Chapter 6:

Hanzo Part III

How had he ended up here? It was one of those questions that always lingered on the edge of Hanzo's mind.

After waking up to a new day, he'd already made up his mind on what must be done. It had taken awhile to calm himself from last night's incident, and when he'd fallen asleep his body was drenched in sweat. That didn't matter now, however. Today he had to make another life and death situation for another family member. Although perhaps it should be better titled a death and death situation.

Betrayal was a rare thing, and anything about a betrayer or what punishment the betrayer faced was wiped from history.

Hanzo let out a long sigh and was about to head out when he was interrupted by a knock on the door.

"Who is it?" He demanded while just about to open the door.

"Sakura," Came the response, and when Hanzo opened the door she was, indeed, there. He didn't know if he should take this as a good or bad sign. On one hand, he didn't have to go looking for her, but on the other, Sakura may try to take an attempt on his life. It wouldn't be surprising if she chose the latter to say the least.

"What do you want?" He asked sharply.

Sakura's face fell a bit, apparently she hadn't been expecting such a cold greeting.

"I wanted to talk with you, before you decided to do anything more," She wrapped her arms around him in a hug then tried to lead him further inside his own house. Hanzo pushed her off, her explanation didn't clear anything up, and he took the show of affection badly. Folding his arms over his chest in a guarded gesture, his eyes carefully watched the uninvited guest.

"Then speak," he demanded.

"You don't have microphones or cameras in here, right Hanzo?" She asked, taking a quick glance around the room.

Hanzo simply glared at her. Why wouldn't he have any spyware disabled in his own house unless it was for him alone?

"Right, um," There were moments of hesitation as Sakura tried to go through the plan of action through her head. "How much information did you get from Yamamoto?"

"Enough."

"Oh. Well, of course you did," Sakura fidgeted a bit, this wasn't how she had hoped their conversation would go.

She took a long moment and stared into Hanzo's cold glare. Tears started to form in her eyes, and she ran up to Hanzo pressing her lips against his in a kiss.

His brows immediately furrowed and he pushed back Sakura. After wiping his mouth in disgust, his voice turned ominously low as he glared into Sakura's tear drenched eyes. "What the hell was that?"

"I love you Hanzo," she choked out, and refusing to take denial as an answer she tried to hug him. Hanzo still peeled her off of him, and he shook his head.

"You love me?"

"Yes," she exclaimed, and found that maybe she should explain what happened. "I-I was the one who released the information to the government. I told them everything! All because I wanted you to forget about the stupid clan and come with me. We could live a normal life together, I'll fix your meals, clean the house, you get a clean job. No more death and theft, we can start over."

Hanzo blinked. This… surprised him to say the least. Would someone really give up on their entire family, betray them and everything they'd worked for just so that they alone could have a different life? A thought struck him, this was just like Genji. A betrayal caused by cowardice. In fact...

"It was Genji who convinced you, right?" He growled, pointing at Sakura accusingly. "You two were actually planning this. To betray our family and all we've done. Unravel everyone's lives just so you two could live the lives you wanted. Oh yeah, and let me guess, Genji told you that I wouldn't allow that to happen, but you didn't heed his advice. After I killed him you thought that my depression could be cleared by making me leave this place! All because of these little lies to yourself. Now we have to clear our names so that the government can't gain a warrant and tear down this whole place. A team was captured just recently because of your selfish actions, do you not care for your family? I killed my brother because he refused to follow us, do you not know what I sacrificed? Do you know what I went through? Do you know what I had done and what it does to me? Everyday he's stuck in my head, the shadow which consumes my every thought. I don't even know if what I did was right. If I had not killed him I would've followed him and dishonored the clan, but by killing him I am cursed with relentless guilt. Don't think that romance will solve everything just like those silly movies you watch, it solves nothing. Absolutely nothing. In fact, because of your stupid crush on me, I have to kill another family member. Do you know what burdens I bare? Do you know the many who look up to me, or the many whose fate is decided by me? You've dishonored us, Sakura, and there is nothing you can do to save yourself. Now leave!"

His finger shot to the door and he looked at her with the same mixture of fury and sorrow he'd experienced with Genji, although significantly lower. Sakura looked up at him, tears stained her face and she cowered in his fuming presence. Having nothing to say, she ran for the door, a sob emitting from her throat. Hanzo's arm fell limp to his side as silence descended upon the house. A low sigh escaped him and he blinked away the tears starting to form in his eyes. The door shut, momentarily suppressing the silence. It seemed to disturb him, surely this wasn't the right way to live, in fear of sudden change. He knew of nobody else who had killed their brother for the sake of honor then continued to run a black market business while coping with the incomprehensible guilt he was constantly experiencing.

Exhausted, he collapsed in the nearest chair. However, simply because it seemed he could never catch a break, his mind continued to run over what he told Sakura.

It was true, all of it, and Hanzo had been burying it deeper within himself.

After discussing with the elders Sakura's betrayal, a decision was made. Tomorrow morning Sakura would be executed. Again, it would be by Hanzo's hands, or possibly by Sakura herself, but he highly doubted her rebellious nature would lead her to commit suicide. After an hour of meditating, he came to the middle ground of accepting what was to come. This was simple tradition, nothing new among the clan. He wasn't the first to spill the family's blood for the sake of honor. But at the same time, his brother still nagged at the edge of his mind, almost as if the shade was trying to tell him something. It bothered him throughout the day, and during lunch his brother finally revealed his inner thoughts in an appealing light.

It was the idea of leaving. The same thing that Genji did-or at least had wanted to do.

Leaving was a surprisingly welcome idea. After thinking about it further, Hanzo realized that he wouldn't regret the decision that much. Hanamura was a place of broken memories for him. Three of his most beloved people were dead, he had killed his own kin in this very place and he had no more close relationships among his family. Or at least none he trusted would last forever.

Although unwilling to admit his brother was right, he still conceded to the fact that this was the best option for himself. He glanced at the tattooed dragon which peeked out from below his sleeve.

"How am I supposed to know who to follow if something new pops up after I've decided between the last two?" He asked it quietly. Talking to the dragons had started to become a habit of his. And he welcomed their silence as them being patient with him.

Hanzo decided to take the rest of his free time in the day to prepare to leave. His new goal was to be able to take his leave in a week's time.

The next day came, and after a filling breakfast he headed towards the open grounds in the castle. Already there were people gathered before him to set up the occasion. Sakura was temporarily held and still within the walls. Of course that should be no surprise, she had nowhere else to go and even if she had left, someone would have been sent after her to capture the traitor. Hanzo frowned slightly to himself. She would die most likely by his hands for more than one reason, but one of those was for trying to leave the clan. He realized that he was about to commit an act of hypocrisy, for soon he would be doing the same as Sakura. Although he was confident he could actually get away with it. Hanzo's training was superior to any others in the clan, with the exception of his teachers, and he was quite talented, even some of their most prized assassins wouldn't be able to catch him.

His eyes locked with Sakura's defiant gaze, and he couldn't help but slip a short look of pity for her, but it was brief and he quickly returned to his cold mask of indifference.

More people began to enter the square, watching from the sideline the events that were about to commence. Noticing that at last everyone required to be present was here, he gave a small sigh.

"Let's get this over with," Hanzo muttered to himself.

He signaled the man left to guard Sakura to let her go; she began to walk towards him. It seemed that she wouldn't let go of that resistant glare that was trying to burn through him. However, he evenly met her gaze refusing to give her any ground of confidence. For a long moment they stood in front of each other, then Hanzo decided that someone was taking too long and nodded at one of the elders to read the charges.

As he finished the list, Hanzo removed a long dagger from his belt.

"You have two options, sacrifice yourself for dishonoring us or I will do it myself," he spoke in a low and almost bored voice. To his right he noticed Sakura's mother was weeping and that her father and siblings looked either disappointed or sad.

The traitor looked briefly to her family and felt saddened. They felt little to no pity for her, and she'd realized the cost of her actions too late. She returned to her look of defiance and lifted her chin as if she were superior. She denied the hilt of the dagger, readying to speak. However, the second she said "I will not kill myself," Hanzo switched his grip on the blade and quickly swiped it across Sakura's throat.

It was so sudden that her face had barely started to form into an expression of surprise and terror and everyone around had to take a moment to realize she was now dead on the ground.

Hanzo gave the lifeless body a moment of silence. She'd might not have died if he had made his decision to leave earlier, but what was done was done.

"Clean it up," he called for no one in particular. His uncaring response startled a few of the watchers who perhaps cared more about her than he did right now. Despite not casting the body another glance, his mind did stumble upon the memories he'd shared with his cousin. Hanzo's younger years had been a much more pleasant experience. And that only added to the reasons to leave. There was, in fact, a better life outside the clan. It might be dishonoring his family by leaving, but he found he was starting to care about them less and about himself more. He gave an inward sigh and headed home, he had a long way to go.