Not much is known about the reclusive woman called Takeyama Akane; even those who've dug into her identity discover little more than that she, after leaving her homeland of Japan, has traveled the world extensively, getting caught up in criminal syndicates and investigating supernatural phenomena under several assumed identities- and her paper trail seems to extend back beyond the dates of birth of all of them.
Her travels (whether for business or her apparent search around the globe) eventually landed her in Kaleno City, where she's taken up residence, at least for the time being (Likely due to it's abnormally high density of super-humans). Subsisting as a vagrant and freelance martial arts instructor by day, she became involved with several local villains prior to the conflict.
Ms. Takeyama and Wei Lung have an unpleasant history- While Akane is exceptionally fit and well trained in a variety of forms of combat, she lacks Wei's raw super-power, and a series of small (and usually one-sided) battles over a lucrative (but strange) conspiracy in Hong Kong ended with the former being left mortally wounded when the latter eviscerated her in a showdown in a Hall of Faces.
They would
meet again in Kaleno City, where after a short (and brutal) confrontation in the lair of the self-styled Beast Master, Wei Lung would discover she has the annoying tendency to
not stay dead.
Since the beginning of the conflict and it's rise to prominence, Akane has attached herself to The Circle, though, like many other things, she seems almost completely detached from the concept of profit that drives most of the Circle's other members- the little she earns that isn't spent on basic needs or digging for information has been dedicated to tracking down other master of the martial arts, with whom she works to elevate her skills to
the next level.