Shimokawa

It would be a peaceful dawn - well, not so peaceful anymore. The town was starting to buzz to life as per the usual at the morning twilight, and if sources were right there were trade carts being prepped. Which meant easy loot.

And it would be over a hill that a number of ants came swarming across the landscape - a bandit raid. They would reach the edges of the town in minutes, bringing with them the sound of a stampede. A few on horseback were leading the charge to try and open the roads, clearing what few idiots might be there for protections whether they be pedestrian or guard. They would have the ripe goods today!

Bonk! The orange tagged the man in the side of the head and he tugged hard on the reins of his mount, calling the animal to a sudden, skidding stop. He wheeled around quick, glaring at the young woman. Stupid thing - he'd teach her. He was quick to jump down from the saddle and storm over to where she stood with a malice - ignoring his mates rushing into town and the villagers fleeing.

His task? A clear, cruel backhand aimed to strike her to the face and put her on the ground. She seemed like a dainty thing - it couldn't be that hard a task to put her in her place.

The rest of the invaders were already swarming the markets for anything of value and robbing any unlucky peasant unfortunate enough to get caught. To collect the valuables as quickly as possible, two horsemen quickly dragged in a pair of wooden carts to start tossing things in.

The bandit was, needless to say, surprised that she stopped his hand - staring and blinking for a minute. But it ebbed out to a cruel sneer before he attempted to shove her into the nearby wall with both hands.

"Hey, I'm just wanting my cut - man's gotta make a living," he grunts, looking her over. Nice clothes, jewelry. This wasn't just a peasant girl. Chances were she had some standing with a nice family in town. That gave him an idea.

Just as well to that, two more of his comrades came skidding their boots to a halt to get a look at the girl, too. "Whatcha got here?" one asked.

"Pretty little thing's got a mouth."

There's a chuckle amongst the three of them as they circled her to the wall and prevented her escape. The first one made a hard clap of his hand to a comrade's shoulder. "Tie her up and take her - bet we can hold her for a pretty coin." He would then turn to find his mount again - leaving her to the two.

Where one would eager make a grab for one arm as the other followed suit, though a little hesitant. Assuming she didn't make much of a fuss, she would find herself being dragged towards the back of one of the carts and her wrists bound painfully with palms together. The eager one would made quick work - the other, watching with a skeptical stare, like he didn't quite approve.

The hands were tied, and her ankles came next. Fortunately the ruffian held no interest in anything beneath the kimono - he was way too interested in a small market stall with a number of trinkets that he could raid. This left the poor girl with the last man standing nearby.

Sadly, his face was covered - leaving him standing there and watching her with dark eyes. It was almost like he forgot what was going on around them, with his comrades rushing the streets and taking whatever they could get. Before the cart was jolted forward to move to the next haul he would hop in back - prepared to take in whatever was thrown in back.

But his first course of action? He would begin to untie her hands...? No, he was redoing the ties - crossing her wrists to allow better movement of her hands and take the stiffness out of her arms as they were bound before her. And he would do something similar to her ankles - allowing a little slack so that she could stand on her own, though walking wasn't going to happen. And he took a moment to smooth out the hems of her kimono at her feet - odd that he seemed to care. But aside from that, he continued to assist his brothers in their theft.

He didn't say a word - he barely even nodded in acknowledgement to her thanks. His attention was seemingly now wholeheartedly on what they were gathering. There were items of worth, food, clothes, trinkets - the list was staggering. They took everything they could get their hands on in the course of an hour.

And at the call of bandit leaders, they began to rush out of the streets and over the hills like water - making haste to get out of the town before any word reached the lord of the province or any of his men.

The bandit riding in the cart with her kept his attention anywhere besides her - he was definitely an odd one. Izumi would find she was being whisked off with their haul well away from town and into the trees well off in the distance - the dense forests in the area.

After a long run, Izumi would finally find herself back in the village. The place where the raid had taken place looked in ruins and nothing had been cleaned up yet. People were clearing up pieces of food and smashed foods and vegetables that had been trampled on the ground. Because of how busy they were it took a while before she was noticed.

"Ooh dear! Are you alright? Fujioka-san told us he had seen you being taken by the bandits!" An old lady said as she made her way towards Izumi, offering her a hand. Izumi would gladly take it, her wrists still bright red with the rings of the ropes and her hair in much more of a mess then anyone was used to her from. "I was Ikeda-san. I am not sure why, but one of them let me go." she told her. The old lady would brush her cheek and Izumi would smile back at her trying to make sure the old lady wouldn't worry. "I am not hurt. I just really need to find my parents. Words must have reached them and I don't want to worry them." she said as she started to make her way towards her own house in the richer parts of the village. She had run so much today, a bit more would likely not hurt her.

When she finally made her way home she was embraced with open arms. Her father had already send a message towards the Daimyo to make note of the attack and had made mention of her kidnapping. He had warned the Daimyo to make no further deals with him if he did not proceed to assist him in getting his daughter back. Lucky for him he seemed to be able to already send a message after his first to let the Daimyo know his assitance was no longer needed to get her back, though assistant in restoration of the village was gladly taken. Izumi would proceed to bath herself and wash away most of her worries. Her wounds would be looked at by one of the doctors of the village. They would put ointment on the burns and wrap them in soft silken bandages. After that Izumi felt alright again.

The man would be found by one of the villagers. Thought weary at first, they soon found out he was no threat to them. He would be taken towards one of the doctor suites immidiatly where he would be treated according to his needs.

It would be by the end of the day when Izumi had been refreshed and had taken a nap to shake all the things of the passed day of her. Her father had insisted she would visit the doctor's office once she had woken up to get a full check on. He was concerned that she had been mentally hurt for more then just the stains on her hands and ankles and wanted to doctor to make a full report. He also was concerned about them having raped her, even though she had stated that nothing such a thing never happened. It was an important detail if her father ever hoped to marry her off for his own personal needs.

When she entered she would need to wait as many of the doctors were busy with some other patient. Someone who had fainted on the streets was all she could make out of it. She didn't pay it much attention, she just wanted to visit to be over.

Only after she had been seen by the doctor and he had conformed that she was still a maiden she could breath easy. Though she know it wouldn't have been her own fault if something like that actually had happened to her, but she also knew her father would not forgive her if it had. Taking away a big opportunity to make a bond by marriage with one of this rivals or even co-workers would have been a big dissapointment.

They were still busy with the man when she came out. Feeling more calm now she went to take a look from afar, when she started to notice the patterns on his clothing. The facemask that was laying on his neck gave her the final thing that she needed to recognize him. Her face immediatly went straight white. This was her fault... If she had just sat it out and waited for her father to pay her ransom he wouldn't have gotten hurt. But now it was her fault and he was hurt badly. One of the maids noticed her standing there, but didn't give her much time before rushing back to the patient. "Do you know him ?" was the only thing the nurse asked in a quick passing. "I have only seen him once... If there is anything I can do to help please let me know." she told the nurses before turning around to one of the main desks. She would instruct the lady there to contact the Kita residence as soon as the man would regain concious and that they would take full responsibility of any costs that came to his recovery.