball swinging at full force. Used against the Ura follower in the bar) BeeSnowMoon (binding technique to render massive damage to nervous system, completely paralyzing the enemy permanently if not undone immediately. The name implies a bee in early winter dying from the cold, much like the victims of this gruesome technique. Used against the Ura follower in the bar) Phoenix (used against Youhan. A mysterious technique that Kazuki was not supposed to know, it seems to belong to the feminine branch of the Fuuchouin technique, as it was passed only by those who married 'into' the Fuuchouin clan, as opposed to actually being one) There are also a few healing techniques in the Fuuchouin-ryuu, but most concern the effects of the Black Strings. Among them are:

Unbinding (A musical string used to undo the Black Seal of the Kokuchouin) Waterfall (to heal the souls of those trapped in the Black Cocoon. Used against Maiya and Yuuri). There is also a separate technique used by the Fuuchouin 13 Strings, the bodyguards of the Fuuchouin patriarch. The technique revolves around plurality, in the sense that the strings used are controlled by many people at once, giving extra strength and flexibility. One of the techniques used against Juubei was Flower-Viewing, in which multitudes of strings were bound around the body of the victim, supposedly suffocating him or her to death: effectively the Coffin technique handled by 13 individuals.

It has been revealed during Kazuki's duel against Youhan that the ultimate technique of the Fuuchouin-ryuu

Kazuki has a Stigma in his left eye and when he reveals it, his fighting strength increases drastically. He obtained it after dwelling in the Beltline. Kazuki's stigma only comes out when he goes all out in a fight