Another Girl?

— Hayabusa's POV —

My village was half a day away from Hanabi's village so the earliest I could get back to her would be at most within one day, but that's almost impossible.

"I'm home," I greeted as I entered my house. The hallway seems quiet and I wondered where my parents were since my brother is probably at our backyard.

"We're in the family room!" My mom called out in reply to me. I made my way to the family room to greet them. Opening the door to the family room, I was greeted by my parents and another household.

"Congratulations my boy, I know you could do it," praised my dad, patting my back. My mom's eyes were sparkling with pride as she nodded her head in my dad's response.

"Thank you, I will do my best," I replied. Looking to the other family, I greeted "Hello, nice to meet you."

"Oh! Right, they are the Onmyouji Household! Their daughter, Kagura, is about your age and she's pretty as well!" My mom introduced them to me.

"Oh thank you Ma'am, you flatter me. Hello, Hayabusa right? I'm Kagura." The white haired girl introduced herself to me.

"Hello. Sorry but I have to excuse myself, I would like to find my brother." I said, bowing down politely before excusing myself. Walking towards our backyard, I spotted my brother training.

"Hanzo, I'm back!" I called out to him. Stopping his training, Hanzo looked behind and smiled widely as he saw that I'm home.

"Brother!! Welcome home! I heard you did so well that you obtained the Scarlet Shadow Grandmaster title!" Hanzo said excitedly.

"I did! My last duel was with a very pretty and strong girl from the Scarlet sect, I'll introduce her to you." I said, talking about Hanabi. "Oh right, would you like to join me in my mission? I would appreciate your ability," I asked.

"Of course! Will the strong lady be part of your team?" He asked back.

"Yes, she will, you'll be impressed! Her damage is high and she's quick in analysing too." I replied sounding proud of her ability.

"You like her don't you?" Hanzo asked, sounding troubled.

"Yeah, I do, why?" I asked back. I'm curious and I had a bad feeling about this.

"Didn't you meet the daughter of the Onmyouji Household?" He asked before adding, "They're talking about your marriage right now, you know?" I was shocked and upset, I was speechless, unable to say anything about this new information. I was disappointed that they discussed my marriage plans without me and I was angry at the fact that I didn't have a say. My heart already belonged to Hanabi, I don't want to spend a future with a girl that I barely knew or had any feelings for.

"Sorry, please excuse me," I said excusing myself from Hanzo and making my way to my parents. As I made a turn to the family room, I saw the Onmyouji household and my parents stepping out and bowing to each other.

"Thank you for your hospitality. See you soon," the mother said to my parents. I hid myself behind the corner as I was in no mood to talk to them and waited till they left before making my way to my parents.

"What's this talk about my marriage? I'm not interested." I said straightforwardly to my parents. They were taken aback as they had not known that I would find out before they could tell me.

"We're sorry, it's just that we thought it'll be good for both of our families if you both get married. It'll be beneficial for us both in terms of power and knowledge," reasoned my dad. I can't believe that my future would play a part in politics and power, I don't want this at all.

"I can't, I'm sorry. There's someone else that I'm interested in," I said, hoping to put an end to this marriage talks.

"Oh? Really, you do? Who is she?" My mum asked, interested in finding out about my love life.

"She's a girl from the Scarlet sect, I'm still getting to know her, but I do wish for her to be part of my future. That's why I can't agree to this marriage talk of yours." I told my parents. They kept quiet for awhile, thinking things through before agreeing to stop the marriage talks.

"Alright, we'll stop it, but you got to bring her back home here! I want to see her." My mum said excitedly. I sighed in relief and nodded my head, agreeing to bring her over. Excusing myself, I went to look for Hanzo again to talk about the team and plan our moves.

"Brother! How was your discussion with mom and dad?" Hanzo asked, hoping for good news.

"They agreed to stop it and they also wanted to meet her, so I'll bring her over probably tomorrow or the next day." I told him. "Oh right, so what do you say, do you want to help me out and join the team?" I asked.

"Of course! What's the plan?" Hanzo asked back, interested. We both sat down around the coffee table and planned strategically.

"Since our team are not used to one another's fighting style, let's have a training and sparring session so as to improve ourselves better. Our team consists of me, you, Hanabi and her Sister," I said before adding, "Hanabi's good for planning and analysing the situation. Also, both she and her sister have crowd control abilities, so that's an advantage for us."

"I take it that they're both ranged fighters?" Hanzo asked to which I nodded in reply.

"Once we're used to each other's style, we can begin to search for the Shadow. It's been known that the last whereabouts of the Shadow were reported to be near the West, so I thought maybe we could start from there and ask around the village. However, if we happen to come across the Shadow on our way there, we shall only tail him. Let's not do things rashly." I elaborated further to him.

"Sounds good! Let's bring them over and we can practice at our backyard? Plus, you get to show her to mom and dad while you're at it." He suggested.

"You're right, I'll go and let her know! I'll leave first," I said and left for my room. I wrote a letter to her to inform her of our plans and to let her know that I'll be fetching her so she and her sister could get ready. I tied the written letter to my fastest bird messenger and let it smell Hanabi's scent on my handkerchief from when I lent it to her during dinner. With a pat, the bird flew, making its way to Hanabi while I get ready to meet her.

I arrived back to Hanabi's village a day after I left and made my way over to her home. I knocked on the door and was greeted by a lady with half black and half white hair. She smiled at me and opened the door wider so that I could enter their house.

"Hanabi's getting ready right now but we're all packed, so we could leave once she's done. By the way, I'm Pharsa, Hanabi's Sister." The lady introduced herself.

"Oh hello, I'm Hayabusa. Did Hanabi inform you of the detail?" I asked to which she nodded her head.

Thankfully, Hanabi appeared just on time so it wasn't awkward. "I'm done! Shall we go?" She asked, giving everything one last look before leaving for my house. Our travel back to my village was just us discussing and getting to know more of each other. And so, with breaks in between, we arrived back at my village two days later.

"Welcome to my house, I'll introduce you to my brother. Hanzo!" I said as we reached home. Just then my parents came out of the family room together with the Onmyouji Family, again.

"Sorry about that, may we still continue to contact one another" my mom apologised to Onmyouji family, bowing down.

"Oh, hi Hayabusa." Kagura said, ignoring my parent's apology, before staring right behind me at where Hanabi and Pharsa were at.