a heartbreak's tale

chapter nine

Kagura winced at the pounding in her head as she slowly came to. She blinked rapidly, trying to make sense of where she was and how she got here. Her mind drew a blank, and she could only look around to try to get clues about her whereabouts.

It seemed to be an abandoned warehouse, judging from the lack of lights in the large space. She tried to move her hands, only to find that they were bind harshly together behind her. And that she was tied to a chair. She frowned.

Inhaling sharply and trying to ignore the deafening pounding of her headache (had she hit her head somehow?), she moved her fingers swiftly, trying to feel for the presence of her umbrella. Instantly, the magic link between her and her weapon was formed and she exhaled a sigh of relief at the familiar feeling of the umbrella responding to her.

She  called her umbrella towards her, using the magic burns of the umbrella to break out of the ropes that tied her hands together. She jumped at the sudden noise from behind her.

"Relax, I don't want to hurt you."

She waited as the figure emerged from the darkness, revealing himself to be Hanzo. She flinched when he took a step towards her. He grinned, almost wickedly. "I can see why Hayabusa is heads over heels for you. You're delicate." He cups her face gently, pushing her chin up so that she was looking at him straight in the eye. Instantly, she shoved her head backwards to get herself out of his uncomfortable touch. "But feisty." He tsked.

He moved towards her, close enough that she stilled immediately, discomfort gnawing at her as his face was mere centimeters away. He smiled sweetly at her, before reaching behind her. She gasped when she felt him rip her umbrella away from her.

She watched, slightly fascinated but mostly afraid, as he withstood the burns of the umbrella like it was nothing. He held out the umbrella, observing it with interest. "I apologize for binding you to the chair in the first place." He drawls. "Not the best away to make a first impression, I must admit." He turned to lock his eyes with her.

"What," She cleared her throat before continuing, "do you even want me here for?"

He shrugged. He eyed the red on his skin from how the umbrella was burning him, and yet did not make any move to let go of the weapon. "Hayabusa is after me. And everyone knows how much he cares for you. Might as well make use of you to make sure I don't get too seriously hurt." He laughed, almost maniacally. "Though, I doubt that would happen. I've reached the pinnacle of ninjutsu and have mastered the Ame no Habakiri."

Kagura guessed that the latter was reference to the huge sword thing that he carried about in his other hand. He dropped the umbrella to the ground, before moving to kiss her forehead. She winced at the feeling as he whispered into her ear, "be good and stay here, alright? I'm just going to go make sure Hayabusa is no longer a threat to me."

He straightened, ready to leave. "If I'm feeling it, I'll even be nice enough to help you get rid of that Hanabi girl too." He glanced at her, his lips quirked up in the beginning of a smirk. "I assume you're not too happy that they're currently dating, yes?" He handed her her umbrella back. She eyed at the burns on his hand that had to be at least as painful as a second degree burn. "In fact, we'd make a pretty good team. You have the powerful magic of the yin and yang, We'd be unstoppable together." He sighed.