Kitsu Tomoe

Please note: This article is about the daughter of the Hare Clan Champion Usagi Oda. For other uses of the term, please see Tomoe (disambiguation).
Usagi Tomoe was the daughter of the Hare Clan Champion Usagi Oda, and sister of Usagi Ozaki Game Master's Pack; The Hare Clan, p. 20 and Usagi Kinotu. Game Master's Guide; 2nd Ed, p. 211 She was forced to marry her captor Bayushi Tomaru, taking his name as Bayushi Tomoe. Secrets of the Empire, p. 54 She later joined the Kitsu family, becoming Kitsu Tomoe. Kitsu Tomoe (Reign of Blood flavor and Title)
== Personality ==
Tomoe was a serious, but shy girl. She would sometimes forget to be shy if something really grabbed her attention. She would become lively, speak quickly and become a little pushy until she remembered she was shy. Game Master's Pack; The Hare Clan, p. 20 sidebar She would normally appear meek and agreeable, speaking when spoken to and waiting until other spoke their mind. She would often get enthusiastic when talking about magic, believing it to be the best way to enlighten the human soul. Game Master's Pack; The Hare Clan, p. 21 sidebar
== Appearance ==
Tomoe had her mother's chin, but kept the wide expressive & delicate features of her father's family. She was very slender and short, and would dress an wear her hair in the styles that were provincial by court standards. Despite this she was still very beautiful. 
== Seeking a Husband ==
In 1122 Bells of the Dead, p. 9 her father sent Tomoe to Otosan Uchi to try and find a suitor. Oda couldn't afford a big dowry, and was hoping for an influential Crab or Scorpion. The most interested seemed to be Yasuki Nokatsu, but Oda did not trust a man who flogged slaves for a living. Game Master's Pack; The Hare Clan, p. 22 sidebar
=== Conspiracy ===
While visiting the capital with her brother, their retainer Seiki was rumored to be visiting the den of vice known as the House of the Winter Moon. Needing Seiki to attend to Tomoe, Ozaki travelled there in disguise to retrieve him. Ozaki found Seiki but then saw an old friend, Matsu Akira, meeting with a hooded stranger. Ozaki thought the stranger was blackmailing Akira so he followed the man. The stranger turned out to be Soshi Yukio, a long time enemy of Akira's. Ozaki and Tomoe decided to continue investigating, but witnessed Akira paying Yukio money and giving her "new orders". Yukio later spotted Ozaki and fled, but was killed in the ensuing chase. Ozaki stole the scroll, and returned to Shiro Usagi with Tomoe and Seiki. Tomoe began trying to decipher the encoded scroll but with no success. Game Master's Pack; The Hare Clan, pp. 30-31 She hid the scroll in a mirror box which used mirrors to conceal space, and his the puzzle box among the many trick boxes that she liked to collect. Game Master's Pack; The Hare Clan, p. 34
== Hare Clan is Framed ==
=== Siege of Shiro Usagi ===
Tomoe was present in Shiro Usagi during the Siege of Shiro Usagi in 1123. Bayushi Tomaru led an army of 1800 men against the 850 defending Shiro Usagi. The Scorpion were claiming they were avenging the death of Soshi Yukio, and that they wanted returned whatever was stolen from her. The siege lasted for six days before the Hare were overrun. Game Master's Pack; The Hare Clan, pp. 35-40 In the end, Oda was killed. Tomoe was captured by Tomaru and Ozaki fled with the Hare Clan Sword. Legend of the Five Rings; Third Edition, p. 18
=== Kolat Scroll ===
In the final days of the siege Tomoe was able to finally decipher the scroll they had taken from Soshi Yukio. It was an order to kill a magistrate in a village near Forest Shadow City, making it look like suicide, who was interfering with an agent's work there. It also mentioned a "master". Game Master's Pack; The Hare Clan, p. 40
=== Fall of the Hare Clan ===
Following the destruction of Shiro Usagi, allegations of maho use were levelled against the Hare. The Emperor had no choice but to abolish the minor clan. Tomaru later married Tomoe, claiming to have been smitten by her beauty and innocence. Book of Earth, p. 48
=== Prisoner of Dajan's Kolat ===
Tomaru had acted at the prompting of Dajan's Kolat, a splinter sect of the Kolat who dealt with naming onis. Bells of the Dead, p. 9 In return of their support Tomaru had bargained to pass Ozaki and Tomoe to the foul sect. The Scorpion general had fallen in love with his prisoner Tomoe, so he had attempted to keep her for himself. The Dajan's Kolat slipped through Scorpion security and explained to Tomaru what they would do to him if he reneged on their deal. Tomaru passed Tomoe to them and missed her greatly. Bells of the Dead, p. 16
=== Freedom ===
Tomoe would be part of a ritual sacrifice to allow a powerful gaki, the Shimushigaki, to enter the mortal realm. In 1125 her captors Daidoji Dajan and Asako Nakiro, leaders of the Dajan's Kolat, were conducting the ritual. A group of samurai and her brother Ozaki appeared and confronted the Maho-tsukai. After Dajan was killed the gaki took Nakiro's corpse, but it was defeated. Tomoe was freed from captivity. Bells of the Dead, pp. 34-36
== Restoration of the Hare Clan ==
In 1125 the heroic efforts of Ozaki were acknowledged by the Emperor who reinstated the Hare Clan. Legend of the Five Rings; Third Edition, p. 19 The fate of her younger brother also had been revealed. An investigation of the haunted Shiro Usagi had exposed that Usagi Kinotu had been passed to a farmer by Oda shortly before his death. The peasant had adopted the young boy and called him Otu. Game Master's Guide; 2nd Ed, p. 213
== Lion Clan ==
At some point, Tomoe joined the Kitsu family of the Lion Clan. The exact manner or reason for this was unknown.
== Oracles Retired from Ningen-do ==
In 1160 the Oracles of Light decided to retreat from the Mortal Realm for a time, to watch the people of Rokugan from the Celestial Heavens. Only the Oracle of Jade would remain among the people. Before they left each Oracle gifted an enchanted item that beared the power of an Elemental Dragon. Gifts of the Oracles
=== Anvil of Earth ===
The Anvil of Earth was found by Kitsu Tomoe. Tomoe was visiting her Hare relatives shortly after the Rain of Blood to aid them in recovering when she came upon the Anvil. The bloodspeakers attacked Shiro Usagi, and during the heaviest of the fighting she discovered the Anvil, sensing great power from within. The kami surrounding the Anvil told her how to use it, and she realised that if she used it to its full power the existance of the Anvil would become known to all. She therefore used it sparingly, only making sure the Hare were never overrun, and in the end the Hare won the battle against a vastly superior bloodspeaker army. Tomoe returned with the Anvil to Kitsu lands where it could be safely studied. Four Winds, p. 162
== Death ==
Tomoe died several years before 1170, and it was a devastating blow to her brother Ozaki. Fealty and Freedom, p. 49
== See Also ==
* Usagi Tomoe/Meta
== External Links ==
* Kitsu Tomoe (Reign of Blood)
Usagi Tomoe
Bayushi Tomoe
Category:Lion Clan Members