From a Woman's Point of View

Hanzo? Taven?

"Are you ever going to tell me your name?" Sub-zero asked after one of their training sessions. Weeks had passed, and yet she still didn't know what his name was. The boy blinked at her. All right, he couldn't really be classified as a boy. He was young, probably a bit younger than she was.

"I thought you already knew." He said. Sub-zero smiled sheepishly.

"Er…no, I don't." He grinned at her.

"You could always guess."

Sub-zero looked thoughtful for a moment. She couldn't really remember what his name was.

"Hmm." She said. "Riku?" He shook his head.

"Nope."

"Ryoma? Ryoga?" He shook his head again. Sub-zero sighed. "Does your name even begin with an 'R'?" He laughed.

He chuckled. "Your guesses aren't even remotely close. My name is Hanzo." Sub-zero froze. The wall she had been trying to build between her and that memory was shattered. She tried to breathe properly, but her chest seemed to clench and unclench painfully.

"Hanzo." She repeated stiffly. He nodded, oblivious to her reaction. "Tell me more about your life." He tried to stand up, but the recently earned bruises prevented him from doing so. So, he settled for sitting up.

"Well, my name is Hanzo." Sub-zero inhaled sharply, his name was too close to his. "I came from Japan. My family was assassinated by a group of ninjas, and I was the only one left. I don't remember how I got here, in Arctika. All I remember is that I collapsed, and," he turned to Sub-zero smiling. "You let me in." he finished.

"I let you in?" she asked in bewilderment. He nodded.

"Well, I never really got to thank you, grandmaster. Your brother always seemed to hide you from me. I think he thought I was one of your creepy stalkers." He laughed at the memory. Sub-zero seemed to be deep in thought. "What is it, Grandmaster?"

"Oh nothing. So, who was it that killed your family in cold blood?"

"The ninjas who killed my family were the Shirai Ryu." Sub-zero stood there, astonished; as she let the words sink in.

"The Shirai Ryu killed your family?" her voice cracked. Impossible. Scorpion was a merciful person back then. He would never kill an entire family. Heck, he even restrained himself from killing her! Hanzo fumed. "Who told you that the Shirai Ryu killed your family?"

"A person." Sub-zero mentally smacked her forehead. If she didn't already know it was a person, she'd be stupid. "When I was looking for a place to stay, I came across this weird person. He was bald and he had tattoos all over his body. He had white skin and green eyes. Oh yeah, he was the one who directed me here…Now I remember." Of course. Quan Chi. Sub-zero laughed humorlessly. She shook her head.

"You should know better than to believe that person. Quan Chi." She spat his name. He was taken aback at the acerbity of her voice.

"But, he seemed to be right about everything!" he protested. He stood up, trying to ignore the pain of his body. "He guessed that they were wearing yellow and that their leader had a spear." Sub-zero frowned and sighed.

"That is one of the advantages of being a sorcerer. Since your memory was a bit murky, he decided to get in your mind and manipulate things. Maybe even a little bit."

"But…why would he do that?"

"Quan Chi wants both of our clans dead. He told that to you, in hopes that you would pass it on to me, and if I were the old Sub-zero, I would have led the attack without a moment's thought." She said. Her meeting with Scorpion had changed her views about the Shirai Ryu Clan. There it was again. She had thought of him. She gritted her teeth.