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Sonya made her way through the training facility, bypassing the weight rooms, and the active simulation rooms as she did.
She already knew which room Kenshi was in.
The computer system told her which one he had blocked in for the day.
But she also knew him as a creature as habit; he always assigned himself the same room every time.
It was always towards the back of the facility, right next to the back entrance.
Sonya figured he preferred to just walk in through the front, do his work out, and then walk out through the back to keep himself from having to backtrack through the entire facility. His style of training always left him a little hyper-aware of his surroundings afterwards, and it was for the best for Kenshi to keep himself separated from outside activity while he was in that state. And given how active the facility could be at all hours of the day, forcing it to stay open most of the night, she could see why he had made his own escape route.
Coming upon his assigned room, she shouldered the door open without knocking and stepped inside.
It was one of the smaller training rooms, making it feel congested with all of the equipment stacked against the walls.
And when she closed the door behind herself, making just enough noise to grab his attention, it felt even more claustrophobic.
Sonya watched as Kenshi paused in the middle of his training, stopping his current onslaught on the four punching bags that hung in formation around him. Admittedly, the set up looked ridiculous, but after watching him utilize it in his training, she could understand why it was necessary.
He was essentially training himself to fight on four sides, to fight four enemies at once.
All without taking a hit from either opponent.
Something she was certain he had used in a real fight before, although perhaps not so successfully.
This was one of the few times where he could show off his impressive hand-to-hand combat skills, in a non-lethal fight, without the need for Sento's assistance. It was a rare occurrence, depending on how well someone knew him. She had seen it plenty of times, but it was still entertaining nonetheless; and he was still able to find ways to surprise her.
"So you're actually leaving tomorrow then," Sonya remarked.
"You sound surprised," Kenshi replied, as he reached out to stop one of the punching bags from moving, before he stepped out from between them. "Didn't think I was serious?"
"I just didn't think you would be leaving so soon," she corrected. "There's still a lot to do here, I figured you'd stick around to do clean up."
He laughed as he walked over to where he had set his things aside.
And Sonya watched as he grabbed a towel from the nearby rack before he wiped the sweat off of his face with it.
His training shirt, which was still a long-sleeve, was soaked with pockets of sweat across his torso, alluding to just how long he had been training. For once, though, he was wearing gym shorts, which seemed more appropriate than his usual sweats; although his legs were still covered by the supporting tights he wore underneath them.
"You know how it is," Kenshi started. "That wanderlust kicks in, I see an opening to leave- and things just kind of work themselves out."
"It's a little more complicated than just that," she reminded.
"Oh I know. It's just easier to phrase it like that," he remarked. "It doesn't leave a lot of room for questions."
As if anyone would really be bothered to ask him where he was going.
Everyone was so used to him up and leaving the moment an opportunity to do so struck.
It was almost like clockwork at this point.
And there was never any point in asking him where he was going to go, because most of the time, Kenshi himself didn't even know where he was going. He just wanted to go and he would end up wherever he ended up when he was done.
But this time was different.
He wasn't just going anywhere.
He wasn't just traveling to get the itch out.
And for once, he wasn't going alone either.
"Are you certain you want to take Takeda with you?" Sonya asked, figuring it was best to go ahead and shoot the elephant in the room.
"I offered and he agreed," Kenshi answered. "I think it's something he needs to do, and something that he wants to do, and I'm not going to stand in his way. We both have a lot of grief with the Red Dragon- some shared, some not. You know how long I've been around them, how long I've worked my way through their insides. I know an opening when I see one. This may be our only chance to get in while we can."
Sonya had no doubts about his observation skills.
The Red Dragon watched Kenshi like a hawk.
And Daegon wasn't afraid to send his best assassins after him, hoping to ambush Kenshi wherever he might be.
Even though, throughout the years, said assassins have never once returned.
Just the same, Kenshi wasn't afraid to get as close to the Red Dragon as he could.
He had infiltrated himself into their ranks more times than Sonya could count, more times than he should've been able to. And at this point, it was the Red Dragon's fault for continuously falling for his tricks, for never learning how to spot him in a crowd. How they could fail to see a blind man working within their ranks was beyond her.
Especially when said blind man was their own leader's arch nemesis at this point.
It was a massive oversight.
One that was beginning to have her believe that the clan was doing it on purpose.
The Black Dragon seemed far more believable to be fooled.
It was already being held together by crooks and thieves, by money-hungry mongrels.
The turnover on their own members was relatively high, even for those closest to Kano.
If any clan had an opening to jump in on, it would've been them.
The Red Dragon was more organized, more focused.
Daegon kept the clan held together with an iron fist, with him personally training most of the men who served under him.
He also had Caro at his back, which one would think would make it harder to deceive the Demi-God.
And yet, Kenshi had somehow managed to fool both God and dragon.
Which was a feat, a skill that Sonya found herself a bit envious of.
She was hardly the deceptive type, and it wasn't necessarily something she wanted to make of herself.
But she figured it would help around Raiden.
Regardless, if Kenshi was seeing an opportunity, then there was an opportunity.
And she couldn't deny him.
Sonya just had her concerns about Takeda's involvement.
It made sense for the young chujin to want to go, to be a part of the potential vengeance.
It just meant that Kenshi would have to do twice the work to ensure that neither of them would be caught. But there was no doubt that Kenshi would ensure both he and Takeda would remain safe undercover. And even if something did happen, even if they were found out, there was no doubt that, at the very least, Kenshi would ensure that Takeda would make it out alive.
If Takeda was anything like his father though, the young man would slip in just as easily unnoticed.
Hanzo wasn't exactly happy about it, but this was out of his jurisdiction.
Just as it was out of hers.
They just had to have faith.
"Got an idea of how long you're going to be gone for this time?" Sonya asked.
"You missing me already?" Kenshi teased.
"No," she answered, although perhaps too quickly given the laugh that escaped him. "My schedule next month is packed. And without you going with me, or being with me, that means I'm stuck with Cage. I may be able to convince Jax to come instead, but I highly doubt it. He was always better at politics than me, but I think with him being away from it for so long, he's in no rush to get back to the grind. And I can't blame him."
"Ah, so you're missing the convenience I give you then," he replied, as he hooked the towel around the back of his neck before he walked over to her.
Sonya watched as he leaned against the wall next to her.
"Something like that, sure," she offered with a shrug.
Kenshi chuckled once more as he moved to slip an arm around her, pulling her away from the door, before he coaxed her into a kiss.
And she could taste the salt from the sweat on his lips when he did.
"Is that all you're going to miss me for?"
Sonya cracked and felt herself smile as she moved a hand to his chest, before she moved it to his shoulder and pulled him down into another kiss. "Don't look into it too much," she spoke. "You're not that important to me."
"Oh sure, of course," Kenshi falsely assured. "Now, is there anything I can do to ease your inevitable pain at my upcoming absence?"
"You can shut up."