Editing Akodo Kumiko (section)

=='''Background'''==

Akodo Kumiko is the child Akodo Genji, uncle of Akodo Toturi, and Kakita Miko, a niece of Doji Satsume. Kumiko has inherited her mother looks and has always been a dreamer. The Akodo princess was doted on by her family, they might even have indulged her a bit much. Her recently deceased father worried that she is not ready for her gempukku, and her sensei that she doesn't apply herself enough, though she is clearly talented. Her mother's worries about her daughter are entirely different still.

And they are all right to worry. Kumiko isn't ready and she really does not apply herself. And when her mother brought her to the Imperial Winter Court last year, she lost her heart. Kumiko has always had a great fondness of reading, be it history or Akodo's writings, but she preferred pillow books and romances. Yet she has never been that interested in boys or putting theory into practice. She considered herself too honorable for such and furthermore, soon after her gempuku a marriage will be arranged. So it came as a shock and a surprise to Kumiko when she fell for someone, and she fell hard. And it wasn't the likes of Hoturi or others like him over who all the girls fawned. No, she lost her heart to Yogo Hiriko, the young and beautiful granddaughter of the Yogo Daimyo.

They spent a magical winter together and over the long months the young Akodo trusted her lover with many of her family's secrets, such as her cousin's affair with the geisha Hatsuko. Kumiko is completely smitten, but being in love, and with a woman no less, has shaken her to her core. For the first time in her life she fears doing her duty. Success at her gempuku means a nakodo and marriage. This is what she must do for her family and clan to satisfy duty and honor. Yet, unthinkable as it is, this is now the last thing the Akodo princess ''wants'' to do. She desperately tries to keep all of this a secret, but unknown to her, her mother is not fooled at all.