Ok guys, next chapter here! I wanna say thanks for the lot of you who read and vote and comment in my stories. It means a lot to me- so thank you!
I shall be updating my other books as soon as I can. :)
Anyhow, back to the story!
Sore arms, cold wrists, a raw back, and a curtain of frizzy hair before his bloodshot eyes; these were the things that greeted Hanzo as soon as he regained his consciousness after another one of his peculiar fits.
The room was dark, and it took awhile for his amber eyes to adjust to the dim lighting; the floating spots swimming in his vision only hindered the clarity of his sight. The furnitures remained some of the vestiges from yesterday, the last time anyone has dared set foot inside his quarters. That was when his mind wandered to you. He remembered snippets of your frightened, pale, tear-stricken face, and the way your shrill screaming pierced through the air. Hanzo began to wonder if he had hurt you during those blurry parts he had a hard time getting a clear picture of, like a dream so vivid in slumber, only to leave teasing traces of what had happened in the morning. It was maddening.
The possibility of having killed you without his notice made his stomach churn and flip. He tasted the bitter bile on his tongue, and choked on the worry that clogged his throat. Oh, how he wanted to break free of these heavy chains to run down and see if you were well...but alas, he couldn't.
All he could do was whisper your name and pray to the gods.
Four silhouettes appeared in front of the shoji screens, and the heir barely mustered up the energy to go and try and discern who these could possibly be. There was a pregnant pause in his train of thought as he zoned out for awhile, but a realization dawned on him, and the worry left his chest.
The nurses, it's just the nurses.
The paper screens slid open, and from the other side, you covered your mouth as you gasped in relief, running over to your master without any restraint as the nurses tailed in with poise in their steps.
"Lord Hanzo!" you shakily said his name, and you grasped his angular face to make sure it was really him, and not the beast that threatened to take your life some time ago.
There was a jingle and clank of metal hitting another metal, and you glanced to the side to see a palace guard carrying a rusty loop of silver keys. One by one, the locks were undone, and the chain loosened its vice hold on Hanzo's limbs.
Without the support of the binds holding up his weight, Hanzo's hard body rolled forwards into your own, and he fell flat on your lap; a soft grunt escaping his chapped lips upon the soft impact.
The nurses put their masks on and instructed both the guard and you to help the clan heir lay supine unto his futon. With great effort, you did as they ordered, and in a short while, Hanzo was being tended to under the watchful eyes of trained professionals.
Of course you wondered how people of science could possibly help him with this peculiar not-so-logical predicament, but if they had done this to Hanzo for the many years that this has been going on, then maybe it wasn't such a bad idea to put a little bit of faith into their capabilities.
"Lord Hanzo, we'll need you to stay put," one of them enjoined as she got a syringe from her kit. "This might sting a little, but you know the protocol. You'll need this to get your energy back."
The needle was pressed onto his forearm, and there was a pierce of skin. Hanzo clenched his eyes shut as he fought to suppress a cry of pain. Immediately, his body broke out into a sweat, and the tightness of his eyelids loosened. You bit at your fingernails, thinking that he might go back into unconsciousness, but you saw the steady rise and fall of his chest, and heard the air passing through his parted lips, and you sighed, your body loosening up from the stiffness that was worry.
In a short while, the healers began to pack their belongings and head out of the exit with the guard, but not before halting in front of you and whispering orders into your ear.
"Just watch over him and make sure his body temperature, periphery, and breathing remain normal." They spoke urgently in quick-paced Japanese that you barely caught on to anything they've said.
"H-Hai," you stammered as your orbs followed their forms briskly skating out of the room. The guard eyed you cautiously, both hands gripping one screen, and upon seeing no possibility of how you could be of a threat to the clan heir's safety, he brought the panels together and left to report to his master.
Running a palm over your sweaty brow and hair, you proceeded to make your way beside Hanzo and sat down about a feet away from him to keep close surveillance. You watched him sleep, his eyelids as still as undisturbed waters, and the hard furrows on his fair face softening with each breath he took.
Unintentionally, your gaze wandered towards a small portion of the tattoo on his chest, which his loosened, tousled kimono failed to cover. It wasn't the menacing red shade you've seen before when he attacked, instead, it reverted back to its normal blue hue, the tail of a dragon laying amidst big thunderous clouds.
You zoned out for moment, the scene in front of you dissolving into the main event of yesterday. The light that came out of your hand--it was the very thing that brought Hanzo back to normal. You knew that Genji had warned you about the newness of your abilities, but a part of you--a bigger part of you--yearned to touch him again in the hopes of healing him completely, not just bodily pain, but also the deeper demons he's been locking up deep within for the entirety of his life.
And maybe on your second try, the results would be permanent.
So with a sigh, you threw caution out to the wind and curled your lips in to calm yourself down. You lifted a hand and let it hover a few centimeters above his rising chest. Flinching away, you hurriedly laid a flat palm upon the gray cloth.
And....nothing.
Your face contorted into confusion, and you lifted your hand, eyed it all around, and put it back where you had lain it before.
Still nothing.
"What the...?" you muttered to yourself as your brows furrowed to the center, aggravated by the debacle of your plans. "Why won't it work?"
You slammed your hand again and again and again, even when you knew it would all result in bitter vain.
Suddenly, there came a wheeze from below you, and then a weak, raspy voice : "(Y/N), you're doing CPR all wrong."
Your wide eyes met his barely opened ones, and your pupils shrunk at the horror you've brought upon yourself.
"Oh my gosh, gomenasai, Lord Hanzo!" you gasped, trying to make sure that you hadn't destroyed his ribcage. Though the chances of that happening were far off into the realm of impossible, you hesitated, recoiling away when your hands would almost come into contact with his form. "I didn't mean to worsen your condition."
It seemed as though you were the biohazard here.
"What...what were you even doing?"
You rubbed at the back of your neck. "I...I was trying to do what I did yesterday. I thought I could heal you from...whatever that was that happened to you."
"You want to help me? Even after I nearly killed you? Even when you know...what kind of creature I am?" The words were like bricks on his dry tongue.
And you weren't born yesterday. You caught the tint of insecurity in his voice, and in the way the light disappeared from his amber orbs.
You intended for him to forget all that. "That wasn't you, Lord Hanzo. It was something else entirely, the work of the spirit world. You are not a monster."
Glancing to the side, Hanzo heaved another breath and sighed, "Would you comb my hair?"
It was a simple request, something one could do without some sort of abstruse experience. And yet, you felt as though this simple act would mean the world to your master, especially in his current state of agony.
You'd be a monster to say no. "Of course, Lord Hanzo."
Grabbing his comb from the top of the low table, you unfastened the knot gathering his long hair by the ends, and pressed the plastic bristles onto his pale scalp. And one by one, you untangled the meshes in his locks, and laid the black tresses neatly by his side afterwards.
"Why did you come back to my room? I told you to take your leave. I could have hurt you had you come any later."
You eyed the beads of sweat that sheened his skin and dabbed them off with a clean white cloth one of the nurses must have left by his bedside.
"I came here to...to ask you about something, Lord Hanzo."
"What is it?"
"It can wait," you answered, the awkwardness you usually felt with being so close to him failing to rear its ugly head as you focused on bettering his person instead. "You need to rest. Whatever happened to you yesterday must have taken lots of your energy away."
"No," he insisted, "I won't be able to sleep at all, knowing something concerning me is bothering you."
You huffed in slight exasperation and surrendered to the patheticness of his voice. "Fine, if it will really make you sleep, then I'll tell you."
Hanzo fought to keep his heavy eyelids open, despite the cumbersome ache to close them shut.
"I just wanted to know if I'm still punished, you know, for spilling the mop water all over the hall back then."
The heir's eyes widened a bit: He had nearly forgotten about that. He always thought there was no real need for you to go back to being an ordinary palace staff.
Don't you like his company? Was he that much of a grouchy butt Satoshi said he was?
"Um, I really didn't really mind the incident as much as you think I do," Hanzo answered truthfully. "Why? Do you want to go back? To work as an ordinary staff member once more?"
"Well, I don't mind being with you," you replied with just as much honesty as he. "I don't really mind working for you. In fact, I'm much more comfortable here under your supervision."
The Shimada's chest swelled at having heard you say your sentiments.
"Is that so?" Hanzo managed a faint chuckle. "Well then stay here with me...I mean, stay here and work for me."
You smiled. "I will. Arigato goza imazu."
He finally closed his eyes, and you let your smile fall into a slight frown. You thought your master wouldn't notice, but it seemed as though it was the very shift in your aura that pulled him out of his peaceful repose.
"Genki desu ka?"
You opened your eyes and laid your orbs upon his handsome face, still bearing that tired half-lidded countenance that now bore a hint of concern.
You nodded hurriedly, hoping he failed to see any hint of the welling tears that settled on the brim of your eyes in his hazy condition.
"Hai. Genki desu."
"Liar..." he said, weakly bringing a hand up to wipe a streak of wetness that ran down your cheek. "Tell me, what's troubling you?"
You hastily wiped your tears away with a quick swipe of your hand and sighed, "I know I'm the reason why that dark force has ceased its hold on you. I'm supposed to be able to do something about this, about you. I want to alleviate this pain off of you and yet I don't even know how. I feel like I'm supposed to know how to fix you, and the fact that I don't makes me feel helpless and miserable. I feel guilty that I don't know how to make this go away...I'm so sorry."
Hanzo's gaze softened as he drank in the sorrow etched all over your face. He straightened himself on his futon and reached out for one of your hands.
"You are not accountable for whether or not you make my pain go away," he whispered.
"But I do have the cure--I know I can heal you," you pressed on with a fierce conviction. "I just don't know why it didn't work this time."
"Why are you beating yourself down over that? Don't you know just how much you've already done for me?"
You looked past the the blur of your gathering tears and stared him down, your eyes demanding further elaboration.
"What do you mean?"
Hanzo let off a louder chuckle, one that surprised you to a degree. He then proceeded to say, "In my younger years, mother was the only one brave enough to stay by my side when no one else would even dare enter this room. So when she died giving birth to Genji, I felt alone. I felt like I deserve to be alone...just because I was the way that I am.
"But you stayed by my side, combed my hair, checked to see that I was well. That's more kindness than what I am used to, and though you didn't heal me, once again you made me feel like I matter. You were there for me when I needed someone the most. Isn't that more than enough?"
You thought about it for awhile, little snippets of his spiel swimming inside your head. "I guess so...but I'm not doing this just because you're the clan's heir. I'm doing this because you're my friend--I care about you."
"I know," Hanzo smiled, and you mirrored it. "And frankly I've never felt more special."
"You do deserve kindness, Lord Hanzo," you said softly, brushing a stray lock away from his forehead. "You are a kind and just man yourself.
"I'm not sure others see me that way."
"I see you that way."
There was a stillness in the air, and in that moment, the hardened man realized that the different insights other people have whispered around behind his back for the past 27 years of his life didn't nearly matter to him as much as hearing your side of the impression this very second.
Finally, he was Hanzo in your eyes and not entirely, well, Lord Hanzo altogether.
"Can I ask one more favor, (Y/N)?" he asked after a pregnant pause.
"Anything," you assured. It wasn't like you had the heart to refuse him at the moment.
"Please...stay by my side until I fall asleep. I haven't had company like this, and I'm afraid you've spoiled me in the short while you stuck around."
You laughed quietly, a tint of red creeping subtly along your cheek. "As you wish, Lord Hanzo. I shall stay until you fall asleep."
The older Shimada nodded, and then succumbed to the weariness in his body. He finally fluttered his eyelids close with the guarantee that there would be someone watching over him today as he recovered.
And you stayed by his side with a newfound determination coursing through your veins, sparking a lit flame in your once placid eyes.
I'm not going to stop until I get this curse off of you, Lord Hanzo.
I swear by it...even to my grave.
And you sealed your promise with a soft kiss on his warm forehead.