Hanako no Jigoku

## History

The love between Hanako's parents was a whirlwind that ended in bitterness. The handsome Enki, a traveling Elven swordsman, arrived in the small town of Hanamura and was instantly taken with the eldest daughter of the Kanon household, a young woman named Himawari. The two became inseparable and their love was obvious to all who would look upon them. However, come fall, discovering Himawari with child Enki fled the village in the dead of night, never to be seen again.

Hanako Kanon, or Hana as she prefers to be called, was born to the Kanon clan one fine late spring morning. Her shocking blood red skin, horns, and snow white hair belied the truth about her father's supposed 'elven' heritage. Her father was an Oni. Her birth, combined with the shame of a bastard child, left the Kanon family in disgrace. She never forgave her father for abandoning her mother and this bitter resentment and natural oni rage led to an early life of fighting and more than a child's fair share of troubles.

In an effort to help her daughter find peace with their predicament and the looks turned their way, Himawari taught her daughter the family practice of Ikebana. While not particularly skilled at it, this flower arranging turned out to be one of the few things that could center a wild oni-child's mind and to this day Hanako uses this technique to calm her constantly aggressive nerves.

## Description

At six and a half feet tall this blood red tiefling towers over the denizens of her village and most of the people she meets. She keeps her hair in a half-hazard ponytail and boasts a Koi tattoo she got as a younger girl as a dare. Preferring darker colored and loose fitting kimono and Yukata instead of armor, she also bears a fair share of scratches and cuts from opponents weapons.

## Personality

Anger is like a first and second nature to Hanako, and patience is not a virtue she knows well. While she is hot headed and prone to simply taking what she wants and dealing with the consequences later, she does have a deep sense of loyalty and dedication to those she considers family, and ranks those that abandon their family and comrades as the lowest of the low.

## Life and Death and Rebirth

Her first mission in Babel ended with deadly consequences. Slain by a high-ranking daemon's simulacrum she found her soul trapped in a hell-like existence for what felt like a thousand years and a thousand lifetimes. During this time she fought countless wars, each of them ending in her gruesome death, leaving her soul damaged in the process. Though she was risen not even a minute after her death, she was forever tainted and shaped by the experience and dedicated her life not to blind, violent carnage but to protecting her body and mind against further attacks, delving head first into defensive combat styles, vowing to never die such a death again.

## Relationships

Akuma: Her companion and fellow weapon-shifting enthusiast. They act as a tag team to warp across the battle field hacking and slashing enemies. Akuma is definitely the brains of the operation, though that honestly probably isn't saying much considering Hanako's lack of intelligence.

## The Painted Dungeon

Following her shameful defeat at the hands of a 'fake daemon' as she's come to call it, Hanako found herself heading to the tavern to drink her anger and trauma way. While there she was approached by the barman who told her of Giant Rats in the cellars. The promise of a fight she was sure she could win promoted her to take on the pesky rodents. While dispatching much fewer giant rats than she was expecting, she happened upon a trap door while knocking over a crate. Thinking perhaps this was where the rats were coming from, she descended into the dungeon, shocked to discover that the bar was sitting on a massive dungeon. She spoke only briefly with the Huldra, blood boiling and eager for adventure and to prove her worth and restore her shattered sense of self-confidence.

### The Accursed Pool

Journeying into the dungeon, sword drawn, she keeps an eye around herself, looking for anything strange and dangerous. Disappointed that the room wasn't full of anything, not even giant rats, she approached the only thing in the room. Her eyes land on the massive pile of treasure and she squints, seeing the ripples warp the image. "Tch, another fake." Unfooled by the glimmering treasure she kicked a rock into the pool, continuing on her way, pleased that she wasn't fooled by such a common trick.

### The Weeping Child

Advancing to the next room, Hanako peered into the darkness with her keen eyes. Another ruined, massive room, filled with broken stonework and fallen statues. Frustrated she growls in annoyance, her blade eager for violence. The sound echoes across the room, and an answering sound rings in her ears. The sound of crying. Eyes narrowed and weapon drawn, knowing that vicious monsters would use such tactics to lure prey, she follows the sound and leaps around a corner, swinging her sword, stopping just before cutting the young man down, "What are you doing here?" she growls to the boy who could be no more than thirteen years old. To her chagrin, the boy lunged and clung to her legs crying and sobbing. Hanako spends some time trying to pry the distraught boy-child from her person and eventually relents, listening to his tail of woe. A foolish child journeying into the dungeon and getting lost. Typical. The child sticks closer to her as they travel deeper into the dungeon with the promise she'd bring him to the exit when finished.

### Black Cat

After many hours exploring the dungeon, finding nothing but the occasional giant rat and empty room or hallway, Hanako finds the last room that isn't blocked by fallen rubble or piles of stone. No skeletons, no giant spiders, no fallen heroes, just a fake magic pile and a young man who would just not STOP yacking at her as they traveled. No matter how many times she told him to shut up he would just not be quiet. Ordering him to stay back while she opens the door she unsheathes her katana, listening at the ancient half rotten wood. The sound of scratching meets her ears and she grins, readying an attack as she swings the door open.

Her dreams of grand combat are destroyed as a black cat scampers out of the room, meowing pitifully, rail thing and hair matted. She stares at it, a put upon look on her face as she scans the room. She does find something in this room that causes her to scowl, sitting in an old wooden chest. A tetsubo, the weapon of her father's clan. Huffing at the audacity of the dungeon she takes it begrudgingly, as well as the Darkwood shield bearing the snarling face of an Oni, and a finely made masterwork Shamisen. Ready to leave the dungeon, she finds the cat following. WIth a sigh she takes the cat along, letting it sit on her shoulder as she ascends the stares.