Hold.

Hanzo reminded himself as he resisted dropping down through the mat on top of the older man's head, bow drawn and ready to fight his way through the enemy to save his brother. He tried to see how Genji was being held captive, but it seemed that his hands were merely tied behind his back and a black blindfold wrapped around his eyes to keep him blind, and a white gag to keep him silent. With Hanzo being above him, and Genji sitting correctly, the elder Shimada couldn't tell if his brother's feet had been bound as well.

Hanzo narrowed his eyes, the knot seemed simple enough, Genji could escape on his own if he wasn't inured to badly. It was one of the skills that Genji came by naturally and often gloated about to Hanzo—who had trouble escaping such traps. If the younger Shimada had yet to flee, not because of the inability to—then there was something else keeping him here. Some outside threat promised to someone else.

Hanzo looked around the room once more, attacking from above like this would give him the edge of surprise, but it was also troublesome. He would have to remove whole sections of the mat and either hang down by his legs on the rafters to get a clear shot around the room or drop down and lose the high ground. He decided it wasn't enough of an advantage and retreated as far back to the house as he could, to the left of where he had initially climbed up into the attic. He dropped down just on the outside of party room—a small room perhaps meant to be a guest's room, hearing the men that were eating and drinking happily break into an old song.

At the rate they are getting drunk, Hanzo reasoned as he pulled the door open just enough to peek in. He saw the man's back and his handsome face as he laughed at something the Geisha said behind her sleeve, I could simply wait for them all to pass out and sneak Genji out in the cloak of darkness.

He watched as the young Geisha denied a drink of sake that the man offered her and how her eyes closed halfway, giving her a flirtatious and mysterious air. Hanzo did not need to see her lips to know she was smirking and saying something clever as the man roared with laughter, making Genji beside him flinch in response.

She could be a prisoner as well, Hanzo reasoned, if she is, I will try and leave an opening for her to escape as well. Hanzo sat back and removed an arrow from his quiver, nervously fidgeting with it by twirling it. Watching the Geisha flirt with the man made him miss Jun, and his longing was laced with worry. She had no doubt found the house, but he had not seen a single sign of her inside. Nor had he heard any conversation about any other woman as he listened to the bits and pieces of the conversation he overheard.

How long Hanzo sat there was lost to him, he had grown restless and was about to get to his feet and take a second look around the house when the man said something that caught his ear and made him panic.

"I no longer wish to share your company Kana, join me." The older man stood and held out his hand to the Geisha who stood gracefully and followed his lead to the room where Hanzo was hiding. Scrambling the young archer hid in a closet, climbing up on a shelf and pulling the door almost shut, giving himself a sliver of light and sight into the room. When the man and woman had stepped inside the room, the man started to close the door securely, and the woman stopped him, a fan hiding her face below her eyes.

"You would trust your prisoner not to escape when presented with such an opportunity?" She asked as the man turned his back to the door and shut it tightly behind him. Hanzo felt something wrong with the situation, and it was more than just Genji being left alone while a prisoner, this man did not have pure intention.

"Though he is the son of an enemy, he is a kind-hearted boy and would not risk harm to his beloved mother or brother for his foolish actions. He will stay put until I tell him to move," The man loosened his shirt and moved to sit by a small table, gesturing for her to sit directly beside him, close. They were facing the closet in which Hanzo was hiding, so he had full view through the crack as the woman sat down and the man wrapped an arm around her tightly. "How fortunate for me that you lost your way so far out into the woods." The man purred, his hand roaming up and down her arm as she kept her composure.

"A miracle for me Lord." The woman replied, giving him a polite dip of her head. "You did not eat at the feast, do you hunger?"

"Not for food," The man chuckled, his hand sliding down to her hip where he gripped a handful of her skin through the layers of silky kimono, it made her gasp and pull away reluctantly, but he held her firm in his grasp. "You would not turn away the Lord who so graciously helped you in your time of need, would you?" He demanded, reaching up and yanking away her fan.

Hanzo looked up into the closet, hoping to see the familiar mat above his head, but instead, it was solid wood. When he looked back, the woman had her head turned away, sleeve hiding her face shyly as the man tried to peek at her. "You are shy, that can be very desirable." He stroked her hair gently, and it made her turn to him, her mind seeming to change with the tone of his voice. He wasn't commanding now, it was persuading and charming.

"Yes, my lord, I am quite shy." The woman admitted, closing her eyes as she tipped her head down, "I'm afraid I am not very…experienced…" She covered the rest of her face in embarrassment and turned away, but the man seemed excited, pulling her closer, his hands practically crushing her arms as he gripped them. A bag from her sleeve fell onto the floor between them, and the man picked it up. "How embarrassing," The girl squeaked, turning away from the closet. Hanzo tried to focus on the bag, to see what it could be when the man opened his and deposited seeds into his hand.

"What are these?" He asked, picking one up and looking at it in the light. The Geisha murmured something, and the man repeated, "Sensual seed?" He cocked a brow at it and turned it over in the light to observe it better. "What does it do?"

"It…enhances the feeling…. of being intimate." The woman explained, squirming in her spot.

"Is that so," The man grabbed her and pulled her into his lap as she hid her face in her sleeves again like a child, "Eat one." He told her, but she shook her head.

"It will not affect the woman," She explained, "Its effects are solely for males."

"Then feed them to me," He purred, holding her up as she lowered her sleeves to the tip of her nose, locking eyes with the man. "Put it between your teeth and give it to me by your lips. I would see how this 'sensual seed' works." Slowly, the woman lowered her sleeves and opened her mouth, allowing him to place the seed between her teeth, which she covered by closing her lips. Hanzo nearly fell out of the closet trying to peek out of the crack, he recognized the woman—it was Jun.

She had on a wig to hide her natural black hair, and her makeup while not professionally done, seemed passible and changed her features enough that he had not recognized her right away. He watched as the man ran his hands up her back to cup her neck and bring her closer to him. Without thinking about consequences, only fury, and bloodlust, Hanzo threw open the closet door and took aim for the man's head; as he released his bow, however, the man slammed himself and Jun to the floor to avoid being hit. Hanzo reached back for another arrow as the man scrambled to his feet, pulling Jun up by her arm.

"Don't move boy!" The man demanded as Hanzo pulled back the arrow, drawing the straight tight. "Your brother sits right outside this door, one yell from me—" The man's threat was cut short, turning into gurgles and panicked breaths as the thick hairpin sank through his skin, piercing his throat from one side and exiting the other like a knife. Jun pulled the pin free and slung it out away from her to rid it of the blood, pulling herself free from the man's grip as he fell to his knees, attempting to keep his blood inside his body by clamping his hands around his throat in a tight coke. It did not take long for him to slump against the table and stop moving, blood pouring over the side and puddling into the floor by his knees.

"You weren't supposed to come." Jun spat out the seed on the man's body as a sign of hate and turned to look at the angry archer, his bow lowered slightly but still ready to strike. Hanzo had thousands of words speeding past him in his mind, half a dozen questions and accusations, but when his mouth opened all that came out was an angry snarl of—

"What were you thinking?" He ran to the door and yanked it open, half expecting to see Genji being executed. Instead, the younger Shimada sat just where he had been hours ago, hands still tied, blinded and gagged, as if he were a statue.

"Don't worry." Jun said flatly as Hanzo realized it had been silent for some time, "I lied to the cooks and told them the seeds were a new spice that would put a battle-ready edge to warriors that had come from another part of the world." She shook the bag of seeds that she had recollected as Hanzo looked around the room. All the men that had once been joyfully singing and drinking together lay dead, strewn across the room where they had fallen and laid still.

"Cerbera Odollom." She explained, holding out seeds for Hanzo to look at as he whirled around. "They are dead, you and Genji may leave when you are ready. The guards outside were served the same food, I assume they too have perished."

"You're coming with us." Hanzo snarled storming into the party room as Genji began yelling through the gag at the sound of his brother's voice. When he removed the gag, Genji started asking questions without end. How had he found him? What happened to all the men? Why was Jun there, what about their father, their mother? After a cold, angry look from Hanzo though, Genji fell silent and felt it was best to just take it as a miracle. Jun had been right, the men outside too had fallen victim to her ploy and lay dead where they had stood when Hanzo had snuck in.

The travel back to the Shimada estate was silent, Genji riding the mare that Jun had used while Jun rode with Hanzo. He made her ride in front of him, his arms around her to hold the reins, not in a loving embrace that he realized he should be giving her, but in an attempt to keep her from escaping. Judging by the blank expression on her face, and the sadness in her eyes, she was likely to do if given a chance. Hanzo knew that Genji could feel the radiating anger and betrayal that he was emitting, and when they returned home was only somewhat glad to hear that their father had left the estate to check on their mother.

Hanzo sent Genji to his room with the doctor so that he could be looked at and made sure that he had not sustained any injuries past his first encounter with the kidnappers. The youth almost started to protest, but he could see the way his older brother looked at his fiancée and decided it was best not to pry. There was no childish glee, taunts or teases when he left them alone in Hanzo's room this time, though he did offer Jun a nod of thanks as she stood at a safe distance from Hanzo.

When the door had shut, and Hanzo was sure they were alone, he began pacing the room, his hands clenching and unclenching before he angrily untied his armor and dropped it as he walked—no mind for treating it gently or correctly. Jun busied herself with washing away the makeup with warm water and a towel that a servant had brought to her. When he was down to his cloth clothing, he turned to glare at her.

"What, were you thinking?" He growled angrily through clenched teeth as Jun looked down at her feet and wrapped her arms around herself in a tight hug, her face pink from the rubbing.

"I was trying to save Genji." She said simply, which made Hanzo resume pacing, this time quicker. "Lord Shimada told me that if I could return Genji to him, then he would consider letting me stay here with you…" She swallowed hard around a lump in her throat, but Hanzo felt no sympathy toward her. "Yet, when he gave me the seeds—"

"He gave those to you?" Hanzo snapped, stopping mid-stride to watch her nod, before going back to his single-minded repetition. "Go on."

"I knew that he did not intend on keeping his word…He did not know…that I knew what they were…" Her voice wavered and cracked, he could hear the ragged breath she took to calm herself. "Cerbera Odollom…A seed from the suicide tree." She tilted her head back and blinked away tears. "Just one whole seed is enough to kill a full-grown man when mixed with food…I had hoped that the lord of the attacking clan would take his meal with his men…but I think your father knew better…"

"You were going to commit suicide as you murdered that man." Hanzo guessed, lifting his hand and biting down on his own flesh hard as he thought back to her with the seed in her lips as she nearly kissed the man she later killed without so much as a blink.

"I was," Jun admitted meekly, nodding and closing her eyes as tears streamed down her cheeks and ruined her makeup.

"Why?" Hanzo snarled, whirling around on her and stalking to her threateningly, but she did not back down. Her expression never changed.

"Why?" She asked with a breathless laugh as more tears ran down her cheeks, "The best my life could hope for would be to be your servant Hanzo. To serve you food and drink, to clean your clothes—while another woman was your wife. To see you offer your attention, your affection to another woman the way you used to give it to me…" She shook her head as he closed the distance between them and kept coming, backing her up as she continued speaking.

"I could not bear to see another woman as your wife. To be the target of your affection, the reason behind your smiles—sharing your bed!" She shook her head violently as if the thought was enough to physically harm her. "The worst my life could offer would be a swift execution by your father's guard, if my life was to end, I wanted it to be of my own choice, not someone elses…" She locked eyes with him as he pressed her against the wall of his room. "So yes, I was going to kill myself. My thought at the time had been at least I could return Genji to you."

"You were going to…" Hanzo pressed his lips into a hard line, punching the wall beside her head and making her flinch in fear. "You almost kissed that man." Confusion clouded her face for only a moment before being replaced with mild fear. "Do you know, how much I have been fighting to keep you here, by my side?" He put his free hand beside her head, so she could not flee, his head hanging between them limply as he thought of all he had said and done in the time she had been missing.

"I assaulted my father for just mentioning your execution. I threatened him with assassination by my own hand for sending you out in search for Genji while injured, for taunting me with the idea of your death." He laughed, a cold, heartless sound, "I search so frantically for you, and had everything I wanted to say planned out. I had so much I wanted to tell you, confess to you…And yet…when…I….found….you…." with each word his fist hit the wall beside her head, the force behind the blow growing with each strike, his face darkening with hurt and rage. "You were in the arms of another man!"

"Not willingly!" She denied, pushing away from the wall a fraction only to be put back in her place by Hanzo pressing his head against hers.

"Willingly enough!" He barked, "You were willing to give away the kiss that should have been mine!" He shook his head as she stared at him, in shock of the confession or fear of accidentally being struck he didn't know. "Are you aware of how many times you have tempted me to simply take it from you." He looked down at her lips as she pressed them into a line.

"Why didn't you?" She asked, her voice finding a hint of bravery to strengthen her tone. "You have had more than one opportunity."

"Because it is not right," Hanzo snapped, angry that he had to explain his reasoning for the right course of actions. "You are not an object to be owned, you are not a toy to be played with. You are a woman with feelings, and you should be treated as such. As you were so quick to remind me all these years… Taking your first kiss would have been an assault in my eyes." He looked up into her face and could register the shocked stare she was giving him, but there was something in her eyes he couldn't place. "It would have been tainted….The only way I could is if you gave…."

"Gave what?" She asked, sounding confused.

"Your consent," Hanzo answered, his brow knitting together as he realized how pathetic he sounded. The anger had melted from him, and he was left with the heartache that threatened to collapse his chest and pierce his heart with his bones. His eyes began to sting, and his vision blurred as he closed his eyes to keep from crying.

"I do." Hanzo almost missed it, the tiny, breathless whisper as light as a butterfly's kiss to his ears. He lifted his head to look down into Jun's face as she looked up at him sternly, she still seemed frightened, off-center as she blinked several times and her breathing was uneven. His brown eyes widened slightly, searching for a sign on her face when she nodded. Hanzo felt his chest flutter with movement, a squirm as if snakes were under his skin as he realized what she meant. He stepped back from her, putting his hands on her—one on her neck, the other cupping her cheek as he leaned in close—lips separated only by a breath.

"You consent?" His lips brushed hers as he whispered, he wanted no misunderstandings in this moment—no mistakes.

"Yes." Just as soft as her first admission, and just as sweet. Hanzo gently pressed his lips to hers, feeling a shock run through him at this unfamiliar, yet addicting sensation. Her lips were raw from scrubbing the makeup away, making them soft and warm. When he pulled away he found he did not want the moment to end, he adjusted his hands so they both held the sides of her head and tipped her head up, so he could kiss her again more easily.

Her hands found his chest, and a finger traced a line of heat across the skin that showed between the folds of his shirt. He felt the hairs on his neck and arms stand in chills despite the tingling sensation of warmth as he tilted his head to the side, kisses melting into one another until he lost count. The squirming feeling intensified as he felt his heart speed up, he could hear her breathing change. He pulled back slightly, realizing how hard he was holding her head in his hands, he was afraid he was hurting her but when he removed his hands, she gripped the front of his clothes, pulling him closer. She tried to tiptoe and reach his lips, but she missed as she lost her balance and instead kissed high on his neck.

"I'm sorry!" Her voice was breathless as she pulled away, covering her mouth with her hands in embarrassment as Hanzo covered the spot with one of his hands. "I didn't mean to—"

"Do it again," Hanzo removed his hand and pulled the neckline of his shirt away to reveal a spot closer to her height. "Please." He saw her cheeks darken with heat before she kissed the spot gently, Hanzo felt his knees grow weak at the touch, leaning against her until she backed into the wall once more. He kissed along her jawline as he helped her move his shirt from his shoulders, letting it fall and hang around his waist as it did during his training. Her hands felt like sparks of lightning as she touched new skin, her fingertips soft as petals as they mapped out the curves and cuts of his body. He cupped her face in his hands once more for a deep, longing kiss when he heard the door slide open, and panic filled voice hiss.

"Hanzo!"

Hanzo looked over his shoulder, using his body to block the sight of Jun as one of his hands found the ties of her obi and began pulling at them. It was Genji, leaning into the room through a crack in the door, his face pale and sweaty.

"Leave!" Hanzo ordered, but his brother protested in unison.
"Brother, Father is—"

The door slid the rest of the way open, and Genji fell backward onto his butt as Haido Shimada stormed into the room, staring with a look of contempt and horror at the sight of his son protectively crouched over Jun, half-naked and looking more than a little wound up.

"Hanzo!" Haido snarled as Hanzo turned his body to face his father, putting Jun behind him and wrapping his arms back behind him so that she stayed close. "Get away from her!" Genji appeared back in the doorway and ran past his father to go stand beside his brother, arms out at shoulder height to block the path to Jun as Haido stepped in the room with four of his personal guard.

"I will not!" Hanzo yelled back, narrowing his eyes. "You will do no harm to her, she has done no wrong!"

"She saved me, father!" Genji added frantically, he was shivering slightly in his spot from fear. "She risked her life for mine, and Hanzo saved us both, surely you can see that their love—"

"Genji silence yourself and return to your room," Haido ordered, his youngest sons face falling into despair as he continued slowly toward Hanzo. "This is family business, and you are far too young to understand as of yet. Let me handle your brother."

"But father!" Genji protested only to be silenced when two of the guard came forward and grabbed him, forcing him from the room by carrying him against his will. Hanzo started to go after them, but the movement of the other two and his father made him see through the hoax. The guard would do no harm to Genji, merely remove him for his own safety and keep him out of harm's way. The real threat was still present.

"Step. Away." Haido ordered, "Or be forcibly removed like your brother."

"Kill me first," Hanzo growled defiantly, tensing up for a fight when Jun's arm on his shoulder stopped him.

"Hanzo please," She whispered, "I can fight my own battles." This made him whirl to look at her, her face registered no fear, nor anger. She looked calm and at peace, although not happy. She replaced the folds of her kimono as best she could and looked up past him to Haido. "I did as you commanded Lord. I fed the seeds to the attacking house, and they all lay dead where they ate. However, there were …complications." She looked down as she smoothed out her hair, so she looked like a proper young woman. "Never-the-less Lord Shimada, the head of the snake has been removed."

"Not yet its not," Haido growled, signaling for the remaining guard to secure Hanzo who tried to stand by her side, only to be hauled a few feet away as he resisted. "Kneel." A look of anger and defiance crossed her face before she slowly got to her knees in front of him, keeping her eyes level with an object in the distance as Haido grabbed her by her hair and produced a knife from his belt. Hacking and sawing away at her hair in handfuls until he was satisfied at the crudely chopped mess he left attached to her head before cutting down the back of her kimono, it threatened to fall away and reveal her chest but she lifted her hands to stop it. He gestured to a servant who had been waiting outside the door to come in, they shuffled in with their head lowered, their eyes to their feet as they held out a long rod-like object.

Hanzo jerked and pulled against the men's hold on his hands and shoulders as Haido swung his arm back and began violently beating Jun's back as hard as he could with the rod. She barely whimpered in response. Doubling over and her hands digging into her arms as she bit her bottom lip to keep silent as the assault continued. Hanzo stopped moving for a moment to lead the men into believing he had given up, when their hold loosened on him slightly he pulled his arms free and closed this distance easily, covering Jun with himself in a tight embrace as the rod came down to strike him once.

"Remove him!" Haido ordered to the men as Hanzo gripped Jun for life, refusing to be separated from her.

"I promised I would protect her!" Hanzo roared so viciously that the guards stopped trying to pull him away, looking at one another before looking back to Haido who was flushed in the face, strands of his greying hair falling from its ponytail to hand raggedly around his face from the effort of whipping the young woman. "Even if it means from my family!"

"By the gods," A soft voice called into the room, "What manner of madness has overtaken my home while I was away?"