Sutega Suki

Lady Sutega Suki was Aizai's mother, and wife to Hideo Suki. Being hopelessly devoted to her husband, she was talked into committing suicide on Aizai's tenth birthday beside her lover.

Appearance
Sutega Suki was a beautiful young woman with long, cherry blossom pink hair and longing blue eyes. Having a naturally small ribcage, she was often perceived as underweight, though she always proved to be in perfect health.

Sutega was always found wearing a dress of some sort, though her favorite was a strapless black ball gown, in which she later committed suicide, and was buried.

Personality
Sutega was known for her sincere love for Hideo, and her love of painting. She often struggled to find something of artistic value in everything, and would sometimes recite haikus while gathering inspiration, or while painting, a habit she found rather embarrassing.

Despite her loving personality, she couldn't connect with Aizai emotionally, and often left her alone. She often felt incredible guilt over not being able to feel compassion for her own child, and would sometimes cry herself to sleep at night over it.

Bio
Sutega grew up in a small, but busy family. Despite suggestions from the hospital staff upon her birth, her mother named her with the hopes she would "embrace her name, and throw away any troubles that came her way". For the most part, this was taught to Sutega well. Though her classmates would tease her growing up, she tried not to let it bother her. Eventually, she discovered painting as a form of stress relief, and would paint every day, taking it on as a great passion.

She would paint people, landscapes, animals, daily life, and even images she saw in her dreams. It was actually during art class one day in high school that she met Hideo Suki, as he came to investigate a situation one of the other clan members had with a teacher earlier in the day. He had stopped upon noticing her, and disrupted his discussion with the principal to approach Sutega, complimenting her talent. When she replied modestly, he took her by the hand and asked her out.

She was so taken by his direct approach, that she accepted his offer, and agreed to meet him for dinner that night. She was a little shy at first, but quickly opened up to the charming young man. When she found out he was the head of the Suki clan, she fearfully distanced herself, afraid of what she was getting involved with, as she knew the Sukis were a powerful, and dangerous clan. She did not come from a noble, nor powerful family, so fears of not being good enough began running through her mind as well.

Eventually, however, Hideo convinced her to continue seeing him, and it wasn't long before they were married. The day she became pregnant, after years of trying, she painted for days on end, trying to predict what her child would look like, and throwing the painting aside to be burned if she didn't like it. After Aizai was born, Sutega found herself overwhelmed by the needs of the child, and had trouble bonding with her daughter. She had even confessed to Hirei, once, "I don't love her. I want to love her, but for some reason I can't. She's just there, to me. I don't hate her, but I love her no more than a bird loves the grass".

As the years went by, she struggled to keep hold of her relationship with Hideo, as well. His sudden, rapid decline into insanity tore her apart inside, but she tried hard to keep it a secret from the rest of the clan. Despite his violent, manic episodes, she continued to love him. When he finally suggested they commit suicide together, she was baffled. He began begging her, saying he wanted his suffering to end, but he didn't want to be alone, and she finally agreed, feeling Aizai would have plenty of people to look after her for them.