Gensoukyou:Sakikusa

Background
The moon gazing rabbit is a good omen said to be bring good luck and to bless those who see them with fertility and good health. As such, they are often sought out by humans who wish to gain these blessings. Of course, as rabbits are rather shy creatures most of the time, actually finding them can be a bit of a chore. Further, if you startle them, more than one human has had the bad fortune of being struck through the air by an unseen force. Most humans don’t really know, but rabbits can cast magic on their own, without being a youkai, just as foxes and tanuki do. Rabbits are simply more cautious about it, preferring to stay hidden when possible.

Staying hidden forever is extremely difficult, however, and one lucky (perhaps unlucky in this instance) human succeeded in finding one of the famous moon gazing rabbits. The rabbit, almost in a trance, gazes up silently at the autumn moon. However, the human, in their infinite wisdom decided that it would be a good idea to catch the rabbit; giving them theoretical infinite luck. Things did not work out that way in actuality. The startled rabbit panicked and let loose a blast of danmaku at the fool who tried to handle her. Even though she did not kill the human, she still injured them to the point that they fled back to their village.

The rabbit was happy that the human left and resumed her moon gazing ritual. She was not quite sure why, but when she looked at the moon, it filled her with an unusual sort of energy, and that energy often translated itself into danmaku whenever a predator threatened her. Needless to say, normal animals have no defense against magic and thus were not able to feed upon the rabbit.

Meanwhile, the human returned to their village where they received medical treatment and told everyone about their experience with the moon gazing rabbit. This quickly became warped into a story of a monstrous beast that could kill a human just with their stare. This conflicted with the usual stories of moon gazing rabbits, and not everyone bought into the other’s story. The belief that moon gazing rabbits were good luck and the belief that the moon gazing rabbits were vicious monster-beasts both existed at once.

These mixed beliefs about the rabbits caused interesting changes in the rabbit in question. It soon blossomed into a young youkai rabbit. Here, the conflicted beliefs from before were exhibited. In appearance and manner, the young youkai seemed childish and pure, yet became somewhat dark in personality and speech. While this darkness was certainly notable, she still retained a slight bit of the shyness of rabbits, and thus generally left the humans alone. At least, right up until they bothered her with their foolishness, in which case she deemed it fit to teach them a lesson. All people need a proper name by which to be known, and as such she called herself Sakikusa, rejecting the names that she received as a result of frightening the humans.

About one hundred years have passed by this point, and the young youkai began to question her nature. Why did she feel that she had to watch the moon as she did? At first, when she was still an animal, it was because she felt safe from the power it gave her, but it seemed to have grown into something more… perhaps, she felt close with the moon, safe because she was under its gaze rather than simply because it gave her power. “Tsukuyomi’s celestial symbol...yes, Tsukuyomi…” she thought, it must be Tsukuyomi’s presence that made her feel so safe. Even though her personality was a little dark, she wasn’t ungrateful. She wished to thank the god for watching over her, whether or not it was true that he was indeed watching, and so, she prayed, hoping her thoughts would reach him. Thus she began her nightly prayers to the Moon God.

This continued for a while, but it was several months before she felt any change. She began to feel that she gained more from her moon watching after prayers to Tsukuyomi, which excited her a little, as she seemed to have been recognized for her efforts. She became a little more religious, almost like a shrine maiden. Though, she had no shrine, nor could she actually afford for one to be made. It was fine, though, a youkai priestess is fairly uncommon, a fact which would probably limit the amount of visitors that she received (humans being too afraid of a youkai with a fairly bad reputation, as well as most youkai not caring much for religion). At this point, she felt it right to make an addition to her name, a surname-- almost a status or title, really: Tsukushita (literally “Under the Moon”). It seemed fitting given her dedication to the Moon God.

Though, one is almost never fully alone in a place with such a high density of youkai, and it wasn’t too long until she had an encounter with some others. Almost as if by fate, these three youkai ended up in the same clearing at about the same time. Sakikusa bristled slightly at their presence, not particularly liking to be bothered most of the time. Perhaps it was best that she didn’t open a shrine after all, the few visitors that she did get would only annoy her anyway. They seemed friendly enough, however, and she relaxed a little after introducing herself to them. These other youkai, around the same age as herself, seemed similar to her somehow… Though she spoke with them in a relaxed manner compared to how she had been before, she didn’t exactly come off as friendly. Strangely, this didn’t seem to scare them off, much to the rabbit’s surprise.

They appeared to live in the same general area, even. Time grew short, the night was almost up, and the three young youkai were becoming tired. One of the other two commented that they should meet again, and that this was fun. ‘Fun’ wasn’t exactly the word that Sakikusa would have used, but reluctantly agreed to the other’s proposition.

The three became fast friends-- perhaps a bit slower on Sakikusa’s part due to her shyness-- and began to meet more often. They often did various things together, though nothing important in particular. Put simply, they enjoyed each other’s company and that was that.

Between her friends, her dedication to Tsukuyomi, and her magical training so as not to be picked on as much by stronger youkai and brave humans, Sakikusa was a very busy little rabbit. She found that she had a decent talent for healing magic and magic that boosted the abilities of herself and others (most notably, her friends). Her aptitude for offensive magic was average, but nothing particularly special. She was creative, though, often coming up with ways to both damage and hinder her opponents at the same time. Despite the general lack in overall power seen in other rabbit youkai, she turned out to be quite a capable fighter. Her attacks were especially effective against other youkai due to their divine nature, despite being a youkai herself. This didn’t exactly make her liked among the other youkai, often leading to her being attacked more often than what would be considered normal. After the fights, she would have to take a moment to use her magic in order to heal herself. She found herself more hostile towards other youkai simply because of the frequent attacks, sometimes attempting to chase them off before they even got the chance to attack her first.

She soon became someone that many of the resident youkai avoided, not wanting to feel the sting of divine magic once more. This was perfectly okay with Sakikusa, she didn't really want to be bothered anyway and was fine with leaving the other youkai alone as long as they returned the favor. Gensoukyou was established around her, largely without her knowledge, and the various incidents made her cautious and reclusive until they blew over. Lately, she has been sensing something a little...off. She isn't sure what it is, exactly, but she has a tiny bit of wariness building up.

Personality
Although she appears young and pure in how she looks and by her mannerisms, it actually hides a rather dark, unpersonable nature. Even while being spoken in a pleasant sounding, childish tone of voice, her words bring a bit of insight into what she is really like. She isn’t particularly malicious, preferring that people simply leave her alone. In general, as long as you leave her be, she won’t attack you. First impressions are fairly important for her though, since she really doesn’t enjoy being attacked. If she thinks that she is about to be attacked, she is going to act first and attack before the other has a chance to. If there is a noticeable difference in power, however, she might simply run away instead; death isn’t something that she has on her to do list.

Despite her appearance, she acts much older than most would think; this confliction is due to the two different types of belief that people have about her. There's been more than one time that she's threatened to gut someone like a fish if they didn't back off. She tends to spend a fair amount of time in prayer to Tsukuyomi and it isn’t uncommon for her to mutter prayers or other words to the moon god, almost like a habit. She has a great love for nature, often tending to the plants that grow around where she lives. Disrespecting plants or animals is a very quick way to get on her bad side.

As might be expected of a rabbit, she is a little twitchy, meaning that sudden movements really set her off, especially around strangers. Though, rather than running, she'll just blast you with divine magic instead. She listens rather intensely to the sounds around her, her ears are almost constantly swiveling or twitching in response to the sounds of the forest. You'll know you have her full attention if both of her ears orient to your position; this is either a sign that you've piqued her interests, or you've made her angry. Unfortunately, it's sort of difficult to tell which one until it's a little too late.

She is surprisingly open with her friends and seems a bit more relaxed and pleasant around them. As the eldest of the three, she tries to look after them to the best of her ability, which seems to be reciprocated by the other two. This kindness is shown to no-one else. Strangers talking to them, or even being around them can expect hostility from her, especially given her usual mistrust of other people. Even giving her a single reason to think you're up to no good will get her in your face-- so to speak, she's pretty short. It should go without saying that making her friends upset or hurting them in any way is probably a death sentence.

Power/Combat
-Divine Magic: Her most common type of attack is danmaku infused with divine energy, it is fairly common for her to call upon Tsukuyomi’s power to smite fools. Her attacks aren’t strictly limited to danmaku alone, however, as she can often create trap zones that ensnare enemies that get too close and even drain them of some of their energy. However, her offensive capability is pretty average, forcing her to rely on creative thinking when using attacks, often combining several different attacks together for a strike that has adverse effects on her target. Her specialty is in magic that boosts the skills of herself and others. Generally, she boosts the energy output of others or increases their natural healing to a frightening threshold. Spells that block or reflect attacks are something she is particularly good at. Spells that increase natural speed are also common. When she has to, she can call upon Tsukuyomi to a higher degree and temporarily trade her prowess in defensive magic for the ability to cast stronger offensive magic. It should be noted that she cannot do this during the day time.

-Basic Magic: In addition to her use of divine magic, she has a basic grasp of more base forms of magic, generally of the elemental variety. Her spells under this category generally aren't as effective as her divine arsenal, but mixing the two kinds of magic together, regardless of how much better she is at one compared to the other, tends to be pretty effective.

-Shapeshifting: Unlike other beings that can change into whatever shape they want, Sakikusa can only change her form into that of a rabbit. However, this rabbit form is touched by the fear of the moon gazing rabbit, causing it to swell to the size of a bear. Physically speaking, she is much stronger this way, but lacks a good majority of her normal magical power. Curiously, she retains the ability to fly, which might look a little odd. Also as a result of human fear, the claws and teeth of this rabbit form are much stronger and sharper than that of a normal rabbit.

She shares a special kinship with other rabbits, almost like a psychic connection, like all youkai rabbits. She can sometimes ask them for favors or communicate feelings or the like. Communicating actual words is still difficult for her and takes a good deal of concentration to do. This difficulty is increased if the rabbit in question has yet to become a youkai rabbit.

She carries a staff with her that she uses to channel and refine magic before using it. Essentially, she bounces magic around inside the crystals at the tip of the staff to amplify her power before using it, increasing her natural magical ability slightly. She is fond of ley lines and runes, which she uses as conductors for magical power. Anything that makes casting magic easier on her is something that she's likely to use. In a way, her magic is like a hybrid of youkai magic and human magic.

Spellcards
(Please Wait Warmly)

Major
- Rei Bakenora: The youngest of the three. She notes that Rei seems to be pretty protective of her, but hardly seems to understand the reason; especially given the way that Rei acts around other people. She supposes that it must have something to do with the fact that their personalities are somewhat similar, but she isn't certain. Still, she appreciates the sentiments and does her best to return the favor whenever possible.

- Kangaenai: The 'middle child'. Kangaenai's twitchiness usually sets off her 'big sister' mind set, especially around other youkai that happen to make a sudden movement that make the kitsune flinch, or some other such thing.

Trivia
-Winter is Sakikusa's favorite season, probably stemming from the fact that, as a white rabbit, it was easier to hide in snow rather than in bushes.

-Perhaps unsurprisingly, Sakikusa is very fond of mochi.