Ayame (Tenchu)

Ayame
Tenchu character
Ayame as seen in Tenchu: Dark Secret
First game	Tenchu: Stealth Assassins (1998)
Designed by	Koushi Nakanishi (Stealth Assassins, Birth of the Stealth Assassins)
Voiced by (English)	Terry Osada (Stealth Assassins) Debi Mae West (Birth of the Stealth Assassins) Michelle Krusiec (Wrath of Heaven) Heather Hogan (Shadow Assassins)
Voiced by (Japanese)	Yoko Soumi (Stealth Assassins, Wrath of Heaven, Fatal Shadows) Masako Inui (Birth of the Stealth Assassins) Yūko Kaida (Shadow Assassins)
Portrayed by	Yuka Eda (Tenchu Butai)

Ayame (彩女, a homonym of the word for "iris" meaning "colorful female") is a player character in the Tenchu series of stealth games. Introduced in Acquire's Tenchu: Stealth Assassins in 1998, Ayame is a young prodigy assassin in a historical fantasy version of the 15th century Japan, who has been adopted by a ninja master and raised along with her partner Rikimaru to serve a local clan's lord. She is one of the lead characters in all subsequent installments of Tenchu except of Tenchu Z and has been well received by gaming mass media, often perceived as one of the top assassins and best female ninja characters in video games.

Ayame's story begins when a young shocked girl, unable to remember anything but her name and age, is discovered by Master Shiunsai of the small Azuma school of ninjutsu (Azuma Shinobi-ryu) in the desolate ruins of Kyoto after it was devastated by the Ōnin War (1467–1477) during the Muromachi period. Shiunsai finds himself unable to neither leave or help her and so he eventually decides to take her with him and train her to become a kunoichi (female ninja). Ayame is the most raw-talented of Shiunsai's pupils, including his other pupils Rikimaru and Tatsumaru. Despite her late start and bad attitude, she is initiated into the circle of ninja when she is only 12. Ayame becomes known for her sharp tongue and quick, deadly techniques, with a set of skills very different from Rikimaru, as she is faster and weaker but more cunning and aggressive than him, using a unique style of acrobatic, smooth attacks.

Chronology-wise, the first game in the series is 2000's Tenchu 2: Birth of the Stealth Assassins, which begins just while Ayame (voiced by Masako Inui in Japanese and by Debi Mae West in English) completes her final exam. Soon after her initiation as a ninja, however, turmoil falls as her duties to Lord Gohda and duties to her love Tatsumaru fall apart. Ayame's character changes from a laid-back girl into a more mature woman. Deep down within her cold and distant exterior remains a broken heart. She lies in question towards Tatsumaru.The man who she vowed at youth to marry under a blosum tree."Tatsu." She would call him due to her deep infatuation of her elder pupil. After the incident and when she confronted him he brushed her off, unknowingly to her he lost his memory and was a pawn at the time.This has deeply impacted her even though she remains silent. She carried this pain within making her a colder and more profectent killer. Her story continues in 1998's Tenchu: Stealth Assassins (where she is voiced by Yoko Soumi in Japanese and by Terry Osada in English), as seven years have passed since Ayame has lost her master Azuma Shiunsai and her love interest Tatsumaru. Now 21-year-old, Ayame is tough and sarcastic, killing her enemies cold-blooded without the sign of any doubt or hesitation, though she knows feelings like love, sadness and desperation. She has developed a strong relationship Lord Gohda's daughter Princess Kiku, as if she was her younger sister to Ayame after the death of Kiku's mother Lady Kei, and Ayame swears to protect Kiku at any cost from any harm.