1. The Reunion; Part 1

Rei didn’t know how she got here. As she observed the room, everything seemed to be exactly the same from when she left; the concrete walls mounted with weapons and devices of all sorts, the blue mats that told of victories and losses, but most of all, he was still here.

His hooded eyes stared at her with the same ferocity you held towards him. Their hatred towards each other was still mutual.

“Rei... It’s nice to see you again.” She ripped her eyes away and focused on the man before her. Was blue his son’s new favorite color? The frosty hue fit Fujita Ichirou’s demeanor well, cold and bites back, hard.

“You promised I’d never had to come back here, Ichirou.”

Here- this labyrinth that she was barely able to escape unscathed from. Her family was as powerful as the Fujita’s, who ruled the Hemlock Clan, and blindingly served as their shield. Rei never questioned it, though. The thought was instilled into her, permanently tattooed onto her skin, engraved into each and every one of her bones, and what she prayed for: protect the Fujitas.

However, this loyalty faltered after the complete extermination of Himura’s clan, her family. Brethren lay together in pools of their own blood, part of which they shared after their blood oath to the family. Her parents still eerily sat in their sofa chairs with one precise bullet to the center of their foreheads. Their terrified eyes still haunt hers when she closed her own.

This was a planned attack to weaken the Fujitas, she knew. Her family was the loyal and faithful hound sat by the feet of the Fujitas. But deep down, she always had a lingering thought she never pondered on for too long until that incident. Rei and her family could be replaced by another to serve the Fujitas and protect their place as the leaders of the Hemlock Clan. Brothers and sisters alike always died in Rei’s family; she thought it was normal. They would always be replaced by someone new, someone she’d have to open up to though ultimately they’d die in the end. And the cycle continued on and on.

The complete annihilation of her family left a profound hole in the Fujitas. They couldn’t just clone more of Rei to restore the lost family but they’d do something similar: make her train newcomers to learn the techniques exclusive to her family, which she’d rather kill herself than do. So with the pleads from Ichirou, the next head of the Hemlock Clan, they let her go. The shackles bound to her feet were removed. The collar she always wore was thrown away. She was free.

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