Yukimura Noshiko
Noshiko Yukimura
Mental characteristics
Personal history
In 113 BCE, a white fox was born at the foot of the Inari Mountain in modern day Kyoto, Japan. As with all pure kitsune, it was initially indistinguishable from a normal fox, but over time, it increased in intelligence, and also ceased aging after attaining adulthood.
At 100 years of age, the fox attained the rank of Chiko, gaining the ability to take human form. It chose to present itself as a woman, and took the name Noshiko.
In time, she met and fell in love with a young man from a village located in the mountains, and the pair married, having a son. When her husband died, Noshiko chose to leave the human world, although she returned periodically to check on her son, and later her other decendants. The family took the surname Yukimura (幸村, lit. Beautiful Village) after the mountain village where they originated from.
In time, the family attained the rank of Samurai. Although they were humans, their kitsune blood made them fearsome and skilled warriors. In the 17th Century, one her decendants, Yukimura Sanada, was labeled the greatest warrior in all of Japan.
In 387CE, she attained the rank of Kiko, giving up her physical body to become a servant of Inari Ōkami. In time, she ascended to Tenko.
In 1940, at the age of 2,053, she chose to take the rank of Kūko, retiring from Ō-Inari's service. When taking Kūko, a kitsune is given the choice of remaining a spirit (from which the rank of 'Sky Fox' takes its name) or incarnating on Earth in a new physical body. This choice, once made, is binding and cannot be undone.
Noshiko chose to return to Earth. She chose to make the Japanese immigrant community of San Francisco her home, as she wanted to see new parts of the world. However, only 2 years after her incarnation, Roosevelt issued Executive Order 9066, ordering all Japanese-Americans to be placed in prison camps.
Although she could easily have evaded capture, Noshiko chose to go with her community, believing she could help them. She was initially sent to Tule Lake Relocation Center, but due to overcrowding, was moved to the overflow camp in Oak Creek.
While imprisoned in Oak Creek Relocation Centre, she met and began a relationship with Rhys Maxon, a U.S. Army Corporal who was stationed at the camp as a guard.
Although she did not reveal her kitsune nature to him, she did not hide that she was stealing supplies intended for the guards to distribute among the prisoners, nor did she conceal her extensive knowledge about the world, teaching him French in preparation for his upcoming reassignment to the European front.
When a viral pneumonia outbreak ravaged the camp, she and Rhys discovered that the lack of effective treatment was due to the Chief Medical Officer selling the camp's medecine ration on the black market.
They took their findings to the other prisoners, which resulted in protests and rioting. Rhys attempted to calm the crowd, but the callous and violent actions of one of his colleagues caused the Werewolf Ito Satomi to loose control, and she threw a molotov cocktail at the CMO, instead hitting Rhys.
He was rushed to Eichen House for treatment, but died there of his wounds a few hours later.
In response to the Molotov, the guards opened fire on the crowd, killing an unknown number of unarmed prisoners. Noshiko was badly hurt, although thanks to her Kitsune healing she was not killed.
When she realised the administration intended to cover up the mass-murder of innocent people, including the man she loved, Noshiko prayed for Kitsune-tsuki, as she knew she did not possess the strength to get revenge. However, the Yakan who answered, known only as The Nogitsune, chose to possess Rhys's corpse rather than Noshiko.
It immediately began slaughtering the surviving prisoners and guards. Noshiko knew that she had to contain the evil she had unleashed, and so, with the help of Ito Satomi, she forced it out of Rhys's body and back into spirit form, where she trapped it in a jar, and buried it beneath the roots of The California Nemeton, hoping the Nemeton's magic would contain it.
She evaded the authorities for the remainder of the war, and eventually moved to New York to begin a new life.
In the early 1990s, she was contacted by a young academic, Ken Park, who was researching Japanese Internment Camps for his Doctoral Thesis, and had uncovered evidence of the existence of Oak Creek.
Although initially resistant, she eventually agreed to an interview by Ken, who believed her to be a decendant of one of the survivors, rather than a direct survivor herself. She attempted to warn him off, given the highly classified nature of the information, but even after she told him an editted version of the truth, he remained undeterred, convinced it was his civic duty to expose the truth of what the Army had done.
Seeing no other way to deter him, Noshiko chose to tell him the whole truth, including revealing herself as a Kitsune. Although he was initially afraid, as kumiho (fox spirits) are regarded as explicitly malicious in Korean mythology, he eventually overcame her fear, and asked her out.
Although she was wary of taking a human lover, Noshiko was lonely, and had grown to admire Ken's intelligence and perserverence during their interviews, and she agreed.
In 1992, the couple married. Ken chose to take her surname, given the Yukimura family's long history. Noshiko was initially wary of having children, but Ken pursuaded her, and in 1995, their only daughter, Kira Yukimura was born.
Noshiko chose to conceal her Kitsune nature from Kira, preferring to give her as normal a childhood as possible.
In 2011, as the result of Jennifer Blake and Marin Morrell's actions, the California Nemeton was restored. This caused a temporary disruption in the Magical energies containing the Nogitsune, and it was able to escape its prison.
Sensing the disruption, Noshiko began preparing to return to Beacon Hills alone. However, Ken insisted that he and Kira should accompany her, and he took a job at Beacon Hills High School teaching history.
Seeing the Nogitsune had escaped, Noshiko sacrificed three of her Tails to summon three Oni, ordering them to check the town's inhabitants for a Yakan spirit.
Although Noshiko had hoped to keep Kira away from it, the Nogitsune met Kira and recognised her as Noshiko's daughter, sending William Barrow to kill her. Kira survived the attack, but discovered she was a kitsune in the process.
After revealing the truth to Kira, including her history with the Nogitsune, she chose to sacrifce a further five tails to summon more Oni. However, the Nogitsune was able to find and steal her final tail, and by breaking it, took control of all the remaining Oni.
The Yukimuras chose to retreat to their house, but when they were beseiged by the Oni and possessed townspeople, they were rescued by the Hale-McCall Pack and relocated to The Nemeton Grove where the pack were hiding out.
Although unable to fight, Noshiko was able to help the pack figure out the rules of the Nogitsune's Magic Circle.
Gender Identity
Noshiko's current physical body is female, and she has defaulted to female presentation for much of her life. However, prior to attaining Kūko, she was capapble of appearing in any guise she chose, and has sometimes presented as male in the past.
Sexuality
The most signifiant relationships of her life have been with human men.
Employment
Noshiko is an academic, writing books on the early history of Japan.
Intellectual Characteristics
She is unusually serious for a kitsune, rarely joking and almost never playing tricks. However, she retains a kitsune's love of games, especially Go.
Relationships
Current Location
Species
Ethnicity
Date of Birth
27th January 113BCE
Year of Birth
113 BCE
2125 Years old
Birthplace
Kyoto, Japan
Family
Spouses
Ken Yukimura
(husband)
Rhys Maxon
(ex-boyfriend)
Siblings
Children
Current Residence
Pronouns
She/Her
Sex
Female
Belief/Deity
Shinto
Japanese (native), possesses the ability to speak any language fluently at will, due to her time in the spiritual realm
Ruled Locations
Comments