It is not, however, your standard love story. It isn't a tale of two lovers, starcrossed with oodles of people pushing them this way and that, eventually either ending up in a sigh, how beautiful ending or a complete and utter bloodbath... or sometimes both. It isn't about multiple couples interacting with each other until they find True Love, Harmony, and Friendship. And, although as with many romances, especially romantic tragedies, it's got a lot to do with death, it's not about people killing each other over love. Instead, it's about how three people, thrown together under unusual circumstances, two of whom are among the most talented at the art of war in their generation, and all of whom share a distaste for death and in time a celebration of life, fight their own doubts, fears, family, honor, and all those other messy things that seem destined to get in the way of people trying to attain True Happiness, and win.
Because this is a tale of three people, it's probably a good idea to tell you something about these three people. They are, in no particular order, a woman, her best friend (who is also a woman), and a man. The mechanics of these three are less important than one might usually expect- but this is an unusual tale.
Matsu Reiko was born to the Matsu family of the Lion Clan. The Matsu, the second most important family in the Lion Clan, was known for it's fury and thunder, the sheer purity and passion of it's warriors on the battlefield. Reiko came from an especially proud line, one that served in the Matsu's elite all-female unit- the Lion's Pride. Her mother was one, and her mother's mother, and so on in a typical lineage lasting to the formation of the unit. It was expected that Reiko would follow in these footsteps.
What was expected wasn't what happened. See a pattern forming here? Watch it, it may not last...She was born sickly and weak, and only the talented shugenja, or priests, of her clan, of the family Kitsu, kept her alive. She was sent off to a boarding school, out of her parent's sight, and their disappointment. There Reiko discovered a friendship she probably shouldn't have.
The Crane and the Lion have been at war or at least hostile for centuries- indeed, the founders of the Families who make up the Clans (except for the leaders of both clans, who were brother and sister) have hated each other from the beginning. The Lion are a militant clan- the backbone of Rokugan's armies, and ironically, the reason the empire has been relatively peaceful for the nearly thousand years it has existed. When the Clan famed the most for it's battle prowress straddles the strategic center of the empire, it's hard for major wars to go off- no-one in their right minds commits to full out-and-out war with the Lion unless they're very, very well prepared.
The Crane are almost the opposite- in fact, the Lions have been called the Right Hand of the Emperor, and the Cranes the Left. Where the Lions are the masters of war, the Crane are artisans, diplomats, and strangely enough, duelists. Lions live severe lives of discipline, the Crane believe in living each day as though it was the last. The two have wrangled over the control of the empire's destiny from day 1 on.
In any case, back to the present and Reiko. You see, there was another student at this boarding school. A young Crane by the name of Kakita Yusiko. Yusiko befriended our sickly lion, and taught her origami, a means to inner peace and a way of expressing her mind. More importantly, Yusiko gave her the love and caring that had been absent for so long from Reiko's life. Under this nurturing, Reiko developed a keen mind, with an incredible insight for puzzles and the twists and turns of logic and mind-games.
Although this brought joy into Reiko's life for a while, in the end, it also brought a kind of pain. For as her studies increased, her teachers reported back to her parents. Delighted that the daughter they thought a useless cripple had developed a talent for strategy, they pulled her out of the boarding school, and sent her to the foremost tactical school of the empire, founded by the First Lion, the great Akodo. Needless to say, Reiko's tears and protestations were useless; mentioning her best friend, Yusiko, merely brought the words "She is your enemy," and nothing more.
Reiko excelled at the Akodo War College. Unfortunately again for
Reiko, the competition between the Crane and the Lion was at a current
peak- and she was pressured into learning how to destroy the clan
which produced her only true friend. The idea that she was providing
the means- or even learning to provide the means- with which to defeat
and kill other people horrified Reiko. Recently, her worst fears were
realized.
Yusiko is the exception to the exceptions in this chronicle. She did
continue learning origami, and became quite good at it, although she
always was a little sad because of the loss of her friend. Eventually
she learned the Maya of her particular art- or it's first stage,
anyway. She learned to make her little origami animals walk, and
move, though not for very long. This isn't unusual, and had it not
been for a certain obligation owed her from a certain family of the
Kaiu of the Crab clan, she would have merely grown up to be a
tragically sad if brilliant artist.
Which brings us to the last of our little trio. Kaiu Jotakan. The
Crab Clan has defended the Empire against the depredations of the
hellish Shadowlands- a place filled with the spiritual equivalent
levels of radiation of what you'd expect from saturation nuclear
bombing. This being the case, they've kind of lost the little
politenesses of the rest of the empire- the entire Clan is in effect,
a military organization.
The Hida lead, the Hiruma scout, the Kuni seek the secrets and magic,
and the Kaiu are the engineers. Masters of siegecraft, construction,
planning, smithing, and everything else you'd want in a military
engineering corps. Jotokan was perhaps the most brilliant
battlemaster of his graduating class, and perhaps his generation. He
showed an incredible insight and perception into all things- and
quickly focused it into the mastery of strategy.
Jotokan should have been a respected, honored, important member of
his clan's fresh cadre of troops. However, for some reason, he held
himself back from glory and battle, preferring long strategy sessions
and conducting the battle from afar rather than getting down into the
thick of it. Most of his peers and superiors, remembering Jotokan's
quiet and self-effacing ways, believed it to be simple modesty, and
they've tried to support him.
However, that wasn't Jotokan's problem. His problem, you see, is
that actual violence made him physically ill. Couldn't stand the
sight of it, or even the thought of it. In a clan with a long history
for ostracizing "cowards," this left Jotokan in a very, very perilous
position. Even now, the young battlemaster is starting to have
further doubts- his dreams are filled with the memories of the bodies
he has had a hand in sending to their deaths. Which brings us to the
present.
As I said before, Yusiko's particular branch of the Kakita family was
owed a favor by Jotokan's branch of the Kaiu. Ordinarily, Crabs get
along only slightly better with the Crane than do the Lions; they
actually respect one Family of the Crane- the Daidoji, or Iron Crane
as the Crabs call them. Since that family has had a long history of
friendship and mutual respect for the Crab, and since the Crane
control the agricultural heartlands of Rokugan, the Crab have been
from time to time forced to deal with them, occasionally ending up
owing them favors.
Again, under usual circumstances, a young origami artisan isn't
likely to need the services of a battlemaster. After all, she's got
the Daidoji to protect her from most threats, and her family's land
isn't strategic enough, although it is a border province, for the Lion
to worry over them that often. But this would be a rather boring tale
if things went the way they were supposed to.
While performing at the court of an influential Ikoma (another Lion
family; primarily bards and historians), Yusiko discovered that the
local daimyo, Ikoma Ryodan, wasn't quite as honorable as he appeared
to be. In fact, she came upon irrefutable proof that he was a
Maho-tsukai- a blood magic sorcerer. Upon discovering this, she fled
back to her lands, but not before most of her bodyguard was killed.
Ryodan was swift to chase her, claiming she (without naming names or
mentioning specifics) had stolen something of great importance to
him. Under most circumstances, this might have led into a
full-fledged war which would have destroyed Yusiko and her family, and
no further events in this little love story would be possible.
However...
At this time, the Lion were engaged in more massive border squabbles-
on the other side of their territory. They didn't have time or
resources to send hordes of men and tacticians to Ryodan's aid. The
Crane's Daidoji were currently occupied with a shadow-war with the
Crab masters of the merchant underworld, the Yasuki, so while they
could send troops, they couldn't send many tacticians.
Both groups had a small number of men, but no-one to effectively lead
them. Here's where destiny took a strange turn. Yusiko's family, of
course, called in Jotokan's for the favor, and they sent Jotokan off
to repay the debt. Due to an interesting series of intra-family
connections, Reiko ended up in charge of Ryodan's army... and none of
them knew that the other was there...