Kindling of Wrath
By Miss-DNL
Chapter 2: Rude Meeting
Hanzo Hasashi was heading home from a rather uneventful day of school. It was the usual, sit through the teacher talking, do some in class work, groan at the prospect of homework, ignore what the other kids were saying about him, eat lunch, avoid others during recess, then do the same things in class again. He liked P.E though, he got to show how good he was a physical activities then. It was one of the few times the other kids wanted to have him on their team. Not many were very keen on being around him because of his 'grouchy' personality. Hanzo didn't like being at school and he made it known. He made no efforts to get to know any one, then again no one made efforts to get to know him. They all assumed he'd was a bad kid so he let them believe that, and his temper helped. If it got him to be left alone like he wanted then Hanzo had no reason to disprove their claim.
Still, it always bothered him to see the other kids laughing and playing with their friends. That's when he felt the most alone.
Hanzo sighed dully to himself, as he walked by himself on his way to his home. His amber eyes darted around keeping an eye out for his bullies. He hadn't seen much of them at school, weakly he thought they found another target. Hanzo knew he wasn't that lucky though, they were probably just skipping school today. Knowing his luck they were probably waiting around the corner for him.
Blinking he looked and saw a new family moving in to the neighborhood. He hummed for a moment watching the movers bringing in boxes one by one. They set the boxes inside placed them down in what Hanzo assumed was the living room then went back out to get another box. Hanzo watched this process for a while, oddly finding it interesting. He'd never seen someone move in before, it'd been years since anyone had moved into their small community. They lived in a small town, near a larger city. It was only a matter of time before their town became a part of the city.
Then Hanzo spotted someone, a girl about his age. Long black hair past her shoulders, he froze a bit when he saw her looking at him. He snapped his head away from her and began to walk away. He didn't like it when people stared at him it made him feel out of place. Strange. He didn't like that, there was nothing wrong with him.
The young boy stopped when he heard something, familiar voices. Hanzo snapped his head when he saw a group of three older boys heading his way. They were his bullies. Two were Soma a shorter, but still taller than him, but stocky boy and Ryota a tall thin punkish looking boy. The leader was a Chinese boy named Chang, from what Hanzo knew his family immigrated to Japan recently. Once he moved in that was when the bullying started. Hanzo's father Oda said it was likely his way of making him feel less out of place, pick on someone supposedly stranger than he to take attention off of himself. Hanzo thought it was stupid, but so long as he was younger, smaller, and physically weaker there wasn't much he could do.
They hadn't noticed him yet, he had a chance to bolt down the street and into the woods that led to his home. However, something in him was telling him to stand his ground and fight to show them he wasn't a weak coward. It was so hard to ignore, so hard to turn away. Hanzo gritted his teeth, his father wouldn't like it if he got in a fight though. He ran down the street, he couldn't disappoint his father two days in a row. He also was still sore from the last fight plus the training he did at home.
Hanzo could hear the kids chasing after him, calling out names and insults. He hated the term 'coward' they threw out so much but he kept himself barreling forward through the woods. Soon as he was far enough ahead he climbed up a tree, getting as high as he could. He sat there listening, to the sounds of Soma, Ryota and Chang looking for him but they quickly grew bored of their little 'game' and left.
Relieved Hanzo sighed leaning his head back against the tree. He didn't feel like moving, his legs ached from the strain of running. Resting his eyes he just laid there enjoying the peace he was having for the moment. Eventually he'd have to return home but he's father would be fine with him being a little late.
"Hey! What are you doing up there?"
Hanzo furrowed his brows when he heard the voice, it wasn't a boy's voice so it wasn't his bullies. He looked down and saw it was the girl from the family that was moving in. Why in the world did she follow him all the way out here? Hanzo looked her over, she was wearing a nice white blouse, with a red skirt. Deciding to ignore her presence he leaned out of view trying to wordlessly say he wanted to be left alone. The girl didn't seem to get this.
"How'd you get up there?" She asked, Hanzo ignored her again. She stared up at where he would be and realized she hadn't introduced herself yet. Somehow she figured this was why he wasn't talking to her, "I'm Kana. What's your name?"
Hanzo looked back down at her, she was beginning to get annoying. Couldn't she tell he wanted to be left alone? He rolled his eyes at her introduction, "I don't care who you are. Go away."
Kana stiffened at the unkind response, "That was rude! I was just asking!"
"Whatever…" Hanzo replied dully he with his arms crossed looking away, hoping the girl would leave soon.
The girl in the blouse pursed her lips, looking up at the boy in the tree, looking away she crossed her arms, "I bet I could get up there too!" She said confidently.
Hanzo scoffed amusedly at this, "Yeah right." He responded. The girl hardly looked like she'd ever even touched a tree before. She was so neatly dress she looked like a doll just taken out of a box!
"I can too!" Kana snapped back arms stiffly at her sides.
Smirking to himself Hanzo looked down at her, "Then do it!" He challenged before leaning his back against the tree with a smug grin on his face.
"Just watch me!" The girl yelled back to the boy in the tree. She looked at the tall obstacle in front of her trying to decide what would be best method to overcome it. In the end she just jumped up trying to grip onto the tree, only to end up falling down onto her rear with a thud. She scrunched her brows feeling frustrated already. Hearing an amused snicker from Hanzo got her to try again immediately. However, her next try wasn't much better than the last but Kana was determined to succeed and kept trying.
Hanzo getting bored of watching the girl repeatedly fail to climb the tree shook his head and began to ignore her. Eventually she'd give up and he'd be left to his peace and quiet again. However, soon enough he heard one of her attempts was actually seeming to go well so he looked back over the side of the branch he was on. Hanzo raised a brow, she was actually climbing her way up! The amber eyed boy said nothing to this though and merely watched her, waiting to see if she'd fail or not this time.
A couple of times it seemed like she was going to slip down but Kana stubbornly clung to the tree. Finally she reached the first branch and pulled herself up. Then onto the next and the one after that soon enough Kana sat victoriously on a branch next to the one Hanzo was on. She held her head up proudly, Hanzo braced himself for what was coming, "See? Told you I could do it!"
Hanzo grinned slightly, "Yeah after failing a bunch of times!"
Kana scrunched her brows and stuck her tongue out at him, "I still did it!"
The amber eyed boy looked away, though seemed amused, "Yeah, yeah, good for you." He teased with a slight smirk.
"You're rude." Kana said with an annoyed frown, she'd never met such a person before. Then again her Father was picky about who she hung out with. Still she was curious about why the boy was up in the tree. Well she knew why but that lead to another question.
"So I've heard…" Hanzo said dully to himself his arms still crossed.
The girl blinked hearing that but decided not to question him about that, instead she decided to ask him something else, "Why were those boys chasing you?" She questioned while leaning forward slightly.
Hanzo's mood soured hearing the question, posture stiffening defensively, Kana noticed this but kept quiet as he answered, "Because they don't like that I'm not the same as them." He growled bitterly, eyes narrowing to a glare directed at nothing in particular.
Kana tilted her head not understanding the reasoning, "How are you different?"
Looking back to his apparent company he pointed to his eyes, "My eyes are a different color."
Squinting her eyes curiously trying to see his eye color. Seeing it was indeed different, a sort of tanned yellowish color-kind of. Kana smiled finding it interesting, she'd never seen an eye color like that before! Sounding excited she asked, "Wow! What kind of color is that?"
Hanzo looked at her seeming a bit surprised he blurted out an answer, "Amber."
Kana smiled at him, "They look nice." She complimented, Hanzo stared at her not used to hearing that. Not that he'd really tried to talk to people but they never talked to him either. Not in a nice manner anyway. Not seeming to notice the stunned expression on his face Kana pointed to her eyes, "Mine are just brown."
The boy looked at her eyes and they were indeed brown, a rather dark shade but it suited her he supposed. He nodded that he noticed her eye color.
Thinking Kana furrowed her brow, "So they chase you because they don't like your eye color? That seems stupid." She commented dully not sounding impressed by the reasoning.
Hanzo snorted in agreement, "It is!" He exclaimed sounding frustrated. Hanzo paused a moment, while kicking his feet, and added, "Well, it's also because my family is poor and my Father is teaching me Ninjutsu."
"Still seems stupid that they are mean because of that stuff." Kana commented with a frown. Hanzo look to her, it was weird that someone was agreeing with him but he liked it so he didn't complain. Suddenly Kana's face lit up making the boy arch a brow confusedly. He wondered what got her so excited all of a sudden. Grinning at the boy she asked, "Wait is your Dad teaching you how to be a ninja?"
"Well, sort of," Hanzo half answered, he rubbed his neck feeling a bit nervous all of a sudden. He wasn't sure how to take someone being interested in what he was being taught. It honestly made him feel a bit, well…shy.
Looking back to the girl she had a confused look on her face. Hanzo looked away while he answered, "I mean he's teaching me fighting skills, stealth and stuff but he doesn't actually want me to be a ninja."
Understanding now Kana nodded, "Oh I get it now."
Hanzo looked at the girl suddenly feeling curious, "Why where you staring at me when I was outside of your house?"
"Huh?" Kana said with a quirk of her brow, realizing what he was asking, "Oh, well you were just kind of standing there staring at the movers." Hanzo stopped a moment realizing he had been standing and staring. Kind of embarrassing really. He perked when the girl went on, "Also you seemed kind of lonely."
The amber eyed boy bristled at the teasing tone, "I did not!" He yelled indignantly getting an amused giggle from the girl making him blush.
"Yes you did!" Kana teased finding the blush on the boy's face looked kind of funny.
"Did not…" Hanzo muttered to himself, he huffed trying to rub the blush off of his cheeks. Of course it didn't work but he liked to think it did. Looking to his home Hanzo realized he'd been sitting in the tree for a while. His father was probably wonder where he was. He looked back over to Kana, "I gotta go. My Father is waiting for me."
"Is he going to teach you more ninja stuff today?" She asked excitedly, Kana had never heard of anyone's Dad teaching them Ninjutsu before!
"Yeah, I get lessons every day." Hanzo answered normally with a slight shrug.
"Can I watch?" Kana ask leaning forward a bit again, excited hopefulness in her voice.
"You want to watch?" Hanzo questioned expression becoming surprised and more so when the girl nodded to him. The amber eyed boy soon found himself smiling, excited by the thought of someone being interested in what he was learning. He thought for a moment, "I don't know, no one has ever come over before…" He looked to her grinning excitedly, "Let's go ask my Father!"
"Okay!" Kana responded with a nod. The girl watched as the boy easily jumped down from the tree. She bit her lip wondering if she could copy that, carefully she scooted herself off the branch. The girl didn't want to seem like a scaredy cat after all. Once off the branch she fell to the ground landing on her butt.
"You okay?" Hanzo asked, he'd forgotten that the girl wasn't trained like he was. He was relieved when she nodded.
"Yeah, I'm okay." Kana answered. She blinked when Hanzo held his hand out to her, she thought he'd tease him. Kana smiled and took his hand letting the amber eyed boy help her back to her feet. Maybe he wasn't so bad after all, even if he was a bit rude.
Hanzo led the girl a little further into the area, the woods giving way to a more clear area which in the middle sat a small older looking home. A stone pathway leading up to the home and around to the backyard which was fenced off. Hanzo with a quick pace walked partway over to the home. Looking back to the girl he suddenly felt a bit worried what she thought of his home. He pushed those thoughts away, it didn't really matter what she thought of his house he trained in the backyard anyway. Motioning to his house he says, "Here's my home."
Kana looked at the house, it was clear it was an older home but that wasn't an issue for her. She didn't really care what it looked like, kind of made it look homey in a way in fact. She smiled to the boy, she hoped they could be friends, "It looks nice."
The amber eyed boy smiled slightly, the girls wasn't as bad as he first thought. Still he wasn't about to call her a friend just yet. Walking over to the home, Kana in tow, he opened the front door with his key and called inside, "Father I'm home!"
Kana stared as the tall frame of Hanzo's father came into view. She'd never seen someone so tall. Get over the surprising height she saw he was also older than she thought he'd be but defiantly didn't seem like a feeble old man. Especially since he didn't seem that old. Kana lowered her head when Hanzo's father spotted her feeling intimidated by the bigger person. Oda's stern face didn't really help. Meekly she waved at him, her voice quiet, "Hello."
Oda was perplexed by the sight of his son with another child. His son had never seemed interested in befriending other children, or liking socializing in general for that matter. It had honestly been worrying for the Father. He couldn't just keep himself closed off for all of his life, but Oda had no way of making his son play with other children. He had tried a couple of times but his son would find ways of keeping to himself. Now with the sudden presence of another child he was confused, yet at the same time he was hopeful. Maybe his son finally found a friend, and a girl for that matter. He took it as a good sign.
"Hanzo, who is this with you?" Oda asked as he looked at the girl, previously he was going to ask what kept his son but he was clearly fine so it wasn't of concern.
"This is Kana," Hanzo introduced motioning to the girl, "She just moved in and she wants to watch me train!" He chimed before looking at the girl then back to his father, "Can she watch Father?"
The father was a bit surprised by his son's excitement, but he was a child after all and this would be his first time having someone over. Or have someone show interest in what he was being taught for that matter, so he was sure it was natural. Looking to the girl he could see she was intimidated by him but he ignored that. Thinking a moment he figured there was no harm in letting her watch so he nodded, "I don't see why not, but there is time before your training starts."
"I know Father, I'll work on my homework first." Hanzo answered normally.
Oda nodded to this then looked at the girl, "Do your parents know that you're out here?"
Kana lowered her gaze a bit making Oda frown, clearly he parents did not know she wandered. Hanzo looked to her seeming a bit worried that she wouldn't be able to stay. Smiling warily she says, "I'll go ask my Daddy…"
Hanzo's father shook his head, he didn't want to risk ruining his son's first playdate but he didn't want to get this girl's parents upset with him either. Sadly the girl's parents took priority, "Yes you will and I'll take you to them to be safe." Oda glanced back at his son, as expected the child looked upset his possible playmate might not be able to stay. Guiding the girl back outside Oda says to his son, "Work on your homework Hanzo. I'll try and see about getting your new friend's parents to let her come over."
"Yes Father…" Hanzo said obediently his voice low with disappointment, he watched sadly as his father shut the door and left with Kana. He sighed as he headed to his room to do his homework. What should he have expected anyway? Of course it'd turn out like this. Noticing the dismal thoughts Hanzo shook his head dismissing them. His father would work something out, surely he would.
Pulling his small backpack off his back he tossed it onto his bed before pulling out his homework. He frowned at his math homework, he'd do that last. Hanzo had never liked math, and he didn't know what he'd do with it outside of school. He pulled out his history homework, this was something he liked to do. Not because it was easier but because he found it interesting. He also had some writing homework but that was easy enough for him. Pulling out a pencil he set to work, at least now he didn't have noisy classmates distracting him from his work.
Sitting in the silence Hanzo did his work, waiting for his Father to come home with Kana's parents' answer. He figured if it was a no he could go over to her house the next day and ask if she could come over. The amber eyed boy scrunched his brow, he didn't want to wait though! Hanzo blinked, that was a first he'd never gotten upset about not being able to play with someone before. Then again this was the first time he'd found someone he liked being around even though it had only be a short while. Hanzo could tell this girl was nice though. He hoped her parent's wouldn't be upset with her and let her come over for a bit.
Eventually Hanzo finished his homework, each paper didn't have that many questions on it since his wasn't far along his schooling. The math took a bit because it was math and for writing he had a small passage to read. Hanzo sighed, he really didn't care for school, but he was done with it for the day so he put his school supplies up.
He hadn't heard his father return so it was just him in the house. The young boy looked around his room he didn't have many toys, he preferred playing outside but right now he didn't feel like that. For a moment he stood there before wandering out of his room and towards his father's room. Normally he didn't go into his father's room out of principal. It was after all it wasn't his room. It was his father's. It wasn't right to go looking around someone's room without their permission. He wasn't going to take anything or rummage around though, Hanzo just wanted to look at something.
Hanzo opened the door carefully like his father was still in their home. Looking inside he saw that the room liked like it always did. Pushing the door all the way open Hanzo slipped inside heading right over to what he wanted to look at.
Hung on the wall was his father's chained kunai. Hanzo had always been attracted to the weapon and his interest grew every year. His father had chalked it up to their bloodline specializing in the weapon. It was in his son's blood to want to learn how to wield and eventually master the chained kunai.
The item was of course out of his reach for the time being, but Hanzo just wanted to look. He knew the item was dangerous, his father would remind him whenever he was around it so it was pretty hard to forget that fact.
'I'll learn how to use it when I get older, and I'll master it just like Father has.' Hanzo thought to himself, his inner voice brimming with determination. He'd master it, even if he wasn't going to be a Shirai Ryu. He'd master like his father and his fore fathers. If anything he'd do it just to make his father proud of him, that's all he ever wanted.
Having done what he wanted to do Hanzo quietly left the room shutting the door behind him. His father still wasn't home, he'd return soon though Hanzo figured. He sighed softly he didn't know what to do now. Further Hanzo was still slightly tense with anticipation to find out if Kana could come over or not. The only way to find that out was to wait. He grumbled a bit to himself out of irritation. He hated waiting, but he had no other choice.
Coming into the living room Hanzo went over to the window and resigned himself to sit there and wait. His father typically said he needed to learn to be patient once a week or so, maybe he could get a bit of practice on that. Hardly three minutes went by and the young boy was already bored with staring out the window. Not like there was much to see outside, he'd seen the woods since he was born after all and they hadn't changed much. Hanzo turned his head and looked at the living room. It was modest, there was a couch facing a small TV. Hanzo didn't watch much TV but his father liked to know what was going on with the world. Oda particularly liked hearing about deaths with no clear suspect. Hanzo briefly wondered if his father tried to figure out if they'd been killed by the Shirai Ryu. It couldn't be the Lin Kuei, the Shirai Ryu had managed to keep them out of their home turf though Oda said they'd still try at times. Afterwards his father told him something that was true about all Lin Kuei,
"The stubbornness of the Lin Kuei is unmatched and is the only thing that matches their ruthlessness."
Of course the child had never encountered a Lin Kuei ninja to see if this was actually true, but he had heard from his father that the clan was even older than the Shirai Ryu. He supposed it took some amount of stubbornness to stick around that long. In the end though none of that was important. He had promised his father he'd never join the Shirai Ryu, so his chance of meeting a Lin Kuei was slim.
Hanzo perked when he spotted his father's tall form heading back to the house, an excited grin covered his face when he saw Kana with him. He'd really have to thank his father for getting Kana's parents to let her come over. Quickly he hurried over to the door and pulled it over, "They said yes?" He exclaimed.
Even though he figured her being with his father meant yes he wanted to be sure. Seeing a bright smile form on Kana's face was enough confirmation though. Kana ran over to Hanzo stopping in front of him she nodded eagerly, "Yeah, Dad said it'd be best since their moving big stuff around."
"Great!" Hanzo exclaimed happily with a big grin, this was great! He felt great! He was really beginning to hope this meant he could be friend with this girl. She didn't think his eyes were weird, she didn't seem to mind he wasn't so well off money wise and even found his training cool! The last part was what really made him happy, he enjoyed his training more than anything after all.
"Hanzo, why don't you let her inside?" Oda said with an arched brow, pointing out that his son was standing in the middle of the door way.
Oda's son perked in slight, and brief, embarrassment before he quickly moved out of the way, "Oh, sorry." He apologized quickly.
"It's okay." Kana piped after she walked into the home, Hanzo's father walking in after her shutting the door behind him. Curious she looked around at what she could see of the house. Wasn't much and had an older feel to it but she quickly grew disinterested and looked to Hanzo, "Can I see your room?" She asked curiously.
Hanzo looked to his father looking for his approval. Oda looked down at his son, typically he would not postpone the time his training started but seeing as this was his son's first time with a friend over Oda was feeling a little lenient. He nodded to Hanzo, "I'll give you thirty minutes extra before your training starts. Use it wisely."
"Yes Father!" Hanzo responded happily, grinning he took Kana's hand and led her down the hall to his room.
Oda smiled softly as he watched his son run off with his new friend. He hadn't seen his son this excited about something other than training in what seemed like forever. It had been far too long and it delighted him that it was about making a friend. Of course he kept himself calm and composed but he was happy nonetheless. His new friend being a girl gave him hope for his son's future though. Yes, it he couldn't guarantee that the two would take interest in each other when they grew older, or even stayed friends that long, but there was always a chance. He'd always worried that with his son's solitary nature he'd have trouble finding a partner in the future. Now with Kana there was a little more hope. Hopefully the two remained friends long enough for him to get a better idea whether it'd happen or not. Moving into the living room Oda clicked on the TV a smile on his lips as he said to himself in a joking manner, "Maybe I will get to have Grandchildren."
Inside of his room Hanzo was completely unaware of his father's thoughts on his new friend. He was currently more focused on what he was going to do in his room. He didn't have much, but he didn't really ask for much from his father in the way of material things. He'd given up on that a long time ago, he had learned early on that you can always get what you want. Sitting on his bed he tapped his feet together as he and Kana sat silently in his room. Hanzo really wasn't sure what they should do. He looked at Kana she was quietly just looking around his room.
Kana looked around the room, there were a few toys lying sparingly about the room. None of them really caught her eye in particular. The walls were bare and there was a cloth curtain hanging by the window. A few books were on a short book shelf, but what caught her eye was the training equipment lying neatly over in one corner of the room. Particularly the wooden practice sword. Smiling she went over and picked the wooden sword up, "Cool, do you use this to practice sword fighting?"
Hanzo nodded, "Yeah that's my bokken. Father made it for me when I started my sword fighting practice."
Hopping off his bed he went over to Kana, once she handed him the bokken, he took a sword stance and did a few swings, "I really want to learn how to wield two swords though! I thought about using a ōdachi, a great sword, but using two mugai ryu or ninja blades seems cooler to me. They're also faster to use!"
During the whole time he had been talking about what type of swords he wanted to learn to use a big eager grin had been on his face. Realizing how excited he had acted Hanzo froze before shyly turning his head away, "Well, I think it's cooler anyway."
Kana thought about it, "I guess two swords would be better than one." She shrugged a bit, she didn't know enough about swords to really give an opinion. Using two swords instead of one did seem more effective though.
Hanzo gave her a slight smile, thankful she had poked fun at his overexcitement. He smiled in a confident manner, "That's what I think."
Kana smiled before sitting on Hanzo's bed, "So do you train every day?" She asked curiously.
The amber eyed boy nodded, "Yep," He grinned at her, "And I get better every day!"
"Of course!" Kana laughed, going along with the boy's statement, "Practice makes perfect right?"
"Right!" Hanzo agreed with a happy grin.
Oda smiled to himself as he listened to the happy chatter coming from his son's room. It made him feel good himself. Such was a parent, the child was happy the parent felt happy themselves. Oda looked at the clock, of course not much time had passed. Still plenty of time for Hanzo to chat away and play, and maybe just maybe Oda would accidently lose track of time. The father chuckled at the thought, it was his first time having a friend over after all. He wanted his son to enjoy it, hopefully it'd encourage him to be more social. Maybe, his son was a loner by nature but at the least it served as encouragement for him to keep this friend.
Looking at the TV Oda watched the news, nothing too eye catching so far but he continued to watch. He tensed slightly as a murder was brought up. Oda recognized the work, clean and precise and no suspects. He sighed to himself, muttering, "Seems the clan is still in business…"
It was no surprise really. The clan was the largest assassination group in Japan, it was almost a monopoly. There was always people who wanted contracts as well, most of society feared the thought but in the end there was always a market for it. The clan also stole things as well, but their main money maker would always be assassinations. The Shirai Ryu is was part of societies dark side. It had been centuries since the Shirai Ryo were formed from a splinter group of the Lin Kuei. Takeda the founder had begun to think the Lin Kuei were growing corrupt so he fled to Japan to start his own clan. For many years he evaded assassination attempts, long enough for him to have a suitable heir to take his place. In the end though he died by poisoned tea, though there was no proof the Shirai Ryu suspected the Lin Kuei was behind the murder. Only adding fuel for the hatred between the clans.
Far as Oda was concerned, any assassination group has corruption to some degree. There is no honor in killing for money. He only wished he had seen it sooner.
As for the Lin Kuei, their ruthlessness and lack of mercy spoke for itself. For a while what worried Oda were strange killings with ice…he couldn't figure out how it was done. He knew no Shirai Ryu had that ability, so he suspected Lin Kuei since incidents were mainly in China. Even if he was no longer Shirai Ryu it concerned him that the Lin Kuei had such power at their disposal.
Sighing faintly to himself Oda pushed his concern towards the assassin clans out of his head. He was no longer a part of it, it was not his issue. As much as he told himself that he knew part of himself would always be concerned for his clan. A small part of the fellowship the father had for the clan would never go away. He could only resist it pulling him back to the clan, something he had gotten very good at doing.
After passing the time watching the news for a while longer, during which he pinned one other murder being done by his former clan, Oda got up and headed to his son's room. It had been a total of forty minutes but he decided not to mention that. As usual Hanzo was eager to get to his training, this time he asked if they'd be focusing on swordplay. Oda confirmed this and they headed outside. It was a bit amusing though he had to correct him on occasion but it was clear his son was trying to show off a bit to his new friend. The father had to withhold a chuckle to this as he recalled doing the same with his own friends. Other than that the training went normally. Afterwards he smiled when the girl Kana was impressed by what his son had done, earning a prideful grin from Hanzo. Oda gave his son and the girl a drink and a snack before letting them chat a bit as his son was too tired to play.
"So you're going to go to my school?" Hanzo asked as he held a cup of water in his hands.
"Yeah, it's the closest one to my house," Kana answered with a smile, "Maybe we'll get the same teacher!"
The amber eyed boy perked up happily, "That'd be great!"
Oda smiled again at the sight, maybe now his son would actually be interested in going to school. He had never gone to any public school, all of his schooling had been done in the Shirai Ryu. It was part of the reason why he didn't have a very high paying job but he had enough good schooling to get a decent one. He knew his son was smart he just needed a reason to be interested in schooling. Hopefully a friend would at least make him more eager to go.
Of course soon the time came for Kana to go home. As with before Oda was going to escort the child back to her house. As they were walking out the door Kana turned back to Hanzo, who was hiding his sad feelings with an indifferent face, she smiled brightly with a wave, "See you tomorrow!"
Hanzo brightened and waved back to her, "Okay, see you tomorrow!"
While they were walking back Oda looked to the little girl, "I'm very thankful you decided to meet my son today. You're probably the first friend he's made."
"Well, he was kind of rude when I first met him." Kana mentioned normally, not meaning anything really negative towards the boy.
Oda sighed, he should have known, "Yes, he tends to be very blunt about things…I apologize for his behavior."
Kana smiled clearly having gotten over the negatives the meeting. "It's okay. He's actually not that bad once I got to know him. I think he was just a little lonely."
Oda looked down and smiled at the child, "You're probably right, he doesn't really spend much time with people other than myself and children need to play with others at least once in a while." Kana nodded in agreement to this. "I hope you'll help him with that."
"I will Mr. Hasashi!" Kana declared with a big smile.
"I'm happy to hear that." Oda said with a slight chuckle as he continued to walk her back to her home.
Ah! Finally got this done!
As I said before, it's pretty weird writing this. I'm getting over this and I'm actually reading a good story to help with this that has something similar. At least in regards with writing a childhood sort of thing. It's called Dawning of a New Son a really good Danny Phantom AU fic. I'd only suggest reading it if you have A LOT of free time. The chapters are long and it has over 50 chapters and is still going.
Anyhow in regards to the chapter I had a bit of trouble filling out the length but after I found a few elements I wanted to touch on things slowly fell into place. Such as Hanzo's social life, or lack their of. I never pictured Hanzo/Scorpion as a social guy growing up, being a bit of an outcast of course doesn't help. Being younger though at the moment he is more open to the idea though, but as he gets older it'll be tougher but pre-undead not nigh impossible as undead specter Scorpion. As for Kana...I have to flesh her out a bit...considering she only has been really shown once and that's sadly MK: Legacy now her part wasn't bad it was nice to see her with Hanzo but of course she was only shown s she could die soon after. I decided to make her the more accepting curious child, so she'd find Hanzo's training interesting but also a bit of a daring/stubborn side so she wouldn't back down despite his rougher personality and of course wandering off a bit.
I really like writing for Oda he's a good father with a troubled past which I think is fitting for Hanzo.
I also liked writing the parts dealing with the Lin Kuei and Shirai Ryu, but that's a given. As for the ice killings no that isn't Bi-Han or his younger brother Kuai Liang. That's actually their father, but he won't show up seeing as this story stays in Japan. It's just a bit of a nod to his resistance. Also interesting enough Scorpion's apprentice Takeda has the same name as his clan's founder.
So... that makes
A Sub-Zero who died and another who lived...and a Kung Lao who died and another lived...and a Takeda who died and another who lived...
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