Misao

Misao Makimachi, heir to the leadership of the Oniwabanshu ninja clan.

A great admirer of Shinomori Aoshi, she leaves her home to find her missing hero, but instead encounters Himura Kenshin and tags along in the hopes that he will lead her to him. She soon proves herself a valuable ally and is temporarily named the Oniwabanshū's new Okashira (leader).

Misao is a bright and vivacious young girl with a headstrong attitude and volatile temperament. Though trained as kunoichi, she rarely misses a chance to make her presence known to friend or foe and can sometimes be said to have a lack of focus in combat, as her strong will often leads her to act without inhibition rather than with caution. Whether her emotion of the moment is joy, rage or sorrow, the young kunoichi displays what is in her heart without reserve and can switch from emotional state quickly, Saito metaphorically saw her as a weasel due to her looks and attitudes. Although quick tempered, her anger is usually comical. She is particularly close to Kenshin, Kaoru, Sanosuke and Yahiko. In addition, she refers Kaoru as her best friend.

Misao is a little petite young woman with the lean build of someone who engages in regular physical activity. She has large, greenish-blue eyes and wears her black hair cut to chin length on the sides of her face, but in a long, thin braided ponytail in the back. Misao is often seen wearing a blue Oniwabanshū-style shinobi shozoku tied with a pink obi. To complement this outfit, she wears tabi socks with zori sandals and her lower legs wrapped in blue tape and on her hands, she wears blue combination hand- and forearm-guards.

However, Misao apparently keeps a set of street clothes for use during her downtime in Kyōto. These consist of pair of blue short pants and a blue shirt with its sleeves sewn loosely. Misao wears a different variation of outfit. She was seen wearing a light lavender kunoichi uniform with yellow obi during a festival.

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Misao’s parents died when she was very young and was raised only by her grandfather, the previous Okashira of Oniwabanshū. Hence, she became a member since her childhood where she learnt all the basic of ninja skills. When Misao was only a five-year-old child, her grandfather declared the 15-year-old Aoshi to be the new Okashira. Before the death of her grandfather, he assigned Aoshi to protect Misao at all cost.

During the Meiji era, the Emperor wanted Japan to become a modernized country so he abolished the rights of samurais and these events led the ninja group to lose its purpose. Most Oniwabanshū members left to find new jobs. However, Aoshi and his four loyal comrades, Han'nya, Hyottoko, Beshimi and Shikijō still decided to live in the shadows.

She travels around Japan with Aoshi and his men. She learnt most of her skills from Han'nya whom Misao looked up as her second father. Nevertheless, as Aoshi and his men took a dangerous job in Tokyo, eight-year-old Misao was handed over to the previous Oniwabanshū investigator named Okina. At first, Aoshi was unsure of his decisions but he and his men still left Misao while she was asleep in the Aoiya without bidding farewell.

As years passed by, she holds on to the faded memories of Aoshi from her childhood. When she was old enough, she ventured out to chance whispers of his whereabouts, only to return home empty handed. She lives at the Aoiya with her adoptive grandfather Okina, and four other remaining members of the Oniwabanshū (Masukami, Ōmime, Shirojō and Kurojō).