Tachibana Kinu is a covert Kensei agent. Like all the members of her order she is deadly with the blade and capable of facing several opponents at once. But compared to her peers her martial arts are below average. Where she truly excelled was the art of subterfuge, disguise, and information gathering. A traveling merchant or begar hears many rumors. A noble getting blackout drunk and drowning in his spring during a night with a prostitute is scandalous but not unheard of, another getting deathly sick after a new servant joins the staff is not even worth mentioning.

“Lord Sanemori’s death is judged accidental, brought on by excessive wine. The woman attending him departed before the event in question. Although this is common among women of her profession, she should be brought to me for questioning.”  
—final report of the provincial magistrate, 

Tachibana Kinu was one of the Kensei sent after the revolutionary Anjirō. After a long time as part of his crew she revealed herself when the force went to crush him in a public display. One of the few captured alive after the disaster she escaped captivity and attempted to sacrifice herself destroying what she thought was an irreplaceable supply of gunpowder. Again she survived but this time with unmistakable burns covering most of her body and all of her face. Robbed of her most useful abilities Tachibana Kinu recuperates with her brothers and sisters of the Kensei and solely bears the shame of the dozens that failed.

“Get your fucking hands off me. Pass me the Moon damned salve and I’ll do it myself. I will fucking gut you if you come in here again while I’m asleep”  
\-treatment log of an anonymous Kensei

“Honor? The Emperor had enough Kensei with honor. They died or they killed themselves for their failure. I’ll take my honor into my own hands, but I’m putting my knife in that bastards gut before my own”