Itsuki
Itsuki was given birth to by Matsu Kita, packed over to a ronin family as a babe, and given away without another word. Her Gaijin features mark her as the daughter of Iuchi Xiang Sho, but she wouldn't learn of that until well into her adulthood.
Itsuki was raised on a farm in the Lion Clan lands. It was an unforgiving life for her parents and the folk around, and when samurai came around, they were expected to give them what they wanted and not get in their way. Lion Clan samurai are honorable, but they are not compassionate. Step out of line and say the wrong thing, and they will quickly remind you of your place beneath them, and Itsuki learned this early. Her farm was not particularly run by benevolent Samurai. The food was taken for the armies, and little was left over. While nobody ever starved, they got by on a meager existence, and were punished harshly for things they could not control--bad harvests were the worst.
When she showed the talent for speaking to the Kami, the Samurai tried to take her from her family. She needs to be taught in a proper shugenja school, they said. Itsuki raged against this idea. She showed up on Karin's doorstep and asked her if she wanted to run away. Karin had been the town's apprentice blacksmith, but she was Itsuki's friend first. The two of them packed up and left in a hurry in the dead of night, before the Samurai could come back for Itsuki.
Itsuki didn't return for several years, and when she did, her parents were dead. They had been executed for her decision, and she took this personally. She doesn't talk about it much, but she was only talked down from waging war on the castle because Karin convinced her that the people who would bear the burden of her sins would, yet again, be the people. Itsuki left that day and never came back, swearing to never be associated with any one place a Samurai could punish for her transgressions.
She didn't hesitate to pick fights anymore. She provoked Samurai into anger, and played dirty when they tried to duel her. As a shugenja, she was a god among men. She could level cities if she was willing to take the hit, and she was always willing to take the hit.
There were lots of adventures she and Karin found themselves on--plenty of them happy and many of them not. She didn't hesitate to step in if a peasant, heinin, or another ronin asked for her help, but took joy in telling any samurai to fuck off. She met Hantei Tomohiro on the road one day and he was not spared from her disdain and treatment, but he was also very difficult to get a rise out of. Circumstances lead to them traveling alongside each other accidentally for much longer than usual, and she tormented him regularly. She knew that flirting with him disgruntled him the most, especially when she was vulgar--and so that was the tactic she used. He tried not to give her any mind, but her annoying flirtations got to him eventually.
Tomohiro did eventually break, but it wasn't the way Itsuki expected. She ended up pinned to a tree in a strange sexual encounter that left her breathless and more than a little confused herself. She threatened to kill him, but her threats didn't ever manifest, and despite knowing the consequences, she didn't stop teasing him, even after that--although she was a bit more flustered about it, for some reason.
Somehow, later, Karin got hired as an artisan at his home, and he started badgering her about marriage. She thought he was joking at first--he was in line to the Clan Champion. She was a Ronin. That was impossible. But he kept going. She told him no.
I'll make you comfortable. You'll never have to sleep outside again.
No.
You won't have to do anything; I'll take care of the work--just marry me.
No.
Karin will never want for anything--you'll be making her life better, too.
No!
You'd have power. Prestige. The ability to affect the world.
No!!
You can change the things you don't like. You can make life better in the ways you want. You can make life better for anyone you want.
....
She finally agreed.
She thought she'd gotten one over on him. Thought she'd improve the life of all the Spider Clan peasants. Thought this would be just like home; she found that the Spider clan's peasants were actually quite well cared for, and had a lot more rights than the Lion Clan's peasants. The Spider emphasized Compassion. While she did improve things, it was mostly things that Tomohiro had overlooked, not actual harm. She was surprised to see her single-minded hate so thoroughly debunked.
An incident with a shugenja brought her into contact with her father, too--and that was a whole mess of riches she didn't want. He was so happy to know her that it was distressing. Everything she'd raised herself on was getting pummeled. She eventually gave birth to 4 children--and thanks to the Unicorn Midwife provided by her father, she only had to go through the punishing experience of birth once, and had no complications.
