Kashikoi Harionna

Appearance

 * Hair:

Kashikoi's hair is a bright, shiny blonde that closely resembles gold. She enjoys keeping it short most days so that it's easier to run with, but on special occasions she'll let it grow out to go with a dress or similar.


 * Body:

In shape in both muscle and curves, Kashikoi's has the natural charm that human men would die for, and have. Though she's a bit on the tall side, standing at nearly six feet, her body is still light and agile, weighing only one hundred and ten pounds which is surprising for her height and attributed to her youkai nature.


 * Clothing:

Normally one would think someone like Kashikoi would be one to show off a lot of skin with her clothing, but the opposite holds more truth. Rather, the only skin she often shows off is that of her legs when she wears somewhat baggy shorts, coupled with a tight, light tank top over a sports bra, and a white and blue hoodie jacket, usually unzipped.

Depending on the weather, her outfit changes out the shorts for pants, leaves out the jacket, or just changes entirely on an especially cold day. See the gallery for her winter outfit.

On special occasions, Kashikoi will wear a simple, bright gold, silken dress that fits tightly on her body.


 * Other:

Though often hidden by her hair, a bit of scarring can be found on the uppermost back of her neck. This is because of her hair sometimes scratching against against her skin when she tries to catch prey, as the strands can get razor sharp at times.

Kashikoi has a tattoo of a golden orb weaver spider, in it's cross-like pose, just below her belly button, so it's not often seen.

There is also a scar in the middle of her chest that is even seen on her back, as if she was impaled. This wasn't really caused by anything in her current lifetime, rather it came from the death of the adulteress who was murdered by a sword. This may also mean that the woman's body was even recycled during the birth of the youkai.

Chapter one: Weaver and the Adulteress


In a web on the outside of a mansion in the Izu Province hatched many spiderlings from a sac. Of these spiders, a species of yellow and gold, many of them went out into the outer-lying forest to make homes and start their lives capturing insects. However, one spider did not follow her brothers and sisters, instead she stayed behind and found her way into the mansion through a small hole. Inside this mansion, though the spider would know nothing about this, lived a highly respected merchant who made a living off the local fishing trade, and a haughty woman who had seduced the man of wealth into marriage so that she may hold part of his fortune. In a corner of the main hall in this mansion did the spider then spin its web and begin its own life eating of the stray insects that found themselves trapped in such a large, yet confined space.

It wasn't long before the spider's web, being made of beautiful golden silk of which its species is known for, was spotted by the occupants of the house hold. Out of the two, the man wanted nothing to do with this creature, thinking it a pest and disgusting. However, perhaps the least likely of the two to do so, the haughty woman saw a manner of beauty in the spider, and pleaded for the man to allow it to stay. The man, though reluctant at first, quickly gave in when the woman used the same charm that tricked the man into marriage to convince him that the spider may even capture bad luck. A silly notion, but the man couldn't bother the argue, and so the spider stayed.

A couple years later, the woman found herself not only admiring the arachnid visitor, but also keeping a new collection of insects with which to feed the spider on whatever days may the number of natural insects in the mansion be few for the spider to eat. The spider even came to recognize the woman for this, and even seemingly lowered its web so that it would be easier for the woman to get to. It seemed to have acquired a fondness for this person, which may even seem odd for spiders, but the usually haughty woman didn't mind at all, taking pleasure in watching the golden threads wrapped around careless or trapped prey.

However, the woman soon grew bored. Not of the spider that she adored so much, though, but of her husband whom she only married not for love, but simply for material goods. She was still young, and very flirtatious, and her husband she knew would never be one who could satisfy her. Leaving him, though, would mean that she would be left with no money. Though the consequences of adultery could be very bad considering her powerful and jealous husband, the woman's lust led her to go and find lovers to sate her while her husband was out either fishing or trading. Though the woman's carelessness, thinking her husband would not return for long, quickly led such scandalous acts to be found out by the merchant, who, with little thought, had both her and her lover slayed within the very mansioned he owned. After this, the man took what he owned and left the mansion to rot and stink of decaying flesh. Unoccupied, save for one arachnid in the corner of the main hall, who managed to catch her most valuable prey of all.

Chapter 2: New form, Sweet Prey


Centuries pass with not a single person taking ownership of the mansion leading it to soon lose its structural integrity and fall to the ground like the leaves of autumn. However, perhaps the building would have lasted a bit longer, were it not for the agitated spirit that once inhabited the place - angered by the memories that came with it. The spirit didn't quite understand, though, that in the end it was her own fault, nor did she even understand the memories that came with the mansion that she had now destroyed. It could even be said that this spirit had lost all memories other than the memories of those memories as it transcended into its new form; one of long, golden hair that flowed down her back, a testament to both things the spirit loved. This hair, though, was odd. Each strand acted like another of her limbs - prehensile, precise, and impossibly strong to the point of each ending being like a needle. What this was the being wondered about. The strands even had a manner of sticky coating to them, which she could control as if it were as natural as talking. In testing it, she even entangled herself for a brief moment. She worked well to quickly get used to this new form, and then continued on her way.

It wasn't until she was further down a lone path that she met any sort of life, however when she did, she was stricken with a strange hunger at the sight of a lone traveler coming her way. This hunger made her eager to greet this traveler as she ran up to him. Soon, her charm worked wonders on the man, and they walked together. As they spoke and flirted, though, the hunger continued to grow, even to the point where the woman would drool at the mere sight of this man. Seeing this, the man thought he knew what was desired from him, and quickly brought her against a tree to try to provide this. The woman was, of course, amused by this action, and tried to react accordingly by nipping the man's neck. This action elicited a moan from the man, followed by a screaming that made the birds in the trees fly away in fright.

As blood dripped from the woman's fangs, the predator that once lived in the corner of the mansion awoke to the taste of such sweet blood. As instinct started to regain control over the body, the spirit's memories were finally supressed within the spirit of this new creature. A youkai, now, born from the spirit's haughty and adulteress nature, and the predatory spider with lust to capture and devour the unfortunate insects that fall into its trap. It started with this current prey, whom the spider was still drinking from. Her hair acted like web to wrap around the man, even though he would no longer struggle anyhow, as her fangs injected enzymes to liquify everything she could so that she could drink it greedily. When she was done, only bones remained as she walked away with a toothy smile, eager for her next meal.

Chapter 3: Waterfalls


This woman soon happened upon a great waterfall not far from a human settlement. As she spied the rushing water, she noticed her being was covered in blood. Her nature made this unacceptable to her, and she quickly went to bathe under the falling water. Much to her surprise, she started to hear voices. Human voices, a distance away. The same hunger now filled her being once more as she hid in a crevice in the stone to watch for what may come. Soon came two men, woodcutters, coming to drink of the river's cool, rushing water. The woman spotted the burliest of the two, and laughed softly, savoring the thought of catching such a prey, but was disappointed when he instead left, leaving the smaller of the two resting on a stump near the bank. Hungry, the woman did not remain disappointed for long, and quickly sent out threads of her hair to capture and ensnare the human before the other returned. Though her plan worked, for a moment, she could not quite see what the threads were doing as she remained hidden all the while. When she had thought she caught her prey, she instead found her threads wrapped around a stump that she pulled back to herself. Where one would think she would be anger, she instead laughed it off, calling out to the now running man "How clever, how clever" before hiding once again to await for her bigger prey's return.

Years pass, but the spider has not left its place in the falls, rather it found a cave behind in which it now lived, still waiting for its big catch to return. It had caught a few smaller prey in the mean time, but none of them satisfied her as much. She even came to the point where eating them was dull and listless, so she would instead scare them or toy with them before watching them run in fear or try to kill her, only to be met with death of their own. However, one such "victim" was not like the previous. This one was a female, and clearly did not smell human. Curious, the spider actually came out from its cave to meet the woman, wondering what she even was, if not human. As it turned out, the girl was a tengu of the neighboring mountains come to play in the waterfall. Thinking the girl would ruin her traps, the woman first denied the girl allowance near the falls, but the girl pressed on, much to the woman's annoyance. For some reason, this girl did not make the woman hunger like humans did, so she figured that a tengu must be somewhat like her. It was the only explanation. Perhaps it was wanting to know more about this, or perhaps it was that the woman felt it pointless to argue, but she allowed the girl to reside around her domain as she pleased, as long as she would not interfere with her hunting.

As time passed, the two youkai spoke more and more often. This was mostly attributed to Kashikoi's boredom in between prey, and for the fact that the girl was interesting and kept her promise of not interfering with any traps. What perhaps intrigued the spider the most about her tengu friend was her obsession with running or jumping across the various stones that littered the river. At first, the spider merely watched to see if the girl would fall, warranting playful teasing, but quickly she recognized the tengu's skill in what she did, and even wanted to see if she could match. While the girl was away, the spider did just that - hopping across the stones in the river as she watched the girl did. What the girl didn't do, however, was fall, and the spider did just that; multiple times. Perhaps this created a newfound respect towards this tengu's abilities, but since her failed attempts she watched a bit more closely how the tengu jumped and nearly glided from stone to stone, or how she ran faster than any human. This interest sparked more conversation, and soon the spider would even try to join the tengu in running or what have you. The spider's pride labled this activity as merely training in case she needed to chase after prey, but perhaps, somewhere within her, she enjoyed the time she spent with the tengu.

As years went by, the spider gained better agility and speed, thanks to the girl's help. The spider would perhaps never admit how much help the girl truly was, but she certainly was not ungrateful. The spider would even, now, venture out from her home in the falls to walk or run with the tengu in the forest or the mountains, now having found a way to keep up, somewhat, with the agile youkai. Her hair, so well used in ensnaring prey, now served purpose in latching onto branches, or even sticking like barbs into trunks of trees or even stone itself. This made up for what the spider lacked in agility and speed that the tengu was born with, and it also helped her learn new techniques to use her hair for, namely for ensnaring prey. Even through all this time, though, her mind was not distracted enough for the task at hand. Despite the tengu's urgings, the spider would often still return to the falls to wait for the burly woodcutter whom she planned to devour. Soon, she would get her wish.

Chapter 4: The Mistress of Joren Falls


Decades pass and the spider did not abandon her plan still to ensnare the woodcutter. Some could even call her obsessed; a word, perhaps, used even by the tengu to describe it. The spider was set in her ways, though. Perhaps she did not even realize that the man had probably grown old by this time, or that decades had passed. For a being that has spent centuries as a spider, time was of little relevence to her anyway. However, all her time and patience would finally pay off, as one day a young man, one of equal size to the man before, appeared to cut the trees near the shore of the river. The spider spotted him quickly and thought she recognized him, licking her lips at the sight she had waited so long for. It was not the same man, surely, but the woman cared little. She had waited this long to toy and trap her pray, and so she would.

It started when the man had dropped his axe into the water, only for it to seemingly be brought back by a strange woman, soaked from the water of the falls. The man did not recognize this woman for what she was and was stricken by her charm as she played her words like cards. She wanted this man to fall for her, and eat him when he was entirely hers. The man, suspicious at first, was quickly win over by the woman's advances, and vowed to return whenever he could, much to the spider's satisfaction. Every day, as he promised, would he now come to visit the spider. However, this now left little room for the tengu to return to her friend. The tengu, having promised such, did not wish to interfere with the spiders doings. The spider didn't seem to notice, though, fully engaged in toying with her helpless prey.

One day, the man returned with another. One whom the spider recognized as a buddhist monk, and did so narrow her eyes at such a sight. The man had gone to the village, no doubt to boast of his love for the woman, but had attracted a buddhist priest who quoted legends and stories about the mistress of the falls. Legends that the woman was none to pleased about. She had heard them before, made up from those who'd escaped her grasps, as they spoke about a whorish spider that haunted the falls. When the priest directly spoke about this part in particular, the woman was insulted and enraged, sending out her threads of hair and web to ensnare the two, but the buddhist monk was experienced. In the middle of reading a sutra to try and banish the spider, he stopped and instead uttered a chant that took both him and the logger away from the place, much to the spider's annoyance.

The logger, once away from the place, had finally realized what his love truly was: a spider in human skin. He was greatly disappointed, but even so he gave not up his love for the woman, never being able to forget such a thing. He thought, perhaps, he could gain favour as more than food by speaking to the great tengu of the mountain, but instead his love was forbidden by one such tengu who seemed quite annoyed by his pleads. One such that, because of this man, had not been able to see the spider in so long. The man would not give up, though, despite the forbidding of his love. He quickly ran back to the river to see the woman, hoping he could convince her to not kill him, instead to love him. He spoke out against the warnings and legends of the spider, and of the forbiddings of the tengu. He spoke well about his love and compassion, but he spoke no more as the threads ensnared his legs and drew him into the water, hearing only the laughing of the spider at his foolishness and rebellious nature as he was quickly silenced under the water's surface. Though her fun did not go without being spoiled, the woman still got the prey she wanted for so long. She finally had no real reason to stay at the falls, but even so she still stayed as she had few choices otherwise.

Chapter 5: The Big City


One day the tengu appeared to the spider appearing rather distressed. When the spider inquired about why the tengu had come like this, she was met with sad, heartfelt goodbyes that made the spider all the more confused. "Where was she going?" was the first question to run through Kashikoi's mind, and the first question that came from her lips. The tengu spoke about having gone to the city of Tokyo to look for places to live among the humans as they were starting to rally against the mountain, threatening the tengu and their land. She spoke about how beautiful the city was and how she would be travelling alone to go live there. The spider was still confused, but knew enough that wherever the tengu would go, she would follow. The spider was too proud, though, to say that she would surely miss her dear friend, and that she would be lost in boredom and dullness without her, and so she merely claimed that she would go with the tengu to keep her safe in her journey and among the dangerous humans. At first the tengu was surprised by this, and then perhaps touched by the spider's caring and quickly agreed to the spider's wishes to accompany her. The spider was quick to slay some humans from a village nearby and take clothes for herself as well as some other rations so that she could set off with her friend to the city of lights.

When the two arrived, Kashikoi was quick to discover just what Haruko saw in such a place. The buildings were large and bright with lights, the streets were loud with cars and humans moving to and fro. Sweet, delicious humans by the street full, and the buildings seemed to provide excellent alleyways and hiding spots for the spider to prey on the unsuspecting. Needless to say, she was not only glad to be by her friend's side, but also glad to come to such a place of oppurtunity. Though Kashikoi was not quite as used to blending in as the tengu Haruko was, she quickly found ways to manage by, of course, watching the way Haruko did so. Something, though, that Kashikoi surely didn't enjoy was within the first year or so, the two were forced to sleep among the rooftops, exposed to the elements. Though Kashikoi tried to make up for this by making tents or blankets for the two out of her webbing, she still had to hide her displeasure from such subpar living conditions. That was, until, Haruko seemed to find a "job", a concept long foreign to Kashikoi. Haruko managed to explain to the spider the concept of money, working, and the nature of her job as being a messenger, having found it by watching a boy delivering by bike. Though the spider was still mildly confused as to why paper and metal was so important, she understood that it was apparently important. She even started to notice this "money" on the dead bodies of her prey, and so she would bring it back to Haruko, hoping to help in some small way.

After a while, the two had gathered enough of this "money" to rent an apartment for themselves. Well, truth be told, though Kashikoi may say that she helped, she perhaps only funded 1/5th of the initial cost. She could have even done more, but she soon discovered that the money could also be used for various other things, like sweets, booze, hair products, and the like. She still didn't seem to much care for the money, though, often dropping it or leaving it around. At least, though, she and Haruko now had a place to stay, and every so often Kashikoi would bring home a hefty wallet from an important buisnessman. So needless to say, life started to look up for them.

Ever since then, Haruko's salary coupled with whatever Kashikoi would bring home granted them to living a sort of psuedo luxury life. "Liberated" gaming systems, occasional pizza deliveries, et cetera. Even through all this, though, they never forgot their shared love for freerunning. Often, Kashikoi will even help Haruko with some of her jobs, especially if they may be more dangerous. Kashikoi even sometimes gets jobs of her own, now, doing more dangerous things like transporting "questionable" packages or disposing of people. Both cases work well for her because, unlike how Haruko changes her name often, she rarely ever gives any indication of who she is. Because of this, she is able to give back to Haruko a little more to repay the kindness, but somehow it's still not much. Perhaps if she didn't find so much interest in games and booze and such...

Personality
Born partially of the spirit of a haughty adulteress, Kashikoi has gained some of this woman's traits. Above all is a sort of free spirited nature that is so often seen in her favorite hobby: freerunning. This also leads her to having a carefree nature as well, dismissing all but the most serious of matters as beneath her need to worry about. Thus, it could also be said she cares little about others, only finding some interest in them but not really growing too attached, if at all, unless it's so that she can eat them. Then it may be more of her mouth becoming attached to your neck. Youkai, though, she seems to have a little bit more respect for, namely one such Tengu whom she has befriended. So far, she is the only one that Kashikoi has shown any long lasting interest in. This somewhat haughty nature has worked its way, even, into the legend of the Harionago, as she would often laugh at the men she would meet and later eat.

Although the above is true, her lack of caring for other people is often well hidden to all but those who know her well enough. She can even go as far as to seem deceptively friendly, and she even might be to certain people, but typically this is just a way for her to get what she wants out of people, be it by kind gestures or by simple flirtation, of which has spawned some of the legend about the Jorogumo being a manner of whore, or seductress. However, the legend does greatly exaggerate the flirtatious nature, even to the point where mentioning it could be considered an insult to Kashikoi.

As a youkai Kasihkoi has a fairly mischievous nature to her, often toying with her prey before eating them. Her cleverness shows in this mischievousness as well, as seen in her experiences with a lumberjack long ago, luring him into falling in love with her before she captured and devoured him once he was forbidden from his love. This also showed that she tends to become disappointed once her fun is ended, but will put off a meal for as long as she can squeeze some entertainment out of it.

Perhaps finally, though, simply because she is haughty, flirtatious, bloodthirsty, and what have you, does not mean that even the most mischievous of youkai are beyond compassion. For a long time, most of her joy has come from her time spent freerunning, thus she has slowly been moving away from toying with her meals, or flirting, or thinking things beneath her, rather focusing on being free and caring for, by far, her dearest friend. Perhaps it is this tengu that is instilling such change in her. The thought is almost annoying to the Jorogumo.

Power/Combat
Aside from natural youkai agility and strength, Kashikoi has very little in the way of magical capabilities. What she does have, though, is limited to her hair and a slight, enticing aura about her person that ties into her natural charm. She uses this ability ( and her hair ) to capture the attention of unsuspecting victims, prey as she'd call them.

Hair/webbing
Perhaps one of the most capturing things about Kashikoi is her hair, which is actually made up of a golden spider silk. This silk is many times stronger than normal spider silk, though, and can be controlled completely by her. Its strength coupled with its incredible thinness allow it to be very sharp when needed. A single strand is able to cut through metal, while a lock of it can pierce and anchor into concrete while having enough strength to it for Kashikoi to safely hang from. Its size can also vary by her will, but shortening it naturally can take a bit of time to do as she would need to absorb it back into her body, so if she's in a hurry she finds it easier to cut it off with another strand. At that point it'll quickly shrivel up and disappear if left out of range of its host for too long.

Kashikoi also is able to create a sticky liquid in place of oil from her scalp. This liquid can coat the hair and give it a very adhesive property, much like a sort of natural superglue. Though this has many uses, like ensnaring and binding prey, it's also a dual edged sword in how it can be equally ensnaring to Kashikoi. Also, the only way to be rid of the adhesive from her hair is to either wash it with oil and vinegar or cut her hair completely off and regrow it, the latter being preferred in a hurry.

Major

 * Character::Kitakaze no Haruko: By far Haruko is one of the few people Kashikoi actually respects or would ever think of calling "friend". She often enjoys teasing Haruko but always means well and knows when enough is enough. Even so, she seems to find amusement if she can make Haruko flustered, or even angry though she doesn't actively try to make her mad. She's come to be quite caring of Haruko too, being sure to keep her out of harm's way or helping her if she becomes injured. Likewise, though, Haruko probably takes care of Kashikoi just as well, as the spider will often take to subtly mooching off of the tengu.

Trivia

 * Unlike Haruko, Kashikoi seems to be incapable of flight. Whether she is naturally incapable or has never bothered to try, though, is a matter up for debate.


 * Unlike the adulteress woman, Kashikoi doesn't really care a whole lot about money. Most of the things she gets she either steals or takes off the bodies of her victims. What money she does get, though, goes to either Haruko, clothes, or booze.


 * Kashikoi is actually fairly technologically adept. She has a laptop that she no doubt took from the body of a dead human and keeps it in a backpack she found it in.


 * Kashikoi also has several pet spiders. Some of them may often be seen around Haruko's apartment.


 * Kashikoi often enjoys playing video games, and her favorite one so far is Mirror's Edge. Though she likes freerunning games, there aren't that many out there, so her favorite genre otherwise is anything that has fast paced action to it. Games like Need for Speed, Burnout, various shooters including Call of Duty and Battlefield, Halo, et cetera.