this new life with you

As if that would ever happen, but he understood that it was said in jest, that she would always take him at his word. Even if he tried he would never be able to forget Venom and the time he'd spent with her, how they'd grown so close in a natural and organic way. Easy as breathing. There was no pushing or pulling, a simple and weightless drift that intermingled them together and Hattori, despite it all, would not have it any other way. His life in Iga was over, he was a dead man in that part of the world and he was more than content to let that line of thought fester. Those who deserved to know of his fate did, those who did not could fade into obscurity as he was certain Iga's golden days were long behind them.

But the same could not be said for Ashen, the little bundles mewling by Venom's side were proof of that. They were to be a legacy that would drive the empire forward, not relics of old lineages that had long since lost their worth and prestige. Though he supposed as long as everyone pulled their weight he would not complain, young or not there was much for Ashen's pups to learn.

"And what of the children, are they what you wanted?" Perhaps he'd been late in asking this but the thought lingered in his mind all the same.