Hikage is on a quest: to find out why his best friend Maoru had tried to kill him with a poisoned shuriken (ninja throwing star). The two were ninjas retained by the Takada clan during the "warring states" period in Japan, long before the rise of the Edo Shoganate. However, for some reason Marou had ran off, but not before trying to kill Hikage. The shuriken had missed his right eye, but Hikage was cut below it. Somehow, Hikage survived the poison. Some time after the city of Kyoko had fell to the Takadas, the clan's master had been killed. It was his wish to have his death kept secret for three years, so Hikage was sent to try to silence Maoru... even if it meant killing him. However, that journey will bring Hikage into contact with horrors he only imagined... including the fact that Mauro is in fact a demon lord named Kukiga no Miko. As a ninja, Hikage has training in swordcraft, explosives, and in espionage and assassination. His special weapon is a glove he wears on his left hand, which has retractable claws. (source: Absolute Anime)