"THREE"

"Ayane, please forgive me."

One sentence, one horrifying truth was revealed to her only a short time before she turned nine.

Ayame was her real mother.

Perhaps after all the years of taking care of Ayane, guilt from the knowledge of how the girl was conceived could no longer be contained. The words fell from Ayame's lips, softly spoken and punctuated with sobs, almost incomprehensible.

The girl had went completely silent, staring down at the floor. The silence seemed to stretch on, with Ayame's gentle sobs coming through the curtain, and Ayane still kneeling in shock on the wooden floor.

"I'm so sorry," the woman said. But her apology fell on deaf ears. After all this time, when Ayame had withheld the truth from her, Ayane was not about to forgive her. She would not forgive Ayame for all the neglect and cruelty throughout the years.

Eventually, Ayame also revealed that her real father was Raidou. Ayane's chest felt constricted as the information was absorbed into her brain. She had never met him, but she had heard many things about him, how he was willing to murder others for his own gain without any seeming remorse.

Raidou is my biological father.

The thought repulsed her, but at the same time, it explained so many things. Why she had been neglected by most of the village, why Shiden refused to bother with her. But Ayane now understood why things had been so lonely, so confusing for her when she was just a toddler.

I was not conceived in love. I was a mistake. That's all I am, and all I will ever be.

She would always be perceived as having "bad blood" because of her birth.

I am her daughter, but she did not intend to give birth to me.

"Please… forgive me."

I am… a bastard child.

-x-

But as she knelt there on the hard wooden floor, her mind struggling to deal with the shock, a realization hit her:

Kasumi was the daughter of Ayame.

That would mean… Kasumi was actually her half-sister. Kasumi was actually related to her. Yet Kasumi had always been treated like a princess, someone special and to be pampered.

Kasumi had everything.

I am her half-sister. But she has always received the attention, the love, the care.

I have nothing.

Ayane stood up, still absorbing the facts. Her world, although sad and lonely, had just been ripped away from her. If she had felt insecure before now, it did not compare to the loneliness, the dim hatred that simmered just below the surface upon finding out the truth.

Why? Why me? Why now?!

Mother and daughter locked gazes. Although a curtain separated them, Ayane could clearly see the pain in her mother's eyes. It did not make her feel any more sympathetic. If anything, she now loathed her caretaker, and everything else she had ever known.

Ayane resented Kasumi. From that day on, she threw nearly eight years of friendship away. She wanted Kasumi to feel the same pain, the loneliness which had always overshadowed her life.

-x-

"Hey, Ayane-chan, want to come to a festival this afternoon with me?"

It was a nice day outside, perfect for some sparring practice. But Ayane was not thinking about getting someone to give her a chance at sparring. Ayane was sitting in the bedroom as usual, trying to sew up the shoulder part of the kimono with little success. Kasumi's voice had startled her concentration.

"What?"

"Want to?"

Ayane didn't bother to look up at her, although the sounds of footsteps came closer to her.

"It sure needs work," Kasumi commented, her brow furrowing as she examined the material. Ayane felt annoyance building within her.

"I don't need your criticism," she said flatly. "It's hard enough as it is."

"I'm sorry. I didn't mean it like that," Kasumi said in apology. Then she brightened. "I'm going for a sparring session just after lunch. Then I was planning to go to a festival later this afternoon. I mean, before Brother gets back from his training, because he promised he'd take me out to the more exciting ones later. But I was wondering if you wanted to come with me this afternoon."

Ayane still did not glance up at her. Kasumi waited a few more seconds before trying again.

"Ayane-chan?"

"What?" she asked, sounding more irritated. Her gaze never left the stitching pattern she was working on.

"Want to come to the festival this afternoon with me?"

"I'm busy." Her shoulders stiffened slightly as she spoke; her fingers pausing in the middle of a stitch, although she still did not look up.

"Come on, Ayane-chan! It'll be really fun! After all, it's been -"

"I said I was busy." She resumed the pattern.

"Ayane-chan, I only…" Silence filled the room as Ayane slowly raised her gaze to meet with Kasumi's. The older girl hesitated, unconsciously taking a step back. A slight frown creased her forehead at the younger girl's slightly hostile tone, although it was clear by her puzzled expression that she did not understand Ayane's sudden change in demeanour towards her. "I just wanted to know if… if maybe you wanted…"

"Well, I don't." The abrupt tone caused her to swallow any more words she had been about to say. Silence fell between them. Ayane resumed her stitching pattern.

Kasumi opened her mouth to say something, but then hesitated. Something was obviously bothering Ayane… whatever it was, she somehow knew that Ayane was not about to tell her. But what had caused the sudden change in her friend?

"Is something wrong?" she finally mustered the courage to ask. Ayane did not reply. "Ayane-chan, are you mad at me? If I did something to -"

"I just want to be left alone," Ayane snapped.

Kasumi slowly backed away, glancing uncertainly at Ayane every few seconds, waiting to see if Ayane would elaborate as to why her behaviour was so strange.

The younger girl did not glance back at her even once.

-x-

Later that evening Ayane was sitting in her room, doing nothing in particular when the sound of the front door opening filled the house. She knew Kasumi and Hayate had attended a few festivals during the evening. Ayane could barely contain her jealousy - Kasumi got to improve her sparring techniques while Ayane was forced to spend the day doing other boring errands. Ayane resented the fact that she was never offered a chance to try and spar. Kasumi had offered her a chance to see the festivals earlier, but Ayane only saw it as poorly disguised pity. Of course Kasumi would ask her; who else would bother to spend time with her? Ayane would prefer staying at 'home', aware from the taunts and jeering that someone as special and perfect like Kasumi would ever want to be around the 'bastard child'.

So when Kasumi stood in the doorway, Ayane didn't even want to acknowledge her presence. The other girl's gentle brown eyes were shining with happiness, and she couldn't wait to tell Ayane about how wonderful the festival was. But the huge smile she had been wearing faded from her face the second she saw Ayane.

"Is it alright if I come in?" she asked cautiously, meeting Ayane's gaze for just a split second before averting her own to the floor. Of course, to Ayane it seemed like her request was more of an announcement of her arrival as Kasumi was already stepping into the room.

Ayane was sitting on her bed, back up against the wall, fooling around with a doll Kasumi had received for her birthday. She had a bored expression on her face, but something flickered when Kasumi approached the bed.

"Can I talk to you for a minute, Ayane-chan?"

The younger girl returned her attention back to the wooden doll. "You're talking to me now, aren't you."

The smile on Kasumi's expression faltered at the lack of a polite response, indicating the older girl's uneasiness, but she approached the bed and sat down, taking care to keep a careful distance between them and a radiant smile spread across her face. "Brother and I went to some festivals earlier. They were so pretty and fun to watch."

The younger girl did not look at her, nor did she bother to acknowledge that the brown-haired girl was speaking to her.

"We played a few games. Brother bought me a new fan… it had such a pretty design on it! Ah, Ayane-chan, you should've come!"

A long pause came between them, and then Ayane spoke. "I would have, although it was clear my company was not wanted," she said stiffly.

Kasumi either did not sense the building storm within the purple-haired girl or she was choosing to ignore it. "What do you mean? Of course you could have come along, that is if you wanted to! Brother wouldn't mind! All you had to do was ask. You rarely play with us anymore, Ayane-chan."

"All I had to do was ask, hm?" Ayane said quietly. "If you wanted me to come so badly, you would have offered."

"Ayane-chan?"

The purple-haired girl glanced at her, then resumed fiddling with the doll, barely able to keep a hint of sulkiness from edging its way into what would seem like a casual tone of voice. "I would just get in the way."

"No, you wouldn't! Honest, Ayane-chan. You're so serious nowadays. I'm sure Brother wouldn't have minded."

Her grip tightened on the doll and she was careful to avoid Kasumi's gaze. "And I'm sure he had better things to do than worry about some pitiful little child if his precious sister was there." She made sure to put a deliberate emphasis on the word sister, mocking it.

Kasumi looked more closely at her. "Ayane… is there something wrong?"

Ayane tossed the doll onto the carpet, staring carelessly at the wall across from them. "Why do you care?"

"You're my friend, that's why."

"I don't have any friends. You're my…" Ayane's voice caught as she spoke, and for the first time, she realized the implications of her statement. It wasn't the first time she'd said Kasumi was her sister, but back then they had been so little, barely understanding the meaning of the word. Now she knew the truth in that statement, the importance of blood ties.

"I'm your friend," Kasumi finished.

"No." The word was out before she could stop it. There was no going back now.

"What do you mean?"

"You're not my friend. You're my half-sister."

"Half-sister?" Kasumi repeated, looking momentarily confused. Then her expression brightened. "Silly Ayane-chan! Of course I'm not your half-sister! You've always been my sister, no matter what!"

She doesn't know what I'm talking about. She doesn't know the truth, that I have her blood. Half-blood.

"No, I'm not talking about that," Ayane said coolly. Her older sister's features furrowed.

"What?"

"It's nothing you would understand."

The brown-haired girl stared at her. "Ayane? What's wrong?"

"I said you wouldn't understand. Just leave."

"But… Ayane…"

"I said leave."

Kasumi slowly slid off the bed, making her way to the door. "Ayane-chan… I'm sorry if I did anything to upset you lately. I didn't mean to," she said, concern written all over her face.

Her half-sister left, quietly closing the door behind her. Ayane said nothing.

What's the point in being with you anymore? You were always praised, always loved.

I was only a mistake.

-x-

Kasumi made numerous attempts to reconcile their friendship, but Ayane didn't seem to notice. Eventually, during one such afternoon, Ayane was called in to talk to Hayate. Surprise registered in her eyes; Hayate had never specifically asked to talk to her.

That is, until she learned the reason why he wanted to talk to her alone.

She entered the main room. He was already there in a formal pose, sitting up straight on a chair and watching her closely as she entered. "Sit." He gestured to a chair that he had placed opposite side of his own.

Ayane did not appreciate being told what to do, especially by someone who was not even leader of the clan. She remained standing, crossing her arms over her chest.

He frowned but refrained from commenting. "I wanted to talk to you about my sister."

She fought the urge to roll her eyes and leave the room right then and there. So the little princess had decided to run off and whine to her big brother. "Yeah? What about her?"

Hayate looked intently at her. "She's told me about the way you've been acting lately… that you seem to be angry about something she did, and you won't tell her why."

Silence fell across the room. Ayane simply stood there, refusing to speak.

"So… what's going on?" he finally asked. "Kasumi -"

Kasumi. Ayane felt her muscles tense at the name. Why was it always about her? Why was someone always so willing o listen to her and treat her like a spoiled brat, as if Ayane didn't even exist? Why was she so damned perfect?

"It's none of your business," she finally responded, effectively cutting across him.

When Hayate spoke, his tone sounded quite calm, although she could hear the carefully contained irritation beneath the surface.

"It is if this is about my sister."

"So what if it is? Does she always have to go running to you, or can she not defend herself?"

Hayate sighed. "Look, I don't want to argue with you. If you have a problem with Kasumi, you can take it out on me. All she wants is to be your friend."

"I don't need friends."

"I didn't tell you you had to have any. Just treat my sister with more respect, all right? She hasn't done anything to you."

They all take her for granted, just because her birth happened to be the beginning of her existence as the next leader of the Mugen-Tenshin clan.

She'll always be better than me. To her, I'm nothing but someone to pity.

He wouldn't understand, nor would he want to even try. Just like the rest of them. She fought back the retort that wanted to erupt from her mouth like venom. Ayane glared briefly at him, then turned to leave.

"Hey, all I'm asking is for you to be a bit nicer to her, or at least tell her why you're angry with her. For whatever reason."

She forced a sarcastic grin onto her face and glanced back at him, bowing slightly. Then she returned to the room she was 'forced' to share with her half-sister.

For whatever reason, eh? If it weren't for her…

maybe I would have had a chance.

-

To be continued…