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Hanzo stands on the wall, looking down at the courtyard below. He hoists up his bow and replaces the arrow in his quiver before crouching and grabbing a good hold of the ledge, after which he lets his body fall on the castle's side with ease. His weight takes him down, fingers pressing between the smallest of imperfections in the ancient structure, until his feet are not further than his own height from the ground: he lets go, and lands like a cat on the wet grounds making no sound at all. The rain from before is picking up again but he doesn't care about it. The only thing he sees, hears or minds is the shape of his damn brother by the bell, eating ramen out of a takeaway box, looking smug next to a girl Hanzo's never seen before.
He walks up to them, scaring the hell out of the young woman who springs to her feet, gasping; Genji reaches out for her, touching her gently on the arm and laughing, and he tugs her down even though she looks unwilling to join him there. Hanzo doesn't wonder why, although his mind has very limited capacity for caring about it. After all, they are yakuza, and he, with his bow, in his gear to represent his clan, is an assassin. The fact that he is also Genji's brother may not even be known to the woman. To her, he's just a man with a weapon and license to kill, illegal or not. He owns this castle. She doesn't.
"Where have you been?" Hanzo spits out, stopping on the porch just within the reach of the roof above them.
Genji stretches his neck and hands his food to the woman, who picks the box up with shaky hands.
"At the market, Hanzo. Where else? Do you not know they're handing out free food?"
"It's five in the morning."
"It's running late! There's plenty of things happening even now. The free entry disco hasn't shut down either yet, they're selling drinks like no tomorrow."
"Are you drunk?"
"Me?" Genji repeats, as if there was a chance in hell that Hanzo was asking the woman he's never met, "Of course not. Well, maybe a little tipsy."
"Father would kill you if he knew," Hanzo simply states, his gaze burning as he stares at Genji.
As usual, however, his brother is all but immune to the fierce look on him. He's seen it so many times before that even Hanzo has to admit it has no power. Still, the rage that he feels isn't calmed by the non-response he gets from his younger brother.
"Father doesn't know, especially not if you don't tell him."
"You can't be serious," Hanzo growls, scaring the girl again, "He'll find out one way or the other - the market is crawling with our men, it's prime business and you know this. What were you doing down there anyway?"
"Like I said," Genji repeats patiently like Hanzo's just hard of understanding, "Free. Food."
"You have your house full of free food and you can get it at any establishment that pays dues to our clan! That's the worst excuse I have ever heard," Hanzo tells him, and the girl looks at Genji, panicked. "And who the hell is she?"
"She's Yumiko," Genji chuckles, placing his hand on Yumiko's arm, "She's a friend. From school. And she doesn't like you, Hanzo, so it would be polite if you just left now."
Yumiko's eyes widen and she tries to shut Genji up, but Genji doesn't care about her fear any more than Hanzo does. Luxuries like that aren't afforded to those who choose their company; the company of a Shimada equals fear. Blazing with frustration, Hanzo walks the remaining distance between himself and Genji and grabs him by the arm, drags him up.
"I will not stand any more of this," he tells his brother under his breath, "Come. I will take you to our house now. Say good night to your friend if you will but any more words than that and I will stab her with an arrow."
"That's not according to the art," Genji laughs, grabbing a hold of Hanzo's bow and straightening it over his back, "What would our teachers say?"
Then he turns to Yumiko, bows, and smiles at her, all the while being held by the arm by Hanzo.
"I'm sorry, my brother truly is a buzzkill. Use the route that we came and if anyone spots you or tries to cause any trouble, tell him that I answer for you, so if any harm should come to you, they'll find a blade up their ass sooner than they'd like. Well, don't phrase it like that, obviously, but... phrase it close to that, because it's exactly what'll happen and they know it. You got me, Yumi-chan?"
"I - I understand," Yumiko tells him, bowing a little. "G-good night, Genji-sama. Shimada-sama."
"Don't sama my brother, he's a dick," Genji says, even as Hanzo's already pulled him away and into the rain, "See you tomorrow at the festival!"
"You're not going anywhere tomorrow," Hanzo barks, hearing Yumiko already scuttering away like a big rat behind their backs.
"Hanzo," Genji sighs, "I'm going wherever the hell I like tomorrow, we both know that."
The older brother stops them in the middle of what has now turned into a downpour, then pushes him back and into the wall of a building, hoisting him up by his collar. His voice is blazing with anger, but Genji merely seems to find it amusing, which only further infuriates Hanzo, who rubs his back against the white paint and snarls.
"Why won't you show any respect, Genji? If not for me - I know you despise me - then for our Father, whom you love, or at least used to, though I wouldn't be so sure after all the headache you put him through! When he dies, know that it is by your doing, you've taken years off of his time here already. And you know what happens after he's gone, Genji?"
"Yes, yes, brother. You will be the oyabun. Is that supposed to scare me, too? Will you be any better at making me afraid then, in an old man's clothes and weary from your never-ending responsibilities, than you are now at your prime... consumed by anger? I am not afraid of you, Hanzo. I will never be afraid of you. You know this. All your anger... is wasted on me, brother. You will not cut me with your blade and you will not pierce me with your arrows. So what will you do, truly? Kiss me? Tell me, Hanzo, what is it that you'll do when I finally push you over the edge?"
Hanzo shoves him against the wall, making some air escape the younger's lungs before he collapses back on his feet and, despite the obvious ache in his sternum, straightens out his party clothes and grins.
"Hanzo - as my brother... my only brother," Genji tells him, "You will never scare me. You love me too much to do anything. I know I piss you off and I know you don't approve of what I do but I have our Father by my back and I suppose that is what hurts you the most. You know I will not be punished. It hurts me that you will be but this is my life and my life must be lived in freedom. I will not restrain myself like you've restrained yourself, into the habits of centuries past. I'll do my training and I won't do anything completely without honour, but you can't tell me not to go eat free ramen when it's available, and not to dance and not mess around with girls. You can't tell me not to be a man, Hanzo. I am what I am, truly, a slave to my habits and my desires... they are not yours, and you must understand that a man will not change. Is that not what our Father also says? That men do not change."
"He says that about those he sends to their deaths, Genji."
Genji shrugs.
"Nevertheless, I'd wager him right on the matter. I'm just me, Hanzo. When will you accept this?"
Hanzo swallows. He turns his gaze away, then his body, and starts walking across the courtyard towards the castle. He's still fuming, but he knows it won't be possible to get through to Genji - not tonight, not this week, not this year. The only hope the boy's got is to age out of it. But there's more: a weight growing at the pit of his stomach that isn't anger, but fear. Fear for what would happen without their father - fear that the words he threw in anger about their fathers inevitable death reflected. Truly, he is not eternal; perhaps Genji still thinks that he is, that he lives and exists beyond the laws of mortals because he is a god upon his throne in their clan of murderers, but the reality is that he is mere flesh and blood. The things he's asking of Hanzo now... reflect the shift in power, the sunset of his rule bowing to the dawn of Hanzo's. And that, not Genji's disobedience, scares and angers him.
He doesn't want this mantle.
He throws a glance back over his shoulder at Genji, who is now following him; he always does, despite saying he wouldn't. That's how it goes every time when Hanzo comes to get him - he'll act all unphazed by it, but he'll do what the other says eventually. Why, because he runs out of defiance as Hanzo runs out of arguments, or simply because he's satisfied, Hanzo doesn't know. They climb the wall of the castle together, however, Hanzo up in the front offering his grip to Genji to pull him over the ledges up and over to the window of his own room, and they enter there, with both of them dripping wet. Through the darkness, Genji heads to his wardrobe, and Hanzo to the lantern by the low table next to his spread futon; they change out of their wet clothes facing away from each other, and Genji's still a little too small for Hanzo's clothes when he finally sits on the floor cross-legged, looking sober now, if only by the grace of rain. Hanzo looks at him before settling on his knees in front of him and, overcome with weariness unlike many others he ever feels, he grabs his brother by the shoulders and pulls him into a hug. Genji pushes against him and whines, but lets it happen in the end; that's how they hug, and there's never been another way. One of them pulls the other and there must be resistance, it's a matter of pride; only then can they relax and enjoy the closeness, the comfort and safety of company.
When Hanzo releases him, he looks like a little boy again.
"Did you even have fun?" Hanzo asks him, all that anger gone from his voice and only the spirit of defeat present in it.
Genji grins.
"Tons," he says, pulling himself up from the floor, "Thanks for giving Yumiko a show, by the way. She'll be head over heels for me tomorrow. Danger draws them in. You'll see one day. You'll find someone."
Hanzo follows him to the door with his gaze.
"Good night, Genji," he tells him, and Genji nods.
"Good night, brother."