Sheet:Kureha Senkenzan
Onihime's Sheet
Background
The history of Kureha stems from the recent history of the Chikafuji family. Through cutthroat business acumen and politicking, the previous patriarch has been able to build their fortune and clout up tremendously in the past 50 years. From all his numerous children, Hozan Chikafuji emerged as the most cunning and capable, and so became the next head of the family. In a bid to ensure his family line would remain strong and have a broad political reach, he aggressively sought 'fitting' spouses for all his children, but especially for Hozan.
Somehow, he was able to secure an arranged marriage between Hozan and a woman named Naeka, a member of the far, far older Senkenzan clan. The prestige of an ancient family bloodline was too tempting to pass up; however, when their daughter Kureha was born, and born sickly and frail, Hozan's pride turned to bitterness. A daughter unsuited to taking over his empire, unsuited even to showing off. He would have tried for another, but Naeka died in a car crash when Kureha was around two years old. And while casting her out entirely would give his political rivals too juicy a morsel to gossip about, he was certainly not going to parade her around, nor let her bear the Chikafuji name. So, Kureha was instead given her mother's family name, Senkenzan, and more-or-less hidden away.
While the rest of the extended family's children vied for Hozan's favor, Kureha has spent her time indoors, going out rarely. Her cunning and politically-savvy cousins, aunts and uncles have visited on rare occasion, but only to see if she had any use. Kureha has learned to distrust others as 'users' only interested in what she can do for them; aside, that is, from one of her maids, Chisa. Of the myriad maids charged with attending Kureha, Chisa is the only one to treat her with more than cool indifference, having practically raised her... and little surprise, with her having been a childhood friend of Naeka's.
With advancing age comes school, and Hozan's determination to keep his daughter from shaming the family has led to her being largely sheltered from interacting with other students outside of class. Most of the school knows her as the withdrawn, frail, gaunt girl who uses a cane just for walking support. No clubs, no parties, no afterschool events, no dances. The maids have largely done a good job of keeping her from interacting with any 'undesirables' outside the family, guaranteeing that she has very little positive experience with other people.
Until, that is... the museum.
(I would like to scene this part out on the MUSH, if possible!)
The Chikafuji have temporarily been granted space in a smallish museum to show off their private collection of rare and valuable items, and in a rare moment of magnanimity, Hozan has permitted her to visit. She's only there because one of the artifacts belonged to her mother, a necklace with a magatama-bead pendant. Unknown to Kureha, it's an actual piece of the Yasakani no Magatama, an ancient artifact of the Senkenzan capable of awakening the magic in their bloodline. When a youma attacks the museum, putting Chisa in mortal peril, Kureha's fervent desire to protect the maid resonates with the Magatama. A defender's heart awakens and the Magatama unseals her power, transforming her into the Youkai Shoujo known as 'Onihime'.
This first transformation, this flood of magic from within, also has the effect of revitalizing her body; leaving no longer frail and sickly, but now healthy and quite strong. A turning point for Kureha, which will irrevocably alter her life, both in school and at home - even without the addition of being a magical girl.
Personality
The best encapsulation of Kureha's personality would be to say that she has a cool, distant, and collected outer shell, as a protective measure for the fiery and straightforward heart beating underneath.
Kureha has lived her life in a gilded cage, made all the more insidious by her not having the strength to even rattle the bars. She has lived among the greedy and the sly for so long that most of her reference for human behavior is either 'obeying authority' or 'what does this person want from me'. She has cultivated an aloof, soft-spoken outer demeanor, intended to ward off casual interaction, both to protect herself from the machinations of others, and because she knew most of them wouldn't be allowed to interact with her for long anyway. At this point, it's almost reflexive. Push others away for your own safety. Push others away so you don't get your hopes up. Push others away so they don't start looking down on you for your physical condition. Push others away so you can at least keep the nice things in this home you seldom get to leave.
So, Kureha's general demeanor comes across as cold, and guarded. She will be downright suspicious of people reaching out to her at first, and she won't hesitate to deploy a sharp-tongued word or two. It will be a long time before she trusts anyone enough to let them in past the carefully-crafted mask she shows the world. Even once she has relaxed some, she'll still be reserved, eloquent but soft-spoken, preferring to watch people and wait, see what they're made of, before she extends her metaphorical hand. Which isn't to say that she'll be shy, nor hesitant or uncertain. One thing her family has taught her is how to focus under pressure, to think and make calls, to pick a course of action and stick to it.
And once someone can get past her prickly, aloof exterior, they'll find three things - steadfast loyalty, a surprising curiosity, and emotional vigor.
Kureha hasn't realized it yet, but she has the heart of a protector. A gentle warmth waits for those she comes to care about, and a fierce determination to stand by their side, whether it be in life or in battle. Indeed, when challenged, Kureha can be surprisingly straightforward and outgoing, not hesitating to go on the offensive by the quickest and most expedient method possible. Like a charging bull... or a mighty oni. She'd rather smash through a wall and start swinging fists; she'd rather march right up to a bully and shower him in so much (surprisingly eloquent) verbal browbeating that he can't even begin to muster a reply, let alone a defense.
And having spent so long with very little outside-world contact, her newfound health is going to lead to a curiosity about the outside world. There's so many things she's missed out on. So many things she doesn't know. It is a curiosity that will lead her into new situations, and inevitably into the kind of shenanigans magical girls get into; and it will also eventually lead to her having a genuine curiosity about people.
And, of course, that extends to cooking. Kureha is going to have a voracious appetite entirely out of proportion to her stature, and she is eventually going to get curious about the process of cooking itself... and discover that she has a knack for it. However she might learn it, cooking may well become her way of connecting with people, of showing she cares. And it will also be the perfect way to spite her father, who would absolutely disdain the thought of a Chikafuji doing any sort of 'menial task' like cooking.
It is also worth noting that, between her straightforward nature and her lack of experience with her emotions, she is... probably a bit of a hothead. Maybe a smidge on the leap-before-you-look side. Despite being accustomed to a life of family and corporate politics, Kureha has a bit of an impulsive side just waiting to leak out once she's no longer a flightless bird in a gilded cage. She will be easy to bait into a confrontation. She would be the sort to run out and save a friend in danger without a second thought. Or possibly even a first. She might be rushing to their aid with grace and class, but she will still be very much /rushing/ to their aid.
Likewise, at least for a while, there might well be a sense of aimlessness to the girl. She's spent so long focusing on just surviving, just getting through another day with her awful family, that longterm planning, wants and dreams, have never entered into the equation. So she is now a girl faced with 'The Future(tm)', where before nothing like it entered into the equation. So even moreso than most other girls her age, she has to figure out who and what she wants to be - and that can be a daunting, disheartening prospect when she lets the totality of it hit her.
Focus
Hengeyokai - Old Blood is an original creation, focused on a specific type of magical girl dubbed 'Youkai Musume'. The focus used by a Youkai Musume is a combination of their own blood, and a bead from the Yasakani no Magatama. This imperial artifact was used in the original purification of the band of youkai - or rather, the Youma - that threatened Heian-era Kyoto. Through the miraculous kindness of the priestess - or rather, the magical girl - performing the purification, these creatures of darkness were not elimiated, but rather converted. They came to live among humanity, each fostering a family line... and the primal, mythic power they held remembers the presence of the Magatama, awakening when called by it.
Not just any magatama bead from a shop or shrine will do - it must be a bead of the Yasakani no Magatama, the Imperial Regalia used in the purification. But each family line was gifted one, and has passed it down for over a thousand years. Any Youkai Musume in whom the blood runs strong can use their family's Magatama Pendant to awaken the dormant magic within, but only if they have the strong heart, the strong will, to back it up.
Style
Youkai Musume can have somewhat of a varying style, depending on the youkai whose powers run in their family. All of them have something in common, however: very Japanese clothes! And an element. Very Japanese clothes and an element. The outfit probably takes the form of something fitting for each Youkai Musume; a flowing kimono for the Oni or Kitsune musume, a yamabushi outfit for the Tengu musume, etc. It also tends to include the color of their personal element as a signature hue. Additionally, their appearance is likely to take on traits of their youkai heritage, with horns for the oni, tails and ears for the kitsune, and so on. Each Youkai Musume also probably has a signature 'weapon' of some sort, although what constitutes a weapon can be rather broad. A tengu's fan to weave blasts of wind, a kiseru pipe or a shamisen for the kitsune to craft an illusion. Their Magatama pendant can be displayed somewhere on their costume, but it doesn't need to be.
Henshin sequences would definitely involve swirls and whirls of the Youkai Musume's element, and possibly other very staple flourishes where desired - a flurry of sakura petals, the shine of the moon in the background, etc. The element probably plays into this quite a bit, and their youkai features are also likely 'woven' from this element, e.g. the oni's horns taking shape from a whirl of flames. Very classic henshin style, somewhere in the neighborhood of Madoka or Precure, while expressing both the character's personality, and the nature of their associated youkai.
A Youkai Musume's fighting style will, much like their fashion style, depend on the youkai whose powers they draw on. Kureha will be a very close-up, super-strong powerhouse fighter, weaving her element in with melee attacks. A tengu musume might use agility, flight and their element to create a very fast, dextrous assault. A kitsune musume might stand back and act as more of a ranged caster, making close-in strikes only rarely. It's possible that one or two of them might have purification capabilities, but that's not a staple for all of them - the closest an oni comes to purification is a snap-out-of-it sock to the jaw.
Powers
Kureha's powerset is a fairly simple, straightforward 'powerhouse brawler' set, encompassing immense superhuman strength, incredible toughness and regeneration, sharp senses, and short-range fire manipulation. Her superhuman strength is her most prominent power and thoroughly excessive, the sort you'd expect to see out of someone three feet taller and covered in green skin. She will suplex a train if she has to, and don't you doubt her. :| Likewise, she will weather blows that other girls wouldn't dare to take, an inhuman durability that couples with a modest natural regeneration to ensure that she's extremely difficult to take out of a fight.
A very tiny amount of this will probably carry over to her non-transformed self - only to the extent of 'naturally very healthy, and stronger than her small stature would suggest', nothing superhuman, but it's still worth mentioning.
And of course, her personal elemental affinity is the blazing flame. She is naturally very warm, and when she dips into the true depths of her strength, tiny flickers of flame can begin to dance around her, along her body. She can also conjure and manipulate magical fire directly, but only within a short range; it's effectively a melee tool, unleashing bursts from her hands, calling forth flares from her feet, charging her fist with fire for an explosive punch. This in particular plays into Kureha's finisher; her personal 'weapon' is her bandage-wrapped arm, the source of her flames. Dubbed the Douji Claw, her left arm (although I may retcon this to 'right hand' later on, when I can afford to commission art for myself!) is a clawed oni's arm, and one of her two finishers involves overcharging it with flames and delivering a devastating fiery punch.
(The bandage has no purpose, it's not for 'sealing her arm' or anything. It's just part of her outfit. Because it looks cool.)
One more minor boon Kureha gets out of this whole deal is 'battle instinct'. It's mostly just my personal explanation for Magical Girl Somehow Knows How To Fight, but it goes a little beyond that, having an oni's natural instinct for understanding the flow of battle, how to fight tactically, how to keep focused and act decisively in a crisis. She's good at 'reading' people, getting a feel for their fighting styles.
It is worth noting that one thing Kureha is not, is 'fast'. Oh sure, maybe compared to untransformed humans. But most magical girls on the MUSH are probably going to be noticeably faster than she is. It sort of renders her toughness a necessary trait - after all, she's just plain not going to be able to dodge faster enemies.
