The silence in the room was thick, and the tension hung like a knife ready to strike. Hanzo, at the age of fourteen, kept his gaze politely to the floor as he had been taught; his father beside him to the right, his mother to his left and Genji slightly behind them. He had been dressed in an elegant dark blue kimono that had two dragons designed in the fabric, and his hair was tied off to the side with a blue colored ribbon. His father and mother were dressed in similar fashion to him, and Genji behind him was dressed in a different shade of blue, lighter like the sky with only one dragon stretching across his kimono top.
He was sitting correctly with his back straight in perfect posture as he studied a line in the wood on the floor silently, hearing Genji sigh in boredom behind him. He felt the woman across the room staring at him, but he didn't feel nervous, this was his duty to the Shimada family, and he would keep the family's honor intact.
"Prince Shimada." The woman said softly from behind her fan, her eyes narrowing slightly. "Tell me, what do you think the purpose of marriage is?" She watched as Hanzo thought for a moment but didn't lift his gaze from the floor, his head tilting slightly to the left with his process.
"To further the family name and honor the ancestors by producing children," Hanzo replied coolly, closing his eyes and ignoring the confused noises Genji was giving behind him. He could hear his brother shifting nervously and knew that soon he would not be able to control himself and have an outburst. Hopefully, this meeting would not take much longer.
"Stand, young Shimada." The woman ordered gently, Hanzo looked to his father who nodded solemnly. Hanzo smoothly rose to his feet, keeping his eyes forward and pulling himself to his full height. He held his hands to his side as the woman rose gracefully and walked around him, the silks of her kimono making the faintest whisper of movement as she circled him. She was an older woman, dressed in a green kimono with a design of bamboo stalks running up the length of the fabric to her obi where green and pink foliage was stitched. Her grey hair was twisted into a decorative bun on the back of her head, keeping it away from her neck and shoulders.
"Strong build, he will be tall," She kept circling him, his eyes locked on a wind chime in the window behind her seat at the far side of the room.
She touched his shoulders with a second fan that was closed. "He will be broad, admirable qualities." She circled around in front of him and tilted his face left and right with the second fan, her face still hidden by the first fan. "Handsome, strong facial features," she leaned in closer, Hanzo could smell the jasmine perfume on her skin and see the flawless makeup she had applied as she looked at his eyes. "He has a strong spirit, an unbreakable will..."
She took her fan and used it to lift his hands and turn them palm up, "Large hands, rough and firm but with the capacity to be gentle." She narrowed her eyes and lifted his right hand, "You have calloused fingers on your right hand...Archers hands..."Hanzo blinked in shock and looked at her as her eyes shone. "You are quick to the point and avoid flashy distractions...You must be on edge with such a long meeting." She chuckled as a little blush tinted his cheeks.
She went back to her place at the other end of the room behind a small knee-high table with papers placed neatly across it. "You will make a fine leader of the Shimada clan, your children will be strong--if we can find you a suitable mate." She gestured for him to sit back down and he did so gently, going back to studying the line on the floor before Genji broke his concentration with a question.
"Wait...What do you mean? 'Find him a suitable mate'?" Genji asked as Hanzo whipped his head back around to face his little brother, shaking his head and pressing his lips into a line to silence the younger Shimada.
"It means we will look over the women in my service and find your brother a bride that will honor the Shimada name by bearing children for your brother." The woman explained a hint of glee in her voice as the younger Shimada's eyes went wide in shock and Hanzo turned back to face the room closing his eyes again. "But it will have to be a blessed match, not just any woman is worthy of a dragon's love." She looked down at the papers on the table and lifted one, the fan snapping closed as she lowered it. "And with the Shimada clan, she must not be a commoner or someone of lower standing, we wish to uplift the clan, so no less than a Lord's daughter or a princess shall do."
"Hanzo's gonna marry a princess?" Genji asked, tilting his head as Hanzo dipped his head to his chest, he was trying hard to contain himself, but part of him wanted to throw his shoe at Genji's head like he did at home in their room when he interrupted his mediation. "Do you love her Onii-chan?"
"I have never met her," Hanzo answered slowly, knowing that this would be the truth of the situation. A woman at random would be selected from her papers of noble Lords and Kings from other regions, and meetings would be arranged to see if their union was blessed by the gods and soon whomever Hanzo was paired with would be ushered into a courtship period where a wedding would be planned. "But it will not matter, love is not an essential part of a marriage. It is a partnership to honor our families, and I will do my duty to the clan."
"But Onii-chan!" Genji started to argue, but Hanzo looked back at him and glared, his eyes hard, he was intent on doing this.
"Oh my..." The woman sighed, placing the paper down on the table in front of her making Hanzo look up in slight shock. "Such a cold heart young Shimada. Love may not be needed immediately, but it keeps the eyes from wandering, the heart from yearning and the body from lusting. Without some sort of love between these--partners as you see them, it spells disaster for the union with adultery and bastard children." She shook her head slowly, the trinkets in her hair swinging and clinking together softly. "There is no honor in a loveless marriage, that ends in a spouse taking a lover in secret."
Hanzo lowered his eyes again, feeling his parents look at him but he couldn't tell their emotions behind their collected faces and he could hear Genji fidgeting behind him nervously. When Hanzo had decided to ask to move the meeting along so they could choose a woman there was a soft knock, he hadn't even opened his mouth to speak yet. The match maker's eyes widened a bit, and a knowing smile spread across her lips.
"It seems, the gods have seen it fit to thrust your betrothed upon you young Hanzo." She stood gracefully and opened the fan, going to the door and opening it full to reveal a family of three: a man around Hanzo's father's age and a woman beside him perhaps the same age as Hanzo's mother. They bowed with the matchmaker to show respect but behind them stood a young girl dressed in a deep purple kimono with white and pink prints in the design, her [h/c] hair was done in a simple style with purple and white hair ornaments in the shape of flowers the size of ones nail.
She had her make up done like a Geisha's, white across her face and down her neck with simple eye makeup to make the kimono's color. When the matchmaker laid eyes on her, she bowed deeply, her hands politely folded on the front of her kimono before she was brought inside and the family and placed them across from Hanzo's to mirror them.
The matronly mothers smiled sweetly at one another, their soft faces at ease as if they were here for tea instead of deciding their children's fate; the stern looking fathers bowed their heads to one another in a sign of respect before looking to the other child to size them up. Hanzo bowed to the mother first, and then the father before returning to his sitting position and looking over the young woman across from him.
Her [e/c] eyes flicked up and locked with his brown ones before for only a fleeting second before she bowed, the trinkets in her hair swaying as she held it longer than usual, making Hanzo nervous as he bowed back. The matchmaker went to sit between the two fathers and introduced them to one another.
"Master Shimada, this is Lord [L/N], his wife [M/N] and their daughter, [Y/N]." She turned and repeated the same way Hanzo's family, even including Genji who stretched to look around Hanzo's shoulder to the young woman. "It seems the gods have brought you all together with reason...if I may?" She looked between the fathers who nodded their consent wordlessly, watching as the older woman stood and shuffled between Hanzo and [Y/N], patting the mat in front of her, urging the two young teenagers to move and sit in front of her side by side.
They sat without looking at one another, their eyes both locked onto different parts of the floor. [Y/N] was on the left, her eyes shifted slightly to the matchmakers knee furthest away from Hanzo, who was focusing on the floor close to the matchmaker's knee closest to him, a little more forward but still avoiding any sight of [Y/N]. The matchmaker reached out and took both teenagers by their chin and looked intently into their eyes, Hanzo's first and then [Y/N]'s for a moment and back to Hanzo.
"I see, ice." She said looking at Hanzo making him blink in confusion. "A coldness that radiates from the heart, you are distant young Shimada prince. You are a hard one for people to love, a soul that takes time to grow and accept change." She turned and looked [Y/N] in the eyes and Hanzo risked a peek at her, wondering what the matchmaker saw in her eyes. "I see, a flame, just a tiny one but warm, never the less. There is passion there, and an open mind--you have a willingness to accept, though you've tried to fight it..." The matchmaker smiled, "If cared for and fueled the flame could roar into a fire hot enough to melt even the coldest of hearts." She glanced at Hanzo and turned [Y/N]'s head so that Hanzo turned to look at her with the movement, their eyes locking again. There was a short breath taken by them both before--
"Ridiculous." They snapped in unison, pulling their eyes from one another's gaze. [Y/N] covered her mouth with her kimono sleeve and looked back at Hanzo who was looking at her from the corner of his eye, his hand covering his mouth in embarrassment one finger curved in front of his lips.
"HA!" Genji cackled, falling over from his sitting position holding his sides as he laughed, pulling both [Y/N] and Hanzo's attention. "She's just like Onii-chan! Can I call you Ane-chan!" This made [Y/N] blush behind her kimono sleeve as Hanzo glared at his brother.
"Genji! Behave yourself, show some respect!" Hanzo snapped angrily, but the younger Shimada grinned broadly as his father turned to look over his shoulder at his youngest son a smile playing on his lips. "This is not some childish game to be played, this is for the future of our clan!"
"One would be a fool would believe as such." A soft voice said coldly, making Hanzo's eyes widen. He whipped his head around to see [Y/N] looking at him with a guarded expression. "This is utterly ridiculous, child's play indeed." She closed her eyes as Hanzo leaned back away from her.
"Childs play?" he snapped, "I'm here to fulfill my duty to my clan, I would hardly call this child's play!" He put his hand down to the floor and turned himself, so he was facing her as the adults watched quietly with interest.
"Then you are a fool." She snapped, her voice mocking as a cruel smile spread across her lips. "This is no more than a game to her." She focused her gaze on the matchmaker who was grinning slyly, locking eyes with the lord's daughter. "As if one is to believe they can see ice or fire in one's soul from their eyes. She has met me once before and you just today, how could she know us well enough to suggest such a match unless it was a ploy to acquire a large sum of money from our families by arranging such a match so easily." The young woman closed her eyes and turned her head away from them both. "I refuse to fall for any such rouse."
Without prompt [Y/N] stood somewhat less than graceful and made her way around the matchmaker who smirked as she left. Her parents snapped at her to show some respect and dignity, but she didn't stop until she was standing just outside the door, looking over her shoulder to Hanzo as he stared gaping after her from the blatant lack of restraint and she scoffed before disappearing down the walkway.
"Be careful young prince," The matchmaker chuckled as Hanzo turned to look at her. "Fan or poke the flames in the wrong way, and you could end up burned." She cast a sly glance over her shoulder and pulled Hanzo's eyes to the door as he saw Genji's small form slip around the door without the adults seeing him leave as they were engaged in conversation--each trying to save face. "Why don't you go get her while I pray to Gekko-O, the god of marriage."
But before she could say anything else a fox ran into the room with a flower in its mouth and ran up to the matchmaker before sitting in front of her as if trained and placed the flower in her open hands. "Oh-ho...." She chuckled and pet the fox before it bounced back out of the room, leaving the entire room shocked. "It seems Gekko-O is impatient with this match!"
She held up the flower and turned it over in her hand, a single pink primrose. She looked at it lovingly before looking up to at Hanzo and smiling. "I want you two to decide on a single flower out in the garden together and return to this room, together, not separate." She tapped the flower in her hand for a moment before chuckling. She bowed slightly to him, and he bowed quickly before getting to his feet, pulling the attention of the adults. As he crossed the room he felt their eyes on him and felt a cold chill raise the hairs on his neck, he turned and bowed to the room.
"Forgive me Lord [L/N], I will return with your daughter, and we can continue the meeting uninterrupted." He heard a chuckle, and Hanzo lifted his head, still bowed at the waist as [Y/N]'s father shook his head.
"You may try, young prince, you may try." He chuckled once more, and [Y/N]'s mother looked tired, "My daughter is very strong-willed." Hanzo dipped his head before turning and running from the room and down the walkway, scanning the rooms as he passed for some sign of the Lord's daughter or his little brother. He stopped on the corner and glanced around, there was a small bridge that connected one part of the house to another and a stone step way to someplace he didn't see. He was about to turn and go down the other side of the house when a flash of blue caught his eye, and he saw a small faint blue dragon disappear into a flower bed near the stone walkway.
"Nani?" Hanzo muttered, rubbing his eyes and stepping closer to the edge of the porch when he saw a second blue dragon appeared near his feet and went to the flower bed. "Where are you taking me?" He asked as he stepped down and the first dragon appeared, the two dragons circling one another like playing ferrets as they continued down the walkway around a stone statue of a giant ball. He followed along, looking around as he continued to keep a mental track of how to get back to the room where his parents were when he heard a voice and all too familiar mischievous laughter.
"Little one! Please!" The voice begged, "Come down from there, you could fall and hurt yourself!"
"My name is Genji! Call me Genji!" Hanzo sighed in annoyance and stormed past the two dragons as they perched on a stone, he followed the path around a large willow tree and saw [Y/N] standing by a pond looking up into a cherry blossom tree where Genji was walking along a branch carelessly.
"Shimada-dono please!" [Y/N] begged, reaching up and putting her hands on her obi, fidgeting with the cord that circled it.
"GENJI!" Genji insisted, jumping on the branch and making it shake, petals shaking and falling.
"Genji-don--" [Y/N] started to plead, but Hanzo snapped at him.
"Genji! Get down from there!" He watched as Genji put his legs on the branch and hung upside down and grinned at his brother. "Father and Mother are waiting for us to return! Yours too." He added as he looked to [Y/N] walking closer and standing beside her.
"Ane-chan thinks I'm going to hurt myself!" Genji laughed happily, "I like her Onii-san! She's nice!" He put his hands on the branch and flipped himself, so he was hanging by his hands. "I hope you marry her!"
"After an outburst like that, I don't think anyone will marry her," Hanzo said out loud and then looked to [Y/N] who dropped her hands and clenched them. "But at any rate, we have to go back to the room..." He turned as Genji looked down sadly and noticed the two dragons on the stone looking up at a flower swaying gently in the breeze.
"I almost forgot," Hanzo turned and looked at [Y/N] who seemed to be upset, her eyes avoiding looking directly at him. "There was a fox that ran into the room while you were gone." He explained and then sighed as if he was annoyed when Genji dropped from the branch beside him, asking excitedly about the fox when he covered his brother's mouth with his hand. "It brought the Nakodo a flower, and then fled the room and gave her an idea. She wants us to pick a flower together from the garden and go back to the room together."
"Ha." [Y/N] scoffed and rolled her eyes. "She would go to such lengths to secure this match to our parents. I pray they see through this act and come to realize what a terrible match this is. 'Blessed by the gods'," She shook her head and turned to walk further into the garden, "feels more like damnation."
"Damnation!" Hanzo snapped, feeling offended. Genji making a small 'oooh' noise as his brother snarled his nose at the girls back. "You have no idea what I am like, how do you know being my wife would be so unpleasant? I, however, have seen your attitude and your stubbornness first hand! I pray that whoever your husband is, is blessed by the gods with more patience than I!" Hanzo stormed over to her as he spoke, then around her to cut her off from the path when she refused to stop and glared at her. "I am only repeating orders from the Nakodo, and I will not return with them unfulfilled."
He stepped closer and locked eyes with her as if to threaten her. "You may have no honor, but I do, when I left, I told them we would finish the meeting uninterrupted and for that to continue." He looked around. "We must pick a flower and return. So pick something." He gestured around to the lush garden. "I haven't a mind for flowers or arrangements, so nothing about this suits my taste." [Y/N] narrowed her [e/c] eyes at him, her look souring little by little as Hanzo looked back at her.
"And what makes you think that I have a mind for such tasks?"
"You're a woman, pretty trinkets, and flowers--"
"How dare you!" [Y/N] raised a hand to slap Hanzo across the face but he leaned back and grabbed her wrist with his right hand and looked at it as if it were an annoying bug. "You make assumptions about me based off my sex, now who is it that is honor-less and with attitude?" She looked at her wrist as Hanzo tightened his grip in embarrassment. "Your an archer..." She whispered, making him furrow his brow. Without a moment's hesitation, Hanzo felt [Y/N]'s wrist being wrenched from his grip and he was pulled forward. His arm being pulled behind him and up his back, while a hand clenched around his neck and pushed him forward, so he leaned toward the ground, his arm being pulled higher until he yelled out in light pain. "Make an assumption of me now archer!"
Hanzo looked up to see Genji's eyes wide and his mouth hanging open as [Y/N] twisted his arm further up his back, holding him in place. He managed to turn his head and look back over his shoulder, [Y/N]'s face dark with anger as she glared down at him, the hold on his neck tightening to the point he nails dug into his skin.
"How did you," Hanzo asked as she threw him toward Genji and let him go.
"I am no helpless maiden, despite how my parents force me to dress, I can handle myself!" [Y/N] snapped angrily as Genji whistled and Hanzo brought himself upright, rubbing the back of his neck. "I have been trained in hand to hand combat to protect myself, and I won't be treated like some object by you or anyone else!"
"I...I apologize..." Hanzo muttered making Genji gasp over dramatically, causing Hanzo to put a hand over his brother's mouth to stop him. "I let my anger get the best of me and let my guard down. It will not happen twice." He turned and looked at [Y/N] who took in a breath and released it a second later to calm herself. "Then shall we pick together?"
"You will not let the matter rest will you." [Y/N] snapped in a sigh as Genji snorted with laughter behind Hanzo's hand. "Fine then." She looked around at the various bushes and flower beds, and Hanzo looked at the trees but minutes passed, and neither teen said a word until [Y/N] pulled up her kimono in her hands and stepped off the stone path to the grass and followed along the side of the pond.
"Where are you going?" Hanzo asked as he followed along behind. "Have you found something?" He glanced down at a flower bed as he passed and noticed the blue dragons scurrying around his feet before bounding forward into a small bush with flowers beginning to bloom.
"I like this one." [Y/N] said softly and pointed to a large bud that had yet to bloom on the same stem as a flower that was beginning to open. It was a light, icy blue color that grew darker the closer to the stem it got. One bud was small and had started to bloom, its petals vibrant and soft while a bud on the same branch was twice its size and still tightly closed.
"Then let's pick it and be gone." Hanzo reached out to pluck the blooming flower with his right hand but [Y/N] grabbed his hand and stopped him with her left hand.
"Don't pick it!" She said quickly, pulling his hand back, her fingers firmly on the side of his hand, her thumb sliding between his ring finger and his pinkie, her palm grazing his as she lifted his fingers from the petals. "If you pick it now, it will never bloom!"
"But we are supposed to bring a flower back to the Nakodo?" Hanzo told her, looking down at the flower, "We can choose a different bud if you like?"
"Did she say to pick the flower and bring it back? Or to choose one?" She asked, looking up at him. "I'd rather not pick any of them, they live longer that way...They die to soon if taken." Hanzo looked up and thought to himself about the Match Makers words.
"The Nakodo said 'I want you two to decide on a single flower out in the garden together and return to this room, together, not separate'...Huh.." He blinked, "I suppose we don't have to actually bring the flower back to her, but." He went to point with his hand and realized [Y/N] was still holding it delicately in her own as she looked up at him. He flinched and [Y/N] dropped his hand as Genji stuck his head between them and grinned up at them, first at [Y/N] and then Hanzo. "I don't know the name of the flower!" Hanzo said quickly and looked away, fighting his embarrassment.
"She simply said to choose one together, she didn't say we had to report on it when we went back." [Y/N] added as Genji looked back at her, his wide happy grin making her smile in return. "I would say we followed her directions, now lets head back and get the rest of this meeting over with." She sighed and turned to walk away when a furry creature jumped from the bush and ran around her and Hanzo's feet. A bright red cord wrapped around their ankles before it ran around the side of the pond to the other side and jumped on a small stone statue and watched the two teenagers get their wits.
Hanzo recognized it as the fox that had brought the flower to the matchmaker, noting the same markings around its ears and face before it jumped from the statue and was gone. When Hanzo looked down at his feet he sighed in annoyance, the cord was wrapped several times and clumsily around not only his foot but [Y/N]'s as well.
"Hold still," Hanzo told her, kneeling down and trying to find the end of the cord around [Y/N]'s feet, he managed to untangle her left leg but found it to be tied tight around her right ankle as if done by hands. "I can't get it to come untied!" He snapped, finally giving up and focusing on his own feet, finding that his right foot came untangled easily but his left foot was like [Y/N]'s, the cord tied tight into a knot he couldn't get undone by his hands. "Genji, do you have your knife?"
"No, father made me leave it with the bodyguards, said it was not in good faith with the gods to bring weapons to a matchmaker," Genji said with a sigh, seeming a bit upset.
"Then we will simply have to leave it until an adult can cut us free." He stood and gathered some of the cord in his hand, and [Y/N] did the same but Hanzo took it gently from her, wrapping it around his hand. "At least there is quite a bit of it, our walking won't be hindered." He held out his free hand to [Y/N] and helped her as she stepped over the cord. She walked to his left side so that the cable was between them but not stretched long, Hanzo holding the slack of the wire in his left hand as the three made their way back to the matchmaker's office.
When they reached the doorway, the adults quietened themselves without prompt. Hanzo and Genji's father giving Genji a stern look as he ducked back into the room and took his place in the original spot, grinning from ear to ear happily. Hanzo helped [Y/N] climb the steps with him, afraid the cord would snag and maker her fall and once inside the adults gasped, making them look up in shock.
"Gekko-O..." The matchmaker whispered and brought her fan to her mouth as Hanzo's father and mother exchanged an odd glance--a mixture of happiness and perhaps fear? While [Y/N]'s parents merely looked confused. "Well," The matchmaker chuckled behind her fan. "Gekko-O WAS impatient for this union." She closed her fan when she composed herself and used it to point to the red cord that tied Hanzo to [Y/N]. "Gekko-O is the god of marriage and when two lovers are meant to be he ties a red cord around their feet to symbolize their connection. It is tied to tight for you to take off with your hands is it not?" Hanzo looked to his left hand that had the red cord wrapped around it.
"Yes, we need someone to cut it off." He asked, looking up at [Y/N] and then the matchmaker.
"You may cut the cord, young prince, but the bond has been set by the gods." She chuckled and nodded to a passing man and waved for him to proceed. He reached down and took [Y/N]'s ankle in his large hand and started to cut the cord but Hanzo noticed how uncomfortable she was. Flinching away from him reflexively, he felt a twinge of sympathy and spoke.
"I'll do it." He said and gently took the knife from the man after the Match Maker smiled. He leaned down and slid the knife flat against [Y/N]'s skin under the cord and turned it, the cord snapping easily against the razor sharp edge before rubbing her ankle where the cord had been to make sure he hadn't accidentally cut her before cutting it away from his own foot.
"So tell me, how did you manage to become entangled?" The matchmaker asked as Hanzo returned the knife to the man and each teen went back to their original place by their parents, their mood vastly different than when they had left. Hanzo, [Y/N] and Genji recounted the tale, each telling their part as the adults listened. When it came time for the part of the flower, the matchmaker stood and came to sit between Hanzo and [Y/N] as the lord's daughter described the flower bud. "That is my blue peony plant," She smiled at them. "Peony's are a wonder, and they can bloom during winter if given proper treatment." She placed her hands on her lap neatly. "It takes patience, care and more importantly time..." She glanced at [Y/N] and locked eyes with her before guiding the girls look to Hanzo who was keeping his gaze lowered until she referenced him indirectly. "Much like thawing a frozen heart." She watched as the teen's eyes locked and then dropped to their laps.
"But peony's are not just beautiful and resilient, they also hold a lot of meaning...do you know what a peony stands for in flower language Hanzo? [Y/N]?" She watched as both teenagers shook their heads gently. "Honor, especially for people who are bringing honor to their entire family through success...Wealth and riches. But most importantly for the two of you: Romance and romantic love, with a particular focus on love between two strangers..." She eyed them both as a slight pink to the cheeks betrayed their thoughts. "Beauty in all forms. Even bashfulness and shame of one's nakedness be it of the soul or physical form." This intensified the blush, and both teens eyed the floor in front of them silently.
"Why didn't you pick the flower and bring it to me?" She asked Hanzo as if she had been there to see it all.
"I asked him not to." [Y/N] said quickly as Hanzo lifted his head to answer.
"Oh? And why is that?" The matchmaker chuckled as the two mothers smiled at her.
"Flowers never last long once their picked, and the one we had agreed on had yet to bloom...it would never bloom if we had taken it..." [Y/N] explained, slowly lifting her head.
"Much like a young love cannot grow if plucked and thrown away like an unwanted weed no?" The matchmaker laughed at [Y/N]'s annoyed expression, she was getting tired of the meeting and the way the woman seemed to know everything in advance to use in her favor. "So, what is your opinion of one another now, after your little adventure?" The matchmaker asked, looking from [Y/N] to Hanzo.
"She is unrefined," Hanzo said quickly, closing his eyes. "She is brash and has a temper. Very unattractive in a wife."
"He is conceded and narrow-minded, and soft in his training. A wife should not be able to put her husband into a hold and make him submit in defeat so easily." [Y/N] snapped at Hanzo who flinched and pressed his lips into a hard line as Hanzo's parent's eyes widened and looked at their son in shock.
"She is hard headed and stubborn!" Hanzo snapped back quickly, his head lifting to reveal the pink in his cheeks.
"As if you are so different!" [Y/N] snapped back. She saw Genji poke his head around Hanzo's shoulder. "You act without much thought of anything going on around you or the consequences of what your actions might bring!"
"I was the one who tried to untangle us to keep us from falling, how is that not thinking ahead!" Hanzo snapped getting to his feet as [Y/N] rose to meet him, standing inches away from one another they continued to snap at one another, pointing out each other's flaws until everyone in the room chuckled warmly.
"I believe," Hanzo's father smiled as his son whirled to look at him, eyes wide at the sound. "This is a blessed match." He bowed to [Y/N]'s father who returned the gesture.
"I agree." The man chuckled, a warm smile on his face. "Given the proper time and care, it will bloom into a fruitful love." [Y/N] and Hanzo stared at one another as the matchmaker stood and clapped her hands twice.
"Then it has been decided by both the parents and Gekko-O that Hanzo Shimada and [Y/N] [L/N] are a blessed match, and will wed at the age of eighteen." She bowed deeply as everyone else rose and bowed in return. "May your bonds of love be everlasting children." She chuckled as [Y/N] turned her back to Hanzo and closed her eyes.
"I will never love him!"
"On that, we can agree!" Hanzo snapped, turning his back to her and crossing his arms. "I will never love her!"
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