Hey there y'all! How's it goin? Okay, next chapter is up!
Thanks for all the support I've been getting in this book, and thank you for sticking by it even though it'll be an enormous piece of work ;-;
Lego!
The smooth floors of the Shimada palace suddenly felt like an uneven expanse of rugged road, and you staggered back as your hands tried their hardest to hide the horror that twisted your then pallid countenance. Genji's helpless screaming subdued in volume, or maybe it was the shock of it all still ringing in your ears that muted almost everything out. Either way, you just watched. You just watched as the elders all came rushing in through the half-parted entrance with their flowing garments billowing with their haste. You watched as they momentarily shared your expression of terror, as they fell under the blow of paralysis. You watched as one of them swallowed a thick lump back down his throat; the sweat running down his temple was a tell-tale sign of him possibly fainting anytime soon.
And yet, even as the medics and nurses passed by you as fleeting blurs of white, even when you were certain that they had dialed the nearest hospital, you couldn't do anything but remain rooted on the spot you planted yourself upon in your panic.
Hanzo's father is dead.
The nagging in your head was persistent, and it mortified you all the more to hear a subtle voice at the back of your mind saying that the nurses were all idiots for trying to call aid for a man who was clearly dead.
There's still a chance--there's still hope!
"Otou-san!" Genji's grip shook the entirety of his father's frail arm, and his ardent crying threatened to bring the very walls of this room down to the rubble of its foundation. He then turned to the scurrying nurses and shot a hot glare at their direction, "Hurry up and do something dammit!"
"We're doing our best, Lord Genji-"
"Well do better!" the young man snapped with the little thread of patience he had left within holding him back. "He's not waking up!"
The whole lot of them nodded, and they proceeded to perform their studied protocol at double speed; anything to keep the younger Shimada from bursting a vein, especially when he was at his wit's end with worrying about the welfare of his father.
"It's going to be alright, dad," Genji whispered lowly so only he and his father could hear. "I'm here."
What followed after that were a bunch of prayers that the lad never thought he'd ever recite outside of ceremonies and religious occasions. When he heard the virtuous words slip past his lips, he was reminded of his vulnerability. He was reminded how fleeting everything could be with a snap of the fingers.
As for you, you finally found the little drop of courage that it took for you to move an inch back, then a step, and then a sprint, and very soon, you found yourself taking off back into the direction of the secret gardens, where you just recalled you've dropped your phone in a hurried fit, leaving Hanzo to wait on the other line before running off to see the cause of his brother's wailing.
Once the soft feel of the grass tickled the soles of your feet, you immediately dove down onto your knees and groped for the feel of your precious device, lost in the sea of dark vegetation blanketed by the dismal shadows of the night.
"(Y/N)?! (Y/N)! Where are you?"
Hanzo's voice tore through the static air, and with the sudden sound both comforting and guiding you, it didn't take long for you to find the faint glow of your phone in the grass, and you reached for it without another second of hesitation.
"Hanzo, you have to come back! It's your father," you whispered shakily as you pressed the cold metal of the device against your ear.
"(Y/N), what happened? I heard you screaming!"
"Shimada-sama suddenly fell down unconscious." You struggled to speak without sobbing all over again. You shook your head, trying to rid the vivid picture of the clan leader off your mind. "Hanzo, you have to come back here as soon as you can!"
"(Y/N), I can't just do that." His tone had softened from the robust tone he just held. "I can't just leave in the middle of my mission."
"Hanzo, I'm pretty sure you can arrange that for another time. You have to come home right away."
"It wouldn't be proper of me to just adjourn a meeting out of the blue, (Y/N). I've given them my word."
"Hanzo, what are you talking about?" you shot back hotly. "This is your father we're talking about--he needs you now."
The fervor in your vexation took the man aback on the other line, and you didn't even have to see him in the flesh to catch the downing shift of atmosphere between the two of you.
"(Y/N), listen to me. As much as I'd want to go back there and be with father, it's not going to be that easy-"
"But you're literally Hanzo Shimada--the Hanzo Shimada," you insisted. "You're an expert with negotiations and business and all kinds of those things. You've used those gifts to help you win over your business partners before, now why is it that you can't do this right when it's needed the most? Genji is hurting and he needs his brother to be with him and comfort him."
"Look, (Y/N), it's just- it's," your lover was stuttering and stumbling over his words as he tried to even his breathing out. "It's complicated."
A minute of silence, and then you dug your upper teeth down into the plump flesh of your lower lip as you registered the evident defeat that laced the last two words of his reply.
It's complicated.
Was that really the best excuse he had?
"(Y/N)?" he called out when you didn't give any sort of answer into the other line. "Are you there?"
"Look," you sighed heavily as you lifted your other hand to pinch the wrinkled bridge of your nose. "I think it's best that you call back another time, Lord Hanzo. I'm going to go ahead and check on your father and Genji."
From where he was, the heir shot himself off his seat on impulse and tried his hardest to prolong what little contact he had with you with a careful choice of words. "(Y/N), please wait-"
"I really have to go, Lord Hanzo," you mumbled, interrupting him, and ended the call with a quick press on the red icon that popped on your screen.
Putting the device back in your pocket, you looked around the wholeness of the Shimada property and grasped how late into the night it actually was. Aside from the usual song that the crickets played in the thick herbage, the air was still; not even the presence of the whistling night wind was present to soothe the knotty bundle of flesh that was you. It made you acquire a trickle of regret for ending the conversation against better judgement with a hot, muddled head; for not giving him the chance to speak his side.
To be honest, losing your cool back then was a blow on your streak of composure, and you grew squeamish.
This...had never happened before.
And you wished it would never have to happen again.
You craned your neck to look up to the ebony heavens as you felt something wet run down your cheek. To your shock, your vision blurred, and you placed ttwo fingertips against your skin on reflex and found to your dismay that you had shed tears.
Huh, this must be what they call wet anger.
You hadn't the slightest idea why this short little disagreement between the two of you crippled you so to the point that you cried out of frustration.
Granted, he did act like an insensitive jerk towards the whole situation.
But still.
"He'll be the death of me," you groaned under your breath as you turned to make your way back into the palace, the back of your hands wiping whatever moisture was left off your visage so that no one could ever lay an eye on you and say a word of gossip behind your back.
***
"Dad, while you're recovering, I'll take over the clan for a while."
Genji's voice was calm, quiet; a mirrored reflection of his interpersonal battle against the foreign feeling of dread that gnawed at his heart. It was clear how careful he was with dealing with the bedlam within, how it was slowly winning over his resolve to be strong.
So you broke the silence with three soft knocks and proceeded to enter the clan leader's room with the permission of Genji's glinting brown eyes.
"Is he alright?" you proceeded to ask as you quietly made your way beside the supine old man, frail body wrapped in a light white overall.
"They said he's stabilized," the young master replied with a sullen sigh. "But he hasn't woken up yet."
"He will." You rubbed circles across Genji's back to comfort him. "Your father's a strong man."
"But what if his age catches up to him? What if he'll never wake up?" He turned over to you and looked right into your orbs with the chilling fright of a little child. "I can't lose him, (Y/N). He's all I have to lean on."
"I know," you said truthfully. "But I don't know how to further lift your spirits, Genji. All I can really do is assure you, and it would have been better if only your brother were here with us."
You hadn't even noticed the sorrow in your own voice until Genji pulled you out of your swarming thoughts with a warm palm on the back of your hand. With a slight jump, you skated your gaze from the expensive comforters of the aging master and up into the young man's eyes, where you found an emotion so moving that you felt wrapped, protected in a blanket of warmth that vouched no harm shall come your way.
"Did something happen between you and aniki?" he asked, the tone in his voice having an almost omniscient feel to it.
"Well," you began with hesitance, "we just had a sour conversation tonight is all."
The silence that the young master emitted beckoned you to continue speaking your heart out.
"I...I told him to come back here, to help support Shimada-sama while he's ill," you began. "But instead he said he'll have a hard time going back here because he had this agenda to take care of and that it wouldn't be professional of him to just leave his partners hanging like that. I can't believe he could say such a thing! You should have heard it. His excuses were pathetic, it was like he didn't even try to come up with something better."
The hum of the air conditioner provided a sort of filler for what could have been a somber atmosphere of the beige colored quarters. You could barely hear the intake of breath coming out from Sojiro, which worried you a whole lot, until you took in the steady, rhythmic beating that came from the heart monitor, a big piece of machine that took up the size of a small drawer placed directly beside the clan leader's bed. Connected to it were tubes of different colors, lengths, and widths: The thicker ones went to the man's mouth and arms while the smaller, thinner ones snaked into his nose and chest.
He looked like he was partly machine.
Now that you looked it through, it resembled more of a life support system than a heart monitor, and you wondered if the maintenance done on these things would be a hassle as the contraption was efficient.
"You know, as much as I and Hanzo have different views about life in general, it's not entirely his fault that he appears to act so...insensitive at times. Even to father."
You whipped your head to him. "What do you mean?"
"You saw it for yourself, didn't you?" Genji inquired, taking one of his father's hands gently into his own. "You were witness to his upbringing."
You wracked your head for any trace of your childhood memories, preferably those that portray Hanzo's life under the wing of the elders right when he left your little gang.
Instead, your head steered a different direction, and you recalled a particular scene from your adolescent timeframe, a specific moment when you were cleaning close to the training room at fifteen years of age.
Thwack!
The ever still air of the palace rang with the sharp slap of thin bamboo hitting against flesh, and you startled back, nearly dropping the dirty rag from your shaken grip along with the ornate ceramic vase you were just polishing in the other hand.
"You missed a mark on the target, Hanzo. If that were a living enemy, it would have gotten away and divulged our secrets to the world!"
"Gomen nasai. I have disgraced this clan." You heard Hanzo reply, and you raced to the entrance with quick but cautious footwork, your nimble steps muted by the padding of your soiled, browning socks that stuck with your feet all day.
You halted just inches before the entrance where you took a big calming breath, then with a hand over your chest to steady your thrashing heart, you turned to your side and eyed the happenings through the little slit that was the ajar entryway.
From where you stood, all you could make out were Hanzo's side and the array of robotic dummies that were lined up behind him. The young man's head was bowed so low, chin almost touching his chest, that you thought his neck would break like a twig if he kept the position any longer!
"Come on, Hanzo. You are a prodigy for crying out loud...or supposed to be anyway. You can't make mistakes like this and expect us to just let it slip under the rug." A voice boomed from in front of him.
"I-I know, Togeshi-san."
"Look, Hanzo, just because you're the heir of the Shimada empire and the son of our clan's leader doesn't mean you get any special privileges with us," another one of them said gruffly, stepping forward. "In this world, your father wouldn't be there to protect you nor dote on you. How could the people rely on you when you can't even rely on yourself?"
"I shall redeem myself," Hanzo stuttered, snapping himself with a bow from the waist. His voice was swollen with both insecurity and guilt.
Fear.
"Again," Elder Togeshi snapped. "And make sure the arrow hits its mark this time, Hanzo. Because what happens when one fails?"
"They bring dishonor to themselves and their families," the young heir answered readily. "I won't be the one to bring this clan down."
"Good. Now get your stance ready."
When Hanzo stood up to face his metal practice targets, you nearly let off an audible gasp at what you saw. It was just a split second, a fleeting wisp, but you saw it as clear as day.
You saw the purpling scars blooming on his back from the sharp blows of the bamboo slapping against his skin.
And at that moment, you skittered away to head back to the servants' quarters, the sound of metal piercing metal screeching against your fleeing ears.
"Yes, I remember," you hummed at the reminiscence. "The elders were very strict with his progress, very unforgiving." You then took a second to sport a frown. "I remembered being so moved by the sight of the bruises on his back that I ran back to my quarters just to get him some ointment and bandages."
Genji's eyes lit up at this tale unknown to him and inquired further with a wide grin. "Oh? What did he do after you offered the stuffs?"
"Well," you began sheepishly, "he scowled and ordered me to go away, saying he doesn't need them at all." You chuckled at the memory. "Yeah...he's very secretive--especially with his pain. But what does that have to do with him being insensitive at times?"
"Don't you see, (Y/N)?" Genji asked. "All his life he's been expected to put any kind of weakness away, and if he could, any emotion that might hinder him from doing his duties efficiently. He's been raised to believe that he was just another born leader to serve the clan, that his feelings and thoughts ought not to be for his own pleasure. It's almost as if they wouldn't allow him to feel anything other than a deep sense of servitude. At times, as grouchy and killjoy as he is, I feel bad for him. On top of that, he and dad...they don't really talk much about matters outside the clan."
Now that he put it that way, you couldn't help feeling bad too.
I should have been more patient with him.
"But my brother wouldn't be pleased if he heard me telling you of such things."
"Really? Why not? Is it because it's a sign of weakness?"
"It's more of he doesn't want you to stay with him because you pity him kinda thing," Genji answered, gazing back to the many tubes that snaked onto his father. "He wants your respect and admiration, not your, well, charity. But I feel like he doesn't have to worry about that though."
"I do love your brother, Genji," you concurred honestly. "More than anything else. And though I do pity him at times, that's not the reason why I stay by his side."
"I know." Genji smiled, and the simple gesture added vibrance to his green overall. "Now why don't you give him a call and talk things through?"
The phone in your pocket suddenly felt heavier, and you gulped before fiddling with your fingers.
"Do you think he'd still want to talk to me after I shut him off?" Your eyes were downcast.
"He'd want nothing more. Now call him. Tell me how it went later."
Fishing the phone out from your pocket, you took a deep breath, looked into Genji's eyes for any glint of reassurance, and exhaled deeply with a soft nod.
"Thanks, Genji. I'll give him a chance to talk," you said as you made your way out of the grand master's bedroom. "He deserves it."
"He does," Genji agreed. "And remember, (Y/N): He's not all that bad."
~