" YUANFEN " genji shimada.

vi | nothing good

yuanfen.
act six, chapter six.
"nothing good"

_

DAHLIA WAS UNSURE OF what finally woke her from her slumber the following morning. She knew that it was early, for the orange glow of the rising sun that shone through the window told her so. The room around her was quiet, apart from one thing: the soft whirring on a ninja's cybernetic suit beside her. Dahlia's head spun as she remembered the events of the night before, and she couldn't help but smile. Her mind raced with contradicting thoughts. She longed to feel his touch again, the surprising warmth of his seemingly-cold armor.

Though Viper's words continued to echo through her mind. The events that took place in Greece did nothing to calm her fear towards the snake's threat; in fact, they only proved that she did have something to fear in the first place. Viper wasn't the type of person to simply give up after one failed attempt of an assassination. If anything, his failure would only fuel him more.

Genji was in danger, there was no doubt about that, and as she laid in bed beside him after giving herself to him the night before, she couldn't help but wonder if she herself was playing a role in that. Every moment that the ninja spent with her, the more he was in danger. She didn't want any more blood on her hands, and the mere thought of anything happening to him terrified her more than she cared to admit.

Dahlia forced the thoughts to the back of her mind and slowly slid out of bed. She did her best to ignore the soreness of her legs, as well as the fatigue that weighed heavily down on her body. She crossed the room in search of the shirt that had been discarded across the bedroom during the events of the night before. She found it near the window, and she bent down to grab it. A soft hum from behind her caught her attention, and a moment later Genji's accented voice met her ears.

"Good morning, Kitsune."

Dahlia mumbled a hello, keeping her back to him. Not only was she currently topless (which made her feel extremely self-conscious despite the fact that he'd seen all of her the night before) but she knew that as soon as she made eye contact with the ninja, it'd be nearly impossible to stop herself from crawling back into bed beside him. She heard Genji climb out of her bed. She quickly moved to slide her shirt over her head, though she then jumped as she felt his touch on her bare back.

"What happened?" His words were as soft as his touch. She froze, swallowing; she knew that his fingers were currently tracing the scars that ran down her spine, the result of the Process that she'd been forced to go through while she was with the Reaper. Almost subconsciously, she reached up to rub the scars on her temples.

"Nothing," she mumbled. She stepped away from him, the skin of her back cool from the loss of contact, and pulled the shirt over her head. Her torso now covered, she turned to look at him. As soon as she met his glowing gaze, she felt as though all the air in the room had been sucked away.

It was odd to her. He had seen every part of her, though she had yet to even catch a glimpse of his face.

"I must go." She was pulled back into reality as Genji's voice met her ears. He reached out and touched her arm softly. "I told McCree that I would spar with some of the new recruits this morning." Without waiting for a response, he turned away from her, moving to leave her room. Dahlia stared after him in disbelief, annoyance beginning to well up inside her. He then paused, turning to look at her once more, and she hoped that he was going to stay. "I will see you around, Dahlia."

With that, he left her, and Dahlia stood frozen in her spot as she processed his words. She had given herself to him, something that she had done to no one else before, and he simply got up and left the following morning? She suddenly felt sick, her insides churning as she followed after him. She stepped into the hallway; she was thankful that no one else was out to witness what she had to say, though she knew that even if there was, she wouldn't have been able to hold back.

"Really?" She called after him. "That's it? You're not gonna say anything else?"

Genji stopped walking and turned to look at her in confusion. "Pardon?"

His obliviousness only added to Dahlia's annoyance. Did he really see nothing wrong with his behavior, or did he even care at all? "Is that all you want from me? You want me to be your play thing for you to come and go? A mere object to use at your own pleasurable disposal?" Her words became caught in her throat, and she silently cursed herself for being so affected by his actions. A few days prior, she was convinced that her feelings towards Genji were strictly platonic (if that) though she now felt as if her heart was being torn at the thought of him not wanting something more.

Genji shook his head wildly. "No, it is not like that."

Dahlia sighed and ran a hand through her bedridden hair. She knew that wanting anything more than friendship with the ninja would surely be signing his own death warrant. It wasn't fair to him for her to desire something more. "It's all it can be, I guess," she said softly, looking away.

"It does not have to be." Genji reached out to touch her, though she quickly pulled away.

"I must warn you, Genji. Nothing good can ever come from someone like me."

Dahlia turned back towards her dorm, walking away before Genji had the chance to say anything more. She felt his glowing gaze on her, burning into the back of her skull as though begging for her to turn back. Part of her wanted to look back, for his soft touches and the memory of his body against hers gave her a feeling that she thought she could never feel again. But she couldn't. She wouldn't.

'

'

'

On her way to the medbay, Dahlia had been stopped by Athena calling for her over the loudspeaker. The AI informed her that Sojourn wanted to see her in her office, and now, several minutes later, she anxiously sat and awaited what the Captain had to say. Dahlia was always nervous when it came to interacting with her (Sojourn made it obvious that she didn't trust her) though prior to then at least one other agent had always stood in on the meeting. Now, however, it was just Dahlia and the Captain.

"I won't keep you long," Sojourn finally said. If it were anyone else, Dahlia would've surely made a comment on how much time the Captain had already wasted by sitting in silence and seemingly building tension. "I wanted to thank you for what you did yesterday. You saved Genji's life."

Dahlia shrugged, suddenly feeling awkward. She hated the amount of attention she was suddenly receiving because of what she did. "I just did what anyone else would've done."

"Perhaps, but only someone with loyalty," Sojourn stated. "I have made my distrust of you quite clear. I was hoping that the others would be right about your loyalty, but I wanted you to prove it, not them."

"With all due respect, Captain, I'm not trying to win over anyone's trust. My actions would've been the same whether people trusted me or not. I'm not exactly worried about winning some sort of popularity contest," Dahlia pointed out. She wasn't sure what the purpose of this meeting was; sure, hearing praise from someone as high of rank as Sojourn felt nice, but it wasn't something that she necessarily wanted.

"I can respect that," Sojourn nodded, then dismissed Dahlia with a wave of her hand. As Dahlia stood to her feet, however, the Captain called her name to grab her attention once more. "Whether it means anything to you or not, I believe you are a valuable asset to this team."

Dahlia shot the Captain a soft smile in an attempt to show that she at least appreciated her words. Praises from the Reaper were few and far between, and even when she received one, it was obvious that there was no true meaning behind it. Kindness was something that she never had during her time with Talon. She felt almost wrong to be so accepting of it now.