Kiku

Kiku was a woman from the city of Numai skilled in both the way of the warrior and in magic. She mastered several weapons, most notably the fuetsu throwing axe and tessen fan. The most deadly were, however, her magic abilities. She used purple camellia blooms that, imbued with her magic, were able to dig their roots through any living tissue, or produce a fragrant smell capable of paralyzing the victim. She was titled as jushi or mahotsukai, both terms used for the spellcasters of Numai.

Kiku was as deadly as she was beautiful, with striking features, reddish-black hair and amazing curves. Toshi Umezawa met Kiku during his trek through Takenuma when going home from the soratami attack. After his return to Takenuma later, he was taken by Kiku and brought in front of Uramon. He refused to obey the boss and fled. Kiku led a group that should bring him back. However, with the help of yuki-onna, all of her men were killed and Kiku with Marrow-Gnawer were forced to join the hyozan. 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, he advised Kiku not to work for 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 in order to eliminate any possible force that could have opposed the soratami. The elders were given a choice - to surrender, or else. They choose "or else". In the hour of greatest need, the elders triggered a revenge-magic curse that took hold of Kiku and changed her in 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 eventual later use. She initially refused Toshi's request for the hyozan help, but he convinced her by promising her to release her from the hyozan oath. They then collected Marrow and traveled to Minamo.

Toshi helped the kitsune and Eiganjo survivors, but then he was attacked by an oni-dog. With the help of Kiku's axe and camellia, the beast was defeated. Then Hidetsugu arrived and revealed Toshi's treachery. In his glee, he used Kiku as an example of how to avoid the hyozan oath by killing 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. At the Shadow of Black Death, Kiku battled the o-bakemono almost on equal terms, suspended in a nimbus of a living, multi-limbed, supernaturally strong shadow. Toshi, knowing that the hyozan oath was still intact, used his frost kanji to prevent her from killing Hidetsugu with her camellia and thus invoking the hyozan curse upon herself. Using his chaos and fire magic, the ogre was victorious, but Toshi used an opportunity and blinded him by stabbing his remaining eye.

Once the fight between Toshi and Hidetsugu was over, and the ogre and the ochimusha settled their dispute without killing each other, Toshi sent Kiku through the shadows back to Numai. She was still under the curse's effect, but the power of the spell was severely weakened. He bid her to clutch on who she is and what she knows, and stole a kiss from her lips. The last of the Numai jushi was transported back to the swamp, alive, but her further fate is unknown.

There is speculation concerning Kiku's possible pregnancy with Toshi's child, a result of the sole night spent together, a child that would have ensured the Umezawa clan's continuation on Kamigawa.