" NIGHTHAWK " genji shimada.

- ten.

GENJI WOKE KAILANI UP the next morning talking about spending the day in town. A string of incoherent questions came from the half-asleep girl as she rubbed her eyes, though Genji paid no mind to it. Kailani sat up, watching through blurred vision as the cyborg stared down at the street below through the window. The clock on the bedside table read past eleven o'clock, which only made her groan softly. She hadn't meant to sleep so late, though after staying up for hours listening to Genji tell her all about the confrontation with his brother, she knew that she needed it.

    She half-expected Genji to seem more upset over the failed reunion with Hanzo. From what he told her, the elder Shimada brother seemed even more disturbed by the fact that Genji was alive and essentially in an entirely new body than when he believed that his younger brother was dead. Genji was a master at hiding his emotions, but during the time that she had known him, Kailani had gotten pretty good at reading him. It seemed as if the cyborg wasn't upset over his brother's ill feelings towards him. Perhaps it was what he had expected all along.

    "Where are we going?" Kailani questioned and lifted her arms high above her head in a long yawn.

    Genji turned away from the window. He already wore his mask, bright green visor covering the familiar crimson eyes. He reached down and grabbed her arm gently in his metallic hand, tugging her to her feet. "I want to show you where I grew up, Lani," he said. This was enough to grab her attention. Suddenly, she was wide awake, and she grinned widely as she tumbled across the room to grab a change of clothes.

    Once she was dressed, she was nearly dragged out the door by Genji. She wondered if being back in the town where he grew up brought out the childish excitement, for he led her out of the hotel with an uncharacteristic bounce in his step. She couldn't help but smile at this; it wasn't often that she witnessed the cyborg being in such a bubbly mood. Although it didn't necessarily fit his hardened ninja persona, she would have been lying if she said she didn't enjoy it. It made it easier for her to imagine a younger Genji spending his days out in the Japanese town, getting into all sorts of trouble and earning himself countless scoldings from his strict, traditional family upon returning home.

    Kailani didn't know much about Genji's life before he was recruited into Overwatch. She knew all about the Shimada clan, for the rather infamous reputation that the clan held was the subject of gossip all over the world, but little about Genji himself. The only glimpse into his past she received was the photograph of him and Hanzo that he kept close to him at all times. The bright hair and equally bright smile of the youthful Genji was enough to tell her that he was bubbly and outgoing at the time.

    Kailani glanced over at the man beside her. Although he looked extremely different from the Genji in the photograph, she could oftentimes see hints of his former self peeking through the otherwise serious and intimidating ninja persona. His body, although now covered in metal rather than flesh, still held the same confidence; his eyes, now a pale crimson rather than a shining golden brown, still held the same warmth within them.

    "What?" Kailani was pulled out of her thoughts at the sound of his accented voice. She looked away, a blush heating up her cheeks.

    "Nothing," she mumbled to herself, though she was unable to hide the smile that formed on her lips at her wandering thoughts. Genji pulled her close to him; she felt the cool metal of his faceplate press against her temple, a subtle form of affection that he often settled with whenever he wore his helmet.

    Genji brought her to an older-looking arcade near the edge of town. It blended in with the other rather traditional buildings, the only thing telling Kailani that it was an arcade being the large sign reading 16-Bit Hero above the door. Genji seemed more than eager to head into the arcade, he tugged Kailani forward as he quickened his pace, causing her to laugh lightly at his childish excitement.