Uzaki Hitomi (Anime)

* Manga
* **Anime**

**Uzaki Hitomi** (宇崎 瞳, *Hitomi Uzaki*?) is one of the protagonists of the *Killing Bites* manga. After a rather fateful meeting with Yūya Nomoto, she becomes a temporary ally with Ishida Zaibatsu. She's an integral part of Reiichi Shidō's mysterious agenda.

## Appearance

Hitomi has white hair, brown eyes, and possesses a curvy, athletic body. She normally wears her high school uniform, which is a white unbuttoned collar shirt with a red bow, a brown jacket, a blue skirt, white socks that goes up to her legs and sandals. As for her fighting attire, Hitomi prefers to wear a simple white crop top and exposed panties while walking barefoot.

## Personality

Hitomi has a fierce personality that makes her out to be rather unfriendly around others. She will pick a fight against anyone, Brute or not, with very little provocation if they annoy her. She has no shame or resistance in her state of dress when fighting but is conscious about acting more feminine despite her tomboyish attitude. Hitomi isn't exactly knowledgeable about most perverts unless they make a move. For example, when Yuuya accidentally grabbed her breast, Hitomi blushed and called him a pervert, followed by a punch to the face. However, when she was misguided by Eruza into dressing as a maid while keeping some of her Brute traits visible such as her ears and tail, she was oblivious to the fact that other boys were completely ogling her until much later on. She also has a fondness for sweets which makes her give off a cute, normal girl expression on her face. The most common times when Hitomi will break out of her violent behavior is whenever she encounters Shidō (or be given an order by him through communication) where she switches into a respectful, sweeter, and cuter person that is very obedient.

Because of her strong genes as a Ratel, Hitomi never backs down from a fight no matter how dire her situation is. This is also mainly due to the fact that she has never experienced fear since the moment she was born. She is also naturally very confident in her abilities that makes her out to be extremely arrogant. Despite the odds of being 100:0 in her match against the champion Brute Leo, Hitomi confidently told the Brute that she was guaranteed to win and arrogantly mocked him. Her victory even led her to forget his name after they reunited. In the midst of her battles, Hitomi becomes a fearsome, hot-blooded fighter with an often aggressive disposition that gets an enjoyment fighting strong Brutes. Hitomi believes in her own philosophy that when it comes to Killing Bites the one with the strongest will, which she refers to as "sharp fangs", will be the deciding victor and that speed, power, sex, animal type, etc. are irrelevant.

## Abilities & Skills

### Battle Mode

**Brute Ratel** (獣闘士 (ブルート)  ｢蜜獾 (ラーテル) ｣, *Burūto Rāteru*?) - Having been born with this ability, Hitomi is able to transform her body to gain the characteristics and abilities of the Ratel. When transformed, Hitomi gains black fur with a white tint covering the sides of her body up to under her armpits to her shoulders down to the top of her biceps. Her arms are fully covered in fur, as well as her legs up to her upper mid-thighs. A short tail also sprouts from Hitomi's tailbone and a pair of small ears adorns the top of her head. Her fingers and toenails are replaced with short yet sharp claws and acquires fangs that are shown to reach her teeth.

* **Enhanced Strength:** Hitomi has strength far surpassing those of a human. Her strength is great enough to shatter the ground with one of her claws and clash fist with the strongest Brutes such as Yuugo and Kido. She was able to effortlessly escape Onuma's Snake Chain and kick Kido a good distance in his defensive shell. One of Hitomi's most noticeable feats was how she was able to effortlessly release herself from Nodoka's grip in her Megatherium form. She also has impressive leg strength that allows her to jump great heights.
* **Enhanced Speed:** Hitomi's speed, agility, and reflexes is also increased in this form. She is able to keep up with Eruza who is by far the fastest Brute in Killing Bites. Hitomi is fast enough to swiftly attack her opponents before they even have time to react, resulting in them falling victim to her claws that can bring immense pain. She showed impressive reaction timing to dodge Jerome's Bear Palm and only end up with a scratch on her face. Hitomi was even capable of reacting fast to Taiga's Zessou after calculating the timing behind his speed from just only seeing it twice.

* **Pelt:** It is a well-known fact that Ratels possess a thick and flexible fur that acts as their natural armor. The pelt of the Ratel is incredibly resilient that it is able to withstand any penetrating force in the animal kingdom, even a lion's fangs. Hitomi was able to survive a barrage of sharp quills from Ryouko that are capable of piercing metal and withstood attacks from extremely powerful opponents. One such opponent is Taiga, who is considered the second strongest Brute within the official rankings. Another is Kido, a savage Brute whose strength and defense overwhelmed the former with incredible ease. Because of her high level of defense, Hitomi takes attacks head on to observe and anticipate them in order to launch a counterattack that brings them down. However, the parts that are left uncovered, such as her stomach, neck, and face, acts as her weak spots that her opponents can exploit. Hitomi is also liable to internal injuries such as bone fractures and organ damage. There have also been rare instances where the pelt is not entirely full proof to all attacks and can be penetrated with immense power, such as Kido's razor-sharp tail, Nodoka's large claws, and Tasuku's bite force.
* **Claws:** Hitomi has razor-sharp claws that can rip through her opponent's flesh with ease and cause them to suffer serious blood loss that can result in death. She can even tear their bodies apart, as shown from her fight with Onuma.

* + **Slash** (蜜獾斬 (スラッシュ) , *Surasshu*?): Hitomi's signature move where she swiftly comes in to slash her target with her claws. It is a standard slash attack but acts as her finisher that is capable of defeating Yuugo, earning her the nickname "Leo Killer". The attack is so lethal that Yuugo was unable to participate in the Killing Bites Destroyal due to his arm not completely recovered.
* **Adrenaline:** A particular trait to Hitomi's ratel transformation is that the more she's harmed, the more aggressive and battle aware she becomes.

### Origin Beast Mode

**Origin Beast:** Described by Shidou as the perfect combination of human and animal since birth, this is Hitomi's "true form". Her animal traits become much more prominent, her fur covering her legs and hips completely and her hair growing longer and wilder.

* **Enhanced Strength:** In this form, Hitomi's physical conditioning increases becoming an incredible fighter who's speed is so far only surpassed by Eruza and probably Inaba. In this form, she was able to deliver a fatal blow to Kido which, even though it didn't kill him. It only knocked him out for a brief moment, even exposing his brain mass in the process.
* **Enhanced Instincts:** Her instincts become even more enhanced than before and Hitomi dons on a much more animalistic and wilder behavior. In this mindset, she tends to toy with her opponent while delivering deadly attacks while keeping most of her sanity.

### Fighting Style

Hitomi, like several other brutes, has no defined fighting style. Instead, she relies completely on her instincts. Due to the nature of her own transformation and her own straightforward personality, she has only one move in her entire arsenal. Unlike many other brutes who have developed more complex and diverse techniques. Despite this, Hitomi can be quite clever and tactical in combat, as she's able to exploit the weaknesses of her opponents. Whenever she discovers them such as Kido's severed right eye which left him a blind spot. Another example is when she had Inaba use her echolocation to discover the strategy of the Reptile twins.

#### Fast Learning

She was able to counter Brute bear's attack after seeing it once before, as well as timing Taiga's Tiger Cannon after letting herself get hit by it twice.

## History

### Past

Hitomi's past as to where she originated from, what she was, or how she was born, is left as a complete mystery. What can be said from the moment of her birth is that she somehow became blessed with animal genes that gave her the appearance and mannerisms of a wild beast. During her feral childhood, Hitomi resided in Hong Kong where she went around stealing food to survive, catching attention from the locals in the process who gave her the name **Chùshēng** (畜牲, *****Chùshēng*****?). Eventually, Hitomi was approached by Shidou Reiichi who had planned to study her for his research. Hitomi distanced herself from Shidou at all times whenever he came to meet her but gradually started to become fond of him. After protecting her from a group of bad men from the Chinese mafia, Hitomi came to trust Shidou enough to go along with him.

### Killing Bites Destroyal Arc

While walking along the streets, Hitomi is taken by a group of college students and His Boss named Houjou who prepare to violate her but are slaughtered by her for their transgression. She then tells the driver, Nomoto Yuuya, who stopped the van due to not wanting to continue any further with this act, to keep driving, as well as warn him to not look behind to see the carnage. After making Yuuya stop at a junkyard, Hitomi calls Shidou Reiichi to tell him she and Yuuya have arrived at the site for her first Killing Bites match with the Brute Leo. She then turns around to see Yuuya missing but soon finds him after he confronted and angered Leo. Hitomi confronts her Killing Bites opponent and offers Yuuya's life as collateral as she changes into her Brute Ratel form. As she begins to mock Leo, Hitomi is sent crashing by Leo and is hit with a series of attacks. Despite being injured, Hitomi manages to bite off three of Leo's fingers and wins her match by finishing him off with Slash. She is then taken to Yuuya's apartment to have her wounds looked at.

The next day, Hitomi has Yuuya follow him to a dessert restaurant to meet up with Shidou Reiichi who assigns Hitomi as Yuuya's bodyguard while Yuuya is forced to become her investor. Later, Hitomi demands Yuuya to go out to fetch the things she has listed with the other intention of using him as bait to lure out enemies out looking for her. After Brute Raudi attacks Yuuya, Hitomi appears to confront her but has her fight interrupted by Okajima Ichinosuke who has come looking for Hitomi to join Ishida Zaibatsu for the Killing Bites Destroyal. Hitomi refuses, having too much confidence in her strength, however, after she gets a text from Reiichi instructing her to join Ishida Zaibatsu, Hitomi agrees to temporarily affiliate herself with Ishida Zaibatsu.

Hitomi accompanies Yuuya to the hospital to treat his injuries and to his college where she meets one of his friends, who she found to be annoying, and sits through a boring classroom lecture. She then goes to the bathroom and is met by Nakanishi Eruza, a Brute from Yatsubishi Zaibatsu who has come to pick a fight with her by stealing her underwear. Hitomi enters her battle mode and chases after Eruza whose speed is too fast for her to catch up. Eruza swiftly gets on top of Hitomi and enters her battle mode, revealing herself as Brute Cheetah and makes an incoming blow to her neck. However, Hitomi intercepts it by using her fangs to bite down on her paw, causing Eruza to back away. They are then interrupted by Yabe Shota and Brute Bear who warns them that fighting between Brutes are forbidden until the Killing Bites Destroyal, however, Hitomi ignores what Shota had to say and rushes in to attack. She sees that he managed avoid it by grabbing on to a tree branch and is stopped by Eruza from continuing to cause any further violence.

To make sure that Hitomi does not engage in any fights before the Destroyal, Eruza follows her to meet back with Yuuya in his club room and are asked by him to wear maid outfits given to him by Moriyama to convince him and the others that their cosplayers after exposing their transformations. Hitomi declines his request at first but changes her mind after Eruza offers to teach her partial transformation if she wears the outfits with her. The two walk out wearing the outfits and pose for the college students, which Hitomi found to be oddly enjoyable. Later, in a restaurant, Hitomi is told by Eruza that she should think about finding another investor before the Destroyal since Yuuya is unskilled as a player but tells her that she is okay with having Yuuya since she can use him to do whatever she wants. Hitomi returns to Yuuya's apartment and has him accompany her to the park to discuss matters before the upcoming event.

After a week passed, Hitomi attends the Destroyal dinner party and reunites with Tani Yuugo, Brute Leo, who came to wish her and Yuuya good luck in the competition, though she does not remember who he was. Hitomi then reunites with Eruza and meets her older brother, Nakanishi Taiga, who becomes disappointed that Yuugo will not be participating in the Destroyal. Shortly after, the rules of the Killing Bites Destroyal are explained by Shindou, much to Hitomi's excitement to see him, telling them that the Brutes will fight to the death on Nakijama and will be instructed by their players as to how many spaces they are to move. Before landing on the island, Hitomi, Ichinosuke, and Inaba Ui are begged by men from the Ishida Zaibatsu to win, to which Hitomi assures them that they will do fine.

Having arrived at the island, Hitomi uses the tactic she told Yuuya to use prior to the Destroyal where she instructs him on the monitors using signals to tell him where she wishes to move. She is then confronted by Jerome Hongou, Brute Bear, the Brute she previously met at Yuuya's college. Hongou transforms and throws his first attack at Hitomi but is instantly defeat by her, having already figured out his fighting style when he first attacked her. Shortly after, Yuuya chooses to move Hitomoi of his own accord to Eruza's location in order to give assistance to her after she runs into trouble with Kazama Kaede (Brute Gecko) and Onuma Den (Brute Cobra). Hitomi becomes surprised that Yuuya would boldly make this action without her permission but smiles knowing that it was the right course of action.

Hitomi manages to arrive at Eruza's location and attacks Den who kept Eruza restrained but finds herself having trouble fighting against Kaede. Eruza steps in to tell Hitomi that her fight is with Kaede and interfere. Hitomi agrees to leave Kaede to Eruza and turns her attention to fighting Den. Hitomi allows herself to become wrapped with Den's cobra body and frees herself as a way to not having to worry about him moving around. She then jumps in at the right side of Den's injured eye done by Eruza earlier, thinking that it is his blind spot, but is hit by his tail after the latter uses his ability to track her scent. She then comes in for another attack, however, she falls unconscious after being paralyzed by Den's Cobra Mist. Den uses the opportunity to rape Hitomi in her unconscious state but is torn apart after Hitomi awakens due to her resistance to cobra venom. After her victory against Brute Cobra, Hitomi checks on Eruza's match with Kaede and is surprised to see that they are both still fighting. Kaede then flees the scene after her player instructs her to move to another location.

With Kaede gone, Hitomi and Eruza move towards having rematch but lose their senses to the aphrodisiac pheromones created by Rikujou Kaori (Brute Civet). However, Hitomi returns to normal after having a past memory of Shindou and pushes Eruza away. She then confronts Kaori and attacks but finds herself facing against Taiga (Brute Tiger) after making his arrival. Hitomi sees that Den is still alive after jumping beside her and demands to the camera crew to take him to the hospital to recover. Hitomi turns her attention back to Taiga who tells her that he is unconvinced that she managed to defeat Leo. She is then seemingly hit by Taiga's deadly attack but stands back up after Taiga notices that she managed to dodge it. Hitomi takes another hit from Taiga's Kohou and manages to stand back up once again with the help of her pelt. However, she coughs up blood from the attack but is starting to notice the timing in Taiga's attack to prepare for a counterstrike. Just as Inaba arrives to warn Hitomi about a dangerous Brute coming to the area, Taiga takes Hitomi seriously and uses Zessou to try and finish her off. Hitomi manages to track Taiga from behind her, but before she could do anything, she is hit with a surprise attack by Kido's (Brute Pangolin) tail, sending her back unconscious.

While unconscious, Kido takes down both Taiga and Ichinosuke. Inaba knows that it is dangerous for her and Hitomi to stay for much long and tries to dig her way out. However, Hitomi regains conscious and awakens her true form. She then looks at Kido about to face Eruza and states that she also wants to take part in the fight. Hitomi first body slams Kido and sits on his tail with full delight of knowing that she can fight a sturdy opponent. Kido has Hitomi off his tail and delivers powerful blows to her body. However, Hitomi shows no signs of damage and injuries Kido by slashing him upwards, along with an added comment, stating that she found him to be the easiest of all her opponents she has faced so far. She jumps in for another attack but sees that Kido has rolled up in his defensive shell. She then kicks him towards near by trees, resulting in him becoming enraged and changing into a more powerful form due to his taboo about destroying nature.

Hitomi wonders as to what has come over Kido but then notices that her right arm has been severed by his razor sharp tail, causing her to cry out in pain but quickly regains her composure shortly after. Hitomi is ultimately overwhelmed by his attacks and is stabbed in the back by his tail. As Kido prepares to finish her off, Hitomi manages to move out of the way on time while barley conscious and throws her severed arm, piercing Kido's wounded eye socket. She then jumps in close to him with a smile on her face, causing Kido to remember his mother in the process, and thrusts her claw in his mouth to penetrate his skull, defeating the Brute down. After gaining victory, Hitomi collapses from exhaustion. However, Kido stands back up and readies himself to kill Hitomi but is brought down once and for all after Eruza comes in to cut his neck, stealing the victory. Though the opportunity presented itself, Eruza decides to not kill Hitomi while unconscious.

With only Inaba being the only Brute left alive, Eruza goes after her but is unexpectedly taken down by a swift accidental kick by her, making Inaba the surprising winner of the Killing Bites Destroyal. Inaba takes the time to perform first aid to Hitomi's injuries but is attack by a group of Brute Chameleons sent by Sumitomo Miyabi to kill the surviving Brutes. However, Shinozaki Mai arrives to put a stop to the assassination attempt and reports this event to Shidou.

Two weeks after the Destroyal, Hitomi texts Yuuya to meet her at the junkyard where they first met. The two reunite and become happy to see each other again. Yuuya gives Hitomi his gratitude for making him develop the will to fight during the Destroyal and that he has come to understand her philosophy. Hitomi felt as though Yuuya was making a love confection and blushes at the situation. She genuinely says that she is grateful for everything that he has done to support her and slashes his body, revealing that she has been ordered by Shindou to kill him since he was in the way of his plans. She is then driven away by Shibayama who tells her that she should not feel sad since Yuuya would eventually meet his end after they crossed paths. Though she had tears running down her face, Hitomi denies the fact that she was feeling sad.

## Etymology

* **Uzaki** means "eaves, roof, house, heaven" (宇) (**u**) and "cape, peninsula" (崎) (**saki**/**zaki**).
* **Hitomi** means "pupil of the eye" (瞳).

## Trivia

* Unlike all other therianthropes, she was born as one. Thus known as an original beast.
* She is a fan of honey vanilla ice cream.
* Before she was found by Shidou in China, Hitomi was named Chùshēng [畜牲. lit. Animal] by the locals, a word that can refer to the six common livestock animals or can be used as an insult.
* When she cries for having “killed” Nomoto, it is suggested she developed feelings for him.