Don't You Worry Child, See Heavens Got A Plan For You

Hanzo was thankful to have some time with him on a personal level. Recently it felt that all they managed to meet up for was routine work meetings and preventing the end of the world. Having some time to just breath, enjoy each other’s company and talk was nice.

Kuai was sat on a step, Hanzo had made him some taiyaki which he held in his hand and was slowly nibbling on. Across the grounds, near the trees, some Shirai Ryu children were playing. Kuai had a soft smile on his face as he watched and oh gods he’s getting broody again, isn’t he?

It wasn’t something he had expected from Kuai, and the behaviour had only recently started to show itself, but whenever Kuai seemed to be in the presence of children and babies, he got a bit… mushy, for a lack of a better term. Hanzo didn’t mind, it was nice seeing Kuai take an interest and gave Hanzo hope for the two of them having a family together in the future. Despite everything, there were some traditions Hanzo preferred to observe, and having children within wedlock was one of them. It felt bad to constantly turn down Kuai’s interest, but he knew that once he’d popped the question, and he could happily call Kuai his husband, then they could talk about children.

“Kuai Liang,” Hanzo said softly, feeling a bit bad about the resigned sigh Kuai gave.

“I know, I know, I’m getting broody again, sorry.” He took another bite of his taiyaki and then turned his attention to Hanzo. “But to be honest, I was more thinking how nice it is these children can have a normal childhood.” Kuai’s eye twitched before he added, “well, as normal a childhood as you can get when your parents are a member of a clan of assassins.”

Hanzo didn’t know much about Kuai’s childhood. What he did know didn’t paint a happy picture. The abuse Kuai had endured when he was an adult was bad enough, but he knew that there had to be a slow progress of escalation. The thought of any child going through the horrors of the Lin Kuei was enough to make Hanzo feel physically sick. He had a feeling knowing the true extent would make him want to burn those fuckers to the ground.

“What was your childhood like?” Kuai eventually asked, tilting his head at Hanzo, eyes wide and questioning. “I’ve never really heard you talk about it outside of the dumb injuries you used to get.”

“My childhood injuries were never dumb,” Hanzo protested, while crossing his arms over his chest.

Kuai looked at him with a blank face and stated “you jumped off a roof.”

“Yes, to see if I could survive,” Hanzo argued, kind of delighted by the look of disbelief on Kuai’s face.

“You broke your leg!”

“But I did survive.”

The look on Kuai’s face was one of a man who just realised he was dating an idiot. Hanzo couldn’t help the urge to lean forward and kiss Kuai’s nose. Kuai still did not look impressed.

“Kissing me doesn’t change the fact that you’re a moron,” Kuai dryly informed him. Hanzo just responded by kissing Kuai again.

There was a soft giggle off to the side, and Hanzo looked to see that the children had stopped playing to watch. They were looking at them with wonder, like they were witness to a real life fairy tale. Usually Hanzo wasn’t too fond of people seeing them be affectionate, but he figured he could let it slide for a couple of curious giggly children. Especially with how softly it made Kuai smile.

“I am serious though, you never talk about your childhood,” Kuai continued, as he offered a wave to the children and they made an surprised sound and scattered to hiding spots. “Is there a reason?”

“None in particular,” Hanzo said with a shrug, slightly amused that he could see little heads poking out of various places to continue observing them. “I had a happy childhood, don’t worry, it’s just aside from a few stories here and there, there just wasn’t much to it.”

“I see.” Kuai sounded relieved, but there was a strange edge to it. Hanzo worried maybe it felt a bit like he was rubbing it in Kuai’s face. He didn’t really get an answer to that before Kuai asked, “you grew up in the Shirai Ryu right? What was that like?”

“Strict, but fair.” Hanzo tried to recall a time where he was treated poorly but he couldn’t think of any. At the time he felt he knew everything, but as an adult he realised how misplaced his confidence was and now understood why those around him tried to ground him a bit. “The youngest you could start training was 13, so up until then it was just the normal schooling, like Japanese, English and Math. At 13, we could join the Shirai Ryu’s training program if we wanted, but there was never any pressure.”

“You didn’t start training until you were 13?” Kuai asked in a surprised tone.

“No,” Hanzo reluctantly answered, feeling unease at how Kuai had reacted. “How old were you when you started training?”

“I don’t know,” Kuai admitted, biting his lip. “I was only a baby when I was taken to the Lin Kuei, and I don’t remember a time that I wasn’t training.”

Hanzo had to suppress the sudden rage that overcame him. He assumed from the things Kuai said in the past that his training had started young but this? The idea of a toddler going through the intense training needed to be an assassin was disturbing.

“Hell, at 13 I was going out on my first missions,” Kuai said casually, like that was a completely normal thing for someone that age to be doing. “Supervised, obviously, but I was still out on them.”

Hanzo had no idea what the fuck he was even supposed to say to that. A child. Kuai Liang was still a child when he was going out into dangerous situations. The Lin Kuei expected someone so young to go off and kill people. It made Hanzo wish he could go back in time, grab Kuai’s younger self and run while flipping the Lin Kuei the bird.

The very matter of fact nature of Kuai’s claims began to weigh on his mind, and Hanzo had to ask something he hoped the answer would be negative to.

“You- You aren’t still sending 13 year olds out on missions, are you?”

“No!” Kuai’s snappy response actually caught Hanzo off guard. It didn’t take a genius to know Kuai was deeply offended by the question. “I don’t even accept new recruits under 18, Hanzo!”

“Oh.” Now he thought about it, he had never seen anyone that young within the Lin Kuei’s walls. He really should not have assumed things. “I’m sorry, the way you talked about it was like it was normal to you, I just wanted to check.”

“It was normal to me,” Kuai sighed, bowing his head slightly. “But I do not wish for it to be normal for anyone else.”

Hanzo lent forward to press a kiss of apology to Kuai’s temple. Kuai let himself fall to one side slightly, resting his head against Hanzo’s shoulder. Apology accepted, Hanzo put an arm around Kuai’s waist. He heard a small voice loudly whisper “that’s so cute!”

“What about your parents?” Kuai redirected, clearly not wanting to dwell too long on the previous topic. “What were they like?”

“Well, my mother died when I was 6, but, from what I remember of her, she was a loving woman who would have moved the heavens for me.” It was strange, how despite everything he had been through, his mother’s death still hit him so hard. His memories of her were faded, but he always remembered how his father sat him down and broke the news, telling him how his mother wasn’t coming back. He also recalled standing by his father’s side as his mother’s coffin was lowered into her final resting place.

“I’m sorry,” Kuai said softly, “I had no idea.”

“You weren’t to know,” Hanzo assured him, giving him a reassuring squeeze. “As for my father… Well, I guess I grew up to be just like him, even though he never wanted me to be a Shirai Ryu. Regardless, he was my main role model, I looked up to him and most of my moral compass comes from him.”

“Sound’s like he was a good man,” Kuai commented, nuzzling against Hanzo’s cheek. “What were their names?”

“My mother’s name was Hoshi,” Hanzo said, remembering the softness with which his father used to say her name. If Hanzo and Harumi had ever had a daughter, he wanted to name her after his late mother. “My father was called Kaito.”

“Kaito?” Kuai’s tone was like he was remembering some long forgotten secret.

“Something wrong?” Hanzo prompted, a strange prickling at the back of his neck.

“It’s probably just a coincidence but…” Kuai trailed off a little, pushing himself off of Hanzo. “I met a Shirai Ryu named Kaito once.” Hanzo stared at Kuai, hoping he would offer more detail. “It’s a long story. There was a house, and an artefact I was supposed to find. Kaito had been sent by the Shirai Ryu, and at some point we realised it was all a ruse. Kaito suggested we work together to get out, and we did.”

Hanzo couldn’t imagine his father working with a Lin Kuei under normal circumstances, but at the same time, he didn’t recall any other Kaito’s within the ranks. There was only one possibility he could think of why his father would work with Kuai, and given what Kuai had just told him, it seemed the most likely explanation.

“How old were you?” If Kuai was under 20, he could see his father showing him mercy. While his father despised the Lin Kuei, that only ever really extended to the adults in the clan. He always seemed extremely sympathetic to the younger members, and had been known to try and offer a few a place within the Shirai Ryu, although no one had ever taken him up on it.

“I was 15,” Kuai answered with a small sigh. It was exactly like Hanzo thought, although Kuai was a lot younger than the 18 to 20 year old’s his father usually sympathised with. “He even offered to take me back to the Shirai Ryu afterwards, but… No one leaves the Lin Kuei. Not without death.”

Definitely my father then. It was so predictable he almost wanted to laugh.

What would our lives have been like, if Father had successfully convinced you to come back here?

Hanzo pushed that thought aside, there was no point on dwelling on those sorts of questions.

He watched as his boyfriend finally finished off the taiyaki in his hands. Kuai never had the chance to try many foods before Hanzo encouraged him. Hanzo remembered the first time he’d presented Kuai with Ramen noodles, and his first bite alone made him look like he’d just discovered the answer to life. Kuai had never had food that had taste before, he’d never had dessert or junk food, not even healthy staples outside of rice and meat. While it was so cute how much his face lit up when presented with a sweet treat, it was yet another reminder that Kuai’s childhood had not been the one he deserved.

“Kuai Liang, you do not have to answer this question if you don’t want to,” he started, trying to make his voice as assuring as possible. He didn’t want to press Kuai too hard, but he needed a clearer image of what Kuai went through. “What was your childhood like?”

Kuai took a deep breath, like he’d been expecting the question for some time and still didn’t have an answer.

“I don’t think this is the place to go into the details,” Kuai started, pushing himself closer to Hanzo again. He did his part, wrapping his arms around Kuai in the hopes of offering some comfort. “It wasn’t good.” Kuai’s arms snaked around Hanzo’s neck. “Most of the time, I was either in pain or starving.”

Hanzo couldn’t help the hiss that escaped his mouth. Kuai was right, this wasn’t the place for details like that, but god did that confirm all of Hanzo’s worst fears.

“You know that should have never happened right?” Hanzo asked softly, holding Kuai just a little bit tighter. “They should never have laid a finger on you, let alone refused you food.”

“I don’t know, sometimes I feel like I deserved it,” Kuai muttered sadly.

“No,” Hanzo said sternly. It wasn’t Kuai’s fault, he had been made to have these terrible beliefs, but this was one of those things he needed to be firm with. “Snowflake, you were a child, there is nothing you could have done to mean you deserved that.”

“Not even when I bit one of the Elder’s nose off?”

Hanzo paused at that, but eventually replied with “no, but I do need more context.”

”He always did have a vendetta against me, although I’m not sure why,” Kuai started, his hand reaching to play with Hanzo’s hair, like he just needed to use his hands for something. “He was pushing me to do a task I didn’t want to, yelling in my face and hitting me. He called me an unwanted bastard and I just lost it. Next thing I knew I was spitting the end of his nose out of my mouth and he was covered in blood.”

Hanzo laughed nervously. “I’m still going with no but…” He quickly glance around to make sure no tiny ears were likely to overhear as he dropped his voice to the lowest whisper he could. “It does give me more reason to believe those threats that you’ll bite my dick off.”

Kuai actually snorted. “Oh, you don’t need to worry about that.” Kuai’s tone was suddenly playful and he elbowed Hanzo’s side. “I enjoy that part of you far too much to go through with those threats.”

Despite the relief that his dick was safe from Kuai’s jaws, Hanzo had questions about the consequences of such an action. ”I assume the Lin Kuei did not take kindly to this event?”

”No,” Kuai admitted with a shake of his head. “I will spare you the details, but the fallout wasn’t pretty. Not to mention that particular Elder had an even bigger grudge against me after that.”

“How did your brother react to that? I can’t imagine he was too happy.” What Hanzo knew about Bi-Han was that he was loyal to the Lin Kuei, completely and utterly obedient compared to his rebellious little brother.

“He wasn’t at first.” Kuai frowned, as he recalled the memory. “He changed his mind after I mentioned the unwanted bastard thing.” Hanzo reached down to take Kuai’s hand. “He was old enough to still have some memories of our parents. Told me in no uncertain terms I was not a bastard, and definitely not unwanted.”

Hanzo was glad about that. For all Bi-Han’s faults, it seemed he really had loved Kuai Liang, and had done his best to protect him. There was another member of Kuai’s family he knew of, one that Kuai had mentioned but never really talked about in detail.

“What was your relationship with your Grandfather like?” Grandpa Zero was a point of curiosity. Hanzo knew he existed and Kuai had at least a somewhat amicable relationship with him, but not anything substantial.

Kuai pushed himself to sit up, he looked surprised that Hanzo had asked.

“My Grandfather raised me, pretty much. At least until he died and Bi-Han took his place.” He pursed his lips, “Bi-Han always joked I was Grandfather’s favourite. He was always a lot softer on me than anyone else.” He looked down to the ground, “he sometimes took us out to the forests, let Bi-Han and I climb trees, and catch bugs and just be normal kids, even if it was just for a while.” Kuai blinked a few times. “I think he regretted bringing us to the Lin Kuei, or at least, he regretted bringing me.”

“What makes you think that?”

“When Lin Kuei turned 10, we were expected to choose our path. That might have been an assassin, a scout, a spy, tactician, healer. We were expected to know what we wanted to do. And I wanted to be an assassin, just like my big brother.” That didn’t surprise Hanzo, it was clear Kuai had always idolised his brother. It was sweet, in a strange way. “Before I confirmed my choice, my Grandfather sat me down, looked me in the eye and said “Son, this is not the path for you”.”

Hanzo blinked, “he did not think you were suited to be an assassin? What did he think you should have been doing instead?”

“In his defence, I know why he tried to dissuade me. I was physically a lot weaker than most in the assassin program, and I just wasn’t good at training.” How ironic was it that he’d overcome those supposed weakness to become Grandmaster. Not just that, but he’d become one of the most powerful warriors Hanzo had ever met. He almost wished it was possible to throw it in the old Lin Kuei’s face, that the boy they so casually dismissed was now a stronger man than any of them had ever been. “He never stopped me, if I really wanted to be an assassin he was going to let me, but he always thought I would have done better as a healer.”

Hanzo considered that. While it was undoubtable that his powers were more suited for a warrior role, Kuai Liang’s temperament was definitely more suited for a pacifistic role. How good a job at healing he could have done within the confines of the Lin Kuei? Hanzo had his doubts he’d have been able to do too much. Everything he’d learnt about Kuai’s medical history implied that even if he wanted to really help people, he would not have been permitted to.

“In a strange way, I guess I did become one, just not in the way he was expecting.” Hanzo looked over and frowned, not sure he was understanding what Kuai was talking about. “I rebuilt the Lin Kuei, I fixed the things wrong with it. I ended the rivalry between our clans, filling the casam that had plagued us for so long.”

Huh. In a strange way, Kuai was right, he had been doing so much healing. He had even been the one to help Hanzo heal from his past. Maybe Grandpa Zero had seen Kuai’s potential in fixing things. Would he have been able achieve these things had he walked another path? Maybe. Kuai was nothing if not determined.

“I do wonder, what he’d think of me now,” Kuai admitted quietly, gripping his wrist and rubbing it. “I know he’d be proud of the things I’ve achieved, he’d be proud of me being the Grandmaster of the Lin Kuei. I don’t know how he’d feel about our allegiance or relationship.”

“I would hope that he would be able to see it as one more reason to be proud of you,” Hanzo assured him, leaning over to kiss his forehead. Yet again he heard a little squeal of approval in the distance. “You did the impossible Kuai Liang, that’s definitely something to flaunt.”

Kuai turned to kiss him on the cheek.

“I do still miss him. My Grandfather, I mean.” Kuai pulled away, looking down at his armour. “I was 12 when he died, I was there when he was on his deathbed, the Lin Kuei allowed my brother and I that one moment.” That was surprisingly kind of the Lin Kuei, not enough to negate the abhorrent things they had done, but at least they did not deny the brother’s their last moments with their parental figure. “Sometimes, I still think about the last thing he ever said to me.”

“And what was that?”

“How he had loved our Grandmother, and that he wished he’d met her under different circumstances.” Kuai had mentioned being curious about who his Grandmother was, that his Grandfather had always been vague and avoided the question.

Who was she, I wonder?

“I wish he’d told me who she was.”

“I promise, as long as I live, I will do everything in my power to help you figure it out,” Hanzo took Kuai’s hand in his and kissed the knuckle. “I know none of that was easy for you to talk about, but thank you for trusting me with it.”

It was strange. On the surface they’d had similar starts in life, brought up in a clan of dangerous assassins. Yet beyond that their lives had splintered. Hanzo had lived a comfortable life of luxury, while Kuai Liang… Well…

It was a good job the bastards responsible were dead, because if they weren’t Hanzo would make sure they suffered for what they did.

What would their lives have been like if just a few key things had happened differently? If Hanzo’s mother hadn’t died when she had? If Kuai’s Grandfather hadn’t taken the brothers to the Lin Kuei?

If Kuai Liang had accepted Kaito’s offer to join the Shirai Ryu?

Hanzo couldn’t imagine he’d have been too happy at the time that his father brought a Lin Kuei back with him, but given this was Kuai he was sure he’d have wormed his way into his heart eventually. God, Harumi would have fucking loved him. He could imagine her making him all sorts of foods, making sure he was getting rest, just generally dotting over him. It would have been the four of them, Him, Harumi, Kuai Liang and Satoshi, in a little house, and people would find it strange at first but it would be undeniable that they were happy.

That was never to be. And he stopped before he began to wonder what would have occurred if Kuai had been present during the massacre. That was a nightmare he could never entertain.

“Kuai Liang, my love,” Hanzo started, placing a hand on Kuai’s cheek, “I want to assure you, that when we have children, they will never have to go through the things you did. They will have a happy life, and will always know that they are loved. They will never be forced into kombat if they don’t want it, or training, or any of it. We will give them a good life.”

Kuai’s face lit up, if it was Hanzo’s words or Hanzo’s confirmation he wanted to have a family together, he wasn’t sure. Kuai’s reply came in the form of a kiss, deep and passionate, it told Hanzo everything he needed to know. He closed his eyes, feeling the warmth spreading through his body in pleasant waves.

When he reopened his eyes, he found several pairs of tiny eyes staring up at them.

“Can we help you?” He asked, and several of the children hid behind another, clearly the ring leader.

“Grandmaster, can you… can you tell us the story of how you both fell in love,” the boy asked, clasping his hands in front of him in a pleading motion. “Please?”

The kid had the puppy dog eyes down to an art, and Hanzo shot Kuai a look. “What do you think?”

“I think we can divulge some of it,” Kuai said, and oh man he was getting broody again, but Hanzo figured he could let him. Hanzo had just confirmed they would have kids someday, no point in not letting Kuai be excited about that prospect.

“Alright, get comfortable then,” he gestured for the children to take a seat, and they eagerly plonked themselves on the ground. “Well, it happened a little like this…”

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