Two years had passed since Hanzo had seen the Nakado and been told he was fated to marry a young woman by the god Gekko-O, who sent a fox to tie their legs together with a red cord. Two years of scheduled meetings and appearances to both families at both estates for each season. Spring, Summer, Winter, Fall, there was not a time that Hanzo hated more than the coming of the new season, for it meant that his short time of solitude and peace was at an end-his bride would be coming to visit him in his home to spend time together. It was an attempt by their families and the Nakado to 'help nourish and grow the love between them', but instead resulted in many arguments and scolding's because neither wanted much to do with the other.
It was early spring when the mornings were still cool and wet but the days were pleasant and sunny. The day had worn on and the sun was beginning to make its long descent over the Shimada estate, lighting the garden below Hanzo in the bright but sweet light. Had he been alone he would have found tranquility and peace in this stillness and silence, but there was a thorn in his side and it was annoying him. She was sitting silently enough in the garden below, a small scroll in hand as she read it over, but just her very presence annoyed him.
Her only movement since he had left had been to replace the scroll in her hand from the pile beside her, reading over the material slowly as if she was being thorough. He had left the training ground some time ago, taking his bow and quiver with him as he and Genji climbed to the roof of what was Hanzo's part of the estate. Each brother had their own section of rooms: bedroom, bathhouse, and a tea room for receiving private guests to entertain away from the distractions. They were on the roof of Hanzo's tea room, looking down to the training ground/garden area he had made for himself. There were archery targets scattered all around the garden in places both visible and hidden in bushes and trees, flowers of all kinds brightening the grounds like a large bouquet.
Genji was lying on his stomach beside him, watching her too in silence, he had finished his training some time ago and had become bored waiting for Hanzo to finish, taking to walking alone tree branches and tops of walls until Hanzo couldn't take having her behind him. He had gathered his things and silently lead his little brother up the secret footholds they had made in the room and scurried onto the roof to sit.
"What are we doing Onee-chan?" Genji finally asked, looking up at Hanzo who was scowling at Jun's back.
"Just wanted to get away from her for a while, she's been there the entire time." Hanzo sighed heavily, his grip on his bow tightening.
"Do you really hate her so much?" Genji asked softly, looking back down to the young woman, she was turned sideways, her soft grey kimono complimenting her dark hair as she rolled up the scroll and put it down on her right side, reaching down and picking up another one.
"It is not that I hate her in such a simple way Genji." Hanzo tried to explain, looking at her as she untied the string around the paper and opened it gently. "She annoys me, and knowing I will be putting up with her for the rest of my natural born days, annoys me more."
"But," Genji pulled himself up and sat with his legs crossed, putting his hands in his lap. "You say I annoy you, and you love me don't you Onee-chan?" His little face looked hurt as Hanzo stiffened and jerked to look at his eleven-year-old brother, dressed in shinobi training clothes.
"Of course I do Genji," Hanzo reached over and pat Genji's dark hair, rubbing it gently. "You are precious to me Otouto." (younger brother). He smiled as Genji's face brightened. "The way you annoy me comes from a bond we share, she and I have no such bond so it is different. This annoyance does not stem from love."
"Does everything she does annoy you?" Genji asked as Hanzo took his hand back, running it up the string on his bow.
"Not everything," Hanzo said absentmindedly and then snapped. "But most."
"I think she is looking for you," Genji said with a small laugh, pointing down to Jun as she looked up from her scroll and laid it down her in her lap. She was looking around, turning herself so she could glance around the whole garden before slowly getting to her feet. "We should scare her." Genji giggled, "How often do we get a chance to scare Jun-chan?"
Hanzo thought silently as he watched Jun look around the garden again, this time a little more slowly, leaning this way and that to try and see around structures as if Hanzo was hiding from her behind them. He glanced down to the bow in his hands and smiled mischievously at Genji who gasped as he watched his older brother draw an arrow from his quiver and knock it without a word. His dark eyes watched carefully like a hunter stalking its prey as she started turning in small sections until she came full circle, her hands coming up to rest against her chest as the wind blew softly.
He raised the bow and drew the arrow back slowly, mounting the tension in his arm from the strong string and watched as she started to walk away. His intention was to place the arrow directly where she had been sitting, between the two stacks of scrolls, he felt the string pull tight in his fingers as he pulled it back full force and waited. She took two steps away from the pile of scrolls and he let the string slip from his grasp, the arrow shooting forth true to its aim as it sped toward the ground.
But Hanzo had not counted on Jun going back to the scroll pile to pick up the scroll she had last put down, putting her head in the path of the arrow as she kneeled to retrieve the paper. He heard Genji suck in a large gasp, unable to move.
"Jun!" Hanzo shouted, almost in a terrified scream. It was as if the gods had slowed down time, Jun looked up and turned slightly to face the house seeing the arrow flying toward her, but as it came close to strike it vanished and Hanzo found himself gripping the edge of the roof in his hands, having scrambled from his perch at the peak of the roof, bow falling to the ground and clattering with the only sound in the garden. Hanzo blinked, unsure of what had just happened, but he saw Jun still knelt on the ground, one hand on the scroll pile, the other holding the arrow near the metal tip off to her side.
"Jun-chan are you okay?" Genji yelled, running and dropping from the roof as Hanzo swallowed hard and stared, the young black haired girl standing slowly and spinning the arrow in her hand.
"I'm am alright Shimada Genji-dono." She said coolly, looking at the rotating tip in her hand as she spun it slowly, her hazel eyes slowly moved up to look at Hanzo. "Would you be so kind as to fetch Shimada Hanzo-dono's bow for me?" She asked as Genji landed hard on his feet on the ground, Hanzo pushed himself back from the edge of the roof and sat on his knees, slightly shook from the event. He could see Genji jog out from the side of the roof and hand her the bow, she still staring at Hanzo she knocked the arrow and pulled it back. "I shall return it to him." She said loud enough for Hanzo to hear but not quite a shout as she took aim for the eldest Shimada and then adjusted upward before releasing the arrow quickly.
Hanzo followed the arrow as it arched through the air and sunk into the roof just in front of him, between his knees and stuck. Hanzo licked his lips and tried to steady his breathing when he jerked involuntarily- startled as his bow landed by the edge of the roof. Hanzo reached down and removed the arrow from the room and stared at it, then he heard Genji gasp and he slid toward the edge of the roof, using the hand that held the arrow he grabbed up his bow and used the other hand to swing himself down to the covered walkway under the roof before turning to see Genji holding Jun's hand up in his own, the one that had caught the arrow.
"Jun-chan your bleeding! You got cut!"
"Its just a little scratch Shimada-dono-"
"I keep telling you to call me Genji! Please~!" Genji whined, pouting and crossing his arms as he looked at the hand, she took it from him and closed her fist, cradling it against her chest.
"My apologies, Genji-san." Jun smiled, "It is only a scratch, I don't think it will even bleed that much." But she kept her fist closed and against her chest as Hanzo jogged over to them. "Perhaps training would run a little more fluidly if the other participant was aware of their role?" She asked slyly, looking up at Hanzo as he walked closer. Over the two years Hanzo had grown out just as the Nakado had predicted; although they started out at equal height and build, Hanzo towered over Jun by nearly a head and a half and his stature had broadened out into that of a young man whereas Jun had stayed soft and somewhat small. A few inches grown here and there around her body had shown the tell-tale signs of maturity ahead, giving her the body of a young woman on the blossom of adulthood.
"It was meant to be a harmless prank," he said as he put away the arrow in his quiver and strapped his bow across his back. "Let me see your hand."
"Really Shimada-dono I am-"
"I said let me see!" Hanzo snapped, reaching for her hand as she pulled away, his hand clamped around her wrist and he pulled it forcibly from her chest and out to him but she kept her first clenched so the wound was concealed. "Open your hand." He snapped, trying to control his temper.
"I said I'm fine Shimada-dono there really is no need in getting-" She stopped speaking as he tried to force open her hand with his own, "This would be a lot simpler if you would just say please!" She snapped, making Hanzo stop and blink in confusion. Genji was standing between them, looking at them as they stared at one another. "Rather than...order..." Jun added, a little embarrassed that she had somewhat shouted at him, she averted her eyes as her cheeks tinted slightly pink.
"I..." Hanzo eased up on her hand, his grip becoming soft rather than deadly. "I'm sorry, your right." He looked down at her hand. "Please, let me see your wound." He looked back up and hoped she would see that he was sincere with the apology. Very slowly she opened her palm and showed him the cut, it started on the side of her hand and sliced inward toward the space between her thumb and fingers. "Let's get this cleaned and make sure it is not as bad as it looks."
"Father is going to kill us if he finds out we hurt Jun-chan..." Genji said softly, his face full of fear and dread. "If the servants get the medical kit or the doctor then they will have to report it, father!"
"Your right..." Hanzo sucked his teeth and looked back into this tea room, "Come inside, I'll clean it myself. Genji," He looked down at his little brother who smiled brightly, eager to do his part. "Go get a pitcher of water and a towel, then bring it back here and wet it for me so I can clean the blood away if anyone asks its for me to clean up after training."
"Hai!" Genji turned on his heel and ran toward the bathhouse, leaving Hanzo and Jun alone. It wasn't often they were ever truly alone, there was always a relative or a servant somewhere nearby. Hanzo gently pulled on her hand, leading her into the tea room.
"Come inside, before someone sees." He didn't take her all the way into the team room but stopped on the walkway that stretched around most of the house. He urged her to kneel in front of him as he sat on his knees, heels under him. "It doesn't look to be bad, but the blood worries me." He removed his bow and quiver, sitting them beside them before he took her injured hand in both of his, his large hands engulfing it almost completely. He tilted her hand this way and that gently, his calloused fingers touching her soft skin gingerly. "Looks like a clean cut, and not very deep...it was lucky you were able to stop it, I thought...I thought I had killed you." His voice got soft at the end with guilt.
"You startled me when you yelled," Jun replied softly in return, her eyes watching his hands. "You...you called me by my name..." Hanzo froze, his eyes going wide in realization, he had indeed called her informally in fear of her being struck with the arrow.
"I-I'm sorry," Hanzo said quickly, his heart picking up in speed as he felt his cheeks and ears slightly warm up. "I was-I was afraid you were going to be killed by my foolishness, I did not intend to offend you with informality."
"N-No," Jun shook her head. "I think..." She cleared her throat and neither of them could bring themselves to look the other in the eyes. "Since, we are to...wed in two years that perhaps it is time for us to begin speaking to one another...a little less formally..." She took in a breath and looked out into the garden. "Unless you would rather not of course."
"No," Hanzo said a little too quickly, squeezing her hand and making her look at him. "I think you are right," he eased up on her hand as she winced a little, realizing he was hurting her again. "Jun..." The sound of her name she looked up, eyes locking with Hanzo's. "How did you catch that arrow?" She blinked and looked away as Genji came running up with a pitcher of water and a white towel, he doused the towel in water before sitting down the pitcher and wringing it out. "Jun." Hanzo urged but she closed her eyes instead, staying silent.
"Here Onee-chan!" Genji said eagerly and put the towel on Jun's outstretched hand. "How bad does it hurt Jun-chan?" He knelt beside her and watched her face as Hanzo picked up the towel and began dabbing her cut gently with it wrapped around two of his fingers.
"It stings a little, but it is no worse than a knife cut Genji-san." She smiled at him and opened her eyes, wincing a little as Hanzo applied pressure with the cloth. "It will be more annoying than anything."
"We should wrap it," Hanzo announced when he was satisfied with the cleanliness of the cut. "To keep it from getting dirty." He looked around for a moment before he eyed the white hair tie that held his long hair together at the ends. "Here." He pulled it loose and his long black locks separated, "I'll use this as a bandage." He turned her hand palm down and began wrapping it snugly, tying the ends off in a small bow when he was done so it rested on the top of her hand, using this hand wouldn't cause the bow to come loose.
"Hanzo." Jun's voice speaking his name so informally and with such tenderness made his heart skip a beat, then another when she smiled at him. "Thank you, if anyone asks, I cut myself with a knife." Genji watched in silence as the two teens started to avoid eye contact again, Jun taking her hand from Hanzo and laying it in her lap, her undamaged hand on top t hide the bandage. There was a moment of silence before Hanzo narrowed his eyes and spoke softly, his tone hard and pressing.
"How often do you cut yourself with a knife that this is a believable excuse..." Genji looked at his brother in confusion and Jun looked up to lock eyes with the young prince. "You're a lord's daughter. You don't cook or clean, you don't hunt or skin animals. Why would you ever hold a knife?" Jun didn't answer but a small, knowing smile crept across her face that made Hanzo tense, he didn't like this smile. It wasn't warm or tender the way her smile had been when she thanked him or when she was reading, it was cold and cruel.
"You are both young princes'," She said simply, sighing after a moment. "You two probably know better than anyone what it is like to grow up a target." She closed her eyes as Genji looked at her with the same confused look. "You know of the Adachi clan?" She asked, opening her eyes and staring at Hanzo who looked to Genji and motioned for him to go to the doors.
"This is family business talk Genji, go back to training," Hanzo told him, but Genji whined and crossed his arms.
"I'm big enough to hear about the family business onee-chan!"
"Genji." Hanzo's tone held a warning and his eyes a threat, Genji pouted at Jun who gave him a pleading look to do as he was told. "Jun isn't going anywhere, we will come to the dojo and watch you when we are done talking." Genji looked back at Hanzo and then cast them both curious and suspicious looks.
"You two want to kiss don't you?" He accused, making Hanzo's face flush a bright red and Jun to burst into laughter. "I wanna see!"
"GENJI!" Hanzo snapped, starting to climb to his feet when the younger Shimada jumped to his feet and ran to the door, flinging it open and running down the hall after closing it with a slam of the sliding paper doors. "Untactful little..." Hanzo's face was still red as he seated himself back onto his heels and knees. "What about the Adachi clan?" He asked, trying to fight the blush down with deep breaths and closing his eyes.
"You know they seek a higher position in the spiral do you not?" Jun's voice was low and tense. Hanzo took another deep breath and nodded, feeling the heat leave his face as he focused on the conversation and not who was speaking. "They wish to see my clan destroyed so that they may take their...my...place." She opened her eyes and focused on her knees. "Ever since I was a child I've been targeted by the Adachi clan and a few of their allies within the spiral. I've lost count of the times I'd been a target for abductions and assassination attempts..." She looked up at Hanzo who was still sitting with his eyes closed. "You being even higher than I in position, I assume you are no stranger to these threats. You or your brother."
"Several attempts in my lifetime, but none have come close. Genji is being kept innocent from the family business until it is his time to take a wife when he has completed his training..." Hanzo explained, his voice also low in case a servant happened to pass by or hear. "So he has no idea of the attempts that have been made on his life."
"I was abducted as a child," Jun told him, looking up and watching as his dark eyes flew open in shock. "I was to be executed, my corpse sent to the Shimizu clan as proof. My father can't bear any more children and without an heir to continue on the Hashira blood, my clan would have been hunted down and killed to keep the secrets safe..." Her face was stoic and emotionless as if she was commenting on tea or the weather outside. "But I was rescued by a shinobi hired by my father, he is now my Sensei...Harashi-Sensei teaches me self-defense techniques so that I may defend myself if something should arise before my clan can send help. To ensure the line of my clan..." She reached up and moved the collar of her kimono to the side, showing more of her skin making Hanzo cover his eyes with one hand.
"That's highly inappropriate!" Hanzo snapped, turning his gaze to the training grounds outside as she laughed.
"You are to be my husband Hanzo, I think you can manage to look at my shoulder."
"That makes it worse!" He snapped, whisper-yelling as he closed his eyes and tried to not imagine her bare shoulder peeking out around the folds of fabric. "I'm not supposed to see your body until the night of our wedding, have some dignity!"
"Then do not think of me as your wife!" She whisper yelled back. "Think of me as a fellow warrior and look at my shoulder alone, do not look at my face!"
Hanzo struggled with himself fiercely, part of him was curious what was on her shoulder that she wanted to show him but part of him was very much aware she was a female baring her body to him. Not only that but she was to be his bride in two years time, it was considered scandalous to show skin when unmarried. He swallowed hard and tried to calm his racing heart, the heat rising in his cheeks again.
"I can't." He said after a moment, "I'm sorry, but I can't bring myself to break my code of honor and...look at you."
"Stubborn man!" She snapped, he could hear the rustle of her kimono and heard her stand and walk away from him. Very slowly he put down his hand and opened his eyes, he was torn-part of him was glad he had, part of him wished he hadn't. Jun had her back to him, standing a few feet away but her kimono was hanging off her shoulders, the material gathered in her elbows as she adjusted the fabrics to put back into place. Both her shoulders were bare, light markings of scars and burn marks across her back.
"What happened to you..." Hanzo asked softly, making her jerk and look at him over her left shoulder, her face pink with blush.
"I didn't say I was ready for you to look!" She snapped and hurriedly replaced the kimono back over her shoulders, gripping the material around her neck to hide her skin from him.
"You didn't tell me you weren't ready! I thought you had gone further inside or out into the garden!" Hanzo snapped back, his heart pounding hard in his chest as he looked away. A few tense moments of silence passed as each teen tried to calm themselves down and reason with the situation-it was an accident, a miscommunication-that didn't count as scandalous right? "You never answered..." Hanzo said after she had fixed herself and went further inside the tea room to sit at the little table that was in the center. "How did you get those scars?"
"Torture...some of it is from training." She answered softly, looking down at the tea set on the table before she moved to start making some for them both. "When I got captured they wanted me to tell them what I knew..." Hanzo stood and listened, watching as she went through the motions of making tea, effortless and absent-minded. "I knew very little but I wasn't about to sell out my family for them to just hurry up and kill me, so I kept silent." She put her hands down, letting the tea sit for a moment before pouring them both a cup. "They didn't like that very much, so they took to cutting me up with knives and blades and burning me with hot pokers to try and scare me into telling them what I knew."
"And you never faltered..." Hanzo said softly, thinking back to the scars on her back.
"I love my family," She said firmly, pouring the second cup of tea gently, being careful with the pot. "My duty is to my family, and I will perform my duties as they are expected of me. Although I do not agree with some of the archaic traditions."
Hanzo sat opposite her and took the cup she offered him, thanking her softly before taking a drink, he knew that some of the clans in the spiral (a collection of powerful yakuza families across Japan) were prone to actions such as these to try and lift their clan up the spiral's hierarchy line. Taking out whole clans and recruiting those who worked for the clan so that they may advance closer to what was called 'the center', the most powerful houses were in 'the center' and had hands in many places from politics, trade goods, and military assets.
The Shimada clan was close to the center, Hanzo was the heir to his father's place near the center of the spiral and Jun would have been the Hashira clan heir further out of the spiral, but because of their marriage the clans would become one and the Hashira clan would advance. Which of course was a threat to lower standing clans, increasing the strength and numbers of the Shimada clan, and any offspring that they would have together would become heirs for both the Shimada clan and the Hashira clan. The Shimizu clan was near the very center and even more influential than the Shimada clan, everyone apart of the spiral considered them to be the head of the beast. A corpse being delivered was a message of clan's destruction and a change in pecking order within the spiral.
"So to answer your question it is not an odd occurrence for me to cut myself with a knife or form a new bruise here and there." Jun said softly, putting down her empty cup and refilling it with tea. "Hirashi-sensei spares me no kindness in training, I am applied with his male students and receive no special treatment." She smiled as she lifted the cup. "Which is how I came to put you in a submissive hold the day we met." She chuckled as Hanzo put his cup down on the table, his face scrunching up in annoyance.
"As I said that day, I let down my guard, it will not happen twice." Hanzo said quickly, watching as she refilled his cup. "I have taken my training more seriously..." When the cup was full he lifted it and took a drink before sitting it down on the table. "I couldn't imagine the fear being abducted as a child must have been...I am determined to keep Genji safe from such a fate..." He looked up at Jun as she sat down her cup and put her hands on the edge of the table. "And I will protect you as well," This made her lift her eyes and look at him curiously. "You will be my wife, and I will not allow anyone to harm my family...no matter how much they annoy me." This made Jun laugh until he continued. "So you will not need to continue your own training." Her laughter died in her throat and her smile was replaced by an angry scowl.
"Excuse me?" She snapped angrily, making Hanzo tilt his head to the side. "You think you can stop me from training?"
"You will have no need in it, I will protect you." Hanzo said with a 'matter-of-fact' tone that made Jun's scowl deepen and she growled. "I won't have you harmed, you caught that arrow as well as I would have-which means your Sensei has trained you in catch and fire, one wrong move in training and you could die that way, I won't allow it!" His voice was growing in volume until the end when he was outright shouting at her, his hands clenched into fists on his knees, eyes locked on hers to show he was serious about stopping her from endangering herself anymore.
"Without the training I would have died today thanks to you!" She shot back, making them both feel regret-she regretted saying it out loud and Hanzo regretted allowing himself to make a foolish mistake as to pull a prank with a deadly weapon. They looked away from one another for a few moments, each trying to calm down. "You do not get to make that decision for me Archer..." She put her hands on the table and looked at him as he slowly turned his head to look at her, his dark eyes flowing from spot to spot on her face. "I will continue, if you like it or not." She shook her head and stood as he sighed.
"We shall see once we are wed." His tone sounding as if he knew that she would change her mind once their bond was cemented by a priest.
"Again you assume that you own me like property!" She turned as Hanzo got up halfway, kneeling and watching as she went to the door and opened it. "Other women in our time may submit willingly to their owners, but I will not bow so easily! I have no owner!" She turned toward him, her arms shaking at her side in rage. "I was right, a marriage to you is damnation." She stepped through the doors and slid them shut quickly behind her in a slam before stomping off down the hall in a huff leaving Hanzo growling to himself before punching the table with his fist.