Chapter 7: Traitor

"We'll just go in now. We can't hear anything from here," Hanzo said. "I'll go in first, then you come in." 

Hanabi nodded and watched as Hanzo kicked open the door. 

She followed inside after a few moments, and was shocked as a huge sword with a mouth was swung towards her. She summoned her Higanbana and barely managed to block the attack with it, skidding backwards. 

But she could only stare at the person who attacked her, the traitor they'd tried to find. His emerald eyes just gazed back at her as he launched another attack. 

"Surprise," he smirked.

"You," Hanabi said through gritted teeth. She suddenly felt a surge of anger, as all the things Hanzo had said to her replayed in her mind. 

"I'm not the traitor." 

"There's a lot you don't know about me."

There had been so many hints, yet she had missed all of them. It wasn't luck that she had overheard the conversation of the two people working with the traitor. 

It had all been carefully planned by Hanzo. She hated him for lying to her, but she hated herself even more for not seeing that he was the traitor, that he was just lying. 

Hanabi threw her kunais at Hanzo, but he blocked them all. Hanabi just attacked Hanzo head-on with her Higanbana, even though she knew she was better at fighting from a distance. 

"You lied," she hissed. "All you want is power!" She attacked him furiously, but Hanzo easily blocked them. 

Hanzo swung the Ame No Habakiri at her, and she would have been cut in half if Kagura didn't arrive just in time to block it with the Semei Umbrella. 

Hayabusa then attacked Hanzo one-on-one, and Kagura asked Hanabi, "Where are the other two?" 

Hanabi looked around and saw no one except for them. She had been so focused on her anger that she didn't notice the others leaving. 

She regretted trusting Hanzo so easily. How could she have been so stupid? 

Meanwhile, Hanzo opened the soul portal beneath the other three, weakening them. They winced and fell to the ground, their energy being drained. 

Despite Hanzo wearing his mask, Hanabi could tell he was smirking as he jumped off the building.

After a few moments of silence, Hanabi clenched her fists, standing up with some struggle. "Let's go," she said. Hayabusa and Kagura watched the scarlet flower stumble down the stairs and followed.

At the infirmary, their wounds were treated and Hanabi looked ready to kill, ignoring Kagura's attempts at a conversation. 

As they headed back to the inn to get their horses and return to the Shadow Sect villge, Hanabi stalked ahead. 

They got on their horses, this time Hanabi riding alone. She had decided to put her trust in Hanzo and she had been betrayed. And she would make sure that didn't happen again.