Maybe It's Bad Luck. Maybe It's Fate.

Hattori had...mixed feelings, displeasure took the forefront of his mind as he pushed his way through the bamboo, heeding the call at his border. Kiriko was gone. So many promises with little effort to follow through, she had said all the right things and to a degree Hattori had been aware. He knew of her upbringing, the talents she held in her repertoire, and the fact she no doubt had done whatever she felt necessary to ensure her safety. That was understandable, it was a marriage of convenience and thus Hattori wasn't heartbroken, but he was...Offended almost, not just on his behalf but his children too. She had whispered promises of being a doting and loving mother, but in reality she had birthed them and done little else. Soaked in the comforts of being the Lady of the Bamboo before monkey branching elsewhere.

The Kaicho had little interest in hunting her down, dragging her back and smiting whoever it was she'd run off with, to supposedly greener pastures. She could stay gone, Hattori would not want her back, because for all he'd done and risked- it was an insult. And somewhere, deep down Hattori idly wondered if this was how Venom had once felt.

Hattori had not seen Ochitsuki since the rather anticlimactic pack challenge, nor did he expect to have her calling at his borders once more. He slowed to a walk on his approach, taking in the sight of her and wondered what could be wrong. It felt like something was.

He dipped his head in greeting."Ochitsuki "