A/N: I started writing this chapter a while ago and it got put on the back burner for a while. Most of this chapter is flashbacks but I tried to make them good flashbacks :) so I hope everyone enjoys this!

Disclaimer: I still do not own DOA. If I did Hayate/Ryu would seriously be canon or at least implied.


Ayane knew something was wrong as soon as Hayate returned from the Hayabusa village. He seemed to have become much more distant since he had left and now she could feel an aura of pure sadness and anger around him. Right now wasn't the time for her to be his subordinate. Right now it was time for her to be his sister.

"Hayate...did everything go well with your visit to Master Ryu?" She asked gently.

The shinobi in question just sighed and continued to walk passed her. "I don't feel like talking about it now. Please leave me be."

She followed him as he walked back into the village. "Please talk to me. I know something bad happened during your visit and I just want the chance to help. I know you don't want Master Ryu to be hurt anymore than he is now!"

Her words brought an instant change of emotion in Hayate. He went from depressed to furious in seconds. He turned on Ayane, his eyes blazing in anger and hurt as he shouted, "Silence! Don't speak about things you have no clue about! This is between Ryu and myself! Do you understand?!"

"...Yes, but I also remember what the two of you were like before you lost your memory. I saw how happy you both were and it was nothing like this.

Hayate froze in his tracks. "You knew...You knew about the two of us and never told me?"

Ayane averted her gaze and focused on something in the forest. "It wasn't my place to tell, especially since I found out about the two of you accidentally."

Ayane hated coming to the main village. All it ever seemed to do was remind her that she would always be different and never accepted no matter how much she wished it. She was glad that she would only be here for a short while as she only had to deliver to a message to Hayate, which was a good and bad thing as she enjoyed seeing him.

She walked through the village calmly, her head held high, as she refused to the pay attention to the stares and glares the villagers gave her. She was here on a mission and that was more important than what any of those worthless people thought they knew of her.

She quickly approached the waterfall valley where she knew Hayate enjoyed training. She saw him in a secluded spot at the base of the waterfall and headed that way only to freeze in her tracks as she got closer.

Hayate wasn't alone.

Ayane quickly hid in the trees as she watched the scene in front of her unfold. Hayate had Ryu pinned against a tree and was kissing him passionately. The super ninja's arms were wrapped loosely around Hayate's shoulders as he returned the kisses with equal passion. When they finally managed to break for air, Ayane strained to hear them speak.

"You know we shouldn't be doing this here." Ryu said breathlessly. "Anyone could stumble upon us."

"Relax Ryu, " Hayate said as he stole another kiss. "No one ever comes this deep into the valley, so we're perfectly safe. Besides, where else can we go? We can't use my room in the village after Kasumi almost walked in on us a few weeks ago."

Ryu couldn't help but blush at the memory. They had managed to break apart just in time as the screen to the room slid open and Kasumi stepped in to greet them. After that, they had agreed using Hayate's room had become just a little too risky. "I know that. I just wish we didn't always have to be out in the open."

"Then do you want to go to your village then?" Hayate asked teasingly. Amused at Ryu's horrified look he continued on, "Your father would be on us in seconds and I don't want to even think how that one would turn out." He leaned in close to Ryu and spoke barely above a whisper, his lips lightly brushing over the shinobi's ear as he spoke, "Especially with the way you can never keep your voice down when we're together, and I refuse to let anyone hear you like that besides me."

Ryu shivered at the heated tone in his lover's voice. He quickly pulled Hayate close to him and kissed him deeply, his blood burning by the passion of his lover's words. He pulled back when the need for air became too great, leaving Hayate to follow him for another and said with a playfulness that was only known to the other shinobi, "Well then, maybe we should make good use of the spot while we have it."

Hayate was in shock. There was no way! What Ayane had told him couldn't possibly be real. The Ryu he knew now was nothing at all like the one in her story. "Please don't lie to me." Hayate whispered numbly. "That story can't be true. With everything that's happened since then, could I really manage to forget something so peaceful?"

Ayane walked a bit ahead of him, trying to avoid his sad and confused gaze. "I can tell you another if you want, if you can handle it. It seemed after that first time, I had a habit of finding you together. I guess after what happened it turned out to be a good thing."

"Please tell me...I have to know everything I've missed. No matter how much it may hurt."

Ayane sighed deeply as she turned back to look at her brother. "Well if you say so. It was after the massacre..."

Hayate had left for the village as soon as he heard the news that Ryu had returned from his journey. His lover needed him more than ever right then. He couldn't believe it when Ayane told him it was Murai that was behind the massacre of his own clan and wanted to be by Ryu's side whether the dragon ninja wanted him there or not.

He found Ryu at Kureha's grave, staring intently at the Eye of the Dragon sitting on her tombstone. Hayate walked up to his lover as silently as he could before gently placing a hand on his shoulder. The slight flinch he saw when he touched Ryu showed just how far away his mind was at that moment.

"Ryu...I am so sorry."

There was silence between the two of them before Ryu finally spoke, "Come on. Let's get back to the village. They probably need some help rebuilding."

With that the Dragon Ninja disappeared, leaving empty space and a confused and dejected Hayate behind.

Hayate decided to stay for a few more days, but Ryu's behavior didn't show any change

and he was starting to become worried. He knew the path of a shinobi was a tough and often times cruel path, but it slowly killed him inside to see Ryu so hurt and yet still pretend that hew was fine. Didn't Ryu know by now that he didn't have to hide when it came to him?

It was on third night when something finally broke. They had been sleeping in Ryu's room in the rebuilt dragon castle, when Hayate noticed sharp movements from the body beside him. Hayate rolled over to to see Ryu sitting up in bed, panting harshly as if he had just sprinted to the peak of the mountain.

"Ryu." Hayate reached out a hand to soothe him and his skin was damp and cool to the touch. That must have been some nightmare. "Ryu please talk to me." He sat up and wrapped his arms around the panting form.

It seemed like hours, but was only a few moments when the person in his arms showed any sign of hearing him. Hands slowly reached behind Hayate and returned the embrace hesitantly, blunt nails griping tightly at his skin as if he could disappear at any moment.

"I still see them. Every night I still see their faces in my head and hear them being cut down."

Hayate held him tighter, "Ryu..."

"And then I see Kureha, I was so close and still unable to save her! One of the most important people in my life and I could do nothing for her!"

"Ryu! Stop this right now!"

The commanding tone in his voice made Ryu freeze. He very rarely had that part of Hayate focused on him, and even through his grief and anger, it made sit up and take notice.

"You failed no one! You avenged every single one of your fallen comrades and Kureha and brought honor to their memory. That is all you can do." He finished solemnly.

Ryu remained silent, but finally relaxed into Hayate's hold, "Thank you. Would...would you mind-"

"I'll do whatever you want Ryu. All you have to do is ask."

Ryu took a deep breath, attempting to get his emotions back under the iron grip he usually held them, but soon gave up and whispered, "Stay, please just stay here a little longer. I don't want to do this on my own."

Hayate just held him tighter, "Then you won't have to."

The two shinobi in the room where completely wrapped up within each other. Ryu trying to keep memories of the dark dragon blade incident at bay and Hayate trying to help him get passed them. That's why the crimson eyes staring at them outside the window went unnoticed by them both. Ayane smiled at them before disappeared in a swirl of sakura blossoms.

"Your father had asked me to check on you since you had been gone for much longer than he thought you should be. I told him you were you were being delayed because you were helping to rebuild the village, and with master Jou still gone and the Hayabusa numbers so few, he understood and let the matter be." She explained.

"Many of the times I visited the village after my memory came back, I found him at Kureha's gravestone and thinking he wanted to be alone, I would just leave him there. Each time that happened I could feel him growing more distant toward me, but could not understand why." A look of shock and realization suddenly crossed his face and he had to lean against one of the trees to keep himself standing. "Everything really is my fault isn't it?! I kept driving him away with everything I said and did. No wonder he doesn't want me back."

Ayane sighed and wrapped her brother in a hug, "You were different then. It's not your fault this happened. You didn't have them wipe your memories on purpose."

"I know that! Still...I can't leave things like this. There has to be something I can do. There has to be some way for me to make things right! I have to go back and talk to him! I don't want to lose what I have with him now..."His voice had taken on a tone of pleading, something that Ayane had never heard in the past. She knew he wanted to help his friend, but this was a delicate situation, something that all of his shinobi training had never prepared him for.

"Hayate you need give him some time. He's still hurting too. When you told him you didn't remember anything, his worst fears were confirmed. He had just lost one of the few people he really loved in this world, even for an experienced shinobi, that takes a long time to accept and work through. Maybe...maybe you shouldn't go see him for a while." At the look of pure anger on Hayate's face, she quickly continued to speak, "Give him some time to let everything sink in."

Hayate sighed and started back down the path to the village, "That's just the problem Ayane. I've lost too much time." As he looked back at her, Ayane was shocked to see just the pure sadness and regret trapped in her brother's eyes. The longer she stared at him, the more she could feel her heart begin to break. "And I don't want to lose anymore."

She watched him disappear with a heavy heart. They had both lost so much, and she couldn't imagine how it felt for both of them to feel like they were losing, or had completely lost, each other. There had to be something she could do. She thought from telling Hayate about the two of them, it would trigger some memories, something that could give Ryu-sama some comfort. Maybe this was for the best. She thought as she continued back to the village. Maybe if the two of them could finally move on from the past, they could find a new future together.

When Hayate returned to the village, he quickly returned to his room. He found himself staring intently at one of his most important possessions. When he first regained his memories, he was too happy about the fact that he had this and didn't worry to much about where it had came from or what possessed him to get it done.

It was a photograph.

Not a photograph made with one of the more high tech digital cameras that most people used today, but a black and white photo. Something coming straight from an antique. He remembers the few times he went with Ryu to his antique shop. He remember looking around in childlike awe at some of the objects and even remembers the camera that would have been used to take the photo, but he never remembers actually taking it or them looking as happy as they do in the photo.

It was taken in the shop and they stood together, his arm wrapped around Ryu's shoulders and with Ryu's head resting on his shoulder. It was one of the few times that he could see Ryu smile, looking like they didn't have a care in the world. He knew now why this photo was so important to him and why he couldn't remember having taken it. He picked it up and grasped it tightly to his chest.

"Ryu I promise you...I will fix this between us." He glanced down at the photo once more and ran his fingers gently across Ryu's face. "You deserve it. You deserve to be happy for once."