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Post by tsuruchi kasumi on Mar 29, 2014 22:19:17 GMT
"We have everything, Tsuruchi-sama," the lead ashigaru said to Tsuruchi Kasumi. She had been tasked by the master sensei of the main Tsuruchi dojo to collect a batch of new arrows for both the dojo and the castle. She had two wagons and twenty ashigaru with her. "Okay, let's start back," she said, "I want to be back at the dojo as quickly as possible." "Your wish, Tsuruchi-sama," he said before giving the order to move out.
They moved back towards the city, stopping for the night at another small village along the way. The following day just before lunchtime they arrived at the castle, where they left one of the carts, before going on to the dojo, a short way outside of the main castle. When they drove onto the grounds, she saw a group of students train, just as she had all those years ago. She had the ashigaru drop off the arrows while she went to one of the training rooms. There some students were training with her husband, working on their katana technique with bokken.
"Ah, Kasumi-san," he said, a small smile coming on his face, "just the person I could use to demonstrate a technique, if you would?" "Of course, Takeshi-san," she said. He threw her a bokken, which she caught easily, immediately dropping in a guard stance. From what she had seen when she entered, she knew what he wanted to demonstrate so she immediately attacked, allowing him to show the students a defence technique. It was a basic technique on which they would build later techniques and she could easily circumvent it, but that wouldn't be the goal of the presentation. In fact, she was the better sword fighter of the two, but he was better with more different types of weapons. He blocked her attack. They did it a couple of times more, switching attacker and defender. "You see, that's how it's done," he said to his students, "now pair off again and try again."
Kasumi watched a bit while the students were busy and then she went to the quarters near the dojo where they were residing. "Tsuruchi-sama," one of the servants said, holding out a scroll, "a message has arrived for you." "Thank you," she said, taking the scroll and opening it. She read through it and put it back down, standing up and going to the shrine in the dojo. After an hour, she went back home to see her children.
After he had finished his job for the day, Takeshi came home. "How was the run, Kasumi," he asked. "It's always the same," she replied, "but it will probably be the last time I will do it." "Why," he asked next. "I've just received a message, Takeshi," she said, "I've received an appointment as emerald magistrate." "That's very nice," Takeshi said, "do you already know where you will be stationed?" "Not yet," Kasumi said, "I have to report to Toshi Ranbo. I assume they will tell the there. But it will probably not be here." "It's not the first time," Takeshi said. "I will try to come back as much as possible," she replied. They knew each other long enough to know that this is what she wanted, to be able to roam the empire. He had no other option than to stay at home with his injury, but to train young people was also a honorable profession and something he was good at. It was not the first time they were seperated.
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Post by tsuruchi kasumi on Apr 2, 2014 18:57:18 GMT
Somewhere in the Spine of the World Mountains.
Tsuruchi Kasumi was walking through the mountains, taking one of the lesser passes to get to Toshi Ranbo. While it wasn’t possible to move merchant caravans or armies through this pass, a single person or small group could use it without too many problems. She used this small pass because she wanted to make a small detour to give thanks at the shrine of Benten. Although her marriage had been arranged, she had come to love her husband and she wanted to give thanks to Benten for his blessing.
She had almost reached the spot where she would have to leave the pass to go into the mountains to the temple when she heard the sounds of fighting. She immediately readied her bow and took an arrow before cautiously moving on. Rounding a corner she saw that five bandits were attacking a number of monks. Some were already on the ground, but a couple of monks were still defending themselves, using their bo with great precision. But this was something she couldn’t let pass, so she quickly acted and shot one of the bandits. She had shot another one before they noticed they had another enemy. But she was too far for them to quickly reach and a Tsuruchi archer could not only shoot accurate, but also fast. The last one tried to run, but she shot him in the back like the honourless dog he was.
Coming closer she saw that the monks were from the sect venerating Benten. A couple of them were looking at the ones on the ground, but she could see that all help came too late. So she looked at the bandits, careful not to touch the dead flesh, to see if they had anything that could identify them, but no such luck. The only thing was the Ronin who she assumed was the leader had a katana with a nicely crafted tsuba, which was unusual enough she thought it could be used to identify the man. She took his Daisho and turned to the monks, bowing as she would for a samourai her own status. The monk returned the bow.
“Greetings, Tsuruchi-sama,” he said, “I’m Hiroshi, monk of the sect of Benten. Thank you for your rescue.” “I’m Tsuruchi Kasumi,” she replied, “and you should thank Benten for that, Hiroshi-san. I’m passing here to visit the shrine.” “We will, Tsuruchi-sama,” the monk said, “and if you would accompany us to the shrine.” “I would be honoured,” she replied.
They followed the mountain path towards the shrine, while kasumi asked the monks a bit about the fortunes. Travelling in the mountains was no reason not to try to advance your education a bit and the last time she had a lot of conversations with a monk was when she was recovering from the attack and he was of a Taoist sect. Soon they arrived at the shrine. While the monk arranged for some eta to get the bodies of the dead monks and the bandits, Kasumi entered the shrine, where some incense was burning in front of the statue of Benten. She knelt in front of the statue and took the scroll with poems she had made out of her satchel. Strangely enough she was alone today, except for a couple of monks who gave her privacy.
She recited her poems before the statue, poems about her love for Takeshi she had written. When this was done, she burned the scroll as offering to the fortune. She stayed some time in meditation before she stood up and walked out. To her surprise it was almost dark. Hiroshi came towards her. “It’s already late, Tsuruchi-sama,” he said, “can we offer you the hospitality of our temple as small compensation for your assistance?” “I would be honoured, Hiroshi-san,” Kasumi said, “my meditation has taken longer than I intended.” “You were there for a couple of hours,” Hiroshi said, “but we didn’t want to disturb you. This way, please.”
She followed the monk towards a cell at the edge of the temple. “It’s not very luxurious,” the monk apologised. “Don’t worry, I’ve been at the kaiu wall,” she replied, “compared to there, this is very nice.” At least here there will be no goblins, oni or other assorted creatures trying to kill me, she didn’t add aloud. Another monk brought her something to eat and then they left her.
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Bayushi Satomi
Unwanted Betrothed
Scorpion Clan
Posts: 1,080| Likes: 322
Rings: Earth 4 * Fire: 5 *Air 3 * Water 1 * Void 3
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Post by Bayushi Satomi on Apr 4, 2014 22:00:14 GMT
Days before, the Emerald Champion and Defender of the Empress Toturi II, Yasuki Hachi, through his secretary, released an edict to the group of Emerald Magistrates responsible to the investigations in the south of Rokugan. This document was sent to all the Emerald magistrates. He was absolutely concerned, the document stated, about the lack of success some investigations were having after long months of work. He demanded a more assertive position and effort from his subordinates. Some subjects were not having the adequate investigation and were causing serious diplomatic and commercial issues (to say the least). Some were closely related with the security of the Empire. The case of the assassination of the Ide diplomat over a Crane-Mantis issue; a mysterious problem of smugglers coming and going from the Yasuki lands and rumors of a cartel; rumors of Scorpion inciting riots and rumors of high ranked rokugani subjects being seriously involved with , besides a serie of events related to maho revealed in the last Winter court. A very busy new year to the Emerald Magistrates indeed, it seems, and however some of those topics were under investigation through several months by now, nothing of note has been discovered so far. Other cases were a matter of of yet more cautious and further investigation, since some names (or so whispers said) were so important that one would risk his or her life just by investigating such high ranking persons. In an attached letter to this document, Kasumi was receiving a personal assignment. The last issue, the reason Tsuruchi Kasumi was receiving travel papers to the Crab provinces, was related to a recent incident in the River of Gold delta. A riot, apparently connected with another popular manifestation in Yasuki Yashiki, was causing a serie of commercial problems to Crab and Mantis, Unicorn and Scorpion. Somehow, the suspicious that the revolt was "sponsored" was raised by some high ranked Crabs and Cranes. First of all, she needed to go to Yasuki Yashiki, and after presenting herself to the daimyo (also, the Emerald Champion) she should be prepared to investigate the veracity of those suspicious, and whether the fact the Crab soldiers acted with unnecessary violence against a group of ronin and later, the gathered heimin attending the popular festivities outside the castle was incited somehow by person or persons with ulterior interests. Of course, one could wonder why not a Crab or Crane magistrate was assign to the case, but this response was an easy one. Then, given Kasumi was free to attend the request of the Emerald Champion, she should arrive as soon as possible to Yasuki Yashiki. OOC: This letter arrived to Kasumi in the day of the Kaneka's wedding.
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Post by tsuruchi kasumi on Apr 5, 2014 13:52:34 GMT
Tsuruchi Kasumi had finally arrived in Toshi Ranbo, where she was to receive her assignment. After asking the guards at the gates of the city had directed her to the correct building. Upon arriving she had presented herself and was immediately brought to the chief emerald magistrate in Toshi Ranbo, Kakita Akiko, a woman in her thirties.
"My apologies for my state, Kakita-sama," Kasumi said with a deep bow to the woman who could well become her direct supervisor. "No apologies needed, Tsuruchi-san," Akiko replied, "please, have a seat. I have requested you to come here directly because we have a situation in the crab lands. You are familiar with the crab lands, if I'm not mistaken." "That is correct, Kakita-sama," Kasumi said as she sat down, "I've served on the wall and as Yojimbo at Face of the East castle." "Very good," Akiko said, handing over a couple of papers, "here you will find all you need to know. I can just say you will have to be on your way to Yasuki castle as quickly as possible. Report to Yasuki Hachi-sama and he will give you more information. That will be all."
The emerald champion himself was something Kasumi hadn't expected. She stood up, bowed again and left the room. Outside the found a quiet spot to read the papers. Besides the standard emerald magistrate travel papers and identification, she also had a paper requesting all emerald magistrate posts to help her. A servant came up to her. "Tsuruchi-sama," he said with a low bow, "a horse is ready for you. Is there anything else you require?" She wanted to have a hot bath, but that would have to wait. "Some rations for underway," she said, "and some extra arrows would be useful as well." "At once, sama," the servant said, moving away.
When she was moving through the building, she saw another Tsuruchi she knew from her time at the Dojo. "Tsuruchi Hachiro-san," she said with a smile, "it's been a while. You're also an emerald magistrate?" "Tsuruchi Kasumi-san," he said, returning the smile, "it is indeed a long time. And no, I'm working with the emerald magistrates." "Then maybe you can help me," Kasumi said, handing over the daisho she had taken from the Ronin bandit, "I've taking this daisho from a ronin who attacked a couple of monks from the sect of Benten. As you can see the tsuba is more than you can expect on a ronin katana. Can you find out who he was? I would do it myself, but I have to go to the Yasuki lands as quickly as possible." "I'll see what I can do," Hachiro said, "we can't have bandit attacking monks, so it shouldn't be a problem." "Thank you, Hachiro-san," Kasumi said, "but now I have to go. Let me know what you find out." "I will do so, Kasumi-san," Hachiro said, "and maybe I'll see you when you come back."
With a bow to each other Kasumi went back outside where a horse and supplies was waiting for her. While she wasn't a Unicorn, she did know how to ride and she left immediately.
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