Ryu Hayabusa made his way to Kasumi's quarters; certain she had gone there after her incident with the elders. The windows showed a faint amber glow of a lamp. The ninja started to tap on the door, but finding it already ajar he simply slid it farther open to allow himself entry. He stepped inside, hearing shuffling noises in the back, where the sleeping quarters were. More light was coming from there; he could see it through the paper walls, and a silhouette of a young woman moving hurriedly about the room showed up in sharp relief. Ryu came to the door and peered in. It appeared to be a chaotic scene, with Kasumi as the whirling dervish at the center of it all. Clothes were everywhere, bed linens rumpled. On the floor was her sleeping roll and two other bags.
"Kasumi, are you all right?" The ninja inquired gently. The deep sound of his voice made Kasumi pause and turn her head slightly in his direction. He could see she had been crying, but now the only thing on her face was determination. He knew what she was going to say before she uttered the words.
"I am going to find my brother," Kasumi said flatly, stuffing articles of clothing in one of the bags. "The clan council doesn't see it worth while to send a group out to find him, so I'll do it myself."
There was pause before Ryu replied, letting her words sink in. The night air stirred with the sound of crickets outside the young Mugen- Tenshin clan leader's quarters.
"You know what they will do to you if you go." He spoke softly, watching her pack.
"So what am I supposed to do then? Just let whoever took Hayate get away with it? Isn't it possible that they may come back? Who will they take next? Another clansmen? Father? Mother? Ayane?" You? Kasumi added silently. She stopped her packing and turned fully toward Ryu standing in the doorway. "A good leader defends her people".
"This isn't about defending people. This is about revenge for your brother, you know it as much as I do".
"Hayate is as much your brother in spirit as he is mine in blood".
They stood staring at each other in silence for a while. Kasumi, with her amber eyes silently pleading with Ryu to understand, to let her go, as he in turn studied her face, thinking that it may be the last time he ever would do so. It was Kasumi who broke the silence.
"Hayabusa-san… Ryu…" It was the first time Kasumi had called him by his given name since they were children; she hoped the lack of formality would work in her favor. "Please, I must go." The young shinobi whispered, tears forming in her eyes. Her bottom lip started to tremble, her legs felt as if they were about to fail her.
Wordlessly, Ryu crossed the space between them in two swift steps and gathered the girl up in his arms. Kasumi choked out a sob and clutched tightly at the man's tunic with her fists. He stroked her auburn hair while she released the pent-up emotions inside her as she buried her face into his chest. The ninja squeezed his eyes shut, feeling his own pain well up inside of him, lodging in his throat, and making his heart ache. The muscles in his jaw tensed. The loss she was feeling, the helplessness and guilt, he knew it all too well. The loss of his clan, his father, and then Irene… The ninja was amazed that he could still feel any emotion about anything.
It was then that Ryu became aware of the scent of her, a mixture of tea and cherry blossoms. He tucked her head beneath his chin and inhaled the fragrance. A new emotion was stirring in the chest of the great ninja, and although it was not an unfamiliar one, the direction toward which it was blossoming left him feeling awkward. He had known Kasumi nearly all her life, and never once did Ryu ever consider her in that sort of light. She was still hardly more than a child after all, he reasoned, in spite of the fact that she was clan leader. He again recalled all the people in the past that he had loved and lost, largely due to his fault. Now that Hayate was gone, Kasumi was the only one left. He refused to see the same fate befall her, he promised her brother as much after Raidou left Hayate crippled.
His rational mind concluded that this was the reason why he felt the way he did, he simply didn't want to loose any more friends and loved ones. However, his rationalizations did little to lessen his growing awareness of the young woman in his arms; the feel of her hair between his fingertips as he stroked it, the softness of her body pressed against his, the way her breathing was beginning to slow to a more normal rate, and that wondrous, fresh smell that was hers...
Stop this! Ryu chastised himself. Gently, he pried her loose from him so he could look at her. Kasumi's eyes were red and swollen from crying and her cheeks were stained with tear tracks. He hated what he had to say next, but he knew she had to understand the consequences her actions would cause. He exhaled audibly, his face a mask of pure seriousness.
"Kasumi," Ryu's deep voice was barely audible, "look at me".
The redheaded clan leader lifted her eyes to meet his green ones. She saw his care and concern there, and for the first time the sorrow he carried too. She felt ashamed of her behavior- as if her brother's abduction was only her loss to bear. She wanted to reach out and touch his face, to tell Ryu that she was sorry, but something in his expression made her keep her hands where she had placed them on his arms.
"You understand that if you go through with this, you won't be allowed back, and if any of the clan finds you, they will surely try to kill you. Nor will any other clan take you in, for fear of starting a war." He felt her arms beneath his hands tremble at his words, yet she did not flinch away, nor did the resolve he had seen in her eyes from the beginning diminish.
"I know. Don't you see; that's what makes this so hard?" Kasumi replied, sniffling.
"Yes." Ryu replied simply, his expression softened. "However, know that I will never be too far away. If you need anything, anything at all, I'll be there."
She blinked, confused. "You-?"
"I promised Hayate to protect you, and I always fulfill my promises."
Kasumi started to open her mouth to say something, but instead stood tiptoe and leaned toward Ryu. Her face was a mere breath away from his. She smiled a small, sad smile.
"Thank you," she whispered, and kissed him on the cheek.
Kasumi felt Ryu stiffen at the touch of her kiss. He pulled away from her slightly, allowing his hands to slide up to her shoulders. His conflicting emotions returned, stronger this time. He stared fixedly at her, trying to gain the upper hand on what was becoming a losing battle inside him. His muscles tensed from head to toe.
Kasumi watched the reactions her simple kiss brought out in the man before her. She never imagined that Ryu Hayabusa, the mighty ninja- and the stuff of her childhood crush fantasies- would react in such an awkward manner towards a simple kiss. If it had been another moment, in another place in time, it might have made her giggle. Yet fate had seen to it that she was not meant to have a life of simple happiness. From this point forward, she realized, moments like this were to be treasured and not taken for granted.
Slowly, she brought up her hand to Ryu's face, caressing his cheek, a slight smile on her lips, as if to reassure him. That was all it took to tip the scales for Ryu. As soon as he felt her fingertips on his skin, he sighed and closed his eyes, the tension draining out of his body. Upon opening them, he made his decision. Cupping Kasumi's face with the palm of his hand, he drew her close into a kiss. He was half surprised, half thrilled to find that Kasumi met him halfway with her own kiss. He drew her closer to him, twining his fingers in her hair. He gently parted her lips with his own and she complied, letting the kiss deepen, years of hidden yearnings finally coming to the surface.
The kiss worked like a healing balm upon their hearts and souls. For what seemed to Kasumi a long time, the two shinobi embraced in their kiss, until slowly, hesitantly, they parted. Ryu drew a shaky breath and looked down at Kasumi, who bashfully returned his gaze.
"I- I think you should go now," she murmured, "I'm not done packing yet, and I'd like to be gone before sunrise."
"Where will you go?" He asked, reluctant to let her out of his arms.
"I'll head south, to the city. It will be harder for them to find me there, and a greater chance to find some clues as to who took Hayate."
Ryu nodded. "I shall stay here and leave midday as I planned. I want you to take these." He placed a set of keys into her hand. "They're the keys to my shop in Sendai." Ryu raised a hand to stop her protest. "I know, we cannot be seen together, but there's a small flat upstairs you can use. I'll not be there… I have other matters to attend to in Tokyo. I won't be back for at least two weeks."
The soon-to-be-former clan leader bowed her russet head. "Thank you".
Ryu returned her bow and turned to go. Kasumi followed him to the bedchamber doorway where she stopped. The ninja has opened to door to leave when she called out to him. "Ryu, I…" She felt herself blush and couldn't complete her sentence.
He turned at the sound of his name. He gazed at Kasumi, his expression unreadable. "I know. Don't worry Kasumi. Hayate will be found, and those responsible for it will be punished."
And then he left, his dark-clad figure melting into the moonless night.
Kasumi returned to her bedchamber. She leaned against the wall and closed her eyes. Her lips still tingled from the kiss she shared with Ryu. Gently, she brought her fingertips to her mouth, as if to seal the sensation in forever.
An hour later, Kasumi closed the door to her home for the last time. Dressed head to toe in black ninja garb, she swung her belongings over her shoulder and disappeared from the only home she had ever known.
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Kasumi stared into the flames on their campfire as Ryu finished telling the story. She was thankful that its meager light hid the blush she felt on her face at the memory of the part that he had omitted telling her brother. She dared a sideways glance at Ryu, wondering if he, too relived their one and only moment together as often as she did. Her musings were cut short as she became aware that Hayate was speaking to her.
"Kasumi, how could you do this? How could you dishonor yourself like that?" The pained look in his eyes bored right though her.
She fumbled for her words "I- I did it for you,niisan. I thought that…that if I found you, everything would be better again…"
"Apparently, you weren't thinking." Hayate snapped in reply, and watched his sister flinch as if hit. He turned toward his friend. "Ryu, how could you have let her do this? I asked you to protect her!"
Ryu arched a brow. "And protect her I did. You didn't ask me to make her decisions for her. When your clan sent assassins, it wasn't as if I stood by and left her fending for herself."
"But to let her enter that tournament again!"
"I did not know she had entered the tournament until I arrived there myself."
Hayate went quiet for a moment. He looked at his sister. She was looking back at him with that pleading look she always used when he refused to see things her way. He never would have imagined that she would do something like this. Of all the people in the clan, he considered Kasumi to be one of the most loyal to the code of honor of the Mugen- Tenshin. He knew she was seeking his approval, but her abandonment of all they were raised to value, her disregard of her duties as clan leader made him wonder if he'd ever be capable of granting her that.
"You were supposed to be the leader of our people, yet you selfishly set out on your own will. I don't understand what possessed you- "
"I'm not the leader our people need. You are." Kasumi cut her brother off, almost harshly. She checked her anger, then spoke again in a softer tone, "You always were."
"But I couldn't be the leader, not after Raidou…" Hayate couldn't bring himself to finish his sentence. "It was only logical that you replace me as clan leader. Your destroying him was vengeance enough."
"Yes, and it got me captured for my trouble, used as some thing to be experimented upon." Kasumi paused, then spoke in a small, distant voice, "I only went back again to find you and to right all the wrongs that have befallen us and our clan. If I hadn't gone in the first place, none of this would have happened".
It was Hayate's turn now to feel shamed. He wanted to reach out to his sister, to tell her she had done right by the clan, that their code be dammed, but years of teachings, passed down from generation to generation, prevented him. The frown that creased his serious features deepened. He turned his dark amber-eyed gaze from his sister's lighter ones and stared into the small flames of the dying campfire. Despite its heat, a small shiver went up his spine as what the future held for them played out in his mind.
"You are asking me to violate the code that generations have lived and died by, long before we were even born."
"No one is asking you to violate anything, Hayate." Ryu's deep voice cut through the night. "You wanted to know, and you were told what you wanted. That is all." He then threw water upon the fire with a flick of the cup he held in his hand. "I think it is best we retire for the night. Each of us have new paths in our lives waiting for us, and we must be prepared to meet them."
Neither sibling argued with their friend as that one settled in under the blankets of his bedroll. Kasumi stifled a yawn and passed a hand across her eyes as she lay down upon the ground. Rolling on her side, she faced her brother, whose back was faintly visible to her. Her heart felt heavy in her chest.
"Niisan…" The girl whispered to her brother, but was received with stony silence. With a sad sigh, Kasumi rolled onto her back, trying not to cry herself to sleep.
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Dawn was breaking, and the sun was not yet above the horizon when Hayate awoke the next morning. Everything was silent. The pre-dawn mist still hung around the trunks of the great trees that surrounded the campsite; Hayate could feel it caress his face. The ninja breathed in damp smell of the forest, a mixture of decay and growth. He had made his decision last night, and in spite his body's protests for more sleep, was determined to see it through. He discarded his blankets, sat up, and started to collect his belongings.
"I see living in the western world has finally made an early riser out of you."
Hayate nearly bolted out of his skin at the sound of Ryu's voice. He turned to look where his friend sat quite peacefully on the other side of what was left of the fire, looking as if he had been sitting there for some time. He was dressed in woodsman's garb, a sleeveless, olive green top with matching pants and black boots. A bandana of similar color and fabric bound his long chestnut hair back. His bedroll was neatly bundled up beside him, the ever-present Dragon Sword slung across his back. At the man's knees was a string of fish that had apparently just been caught from the nearby stream. The Tenjinmon shinobi chuckled a soft curse.
"I should have known better to even think that I would wake up before you, Hayabusa-san."
"I see you intend to take your leave of us earlier than anticipated." Ryu regarded his friend's actions.
Hayate inclined his dark auburn head, eyes troubled. "Hai, I wanted to be on my way back home before…" he paused to glance at the still sleeping form of his sister, "…Before Kasumi woke up. I don't think I could handle another emotional good-bye."
Ryu nodded, his green eyes thoughtful. He followed Hayate's gaze towards where Kasumi lay, unmindful of the conversation going on near her, trying to keep thoughts of another kind from intruding upon this serious moment. "She will miss you."
"It can't be helped. She's chosen her fate. She is now a nukenin and now therefore lost to me, forever." Hayate replied simply, in sad tones. He looked back at his friend, pensively holding his breath. "Ryu, forgive me, but… there is something I- I need to ask of you…" He began slowly.
Ryu turned and focused fully on his friend.
"I know I have asked you to watch over Kasumi in the past… To protect her when I could not. Since you have fulfilled your promise to me, I will not fault you if you do not choose to honor this request, but I feel I must ask you again… Please, keep her safe from the assassins of the clan. Kasumi's violation of clan code will not be tolerated by the elders of either the Tenjinmon and Haijinmon sects, regardless whether I'm accepted as leader or not. No one, not even the clan leader, can ignore the code." Hayate gazed upon his childhood friend with furrowed brows, silently praying that his request would not be denied.
To his surprise, Ryu bowed very low, his usual stoic demeanor softening slightly. "It is I who should request forgiveness, Hayate-san. I should have taken my role as her protector more seriously and with better maturity. She would not be a nukenin today had I done a better job. If anything, I am asking you to give me another chance to prove myself as a worthy protector to Kasumi."
Hayate was too stunned for words. He returned his friend's bow, and continued to finish his packing in silence until he was finished. The ninja rose to his feet, shouldering his provisions. Ryu stood up as well; just as the first few rays of sunlight found their way through the trees. Overhead, the birds started to make themselves known. The two friends clasped each other's forearm in farewell.
"I never got a chance to say how sorry I was… When I heard of Irene's death… and your clan… It must have been very hard for you." Hayate said solemnly.
Ryu's expression stiffened slightly as he forced the sorrow for the loss of his love and family back down. "It was very hard," he agreed, his voice husky, "but I am glad that I have friends like you and Kasumi. I have considered you both as family to me for some time now." His last words made the Mugen- Tenshin ninja smile.
"Domo arigato, Hayabusa-san. For everything."
"May your journey home be safe and swift, Hayate-san. Let's hope those clansmen of yours recognize you behind those western clothes, hm?" Ryu replied eyeing the jeans and t-shirt Hayate still wore from the previous day.
A slightly forced laugh was the reply. "If they don't, they'll surely find out the hard way." Hayate twisted his lips into a wry smile. With a final pat on Ryu's shoulder, he walked to the edge of the forest. When he had gone a few feet in, he turned back to look at the campsite. Ryu was still standing there watching him, hands on his hips. Hayate raised an arm in farewell, and then turned again to resume his journey home.
Ryu watched his friend's departing form until he could no longer see him. He then turned his green-eyed gaze wistfully to the sleeping girl in his charge. The longing in his heart returned. He would have protected her anyways, with or without Hayate's request. Unsheathing the knife at his side, Ryu knelt down and resumed preparing the fish for breakfast. He knew Kasumi well enough that if nothing else would wake her, then the smell of food will. His own stomach was beginning to make protests at being ignored for so long. While he worked, his thoughts drifted. Ryu pondered how the strange workings of life had led him to be in this position. Had his clan not been destroyed, had Irene still lived, the ties that bound him to the two heirs of the Mugen- Tenshin clan would in all likelihood not be as strong as they are today. The ninja placed the skewered fish over the coals of the fire and sat back, brooding.