User:54x69x61x6ex64x61x6f/Kagerou

Daughter of Tanegashima
 Imaizumi Wakana was born on the second of April, 1531, on the island of Tanegashima, in Southern Japan. Her family was somewhat notable, being one of the wealthiest in the region. Her father, a retainer to the Taira clan, was a skilled craftsman, and ran a business making knives, scissors, and other such tools. In his eldest daughter, however, he saw the opportunity to further advance the standing of his family, hopefully by marrying her into one of the branches of the Taira family. With this goal in mind, he made sure she was raised to fit into polite society, sparing no expense in her education.

The young Wakana, though, often seemed more interested in the lives and jobs of the craftsmen than in being prepared for the role her family intended for her. Despite their attempts to impress upon her the importance of her duty, she would rather spend an afternoon watching iron being worked than studying calligraphy or poetry. Ultimately, after getting in a good bit of trouble for her antics, she resolved to at least play the part her family expected, while spending what little free time she had as she wished. Ultimately, she grew up more or less normally, for someone of her time.

Tragically, however, she died along with most of her family, late in 1552, on the night of a full moon.

During the 21 years of her life, her hometown had changed significantly. Early in 1543, the first explorers from the west reached Japan - largely by accident. But this opened the doors to trade, and the small town on the shores of Tanegashima often played home to these “Nanban traders.” It was a crewman from one of their ships, not a westerner, but a local man - a new addition to the crew, if the story the Captain told the authorities afterwards was to be believed - who, after a night drinking in town, suddenly turned violent, breaking into the Imaizumi household, and brutally killing everyone he found.

While the daimyo’s samurai tried to hunt down the criminal, the friends of the slain family began making preparations for the funeral, sending for the priest of the local shrine to come and oversee the funerary rituals. However, before the priest could make it to the town, one of the bodies mysteriously vanished - that of the young Wakana. At first, this only served to heighten tensions between the villagers and the western traders, as many suspected one of them to have stolen the body. However, the focus was still on apprehending the killer, and so the disappearance of the body was barely investigated.

Lost
 Wakana, meanwhile, was stumbling through the wilderness of Tanegashima, still somewhat in shock. To her, the last thing she could remember was being attacked by a savage man with teeth like some wild beast, and then she had woken up amidst the corpses of her family. Confused and terrified, she had fled, and was still running, having no idea of who to trust, or even what was going on. She would spend almost two weeks hiding in the forests, before stumbling onto a road, almost delirious from hunger and thirst.

She was found by a travelling merchant and his assistant, stumbling down the road in a daze. As it was by that time almost nightfall, they decided to take the haggard-looking young woman with them, sharing their food and water, and giving her a place to rest, while promising to take her to the next town on their route. That night, however, she awoke, still feeling ravenously hungry, and overcome by strange instincts. She fell upon the merchant’s assistant, tearing his throat out with a single swipe of her hand, and devouring half of his body before the merchant found her. Despite her state of mind, however, she was unwilling to kill the man who had shown her such kindness, and so she turned and fled back into the jungle, starting the myth of the fearsome Youkai who haunted Tanegashima.

Over the next two years, this myth would become a terrifying reality for anyone who travelled the island’s roads at night. Many would go missing, and others would tell tales of hearing unearthly howls, or seeing shadowy, animalistic shapes darting through the forest. A number of would-be Youkai hunters flocked to the island, looking to exterminate the beast that had come to plague the wilderness. Many simply disappeared into the night, and were presumed dead, and many more left after months of chasing rumours and shadows, yet finding nothing.

The Return of the Imaizumi
 Almost nine years later, she returned to the village of her birth, claiming to be a distant relative of her former family, who had travelled a long way after having heard the tragic news. Although her father’s business had long since collapsed, many remembered him, and were all too willing to work for the Imaizumi family once again. Trading on what little status her name still had, and the good faith of the villagers, she was able to build a fairly successful business, crafting muskets for the daimyo’s soldiers.

Few people remembered young Wakana, and any similarities between her and the new head of the Imaizumi family were dismissed as mere family resemblance. Not that people knew much about the new head of the family - she was highly reclusive, almost never seen in public, and even her employees barely knew what she looked like. In truth, she was deliberately keeping herself secluded, having not aged a day in almost ten years. However, she played a big role in the lives of the villagers all the same - at her insistence, charms were made and hung around the outskirts of the village, and monthly rituals performed to ward off the Youkai of Tanegashima. Indeed, travellers to and from the village stopped disappearing, and although the myths would persist, they became more akin to stories. Even so, strange things occasionally still happened on Tanegashima - the head of the Imaizumi family would lock herself in her chambers for three days every month, and bodies would occasionally disappear from the village cemetery.

For almost twenty years, peace returned to Tanegashima, and the Imaizumi family became prosperous once again. Two different sons of the Taira clan came to the village, seeking an audience with the new head of the family, perhaps hoping to win her favour. She refused them both, not even meeting with them, and they left, feeling deeply insulted. The third scion of the Taira family, however, seemingly succeeded in gaining an audience with the Lady Imaizumi, and ended up remaining at the family household, becoming even more reclusive than the woman he apparently married.

Trouble in Tanegashima
 At the end of those twenty years, however, the same ship that had set all these events in motion returned to Tanegashima, with the same captain at the helm. The very next day, a merchant leaving the village disappeared without a trace, and it seemed the curse of the Youkai had returned. This time, however, the daimyo was determined to put a stop to this curse. He sent one of his advisors, a Jesuit missionary and self-styled “monster hunter” Desidério Álvares de Santigo, to Tanegashima to assist the locals. Upon arriving in Tanegashima, Álvares immediately sought the assistance of the local shrine, putting aside whatever religious differences he may have with them in order to focus on the task of exterminating the Youkai that was stalking the island.

Together with the kannushi of the shrine, Álvares began scouring the island, searching the harbours and visiting many of the notable households. When the Imaizumi family denied him an audience, however, he became suspicious, and began paying more attention to the village where they made their home. However, before he could investigate further, the Youkai of Tanegashima seemingly revealed itself - as a crewman on one of the trading ships. He attacked Álvares and the kannushi, and although they managed to kill him, the Japanese man suffered mortal injuries in the process. Álvares rushed off to question the captain of the ship, only to be told he had gone to the Imaizumi household. Fearing for the worst - that the captain may be another beast, Álvares hurried to catch up to him, arriving at the Imaizumi house to find the guards dead and the doors torn from their hinges.

Inside, the captain - indeed another of these Youkai, was confronted by a young member of the family, wielding one of the very muskets her family produced. While Álvares watched, she shot the beast in the head with a round forged of almost pure silver, killing it. Congratulating her on her foresight, and taking custody of the body, intending to see to its destruction. This event also seemingly dispelled the suspicion he held towards the Imaizumi family, and he left Tanegashima a week later to report his success to the daimyo.

In the court of the Shogun
 Although the missionary would cross paths with the Imaizumi family again, almost twenty years later. By that time an old man, serving in the capital as an astronomer, he noted the similarities between a young woman who had recently arrived in the capital - Taira no Shinkomohime. His observations turned out to be correct, when she admitted to being descended from the Imaizumi family. Shinkomohime quickly became fairly notable in the capital, leveraging her status to gain the shogun’s attention and trying to argue for putting an end to the nanban trade. In this Álvares considered it his duty to oppose her, as doing so would also significantly hamper missionary efforts in the country. They argued on several occasions, but the shogun remained undecided.

One evening, Shinkomohime visited Álvares at his home, with the pretence of putting an end to their argument. Although he saw a chance to perhaps convince her of the merits of his position, he never got that chance, as she attacked as soon as they were alone, revealing herself to be a Youkai similar to the one he had fought back on Tanegashima isle. Although he was still a master of spiritual magic, age had dulled his reactions, and he was caught unprepared - only managing brief resistance before being killed.

With her most notable opponent out of the way, Shinkomohime began in earnest to attempt to convince the shogun. At the same time, she began withdrawing more and more from public life as the years passed, eventually only corresponding with the shogun through a series of letters. Ultimately, it was not the shogun, but his son that she managed to convince, and Takechiyo came to believe quite strongly in the need to cast the foreigners out of Japan. Shinkomohime seemingly passed away a few years later. In truth, she had merely faked her death, in order to avoid further attention, but remained in the capital, watching the shogun’s family, and in particular, young Tokugawa Takechiyo, who eventually grew up to become Tokugawa Iemitsu, and succeed his father as shogun.

Only when Iemitsu passed the Sakoku Edict, and ordered the expulsion of all foreigners from the country, did Shinkomohime consider her goal accomplished. With the threat of dangerous foreign Youkai greatly diminished, she considered her duty to her family completed, and left the capital, travelling freely throughout the country.

Into Obscurity
 By now fully accepting of the fact that she herself was a Youkai, she avoided human settlements for the most part, only occasionally preying on isolated travellers. She briefly stayed in the company of several different groups of Youkai, but did not find their lifestyle to her liking either - while the humans seemed too rustic and blindly trusting, the Youkai were too animalistic and uncouth. Having little desire to spend much time around either, she continued travelling, picking up a few skills along the way, and changing her identity every so often to throw off any suspicion.

However, this would not stop the spreading of rumour, story, and myth, and after several decades of living like this, a number of people had begun to try chasing down these fables - would be Youkai hunters, samurai in service to various daimyo, monks and disciples from a number of temples. In response to this, she made a concerted effort to disappear, travelling across Japan and settling on the outskirts of a small town, where she used some of what she had learned throughout almost two centuries of life to earn a living. She didn’t interact often with the villagers, but did make an effort to ward off other Youkai, keeping the village rather isolated. Despite few of the people actually knowing her, some of them came to see her as a protector of sorts, or at least a symbol of good fortune. She was willing to let these rumours be, as it meant that none would trouble her. It was almost a century later, however, that something would happen to disrupt her peaceful existence.

One day, an old monk arrived in the village, together with several ronin. According to him, he was looking for assistance in dealing with a great number of Youkai up in the mountains. Naturally, the villagers recommended that he speak to their “guardian”, and so he did. Imaizumi Kagerou, as she had taken to calling herself, met with this stranger, and not wanting to arouse suspicion, agreed to accompany his group, although she claimed she would not be much assistance. By now, she was accustomed to hiding her true nature from people, and the collection of ronin and villagers probably wouldn’t be able to spot a Youkai anyway. The only one who might know was the old monk, but if he knew, he certainly didn’t say.

Arrival in Gensoukyou
 Together, this small group travelled up into the mountains, where they were supposed to meet with another group. Before they could do so, however, they were ambushed by a group of Youkai while making camp one evening. In the resulting confusion, one of the ronin assumed Kagerou was a Youkai and attacked her, forcing her to kill him in self defence. She decided to flee immediately, rather than being found out, but the old monk had seen her, and for a moment she thought she’d have to fight him as well, but he stepped aside and let her go.

She took the chance he offered, escaping into a vast forest of bamboo, where she lived in relative seclusion for a long time. With only the phases of the moon to tell the passage of time, she let herself lose track of the passing years, enjoying this relative freedom after a long time spent hiding amongst humans. She was actually quite surprised one day when she stumbled from the forest and saw a small village in the distance. She knew from experience that there were many Youkai living in the surrounding area, so it seemed strange that humans would settle here. Before too long, she learned that the humans had specifically come here to fight the Youkai - a notion which seemed rather foolish to her. Even so, she had no reason to interact with them specifically, and they seemingly had no knowledge of her home in the bamboo forest, so she ignored them, for the most part.

When the barrier enclosed Gensoukyou, she barely took notice - it didn’t really affect her life to any great extent. Although, as Gensoukyou’s own society began to take shape, amongst both the humans and the Youkai, she found herself drawn from the forest from time to time. Although she kept away from the village, she did end up trading with them via an intermediary on occasion. Over time, she also made contact with some other of the region’s Youkai, finding some of them pleasant enough, although as with the humans, she had little reason to interact with them to any great extent. Overall, she was content living quietly in the forest, untroubled by events in the rest of Gensoukyou.

Personality
Growing up as the eldest daughter of a fairly prominent family, she was always taught the importance of maintaining her composure and keeping a clear head at all times. Indeed, this forms the basis of her personality, as she rarely, if ever, loses her cool, and seems unflappable regardless of the circumstances. She almost always keeps up a reserved, demure manner, and seems to address issues as they rise, calmly and thoughtfully. She isn’t given to brash or impulsive behaviour, but can be surprisingly strong-willed and determined when she has some goal in mind.

Being raised as she was, she developed a bit of pride in her fairly high standing, and this carries over to her nature as a Youkai. Despite having once been human, in no way does she deny what she is, and at times almost seems to revel in it. Although at the same time she doesn’t like to seem uncouth or animalistic, so she moderates her more natural urges, rarely hunting for prey and being more likely to steal a relatively fresh corpse from a graveyard than go out and kill someone. Despite this thoughtful behaviour, however, she is very much a Youkai, and doesn’t seem to identify with her long-lost humanity at all.

Having kept to herself for a long time, and indeed still doing so, many may mistakenly assume that she is lonely. In reality, despite wanting for conversation at times, she’s mostly content with her solitary lifestyle, and enjoys the freedom that comes with it - being able to express her whims more easily without having to think of the her image or reputation. That said, she isn’t in any way rude or unpleasant to those that should happen to cross paths with her. Indeed, if one should happen to find her wandering the forest, she would be fairly polite, if not exactly all that eager to chat.

A notable quirk of her personality is that she seems to be somewhat self-conscious when it comes her appearance, especially on the full moon. As the hair all over her body grows quite noticeably on that night, she usually takes extra precautions to avoid anyone who might see her like that, and goes through a great deal of effort to clean up afterwards. The full moon also seems to affect her personality to a fair degree - making her far more energetic and a good deal less restrained. While she generally maintains her composure, she’s far more likely to give in to her urges and go cause trouble on such a night.

In the wake of her transformation, her personality undergoes another marked change - she becomes lethargic and almost gloomy, seemingly bordering on depression. Being that this coincides with a significant loss of power, she tends to simply wander the forest for a few days until she feels better.

Power/Combat
Having lived for a good few centuries, she’s competant enough in the use of her innate abilities as a Youkai. She’s at least somewhat trained in martial arts, having been trained in a form that makes good use of her natural abilities, although it is not known who taught her. However, due to her solitary nature, she is not quite as experienced as her age would suggest - most her knowledge is theoretical, more so than practical. Even so, it would be foolish to underestimate her, especially for humans and weaker Youkai who would cross her.

Most of her skills lie in direct melee combat, and it is here that she is deadliest, using her great speed and strength to completely overwhelm opponents, hopefully before they can react and put up much of a defense. When fighting, she makes great use of her long, razor-sharp claws, capable of inflicting deep, lacerating cuts with shocking ease, and also bearing a form of poison that’s fairly dangerous to humans. Combined with her supernatural speed, not to mention her significant strength, she is more than capable of handling most opponents in melee combat, and only those with significant experience, or notable physical ability of their own, could hope to come away victorious.

She’s somewhat less skilled with danmaku, however, having had far less practice with it, and as a result taking a far less nuanced approach than it probably requires. Generally, she just throws around large, barely organised clouds of danmaku, hoping to overwhelm her opponent quickly, or at least to keep them busy enough that she can close the distance and engage them directly. Her use of danmaku reveals a rather simple approach to combat overall - generally trying to make up what she lacks in skill with sheer number and density of bullets. Most of her non-spellcard danmaku merely consist of large, expanding rings, designed to simply fill a large area with danmaku.

Spellcards
Unfortunately for her, at least of her spellcards make some use of her ability to transform. While this does allow her to make limited use of this ability outside of the full moon, it also means they all drain some measure of her power as well, as she has to transform repeatedly for each spellcard.


 * Fang Sign “Canine Teeth Under the Moon”: Her primary offensive spellcard. While scattering a number of smaller danmaku to act as a screen, she sends a large cloud of shadowy danmaku directly at her opponent. Although not dangerous themselves, these shadow bullets create an exploding trail of high speed danmaku in their wake. The timing is somewhat unusual, making the attack harder to avoid.


 * Transformation “Star Fang”: The first of her spellcards to rely on her transformation powers. Turning herself into a shadowy wolf, she dashes to and fro, leaving trails of static danmaku in her wake. As she retreats, these large bullets explode in a shower of smaller danmaku that fly off somewhat chaotically.


 * Roar “Howling of the Full Moon”: Spinning in place, she throws out a large number of shadowy danmaku, that spread out in all directions, once again creating trails of unstable bullets behind them. However, she draws these bullets inwards as they explode, scattering the resultant smaller danmaku in the form of a somewhat rough expanding circle.


 * Sirius “High-Speed Pounce”: Tossing a ring of flaming bullets, that will themselves break up into larger clouds of danmaku, she uses the cover provided to transform and dash around her opponent, pausing every so often to toss out a ring of larger bullets, that explode after a few seconds into slowly expanding rings of firey danmaku.

Major
None at the moment

Minor

 * Wakasagihime: A mermaid who lives in the misty lake. Although they’ve only once met in person, they have corresponded from time to time, via the Youkai Grassroots Network a small mailing list popular amongst Gensoukyou’s lesser-known Youkai. The one time they did meet, didn’t end up going so well, as Kagerou mistakenly attacked and tried to eat Wakasagihime - a momentary lapse in judgement that she’s still somewhat embarrassed over.


 * Rinnosuke Morichika: For the most part, he is the intermediary in her dealings with the village. She sells most of what she makes to him, and also buys various things from his shop on occasion. They don’t know one another that well, but interact at least twice a month, so he probably knows her better than most.


 * Fujiwara no Mokou: She has taken notice of Mokou’s frequent travels through the bamboo forest, and suspects the immortal to live somewhere nearby, although given Mokou’s affiliation with the humans, she has not approached her directly.

Trivia

 * She always carries a small brush with her - to clean hair from her clothes, of course. She really dislikes having hair on her clothes - it looks messy.


 * Her most prized possessions are a set of jeweled fingernail protectors, which she wears on most days to protect her claws - not that they really need much protecting, being quite durable; it’s mostly an affectation.


 * She tends to become flustered whenever she’s revealed to have done something foolish. Of course, the memory of these mistakes tends to stick with her, and they’re often something she agonises over.


 * The monk that led her to Gensoukyou was in fact a distant ancestor of the Hakurei family, although she doesn’t know this.