Hida Ikuyo

Hida Ikuyo was a shugenja-ko of the Crab Clan.

Family
Her father Hida Ogai was a brave defender of the Kaiu Wall, who had but a single child late in life before his wife's tragic death during the War of Spirits. This child, Hida Ikuyo, born in 1149, was the old warrior's entire life, the only light in a life shadowed by unrelenting combat. She was born with the gift of the kami and was trained in the Kuni Shugenja school. So great was his love for her that he delayed arranging her marriage. After losing his sword arm on the Wall at the age of sixty, he came for retirement and hurried to Musume Mura in 1165 to make sure that proper arrangements were made for her future. Unfortunately for Ogai, Ikuyo is a difficult match. Growing up beside her father on the Wall, she inherited the brash manners of a Crab. She wished to be a warrior, not a housewife, and her stern demeanor and brash temper ruined many likely matches. If and when she marries, she expected her husband to take the Hida name and guard the Wall beside her, a fact that made Ogai quite proud even if it infuriated the marriage arrangers.

Rain of Blood
Ikuyo's most prospective husband was a young samurai named Suzume Tabito. The young Sparrow bushi's sincere demeanor and boundless patience seemed to have won Ikuyo's heart, as did his promise to take the Hida name and fight the Shadowlands in her name so long as he drew breath. Suzume Tabito vanished during the Rain of Blood. He had inherited a large debt to a local gambling house upon the death of his father seven months ago, and his fear that Ogai would learn of his gambling debt and call off the marriage allowed the Taint to seep into his soul. Even so, his love for Ikuyo and his promise to always fight the Shadowlands in her name allowed him to resist Iuchiban's call. Ikuyo concealed Tabito's existence from everyone, hoping against all possible hope that she would find a way to cure his Taint. A local criminal lord, Yasuki Naosuke, had been hunting such corrupted souls for months. Naosuke suspected that Tabito was corrupted in the Rain, and his agents woul slaughter him without mercy if he was found. Ogai requested a group of samurai to seek Tabito if he was alive, unbeknownst of tabito's corruption.