Hanzo/Enju, because there is such a sad lack of content on them.
Basically a recreation of Hanzo’s drama CD into a fic, but may not be 100% the same because I never actually heard the CD. Read under the cut or on ao3.
She’d been gone for an hour now. Hanzo frowned as he glanced up from his position by the fire to peer into the woods surrounding the camp. As usual, he and Enju had retired for the night after their one-on-one training session, each finding a comfortable seat to settle down on and get some sleep in. Unlike usual, however, Enju had seemed restless, and continuously shifted about in her place on a heap of fallen leaves while Hanzo silently rested against a tree with closed eyes. After a while, she had gotten up to tip toe away from camp; she did not make a sound, her best attempt to not disturb him, but of course he noticed anyway.
He had meant to respect her privacy and let her be. She was a girl, after all. She would want some alone time away from his vigilance once in a while. But it was getting too late - although he did not sense any enemies nearby and was certain it was safe, they had to leave by sunrise tomorrow. At this rate, she wouldn’t get a wink of sleep before they set off. With a small sigh, Hanzo stood up and readied to sprint towards the direction Enju disappeared to. It was time to bring her back to camp.
- - -
She had not gone far, and he found her in the small clearing where they had been training earlier that night. Hanzo paused and stared for a moment in surprise. She was training, again. As if her muscles were not sore enough from their intense sparring just a few hours ago, Enju was leaping from tree to tree in a circular manner around the clearing, daggers in hand. Every two or three rounds she made she would jump down to the ground in the center, spinning her body to draw a sharp arc with her daggers to attack an imaginary foe as she landed. As soon as her feet hit the ground, she dropped down into a crouch to immediately jump back up into the trees and resume her rounds. Her movements were certainly more nimble and crisp compared to when they first met, noted Hanzo as he observed.
After watching for a little while, Hanzo pulled out his own blade and darted into the clearing himself as Enju jumped off the trees to spin down. Precisely at the moment she reached the ground, he came to a break in front of her, slightly dodged to the side and swung his sword upwards to block both of Enju’s daggers in a single smooth move. There was a large clang as their blades met.
Enju squeaked in surprise and stumbled backwards from the unexpected force. Hanzo had anticipated as much, and simultaneously as he sheathed his sword, reached out with his other hand to support her by the waist before she could fall down. Their eyes met, hers stunned and his unfazed, and she blinked a few times before grasping the situation and immediately standing up straight.
“Hanzo-sama!” her voice cracked a little as she exclaimed. She averted his gaze to look down at the ground, but he could see her cheeks blush a faint shade of red in embarrassment.
He gave her a questioning look, brows slightly raised.
“Training again?”
“Oh, um..” She replied sheepishly, “I couldn’t sleep, so I thought I should tire myself out a bit more. I was trying out a move I thought of...”
Hearing her voice trail off, Hanzo peered into her face to study it carefully. There was something on her mind that was keeping her awake, he observed, evident from the troubled look in her eyes. However, he could also read in her expression the reluctance to expose her thoughts; he decided not to pry, not now.
“We have a steep climb ahead tomorrow. Get some rest.”
Squirming while her eyes darted about nervously, Enju did not reply. For a moment, Hanzo wondered if he had sounded too stern and intimidated her – until he realized that his hand was still set firmly on her waist, holding her close to him as he stared down at her face. He instantly jerked his hand away and took a step back, suddenly aware of the intimacy of their position. Enju’s cheeks were cherry-red now.
After a brief silence, he apologized curtly. “...Sorry.”
Silence ensued again, until Enju said with an awkward laugh, “I don’t think I’ll be able to sleep yet.. Don’t worry about me, I’ll just run a few more laps.” She started to turn towards the trees, but Hanzo raised a hand to stop her.
“There were some lavender blossoms around camp. Eating them should help you sleep.”
Enju widened her eyes, seemingly surprised by his sudden suggestion. “Oh, thank you, but I tried that already.”
“Then try massaging your brows and ears with your thumb—”
“I did, but I think it just made me more awake.”
“There is a method of breathing that helps you calm yourself—”
At this point, she looking was at him almost apologetically. “Do you mean the Kuwa method? It usually doesn’t work too well on me.”
“...Forget it then.” Hanzo grunted in frustration. An unfamiliar sense of...impotence was creeping up to him, being unable to offer a solution to such a simple problem. Enju, however, lightly shook her head, as if to deny his dismissal of himself.
“No, thank you for your advice, Hanzo-sama,” she said softly.
If was funny that she would thank him in this situation, given that he had only told her what she already knew. She would thank him for the smallest things, always, even when he acted simply out of need. Truthfully, it was one of the many traits of hers that Hanzo would never understand. Giving thanks was an unnecessary pleasantry for him. It was sufficient to acknowledge that something was done in one’s favor, and to make use of it. But the smile she gave as she thanked him was so heartfelt, her gratitude so genuine, he felt his irritation from seconds ago fade. She was a strange one, really.
Enju was about to head towards the trees once more, when a new idea crossed Hanzo’s mind. He stopped her with a hand again and turned to the direction opposite from camp.
“Come with me.”
- - -
Hanzo led Enju through the dark in silence, occasionally glancing back to make sure she was keeping up with him safely. Her shinobi-trained eyes would not have trouble making out the path in the darkness, but it never hurt to be cautious, especially with how she had been wearing herself out all night. He would not have her fall and hurt herself, not under his watch. A distant hooting of an owl filled the air as they ran.
Not after long, they reached their destination. Hanzo came to an abrupt stop, causing Enju to nearly crash against his back and fall. After looking up at him with a curious look that asked where he had brought her to, Enju followed his gaze to a small stream that flowed ahead of them in a quiet trickle. She let out a gasp.
It was a moonless night, even darker with the tall trees of the woods towering over them and shrouding them from the sky. Barely anything was visible with the lack of light, and they would have been staring into meaningless black space – if it were not for the hundreds of small glimmers of light that studded the darkness. All around the stream, glowing specks adorned the air in little swarms, dancing and weaving through the grass in drunken patterns, flickering on and off like shooting stars, filling the otherwise mundane scenery with an enchanting sort of serenity. It was like they had entered a different world from the dark woods they had been running through moments ago. Enju stood still for a long while, watching the scene in wonder.
“How did you know?” she breathed out.
“Fireflies are common in these humid woods,” Hanzo answered matter-of-factly, “I saw a few while hunting here for dinner today, and expected more to be out at this hour.”
She gave him another heartfelt smile. “Thank you for bringing me here.”
“The place was closeby, that’s all.” As usual, he brushed off her thanks, but was pleased by her reaction nonetheless. The trouble in her eyes from earlier had been replaced with charmed delight at the sight, and he found himself oddly relieved by the change.
Enju stepped forward towards the stream to get a closer look at the lights.
“We sometimes saw fireflies back in Koga, too. As kids, we used to capture fireflies in jars to make firefly lanterns.” She cupped her hands, trapping a firefly that came flying near, and brought them up to her eyes to peer at the sugary light. “They weren't really effective as a light source though.”
“Ah, yes. The children in Iga used to do that too.”
“Did you use to hunt for fireflies as well, Hanzo-sama?” she turned and asked.
“No, but Chojiro did,” he replied, reminiscing. She had a way of making him think back to his days in Iga, a past he had thought did not concern him anymore. Perhaps it was the tone of endearment in her voice when she talked about her village, or the sparkle of fascination in her face when he told her about his. “I was put on duty to watch over him and the other children once as they played in the fields with fireflies.”
Enju laughed in surprise at his words, evidently amused by the idea of little Chojiro running after fireflies. “Brother Chojiro! That’s hard to imagine.”
She told him about the time Chojiro scolded her for chasing fireflies during training. He told her how Chojiro went to sleep hugging his jar of fireflies. That made her giggle, but Hanzo himself was more amused by her joy over such trifling details of life than by anything else.
They settled down on a soft patch of grass he found nearby, where they could have a good view of the entire scene. They sat alongside each other in silence for a length of time, Enju gazing ahead in quiet appreciation of the lights surrounding them, Hanzo covertly studying her face with crossed arms and a sideways glance. She was starting to have distressing thoughts again, he observed, sensing a hint of disquietude creep back to the air around her. The fireflies had managed to distract her, but their effect was fading. His mind made up to do something about it, Hanzo turned to face the girl and asked the question that had been bothering him all along.
“What is it?”
Enju looked up at him, startled by the break in silence. “What is what?”
“Something is troubling your mind, and that’s why you couldn’t sleep. I’m asking what that is.”
She tensed.
“Oh, it’s nothing…”
After mumbling a reply she nervously turned her head down to avoid his eyes, but Hanzo kept staring, and eventually she gave in to his steady gaze.
“...I was remembering the fight with the Nokizaru, and how...how I had killed.”
Her voice quivered. Hugging her knees to her chest, she gave him a small smile before she continued. “It doesn’t haunt me as it did at first anymore, thanks to you Hanzo-sama. But I asked myself, if put in the same situation now, can I not hesitate as I did then? Then I realized that I do not have an answer for that yet. I don’t want to say I can’t, it’s so unfitting for a shinobi, but....”
But she knows she won’t be willing to kill. She did not have to finish her sentence for him to understand. Hanzo knew too, that Enju would never be one to be nonchalant about cutting down her enemies – she was far too kind for that. It was a foolish trait of hers that he at first took as a weakness and sign of naiveté, but after their time spent travelling together, was starting to acknowledge as an unshakeable facet of her that existed separately from her resolve as a shinobi. Although it confused him to no end, making her think and act in different ways from him, it was who she was. Nothing could change that.
Enju was looking down at her toes dejectedly now, ashamed to have appeared vulnerable before him. Hanzo watched her in thought for a moment before opening his mouth.
“Then, are you going to run away from the situation?”
She jerked her head up to look at him, eyes wide in protest.
“No! Of course I’ll fight till the very end—”
He cut her off with an approving nod. “Good.”
“You have a strong will, and a fierce look in your eyes to prove it. You are willing to face whatever that comes in your way with everything you have. That is enough for now.”
He stared into her eyes with a steadfast gaze.
“You are you, that is all. Don’t let your insecurities make you feel weak.”
Enju hung her mouth open, taken aback by his firm words of assurance. Hanzo had to admit, it was very unlike him to go out of his way like that to express his commendations. He was starting to feel inappropriate with himself, when Enju’s face relaxed into a soft smile, a new look of comfort and gratitude in her face.
“Yes, Hanzo-sama. I won’t.”
Neither of them said anything after that. The fireflies continued their merry flight, and Enju her admiration of them, while only the quiet burble of the stream filled the air. Everything was at peace.
Hanzo had stopped keeping track of time, when Enju’s head fell onto his shoulder with a small thud. She had nodded off to sleep. Tired enough at last, he thought to himself in amusement at her steady breathing, the corners of his lips twitching up into a half-smile. He raised his hand to brush away the silver strands of hair that fell over her face with his fingers. She would be mortified for sleeping on him like this when she wakes up, but for now he would let her rest.
As he tucked the stray strands of hair behind her ear, Hanzo noticed a small frown etched onto Enju’s forehead.
“What are you dreaming of?” he murmured, gently running his thumb between her eyebrows to rub away the creases. Her eyelashes were very long, he noted as he watched her expression relax at his touch, the same color as her hair. She looked so small leaning against him, so fragile in her sleep, it was hard to believe this was the same girl that had declared to him her determination to live with that unwavering look in her eyes. He dropped his voice to a whisper and leaned in closer to her face.
“You are already strong. You will become even stronger. I assure you of that.”
Perhaps his words would reach her in her dreams and chase away her worries. Hanzo shifted into a position that would allow Enju’s head to rest most comfortably on his shoulder. He closed his eyes and sat very still, feeling the tickle of her hair against his neck, until the lights of the fireflies dimmed away from the first rays of sunrise.
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