Hiruma Kaoru´s story

Existence in the turmoil of the Border is not life, someone could think in that way, but it will be
someone who doesn´t know how to endure without pleasures. Life of a member of the Crab clan is
a never ending fight against the hordes of the Shadowlands.

My destiny was written since the very first moment I was borned, to fight against the taint. I´m
Hiruma Kaoru, a bushi of the family Hiruma, a samurai-ko of the Crab clan.
I´m the oldest of two siblings. My brother, Hiruma Hideo, is still training at Shiro Hiruma.

Once I succeeded in my Gempukku, I was sent to the Winter Court, so I could be aware that it´s
more than taint, onis and corrupted lands within the Empire. Once there, in between of the
representatives, I found extremely strange, and curious at the same time, a man dressed with just a
hakama and with his skin covered with several tattoos. His name was Togashi Jubei, he was one of
the representatives of the Dragon clan. I spoke with him just as a matter of courtesy and curiosity,
because I never saw a tattooed monk. I was delighted with his calm and his knowledge when he
spoke with me. Not long after that, he introduced me to the misteries of the meditation, something I
found very useful to calm the spirit of anyone enduring the horrors of the Shadowlands.

After several days, the Winter Court finished and both Togashi Jubei and myself left the castle. We
marched for several days together because we shared the same route. During that time I kept trainig
my meditation while I taught him about the horrors of the tainted lands, and how to resist there, in
case he had to cross his path with any of those aberrations.
The night before we had to split our ways, we took watches, as normal. In Togashi Jubei´s watch, he
was attacked by surprise by a group of bandits. I woke up when I listened the skirmish was taking
place, I unsheathed my katana and we tought side by side. While we fought, I could see how some
of his tattoos glowed, such an awesome prodigy! But I rapidly faced my enemy, one of a total of
six, until we defeated all.
When the combat ended I saw how he was heavily injured so instead of taking my way, I
accompanied him to the nearest village, where the doshin was very polite and helpful allowing us to
stay as much as we wished. I remained with him until he recovered quite well from his wounds,
well enough to travel again.
After we thanked the local doshin for his help, we arrive to the crossroads where we had to split our
routes, but he insisted me to go with him. He said that I was a great person and samurai-ko and he
insisted me to accept his help as an ally. I rejected it twice but finally, I did accept his gift at the
third time. I did the same, we became allies from that moment.

I´m not sure if one day I´ll need his help, but if I had to, I know that I´ll have someone to count
with.