Irene was caught off guard. Her eyes wide and shocked. Her face turned white as sheet wondering how did Ryu find out. The overwhelming intensity in his emerald eyes staring straight at her. The fearful feeling of everything she had built and loved for the past four years was about to crumble down in seconds.

"Did you sleep with him?" He asked.

His eyes were cold like she'd never seen toward her before. Even though he had asked her a question, she had a funny feeling that he'd already known the answer. He didn't frown even slightly when asking question but wore a stern expression. As if he was testing her response. She knew the interrogating game too well and just like Ryu, she too could read body language almost perfectly.

"Ryu…" Her tone sounded like a plead.

"Either tell me a yes or tell me a no. But don't insult me." He demanded.

Irene couldn't bring herself to tell him anything. The only response she gave was the tears that dribbled down her warm cheek.

"It wouldn't change anything no matter what I tell you…" She then replied.

"Perhaps it won't, but I'm intrigue to know how the two people that I trust and love the most in this world decided to play me for a fool."

She wondered if Hayate had said anything to Ryu. It was unlikely, but right now she didn't know what to believe.

"H-how did you…?" Irene dared and asked how he knew.

He took his time to answer, "I heard the two of you talking that night…"

Irene looked at him wide-eyed. Ryu was referring to the night when she was helping Hayate stitched the wound on his arm. She had forgotten that Ryu's hearing ability was sharper than any other regular human being.

"When I woke up that morning, I couldn't tell whether I was dreaming or that I actually heard the conversation. But deep down I knew it wasn't a dream…" Ryu had deluded himself and gone into denial after that morning, until he saw Hayate again back at the Mugen Tenshin. He had to restrain himself from punching Hayate in front of the villagers.

He'd never thought in a million years that he would have this conversation with his wife. He then thought of Kasumi of how she too had betrayed him by keeping his son a secret. At this point, nothing would surprise him anymore. There was no one he could trust. He had wandered around New York city day and night for weeks, thinking and searching for answers. Everything was such a mess in his life that he felt truly alone about everything. It had come to a point where he needed to start doing something about it, except that, he didn't know exactly what to do. But avoiding his situations was beginning to torture him within. He was slowly transitioning to become a person he never wanted to be. The bitterness in his heart was rising toward everyone in his life and all he could feel was anger. Perhaps, he had never felt this style of betrayal before and Ryu was struggling to deal with his emotions.

"It was a mistake…" Irene hopelessly said in a low whisper.

Ryu tried to comprehend, "How was it mistake?" He made a funny noise to that, "Did both of you accidently fall on top each other?" His tone sounded as if he was making fun of her.

"That is not fair. You cheated on me with Kasumi have you forgotten that?"

He shook his head, "I've made it clear that I couldn't pursue any relationship with you until Kasumi was safe. Perhaps you and I shouldn't have gotten intimate too soon, and at the time it was nothing more than lust between us…"

For you maybe…Irene sadly thought to his statement. Now thinking back, Irene felt stupid as she had clearly misunderstood their closeness back then. But once he was no longer attached to the promise he made to Hayate, he chose to commit to her and they became even closer. He had ever since proven that she was the only one for him. Due to that, it was hard for Irene to hold anything against him. Nonetheless, it still hurt for her to know he had slept with Kasumi as she had already fallen hard for Ryu at the time.

"Why did you do it Irene? of all of people, why Hayate?"

Irene ran her hands through her golden blonde hair, "Because I was so angry with you…"

Ryu was baffled, wondering what he had done so badly that drove his wife straight to his best friend's arms. He looked confused at her and insulted at the same time.

Irene collected herself to tell him what had happened as there was no turning back now. "Remember that big fight that we had before the wedding…?" Irene was rather careful with how she approached her story.

Ryu frowned, trying to remember what his wife was referring to, as they hardly had any major arguments from what he remembered. Then something hit him because the only big fight they ever had was on the same week as their wedding. Memories began rolling in his mind, slowly unfolding itself. Hayate was in New York since he was invited to their wedding…of course, Ryu thought. It made sense all sudden.

"You had cold feet…you said you couldn't go through it and we began arguing, then I left because I was so upset with you…" She proceeded, but Ryu continued her thought.

"I couldn't find you for two days…that's when I realized I couldn't live without you. I felt terrible…" He stopped talking for a minute. His face was burning, his stomach twisting in a way that made him think he was going to throw up. "I needed Hayate for advice, but I couldn't get a hold of him either...I see now." Ryu was amused, as they played him good.

Irene didn't interrupt him since he was spot on with the details. She didn't have to say much more. The memories began playing back in her mind like a movie. She had gone to Hayate's hotel room at the time to beg him to talk some sense into Ryu because she thought that he wanted to cancel the wedding. Instead, Hayate was comforting her. It was surprising to Irene because she had thought that Hayate never liked her that much. He was being strangely sweet and understanding. In the past, she had heard Hayate telling Ryu about their relationship was doomed to fail, but Irene was desperate and she knew Ryu would listen to Hayate. She had no choice but to go to him.

That same evening, Irene had accidently fallen asleep on Hayate's bed as she had been exhausted after a long emotional day. He didn't wake her. When she woke up it was already late at night. She was still upset and tried to leave but Hayate suggested that she should stay until morning at least. Neither could go back to sleep, so they sat up and talked. Once again, he was comforting her. She remembered thinking that Hayate was quite charming and funny after spending a little time with him. Then one thing led to another and the next thing she remembered, they kissed. Being vulnerable and angry at the time, Irene didn't think twice about her action.

The day after, she began panicking but Hayate had comforted her again…though this time, he was seducing her and she couldn't resist. Hayate was making her feel good and she felt so pitiful now thinking back of how weak she was. Though she never knew why Hayate did what he did, why he would risk his friendship with Ryu just to get rid of her? It didn't make sense… and while she was deeply saddened and full with regret with what they had done, Hayate however wasn't worried at all, as if he didn't care about hurting Ryu. She should have known that the guy had no soul and the ultimate cold shinobi inside out… Irene shook her head slightly at the last thought. She then snapped back to reality when Ryu spoke again.

"I hope it was worth it." He said and hurried to the door.

"Ryu," Irene begged and followed right behind.

He abruptly stopped and turned to her, "Do not follow me." He said in an icy voice.

Then he looked at her for a good moment. Despite his anger, he hated seeing her cry. He wasn't showing it, but it was driving him crazy not being able to comfort her.

"Suddenly, our love doesn't seem like some great love." Ryu took his coat and closed the door behind him. He didn't know where he was going, but at that moment just away from his wife.

Irene made a horrible gasping noise. She just stood there, rooted to the spot, except from her tears that suddenly wouldn't stop flooding her cheek. Then all the scary thoughts ran through her mind wondering if they could ever fix this and would they ever be happy again. She could blame Hayate for all she wanted, but deep down she knew she could only blame herself for her own action. Her heart was beating so fast and every other emotion pushed away from her being as all she could feel at that moment was fear and deep sadness.

Tokyo, Japan

It was already past midnight and Kasumi struggled to sleep. It had become a pattern ever since Takeshi left her over a week ago. The heavy thinking over her problems was making her restless. Kasumi was born as a warrior princess and she was raised to be strong physically and emotionally. But lately, she couldn't help but feel like a complete failure as a wife, daughter, sister and mother. She then tossed to the other side and let out a weary sigh at her thought. She missed him…

Her eyes tracked to her phone on the bed table. She reached and looked at it. Still nothing…waiting to hear from Takeshi, hoping that he would change his mind and that it was just another stupid argument of theirs. The more she hoped the more broken and empty she felt inside. It made her so angry that he just gave up on them again. Though she wasn't surprised, as this wasn't the first time he had done it. When things got tough, he would leave instead of trying to fix the problems. The past two years had been rocky between them.

Tenzou hadn't asked nor mentioned Takeshi. Perhaps he was getting used to his absence. Even before this, he'd only seen Takeshi every other weekend. It made it a little easier on her because she wouldn't know how to response if Tenzou would suddenly start asking where his father was. Kasumi wanted to cry, but her tears were all dried up as she had done enough crying that week.

Then she looked at the picture frame on the bedside table. A picture of the two of them on their wedding day. She stared at it for a good moment, until anger sliced through her the longer she stared at it. In rage, Kasumi sat up on her bed, grabbed the frame and opened the backside to take the picture out. She looked at it for another five seconds before she ripped the picture into pieces, then threw the rest into a garbage can nearby. Her heart was beating hard, she felt guilty but it was driving her crazy. Her breathing increased due to the intense pain she was feeling. She took a deep breath to keep herself together. Next, she lifted her hand and looked at her wedding ring that was still attached to her finger. Without thinking twice, Kasumi tried to take it off but it wouldn't budge. She clenched her teeth and tried again. With great effort, she managed to take it off and then threw the ring on the wall followed with a frustrated groan, as if she wanted to scream but restraining all she could from going completely insane. Everything had been balling up in her chest and she finally has had enough.

Kasumi threw herself back onto her bed, drew the cover up to her chin and began sobbing again. She was so emotionally exhausted.

When morning arrived, Kasumi awoke to the sound of her alarm clock. She sat up and glanced at her bedside table. The alarm clock was flashing 8:00 AM. Kasumi yawned her eyes out as she was still so tired, feeling like she hadn't slept at all. But she had no choice since Tenzou would be up early and she had to prepare him breakfast. She would just have to push through her drowsiness to survive the day.

An hour later…

"Tenzou, breakfast is ready!" Kasumi shouted from the kitchen. She had only gotten two hours of sleep, but she was glad that it was her weekend off because she wouldn't have survived working at the restaurant in her current state of mood. Kasumi frowned, as her son didn't seem to hear her. She went looking for him. She found him in his room picking his favorite toys and put them into his backpack.

"Hey, why are you packing?" She asked.

He turned to her, "I want to bring my favorite toys when I stay with papa."

Kasumi's heart ached, as she just realized that Takeshi was supposed have him this weekend. Though she wasn't sure if he would show up, and she had a funny feeling that he wouldn't this time. Kasumi ran a hand through her messy hair and breathe out a heavy sigh. She hated this part. Tenzou looked so happy, so clueless…she then walked over and knelt on the floor beside him.

"What do you say if we spend this weekend together instead?" She forced a smile.

"Why? Are we going to see uncle Hayate again?" Tenzou asked while still collecting his toys, he didn't know which one he wanted to bring with him.

"No, just you and me…" Kasumi didn't know how to say it.

"Then I want to go with Papa." He casually responded.

Kasumi sighed. "Listen, your papa is very busy…I don't think he can make it today okay, I'm sorry." She touched his face lovingly.

Tenzou suddenly stopped from packing. He slowly began pouting, then without any warning, he grabbed one of his toys and threw it passed Kasumi hitting the wall behind her. Kasumi was startled at the unexpected rage. The toy broke and Tenzou screamed at her.

"I want to go with papa!"

"That is not the way to treat your toys and you do not shout at me like that." Her firm discipline voice quickly came out, as she didn't want to deal with his tantrum at that moment. But Tenzou refused to listen and began crying stomping his feet repeatedly and kept repeating that he wanted to stay with his father. Perhaps she was being harsh but her patient was just running short that morning. She didn't want to punish him, as she understood his disappointment.

Her voice then softened. "Look at me," She asked softly and he did, but his eyes were fill with tears. She wiped them off his cheeks.

"I made your favorite breakfast, so let's go eat our breakfast and then we can go do a lot of fun stuff and have a good day together, what do you say? Plus, you have Karate class later today too…you're excited about that, aren't you?" She smiled. Tenzou was always excited to go to his Karate class, because he had made new friends and he said that Hitomi was a cool teacher. Every time he came home from his class, he was often excited to show Kasumi what he had learned.

Tenzou wasn't responsive and tears were still running down his cheeks. But he wasn't talking back nor screaming. Kasumi hated seeing her son so upset, as he had already gone through a lot in his short life. She tried something else by taking both his hands, gently shaking them playfully and smiled to him trying to get him to smile with her.

"I love you," She said. Her voice was so gentle.

It was slowly working as he suddenly leaned in for a hug. But when Kasumi tried to break from the hug, he refused to let go. She happily lifted him up and carried him to the kitchen to eat their breakfast. Tenzou was being a little baby and clingy but that was normal when he had been that upset. She preferred him being a baby and wanted to be carried and cuddled, as Tenzou was growing up too fast for her.

While eating their breakfast, Kasumi studied her son from across the table, as if he had forgotten about Takeshi. Though she only wondered how long until he would react again on Takeshi's absence. Because right now, he just believed that his father couldn't make it, and he didn't know that he might never see him again. The sadness strike her once again… and all their memories as a family balled up in her chest. Even good memories had suddenly turned into painful memories. As depressed as Kasumi was feeling, she needed to be a mother first and grief later.

Later that same day, Kasumi delivered Tenzou to his Karate class. Once back outside to head back home, Kasumi adjusted and zipped up her knee length white coat and then pushed opened her see through umbrella when more rain was swirling down, and an icy wind was scouring the streets, stirring up grit and trash. It wouldn't be long before the winter would set in. She kept her head down due to the cold and started walking fast to hurry home. She passed by a crowded street park nearby her apartment complex. Something suddenly didn't feel right to her as she was walking through the park. It was one of those strong senses she had when she was a kunoichi where she could sense if a familiar energy approached her. But being as rusty as she was, Kasumi didn't think twice about it. Still unable to shake the feeling off, Kasumi paused in her tracks and looked back at the bench park that she passed by a few seconds ago looking in the direction questionably. She decided to go back to see if her senses were right.

"Why are you sitting in the rain…?" Kasumi asked strangely with a frown.

He stared at her rainboots and then slowly trailing his gaze up looking Kasumi in the eyes. He didn't even realize it was raining as his mind had been so far away from reality. Then he lowered his gaze back down at her boots looking rather aloof.

"Hayabusa…?" Kasumi tilted and tried to get his attention again, as he looked lost and depressed.

"Did you just get here?" She continued asking.

He lightly shook his head, but still not looking at her.

"Last night…" He spoke low, "I wanted to see you…but I'm still so damn angry with you."

Kasumi's frown deepened, unsure what to say. She then gazed up the sky as rain was getting thicker by the minute. She slightly leaned forward toward him and took his icy cold hand.

"Come with me," She said.

Ryu looked up at her, giving her an annoyed look but Kasumi didn't let his hand go, "You can't just sit out here in this weather…you'll get sick."

"That's the least of my worries right now." He replied and pulled his hand away from her hand.

Kasumi sighed. She refused to just leave him there as she could see that something was not right with Ryu, and she was worried about him.

"So, you're just going to sit here until you're no longer angry with me? Because if that's the case, you'll freeze to death."

He didn't respond and just sitting still as a statue.

"Fine, then I'll sit here with you." Kasumi lowered herself and sat next to him. She held her umbrella up in the way where it would cover Ryu too.

He looked at her sideway with a serious expression, "Some things never changed…"

"What do you mean?" She wondered.

"Kasumi will do whatever Kasumi wants until she gets her way." He said in a tone where it sounded rather rude to her ears than teasing.

She raised a brow to that... "Are you mocking me, Hayabusa?"

Ryu ignored, making Kasumi shook her head and rose to her feet to leave, but before she did she looked at him one last time.

"And you still talk to me like I'm a child." She didn't know why his words made her so upset, "Sit in the cold and freeze to death if you want, why do I care." Kasumi turned and left the park without looking back.

A faint amusing smirk appeared on the corner of his lips. Kasumi was the only one who could talk to him like that and get away with it. How typical...Ryu shook his head. Then he looked up at the rainy sky that was dominant by dark clouds. A deep weary sigh escaped him. A perfect weather that described how he was feeling inside.