Haruka

Her history:
Haruka was born and raised in a temple in the hills.  In the beginning of her life, many people would visit even though it  was a small temple but over a few years visitors dwindled due to  increasing bandit activity. From a young age she would do chores in  order to help her struggling parents and because of this she never  socialized with children her own age or with many people in general. Her  parents did everything they could to provide for her and although they  couldn’t afford much, they provided her with an education such as  reading and writing.

 Eventually though people stopped visiting  the temple all together and instead would travel to one that was further  away but safer. Her home became a ruin and the other people working  there abandoned it. She and her parents remained as there was nowhere  else to go for them. They became sick due to their poor living  conditions and Haruka did her best to care for them but they died when  she was 9. After their deaths she was distraught but forced herself to  bury them and then wandered aimlessly way from her home, until she was  found by a blacksmith’s wife who had been out collecting wood. The older  women felt pity for the young girl and took her home with her. Her  husband wasn’t keen on raising another child as they already had two  grown up sons but relented when he saw how protective his wife was over  the girl.  

 At first she was very withdrawn due to  the death of her parents but the couple were able to earn her trust over  a period of time. The blacksmith also grew fond of the girl and saw her  as his own. Their sons would also come to visit every so often and saw  Haruka as their sister. The two men were solders who served a little  known daimyo and taught their new sister how to defend herself and to  fight, they mostly did this because they found it funny to watch a small  girl try to swing a fake katana around but ended up igniting a spark in  her that drove her to train every day. Her foster-mother tried to teach  her how to plant crops, what could and could not be eaten in the wilds,  how to cook, how to sew and other skills that she considered important  to a young women. Even though Haruka wasn't all that interested in  becoming a "proper" woman. Her foster-father taught her about weapons  due to her interest in his work, he told her how to judge how good the  metal was, where to search for weak points and what it was really worth.  

 When she reached the age of 15 she decided she wanted to travel  the lands, something her foster-mother did not approve of as she wanted  Haruka to marry and have a family of her own. In an act of rebellion  she would often disappear for days at a time and her foster-father or  brothers would have to go out looking for her. Eventually her  foster-mother relented, seeing there was really nothing she could do to  stop her. Her foster-father found the whole thing quite funny and stated  that “for emotionally stunted girl, you have a lot of fire” and created  a blade in the shape of a jitte for her so that she could protect  herself on her journeys. Over the course of her travels she became  stronger and found herself more at home on the road than anywhere else  although she returns to her foster family often with money for them,  even though they tell her she doesn’t need to bring them it.

Her personality:

At  first she appears cold and aloof however this is only because she does  not know how to socialize and prefers to remain distant from others. She  isn't naive but is quite clueless when she is conversing with others,  she is very blunt with no tact and when she offends others she  doesn't understand why as she sees it as stating the facts. This also  applies when others insult her, it just flies over the top of her head  and she replies with fact (easiest example "you've got a fat head!" "No,  my head is normal sized, like everyone's. If my head were fat my  balance would blah blah blah"). She also doesn't accept compliments and  finds it unnecessary. She also has a secret love of gardening and is  terrible at things like sewing and dancing. She also isn't very good at  archery even though she tries her best, she's so embarrassed by her lack  of skill that she refuses to use a bow in front of anyone.

+Her birthday is the 13th of March

+Every year on her birthday she returns to the temple to visit her parent’s graves and leaves them flowers

+She is 25 years old

+Likes horses and is a capable rider

 About her design:
 On her feet are a type of zori which are basically sandals, hers are  made of straw. Her leg armor is a edited type of suneate which is a type  of greaves. The armor around her waist and arm is based on sode which  is used as shoulder armor; on her shoulder it is held in place by rope  connecting to her "coat", underneath the fabric there is a piece of  curved metal that the rope runs across. On her arms are kote and on the  hands are tekko which serve as arm/hand armor. Her skirt is held up by a  piece of fabric that weaves in and out of the top of the skirt and ties  up at the front, It can't be seen normally due to the rope and coat  covering it. The tassels, skirt, jacket and ropes are all linking into  her miko origins, as does her hair piece. The hair piece is just slid  into her ponytail which is wrapped up with a band. However I didn't want  to give her a bow as every miko has a bow so instead I went for a  katana in the shape of a jitte. A jitte is like a police baton and was  used by japanese police, including samurai law enforcement, as  a substitute for a badge.