Hey sister sister

It had taken them roughly 4 days to go from the stones to what Hattori referred to as the shrine. Shrines certainly weren’t a new concept to him, after all they had plenty of them at Iga. But, he couldn’t say he’d ever seen a shrine that glowed. The pool was iridescent, throwing light against the white bark of the trees that surrounded it like it was painting on a canvas. Truly it was enchanting and there did feel something...holy about it. As much of a hot mess as he was, he still knew when to be respectful even if his cousin didn’t quite agree.

Hattori had spent most of the journey filling him in on Ashen and instructing him on how to behave when they finally met the Empress, Venom. The man had vehemently denied that he had a relationship with his apparent co-leader, that they had a simple subordinate-superior role. But Raijin wasn’t stupid, not only had he known Hattori his entire life, but he had been trained to see past and see the truth in anyone. Sometimes even if one didn’t know the truth themselves, and the truth was plain on his cousin’s face. He liked this woman. He’d smirked to himself, baby’s first crush.

He did as he was told when they arrived, hanging back a little and waiting for him to initiate the call. It was peculiar to him to be on the joining end of one of these initiations. He’d conducted many himself, but having grown up in the Iga clan he’d never been subjected to the scrutiny he gave out. I didn’t quite make him uncomfortable, but it wasn’t pleasant either.