<strong>Ikoma Hatsu</strong>(https://docs.google.com/document/d/17eoftMklzfoVPehwkXsak0-3YHJSKBRpXocFiKMP0Gw/edit?usp=sharing)<br/><div class="floatright">(http://i.imgur.com/PLGgMb0.jpg)</div>The Marriage of Ikoma Soichi and Ikoma Rui was arranged before either participant had learned to speak, as both fathers were close to one another and wanted to unite their families. They married soon after Rui’s gempukku ceremony, and dutifully had two children one male and one female to carry on their names. Soichi was a loud boisterous man who rarely held himself back, known for his telling of the tale of the second day of thunder which he regaled people with for many years… until someone took offense to his particular portrayal of Bayushi Kachiko. A few short days later he fell ill and died of unknown causes just a few days before the birth of his last child. Rui was a quiet woman, who thought more than she spoke and tried to instill this in her children whom she feels, without bitterness or regret, ran headlong after their father waving swords and cheering.<br/><br/>Ikoma Tomoyuki was born first, and Hatsu followed just a year after him. Hatsu had somewhat of an early curious streak going when she was young, and often found herself finding things she perhaps should of not. When she was very young she had found some scrolls deep in the back of a dresser that appeared to of belonged to the father she had never met. She of course, had to look at them, to see what this man whom she shared blood with was interested in. Unfortunately, she had not found a collection of his journals, or writings he was fond of. She had however, found a collection of Shunga paintings which, at the time she did not find erotic, rather she found them to be absolutely horrifying and, though she does not talk about the incident or what she has seen, she did come away from the incident with a fairly severe fear of cephalopods due to a bit of a misunderstanding in exactly what that octopus was doing to that lady.<br/><br/>It however, wasn’t just Hatsu who was like that both were mischievous children who always seemed to have their noses or hands in something, while somehow maintaining the intense study needed to become Ikoma Bards.  Eventually they grew up, while retaining their energy learning to focus it into the art of storytelling and the arts of singing and other spoken performance, Hatsu becoming especially revered for her beautiful voice. After long years of study and practice orating their clan history both Children passed their Gempukku Ceremonies quite comfortably.<br/><br/>An exchange needed to be made with the Kuni family, something to bind the drastically different families together in the name of keeping a joint project a trade of the gift of the services of several Ikoma bards in exchange for a marriage and a peace treaty to ward off a Crane advance. Tomoyuki was intended for a young girl named Takoko… but the wedding was quickly called off when Takoko’s first reaction to the young man’s boasting was to hide in her room for hours and then when she could no longer stand it, beat his face in. Rui was on the verge of disgrace, what should of been a simple negotiation was about to be in shambles over a strange little girl and her son’s propensity to boast. Later that night, Hatsu took it upon herself to speak with an available son in the family, and convinced him to volunteer in his sister’s stead to join Hatsu in marriage. It was a clever turn of a disaster into a success for her family.<br/><br/>Kuni no Ikoma Ikatisu set the rules for his marriage very early on, Hatsu would leave his work alone and not try to glorify him, and in exchange he would relent to the rather time consuming process of having a child, which he was not especially thrilled about, despite it being a particular duty of a Rokugani Samurai. This arrangement was soon interrupted by Hatsu being assigned to a very secretive and slightly non-traditional mission in the City of the Rich Frog.