About the story

I know what you're thinking. Another effing story from this retard? Well, maybe not that harshly, but... Yes, another story. But, this one is actually finished. I know! Holy crap!

I came up with this idea while trying to get Grand Master on Tenchu 2 for Ayame and Rikimaru. I wanted to do that before playing Tatsumaru's levels...eh, I got 21/22 before playing his levels, so that was pretty good. Tenchu is still better and has a more awesomer ending song. Although Tenchu 2 did grow on me somewhat. Anyway, I played the levels way too many times, concluded that the game hates me, and did lots of yelling and swearing at the tv. Poor tv...

The chapters are short and kind of skip forward through time near the end, but it sort of doesn't really follow the game. xD I just...borrowed...stuff. This was a sort of writing exercise thing where each chapter is one side of a sheet of paper, which is why they sometimes seem incomplete.

The Loss of Victory

by D. Ant

Chapter One - An Old Foe

"Ahh, this is the life," Lupin said happily, smiling as he was submerged to his chest in the soothing waters of the hot spring. He reached back to the rock behind him, the one which a full glass of liquor was set on.

"Are you sure you don't want to join us?" Goemon, also in the hot spring, asked Jigen, who sat on a large boulder nearby and cleaned his gun.

"I'm fine," Jigen answered, no emotion in his voice.

"Oh, come on, Jigen," Lupin scoffed. "This is a vacation. The least you could do is relax a little."

Jigen made no reply, keeping a straight face as he reassembled his gun.

Fujiko laughed, swimming towards Lupin and taking a drink from his glass. "I don't think he knows the meaning of the word, Lupin."

"Better than being a complete whore," Jigen muttered, just loud enough for her to hear.

Fujiko narrowed he eyes, deciding not to bother replying to his remark and to act as if she didn't hear it.

Lupin glanced behind him, giving Jigen an annoyed look. "What part of 'vacation' and 'relax' don't you understand?"

Jigen only smiled and shrugged.

Lupin sighed, turning his head and mumbling something as he dipped lower into the water, his eyes just above the surface.

His annoyance quickly gave way to shock, his eyes widening as sharp glistening metal blades flew right at him.

Jigen got to his feet quickly, pulling out his gun in one quick motion and shooting down the shuriken before they could reach their target.

At the same time, Goemon was busy deflecting shuriken that were meant for him, both he and Jigen standing in defensive stances as they waited for another attack.

"I see you haven't changed," a female voice said.

Goemon narrowed his eyes, turning in the water just as the female landed behind him.

The woman, dressed in a very minimal ninja outfit and armor of blues and blacks, smirked as she stared into Goemon's eyes.

"Kagami," Goemon said, shocked to see her.

"I've come to warn you," she said. "The Burning Dawn has returned and this time we seek total annihilation of the Ishikawa Clan."

Smirking, she gave a small wave before throwing down a smoke bomb and disappearing.

"You two know each other?" Jigen said, asking the obvious as he holstered his gun.

"We met," Goemon said, his voice low as he stared out into the distance, "years ago."