Kaede

Kaede (楓, Kaede, lit. "Maple") is the Captain of Moon Tree's Third Division.

Appearance
Kaede is a tall, dark-haired woman. She has a very noble appearance and wears formal red Japanese clothing. She also has a small red tattoo on her forehead.

Personality
As a Captain of Moon Tree, Kaede is forced to maintain a very uptight and polite persona. She only drops this mask when adventuring with Zelkova, Moon Tree's Guildmaster. Their trips have created rumors that their relationship is much deeper than it appears, but Kaede refuses to admit that Zelkova is anything more than a friend. However, she is very protective of her Guildmaster. She maintains a fierce rivalry with Sakaki, who she believes is trying to usurp control of the Guild.

Basic Info
In the real world, Kaede is a 28-year-old woman named Kyouko Kaga (加賀京子). Kaede first got married as a teenager but ended up divorcing at 24 years of age, after the death of her son in a car accident caused by her own carelessness. She currently works in the nursing field. Zelkova reminds her of her son.

.hack//Alcor
For unknown reasons Nanase, a former member of Canard, drew the attention of Moon Tree. Taking a personal interest in the young Twin Blade, Kaede began to search for her and eventually succeeded in locating her alone on a field.

.hack//G.U. Games
While hunting for AIDA, Pi and Haseo ran into Kaede and Zelkova in a dungeon. One of the AIDA attempted to attack Zelkova, but Pi managed to dive in front of the attack, taking the blow instead. Although Kaede was unable to see the Avatar battle that followed, she understood that Pi and Haseo had saved her Guild Master. To properly reward them, Kaede invited both of them to a formal ceremony at Moon Tree's @HOME. There, Pi explained to Haseo about the internal power struggle that existed within the guild.

Later, when all players were transferred to the AIDA mirror server, Yata ordered G.U. to search for anomalies in the cloned server and contacted Moon Tree to receive the necessary manpower for the mission. Kaede, along with the rest of the captains, led her group in the search. When Sakaki seized control of Moon Tree's @HOME and Atoli PKed Zelkova, Kaede sought help from Haseo at Hy Brasail. Only Kaede's and Zelkova's divisions actively opposed Sakaki's rise to power. After Haseo successfully restored order to Moon Tree's @HOME Kaede was reunited with a restored Zelkova.

After the Moon Tree incident, Kaede and Zelkova tried to maintain a low profile, and return to their lives as normal players. At Zelkova's urging she contacted Haseo, and invited him and Pi to a dungeon. There Zelkova met with them, and gave them advice about how to defeat Sakaki once and for all. Soon afterwards Kaede traveled with Zelkova to Net Slum. Following Ovan's use of the Rebirth ability she assisted Zelkova as he restored Haseo's PC and created his Xth form. She then exchanged Member Addresses with Haseo.

Kaede and Zelkova were instrumental in rallying the players of "The World" against Cubia. During the battle Kaede reunited with Captain's Hiiragi, Matsu, and Sophora and assisted them in battling Cubia's Gomora. After Cubia was defeated Kaede and Zelkova began the long process of rebuilding Moon Tree.

.hack//G.U. Returner
Kaede is briefly seen at Δ Hidden Forbidden Festival.

.hack//LINK

 * See Kaede (LINK)

Trivia

 * Kaede is 5'8" (175 cm) in height.