Forbidden Fruit

Prologue

Disclaimer: I do not own the characters I just own the plot in which I'm borrowing them for

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The sun bled colours of orange, yellow and red into the blueness of the sky as it began to slowly sink. The breeze was subtle and hardly made a shift in the trees as it ghosted over the rich green leaves

With his back leaning against a worn tree trunk Hayate closed his eyes against the pain that clenched his heart

He hated that he now had responsibility over the clan, that he had to hold up the rules and regulations set by his ancestors............hated that these rules now had him hunting his own sister like a common criminal

But then Kasumi was not an easy target to find and even some of his best men were unable to find success in their pursuit of her

He could picture her smiling face and laughing eyes staring up at him as though he were the only person she could truly focus on, the way she had crept into his bed when she had been upset or scared and nestled herself into the warmness of his body

His fingers had often ached to trail a path through her long silky tresses at times when she had subconsciously played with the ends curling them round her fingers when she had been deep in thought

He could remember so clearly when she had stopped being a mere child and finally became a woman......he'd watched her grow in strength and beauty and conceded to the fact that every woman who had wanted to be a part of his life just didn't come close to the standards he had set.

Only one woman ever had and by the bond of blood she was forbidden to him

Hayabusa had laughed when he had suspected Hayate in love, and to Hayate's amazement been deeply understanding when in a drunken stupor Hayate had confessed his love

He coveted his own sister

God it was so twisted, the one woman who he had lost his heart to was the only woman who he would never have. Each time she had come to him when she had been in pain or just needed some form of friendly contact, his mind had been plagued of so many images where he could comfort her in a way he had so longed to do

And now he was forced to capture her, to punish her for her abandonment of their clan

He'd seen the convictions used against runaway shinobi warriors, each one painful and one above all so very final

Could he really deliver his own sister into the hands of such cruelty and torment and live each day knowing that he had been the one to place such an infliction upon her

He imagined the smooth skin stained red, lashes blemishing its otherwise faultless perfection.

Would she cry out in pain? Would she beg for it to stop? Would her beautiful eyes lock onto his and see what he was feeling written so clearly within their depths?

Would he wince at each painful practice carried out on her?

He shook his head, it was so wrong to think like this...........................he had to think of the clan, of what his parents had left for him when he finally returned..........................he couldn't think of anything else, she was nothing and she would get what she deserved

But even as he ran the thought through his mind he knew that he was just deceiving himself, she could never be nothing to him not when she was everything

And deep down he didn't want to admit that she truly was lost to him

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Her breath came in sharp heady gasps that burnt her throat, but still she managed to keep her legs ploughing on running blindly with no thought as to where she was going

All she knew was that she could not give them any leeway

Her brother was relentless, since her dissertation of the clan and his discovery of it he'd had his men hound her steps nearly every hour that ticked by

But he should have known that she was a lot smarter than anyone in the clan had given her credit for

To them she was just Kasumi the sister of their leader and inferior to most of the shinobi warriors and now she had proven them all wrong

She'd trained too hard worked to hard to allow herself to be second rate, she was faster, stronger, smarter and more nimble than any of the other clan members could imagine

And she had proven it by always being one step ahead

Deciding that she had run long enough she came to a halt, sinking to her knee's in front of a nearby stream scooping the frigid waters into her hands and splashing its coolness onto her face

She remembered how she had given up everything in the pursuit of her brother, she'd missed him so much and nobody seemed to know neither where he had gone nor what had happened to him

She'd often crawled into his room and lay on his empty bed imagining fond memories when his strong arms had been there to comfort her in her darkest hours

And now, after she had endured such hellishness in order to bring him safely home to seek the answers of his disappearance..............he had returned and now he was hunting her

It was ironic really

Tensing her muscles she sprang high into the tree's shifting herself until she was in a comfortable enough position to rest within their branches

A part of her wished that he were with her now.......................that he could hold her closely to him and tell her that everything was going to be alright

But as of late she'd lost her ability to believe in such wishes

Sighing she closed her eyes and revelled in the darkness that action brought, but as her thoughts slowly drifted away and sleep started its slow claim across her mind an image of Hayate was the last thing she saw in her mind

And when sleep finally claimed her she sighed, his name carried away from her lips by the wind