Haji

Haji (katakana Haji ハジ) is a main character of Blood+.

Origins
Hagi is born around 1858 in Bordeaux, France.

The Zoo
In 1870, Amshel Goldsmith purchases Hagi from his parents in exchange for a loaf of bread. Hagi is brought to the Zoo and introduced to Saya in hopes that they will mate and create new specimens to study.

When Hagi first meets Saya, they do not get along as she had been spoiled all her life and he is upset by getting separated from his family. However, after spending time together in a barn to dry off from the rain, Hagi begins bonding with Saya after she learns of his plight.

Over the years, Hagi is one of Saya's only two friends at the Zoo (the other being Diva, whom Hagi does not know about). He grows to understand and love her. He admires Saya's dream of wanting to travel with him and her fencing sword to see the world.

While growing up at the Zoo, Hagi becomes suspicious of Saya never aging and how quickly she heals as well as of the "medicine" Joel Goldschmidt I gives her to drink. When he questions Joel about these peculiar traits, Joel cryptically tells him is that the medicine she drinks, blood, is necessary to Saya's survival, further confusing Hagi. Unbeknownst to either of them, Saya eavesdrops on the entire conversation.

Becoming a chevalier
In 1883, Hagi falls from a cliff while trying to pick the flower Saya wanted for Joel's birthday gift. He cracks his skull open on the ground below, causing Saya to panic. She remembers the conversation Hagi had with Joel about blood and, misunderstanding what Joel meant, cuts her hand and feeds Hagi her blood via a kiss in an attempt to save him. While at first she believes that she has killed him, the convulsions and accompanying stillness signify Hagi's transformation into Saya's first chevalier.

Hagi is standing behind Saya as she watches the Zoo burn to the ground after Diva slaughters all the party-goers. After Diva escapes, Saya asks him to kill her once Diva herself dies, and he reluctantly agrees.

Hagi partially reveals his chiropteran form while keeping Zoo security from capturing Saya. When Hagi sees how scared and shocked she is, he decides to purposefully suppress his natural abilities to hide his chiropteran form from her.

Saya apologizes to Hagi many times for turning him into a chiropteran. He in turn assures her that he feels no resentment, and that becoming her chevalier allows him to be by her side as she lives her dream of traveling the world with her sword.

Russian Revolution
In 1918, Hagi and Saya are tracking Diva, who is masquerading as Grand Duchess Anastasia Nikolaevna, in Russia. They encounter Grigori Yefimovich Rasputin, whom Diva has turned into a chevalier, in the guise of a local village girl named Sonia. Once they realize the deception, they manage to kill him/her.

The Vietnam incident
During a Christmas bombing on December 25, 1972, Red Shield agents extract some of Hagi's blood and inject it into a hibernating Saya to prematurely awaken Saya in hopes that she will combat the chiropterans set loose in Vietnam during the Vietnam War. Their efforts go tragically wrong when she awakes in a frenzy and kills the agents.

Hagi helps Saya fight Karl (one of Diva's chevaliers). They nearly kill him, but Karl cuts off his crystallizing arm to save himself by preventing it from spreading and flees to a small village. Hagi tries to stop Saya, but she cuts off his arm for interferring without recognizing him. He watches on helplessly as she goes on a rampage and slaughters humans and chiropterans alike without distinction. The whole incident deeply traumatizes Hagi; not only does the arm Saya cut off remain frozen in chiropteran form, he becomes more quiet and reserved than before.

Riku's death
When Diva drank all of Riku's blood, Saya had no choice but turn Riku into a chevalier to save him. This created a brotherly bond between him and Haji. He even explains to Riku what a chevalier must do.

Riku was killed by Diva in Episode 32. Upon seeing Riku's dead body, Haji was angered and crushed Karl's arm before unleashing a mass barrage of attacks. This was one of the few scenes where Haji expresses a desire for vengeance.

Timeskip
After a year following the Red Shield's fall, Haji had been following Saya around the world to slay Chiropterans and ended up briefly meeting Kai. By this time, Haji was allowing Saya to feed on him to keep her healthy. He also noticed she was suffering from fainting spells, which signified she was close to another 30 year long hibernation.

As the series progress, he finally shows his chiropteran form to Saya when fighting with Solomon and apologized her for showing his form to her.

After Saya rejoins the remnants of the Red Shield, Haji follows her to the Opera House Diva is to perform at and keeps Amshel busy while Saya fought Diva. Soon after Diva is slain, Haji disobeys Saya for the first time in his life and tells her to live while confessing his feelings to her. He stays behind to kill Amshel as the Opera House collapses, and is presumed dead.

Epilogue
Some years later, when Kai, Kanade, and Hibiki arrive at the Miyagusuku crypt where Saya sleeps, they find a fresh pink rose with Hagi's blue hair ribbon tied to it, which seemingly indicates to Kai that Hagi is alive and silently watching over Saya and her family.

Appearance
Haji maintains the look of a man in his early twenties, when in reality he has been alive since the late 1800s. He is fair-skinned and has black hair and pale blue eyes. By the time he reaches adulthood, he is taller than Saya (which annoys her) and changes the style of his hair to include a ponytail while he chooses black clothing to replace his former gray attire.

Personality
Haji did not get along with Saya when they first met at the Zoo. Although obedient, he was taciturn and occassionally rude, partly because Saya herself was spoiled and selfish. It was only after revealing his true circumstances that they gradually become friends. While Haji was still living with Saya in France as an adult, he was charming, kind and chivalrous, even parental. These attitudes only grew stronger after Haji became her chevalier.

For the majority of the series Haji has a rather calm, stoic personality, a result of Saya's attack on him in Vietnam. The fact that she attacked him so violently and without hesitation caused a dark, almost melancholic change in his personality. Shortly after the incident, Haji left the Red Shield and his whereabouts were, for the most part, unknown. Although initially distancing himself from Saya following their reunion, he gradually became more affectionate towards his queen. Their relationship also grew stronger with a year-long absence from the Red Shield, although Saya's personality had considerably darkened. Haji loves Saya. Some people don't believe that Haji's personality is quiet and calm because of what Saya did, Haji understands what was happening when she did that and Saya has apologized multiple times. Haji knows that Saya loves him too.

Throughout his life, even prior to becoming a chevalier, Haji has always been loyal, not only to Saya but to her friends and family. At one point, Amshel even describes him as "a puppy following her around."

At the beginning of the series when he found her again in Okinawa, Saya seemed happy and carefree. This appears to have secretly upset him; at the opera house, he speaks almost bitterly about how Kai,Riku, and George had brought back her smile, something that he could not do. Despite being hurt both physically and emotionally by Saya, Haji continues to follow her and obey her every whim, even seemingly sacrificing his own life to make sure Saya escaped safely. His dedication is shown further when it is revealed that he is still alive, and leaves a pink rose on Saya's tomb after she is already asleep.

Chiropteran
Haji's most obvious chiropteran feature is his right hand, which is hidden by a bandage when he is not fighting. It is permanently in chiropteran form after having been cut off by Saya upon her awakening in the Vietnam War. Although chriopterans can heal themselves simply by sticking their severed limbs back on (as Solomon did) it seems as though Haji simply left it detached from his body for too long, leaving it unable to change back into human form.

The true extent of his chiropteran powers can be seen in a pair of bat-like wings, which he uses to save Saya from falling off of a building. He also uses these wings in the fight against Amshel, who notes that he is "pulling out all the stops." Because of Saya's apparent fear the first time he ever transformed, Haji rarely resorts to using his chiropteran form, unless it is absolutely necessary.

Weaponry
Haji plays the cello, a skill he learned from Saya when he was still a young boy. The case in which he carries it can be used as a blunt weapon or shield, and also holds Saya's sword. His cello case looks like an old Victorian coffin. It has a hard metal coating of a odd design (some fans speculate that it is the Chiropteran symbol) with black lacquer finish. Not only can he fight using a sword, or his chiropteran hand as a weapon, but also carries several small daggers.

Manga
In the manga, more of Haji's early relationship with Saya is shown. For example, she starts to feel attracted to him after he grows up and Diva is jealous of their relationship because he is taking up more of Saya's attention. As a result, Diva kills him when Saya frees her, which is why he is turned into a chiropteran (the first Joel tells Saya that if she truly cannot live without him, she should give him her blood, whereas she accidentally turns him in the anime due to a misunderstanding).

Although Hagi shows jealousy towards Kai in the anime, it is more obvious in the manga. He even tells Kai "Saya is my lover" while forcing him to leave (though Haji could have said that to make Kai leave so he and Saya would fight without anyone injured, as he later regretted saying it).

Blood+: Kowloon Nights
Hagi's life after the Vietnam incident is depicted, including his search for Saya. During this time he comes across Nishi Tatsuyoshi and strikes up an unlikely friendship. As they are investigating chiropteran attacks, a member of the Red Shield approaches Haji and tells him of Saya's location.