Chapter 1
A SAMURAI IS BORN
My father’s name is Naoko Kasai. He is a handsome, brave, wealthy samurai from the island of Tochigi, Japan. When he married my mother they wanted to have children right away.
Sadly, it took my mother many years to become pregnant; when she finally did, her doctor told them that it was miracle that she was pregnant.
He also told them that she was going to have a high risk pregnancy, and was not going to have another child ever again. My father did everything that he could to ensure that my mother rested and ate well.
They were afraid of a miscarriage. My father wanted the baby to be a boy to teach him how to be a samurai, and fight side by side.
A few months later, when my mother was in labor, family and friends gathered outside our castle. According to one of my uncles, my father was very nervous.
When the old midwife came out and told my father that he had a beautiful baby girl, my powerful father was disappointed and happy at the same time because my mother and I were alive.
My father didn’t have a girl’s name in mind because he was certain that I was going to be a boy.
My mother was the one who had a girl’s name in mind, just in case.
She named me Aiko Kasai.
