Kiku

Kiku (KEE-koo; ) was a woman from the Numai swamps on Kamigawa, skilled in both the way of the warrior and in magic.Kamigawa Cycle 
She mastered several weapons, most notably the fuetsu throwing axe and tessen fan. The most deadly, however, are her magic abilities. She used purple camellia blooms that, imbued with her magic, could dig their roots through any living tissue or produce a fragrant smell capable of paralyzing the victim. She was titled jushi or mahotsukai, terms used for the spellcasters of Numai. 
==Description==
Kiku was stunningly beautiful and resplendently dressed, wrapped in pale purple silk and fine embroidered satin. Her wrap was slit up each side below her waist, revealing her shapely legs up to her hips, and her blouse was tightly wound around her to display both her considerable curves and her natural grace as she walked. She sported wide, flaring sleeves that ended just below the elbow and matching purple gauntlets that covered her forearms to the backs of her hands. Her bright black eyes glittered like precious stones, but the rest of her face was concealed behind a folded paper fan she used to waft the foul tavern air away from her face. A large purple camellia decorated Kiku's shoulder, its soft petals perfectly contrasting her sharp eyes and painted fingernails.Heretic: Betrayers of Kamigawa by Scott McGough (2005), Wizards of the Coast
==History==
Toshiro Umezawa met Kiku during his trek through Takenuma when going home from a soratami attack. After returning to Takenuma, Kiku took him and brought him to Uramon. He refused to obey the boss and fled. Kiku led a group to retrieve him but with the help of the yuki-onna all of her men were killed and Kiku and Marrow-Gnawer were forced to join the Hyozan Reckoners. They brought Toshi back to Uramon but turned against their former boss on Toshi's behalf. When Toshi stole the Shadow Gate and left for the Myojin of Night's Reach's honden, Kiku decided to kill Uramon with her camellia. Toshi returned and before he left for Minamo again advised Kiku not to work for the soratami, upon whom the hyozan had declared a vendetta.
In Toshi's absence, the manor of the mahotsukai cult was attacked by soratami shinobi and bushi to eliminate any possible force that could have opposed the soratami. In the hour of greatest need, the elders triggered a revenge-magic curse that took hold of Kiku and changed her into a killing machine, singlehandedly killing all the attackers with solid shadows. However, the curse also caused her to slip slowly into insanity. When Toshi arrived and found her, she asked him for help. Toshi promised to help her and she rewarded him by making love with him. In the morning, she was free of the curse, which Toshi sealed into a ceramic tile for later use. She initially refused Toshi's request for the hyozan help, but he convinced her by promising to release her from the hyozan oath. They then collected Marrow-Gnawer and traveled to Minamo.
After Hidetsugu arrived at Minamo he used Kiku as an example of how to avoid the hyozan oath by defeating her bloodlessly. Marrow-Gnawer arrived, drawn by the hyozan oath, and stabbed the ogre's eye, causing Hidetsugu to drop Kiku. In the fall, the tile was broken and the curse claimed her again. Toshi knowing that the hyozan oath was still intact, prevented her from killing Hidetsugu with her camellia, thus invoking the hyozan curse upon herself. The ogre was victorious, but Toshi used the opportunity to blind him by stabbing his remaining eye.
Once the fight between Toshi and Hidetsugu was over, Toshi sent Kiku through the shadows back to Numai. She was still under the curse's effect, but the spell's power was severely weakened. The last Numai jushi was transported back to the swamp, alive, but her further fate is unknown.
==Story appearances==
Title 	Author 	Publishing date	Set 	Setting (plane)	Featuring
Outlaw: Champions of Kamigawa 	Scott McGough	September 2004 	Champions of Kamigawa	Kamigawa 	Pearl-Ear, Yoshino, Michiko Konda, Nagao, Munetsugu Takeno, Iki Hisoka, Meloku, Takeshi Konda, Myojin of Cleansing Fire, Terashi, Kyodai, Toshiro Umezawa, Marrow-Gnawer, Eitoku, Chiyo, Uramon, Kiku, Kobo, Hidetsugu, Seitaro and Shujiro Yamazaki, Godo, Ben-Ben, Ichi, All-Consuming Oni of Chaos, Riko, Choryu, Sharp-Ear, Myojin of Life's Web, Myojin of Infinite Rage, Kaze, Ichikawa, Silk-Eyes, Cloud-Fur, Silver-Foot, Dawn-Tail, Blade-Tail, Frost-Tail, Mochi, Uyo, O-Kagachi, Myojin of Night's Reach
Heretic: Betrayers of Kamigawa	Scott McGough	January 2005 	Betrayers of Kamigawa	Kamigawa 	Takeshi Konda, Pearl-Ear, Michiko Konda, Yosei, Toshiro Umezawa, Kiku, Uramon, Marrow-Gnawer, Uchida, Yuki-Onna, Hidetsugu, Choryu, Sharp-Ear, Silk-Eyes, Silver-Foot, Blade-Tail, Dawn-Tail, Frost-Tail, Nagao, Riko, Godo, Myojin of Infinite Rage (mentioned), Myojin of Night's Reach, Myojin of Life's Web (mentioned), Isamaru, Munetsugu Takeno, Kyodai, O-Kagachi, Fuan, Hon, Uyo, Chiyo, Mochi, Meloku (mentioned), Okazawa, Seitaro and Shujiro Yamazaki, Iki Hisoka, Myojin of Cleansing Fire (mentioned), All-Consuming Oni of Chaos, Keiga, Okabe
Guardian: Saviors of Kamigawa 	Scott McGough	May 2005 	Saviors of Kamigawa 	Kamigawa 	Michiko Konda, Riko, Toshiro Umezawa, Hidetsugu, Uramon (mentioned), One-Eye, Kyodai, All-Consuming Oni of Chaos, Nagao, Silver-Foot, Kiku, Isamaru, Aoyama, Yosei, Okazawa (mentioned), Marrow-Gnawer, Myojin of Night's Reach, Takeshi Konda, O-Kagachi, Mochi, Uyo, Chiyo, Sosuke, Sachi, Myojin of Life's Web, Jugan, Godo, Yuki-Onna, Pearl-Ear, Sharp-Ear, Silk-Eyes
==In-game references==
==References==
Category:Humans
Category:Assassins
Category:Deceased