Suzaku Himejima

"Tobio, I will absolutely have the clan acknowledge you. That you are not dangerous."

- Suzaku Himejima to Tobio Ikuse in Volume 3

Suzaku Himejima is a member of the Himejima Clan and current inheritor of the Sacred Beast, the Vermilion Bird.

Appearance
Suzaku is an exceptionally beautiful young woman of Japanese descent with long black hair and red eyes. She has a slim and voluptuous figure and was noted to have a strong resemblance to her aunt, Shuri.

Personality
Suzaku is elegant, gentle and soft-spoken. She is also extremely kind-hearted and compassionate as she laments the ancient system of rules and traditions of the Five Great Families which has for years brought great tragedy and suffering to its own members, such as the estranged Hanezu and Kazuhisa. Having lost her aunt Shuri who was executed for her love with Baraqiel and her cousin Akeno who was scorned and exiled for her Fallen Angel heritage, Shuri's death and Akeno's banishment had made Suzaku resolved to reform the system of the Nine Families to prevent future tragedies on both sides.

After Shuri's death, Suzaku became strongly protective of her family members even towards distant relatives that she has never met before such as her cousin Tobio. In Volume 3 of Slash Dog, Suzaku swore to Tobio that she will protect him from the Himejima Clan's discrimination and persecution towards him for his ownership of a Longinus and to convince Suou and the other members to accept him as their family.

Volume 1
Suzaku is first seen after the Utsusemi incident, discussing the Four Fiends and Friends, Tobio Ikuse and Akeno with her granduncle. She is then seen with Seiryuu Kushihashi and Andreas Hoffman and talks about her cousins, revealing her intention to treat them as part of the clan and decides to gather the inheritors of Sacred Beasts.

Volume 2
Suzaku is shown interrupting the fight between Andreas and Tobio. She addresses Baraqiel and greets Tobio, introducing herself to him as his second cousin, and calls for a meeting.

After they settle at a large building, she apologizes to them for the incident with the Utsusemi Agency and informs them that she is searching for the remainder of the Four Fiends and Friends possessors, former students of Ryoukou High School who are being chased by the Utsusemi Agency and the Wizards of Oz. After a brief conversation with Baraqiel, she proposes an alliance, to which they agree. As they wrap up the meeting, Suzaku once again talks with Baraqiel and Tobio.

Suzaku is later shown interrupting the confrontation between Baraqiel and Kokabiel, and briefly converses with the latter. After both Baraqiel and Kokabiel leave the location, Suzaku defeats the Astra Team members around the area along with Tobio, Natsume, Shigune and Sae. Later, as Suzaku, Andreas and Seiryuu converse about future events, they are interrupted by the sudden arrival of Ouryuu Nakiri, who indicates his desire to question everyone related to the Utsusemi Agency incident. Andreas asks of his plans, but he responds in an ambiguous manner.

Volume 3
Suzaku is shown at the grave of her aunt Shuri while reminiscing about the past, promising to ensure that the Himejima Clan accept her cousin Akeno back into the family, after doing the same for Tobio.

V.K.B. Universe
For Suzaku's role in the events of Vampyres, Knights and Boobs, check here.

Abilities and Power
Flame Manipulation: As one of the Himejima Clan who've been blessed by the Shinto God of Fire, Suzaku can utilize the Fire Phase, one of the Five Elements, letting her create and control flames, which is further enhanced due to Suzaku being the host of the Vermillion Bird. She has shown being able to create sparks of flames, which covered an entire plaza, pillar of flames using a single gesture of her hands, and a small flame bird with enough power to burn a large hole in a three-meter tall monster.

Master Magician: Suzaku has shown immense talent in using Eastern Magic of Shintoism, being stated to be the Himejima Clan's most talented magic master of her generation, Suzaku could break strong enchantments as a child and became the inheritor of the Vermillion Bird at fifteen-years-old. She could perform a ceremonial fire dance to unlock both the dormant powers and Ame-no-Ohabari within Tobio.
 * Purification: Due to her spiritual training the Heiress of the Himejima clan, Suzaku has very powerful purification abilities to purify evil spirits.

Master Hand-to-Hand Combatant: Suzaku is also a master of martial arts, able to evade the erratic assaults from a member of the Astra Team, who previously trained in Grigori causing her to fall to the ground and knock her out using a palm-heel strike to the chin.

Equipment
 (朱雀, Suzaku): The Sacred Beast of the Himejima Clan that has been handed down for several generations to the strongest mystic of the clan who is personally chosen by the Sacred Beast itself, along with its name. Due to its connection to the Fire Element, Suzaku can access its immense power over flames.

Trivia

 * Her new name Suzaku (朱雀) means "Vermillion Bird".
 * Her surname (姫島) means "Princess Island".
 * The Vermilion bird is one of the Four Symbols of the Chinese constellations. According to Wu Xing, the Taoist five-elemental system, it represents the fire-element, the direction south, and the season summer correspondingly. Thus it is sometimes called the Vermilion Bird of the South (南方朱雀, Nán Fāng Zhū Què).