Hitomiko

was a priestess, (a Shinto Shrine Maiden), who was forced by Naraku to trap Kagome Higurashi in an attempt to take her life. However, Hitomiko was saved from Naraku's grasp by Kagome, though she later died from injuries she had suffered from Naraku days earlier.

Her spiritual powers were equivalent in strength and scope to those of Kikyō's, and she was often complimented for it.

History
Fifteen years before the start of the series, Naraku, not wanting to have future problems with Hitomiko's spiritual powers, attempted to kill her. At the time, she was just a child. She was in her village, playing a children's game called "Kagome Kagome" with her friends. One player is in the center as the others circle around that person, chanting the song for the game. When they stop, the person has to name whoever is standing directly behind them. It was Naraku. Even at a young age, Hitomiko's powers were enough to not only protect her with a barrier, but cause Naraku to flee. But before he did, Hitomiko watched her friends and master murdered before her very eyes by Naraku because she could only protect herself with the barrier. Before her master died, he told her about the growing threats that surrounded her and upcoming training she must have in order to protect her own life.

During the story
After fifteen years have passed, Naraku once again made an attempt on her life. Hitomiko, not knowing that the sick villager was a trap, attempted to help. However, just as she bent down to examine the sick villager, webs shot out from his mouth and captured her. Hitomiko was able to destroy most of the threads with her powers, but it was too late as one of the threads had attached to her back. This eventually weakened her. As Hitomiko laid in her death bed, she ordered the villagers to sever her head from her body and bury them separately to prevent anyone from tampering with her body. After she spoke those final words, she died. However, despite her dying wishes, the villagers did not sever her head because they thought it would be disrespectful, so they buried her whole.

A few days later, Kagome spotted Naraku's spiderwebs from a distance and they rushed over to the location. There, they asked the villagers outside if anything strange had happened in the past few days. As they listened, Hitomiko's swift appearance interrupted the story (causing the villagers to be shocked and frightened), though Inuyasha informed them that her body was dead; it was just a corpse. After that comment, spiderwebs appeared out of nowhere and they were attached to Hitomiko's body. She told Kagome to leave the village or she would eventually take her life. Inuyasha attacked her with Tessaiga and severed some of the webs, but Hitomiko warned that they cannot destroy her by severing the webs, and disappeared.

After she disappeared, Hitomiko was tied in Naraku's webs. After he had said that she couldn't defeat him because he had the sacred Shikon Jewel, he told her the only task that he wanted her to do; steal Kagome's spiritual powers and kill her.

She used the webs to shoot out and pull Kagome into the gates of the village where the others could not reach her. There was a strong barrier set up that even Inuyasha could not break.

Hitomiko, after capturing Kagome, pondered on why Naraku wanted her to take Kagome's weak powers. She cut Kagome and used her blood to draw and trap Kagome in a circle of her own blood, preventing her from escaping. Despite this, Kagome shot an arrow at Naraku and only then did Hitomiko realize that Naraku's goal was for her to take the spiritual powers from Kagome's bow. She told Kagome how she was merely aiming and releasing, not properly using the bow's power. Secretly, she was talking Kagome through the proper way of using the bow's spiritual powers. Hitomiko then gave her a choice, to leave the bow and depart, for she did not want to kill her. Kagome instead, ran out of the house to find more webs around the area. There was no escape. Hitomiko walked out and Naraku wrapped his webs around her neck and revealed the spider residing in Hitomiko's chest. Kagome was given two choices by Naraku: kill Hitomiko, knowing that Hitomiko would be sent to Hell, and save herself, corrupting her heart in the process; or allow Hitomiko to kill her.

Naraku took over Hitomiko's body and she took Kagome to what she said was Hell. There, she continuously asked Kagome why she is called Kagome. Earlier, she said that the name Kagome holds a strong power in it. Saying that if she couldn't understand that, then her fate was to be incinerated by the flames of Hell. During this, Hitomiko's appearance became more demonic; she gained fangs and her hands became more like claws. When Kagome failed to give her an answer, she became angry and yelled at Kagome, asking her how she planned on saving her when she had no power. Kagome claimed that when Hitomiko was choking her, she could feel a strong emotion: deep sorrow.

Kagome thought back to when she was younger, the game her friends would always make fun of her name for. The children's game, "Kagome Kagome", and she recalled how she always knew exactly who was behind her though she didn't know how. Remembering that, she applied it to her current situation. In her mind, she visualized that Hitomiko wasn't the one who was truly before her, Naraku was.

Once Kagome realized her true powers and pierced Naraku with her arrow, Hitomiko was set free from his control. A light then enveloped her and the webs that once covered her shrine disappeared. Before she was able to die in peace, she told Kagome that something was sealing her powers. Her dying words to Kagome were about how she was a mysterious girl, particularly her name and her powers.



Physical description
Hitomiko had long straight hair with bits of hair framed inward towards her face. There was a split in the middle of her widow's peak and she let a streak of hair on both sides frame her face in front of her shoulders. Her eyes were brown and her skin was pale.

Outfit
Hitomiko did not simply wear the traditional attire of a miko, she also wears a chihaya over her miko attire. This ensemble resembles the costume for the main role in the Noh Play, "Hagoromo." It contained most of the attributes of that costume except she did not have head garments and her sleeves extended just past her wrist instead of her entire hand. Her attire also contains a necklace of beads and strings called muna-himo which were attached to each lapel and tied in front to keep the garment closed.

Powers & Abilities

 * Spiritual Barrier: Hitomiko's spiritual abilities were able to protect her by creating a barrier around her. This proved strong enough to prevent Naraku's miasma from killing her when she was young. After Naraku had killed her and she was under his control, her barriers were strong enough to prevent even the red Tessaiga from breaking through it. According to Hitomiko, a priestess can break another priestess's barrier. The bells that were attached to spiderwebs around the barrier were the ones that held the barrier together.


 * Kagura suzu: Hitomiko was seen using bells, called Kagura suzu, when she was young girl. The bells have been shown to work only when they have the blood of the victim. Kagome was cut with the spiritual powers that came out of them and formed a ring around her, preventing her from moving. Also, when the bells are intertwined with Naraku's webs, they use Kagome's blood to burn her when she steps close to them. If the bells could do these things before Naraku took control of her are unknown.


 * Spells: As a young girl, Hitomiko was able to use a spell to make Naraku flee. With Kagome's blood, she was able to make flames that intensify whenever Kagome approached them.

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