"Hanzo, good. I had intended to send for you soon." Hanzo sat on his knees in front of his father with his head bowed. "How are matters within the eastern warehouse?" Sojiro questioned, not bothering to turn from the reports in his hand to ask his son about the affairs in the warehouse he knew was the safest.
Hanzo knew his father was merely making small talk, an initial question to feign interest in what his son was doing. The true matter would have to wait until Hanzo told him of what had happened in the warehouse earlier in the evening.
"You honestly think that this shit can hold me?" Kaella spat glaring at Hanzo as he watched the guards place the chains around her wrists and ankles with an audible clack. She looked down at her plain yukata with obvious disdain. "I will never enjoy wearing this constricting outfit. Didn't you have anything more flexible?"
"You are a small girl, of course they can." He responded to her first question and scowled at her foul language. "A woman in your position should not speak with such vulgarity, or request for anything more than what is given to her." He told her before turning to leave the cell.
She audibly scoffed behind him, muttering something in a language he did not recognize. This piqued his interest, glancing behind him to ask her what language she had spoken.
She shot him a withering stare. "This super old language called nonnaya' business!" He rolled his eyes at her sarcastic reply and left the cell.
After double checking to ensure that the insane creature, Kaella, had been properly restrained and dressed Hanzo went straight to his father to discuss what had been sent to the family.
Hanzo clenched his fists resting on his knees, he felt a distinctive pull in his soul that he could not understand and was desperate for any answers his father could give him. "Business is going well, however we received a.. Interesting package from the Okozaka's. They claimed it was an apology for betraying our trust."
This piqued Sojiro's interest, "oh? What did they send?" He set the reports down and faced his son fully.
Hanzo reached into his sleeve and pulled out the pendant, wincing when he felt a twinge in his soul. "This necklace was around the neck of a girl, the same age as I. She-"
"It can't be.." Hanzo was cut off as his father stared wide eyed at the small jewel hanging from Hanzo's hand. The archer had to suppress the urge to raise his eyebrow in question, instead setting the necklace in his fathers outstretched hand.
Sojiro examined the beautiful pendant for a moment, before setting it on his desk and reaching for a small knife. Hanzo's eyes widened as he brought the knife down on the small jewel harshly.
Unimaginable pain surged through his chest, he clenched his chest and grunted, placing a hand on the ground to keep himself upright. Sojiro growled in front of him and Hanzo looked up to see not a single scratch had been made on the pendant.
The clan leader looked at his son, Hanzo's ragged breathing telling him all he needed to know. "Take me to her."
"Sojiro! It hasn't been nearly long enough." Kaella smirked, standing and crossing her arms over her chest. Hanzo thought for sure his father would strike her from the malice flowing through her words but Sojiro merely sighed, handing the necklace to Hanzo.
"Hanzo, ordered her to never bring harm upon yourself." Hanzo was confused but did as his father had instructed, Kaella rolled her eyes and raised an eyebrow. Her chains dropped from her arms and clicked open from her ankles, she stretched and yawned while Hanzo dropped into a defensive position.
"So it is true, it has been a while Kaella. What on Earth brings you to Japan?" His father seemed unbothered by her miraculous freedom from her restraints, merely standing with his arms folded into his sleeves. His words flowed easily into English and Hanzo could have sworn they held a certain fondness, slowly he relaxed into a normal stance with his arms crossed, still suspicious of the girl in front of him.
"Got bored, y'all are usually fightin' each other anyways. Especially among you crimelords."
"If you wished for conflict you should have gone to America."
"Nah, would've wiped the whole damn nation off the face of planet. They're always pissin' me off." She responded cooly, she made no move to escape or attack, she merely looked bored.
Hanzo was extremely confused and looked to his father, desperate for answers. How did Sojiro know this creature? What was she? Why was she sent to them? What did the necklace mean?
He didn't have to ask because Sojiro chuckled at her response, before turning to his son. "Kaella can answer your questions son, do not let this go. Keep it with you at all times and you shall be protected." Sojiro handed Hanzo the necklace before exiting the cell.
Hanzo looked from his father to the necklace in his hand before turning back to Kaella. Just as he was about to bombard her with questions she held up a hand. "Hold on, hot stuff. Gotta change." She held out her hands and in them appeared a pair of black leggings, a black bandeau, a pair of riding boots and a brush.
Hanzo turned his back on her as she began taking off her yukata without bothering to tell him to do so. "Where did you get those?" He questioned without looking back.
"It'll be explained in a moment." Was all she would offer him in response.
After a few moments she told him he could turn around. He did, and was silently pleased with the outfit she had chosen, it accentuated her curves, while he did not approve of the small material she had chosen to cover her chest he decided not to chide her about it.
She finished slipping her left foot into a boot and zipping it up, standing straight and moving to the cot. She reached back and pulled her hair over her shoulder to begin running the brush through the inky black locks. He noticed that since it had dried her hair had developed waves through the longer portion of it, and small curls to frame her face. Hanzo admitted to himself that she was beautiful, no matter how demonic her personality seemed to be.
"So, I'm just gonna give the general run through of what's going on, and where I come from and after I'm done you can go ahead and ask any questions you may have that I did not answer, 'kay?" She addressed him with a no nonsense attitude. He nodded in response, moving to sit on the chair beside the cot.
She hummed with approval, closing her eyes for a moment as she finished tugging a particularly tough knot out of her hair. "Okay, so. I'm Kaella, I'm somewhat of a weapon of war. I was created in the void between time and space. Yeah I know: Impossible, but bare with me.
"I have ultimate powers, I can shape shift, summon weapons from the void, I'm immortal, I am immune to most poisons and diseases, and I have extended knowledge of mostly everything.
"The only thing that can affect me is the necklace you have there." She paused, eyeing the jewel in Hanzo's hand with a hungry gaze.
He clutched it tighter, wary of her actions and unwilling to believe the story she was telling him, she was more than likely psychotic. But then again, he controlled magical beasts that were chained to the tattoo on his arm, so he supposed it wasn't entirely impossible.
Kaella sighed, returning to her task of brushing her seemingly endless hair. "If the jewel is in my possession nothing can touch me, I am immune to attacks and I have complete control over my actions.
"Long ago I did not possess the Kami no hoseki, or god jewel, I was free and only swore my allegiance to who I deemed fit, news of my existence traveled and some sought to control me, such actions are to be expected of humans afterall." She paused, a vicious smirk gracing her features. "They quickly discovered what a foolish endeavor that was, however."
Hanzo shuttered at the image of this girl ripping hundreds of men apart, immortal and free, how could anyone believe they could control such a powerful creature?
"Some turned into hundreds, hundreds turned into thousands, and the leaders of the cults wishing to controlling me tricked the civilians and those in power into believing I was a monster seeking the annihilation of humanity. Over the course of a few years the entire population of the Earth feared me. Instead of respecting my strength and trusting my judgement as I had proven to be fair in the past, the humans quickly turned against me, crying out for my death." Hanzo saw the sting of betrayal burning in her eyes, but she refused to say anything more of the matter.
She had set the brush down and she looked at him with a cold stare that chilled Hanzo to the bone. "If you are foolish enough to attempt to kill a being of ultimate power, in my eyes, you deserve death."
Hanzo gulped, while he agreed that it was indeed incredibly foolish to try to kill an immortal creature, he would not have let his rage consume him as he assumed she did.
"So, when the armies of the world amassed in front of me in the desert now known as Arizona, I attempted to convince their leaders that what they were doing was foolish and they would only bring on their own destruction. Of course they would not listen, and so I did just that." She paused, her eyes flashing with memories.
Hanzo realized she suddenly looked very very old, her body was young, her actions up until this point had portrayed the bubbly freedom of youth. Looking at her in this moment though, she looked as if she had lived to see a thousand suns burn and flicker out of existence, like she had watched, helpless, as countless women and children died around her. Hanzo felt a pang of sympathy, remembering an age old saying: you either died a hero, or lived long enough to see yourself become the villain.
"Well, anyways, I destroyed three quarters of Earth's population, after it was done, I was miserable. I sought solace in the remaining population, most would not dare to come near me. One man did, however and I made the mistake of falling in love. He was the one that created the necklace and it chained me to him." She laid back on her cot, arms folding beneath her head and propping her left leg on her knee. She glanced at him, "when you're too far from me, do you feel something akin to a tugging on your soul?" He nodded.
She smirked, closing her eyes and huffing in what sounded like a low chuckle. "The necklace possesses connecting powers, it sort of links myself to the holder so we always know where the other is, and because love was poured into it's creation the jewel longs to be with it's partner, if you look closely your name is engraved in the back." She pointed to the pendant, Hanzo couldn't resist and lifted it closer to his face to see it was indeed engraved with his name in elegant, english characters.
"I became his slave, any order he gave me I had to obey without question. But he made the mistake of embuding the Kami no Hoseki with a sort of sentience, if the jewel deemed the order to be wrong or evil I could ignore his command. That was what lead to his destruction, I killed him and took the necklace away. For years I was free, hundreds in fact, and then the necklace was taken from me again, a group had formed to ensure that the necklace would always remain in good hands so that I could never wreak havoc on the world again." She snorted in contempt at the notion.
"But, the jewel decides who is worthy of my power and who is not, it chooses who may take hold of my power. The cult had no knowledge of this and were alarmed when the Kami no Hoseki refused to bind itself to a young man. I killed them and took my jewel, eventually it was taken again and the cycle continued."
"It sounds as though you are not very skilled in protecting your life from your enemies." Hanzo interjected. Kaella shot him a glare and hissed at him in response.
"Anyway, that's how I got here. I've been alive for longer than I could ever count, I stopped keeping track long ago. Before I got to you I was bound to the leader of the Okozaka, but the jewel retracted its binding from him after we visited one of his brothels." She shivered at the memory.
"I guess daddy Okozaka knew what a bad idea it was to keep me around after I left his control, so, he made a tank containing liquid made from the boiling essence of the plant called belladonna, it's the only thing that can sedate me. Gallons of the stuff had to be made in order to restrain me. But, that is irrelevant." She opened her eyes to look at him. "Any questions?"
Hanzo thought for a moment, trying to think of any questions he could possibly have. "How did this man make the jewel with such powers?"
Kaella shrugged. "He had some of my blood, and he was a void mage, he summoned the power of one of the gods that created me and asked for his strength to create such an item. Having seen the destruction I could easily bring upon humanity he agreed."
Hanzo sniffed at her response, such people who could harness the power of the elements no longer existed, the only ones who could come close to this ability were himself and his brother.
This brought another question to his thoughts. "Why did you call me a dragon wielder?"
She hummed, a smile coming to her face. "Because you hold power of two of dragons, darling. A rarity nowadays. Your kind used to be everywhere, hundreds of dragon wielders walked the Earth a long time ago." She grinned and looked at him. "Only their beasts were flesh and bone, the dragons would pick their partners at birth and they would live together."
She looked him over for a moment. "I worked with these people, they were a cult of sorts, and it would only occur once over the course of a few centuries that a dragon wielder capable of owning the loyalty of two of the beasts would appear. So I guess your special, it's no wonder that the jewel chose you." She finished turning her head to the ceiling and closing her eyes.
Hanzo wanted to know more about these fabled dragon wielders, but decided it was a discussion best left for another time. He had to decide what to do with the jewel and the creature attached to it.
First things first, "What exact species do you call yourself?" He questioned.
She hummed in amusement. "Few have asked me that. I'm called an Akarai."
He mulled over all of the information she had given him for a moment. A creature with ultimate powers such as she would surely be an asset to his clan, but he was hesitant to use it, revealing such a power to his enemies could raise several issues among the elders. He was still a warrior as well, and he was loathe to let another fight his battles for him. How could any of what this girl have told him be true, he had never heard of his existence from his father, and he had never seen her from and meetings he had attended with the Okozaka's.
He looked over the girl casually humming a tune and bouncing her foot in the air. She didn't look to be anything special, she didn't even look to be that strong or fast, or capable of really much of anything. Hanzo had seen some surprising abilities from those who seemed incapable of performing such feats.
She interrupted his thoughts by suddenly standing up and stretching. "Anymore questions?" He shook his head, standing as well.
She hummed in approval. "Good, now I want to go to a hookah lounge. So you're coming with me."
He stopped, leveling her with a glare, such frivolities were not something he allowed himself to do and he had no desire to start now. "Certainly not, I do not indulge in such things and I do not want to."
She laughed, stepping over him and grabbing his arm, a mischievous glint in her eye. "I wasn't asking, hot shot."
The world went black for a few moments before they appeared in another room. Taken aback he shook his arm from her grasp as she walked away, they were in a totally different location and judging from the writing on the wall behind a small counter they were in America. He looked around, taking in his surroundings and attempting to calm the lurching in his stomach.
There was a blanket of smoke covering the rectangular room and a calm atmosphere filled his senses, music thumped from a DJ placed next to the door that he assumed to be the entrance. That side of the building was solid panes of glass, while everywhere else the walls were a rippling sort of stone. Golden lights were strung across the ceiling, creating a dim lighting. Couches and chairs lined one side of the room with tables in the middle of them, it was crowded, but not overly so. Large shishas were placed on the tables and people were inhaling large amounts of smoke from them while conversing and laughing.
He looked down at himself, suddenly feeling very out of place only to realize he was wearing a black and red plaid long sleeve, with the sleeves rolled up to his elbows, over a grey shirt with dark blue jeans and normal tennis shoes.
He turned his gaze to Kaella who was leaning on the counter conversing with a pretty blonde girl, laughing and smiling. He walked over to her prepared to demand she take him back to Hanamura immediately, but she shushed him as soon as he opened his mouth.
"Ah, it's been too long Candy, got a boy yet?" She wriggled her eyebrows suggestively at the young woman.
Candy blushed a pretty pink and pushed her glasses further up her nose looking away. "N-no.. I don't have time for romantic interests between work and my classes."
Kaella waved her hand dismissively. "Oh, honey. Not even a little side piece?" Candy's blush deepened and she shook her head.
Kaella clicked her tongue, "Well, whenever you're ready you'll find a handsome one I'm sure. Now! Can I get monster for myself and my buddy over here?" She jerked a thumb at Hanzo and he was half tempted to break it.
Candy immediately brightened at the change of subject. "Of course! New boyfriend?" She questioned as the petite blonde began typing something into the register.
Kaella laughed and shook her head. "Nah, he's an introvert and I absolutely had to get him out of that stuffy house." She pointedly glared at Hanzo, "shame on you!" She admonished with a light, playful pat against his shoulder.
What was she doing? Her demeanor had completely changed from when they had been in the Shimada castle. He supposed it was due to the environment shift. Hanzo groaned, why was he here and why did he let her touch him to begin with?
Kaella laughed loudly, clearly sensing his internal struggle, before turning to wave goodbye to Candy and taking his arm leading him over to a recently vacated couch. She plopped herself down on the couch against the wall, motioning for him to sit on the one adjacent to hers.
Sensing he had no choice, Hanzo sighed and sat down. "I would like to return to Hanamura." He was too exhausted of her antics to question how they had gotten there.
Kaella waved a dismissive hand, looking up to admire the laser show that had sparked to life from a sort of half ball attached to the ceiling and spinning in the middle of the room. "Oh come on, you're such a stiff, all you Japanese people are far too rigid. You need to chill out sometimes." Suddenly a devilish smirk sprung to her face. She sat up and looked at him briefly, "wait right here." She ordered and skipped over to the counter.
Hanzo groaned, leaning forward to place his elbows on his knees and rubbing the bridge of his nose. This girl would be the death of him, he looked down and pulled the pendant out of his pocket. He decided to hook the necklace around his neck and tucked the jewel itself under his shirt; he felt a little calmer and at ease with it resting protectively against his chest.
Kaella returned moments later holding a small container, followed by Candy holding a shisha with purple a mouth piece in her left hand, and burning coals in between a pair of tongs in her right. Kaella's eyes twinkled with mischief as she fell back into the couch, Candy giggled at her apparent friends carefree antics. She set the shisha down and placed the coals on top of the tin foil, shifting them to the edge. "Have fun you two!" She chirped before turning to go back to the counter.
Kaella set the container on the table next to the shisha. Hanzo's curiosity got the best of him and he leaned forward to examine it, it had what appeared to be the cut off top quarter of a water bottle immersed halfway in blue liquid. He looked at Kaella in question, resigning himself to his fate of spending the evening here. If he must, he might as well enjoy himself.
The girl giggled, gesturing for him to watch. He did as she deeply inhaled from the mouth piece, smoke filling her lungs she removed the piece and closed her mouth, bringing the piece of water bottle up to her lips she exhaled. Hanzo's eyes widened as white smoke filled a perfect bubble, he watched her jiggle the large bubble off of the plastic and it floated away, he stared at it until it landed on the arm of a chair, popping and smoke rolling down the arm before dissipating.
He turned his head back to her and she grinned. "Ever smoke?"
The evening was spent with Hanzo attempting to blow smoke bubbles and failing most times, but smiling in delight while Kaella cheered to see a perfect bubble float into the air.
He was feeling very calm and at peace, he was tired but he didn't feel exhausted. Instead a small bit of energy kept him awake but relaxed, he could probably walk around and enjoy a forest or lie on a hill and watch the sunset for hours. He doubted he could do much else than the basic functions required of him, his mind was too foggy and thoughts too sluggish. He didn't mind though, he was enjoying relaxing on the couch with the Akarai adjacent to him.
She looked to be in the same state as he only seeming to be slightly more aware and awake. Where his eyes were half-lidded and a pleasant smile across his face as he leaned back with an arm under his head, unable to do much other than watch the smoke bend and swirl as he exhaled, she was humming along to the music around her, eyes fluttering shut occasionally.
He suddenly wondered what exactly hookah consisted of.
Hanzo turned his head to see Kaella had tucked her feet up next to her on the couch, while she clutched a pillow close to her stomach. She was inhaling from the pipe and looking down at her phone. "What is in this 'hookah'?" He inquired softly, he sounded so different than the usual sharp, concise voice that demanded respect.
She smirked, looking up from her phone and blowing smoke in his face. He chuckled, waving away the minor inconvenience before replacing his arm behind his head. "I'll tell you, if you promise not to get mad at me." She enticed him.
Hanzo shrugged and nodded in response, he didn't feel capable of anger at the moment.
She grinned, handing him the pipe. "It's nicotine combined with a few other elements usually. But you looked stressed, so I asked Candy to replace the nicotine with marijuana."
He paused, mulling over her answer, he knew something should be wrong with that sentence but didn't see the need to search for it. While he had never considered trying such illegal substances, he knew marijuana was not toxic. So he didn't mind.
She chuckled at his lack of shock. "Wait until you're sober, then think back on this."
Hanzo nodded, suddenly feeling a very strong urge to sleep. "May we return to Hanamura now? I wish to sleep."
Kaella nodded in response, placing the mouthpiece on the table and waving goodbye to her friend before taking Hanzo's arm. He felt the familiar lurch as the room when black, but wasn't as alarmed as before.
They appeared in his room and he looked to see he was only in grey sweat pants, he didn't mind what he slept in at the moment, he just longed to lay in the comfort of his sheets.
Kaella helped him into bed, before she smirked. "Mind if I sleep on the bed?" He shot her a look and she laughed, turning to where his legs rested. She brought her arms up and jumped forward, he was astounded to watch her land on the bed as a lovely tortoiseshell cat. She purred, staring at him with glimmering blue eyes, he just shook his head and laid back. He would interrogate her and set ground rules for their.. 'partnership' in the morning.
A/N:
HANZO GOT HIIIIGGGGHHHHH
No they're not chummy yet, it's just when you smoke you're friends with everyone. We'll see the chilliness between them return next chapter.
I had fun with this one.
THANK YOU FOR READING I LOVE YOU ALL