Name: Naruko Kobiyama
Age: 14
Appearance: Naruko is tall for her age and medium in build. She has long straight black hair which she sometimes wears with a hair ribbon in a low ponytail down her back. She has long slender arms and very delicate hands.
Naruko also has a high sensitive forehead and piercing jet black eyes. I guess you could find her beautiful in a very Asian sort of way. As is typical of students, she often brings a canvas bag, more like a satchel actually, to put her school things in. She wears a kimono (samurai-like but feminine and no armor whatsoever)
Advantages: I guess Naruko's the kind of girl who was supposed to be someone else's wife. She is highly skilled in the traditional arts and was trained to be an excellent homemaker. These skills later become useful to her as she is able to live quite independently. Training in the arts has given Naruko a sharp eye for detail, she sees anything that is out of place and is able to understand the underlying ability of seemingly ordinary things (sort of like being able to assimilate an abstract painting and give an accurate interpretation). A very special relationship with her father leaves Naruko with a mature outlook in life though she has still much to learn. Naruko also has the gift of perfect aim which as of now remains a gift she cannot use.
Disadvantages: Being a well-bred girl isn't exactly a disadvantage but is a big setback in a would-be warrior. She has no training whatsoever in combat and has very weak arm strength. As her father was a biologist (a botanist, actually) she respects life too much that she is reluctant to fight even if it would be for her own good. Her age makes her easily swayed, especially by people she trusts and it only after a long time before she believes in her own decisions. After her trauma, (see origin) she does not concentrate/focus very well, another setback to developing her mind powers.
Abilities:
1. Kything - Naruko can send messages to people using her mind, a thing she learned from her father. As this takes a lot of concentration. This skill might only be useful after she has earned a lot more experience and confidence.
2. Intuition - From her mother, she earned a strong sense of intuition. She always has some sort of feeling about a place, although it is not always clear (just some vague this-is-a-bad-place or something-is-wrong-in-this-room type of thing). The ability is mostly useless, for the early part at least, since Naruko is very young and she hardly heeds this inner early warning device.
Family background
Naruko is the elder of two children of Akira and Hanako Kobiyama.
The family is quite respected and belongs to the upper crust of society. Naruko gets the best of both worlds from a modernistic father and a conservative mother. Her name was taken from the word naoru, to cure.
At 14, Naruko is only beginning to mature into a woman very much like her mother. Akira is a government employee and a botanist who introduced Naruko to, among others, the joys of gardening. It was his will that Naruko later get formal schooling under the tutelage of his good friend, Keiichi Mishima.
Akira Kobiyama is a man way ahead of his time--- one of the few real scientists during this period. He is presently involved in a government project researching the possibilities of chemical warfare.
Unlike present day scientists, however, Akira's laboratory is his magnificent garden. As a botanist, he not only knows the special characteristics of each plant but also how to extract poisons and toxins from them.
Naruko's only sibling, Keiko, is a little girl aged 2.
Quirks: Naruko likes to keep busy and is always doing something productive with her hands. She is able to appreciate beauty even in nature and is able to mirror this beauty through the things she makes. After her family's death, she finds it hard to trust older men with the exception of Mishima.
As her experience grows, she builds self confidence, a quality that can make her a formidable enemy in the future. Naruko is also very neat and disciplined. She is ever mindful of etiquette and courtesy. Her relatively peaceful life, however, makes her unprepared for stressful situations. As a result, she stutters when under pressure.
Weapons
1. small darts - easily thrown and concealed; later she will learn to coat these with poison extracted from plants
2. long samurai sword - a family heirloom that she carries around for sentimental reasons.
This character is ©2001 by
Peng.