All italicize stuff is flashback.

January 13th, 2003

Japan

CRACK!

Hanzo Hasashi's eyes darted to the left. He could've sworn he heard a twig snap. He closed his hand around the hilt of his sword and slowly started moving through the thick vegetation. Hanzo looked around, searching for his prey, and ready to strike at any time.

He stopped, and looked behind him. He saw some leaves falling to the ground. He started moving to the location of the falling leafs. He looked up, searching. He shook his head, and examined the ground. "Tracks," Hanzo whispered. He lightly chuckled, and whispered, "Very sloppy." He heard another twig snap, and whipped around. He slowly got up, and walked towards the sound, careful not to make any noise.

He looked down, just in case there was something out of the ordinary. He noticed a string held tightly on the ground, and said, "You've got to do better than that." He stepped over it, and continued. He heard something snap under his foot. He looked down, and saw the ground giving away. He fell, letting out a scream. He fell down the ten foot hole. He looked up, and a young boy was looking down on him. The boy laughed, and said, "Didn't anyone teach you to look where you're going?"

Hanzo chuckled, and said, "Shut up, and held me up."

The boy saluted, and said, "Alright, sir."

The boy threw down a rope. Hanzo climbed it, and was helped up by the boy. Hanzo laughed, and said, "You finally got me, Jubei."

Jubei Hasashi said, "It was bound to happen eventually."

Hanzo nodded, and said, "Indeed it was. Come, your mother is probably worried about you."

Jubei nodded, and followed Hanzo back to their little home in the middle of the forest. They patted each other's backs, and talked about how the holy hell Jubei dug a hole that deep.

After ten minutes, they finally reached their log cabin, and walked in. Immediately, a small plush teddy bear was throw at Hanzo's head. He ducked just in time to see his wife, Kana Hasashi, standing there, fuming mad. "Where have you to been?" she shouted.

Hanzo looked at Jubei, as if giving him permission to run, and told Kana, "Jubei and I were training, Kana. We—"

"Don',t Hanzo," said Kana. "I cooked and cleaned for you, expecting you to be back by six-o'clock. And you were in the forest with Jubei messing around with spears and knifes. I thought you two were hurt!"

Hanzo walked over to here, and said, "We were doing anything dangerous. I was just teaching Jubei how to trap his enemies in case he doesn't have a weapon."

Kana looked away, still mad. Hanzo sighed, and said, "If it makes you feel any better, I feel ten feet on my ass ten minutes ago."

Kana shrugged, and said, "It helps."

Hanzo smiled, lifted up Kana's chin so that she was looking him in the eye, and said, "You know I wouldn't let anything happen to you or my son."

Kana let a smile form on her lips, and hugged Hanzo. "I'm sorry. It's just that I'm worried, what with the Lin Keui and all."

Hanzo looked Kana in the eyes and said, "They won't hurt you as long as I still draw breath. Okay."

Kana nodded, looked over to Jubei who had been watching the whole thing, and said, "Go clean your room, okay?"

Jubei nodded, and walked to his room.

Hanzo looked at Kana, and asked, "So what's for dinner?"

Kana shook her head, and walked back to the kitchen. Hanzo had a confused look on his face, and asked, "What'd I do?"

The next day,

Hanzo Hasashi was sitting at the eating table with his family, enjoying his life. He looked over to Jebui, who was telling something about his day at school. Hanzo laughed, and looked over to Kana. She was smiling at Hanzo. Hanzo swallowed his food, and got up. Jebui looked over, and asked, "What is it, father?"

Hanzo looked behind him, and said, "I'm just going to check on something. Keep your mother company while I'm in there."

Jebui nodded, and began talking about his adventures with his friends. Hanzo walked into his room, and to a closet. He slowly opened it, and checked on his items. It was his battle gear. The black mouthplate, the yellow V-cut over suit, his black body armor, it was all there, and all in order. Hanzo walked back out, sat back down with his family, and began talking with them.

All of a sudden, they heard a knock at the door. Hanzo looked at it, and asked, "Who could that be?"

He got up and opened the door, with two men dressed in Shirai Ryu guardsman outfits. Hanzo chuckled, and said, "Isn't that getup a little outdated?"

The two men looked at each other, and said, "We are supposed to wear this when the grandmaster comes."

Hanzo looked at them, and said, "Why is the grandmaster here?"

"He says he wants to speak with the best. And that's you, Mr. Hasashi," replied both of the guards.

Hanzo nodded, and walked back inside. He looked at his family. He said, "The grandmaster has requested my presence."

Kana stood up, and said, "This better be the last time."

"It will be," replied Hanzo, "I promise. Jebui, I want you to look after your mother while I'm gone, okay?"

Jebui nodded. Hanzo opened his closet, and took out all of his combat gear. He got dressed, and looked at his family. Hanzo said, "I'll be back in a day or two, okay?"

Kana walked up to him, and said, "Please come back in once piece, alright?"

Hanzo nodded, kissed Kana's head, and walked over to Jebui. "Remember," said Hanzo, "take care of your mother."

Jebui laughed, and said, "Don't worry, dad. If I can kick your ass, I can kick anyone's."

Hanzo roughed up Jebui's hair, and walked out. He followed the guards, and walked for about an hour. They finally got to the temple. But what shocked Hanzo the most, was that it was on fire. "Grandmaster!" He ran up the temple steps, but was stopped by the guards. He looked back, and said, "Are you crazy? Their gonna die!"

One of the guards eye lit up blue, and he said, with a stone cold look, "They're already dead."

Something in Hanzo's head clicked. He threw a right at the first guards chin, and headbutted the other one. He bent down, and snapped the first guard's neck. The second one jumped up, and got into a fighting stance. Hanzo slowly got up. They charged each other, and the guard unsheathed his sword, and started swinging at Hanzo. The Shirai Ryu dodged all of the swings, punched the guard in the temple. He did a summersault towards the man, and stomped on his chest.

He bent down, and looked at the unconscious man. He grabbed the necklace hanging from the man's neck. Lin Keui. He looked up, and saw a man in black body armor, with blue highlights all over the armor. His face was covered with a mask, and had a little blue on the mouth cover.

"Bi-Han."

Bi-Han, AKA Sub-Zero, walked over to Hanzo, and punched him. Hanzo tried punching Sub-Zero, but the Lin Keui assassin dodged it, and slammed his open palm against Hanzo's gut. Hanzo fell to the ground, and looked at Sub-Zero. "You know, Hanzo," said Sub-Zero, "I never would've thought that you would ruthlessly kill two young men, just because they killed your clan."

Hanzo got up, and said, "One of them is only unconscious."

Sub-Zero walked over to the unconscious one, and stomped on his neck. Sub-Zero, looking at Hanzo the whole time, said, "Not anymore."

Sub-Zero and Hanzo circled each other. Hanzo said, "Why would you just kill innocent people? What have the Shirai Ryu ever done to you?"

Sub-Zero laughed, and answered, "We did it to eliminate the competition, of course."

Hanzo looked at Sub-Zero, and said, "What are you talking about?"

Sub-Zero replied, "You would've killed us had we not killed you first. It's called survival. I wanted to save two of your inferior clan for a certain special surprise."

Something else in Hanzo clicked. He said, "Kana. Jubei."

Sub-Zero nodded. "They're still alive, in case you're worried. They'll be alive for a little while, until I defeat you and drag your Shirai Ryu ass to them, so I can kill them in front of you."

Hanzo said, "You won't hurt them. I'll kill you before you get the chance, Bi-Han."

Sub-Zero laughed, and got into a fighting stance. Hanzo did the same thing, and began charging towards each other.

Present day,

Kenshi was walking through the halls, searching for a clue to Shang Tsung's plans. He had searched every room on his floor, so now he was searching the Blue Team's floor. He had sensed an odd presence. He felt the red ninja again.

The man didn't feel quite right, and Kenshi was going to get to the bottom of it.

The red ninja suddenly appeared behind him, and slammed his fist on the back of Kenshi's head. Kenshi staggered forward, and looked behind him. The red ninja slowly walked towards Kenshi, and said, "We are many. You are but one."

Kenshi took his sword out of his scabbard, and said, "But you're not me."

They then began to charge after each other, unaware that Shang Tsung was watching them.

A/N: That's right, next chapter, you will get two fights in one chapter. Badass, I know, but this next chapter might take a little while before I get done. Originally in this chapter, a segment featured Kuai Liang, Bi-Han's older brother, but I shook my head, thinking to myself, "This is Hanzo's story." Sorry, looks like you won't get the whole Kuai Liang story line for a while. Sorry, but hope you enjoyed this chapter. And, finally Kenshi will fight next chapter. Yay!