Like, he was sweet on her from the day they met, but figured that since she was the Grandmaster's heir and also (in his mind) Way out of his league, she'd never give him the time of day, so he was content to admire her from afar
and Harumi just took one look at Hanzo and just Went For It, she saw him climb a tree to save a stuck cat (only to then cuss the cat out as an ungrateful little shit when it clawed up his face using him as a ladder to get down) and was smitten
She's also a lot more practically minded that he is, so the second she caught feelings, she did something about it bc why not? Whereas he is very much a Piner
Hair - because if there's one thing I love about your design it's the scorpion hairstyle and hairdress!
Toxic traits - because she's a sunshine cinnamon roll but also what are her biggest, insufferable flaws??
Heeeey, Rasta!!! Glad you joined in, giirl!!💕 Heck yeah! We're off to great start with the main girl herself:
Harumi Shirai | The Scorpion! 🌺🦂
°.✦ Childhood:
Her parents were Grandmistress Amaya Shirai and Master Haruki. They were really loving and supportive parents, and Harumi loved them dearly!
But BOY, weren't they a TERRIBLE couple! Harumi can't quite remember a time her parents weren't arguing. She could never tell what they argued about, but whatever it was, they just couldn't seem to find a resolution.
And no matter how hard they argued, they never. Got. Divorced. That because back in their days, divorce was quite frowned upon within the clan, plus, they genuinely thought Harumi would be better off having her parents together.
They were wrong, though. Harumi would much rather have her parents happily separated than miserable together.
They did get the damned divorce when she turned 18, but the experience made Harumi highly pro divorce! She promised herself she would never insist on a doomed relationship! This caused some of her partners to say she was an easy quitter, but she didn't care. She refused to be miserable in a relationship.
°.✦
Aside from the whole divorce conflict, there was also a certain pressure upon her.
She was to become the next Grandmistress after all! But not only that, she was also the first Shirai woman in generations to bear what they called "The Shirai Gift" the ability to control plants! Though her powers were faint compared to her ancestors' she was still expected to maintain a certain level of skill and know the ancient techniques. On top of that, as she chose to become a healer, her training started early, and perfection was expected of her.
As much as Amaya knew it was impossible to relieve her daughter of all pressure she was under, she made sure things never became unbearable, she was a patient mentor and knew when to let her daughter have a normal life!
°.✦
Also, luckily, for Harumi, she has always been a people person and easy to befriend!
She got along with most kids her age, and by the age of 13, she met her best friend: Hanzo Hasashi!
Hanzo was sort of a newcomer at the clan, his father was a member (a huge member mind you, their greatest warrior, Koji Yamazaki, the Scorpion) but Hanzo himself grew up away from the Shirai Ryu, with his mother, Aime Hasashi, until the day she died.
Hanzo joined the clan because if his own father wouldn't care for him, his clan sure would. And he was right! He was welcomed as Hanzo Hasashi, and Harumi's dad took him as a pupil the moment he showed promise!
But 13yo Harumi didn't care for where the boy came from or why he wanted to join the clan so bad, she was just looking for a new playmate, and that was what drew Hanzo towards her, he didn't have to explain himself to her and didn't have to worry about her constantly trying to figure him out like other kids and even adults did.
He only had to hold her hand and let her guide him through their next adventure, and they would be good!
°.✦
Oooh, and Harumi sure got them into the craziest, most chaotic and certain to get them into a lot of trouble adventures (the last bit, only if they got caught, which they never did, Harumi knew what she was doing)!
But make no mistakes, when it was training time, they were the perfect students! Both grew to be the best of the best, Hanzo as Scorpion, the great warrior, and Harumi as Hummingbird, the head healer!
°.✦ Hair:
After the massacre, Harumi went to Netherrealm, where she connected herself to the Hellfire, the greatest source of power in the realm, and became a Pyromancer, and also where she met the Sisterhood of Shadows, Jataaka, Kia and Sareena!
He trio was ready to hate Harumi for being one of Quan Chi's wraiths, but she won them over when she promised not even to attempt to win the Mortal Kombat. That pleased the sisters because a victory to either Netherrealm or Outworld meant war against Earthrealm, and the demons had no interest in being yet again canon fodder on someone else's war.
Harumi sympathy with their motives and willingness to cooperate was the start of a beautiful friendship! And as the good friends the are, the sisters helped Harumi get ready to face her deadly enemy, Sub-Zero, in the Mortal Kombat, by making her a brand new get-up and weapons!
Though know that when I say "they," I mean only Kia, as she was a Summoning Demon, able to summon anything her mind desires. As well as a talented armourer!
It was Kia who made the golden scorpion hairpin after Harumi told her that when she was still Hummingbird, her signature move was to tie a poisoned dagger to the end of her hair and sting her opponents! And Kia just HAD to make an improved version of this weapon that could symbolise her rebirth as Scorpion!
Fun facts:
- Hanzo used to joke about the irony of him being the one named scorpion, yet Harumi being the one with the sting, lol!
- Harumi can fill the scorpion's tail with any sort of poison and she usually goes with a nondeadly paralysing poison that works for about a hour!
- The hairpin is surprisingly light despite being gold made (Kia is that good)
- Harumi loves to let people play with her hair, but she loves it specially when Lisa does it cause she's VERY creative with her braiding ideas! Lisa is specially proud for this one:
°.✦ Toxic Traits:
What do you mean "toxic traits"? My girl has none!😌💅🏾 JK JK!
But you're right, she's a sunshine cinnamon roll! And you know what they say about sunshine cinnamon rolls: They are the sweetest
Until they aren't. . .
You better don't get on Harumi's bad side or you're looking forward to end up with flowers growing inside your lungs and crawling out of your face holes!
You can ask Quan Chi for confirmation-- Oh wait, you can't, he's a flower pot now! And Sektor is looking forward to become a matching set!
°.✦
Aside from that, she has another toxic trait:
See, Harumi is humble enough to admit she's not the greatest fighter in Earthrealm, perhaps not even the greatest ninja (and her biggest competition aren't even actual ninja) but if there's one thing she will proudly proclaim, is that she is THE greatest healer not only in Earthrealm but out of it too!
Yes, she is that confident in her skills and Elder Gods help the fool who dares doubt her!
She is right of course, she is the best, but that makes her utterly uncompromising. She doesn't want you thoughts, opinions, imputs or whatever you think you have to offer! She has trained her whole life for this, she has learned everything that has to be learned with the best in the craft and she executes it with perfection!
And if you disagree, well. . . Just don't.
°.✦
And it was her uncompromising nature that made it so hard for her to bond with Vera Briggs.
Harumi owns the Shirai Ryu Sanctuary, a home for lost, abandoned and endangered children. It is located right beside the Lin Kuei Temple and under a giant ice made dome.
The Lin Kuei were completely reformed after the Cyber Initiative was out down and its new leaders, the Sub-Zero Twins, seems to be trying to keep the clan as a force of good, but no one can tell for sure yet if they mean it. And given Harumi's proximity to the Cryomancers, the Special Forces grew suspicious of her intentions and loyalty, so they had the Military Nurse Vera Briggs infiltrate the Sanctuary as one of its volunteers.
Harumi clocked her almost immediately but that caused no sort of conflict, she figured keeping Vera would be the faster way to get the SF out of her hair (not to mention Vera was really fit for the job, and it would be a shame to lose her so quickly!)
Vera also concluded pretty quickly there was nothing shady about Scorpion and her Sanctuary. The wraith genuinely just wanted to help those kids in need!
So what exactly put these two usually kind women at odds? One thing: Like any member of the medical field, Vera is not a fan of magic.
It's not like she doesn't believe in magic, she is waaaaay past not believing in it, she just didn't trust it and didn't think one should rely on it too much. And Harumi DEFINITELY relied on her magic!
Vera was certain she's never seen Harumi does any actual medical work, she just mixed a bunch of weird plants together and called it a day! And Vera was not comfortable with that!
And of course Harumi did not take Vera's constant doubtful looks kindly!
It also didn't help that Harumi wasn't fond of regular medicine either. She couldn't understand why people would insist on developing these faulty techniques when they could've explored magic instead.
So yeah, they did not have the best start and pretty much brought up the worst in each other, but given their bickering was about the best way of saving people, they figured that even if they didn't trust each other's methods, they trusted each other to get the job done, and that was all that mattered for them!
Lol, did you have Healer Harumi and Nurse Vera bickering on your bingo card? I don't think so!
And I also don't think I've ever seen these two being put on the same space before, but that's why my AUs exist, to bring all girls together in the most unusual ways!
Anyway, hope you enjoy my little stories and headcanons! They were really fun to make!💕
If Harumi is scorpion in another timeline then I supposed that the story is still pretty much the same so that means she met kuai liang meaning that they have the meeting in mkx where harumi learned the truth and became lovers allies later on and harumi got her humanity and rebuilt her clan and finally learned to moved on from the grief, only for the timequake to bring her younger scorpion self back meaning that they had the conversation about moving on meaning that she got killed by d’vorah in the end.
