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Date Akiko
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Debut

The Way of the Warrior

Age

16 (as of 1615)

Nationality

Japanese

Physical Appearance

Black hair, skin as smooth as silk

Affiliation

Niten Ichi Ryū
Osaka Castle

Occupation

Samurai
Ninja

Appearances

The Way of the Warrior
The Way of the Sword
The Way of Fire
The Way of the Dragon
The Ring of Earth
The Ring of Sky

Love Interest

Jack Fletcher

Family
Dāte Kenshin (Father) Date Hiroko (Mother) Date Kiyoshi (Brother) Date Jiro (Brother)
Masamoto Takeshi (Uncle) Masamoto Yamato (Cousin) Masamoto Tenno (Cousin) Jack Fletcher (Adopted Cousin)

Date Akiko is a female Samurai warrior who appears in almost all of the books. She is considered one of the main protagonists, Jack's closest friend, and love interest later on.

History

She, like a few women, is a warrior at heart, and was offended when Jack was surprised at her fighting skill. She had then proceeded to tell him that not only men fought on the battlefield. Women also fight in Japan, unlike in England.

She has defended and encouraged Jack when Kazuki or some other person was insulting him, telling him that they had no right to call him a gaijin. She also is quite close to her cousin, Yamato, an example of this being when she instantly changed the subject during a conversation at the mention of Tenno, Yamato's older brother, by Saburo.

She is also spying on the ninja forces, revealed in The Way of the Dragon. Masamoto's reason for her to train in The Way of The Ninja—"In order to know the enemy, you must become the enemy." Also revealed mainly at the end of The Way of the Dragon, Akiko shows much affection for Jack; that affection may have changed into love later on.

The Way of the Warrior

Akiko is first seen by Jack when he was aboard the Alexandria, later, after the wakou, ninja pirates, attacked the ship and everyone apart from him was killed. He was nursed through a fever by her and another maid. Afterward, she taught Jack the Japanese language and the ways of her people. She was also taking care of Jack's wounds after his spars with Yamato, who was at the time still hostile towards Jack.

Later on, she accompanies Jack and Yamato to Kyoto, again to Jack's immense surprise, to enroll in the Niten Ichi Ryū (One School of Two Heavens), a school for Samurai. Later on she is seen warding off Dokugan Ryu's attempts to steal the Rutter.

After Yamato's later (temporary) defection to the Yagyu Ryū, she trains along side Jack and Saburo in preparation for the Taryu-Jiai, a competition between two schools, in this case, the Yagyu Ryū and the Niten Ichi Ryū.

In the contest itself, she loses to Moriko in the taijutsu segment owing to the latter's illegal moves which were unseen, but she gains revenge in the kenjutsu and kyujutsu segments by beating her soundly.

In the post-celebrations, she, Jack and Yamato confront Dragon Eye again when he attempts to poison Daimyo Takatomi, forcing him to retreat.

The Way of the Sword

Wayofswordakiko

In book two Akiko signs up to participate in the Circle of Three, a test designed to push the body, mind and spirit to its limits to see who is worthy of place learning the Two Heavens under Masamoto. She would pass the selection trials successfully, in particular passing the Trial by Fire with her first attempt.

When the Circle of Three officially starts, she is one of the canidates to pass the Trial of Body by staying in the waterfall for three hours. She witnesses Jack and Yori, both exhausted, making it to the temple. As Yori is taken away for medical treatment, she tries helping Jack to the Buddha Statue, but is stopped. As she watched, Jack would eventually make it to the Buddha by sheer force of will.

In the Mind Trial, she managed to survive twice the required duration to pass, having been taught mind control as part of her lessons in the Way of the Ninja. When one of the monks praises Sensei Yamada for his teachings, he remarks that this is not a skill he had taught his class, eyeing her with curiosity.

In the Spirit Trial, Akiko overcomes her inner fears, a host of vampire bats, with her guardian spirit, a pure white falcon, and afterwards is delighted upon learning of Jack's spirit being a lion.

The Way of the Dragon

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Akiko as shown on the Way of the Dragon cover

Following their expulsion from the Niten Ichi Ryū for endangering daimyo Takatomi's life, Akiko, along with Jack and Yamato, have been sent back to Hiroko's house to await the sensei's decisions on that matter. They would learn from a merchant that someone called Orochi had bragged about knowing Dragon Eye himself. They decided to track down Orochi to try and redeem themselves.

However, Orochi tricks them and flees upon sensing that Dragon Eye's ninja have come for him. The trio would briefly split up, before Akiko, dressed in a black shinobi shozuku, saves Jack from being killed by another ninja, and returns later discreetly.

Afterwards, the trio rest at a tea house and discuss about their further plans, before the propriteor queries them about the tanto in Jack's possession, saying that it was forged by Kunitome, a swordsmith, who's traits of violence and madness are passed onto the very blades he forges. Akiko appears to brush off his comments, saying that they are too old to be superstitious.

The propriteor then goes on to tell the trio about Kunitome's past, particularly his rivalry with his master Shizu, and concludes by advising them to lose the tanto in the forest where they found it.

They then visit Shindo, Kunitome's hometown, and would encounter Dragon Eye's mother, who reveals Dragon Eye's true past as a fallen samurai lord, and her own gruesome fate suffered at the hands of her own son. Having gotten whatever information they could, they then return to Hiroko's.

After Masamoto reinstates their right to bear arms, and their status as samurai, he decides that it is the right time to teach her and Jack the Two Heavens.

The Ring of Earth

Akiko briefly returns after receiving Jack's coded message that Hanzo could be her long lost brother. She would make her appearance in the middle of the battle between daimyo Akechi's forces and Shonin's ninja clan. Just as a samurai is about to bear down on Miyuki and Jack, she knocks him unconscious with Fall Down Fist, and reveals her identity.

Initially distrusting of Akiko, Miyuki grudgingly acknowledges her as an ally and she is introduced to the clan. She would take part in the operation to liberate the captured members of the ninja clan. Jack and Miyuki would successfully take the key to the captives' cage from Gemnan, but Miyuki had made an error when crossing the Nightingale floor, and alerted enemy forces to their presence. After another huge fight, the clan make their escape.

In the aftermath of damiyo Akechi's death, Akiko explains her presence to Grandmaster Soke and Hanzo, and the latter is delighted at the prospect of having a samurai sister. Akiko would have to bid him farewell soon as the ninja clan are evacuating to another base deep within the mountains, and they can't risk any outsider knowing about the location. She makes the decision to inform her mother about Hanzo, turning down Jack's offer to follow him, and gives him a kiss on the cheek before departing for Toba, whispering in his ear "forever bound to one another."

The Ring of Sky

Akiko appears again in this book, saving Jack, Benkei and Junjun from a group of bandits. She rides into the forest clearing where the three are being held, the bandit is about to kill them with Jack's katana when Akiko rides in on her stallion, she is dressed in her armour so Jack doesn't know who she is. Akiko fires arrows at the bandits with devestating acuracy taking the majority of them out within moments and when attacked, fends off the attempts using her martial arts skills. When Akiko reveals who she is she and Jack embrace, delighted to see one another again.

At the end of the book, Jack asked Akiko if she would come with him to England. She surprised him by boarding the boat and telling him that her mother had already gave her her blessings.

In the last scene of the book, Akiko boards the ship for England with Jack and Yori, and sets sail.

The Return of The Warrior

Following the previous book's event, Akiko and Yori will accompany Jack as he returns to England, searching for his sister. As they arrived in England, they met three dockhands interested in Akiko's beauty and unique look and were knocked out by her. After Jack had discussed with the captain of the Hossiender, they directly make way for the mermaid inn. Then they were misled by a girl who led them to a gang of "robbers," and the trio robbed "robbers" but was interrupted by a group of constables.

Following the latter, they went to the Mermaid inn, where they met Sir Toby Nashe, who insulted them, and later challenged them to a duel. Jack accepted the fight and made Akiko his second. They were again interrupted by constables, whom Sir Toby told them his "truth" of how the battle began. They were later locked in a prison where they meet Arthur(Mad Bob). Akiko, along with Yori, then escaped and attempted to find the keys or find ways to free Jack, but they had no luck and hid. Then She and Yori plan to rescue Jack. During Jack's sentence, Akiko will later shot an arrow at Jack's rope with extreme precision saving him from death.

After escaping by the Thames, they later stopped by a place to rest and eat. Akiko then spotted a girl who pickpocketed Jack, and the girl turned out to be Rose, the girl with whom Jack shared his first kiss seven years ago before he departed to Japan. Akiko then was filled with envy regarding the two. Rose will then guide them to find Jack's sister Jess. They faced some obstacles on the way, including meeting Lord Percival. After rescuing Lord Percival, they rested at a barn. At night Akiko saw Rose and Jack conversing outside, with Rose later walking in again with Jack's coat. Akiko was also filled with envy and stayed out in the rain. Later, Jack came to comfort her and assures her that his heart belongs to her. That settled Akiko, and she later went to sleep. At midnight they were woken up by gunpoint. With Rose nowhere on sight, they thought that she snitched on them to the authorities. The constables later drowned Akiko because she spoke Japanese and thought she was a witch. But she survives as she uses a ninja meditating technique that slows down her breathing and heartbeat. Who only recovered or, should we say, wake up at midnight and rescues Jack by pressing her hairpin at a ninja pressure point that nearly killed Jack, Yori, and Rose, who turned out didn't snitch on them.

After that event, they went to a festival and later tried to look for Jess. Jack later spotted Jess and tried to call for her, leaving Akiko and the rest of the group behind. Akiko and the others tried to find Jack but turned out to have been saved by an Italian swordmaster named Signor Horatio.

After the following event, Jack and Akiko were taken care of by Signor Horatio and taught them the rapier's art. Akiko being a better swordswoman and had more training with the rapier as Jack was busy searching for his sister, defeated Jack in every duel during their training.

Later Sir Henry invited them to a masked party in his house, where they met Sir Toby again. Who dueled with Jack once more. After Sir Toby's defeat, they forced him to confess the truth regarding the fate of Jess. He then lied to the group making Jack lost hope. But Yori realizes that there were five windows, but they only saw 5. Akiko thought that Yori made a mistake, then they found a secret room and found Jess. Their reunion and introduction were cut short as Sir Henry reveals his true color and the truth. They were later locked in a room and were later met by the four ninjas, one of them being Kazuki. Akiko and Jack later met one of the ninjas with a katana and were lead to a room where her hairpin hit Akiko that she left behind. She then fought the ninja who stabbed the hairpin at her back and ran away as she could not fight because of the hairpin. She then was reunited with Jack and the others again.

After the following event, they escaped and rested in an inn. Jack later needed to collect his rutter, which he hid earlier in the book. Akiko and Yori decided to accompany Jack but were both caught after Sir Henry caught jack. The three were then sentenced to be hanged but were rescued then by Lord Percival, who had a letter from the King that they were pardoned and punished Sir Henry for his debt.

Finally, after all those, events they boarded the Hosiander and left for Japan. And bid farewell to their new friends. During some time on board, Akiko and Jack shared their first kiss, but Akiko was paralyzed by an injured and infected Kazuki using dim-mak, but was then rescued by Yori releasing the dim mak's effect.

The ending shows that they have finally arrived in Japan, reunited with Masamoto, Akiko's mother Hiroko, and her brother Jiro. Akiko then accompanied Jack and took out the Daruma doll that he gave to her at the end of The Way of The Dragon and painted the other empty eye as Jack's wish came true, and leaned her head on Jack's shoulder, watching the sunset.

Skills

Akiko has a variety of skills, all of which prove useful at sometime or another.

  • Enhanced Stamina - She had trained as a pearl diver and therefore was an excellant swimmer and could hold her breath for a long time, longer than most people.
  • Kenjutsu Expert - Akiko is proficient with the sword, and also in the Two Heavens as she passed the Circle of Three.
  • Taijutsu Expert -Akiko is also very agile and a great fighter, mainly in unarmed combat.
  • Kyujutsu Expert - Akiko has demonstrated a natural affinity for the bow, and has pinpoint accuracy when targeting her enemies.
  • Ninjutsu Expert -Having been trained in the Way of The Ninja, Akiko also knows ninjutsu to a certain extent, using its techniques to surprise her fellow students in taijutsu practice, for example. However, her true proficiency with it has yet to be fully revealed.
  • Dokujutsu Expert - From her lessons in ninjutsu, Akiko has learnt to built up her body's natural resistance to poisons.

Relationships

  • Jack - Akiko was Jack's first friend. Their friendship soon blossomed into romance.
  • Yamato - Being her cousin, he was like a brother to Akiko and she was very upset at his apparent death.
  • Miyuki - At first she shares a prickly relationship with her as Miyuki is a ninja; eventually both gain a sense of mutual respect for each other. Akiko may sense Miyuki "likes" Jack, causing her to be hostile and somewhat jealous.
  • Jess - After being introduced by Jack the two quickly becomes friends

Trivia

  • She owns a horse named Snowball.
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