The Tale of Two Dragons

by Night Of The Crow

We start with the beginning of an end. Hanzo Shimada has been forced to kill his brother after Genji denies the Clan, and although all goes as planned, no one's happy. Hanzo and Genji alike face difficulties recuperating both mentally and physically. This story will take you through their fight, and their lives afterwards. Be prepared.

5. Hanzo 2

Chapter 4:

Hanzo Part II

This was perhaps the one of the easiest missions he would ever experience. Hanzo only needed one man, preferably someone of power who wouldn't be missed for too long, or perhaps forever. His mission was to abduct and interrogate someone from the government. Recently, a private affair had been going on between someone in his clan and the Japanese government. The worst part was that they'd had a betrayal. Perhaps long ago, Genji-the name still struggled to form in his thoughts and tongue-had begun to rub off on one of their cousins, causing them to think of something outside of their family's business. Whether they had thought so much on their own to betray them and release information to the authorities, he could only guess. At least it was a private transaction, publicity would have been an even bigger threat.

Now, with the cooperative help of someone in the National Diet Building, they would find out who did such a thing and decide the course of the clan from there.

It was ten at night. Through his informants he'd received the information of tonight's overtime workers. Yamamoto Hiro, a member of the House of Councillors, was staying for tonight, as well as a few other members of the council. However, they decided to ignore the rest and Yamamoto was decided as the main target. Hanzo casually stood by the pillars of the main entrance. These days your main problem wasn't the guards, it was the cameras. His face was fully covered, as was the rest of his body, to make sure no recognition could be found. Another tactic that was carefully practiced was to avoid eye contact with the cameras. The slightest glance at them will give security all the information they need, the smallest thing can lead to your demise, especially for a situation this dire. If they were to catch him in action there would be further evidence of the Shimada Clan's misdeeds.

Hanzo's eyes darted around the right area of the government building. There were several exits the man could use. The one he watched from, a small door only a few hundred meters away, and a set of double doors all the way on the other side of the building. He silently waited, watching for the moment that would mark someone as leaving the building. A small voice picked up and spoke through the comm set in his ear.

"He's leaving, middle door."

Hanzo gave a small word of acknowledgement and ghosted towards the presumed exit Yamamoto would take. A short minute later, he heard and saw the door open, silhouetting his target in a soft yellow light. Hanzo silently glared at the man from a safe distance, for he was talking on his phone, making him temporarily invulnerable. The assassin waited until the rushed apologizing was over and the man had pocketed his phone before making a move.

With swift yet silent steps, he crossed the parking lot and followed Yamamoto like a shadow until the man reached his car. Before his hand could even grasp the keys in his pocket, Hanzo wrapped an arm around his neck and dragged him down. The poor man barely gave a fight before running out of breath and collapsing under the younger man's grip.

Pathetic, he thought looking down at the unconscious body. Having completed the first part of the job, Hanzo whispered into his comm.

"Target secured. I'll be there in five."

Whether it would actually take that little time, he didn't know, but it was the best estimate. He started off by relieving any electronical devices from the councillor's person. The less ways to track him the better. When it came to the his phone, he inserted a device into the charging slot which would extract any, and nearly all, information from the phone. To discard the rest of the items, he opened the car, tossed them in, and locked it. When the headlights turned off and the world was plunged into darkness once more, Hanzo lifted up the body and tossed it over his shoulder. There was no need to be careful with the package.

He crossed the parking lot without trouble, and waited by the road for a good minute before he darted across without fear of passing cars. For another few minutes he crept through the park directly across from the building. At this time there shouldn't be anyone here, but he still came across a group of teenagers who were supposedly trying to be cool and do whatever was illegal just for the fun of it. Surprisingly there was also an omnic among them, usually the machines didn't break the law for the fun of it since they had nothing to break. Fortunately they didn't cross his path, although he wouldn't have minded beating them up for being idiots.

Putting those thoughts aside, he made his way to the end of the park and found his comrades sitting inside a car hidden in the overhang of several trees. They silently helped him fit the man in the car and offered Hanzo to sit up front as one of them trussed their prisoner.

The car started and Hanzo allowed himself to relax in his seat. After pulling down his mask and hood, he watched the slowly darkening city of Tokyo pass by.

The ride was silent between the three men. Of course they all knew each other well, but in the dimly lit night, no one felt the need to speak.

It would normally be a two and a half hour ride back to Hanamura, but due to the need to keep secrecy, several detours were made to confuse traffic cameras and added an extra half hour to the ride.

Hanzo took the liberty to take a small nap in the middle of it. After all, he didn't have much else to do.

At one in the morning, still cloaked by the night, the trio and hostage arrived at the gates of the castle. They parked in a small cul-de-sac across from Rikimaru and dragged Yamamoto Hiro with them inside the clan's grounds. As soon as they passed the grand entrance, however, Hanzo seemed to remember something. For a long moment he stared into the blank space of night. With a hand he absently waved away his comrades.

"You know where to put him, I have to do something before the night is done."

The two exchanged questioning glances which were lost in the dark, but followed orders. Hanzo waited by the stairs until he could no longer see the smallest smudge of them, then made his way up.

No one else was awake at this time except for the few sentries they had spread out, but they seemed like they wanted to fall asleep as well. He didn't particularly like that they weren't fully aware, but at the same time he sympathized with their weariness. Passing the nearest guard without a word, he came around to the small building where he climbed a short wall then jumped to grab the singled roof. Lifting himself up with arms alone, he stood in the center of the building's flat roof.

Above him a proud full moon rested in the sky. It had been exactly one month since his brother's death, and now that same moon threatened to haunt him for the remainder of the night. With a soundless sigh he sat on his knees before the shining white celestial.

Sleep didn't feel like an option on this night. When he had tried to take a nap in the car it had only resulted in him reexperiencing the things of the past. He remembered sweat threatening to drench him and fighting the urge to freak out in front of his family.

A small breeze passed by, and his heart started fluttering. The fall's dry air wrapped around him, drying his throat and making him colder. It felt like an otherworldly presence was watching him, forcing him to suffer and remember. Hanzo's eyes darted back and forth, looking down upon the city then back in the castle walls, they were searching for something that might solve a problem. But what's the point in searching for a solution when you don't know the problem?

Exactly, because there is no problem, Hanzo thought, I'm doing this to myself.

He looked down at his hands, then settled down, resting on his knees.

Meditation was the only thing that allowed him to feel at peace other than constant distraction. Soon his mind began to calm, and a second wind washed over him without consequence this time.

For a long moment he felt at peace, finding a way to be content. His mind was clear, relaxed, knowing what mistakes he had made but still knowing that what had been done was done. Forget the past, think about the future.

But a third breath of wind came, followed by the whisper of a familiar voice.

"Hanzo, I'm scared," it seemed to say. He lost composure at that moment and his eyes shot open. All he wanted to say was a simple word, "Genji," but he choked on his own tongue and ended up just glancing behind himself as if hoping to see his brother. There was no one there of course, and Hanzo's stomach sank. Those were the last words he had ever heard his brother say, and every day they haunted him. Whenever he was alone something would whisper in his ear, force him to listen, and echo to no end.

Why had he even come up here? To force himself to suffer, to remember once again what happened, to understand the pain he felt? He'd accomplished nothing in these few short minutes of meditation.

While standing up, a shadow passed over him and the leaves shook below. In his stressed state, rather than taking it for a simple cloud, and a breeze in the trees, he saw Genji. The flash of a shade frightened the already depressed young man and served him no good. His mind grew dizzy from the sudden panic as he forced himself to stand up. The sound of his back popping caught him unawares and he was cast back into the temple. He was forced to relive the moment where he had improvised without his weapon and nearly broke his brother's back with bare hands.

Hanzo stumbled back into reality, covering his face with shameful hands.

What have I done?

That one thought was repeated over and over again in his head as he jumped down from the building and hastily retreated to his house on the other side of the castle's grounds.

Upon approaching his house he became very weary and with a loud yawn his regretful thoughts were tossed to the side. Sleep was more important and irresistible.

No need for alarm clocks. Nightmares or no, Hanzo's body was trained to always wake up around six in the morning on normal days. The morning felt good, the sun washed over his skin releasing a pleasant warmth, and the laziness in the air held gave him a sense of peacefulness. It was a stark, but welcome, contrast from what he had felt only last night. He dared not to let go of his good mood by thinking of what happened only hours ago. Instead, he only thought of the important details of last night and how it was now his job to create and carry out commands as the master of the Shimada Clan. It was still a new concept, and despite being trained and told what he would do, he was still used to being told what to do. That was how it usually was. Yes, he was allowed to carry out orders and create them-with his father's consent, of course-but having the full liberty and burden of this was different.

Worry about it later, he thought to himself to dismiss any stress he felt. Hanzo knew what needed to be done right now with the interrogation of their new friend Hiro, and prepared himself for the day ahead.

He met privately with Hiro in an interrogation room, dressed in clothes he wouldn't mind getting dirty, but still looked somewhat formal. Outside the room sat one of his younger cousins, Sakura. She was a fair lady, beautiful in many aspects, and she often helped the clan by wooing men into doing what they needed.

When it came to the methods of interrogation, the Shimada Clan had never resorted to violence and torture immediately. This was so they could better hide evidence of them committing what-to the authorities-was a crime, and also so that they might not waste resources. They always started off with flattery, temptation-the main reason why he brought Sakura with him,- gifts, and comfort. Research had shown that this usually received better responses from the captive and would convince the captive to share more truth than lie. Of course, after interrogation they usually couldn't let the interrogated leave and would dispose of them by faking suicide. It was grim, but not as bad as the older methods.

Hanzo greeted his younger cousin and felt disapproving of her choice of clothing, but remembered it was really only for this job. She responded with a confident smile and greeting, ready to meet the captive when signaled. He stood before the door and took a deep breath, going through his head the deals and conversation he would want to bring up once more, then stepped inside.

"Yamamoto Hiro," he greeted, holding out his hand to shake. "As you may know I am Shimada Hanzo."

Hiro nodded and shakily rose to his feet and grasped Hanzo's hand, saying his own greetings. The man was untied and left to his own devices in the room. Of course the poor man had nothing but his clothes and the set of chairs, table, and glass of water they'd left him with, but they had at least tried to make it comfortable for an interrogation room.

Hanzo's face was simply a mask of indifference as he sat down. He noticed the sweat that had already accumulated on the man's forehead. This was going to be easy.

He made himself look business like, hands clasped on the table before him, ready to discuss.

"I have a small problem," he slowly began. "You personally have nothing to do about this… predicament, but I know that you have information on it."

Hanzo glanced up at Hiro, acting as if he was in deep thought when he had truly already thought of all this beforehand. His calm eyes met Hiro's still terrified eyes, but the man nodded.

"Just a few weeks ago, one of the members of the Shimada Clan came to the authorities and spilled some personal information about us," he spread his arms out to emphasize the size of his organization. Hiro seemed to calm down just a bit. "All I want to know is what they said and who said it. I'm told that your position in the government means you know some of this information."

Shaky hands grabbed the glass of water as Hiro went to take a sip and soften his dry throat so he could actually speak. Hanzo realizing that it would take him a bit to begin talking, added a small bribe to his question.

"If you could give me this information, I would be very appreciative of your contribution and would be happy to toss you a few million yen or so, I was thinking maybe ten? And if you need a trip back to Tokyo I'd be happy to give you a nice service."

Hiro's face lightened up at this offer, and the man seemed to regain some confidence. Hanzo had a mental cheer of triumph at this. However, the captive's face fell, and Hanzo frowned.

"Is something wrong?" he asked, earning the first croaking words from Mr. Yamamoto.

"W-Well," the nervous man began, tripping over his first word. "Ahem. Well, by the rules and oaths we take for our jobs, we are restrained from speaking of current matters such as this one until decisions are made, carried out, and enough time passes by for the matter to be irrelevant."

Hanzo furrowed his brow.

"Oh, is that so? How unfortunate, is there no way we can bypass this? Perhaps only part of this incident is confidential. What details could you possibly give me?"

Hiro continued to decline Hanzo by shaking his head. "There is nothing I can tell you, unfortunately." Then the man let forth a bit of his bravery. "Now, may I kindly return home?"

The young master gave the man a thoughtful look. He'd already prepared for that kind of answer and stood up, actually making Hiro cringe back like he was about to be punished. Hanzo didn't seem to acknowledge it and only spoke.

"Perhaps. Would you give me a moment?" Hanzo paused to add more. " Maybe my cousin could entertain you while I'm absent."

The way he had to use entertain in the sentence kind of bothered him. Many men, including Genji at one time, found women to be great entertainment, and Hanzo for whatever reason couldn't understand what was so enticing about watching them and having sex.

He left the room and signaled to Sakura that she could go in. Hanzo went to sit in front of the control panel and hidden window, which meant he could watch all that happened inside the room. Of course, nothing explicit happened, but he did cringe a little bit as he watched what was happening. On his young cousin's consent, she would help him with the interrogation by seducing the man if needed. He'd always known that in her early years she had been very shy and timid. However, due to hard training, she had grown into a confident young woman who knew how to defend herself and get what she wanted through her expert acting. Now Hanzo watched her use that once shy side as an easy act to get the information he needed.

They built a "relationship," if it could even be called that. Sakura subtly showed her more enticing features from afar, and slowly grew closer. The shy attitude she used built up Hiro's own confidence, and soon they seemed comfortable with each other.

Her composure was unmatchable, and she wasn't afraid to show more of her body when they were closer. A conversation was eventually sparked, and Hanzo finally grew interested in what was happening in the room. Although, admittedly, it was awkward for him to listen and watch.

"What's your name, young girl?" Hiro asked whilst grabbing her. Sakura didn't show her surprise, but inwardly she was angered that the man treated her with disrespect. Instead, she shyly looked into her victim's eyes and quiety muttered. "Sakura, sir"

Hiro's eyes darted across the room, he spotted no windows and only one door which he spotted a way to lock. Of course, he didn't know the lock was actually a fake and that the only way to secure the door was from the outside. It was one of the small techniques they used to make the interrogated feel more comfortable.

Both Hanzo and Sakura knew the intentions of the man, and neither did anything to stop him from approaching the door and using the fake lock. Hiro, now completely confident due to the absence of the naturally intimidating Hanzo and in the presence of a seemingly helpless woman, walked towards the chair Sakura now sat in.

"I don't see anyone here that will be able to interrupt us, why don't we have some fun?" The man, who had a wife and children, spoke maliciously in the voice that made Hanzo want to barge into the room and strangle him for even thinking such things near his cousin. But as always, he reminded himself she was able to take care of herself.

In the interrogation room, the acting shy and timid Sakura seemed to spring to life while still giving off the vibe that she was unsure and unsteady.

"If-if you truly wish, master." she mumbled, head bowed as she stood up and also approached.

The use of the word 'master' only fueled Hiro's thoughts and worked as intended. He gently grabbed her chin and brought it up to look at him. A silent word seemed to be shared between them, and Sakura rubbed her chest against his, pressing her lips to his face and giving him the small pleasures he desired.

Hanzo decided at this point to look away, both disgusted and embarrassed by their smut. He only listened for a few minutes as Sakura did her job, wishing that she could pry information in a quicker fashion. Call him mad, but he prefered the torture version of interrogation.

The next time he looked back, Hanzo flinched. The two were both sitting in the same chair, Sakura flaunted on top of Hiro, shirt opened to reveal her rather scanty bra while Hiro pressed her against him.

She whispered something in his ear that the microphones couldn't pick up, and surprise shot onto Hiro's previously satisfied but wanting face. Hanzo gave a small sigh of relief, maybe she was finally going to pry something from him, and watched as the captive seemed to be on the verge of saying something in their cringe worthy conversation.

"I told you a secret, so maybe… you could give me one too? Just something between us, nobody else has to know," She leaned deeper into the man, a shy smile on her face. "I think I'm really interested in the little Shimada secrets, but if that's not something you want then… You don't have to do it."

Sakura pouted her lip and widened her eyes to look as if she was going to cry if she didn't get her secret. Hiro, although very enticed by the young woman, bit his lip, hesitating. She leaned in, breasts rubbing against his side, and hands trailing across his chest.

"Maybe we can even grab an empty room later tonight…? Steal away in the dark, just you… and me… I only want a little secret first, to know that you truly care about me."

The man's tongue finally slipped in hopes of spending a night in bed with Hanzo's cousin.

"Well, I suppose I can tell you something," Sakura's face lit up at his words, and her hands gently wrapped around his face, bringing it to be only a few inches away from her own. Hiro had no complaints. "We were told about the most recent deaths in the family, a way to exploit them. We're thinking about trying to take all of them out for good, our informant also told us of your Hanzo's mental state. It's probably possible to take down one of the most threatening Yakuza's we've had, we could even fake it as an accident, frame the kid and imprison him."

Hiro's eyes shined with his new discovery. When he went back home he'd have to pitch what he'd just now come up with. For now he was rewarded with another full kiss pressed on by Sakura, and her bare legs wrapped around his body. She made sure the kiss lasted for several seconds, not allowing Hiro to pull away, and in that time signalled to Hanzo that she was done. As a final tease, she pulled off his belt and made her way to pull down his pants before two quick raps on the door were heard.

"I'm coming in," Hanzo stated, loud and clear.

Sakura pretended to be disappointed then buttoned and smoothed her shirt. She untangled herself from the now disappointed man and began to leave for the door.

"It's locked, remember?" Hiro pleaded, hoping to get the woman back in his lap.

"In a den of thieves and assassins, locks don't mean a thing," She replied, waiting for the door to open. Her last confident words surprised the subdued man and he just stared at her as she traded places with Hanzo. Noticing Hiro's reaction, Hanzo inwardly cursed Sakura. He wouldn't be able to use her again if he needed.

He entered, straight faced as usual, and didn't seem to mind when Hiro hurriedly pulled his pants back up.

"I suppose you two had a pleasant time?" Hanzo asked with an audible sigh of impatience.

"Oh… well, yes. You have a very lovely cousin, I'd love to meet her again."

"I'm sure you would," Hanzo replied with a smile that twisted Hiro's stomach in fear. "So, did you tell her anything I might like to hear? I'm still looking for information."

"No," Hiro straight up lied without a bit of hesitance. Impressive. "We simply had some time to bond."

"I'm sure you did, but I'm not running a brothel. I need information, Yamamoto Hiro. I need it now." Something inside Hanzo seemed to have burst, not for the first time in the past month, and his anger seemed to cloud his patience.

Hiro frowned and his eyes searched for some clue as to what the Shimada Clan's leader might be thinking. Unfortunately, the thought of torturing answers out of him wasn't something he came up with. "I cannot tell you anything, Shimada, these are the rules."

"Well, perhaps I can tell you something, I'm getting tired of rules," Hanzo spat. A single blow made up of Hanzo's growing impatience caught Hiro over the head and plunged him into darkness

Normally after attempted seduction, he would continue to try to convince the victim a bit more, but Hanzo was getting tired of this shit. He didn't want this interrogation to be dragged out, he'd get what he wanted this afternoon. After some lunch, of course. Hanzo's stomach growled and he scowled in response, starting to secure Hiro so he would be ready for torture when he awoke.

When Hanzo left he locked the door and turned out the lights. If Hiro woke up in the time between his break, he'd be happy to get an extra scare out of the man. It'd make things easier, he thought with a grim smile.

Lunch consisted of a hastily made sandwich and bottle of water. While he had headed back to his house hoping to create something more of a relaxing meal, he received a call from his uncle. Despite Hanzo growing to have hateful thoughts towards him, he took the call in all seriousness, setting aside his feelings. And for good reason. The second he said 'Hello,' Hayato was quickly talking about an alarming event in great detail and urgency. As it seemed, their leaked information helped imprison one of their raiding parties, meant to retrieve illegal weapons from the coast. His uncle asked him to come by immediately, and so Hanzo stuffed what food he could in his mouth and washed it down with water.

While he was running back to the castle, a humorous thought ran through his head. He had the feeling the young mage Khadgar from one of his books (and Genji's games) had felt this same kind of rush with his own master, Medivh. Except, technically Hanzo was responding to a council of equal power instead.

When he arrived, Hanzo made sure to make it look like he hadn't been hurrying and calmly opened the doors to walk in on a discussion already happening. They exchanged greetings, and the moment Hanzo sat down, they filled him with what information they had obtained and discussed.

As it turned out one of the members of the captured party had managed to escape undetected and relayed his information on the matter. Apparently what happened was that the authorities were told beforehand and managed to slip past the scouts they had sent out. So when they went to take the goods they were met with of force of armed officers ready to arrest with good reason and proof. There had been a struggle, but due to the escapee's lack of action he was able to leave in the commotion.

Hanzo asked why they were getting this information now, he remembered sending out the party last night, not in the morning. The council informed him that in his panic, the man hadn't thought to contact them before and only spoke when he had made it back and rested. Hanzo sighed a curse and rubbed a hand against his forehead in frustration.

If the police had taken members of the clan prisoner that could only mean they would try to pry more information from them and try to get them to admit they were part of the Shimada Clan so that blame could be placed on them. They had all been trained for these kinds of situations, but that didn't quench Hanzo's concerns. This was going terribly, he needed to get information out of his own prisoner immediately.

Hanzo excused himself from the meeting, telling them that he still hadn't extracted all the information from Hiro yet. They let him go and told him they'd keep him updated with the conversation as they continued. Hanzo gave his thanks and left. While he approached the interrogation rooms, the constant thought on his mind was who would tell them, why would they, and do we have a spy or a betrayer?

He cleared his mind upon entering the dark room, he'd know soon enough.

He turned on all the lights in the control room, but only the backlights of the room Hiro was in. Dramatic effect, it did a lot to convince weak people like Hiro to talk.

He entered the room to confront a terrified and gagged Hiro. Hanzo put his grim face in the half light to make him look all the more threatening. For a while he simply stood over the desk, waiting for Hiro to calm down. He must admit, feeling in control for one moment then being restrained the next would be frightening. When Hiro stopped, Hanzo removed the gag. However, he only actually removed the padded mouthpiece and metal strainers from the mouth and let it dangle like a necklace. It was a warning, and Hiro seemed to understand that perfectly. The edges of his mouth were bleeding from the strain, and Hiro dryly licked his lips to relieve the pain. Hanzo moved back to stand in front of Hiro, then proceeded to remove a long knife from his belt and absently ran the sharp edge against his thumb.

"So," he began in a conversational tone. "We tried this the passive way, but we're not getting a whole lot of talk from you. And I'll tell you what, I need this information fast before your government friends start getting into the clan's and my business. I have a suggestion for you; Yamamoto Hiro, how about you tell me everything before we get messy."

Hanzo noticed Hiro's eyes darting all over his face for something, but the young man's face was hard and set, and his eyes cold and unforgiving. Hiro sweat like a pig, and in front of him, his strapped hands shook like he was about to explode. The rest of his body jittered with them. However, despite his clearly horrified state, Hiro mustered up some courage. Probably by remembering some action movies he'd seen.

"I-I won't tell yo-ou any-anything!" He managed, the weak voice he used made Hanzo pity him for a moment. Pity quickly turned into disappointment, though, seeing as Mr. Yamamoto here was stupid enough to deny him.

"We both know you're not strong enough to win an interrogation, not even one where I simply stood here and did nothing," At this point Hanzo was using the knife to gesture, making Hiro more nervous from the ease that Hanzo could twist the sharpened blade.

"Let's get to the point, Yamamoto. I'm going to bleed the answers from you," Closing the space between them, Hanzo slowly approached. He leaned forward so that his head was merely inches away from Hiro's.

"I once heard in a story that a leader and a man who wished to succeed him would take turns cutting their arms to prove their individual loyalty and commitment to their people. These leaders were of a powerful race and often bore deep scars leading to their shoulders. Unfortunately, this is only a story and there are no facts or statistics to tell us anything. Which also means I'm curious as to how many cuts a normal man can hold before bleeding to death. Let's test it, shall we? You've got your honor and life on a thin line."

Hanzo stepped to the side and slowly slid the cold blade across Hiro's unprotected forearm. The tender flesh parted easily, and the man jerked his arm in a vain attempt to free his arm from its bindings.

"One," Hanzo counted, taking no pleasure it what he was doing.

He moved to the other arm and did the same, slowly cutting the forearm. Hiro jerked in response again, tears welled up in his eyes.

"Two."

Switch to the other arm again, slice. Whimper of pain, twitchy limbs.

"Three."

Switch, slice, vain attempt in getting free.

"Four."

Switch, slice, cry of pain.

He's surprisingly tough.

"Five."

Switch, slice, shout to stop. He started thrashing even harder at the bindings.

"Six."

Each arm held three clean cuts, spewing fresh blood. It trickled down his arms, causing the pain to intensify as Hiro thought of the worst.

Hanzo pressed his knife against the still intact skin.

"We don't have to continue, all you have to do is tell me what the betrayer said."

"Go to hell," Hiro said in a weak tone. Tears were streaming down his face now.

"Wise words," Hanzo sneered, not caring to mask his anger. The next cut was deeper and longer than the others, causing Hiro to squeal loudly.

"Seven."

He switched arms and gave a swift cut, glaring at Hiro and refusing to glance a way for even a moment. His mouth shaped the words, and his throat whispered them.

"I will break you."

"Eight," The original volume of his voice returned.

At this point Hiro had run out of tears and only hung his head in hopelessness, sobbing to show his pain. Hanzo scowled, he had no wish to aid this idiot of a man, but if he was to speak, he needed to be able to talk. He wiped the blood off the knife with a spare rag and sheathed it, heading to a table in the back of the room. It had been moved there so it wouldn't separate the two of them.

A water pitcher and cup stood on the table, both filled near to the brim. Hanzo picked up the cup and brought it back Hiro, pressing it to his lips.

"Drink." He commanded, and the prisoner had no complaint in obeying. Hiro sought to gulp the whole glass in mere seconds, but Hanzo restricted it to a slow trickle. When half the glass was done, he placed it on the floor.

Hiro's still parched lips gave a grunt of complaint. His arms still twitched in pain, and he lay back in the chair, hissing in agony.

"Stop," he groaned, "Please!"

Hanzo let out a frustrated sigh, rubbing his face to relieve the stress this man was giving him. "This could've been avoided if you just talked."

Taking out the knife again, he let the tip rest on Hiro's chest.

"There are a lot more things I could do that would be more painful, mentally and physically. I'm doing you a favor, and maybe you can return it, a little less pain for a little more information. But if you still don't want to cooperate, well, it's your problem not mine."

Hiro let a small breath escape from his lips and looked down at the gashes in his arms. This situation could be a lot worse than now. He didn't know whether to be relieved or terrified, but his thoughts were cut short by the knife now dragging across his chest leaving a red line which dripped down his shirt.

It was slowly being brought around and about to arrive at his left shoulder. Hanzo watched the knife move, now bored from inactivity.

"The clock is ticking," he said slowly, glancing up at Hiro, "Do you have anything to say?"

"Alright! I'll tell you, just stop doing that," He yelped, interrupting the young man. The response had caught Hanzo surprised, and caused the blade to bite deep into its spot. Who knew silent people could talk so loudly?

Hanzo quickly recovered and removed the knife from Hiro's breast, and moved to stand in front of him.

"And..?"

Majorly relieved by the removal of the weapon, Hiro became a chittering bird.

"It was the girl who came in here after you, your cousin. She told all of us about the Shimada Clan. The secrets, missions, your next strike points, what you're taking in, what you have, who you are, and any of your weaknesses."

Sakura would betray us? But wh-that's what she was whispering in his ear earlier. A promise of escape if he just complied and gave information. The little bitch. Hanzo didn't mention any of his thoughts out loud, but asked about another interesting factor.

"Weaknesses and secrets. Like what?"

"She said that the former master died, that-that you're the new one, and to become that you had to kill your brother, and you're emotionally weak because of that. There was also Hayato Shimada who is looking forward to removing you from your position of power and is looking for opportunities like acting with us to frame you or something like that. And then she told us about the Blackwatch infiltrator and how we can use him to get more information, and other entrances and tunnels hidden all over the place. There's an unguarded part of the castle, and the elders are growing much older and weaker…"

He continued talking for a good amount of time, and Hanzo tried not to show his growing anger as Hiro continued. At one point, he couldn't seem to take anymore and his face twisted with hatred towards Sakura.

"Enough!" he shouted. And before he even knew what he was doing, his anger enveloped his mind and he grabbed the man, plunging the knife into the man's stomach, the blade only stopping when it reached the hilt. After a second he stood back, surprised by his own actions this time. Hanzo didn't bother removing the blade, and instead looked at Hiro's face, a frozen look of terror looked back at him. He took a few deep breaths before assessing his victim's situation. Obviously, by the fact that the knife was stuck in so deep, Hiro wouldn't survive the internal bleeding, but it wouldn't be an immediate death. The frozen face was merely the expression he had fainted with. However, he most likely wouldn't wake up again to even know he was dying before it ended.

Hanzo cursed himself and left the room without a single look back. His mind was starting to act against his will. The anger he felt was always easily stowed away, a calm mask in its place if it ever came. He'd only had bursts of anger when he was going through puberty, and the one time he… A deep breath helped calm him down. The one time he killed Genji. Hanzo sighed and rubbed his face with one hand in regret. For a moment he grew extremely tired and his eyes refused to stay open for long.

Before leaving the building he took the audio files from his interrogation and downloaded them onto a flash drive for later use.

Arriving home, Hanzo sat in the nearest chair and hung his head. He wanted to scream out, let all the anger, and stress, and regret, and fear out. Dragging one hand through his hair, he slipped off the hair tie and let all of it hang over his face. A scream attempted to leave his mouth, but all that came out was a gurgled sob. His hands covered his face and refused to let the light touch his eyes. Tears began to form in those eyes, sobbing escaped his mouth, and all he could do was angrily say "why?"

"Why? Why am I so angry? Why did I kill my brother? Why is my father dead? Why am I not ready for this? Why am I feeling stressed? Why do I feel pain when nothing's wrong? Why is the world so cruel to me? Why am I surrounded by such people? Why? Somebody tell me why. Why, why?"

The doorbell rang, and Hanzo peeked out from behind his fingers. It didn't matter who it was.

"Leave!" he shouted at the door, "Leave! Whatever you have to say, save it or lose your tongue!"

His eyes glared at the door for a moment, then softened when he realized this was exactly his problem.