Teeth

He made it to the stairs to the VIP area, the two Black Dragon goons guarding it barely glanced at him before they parted. He was a regular enough figure that they knew who he was without needing confirmation. He nodded slightly in acknowledgement before quickly making his way up the stairs. The VIP area was empty, save for a single man he recognised leaning against the railing.

"Ah, Hasashi, you're here," Kabal greeted, waving Hanzo over and picking out a beer from a cooler.

"Quan Chi sends his regards," Hanzo replied, holding his hands out to catch the beer as Kabal threw it to him. "Where's Kano?"

"Eh, he's having a talk with someone before the fights start," Kabal explained, as Hanzo took a sip of his beer. "Since you were last here we've had a new guy. Kano's taken a shine to him. He'll be fighting in the ring tonight."

Hanzo hummed, he cared little for Black Dragon politics, he was just here to give Kano a laundry list of jobs from Quan Chi. The fights were a little bonus Hanzo got to watch sometimes.

The crowd started cheering as he watched someone being dragged out to fight in the ring. Clearly they were someone who pissed Kano off, which meant the aim was to have him killed. He watched as the man was locked in the cage, looking around at the jeering crowd in terror. He's not going to last five minutes.

"Ay, Hanzo you made it!" Hanzo almost jumped at the voice behind him, turning around just in time to see Kano approaching. The Black Dragon's leader slapped his back, and Hanzo had to bite back his disapproval at being touched. "Take it Quan Chi's got more bullshit for me to do, huh?"

"He will pay you well," Hanzo claimed, causing Kano to laugh.

"Yeah, yeah, he always does." Kano shrugged, "it's no bother anyway, our new little spitfire is a marvel, he'll have no problems taking care of shit. Most efficient fucking flunky I've had in years."

"Shouldn't that be spitice?" Kabal commented despite looking like he wasn't paying attention to the conversation.

"What do you mean?" Hanzo questioned, it was a strange thing to say. Kano just smirked and pointed towards the ring.

As Hanzo turned to back to the action, he saw the second fighter being brought into the ring. Unlike the other guy, he looked like he meant business. From this vantage point, Hanzo could make out his short black hair, a large scar over his one eye, and was wearing very form fitting workout gear. His eyes were solely on the man in front of him, like a predator staring down his prey.

As soon as the announcer called for the match to begin, the fighter launched forward, a flash of blue from his hand that made Hanzo stop breathing. Ice. This strange man was using ice. Sub Zero? But he quickly eliminated that thought. First, Sub Zero was long dead by Hanzo's own hand. Second, this Cryomancer had a different fighting style, less refined, his use of his ice was more defensive than offensive and in generally he just felt more feral than Sub Zero ever was.

"Where the hell did you find this guy?" Hanzo asked as he watched in awe as the Cryomancer seemed to take great pleasure in the hits he was making. He could have ended the fight as soon as it begun, but it seemed he was intent on playing with his victim and putting on a show.

"Fantastic, ain't he?" Kano beamed, clearly very proud of this man. "Name's Kuai Liang. He's former Lin Kuei." Hanzo tried to be as quiet with the breath he took as he could. He wasn't Sub Zero, his name had been Bi-Han, but it was likely that there was some connection between them. "I dunno, something went down, Lin Kuei didn't want him anymore so I took him off their hands."

Hanzo wasn't sure what that meant but decided he likely didn't want to know. It seemed Kuai Liang had finally grown bored of messing with his opponent, incasing the mans lower half in ice, while creating an axe. Even Hanzo flinched away as it was brought down on the mans head.

The crowd cheered at the display in front of them, as two Black Dragon goons walked in to pull the corpse from the ring. Soon another fighter was pushed in to replace the last, and Kuai Liang attacked with the same ferocity. It was mesmerising, in a fucked up way, watching this man tear through each opponent put before him.

"Whatcha' think of him?" Kano asked after about the 5th round, seemingly the final one too seeing as Kuai Liang left the ring after he'd completely gutted his opposition.

"He's... something," Hanzo said, really unsure what word he could really use to describe what he just witnessed. Even for a former Lin Kuei, his actions were brutal. Hell, Sub Zero somewhat paled in comparison. At least Sub Zero was more interested in finishing the job quickly rather than prolonging his opponents suffering.

As a new fight began in the ring, Hanzo heard someone coming up the steps. Standing at the top step was Kuai Liang, having not even bothered to clean himself of the blood and visceral that covered him. He eyed Hanzo wearily, before making his way over to Kano.

"There's my wolf in sheep's clothing," Kano announced with a grin, wrapping an arm around Kuai's shoulders and then grabbing his chin and squeezing with his other hand. "I mean look at this face! Can you believe such a cute thing could be so vicious?"

It was clear close up that Kuai was actually fairly young. Mid-twenties if Hanzo had to guess. He looked extremely uncomfortable with Kano having his hands on him. Hanzo couldn't blame him.

"Kano, leave the poor guy alone," Kabal ordered, and Kano finally released the disgruntled Cryomancer. "Kuai, meet Hanzo Hasashi," Kabal introduced, and Hanzo saw Kuai's posture stiffen immediately. He knows who I am. Of course the ex-Lin Kuei would know who he was. "Hanzo, this is Kuai Liang."

"A pleasure," Hanzo replied, voice silky smooth and masking any nerves he felt about the way Kuai was staring him down.

"Likewise," Kuai grumbled, finally loosening up, but crossing his arms in front of his chest.

"Boss," a voice called from over by the stairs, one of Kano's goons stood there, "we got a problem."

Kano grumbled before gesturing at Kabal "We'd better go check this out." He turned to Kuai, "think you can entertain our guest for a while?" Kuai gave a blank look before nodding. "Good boy." Kano ruffled Kuai's hair, causing the shorter man to huff. He turned his attention to Hanzo before adding "this shouldn't take long."

"I understand," Hanzo acknowledged, watching as the two Black Dragon bosses left.

Silence stretched between Hanzo and Kuai. Kuai's stare was blank, almost like he was looking completely through Hanzo rather than at him.

Hanzo cleared his throat as he asked, "you know who I am?"

"I do," Kuai confirmed, flexing his hands slightly. "Do you know me?"

"I know you're ex-Lin Kuei," he confirmed, not wanting to voice his suspicions about Kuai being related in some way to Sub Zero just yet.

Kuai hummed, tearing his gaze away from Hanzo to instead inspect his nails. "Well, my loyalties no longer lie with them." Kuai barely even acknowledged the blood all over his hands, "I am Black Dragon now."

"Very well," Hanzo muttered, unsure what else he could say. He just had to hope his new found respect for the Black Dragon outweighed years of ingrained hatred for the Shirai Ryu.

"And I suppose," Kuai slowly started as he went to lean against the railing and looking Hanzo up and down. "For a Shirai Ryu wretch, you're quite handsome."

Hanzo's brain went into overdrive as it tried to compute what had just been said to him. The dark smirk on Kuai's face told him that was exactly the reaction he'd been hoping for.

"Been a while since someone told you that, hm?" Kuai purred, slowly approaching Hanzo, and reaching his hand forward. The blood had started to dry, and Hanzo hated to admit it wasn't as much of a turn off as it should have been. He grabbed Hanzo's shirt in his hands before pulling Hanzo close and whispering in his ear, "so handsome I might just overlook the fact you killed my brother."

Oh. Fuck.

Hanzo tried to jump back but Kuai's grip on him was iron. He felt something cold press against his neck, realising too late it was a knife formed of ice.

"Sub Zero was your brother," Hanzo stated. I'm going to die, he is going to kill me.

"His name was Bi-Han," Kuai hissed, releasing his grip on Hanzo's shirt and reaching back for his pony tail instead. Hanzo yelped as the cryomancer gave a hard yank on his hair. "You are lucky Kano needs you alive." Kuai made a snarling sound, tracing the knife along Hanzo's jugular. "And I suppose your handsome face is no use to me if you're dead."

"Really struggling to grasp if you want to kill or fuck me," Hanzo commented, shuddering at the coldness of the knife. "I'd prefer the latter, personally."

To his relief, Kuai actually laughed at that, finally releasing his grip and pulling the knife away. "Yes, I think I'd prefer that too." He turned away twirling the knife between his fingers. "Killing really isn't all that enjoyable."

That statement and Kuai's actions didn't seem to align. "Could have fooled me, the way you took down your opponents in the ring."

Kuai chuckled again, this time however it was far more bitter. "The one thing I learnt from the Lin Kuei. How to pretend to enjoy heinous shit."

It didn't sound like a lie, but Hanzo was still hesitant to believe it. Because on one hand if he was pretending to enjoy it, he was very convincing. And on the other hand? Well, he'd just admitted to being proficient at lying. Who knew what Kuai Liang really thought? Hanzo supposed as long as right now he didn't want to kill him, that was something.

Kuai pushed himself against Hanzo, an action that took Hanzo off guard. He hadn't noticed Kuai approach him again, either he hadn't paid enough attention or Kuai was alarmingly good at sneaking up on people. Still Kuai's hands were at his biceps, feeling at the muscle there, clearly enamoured by them. Hanzo risked reaching a hand forward, placing it of Kuai's hip. When the cryomancer didn't react badly, Hanzo decided to get a bit bolder, reaching around to grope at his ass instead. Kuai grunted, but otherwise did not object.

"We interrupin' something?"

Kano's booming voice caused Hanzo to jump, but it was nothing compared to Kuai's reaction. The cryomancer pushed Hanzo away from him with such force Hanzo found himself stumbling. Seconds later, he landed on the floor with a thud, tangled in his own limbs. He managed to untangle himself enough to push himself up. Kuai was standing with a sour look on his face, arms tightly crossed in front of him. His cheeks were bright red.

Kano's booming laugh filled his ears as he approached them, Kabal beside him looking equally as amused.

"Sorry to barge in on you lovebirds," Kano boomed sarcastically, slapping Kuai on the back, "but I have a job for little Tundra here and it can't wait."

Kuai's eye twitched, but he didn't voice whatever it was that upset him. He turned as if to follow Kano but paused. He spared Hanzo a long glance, before clearing his throat.

"My room is the forth from the main corridor. 1am. Be there." Hanzo's eyes widened at the demand as Kuai once looked away. His hand clenched slightly, before he added in a mutter "Bring condoms."

Before Hanzo could react or even reply, Kuai was storming off with Kano to do whatever it was that needed to be done. His mind was still suffering from whiplash of the entire event. A hand came into his vision, Kabal holding it out for him to take. He took the offered hand, Kabal all but hauling him to his feet.

"Thanks," Hanzo said, brushing down his outfit. He was unharmed, if a little embarrassed. He thought back to what had just been said, "just to make sure I didn't imagine that, he did just invite me to his room to fuck him right?"

"That's what it sounded like to me," Kabal confirmed with a chuckle. "Lucky, apparently he's a hell of a lay."

"Hm, not sure lucky is the word I'd use, given I suspect he's seconds away from killing me at any given moment." Kabal gave him a puzzled look. "His brother was a Lin Kuei called Sub Zero... Who I killed."

"Ah. Shit." Kabal rubbed the back of his head. "He does look pretty, but his heart definitely has teeth."

Yeah, no shit. He thought about the anger in Kuai's voice, the knife against his throat... Kuai stating he didn't actually like killing. The way he admired Hanzo's muscles. Kuai was equal parts danger and sweetness, and Hanzo couldn't deny there was something alluring about that.

"Well, at least if he pulls a preying mantis on me, I get to die having sex," Hanzo commented with a shurg, trying to play it all off.

"Man, you're as fucked up as he is," Kabal muttered. He pursed his lips and nodded slightly, "kinda perfect for each other really."

We kind of are. Hanzo had no idea was awaiting him in that room. But he looked forward to finding out.

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