Author's note: I don't really write for the Ninjas but this wandered through my brain while working on my main story, The Dragon and The Phoenix. I''m not quite sure how I did with keeping Hayate in Character. Constructive criticisms (aka reviews) are loved!

Enjoy!

Protecting Her

It was raining that night; it was a steamy summer rain that evaporated as quickly as it fell on the sidewalk. He sat silently at the sake seller's booth outside the hotel. He didn't often get time to himself, as leader of the Mugen Tenshin clan he was now surrounded by his subordinates and since his first abduction; they rarely took the chance of leaving him unguarded. He took a gentle sip of the sake as he contemplated that thought. The leader of his clan, with the respect of ninja clans far and wide, was too weak to be without a guard; seemed paradoxical really. They had to eventually let him out on his own again, he was clan leader after all, and this was one of those rare times they had been forced to. His civilian attire felt unusual to him now, but he welcomed it. He reflected on everything that had happened through narrowed eyes and once again came back to them. Somehow it always came back to them, the three of them.

Kasumi…

Ayane…

Hitomi…

Kasumi…

Kasumi, his beloved little sister, a hated runaway shinobi. Her heart as always had been in the right place. If the situation had been reversed he might have done the same thing. But Shinobi law was iron bound in this respect. Runaways faced death. It was one thing to kill a traitor, but quite another to kill one who acted in the best interests of the village.

It was quite another thing to kill ones own sister.

There was no rustling on the tree outside, none to suggest that an alien presence was in it, but he knew anyway and sighed. He ordered another small container of sake and placed it narrow wooden bar, pointedly in front of the stool next to him. A few moments later, the plastic tarp covering the small wheelabout bar lifted and Ryu sat down sheepishly next to him.

"This isn't what it looks like" he began. Hayate said nothing, just took another sip and waited for his friend to explain.

"I was on my way from the village to the shop, I noticed you through the tarp, the council had asked me to…"

"If they think me incapable of handling myself, they should confront me directly."

Ryu hesitated, "You know it's not that."

"I don't know where she is, Ryu, and if I did…"

"You'd like to believe you could do your duty, finish the mission set out to you." He took a sip of the sake then and lowered his eyes, letting the accusation hang there. Hayate didn't answer.

"You might consider that the counsel recognizes your unique situation by not wanting you to handle it." He said, calmly.

"I have to be the one to take care of it…have you considered my proposal?"

"You're my best friend, Hayate. She is like my little sister too. I'll do as you ask, short of fending off Ayane myself. I doubt either she or the council would like that" he chuckled, finishing off his drink.

"Don't want to be late; Irene has a habit of expecting trouble if I'm gone too long,"

Hayate smiled slightly. He nodded good bye to his friend as he launched himself back into the steamy night.

Kasumi. I can't protect you myself, but I can give you someone who can. Your sacrifice was not forgotten.

Ryu's words had replaced the thoughts of Kasumi, with thoughts of another.

Ayane.

He wasn't quite sure what to do about her. In personality, the polar opposite of Kasumi; dark where his sister was light, ruthless where his sister was merciful, sharp and callous where his sister was loving. Yet she burned with the same passion, tenacity and stubbornness as his sister. She did not stop until she got what she wanted and when she did, when she was happy…

His thoughts trailed off slightly as the mind numbing effects of the sake began to sink in, reaching out with warm tendrils, glancing against thought and turning it fuzzy. He shook his warming head slightly to keep himself focused.

When Ayane was happy, it was like the whole world was bathed in sunshine. When she smiled a true smile, the darkness of the world seemed to shiver and vanish. Her magnetic personality, her ability to care only about the mission and still seem to be untainted by it all. They were things that he had always admired in her when he was younger, and when they had both leaped into adulthood, made him fall in love with her. He not been shy about it, and when she had, haltingly, told him of her own inclinations, he had been so happy…

Only to find out that she was his sister.

He sipped at his sake only to find that there was nothing left in the glass. He asked for another and the bar tender complied, raising both eyebrows at the pile of ceramic pitchers piling up on the man's side.

He remembered the day he had been told, it was said nonchalantly as if it meant nothing a mere formality; and when he had tried to talk to her about it…

When Ayane was in pain, darkness was too happy a word to describe the void she created around herself. Her barrier from him. He had held her then for a brief moment and had tried to adjust his feelings to what they should have been, but…

He couldn't.

And Ayane, not good with understanding the in betweens of emotions, when things weren't crystal clear, had taken the whole show as pity. She had told him bluntly that she didn't need to be pitied or protected. She could take care of herself. She threw herself back into her work and shut him out completely.

How did you protect someone who didn't want to be protected?

Then of course, he'd gotten himself abducted and forgot about the whole affair.

He stopped trying to think then, Sake continuing its graceful massage on his brain; he didn't want to think anymore. He let his head hang in his hands.

The funny thing about alcohol is that sometime it helps you forget, but other times it just makes the memories worse and today, the sake was not his friend. It swirled around smugly in his mind replaying the whole project epsilon incident. The complete erasure of his past, Kasumi, Ayane, Ryu, everybody who had ever meant something to him, gone in an all encompassing flash of white. When he awoke, naked in the forest, he was someone new, found by someone new.

Hitomi…

There was a completely different can of worms. Despite jibes from Ryu and accusations from Ayane, the two were just friends. Good friends. When he met her she was the only person he seemed to be able to keep straight in his head, his anchor, mostly because she reminded him of Ayane and Kasumi, and she became a third sister. It was her who had named him Ein for his period in Germany, to be a good man. Her father became his father, her mother became his mother. They became family. Family that didn't quite understand his duties as a Ninja. He had thought he had loved her as more, for a brief period, but something had prevented him from speaking it and when his memory had returned, realized why. She had never seen him that way, thankfully. She only saw his Karate potential. She never stopped trying to get him to come back with her, to give up ninjahood and help restore the Dojo to glory again. By the gods he wanted to. He wanted to quit, find Kasumi and somehow convince Ayane, bring them to Germany, take over the dojo with Hitomi and just exist. It would be wonderful; his mind taunted him with images, of what could be. But in the end, there would be Oi-shinobi and peace would be impossible. To protect her, he stayed removed. He didn't want to be tempted by normality.

The bartender's assistant came in through the back, giving him and the old man little space to move. He noticed the thoughtful Hayate and his growing pile of drinks. He whispered to the bar tender. He old man answered quietly.

"It must be woman troubles. Nothing makes a man drink like that except a woman"

Hayate smiled and thought to himself

"You have no idea…"