Almost one month later, they arrived in Hanamura; they booked a hotel there. Genji and Mercy walked around the city. "I'm surprised ... A lot is still the same as it was ... ten years ago.", the ninja mumbled to himself. "Genji, are you okay? You seem to be lost in your thoughts ...", she asked. "Shhh! Don't say my name here. That name isn't used very often here and the people should still know me. I'm glad the visor covers my face and changes my voice a bit ...", he replied quickly. "What are you afraid of?", she asked. "This city hates the Clan ... so do I. But they don't know, they know how bad the Clan is and if one of said Clan is found alone ... You don't want to know what they'd do to one of their family. I grew up like this ... I know what happens ... When I was young I never left home and my brother protected me if we had to leave home for a while. We got beaten up ... we were hurt a lot ... Sometimes our ... 'enemies' tried to kidnap and kill us, but by the time I had my big brother to protect me ... Until he turned against me.", Genji explained, then seemed to get lost in memories. "Should we go back to the hotel ...? Or are you okay?", Mercy asked worried. He shook his head: "No, I'm fine. Let's ... Let's go eat something ... Uhm, I mean, let's go buy something to eat later at the hotel."
Back at the hotel, they ate something. After that Genji looked outside the window and towards the Castle. "Today, ten years ago ... I almost died ... I'll leave now.", Genji said and walked towards the door. "Genji ... Be careful, okay?", Mercy said, with a worried tone to her voice. "Of course, Angela.", he replied and left.
Genji was gone for a while. Someone knocked at the hotel room's door and Mercy went to open it. "A delivery from your ... Uhm ... Robot friend?", the guy said. "He's human ... But thank you.", she took the package the guy gave her and closed the door. She opened the packaging and found a handwritten message. "Angela, I got some swiss chocolate for you. They were hard to get, but I managed. I hope you can enjoy them. -Genji.", it read. Mercy smiled to herself and blushed a little. He did get real swiss chocolate just for her.
Late at night Genji finally returned. He was hurt just a tiny bit, but he seemed relieved by a lot. Mercy laid in bed and was covered in blankets although the temperature in the room was already hot; the A/C didn't work. The blonde was even shivering. "Angela ... You got sick?", he asked a little worried and walked over to feel her forehead. "You've got a really high temperature ... Wait.", he continued and walked to the bathroom. Genji grabbed a tiny towel, wet it with cool water and then put it on Mercy's forehead. "It's cold ...", she mumbled, shivered and sunk deeper into her blankets. "It'll help ... I'll take care of you. You should rest now.", he replied. Angela nodded and quickly fell asleep.
Genji took care of her, all night long. Replacing the dried up cloth with a new and wet one, making sure she was covered with the blanket and warm. He didn't sleep at all and just watched over her.
As Mercy woke up the next morning, Genji just replaced the cloth on her forehead. "I'm sorry, did I wake you?", he asked. Angela smiled at him. "You didn't wake me. Thank you for taking care of me.", she replied, the heart warming smile still on her lips. The cyborg brushed a few bangs from her face. "You seem better.", he noticed and smiled back at her. "All thanks to you and your good care. I guess I am in very good hands.", Mercy replied. Genji's face grew red, then his mind seemed to travel to place far away from reality.
"Genji, are you alright?", she asked after a few minutes. He seemed to snap back to reality as he heard her voice. "Y-yes ... I just ... remembered something. ... My brother used to take care of me when I was sick ... 24 years ago, I was still very little. When I was eleven I was terribly sick. Have been having a fever for weeks, nightmares whenever I slept. I felt bad. But my brother was there for me. He looked after me, tried to help and comfort me when I woke from my nightmares. Back then he was the best big brother I could've wished for ...", he started explaining out of the blue. "He was a good older brother, until father died and Hanzo became head of the Clan. He disliked my behaviour just as much as father did ... The night he tried to kill me still won't leave my mind. A part of me can understand him, but the other part can't. Even though my behaviour was the worst, how could someone murder his own brother?", he continued.
Mercy looked at him in silence. He looked at her and gave a little smile. "I have forgiven my brother, in hope he has changed. So now, you should sleep some more while I get us something to eat.", he said and walked to the door. Angela nodded and closed her eyes, while Genji left.
He came back almost half an hour later with some Ramen from his old favorite restaurant. The old chef, a rather big and rough looking old lady, had recognized Genji as he ordered but promised not to tell anyone, even though nobody of his past life visited the shop anymore. He placed the soup on the table and wanted to check on Angela. She was sleeping peacefully, taking deep and steady breaths. Genji laid down next to her and watched her sleep, until he eventually drifted to sleep himself.
A few hours later Mercy woke, screaming Genji's name. She woke from one of her worst nightmares and actually shot up. She shivered. It took her a good minute to realize she had just had a dream. Mercy blinked several times before she understood, she was in Genji's arms. He hugged her tightly, pressing her against himself and mumbled: "It's fine ... You're okay. It was just a nightmare." He repeated himself several times. She felt his warmth, his breath next to her head and his heart thumping rapidly in his chest. His voice seemed tired, his speeding heart indicated she scared him or maybe she woke him up. Angela let herself calm down, her body relaxed and Genji pulled her closer. He placed his hand at the back of her head and softly pushed it against his shoulder. She hugged him back and began to sob. "Shh ... Angela, it's alright. Everything is fine.", he whispered softly, while he caressed her hair. She pressed her face into his shoulder and tried to calm herself.
They sat like this for about half an hour until Mercy let out a reliefed sigh. "Feeling better?", he asked her and she gave a nod in response. Slowly he let go of her and looked at her face. He smiled his warmest smile. She smiled at him as well and thanked him. "Are you hungry?", he asked. She nodded in response. "Alright! I'll reheat again and then we can eat.", he replied, got up and put the ramen in a pot, to heat it on the stove. He placed a bottle of water on the table for Angela, who just sat down at the table. She drank half of the small bottle and then she watched as Genji carefully made sure the ramen wasn't too hot, before he put in in two bowls and placed one of the bowls in front of Mercy. Her bowl was filled up more than his. She looked at him, as he placed chopsticks and a spoon next to her bowl. "Is something wrong?", he asked. She shook her head and replied: "No, nothings wrong, but ... aren't you hungry as well?" She looked at his half filled bowl. "Oh, not really.", he smiled at her, "I grabbed myself a snack on my way back. You should eat. It's best while it's hot." He said something in japanese and began eating.
Mercy tilted her head and look at him. Instead of speaking with his mouth full he mirrored her gesture and added a "hm?". "You said something in japanese... What does it mean?", she asked. He swallowed the noodles. "Itadakimasu, means something like thanks for the food. It's slmething you say before you start eating. After you finish you say 'Goshisosoma deshita', kind of thanks for the food again, but it's the polite way of japanese eating.", he explained and scratched the back of his head.
Angela nodded and tried to repeat what he had said. She failed miserably and Genji had to repeat it several times, slowly so she could understand. After she pronounced it wrong for the fifth time Genji started laughing. Angela pouted. "Japanese is hard.", he said. "I like the way you said it. It's cute", he smiled. It made Angela blush, so to distract herself she tried eating some of the noodle soup. It was the best soup she had ever tasted. She ate the whole bowl. "I need to know where you bought this. We need to eat there! It tastes amazing!", she said cheerfully. He smiled at her. "We'll go there, maybe tomorrow.", he answered.
Genji got up and placed his bowl in the sink, then he walked to Angela. He placed his hand on her forehead. "Seems like your fever is gone", he said, he seemed reliefed. "Thanks to your good care.", she replied. Genji's face came closer to hers. He kissed her and she swung her arms around his neck, as his hand reached for her cheek. She kissed him back, to his surprise. He pulled away and looked deep into her eyes. "I never said it before ... But I love you.", he whispered to her. Angela's face grew red, but she replied: "I love you too." Genji kissed her again, this time longer.
Soon after Genji went to sleep, as he barely slept in that whole time. Mercy too went to sleep, she still needed some rest and as she was really happy, she was sure there were no more nightmares to plague her.
Both of them slept through to next morning. Angela woke first. She watched Genji sleep and listened to his soft snoring. He looked so peaceful, not like in all those other nights she watched him sleep - so damaged, on the brink of death and yet holding on, nightmares had plagued him every night back then. She was glad to see him sleeping so peacefully.
He woke up 10 Minutes after she did, opened his eyes and yawned at first. "Good Morning ..", he said sleepy and rubbed his right eye. Mercy chuckled and replied: "Good Morning, Sleepy." He sat up and streched. "I'm still tired", he yawned and let himself fall back again onto the bed, his eyes closed. Angela giggled, as soon as Genji started snoring again.
She got up and walked to a window to watch the city. The streets were already busy, but she spotted three men in black suits staring directly at her, before moving away. Mercy tried to follow where they went with her eyes, but they walked into different directions and out of sight. "What was all that about? Who are those men and why did they stare at me?", she thought. She continued looking and spotted another black suited man walk towards the hotel. He walked fast. She walked back over to the bed and tried to wake the Cyborg.
"Genji. You need to wake up now, Genji!", she said and shook him. He shot up and looked at her. "What's wrong?", he asked confused and rubbed his eyes. "There are some guys coming directly for the hotel. They looked at me from the street, all in black suits.", she explained. Genji cursed in japanese and went to get his armor.
The Cyborg had just reached his swords as the door burst and a man and an omnic walked right in. He grabbed his swords and stood in front of Angela. "Yakuza ...", he growled. He dashed forward and cut the omnic into two pieces. Before he could react, the Yakuza shot him. He went down onto one knee, staring at the wound. Collecting his focus and strength he got up again, green light moving from his fingertips to the blade. His dragon appeared beside him and roared at the man in black suit. Genji also killed the man. His dragon looked at the wound before it disappeared from sight. He looked over his shoulder and saw no wound on Mercy.
"Are you alri-", he started, but collapsed. She ran to him. The shot had hit his torso and he was bleeding a lot. His breathing became heavier, not only from pain, but Mercy feared the bullet had hit his lungs. Her hands were shaking, as they were about to touch his body. She heared a low growl and saw a green dragon forming next to Genji. It's head moved to shield it's master from her touch. It growled at Mercy, showing it's pointy teeth, as it tried to shield most of Genji's body from her.