Chapter 1
Blood in the Snow
Lord Sutomu is an imposing man, to say the least, clad in the finest that his station as Lord of the Sutomu Clan afforded him, and maintained a bearing that would humble many lesser men by merely being in the same room as the intimidating, and half Oni, Lord of the Sutomu. He strode through the courtyard of his home, all that he saw in this place was his, and he was met by several Samurai who were also sworn to him, who were waiting to deliver him news of the goings on in Suto. He halted before them, not saying a word, as they bowed low to him, and he returned the bow briefly before speaking, a low and solemn tone of voice, without emotion and solely business. "Lord Matsudaira has left Satu, I want you double the amount of soldiers that are in the town at any time. We need to pressure everyone." With that, he turned to leave into his home and paused, turning to the Samurai before they left, and gave one last command that would be followed, lest the Samurai who failed him, and the trespasser, would pay for their foolishness. "And have word set that I am not to be disturbed. I will be attending to my Concubines." And with that last statement, he left into the Sutomu home, and would be true to his word, spending his time with the concubines while his orders were carried out to the letter.
Lord Matsudaira Kishinrou, the Daimyo's son would be found sitting in a humble appearing room, a cup of tea carefully being indulged in by the Lord, while servants made sure that he was fully prepared with anything he might indeed need. The man was reading over a list of duties, everything required of him that evening while he occasionally looked outwards into the natural realm outside his own small tea room. In time, he eventually slowly rose, walking outside at his own pace, taking in the surroundings and open space compared to the infinitely smaller tea room. His gaze fell skyward, the distance holding the swirling dance of snowflakes, and the form of a raven taking its place upon the ground, moving to land for reasons unknown to any but its own humble mindset. What went through its head was unique to it and it alone, and what would become of such actions might be nothing, or everything, depending on how one looked at things.
No one thing happens without a dozen other events occurring at the same time, and it was true of this as well. Within the trade district of the town, a rather interesting bit of commotion was going on, interesting if one found the actions of ronin enforcers interesting. Food was being cooked, hand made wares being sold to whomever would pay the price for them, and, as previously mentioned, ronin of the Kabuki Mono were settling in causing trouble, specifically led by Akinara and Ochie. They spot a stand selling Sake, and make a beeline right for it, leaving the other ronin of the Kabuki Mono that came along with them to their own devices, which meant ruining and harassing other stands in the area while Akinara promptly put a boot into the gut of the Sake salesman, sending him tumbling while the woman spoke right at the man who she had sent tumbling so. "You haven't paid us since we last promised not to spill your drink. Now, where is the payment?" This, coupled with the fact that other Kabuki Mono were ruining other stands, was quite the intimidating sight, to be sure.
Ochie had a grin on her face as well, Naginata slung across her shoulders while Akinara worked over the Sake salesman. Of course, things would not be easy, as a pair of Samurai from the Matsudaira Clan showed up, and they clearly were not happy or prepared to tolerate what the Kabuki Mono were engaged in. They both moved forward, one supporting the other by presence, and the more senior of the two spoke first. "Ronin, be gone from this merchant district, leave these humble peddlers be, if you wish to avoid trouble!" This caused Ochie to move, placing herself squarely between the Matsudaira Samurai and Akinara, and returned their thinly veiled threat with her own, Naginata leveled to be pointed right at the two. "You two had best walk away, or you two will be finding real trouble." This was a stand off, to be sure, and one that would not easily be solved. After all, the Kabuki Mono would not back down, and neither would the Matsudaira Clan Samurai. It was a test of wills as well as potentially a test of steel, if things went sour fast.
Within the market was not just turmoil, after all, a flower of some note, figuratively speaking, Was speaking to kiosk owners so they could point her in the right direction to finding a new comb in this busy marketplace. Matsudaira Ofue stood out amongst the regular peasantry and low class citizens, even without the retainers escorting her safely about the town in search of some items. She almost radiated beauty and elegance, traits that befit royalty rather obviously, but she took it to a level few others were said to match. She held herself with grace despite this, never seeming to descend into arrogance that often times trailed such women around like a bad omen on an otherwise unblemished record, and was generally well liked and received because of this. Her looks helped, as did her grace in dealing with others, so it was rarely hard for her to find and get what she desired, without lowering herself to crude, base levels others might find themselves relying on. It was when she saw the tension filled situation as she turned a corner that she sent one of the guards off to find her brother Lord Matsudaira Kishinrou to tell him what could possibly be about to take place in his town.
On the outskirts of the town, on a road leading in, were the corpses of a band of Imagawa Samurai, who had been escorting a supply train into the town of Suto. To outside, casual observers, a band of monks had assaulted the samurai and laid them low in a way that might have seemed dishonorable, having ambushed them without warning and giving no chance to retaliate. Even more dishonorable, to onlookers who were knowledgeable, would have been the fact that these monks were merely Sutomu samurai wearing the garbs of monks, and utilized this to evade blame to the Clan. They were executing any survivors they had found, loading the supplies that once belonged to the Imagawa into kagos quickly, before they were discovered or set upon by bandits who wanted to try and take opportunity of the apparent Monks cleaning up after another unfortunate raid by bandit scum of another sort.
