Hikaru
Arisu Hikaru (有栖月輝)
newhikaru6.jpg
Portrayed By: Varies. You know, like Doctor Who. Currently, K@oru.
Status: Living.
Age: Varies with the appearance.
Calling: Priestess of Inari. Lorekeeper.
Pantheon: Amatsukami
Divine Parent: Inari
Significant Other(s): None known.

Background

Arisu Hikaru (有栖月輝) is a young, charismatic, young woman from Kyoto, Japan. A warm and welcoming presence, she is a collection of oddities and paradoxes in a cute, seemingly naive package. She is, in actuality, the divine offspring of Inari, the revered (and extremely mysterious) kami of worldly fortune and prosperity. So inscrutable, in fact, is his parent's true nature that most people can't agree whether Inari is a man, a woman, or a fox, or none. Or all three. In much the same way, Hikaru is equally as ambiguous: usually a woman, sometimes a man, sometimes a clubgoer, sometimes a maid, sometimes a mysterious shrine maiden. But wherever there's an innocent person who asks for help, whenever someone in Central Park is in trouble, whenever someone truly NEEDS to find Hikaru's shrine… they will find it, and with it, the mysterious Hikaru tending it.

Some people think that Inari has no human offspring. That might be true. There's a persistent rumor that Hikaru wasn't born a human at all, but as a white fox. According to the tale, shortly after his birth, he received his first visitation, in which Inari either blessed (or cursed) him with a human form. What is known for absolute certain is that he was found by a young shrine maiden, abandoned as a baby at the most famous shrine to Inari in all of Japan, Fushimi Inari. A glowing white fox which seemed to absorb all ambient light stood guard over him, but seemingly encouraged the shrine maiden to take him. He was adopted by a kind family who raised him in a normal Japanese life.

That is, of course, until Inari returned on Hikaru's twentieth birthday and awakened the spirit of the divine slumbering within his blood. Then his life became very exciting very quickly. It was several years after coming to Manhattan that Inari returned to revisit his child, and revealed the grand trick: Hikaru was actually born a girl, as all children of Inari are, but was changed into a boy to hide its scent from would-be god hunters until such time that Hikaru gained enough power to defend herself. When that happened, Inari's seal was broken, and boy Hikaru became girl Hikaru. With fox features and amazing powers.

Her purposes in the United States are somewhat secretive, and she keeps all of her cards held very close to her (surprisingly ample) chest, but one could easily surmise from her very cheerful demeanor and extremely helpful nature that she is greatly concerned about the battle against the Titanspawn taking place in Manhattan. At various times, she has traveled with a band of other Japanese god-children, seemingly acting as the support, archive, and public relations face of the groups, but their paths always seem to lead them elsewhere. Hikaru always remains, the one stalwart member of the Amatsukami who keeps a vigilant eye on New York, New Atlantis, New Amsterdam, or whatever form it takes… it whatever form Hikaru chooses to take.

Personality

Hikaru, like Inari, is a shapechanger, a face-thief, a metamorph — whatever term you wish to use to describe it. She can, without use of illusion, completely change appearances, clothing, and apparently even gender with very little effort whatsoever, and he or she or what-have-you appears to be equally comfortable in any of them.

Hikaru is gregariously friendly, extremely generous, very outgoing, and seems to genuinely love all people. She's almost painfully optimistic, taking delight in even the most unusual of things. Her mannerisms are appropriately more like that of a fox or a cat than a human, with quick, fluid movements, odd turns of her head, and a tendency to sniff the air when alerted. She is usually quite pacifistic, preferring to avoid fighting and rely upon his charm to settle problems, but when innocent lives are endangered, or when her friends are threatened, Hikaru is a ferocious force motivated only by the desire to defend.

In combat, she wields either a naginata, a sword with a long ribbon trailing behind it, or powerful magic.

She is not beneath abusing her magic if she finds it funny. Playful body swaps of her friends with Fate and Switch are amusing to her. You have been warned. Naturally, Inari approves of playful use of magic, particularly if it teaches important life lessons.

Her Japanese-ness is undeniably Kansai, the region in Midwestern Japan. Lacking the restraint or reservation usually attributed to people from Eastern Japan, she's fond of puns, jokes, flirting, rich food, and old traditions — all things that the Kansai region is notorious for. And yet, at the same time, there's a decided modernity to all of her oddness.

Relationships

Name Relation Notes Nickname
Daisuke Ozaki Friend He's exactly the same sort of young man who hangs around popular music shops in Shinsaibashi and says that everything is 'mesokusai' or 'lame'. I've never been around anyone like him. It's why I love him. Ozakun
Natsuki Hino Friend She is like a work of art. Beautiful in appearance, she is both Japanese and not, she smells of jasmine and summer rains. Her hair is golden sunlight, and her body as delicate as a porcelain doll, and at the same time as hard as iron. I adore her. Natsuchan or Natchan
Jyunsei Tsuchikura Friend He is a very pious ascetic who remembers the old ways and still understands the finer things in life, namely sushi, ramen, and tea. He is wonderful. Sushimura

Gallery of Faces

Hikaru uses a number of faces and false identities when performing her duties. This is an archive of the ones she uses the most often!

Demigoddess Hikaru!
Portrayed by: K@oru.

Character Sheet

Unless otherwise stated, the content of this page is licensed under Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 License