Saionji Atsushi

Saionji Atsushi (西園寺敦) is the first-born son of Tanin Ama and the deceased previous master of his village, Saionji Atsuma.

## Relationships

**Saionji Atsuma**

Atsushi's relationship with his father was a very formal one, akin to that of a student and teacher. While his father was never cruel or compassionless, he was also very critical and distant to his son. Atsushi only ever refered to his father by his formal title of Master, never as his father. Likewise, Atsuma only ever called his son names along the lines of student, pupil, or boy. Their distant relationship was grew immesnely cold following Atsuko's disappearance, as Atsuma was harshly critical of Atsushi's failure to protect his sister and expressed his disappointment in him as a future Master.

Their relationship only grew more bitter following Atsushi's Passage. As a man of age, Atsushi finally stood up to his father's constant criticism, leading the to a falling out between the two. They weren't even on speaking terms any longer when Atsuma died, only a few months after Atsushi returned from his Passage.

**Saionji Amakusa**

Atsushi's relationship with his younger sister is more than a little tense due to his sister's immense thirst for power of her own, and Atsushi's inability to deliver such due to the constricting nature of his clan's stance on women's roles. Their relationship has been strained even since they were children. He has noted his sister's coldness and has half-joked that he suspects she wants him dead. Whether or not she would actually go through with an attempt on his life remains to be seen...

**Saionji Atsuko**

Atsushi's relationship with Atsuko was quite close and marked of a typical brother-sister relationship, causing the rift with Amakusa to only widen by comparison. Atsushi would often let her tag along or join in while he played with Masamori. When she was no older than 6, Atsuko was kidnapped from Sato Village. Atsushi, age 10 at the time, was meant to be watching over his sister while his father was preoccupied but let her wander from his sight for just a moment to pick lavender flowers. Atsuko's kidnapping greatly affected the young Atsushi, who blamed himself for her disappearance. dedicated himself to his training after that, especially in the skills of surveillance and swordsmanship.

Upon becoming Master, Atsushi had the lavender flower dedicated as a symbol to his sister.

**Sen Munemori**

Sen Munemori's close working relationship with Clan Saionji led the two to meet when Atsushi was still of a young age, forming a pseudo-familial relationship. Atsushi sees the blacksmith as as a close family friend. He respects Munemori's skill and experience, referring to him respectfully as "Uncle Sen" as a child.

**Sen Masamori**

Due to their similar age and interests, the two boys became fast friends as children. In adolecense, Atsushi notably practiced swordsmanship with Masamori, training his friend in some of the secret Saionji sword techniques. Masamori often referred to him as "At-chan" and still does to this day, much to Atsushi's chagrin. The two forged a blood oath as blood brothers.

**Konishi Akita**

Atsushi's relationship with Akita had rocky beginnings. He found Akita laying unconscious from exhaustion, having trekked through the Golden Sea of Monsters by herself. Seeing her state, he brought her to a nearby cave a short ways to the north. Upon her awakening, he demanded she strip from and relinquish her Shii, the sacred assassin robes signifying a servant of O-Yama-Kami. He claimed that she must've stolen the robes from a member of the Saionji, not realizing that they were her own robes as a Konishi Kunoichi. When she refused to turn over her own robes, the two engaged in a duel. Atsushi's superior sword skills led to his victory, taking Akita's life in the process. However, he revived her by placing her outside in the northern snow, said to have immense healing powers thanks to O-Tochi-Kami.

After Akita was revived, she tried once again to explain that her robes were her own. Seeing that she would still insist this even faced with death, he decided to question her further back at his village. She agreed to submit to Atsushi's questioning, following him back to Sato Village. There, they began to discuss their respective clans and villages, agreeing to reveal information about their own clans in likeness to what is revealed about the other's clan. After coming to a tenuous understanding, they agreed to cooperate and interact further with their respective clans. Upon learning of Akita's coming-of-age quest to find Sen Munemori, he was pleased to be able to aid her. Having his own business with the Webway in Shihon, he decided to escort Akita to the capital. After several close encounters and fights alongside eachother on the journey, the two formed a pleasant working relationship and mutual attraction As they felt their time as traveling companions began to draw to a close, they briefly acknowledged their feelings for one another with a kiss. To solidify the cooperative friendship of their clans, and as a token of his affection, Atsushi gifted her his personal Saionji Master's kunai from his Passage ceremony.

Upon reuniting that winter, and then learning of their clans' shared history, they decided to get married to unify their clans. This was no sacrifice on their ends, however, as their love for one another had only grown in the time they were apart. It wasn't long before they married.

## Early Life

Atsushi was born in early spring in the 18th Year of the Mountain, at the beginning of the Fourth Era. He was the eldest, having two younger sisters, Atsuma and Atsuko, with his mother dying giving birth to the latter. While his relationship with Atsuma was tense due to her jealousy of his authority and training, his relationship with his youngest sister Atsuko was pleasant and loving. This made it all the more distressing to Atsushi when she was kidnapped, especially since she was under his watch at the time. He threw himself into his training as his means of grieving, becoming a master with the sword. He also made sure that he would never fail his notice something again by focusing even more on spying and surveillance.

**The Passage**

On his 16th birthday to signify coming-of-age as a man, Atsushi was to go on his Passage, a practice shared with the Konishi, where it is known as a Quest. Unlike the Konishi, failure of a Passage is entirely unacceptable to the Saionji, who allow their grown men to regularly come and go from the village as necessary. As is tradition, failure to complete one's appointed Passage typically requires the man to commit suicide by ritual disembowelment. Those that pass may return to their village as a man, with all the rights and privleges therein, including beginning training as a Saionji Shinobi.

For his Passage, Atsushi was tasked by his father with the impossible: recover his sister Atsuko. She had been missing for six years by this point, long presumed dead. In the words of many of the men of the Saionji, Atsuma had condemned his only son to death right there. Not deterred, Atsushi searched high and low for many months, using all of his skills to track down his sister's kidnappers. After his trail led him to Arazi where Atsuko had been sold as a slave, Atsushi finally found the end of the line with his sister's grave. But instead of giving up, Atsushi dug up his sister's bones, dismayed to learn she had been alive for at least three years following her kidnapping. He brough Atsuko's remains back to Sato Village for a proper burial. He had technically fulfilled the task given to him for his Passage, to recover Atsuko. For his Passage ceremony, Atsushi had a kunai bearing the Saionji crest made as his Master's Token, the crest of which was carved from his sister's bones.

## Adulthood

Though completed his Passage and acknowledged as a man, Atsushi was not yet the Master until his father's death a few months following his return. As Amakusa put it, Atsushi's presence was what finally did their father in rather than his old age. Once he took up the mantle of Master, Atsushi hoped to get modernize his clan, much in the manner of the Arazi. While in Sehir for his Passage, Atsushi had noted the advanced knowledge of science, mathematics, and law held by the Arazi. He was particularly mystified by the rights of women among the Arazi, who allow their women to freely combat, travel, work, and practice law. Upon his return, while traveling through Seiyo Village, he noted that the village was led by a woman. Realzing that his people were clinging too much to the ways of the past, he hoped to bring these aspects to his clan. It didn't go well. He was met with heavy resistance and dissent, with his people outright refusing to change their ways. Seeing he could get nowhere by forcing the issue, Atsushi hoped to change things more subtly and slowly, in small ways that his people would be more willing to change.

### Meeting Akita

Atsushi came across Akita, quite literally, by chance. She was passed out in the snow on the side of the road, uncovered while he made a southern patrol outside his village. Suspicius she wore the same sacred robes as the men of his village, he took her to a nearby cave. He presumed the robes were stolen from the corpse of one of his men, which insulted him. Whe she awoke, he warily told her to remove the dtolen robes and leave. She refused, as they were her own robes. This eventually led to a physical altercation, in which Atsushi stabbed Akita and she died. However, before O-Yama-Kami could take her spirit, Atsushi flung her body into the show outside. The northern snows blew from Mt. Uulyn in the east, and were said to have milky qualities because it was actually the breastmilk of O-Tochi-Kami. Thus, it had miraculous healing powers to fix any wound. In an instant, Akita was fully cured and revived. Atsushi then escorted her to his village, intending to judge her side of the story, and her crimes, as the village master. That is when he came to learn of the Konishi kunoichi.

They quickly came to a mutual understanding; agreeing to only ask the other to answer what they would also share of their own clan.

## Death

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