Description

Yoko is soft and sweet in both demeanor and appearance. She looks almost like a doll, with her round, porcelain face and graceful figure. Her eyes are a soft brown color, much like her long, brown hair. She’s definitely not physically fragile, though she could be described as emotionally fragile. Yoko is quite used working to maintain temple grounds, as well as exercising to maintain a healthy body as well. Thusly, while not the strongest of women, she is certainly above overage.

Personality

Yoko is kind and polite. She definitely has a servant’s heart and loves to make people happy. However, she’s mild-mannered and easily embarrassed or flattered. She’ll help from behind the scenes to strengthen others, but does little to help herself. The miko hates to cause worry, but is a worrier herself. This worry, when it’s strong enough, overrides her shyness for ‘the greater good’ and though she may end up in tears, she always does her best for others.

Her love for people comes from her many years of serving. Though she serves the Kami and ancestors of the Imperial temples, she’s also found that the people who come to the temples are just as important. Despite the Buddhist principles that are closely tied with the religion she serves, she can’t help but become emotionally attached to every face that comes to the temples in order to pray.

Equipment

Clothing- A white Haori, a pair of red hakama, and white hair ribbons. In short- traditional miko garb.

Weapons- Yoko doesn’t normally carry weapons, though she is versed in traditional archery and Naginata combat. She practices these as a way to not only defend herself and her temple, but as a means of exercise.

History

Yoko was born to Kaoru and Yuna Fujihara, member of a noble family and the Imperial court. Her father was a samurai, loyal to the Takeda family, so their family was well off, living in the Imperial city.

Yuna had yet to bear Kaoru an heir, and Yoko was frail as a child. The most she could do was be a pretty face for the family. Time and again, Yoko proved to her parents, though, that she wanted more than that by attempting to help her parents, even to the point of hiding illness so that she wouldn't have to remain at home. She wanted to be useful. Her mother finally found a way for her to do so when she sought wisdom at the temple. When Yoko saw the miko at the temple, her eyes lit with admiration towards these young women. As soon as Yuna saw this, she knew it was a sign of what she should do. Yoko would come to serve the temple.

Yoko took the job joyfully and managed to become a permanent miko through a mix of her dedication and her family’s status. This job gave her a reason to fight for her health, and she’s grown healthy and willing to serve both the kami of the temple, and the patrons of the temple. She is currently 17 and is coming up on her tenth anniversary of serving the Imperial Temples. And as war is birthed between Japan and China, Yoko finds herself praying and worrying more than ever.