Irish Girl: Ngl, I am sort of shipping Anna x Hwoarang too in here but not sure if I should let them be a thing lol. You may have to wait for the Jin x Nina kiss. I am so happy you are on board with my OTP. :D yaay, I hope this means you like Nina more now. I am so going to have fun writing about them during the Manji Valley times. So much fun. Them Jina shenanigans.
Thanks for reading and reviewing!
Chapter Fourteen
.
.
.
"You can't have our women! Too many male visitors in the past have seduced some of our women and left them with fatherless children." The gatekeeper informed hurriedly. He was sealed in armor, a glowing blue sword in hand, guarding the two huge doors behind him.
"Fuckin' hell man." Hwoarang said. "Who said we were interested in your women? So cocky aren't you?!"
"Our women are very much gorgeous, better than these two here." He said, pointing at the Williams sisters.
Nina raised her eyebrow and Anna scoffed.
"Excuse me?!" Anna snapped. "Us two sisters are like rare gems in ice!"
"I do not find you both appealing." The gatekeeper insolently replied.
Nina rolled her eyes. "Speak for yourself."
"These Manji valley women sound like they're horny for outsiders. Not getting their needs met here." Hwoarang muttered to Anna.
"Our women are innocent and you evil outsiders want to breed with them?!" The gatekeeper suddenly shot out, pointing at Hwoarang.
Hwoarang shoved himself in the front of the line.
"Hey it takes two to tango and I'm sure you need to marry your women to outsiders otherwise there'd be a lot of inbreeding going on!" Hwoarang pointed out.
"We do marry our women off to worthy neighbouring tribes." The gatekeeper piped back, pointing his sword at him. "And our rules still apply. No unknown male is allowed entry unless he brings his spouse! If you want to mate, do it with your own women! Not ours!"
"We're married." Nina suddenly said, linking her arm with Jin's. "If you just asked us, we would have told you."
"Yes we are." Jin said calmly, fighting a smirk off his lips.
"So are we." Anna said, linking her arm with Hwoarang who flinched at her touch. Did he want to suck her face in front of them?
The gatekeeper sighed and kept silent as if he was contemplating letting them in. There was a watchtower above the gate where another guard was silently observing them too. A woman ninja with a fox mask and red hair. She whistled at the gatekeeper and he looked up.
"Oi, let them in. They're two couples." She instructed. "We have room."
The gatekeeper uttered something unintelligible to her in agitation before turning to the four.
"We only have two spare bedrooms. You will have to sleep with your partners." The gate keeper said reluctantly. "You better not serenade our women!"
"That is perfect." Jin replied.
"My husband and I are on our honeymoon," Nina played along, showing googly eyes at Jin so that the gatekeeper brought their act. She caresses Jin's chest a little and even gives him a few pecks on the cheek. "Give us a luxury royal suite will you?"
Anna and Hwoarang raise their eyebrows at the charade. Anna never saw Nina kiss any man on the cheek before. What the hell was it about this Kazama guy that her asexual sister melting like a fool?
"Wait!" The guard keeper raised his hand at them. "How long you want to stay for?"
"Until the bitter winter is gone." Nina said. "Which could be three months?"
They had enough money for more months rent thanks to her stealing from Lee Chaolan.
Jin then negotiated with the gatekeeper, they'd be paying guests who wouldn't be rude to them and mock their way of life. It seemed to convince the guard who finally pushed open the double doors behind him. Nina was impressed with Jin taking the lead and for 'haggling'. It wasn't haggling per say but his soft-speak could melt ice.
Jin looked up at the watchtower guard who said nothing else. She just watched them silently with a smirk as they entered the opened doors, dragging their belongings with them.
.
"Welcome to the Manji Valley, home of the honorable Noh Ninjas." The tour guide introduced. "We have many beautiful sights but let's first start with the grand steps. See those big huge steps to your left? We don't use that at all."
They all looked to the left and saw a big chuck of concrete, damp and dark wide steps just sitting there. Jin could hear his own mother gasping in shock at such an ugly display of concrete which prevented the soil below from getting it's rainfall and from greenery growing.
"Then what is the purpose of them?" Jin queried. "Seems like a hazard to the environment."
"It's just for viewing pleasure, to make us look grand." The tour guide replied.
"Boy, does your place look so grand." Anna commented sarcastically. "Magnificent stairs we cannot use."
"It could be used for deterring enemies." Hwoarang shrugged, beating Nina to it. "And giving us an advantage during war."
She was about to say the same thing. The tour guide giggled nervously before moving on. When the brief tour was done, they were seated down on cots with fancy looking mini sausage pillows. It was a huge area of forest, plenty of trees, greenery and huts. People were going about their normal lives, doing chores, children were playing and guards were patrolling. This was a secret city.
"Okay as a courtesy to our new guests, we offer a complimentary bowl of either Watermelon Sorbet or Cucumber and Wasabi Sorbet." The tour guide said.
"We'll go for the Watermelon sorbet." Anna said.
"Hmm, I may try the Cucumber and Wasabi Sorbet." Jin said, feeling a little daring today. He never had such a sorbet before.
Anna was appalled. She tried such a thing before and it was downright disgusting.
"No Jin!" Anna says dramatically. "You don't want to."
She then gives Hwoarang a look that screamed at him to do something.
Hwoarang threw his arms around Jin. "Please don't go for that Cucumber sorbet! You will regret it." He said as dramatically as he could.
Nina smirks at the debacle. What new game with the feisty redheads playing at now? Jin glared at Hwoarang who awkwardly removed his arms from him.
"One Cucumber and Wasabi Sorbet please and three Watermelon sorbets." Nina said to the tour guide as if he was a waiter.
"But Nina? He might steal our sorbets!" Anna whined.
"Not yours, Annie. Mine most probably." Nina replied.
That comment didn't go unheard by Jin who gave a questioning look to Nina whom shrugged and winked in response.
The sorbets came in cute little bowls. Three little watermelon bowls and a cucumber bowl. They had a little baby spoon too. Jin disappeared for a moment and Nina followed him out of curiosity. He had the bowl in his hand and a sour face. It seemed like he was about to throw the sorbet into the river but had second thoughts because he was so environmentally conscious.
"I would hate to say I told you so but I didn't tell you so." Nina commented, giving a soft chuckle at his plight.
"Don't poke fun at me." He pouted. "Here's what I get for trying something new."
She had her own bowl of sorbet and took out a spoon of it for the dark haired man.
"Here, try some of mine."
She shoved it in his mouth before he could protest. Wide eyed, Jin stared at her as the cold sorbet melted on his tongue. He reluctantly swallowed. It was much better than the sorbet he had picked. That sweetness…
"Better?"
"Better." He confirmed.
That's what she wanted to hear.
"Let me try some of yours now, Jin."
So he obliged and let her try. She made a moan as she swallowed and licked her lips.
"Delicious."
"What the hell? You like this bitter taste?!"
"I'm not much for a sweet tooth, darling."
Truth be told, she didn't like the taste much either. If it wasn't for the slight kick of the wasabi, it just tasted celery. Maybe they needed to add some mint or lemon to the ice to make it bearable. Whoever liked this had no taste. She didn't know why she wanted Jin not to feel guilty so she kept up the charade.
Jin just stared at her, realization dawning on him.
"So for me, you took the watermelon flavor." Jin said softly, amazed at this woman's kindness and thoughtfulness for him.
She hated to break the dreamy smile on his face for her as it made her feel all warm and fuzzy inside but his lips hard to part when she took a spoon of watermelon sorbet to them. He devoured it. They took turns in feeding the other, again and again by the gushing river.
Anyone watching this would have really believed that they were a married couple.
.
.
.
A/N: Manji Valley (T6) is a combo of Yoshimitsu's T3/TTT stages too. For now, it's green like in T3.
Thanks for reading! I hope you guys enjoyed reading this. Oh and in this story, commercial aeroplanes don't exist yet so the poor babies have to trek through land and things take longer. It's still set in modern times but just imagine we are behind in tech. A lot behind lol. Just have basic things like watches.