(hm... I'm not sure. If it was on the same clan than it would be 3-1 with the shinobi characters. Why not someone who was born on the opposite side and is friends with them, but is like a major traitor or something... But, it's up to you. If she's on the Iako clan, she could come to save Aiko and Cora and that's how Yashamaru and her meet, because he's sort of on patrol...)

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(}--{)Imagination Inspires Ideas -Zandain(}--{)
Married Cloud Strife 9/17/08

Here is my second character. Hope it is okay.

Name: Mariko Tokuda (Tokuda is her last name)
Age: 20
Ability: Has the ability to manipulate darkness to obscure vision and can use Shadow attacks (such as to create darkness beams and shields and drain life)
Weapons: her Kitana, smoke bombs and shuriken
Clan: Iako
Other: Although loyal to her clan, she had never developed a strong hatred for the Koga like the rest of her kin and has a gentleness about her- for a ninja. It is this fact that allows Aiko to confide in her about her misgivings of raiding unarmed villagers as she would not do with the rest of the clan. Hence, it is ironic that her powers are drawn from the darkness, an element that she harnesses but has never been fond of as it to her it represents all that is ill in the world. Although a skilled warrior, she is less experienced than Aiko, which can sometimes get her into trouble.
Appearance:
http://i50.tinypic.com/xlguub.jpg
http://i46.tinypic.com/16aab02.jpg
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Mariko swiftly leapt over their walls and hastened out of their borders. Clad in her black tunic as was customary of the shinobi, she glanced back once more at the land that was her home. Although she was born to the Iako clan, she had never developed an intense hatred for the Koga, more often than naught finding the bloodshed between them pointless. But pointless or not, the lord's daughter and her dearest friend were taken and she knew that she had to try to find them. Instinctively the female shinobi knew it was foolish to try such a mission on her own, but she now had no choice. Aiko was like an elder sister to her and Cora...well if any ill should befall her, it would not only be elder shinobi that would commit seppuku. I will find them, she vowed to herself. Even at the cost of my life. As she neared the Koga borders she hid stepped into the shadows and scanned her surroundings, looking for the best point of entrance.

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AWESOME set by the AMAZING Lembas!!!

(thanks)

Yashamaru walked along the border, trying to be alert for any Iako who would try to rescue Cora and Aiko. But his mind was slightly distracted. Two of his friends had fallen in love, or at least made a strange bittersweet friendship, with an Iako. And then it seemed they had turned on each other. None of this felt.

Yashamaru jumped into a tree, and started leaping from branch to branch of different trees. After about a mile of going like this, he suddenly stopped, and stood. There was another presence here. He looked around cautiously. The shadows didn't seem right, so Yashamaru put his hand on the hilt of his kantana which he kept on his back...

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(}--{)Imagination Inspires Ideas -Zandain(}--{)
Married Cloud Strife 9/17/08

(No problem)

Mariko spied an unguarded entrance at a corner of the wall and then tensed as she felt another presence in the area. Well, what did you expect? she chided herself as she became suddenly more alert. A sudden wind blew strands of her long ebony hair across her face and then died down as quickly as it came. Glancing about, her hand strayed to her kitana as she crept along the shadows as silently as possible, hoping to avoid detection.

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AWESOME set by the AMAZING Lembas!!!

Yashamaru scanned the shadows, looking for movement. It was deffinantly an Iako. He could feel it. They were obviously trying to enter through the East entrance. Their least-guarded enterence to the city. Their back door.
"Come out Iako, and I might just go easy on you," he called out, his voice echoing off of the trees...

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(}--{)Imagination Inspires Ideas -Zandain(}--{)
Married Cloud Strife 9/17/08

Mariko cursed mentally, knowing that she had been discovered. With that she shifted her position in the shadows, knowing that it would be folly to openly reveal herself to an enemy, no matter what he said. "Why don't you find me, Koga?" she called back as she shifted in the shadows again.

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AWESOME set by the AMAZING Lembas!!!

Finally some fun, Yashamaru thought. An Iako that's not just on a single-minded killing spree. He jumped from the tree-branch, into the shadow of a tree. He kept to his back to the tree, and looked around.
"Fine, I will," he said in almost a whisper. Yashamaru watched the shadows, which were becoming darker in the dying sun. But, there was one that seemed just slightly darker than the rest. "Gotcha," he whispered, and started toward that spot, ready to release his ebon rope at any second...

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(}--{)Imagination Inspires Ideas -Zandain(}--{)
Married Cloud Strife 9/17/08

Mariko waited on baited breath for a few seconds before shifting once again. She could sense that her opponent was closing in on her. A skilled shinobi, she thought to herself. Lesser hunters would have lost her to the shadows long ago. I must be on guard, she thought as her eyes scanned the falling darkness.

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AWESOME set by the AMAZING Lembas!!!

Yashamaru stopped by a tree, looking around. He was closer now, but not right on top of the intruder.
"You're good. Say, would would be my adversarie's name? I'm Yashamaru of the Koga clan."

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(}--{)Imagination Inspires Ideas -Zandain(}--{)
Married Cloud Strife 9/17/08

Mariko could feel him closing in on her and knew it would only be a matter of time before the two would meet. "I am Tokuda, Mariko of the Iako clan" she responded in turn. "Your skills are impressive Yashamaru-kun" she called back as she shifted to her position again, hoping he did not notice the slight movement of the leaves.

(if you want to find him to find her Rain-that is fine with me)

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AWESOME set by the AMAZING Lembas!!!

Yashamaru smiled slighting. He got her to talk. With that he sent out a string of his ebon rope, it laced around through the trees. With the shift of leaves, it wrapped itself around Mariko's wrist, but not tight enough to hurtt or cut.
"Well, Mariko-san, it seems I've found you. Finally I have a worthy apponent," he said, stepping out from behind the tree, and keeping his Ebon Rope taught...

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(}--{)Imagination Inspires Ideas -Zandain(}--{)
Married Cloud Strife 9/17/08

Mariko chided herself mentally as she glanced briefly down at the rope that bound her wrist, understanding at once his strategy in finding her. "Nicely done, Yashamaru-kun" she said with a slight smirk and glint in her eyes "What now? A duel?" Yet, despite the confidence that was in her voice, a part of her grew increasingly disturbed. She came here to find Cora and Aiko, not engage in battle with one of their shinobi. She knew that if a battle were to ensue now, with the level of skill her opponent possessed, it would be all that much longer before she could achieve her goal.

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AWESOME set by the AMAZING Lembas!!!

Yashamaru thought for a moment. There would be only one reason this shinobi would be here alone.
"Tell me, Mariko-san, why do you come here? Is it because of the two Iako we hold captive? You're answer may or may not end in a duel," he said, stopping, now only a yard away...

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(}--{)Imagination Inspires Ideas -Zandain(}--{)
Married Cloud Strife 9/17/08

"Why do you think I am here?" she said quietly as he stopped a yard away from her. "I don't abandon my own." she added in an equally hushed tone, no doubt revealing more than she intended to.

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AWESOME set by the AMAZING Lembas!!!

"Well, in that case, they are safe. The two Iako we captured earlier today in a raid. A shinobi and the clan leader's daughter I believe," he said with a grin. He was starting to like this Iako. Not in a friendly manner, but in a less than mutual sort of way which was kind of hard to explain...

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(}--{)Imagination Inspires Ideas -Zandain(}--{)
Married Cloud Strife 9/17/08

Mariko nodded slowly, not sure if she could believe his words. Yet, there was something in his manner that told her he spoke the truth. In these short moments she had found that her respect for the Koga warrior had grown and perhaps to some very minimal extent she was growing to like him. Though she never harbored a hatred for his clan-she never interacted with them either-outside of their never ending battles. So what now? her eyes seemed to ask him as she readied herself to move into a defensive stance if he should want to battle.

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AWESOME set by the AMAZING Lembas!!!