Story Notes
Include Cooperative Storytelling, background, and other details here.
Familial Background:
Father: Usagi Oda
Current Hare Clan Champion that was quick to action and short in speech. He dealt with everything quick and decisively. He assigned Kinotu the mission in Otisan Uchi and sent his other son and daughter to Otisan Uchi as well to find his daughter a suitable husband, preferably an influential Crab or Scorpion.
Mother: Usagi Taku
Died during childbirth.
Brother: Usagi Ozaki
Future Hare Clan Champion and an older brother that has a little bit of an overbearing big brother attitude and always checks up on Kinotu. He was sent to Otisan Uchi along with his sister, Usagi Tomoe, to help her find a husband.
Sister: Usagi Tomoe
A serious, but shy girl. She would normally appear meek and agreeable, speaking when spoken to and waiting until others spoke their mind. She was sent to Otisan Uchi along with her brother, Usagi Ozaki, to find a suitable husband.
Bio:
Usagi Kinotu was born the son of the Hare clan champion and brother to Usagi Ozaki. He grew up as a normal bushi of his clan if not a little bit more adventurous than some. His partner in mischief when he was younger was Fuzake Senji. They would often venture out into the woods to practice their skills where their parents wouldn’t scold them for causing mischief such as provoking dangerous animals and running away to see if they could outsmart or outrun them. Kinotu was faster, but Senji knew how to ask the earth kami for their blessing to escape into the earth to get away. Senji would also create obstacle courses with the earth for Kinotu to try clear in the shortest time possible. It was during one of these innocent times that they could hear a commotion occuring in the woods not too far away. There were voices from their kinsmen shouting orders in angry and harsh tones along with a few explosions now and then. They decided to investigate to see if they could help. Within a couple of minutes, they heard someone coming and decided to hide just in case it was an enemy. What they saw shocked them. It was a man in brown robes covered in blood with several slash marks on his forearms and a knife sticking out of his back. Kinotu knew from his training about maho that this man had clearly tried to summon kansen to do his bidding. He stumbled about clearly in pain from the knife sticking out of his back as he tried to flee from the bushi that were pursuing him. Kinotu and Senji looked at each other in grim determination both knowing what they had to do. They ambushed the would-be Bloodspeaker. Senji summoned rocks of jade and threw them at the bloody man. Kinotu threw one of his daggers and it hit home clear in the chest. The creature screamed in pain and rage. It raised itself to its full height as it stared at the two young boys. His head leaned unnaturally to one side and his smile showed long sharp teeth,“Hello little rabbits…” He raised one hand and claws sprouted from his fingertips. He then used them to slash his other wrist while speaking an ominous chant. Spikes formed from the blood and sprang from his arm to impale Kinotu in his left arm and Senji in his shoulder. They both fell to the ground in pain. The creature then leapt at Senji. To Senji’s surprise, the blood-soaked thing impaled itself through the heart upon the spike sticking out of his shoulder. The jarring impact caused the young boy to scream out in agony. The creature then grabbed his shoulders and pulled himself deeper onto the spike until the man laid on top of him and was whispering some evil chant into the boy’s ear. Kinotu was still reeling from the pain in his arm but found the strength to throw his tanto square in temple of the creature. With that, the creature slumped dead on top of Senji and the blood spikes turned into liquid again. The bushi from the Hare clan arrived and quickly dismembered the body of the bloody man and burned it. They then tended to the boys’ wounds. They were both shaken up but they would live.
Years later, they both reached gempuku and had to go their seperate ways. Senji was sent to the outer borders of the Hare clan’s lands to assist with healing during border skirmishes. Kinotu with his fast and wild nature was given the duty of courier to carry top secret messages back and forth to commanders thoughout the clan’s lands and to any other clan that they needed correspondece sent to. Upon the first day of his new assignment, his father, the Hare Clan champion gave Kinotu a family heirloom of two twin tantos that had been passed down the family line since the founding of their clan. He was told to use them in defense of the clan and their interests. Kinotu loved his duty and enjoyed traversing over the expanse of the empire. He wore his trademark custom suit of ashigaru armor as he did not wish to be weighed down to the point where he did not deliver his messages in time. Over the course of a couple of years, the armor began to feel much lighter to Kinotu and he felt he could run even faster as if the armor knew the importance of his mission and wanted to assist him. He began to gain a reputation of being one of the fastest runners in the empire that didn’t use spells to assist him. He of course gained glory in various footraces over time. When he traveled to where Senji was stationed, he would always try to visit. He was always happy to see Senji, but Senji more and more became distant as well as angry. This happened to the point where Senji refused to see him. It wasn’t until later that Kinotu found out why…
One day, Kinotu was given a message by his father saying that he had heard about a Bloodspeaker in a village to the south slaughtering innocent people. It further said that other members of the Usagi were on their way but Kinotu was closer and would get to the village faster than anyone else. He was supposed to get to the village and engage the enemy to distract it long enough until the others could arrive and assist. Kinotu then sped off to the village tanto in hand. He arrived at the village to a gruesome sight. Blood and bodies were strewn everywhere. Even women and children were among them. He climbed to a roof top to gain a better vantage point to find the maho user. He couldn’t find him at first, so he jumped from rooftop to rooftop as quietly as he could. He finally heard a ominous laugh and a child’s whimpering coming from inside the building he was standing on. He scaled down the side and peeked in. The was a figure in brown robes with sharp nails dripping with blood looming over a small toddler. Kinotu immediately threw one of his tanto into the creature’s back. It howled in pain and wheeled about towards Kinotu. Upon it seeing him, it stopped and raised itself to its full height with its head lulling unnaturally to one side. “Well hello again my little rabbit,” it said with a smile showing off it’s razor sharp teeth stained with blood. Kinotu backed away in horror. It was Senji! At least it was him physically mutated in a similar manner to that creature they had killed so long ago. “What have you done to Senji, Monster!” Kinotu roared. ‘Senji’ let out a high pitched cackle," Nothing he did not let me do. I have been living inside of him for years merely offering advice and power. He was reluctant at first as does most of my hosts, but he eventually came to see things my way until there was nothing left of him." “Enough! I will finally destroy you and set his soul free of your evil clutches,” Kinotu said as he summoned the dagger in the creatures back into his hand and charged the beast. They fought back and forth with blood spilt on both sides. At the end, Kinotu charged and stabbed both daggers into the creature’s back near its heart as he did a somersault over the creature’s head. Its knees buckled and its head began to slump. Then suddenly, the ‘Senji’ creature turned around and gripped Kinotu in a tight bear hug. The tips of the tanto sticking in the creature had poked out the other side and were now digging into the Hare’s chest. “You want to know how I survived all these years and took over your friend’s body? Let me show you as my last dying breath,” it said as a dark chant poured from its mouth. Kinotu’s chest felt like it was on fire as he could feel the creature’s blood flowing into his body through the tanto wounds in each other’s torso. Kinotu cried out and summoned his tanto out of the creature’s back and into his hands where he then repeatedly stabbed the creature in the ribs. The creature’s grip released as it stumbled back laughing,“It is already done. I am now a part of your soul and eventually I will consume you as well.” It then slumped to the ground dead. Kinotu then passed out from the bloodloss only to be awakened later by his comrades to had burned the entire village to the ground and purified it.
Months passed. He wished that he could end his life and that of the monster that had attached itself to his soul, but everytime he tried the creature would somehow keep him barely alive. The creature had enough control to keep him and his host alive but no more than that. Kinotu knew that his soul would be damned if he died before getting the creature exorcised from his soul, so he waited and kept the secret to himself. He grew bitter and angry. He then devoted his life to extinguishing the threat of Bloodspeakers and their ilk. This caused him to be assigned to Otisan Uchi on the tip that there was some unnatural magic being performed in the city and news of some mysterious disappearances. His natural voice mimickry and ability to disguise himself made him ideal for the task. One night, he stayed at an inn in a shady part of town when he woke up and saw that someone had sneaked in through his window and stolen all his money and his twin tantos that his father had given him. He tried to summon the blades to him, but it seemed as though they were too far away. He vowed that the thieves would know what it was like to suffer and writhe in pain for the crime they had committed…
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