By Kochan
Chapter 8: Condoned
Author's Note - As a warning. Hints of incest further down though none actually taking place.
Midnight over Shiga prefecture. The crispness of a cold winter's night in the harsh, icy air. Despite the blackened dome overhead, the sky kept its sight with the moon, risen from the sanctuary of the dark clouds once the snow showers had ceased. Everything it cast its eye upon was coated with a incandescent white: The frosted, tree-lined slopes of the Nakago peaks, the vast shores of the Biwa Lake, the water itself a blanket of shimmering satin.
Everything, but for the stone tablets that Ayane stared at. It seemed neither sunshine nor moonlight dared tread near during her visits. Her heart felt heavy and cold, not unlike the hard, unmarked gray marble block before her. Never had it conveyed anything to her but this void. It felt as though her mother had never loved her, and even bore hatred for her beyond the grave, her youngest illegitimate child, born of rape.
But still Ayane came, bearing flowers, and with them love, only to be absorbed by the sense of emptiness that clung about this grove. She lowered her scarf, smoothing the folds of her ash gray coat aside to kneel before the tablets. After settling the bouquet of Camellias and Yellow Pansies against the stone block, she proceeded to clear the sides of the withered flowers from her past visit. There was some emotion left in her yet, and she let it pour forth to warm her heart.
"Pansies, to remember you by. And Camellias, because you were so lovely, Oka-sama." Ayane whispered, pausing in her toil to wipe a tear from her cheek. She let a sigh escape, her breath misting in a stray beam of moonlight.
"Oka-sama, why did you leave us when we were so young?" she said, eyes helpless and lips parted in desolation. "Look at us now, the demons we've become, forced to hunt each other."
Yet she knew it was only herself she spoke of. Kasumi did not seek her demise and still loved her as a sister, much as Ayane was loath to admit.
"We needed love, needed protection. At least...at least you'd made sure Kasumi had a brother." her fingers gripped the top of the tablet hard, knuckles white from the tension.
"But there was no one there when he came to me...those nights. How could I stop him?" Her body shivered as she wept, the unwelcome memories of her father crawling out from whence she'd buried them, "He took me just like he did you, again...and again. How could you just let him do what he did?"
She'd lost her power of speech, with nothing more to say, fallen tears cold on her face. She'd asked the same questions many times before, and had never received an answer.
But this time was different.
"Ayane?"
The voice pulled her from her muse and she turned, looking through vision blurred by tears to the Kunoichi awaiting her . Soft chestnut eyes that were as she remembered her mother's, and once her sister's gazed down upon her."We should go." said Zwei with a gentle nod, smoothing her fingers over the black scarf of her Gi.
Ayane looked upon the delicate features of the Kunoichi and let her tension drain with yet another sigh, her own gaze dropping to the ground as she dabbed at her eyes with her scarf. This was her sister, her family now. She sought in her heart to forgive Kasumi perhaps just once, if only for the sake of her mother's memory this winter night.
Rising from her kneeling position, Ayane faced to the North, braving the cold, unceasing, bitter bite of the Kogarashi wind. She shifted to her spell stance, two fingers of one hand pointed skywards as she rested it on the open palm of the other. Her body warmed as she channeled the surrounding air about her into an invisible vortex.
"Hageshi ikari ni moeru honou o suhai suru.(I embrace the fury of the flames)" she called, releasing the tight swirl of heated wind upwards into the atmosphere, causing leaf and branch alike to shiver in the grove about her.
"Rest well, Onee-san...wherever you may be." she whispered, looking upwards as the stars glittered ever the brighter through the trees above, expressing their thanks for her gift.
* * * *
Author's notes
Shiga Prefecture - Consists of mountain ranges that surround Lake Biwa, the largest (Almost 680 square kms) lake in Japan. Shiga is close to the geographical centre of Japan. If you recall from Chapter 1 (Go read it now if you like), Hayate and Kasumi are in part of the Fukui prefecture, directly northwards of Shiga. The Nakago mountains serve as the border between the two prefectures.
Oka-sama- Japanese for mother is Oka-san. Ayane has the utmost respect for her mother as a parent as well as a warrior, hence the 'Sama' suffix.
Ayane's Biological father is Raidou (Boss char from the 1st DOA) NOT Genra. Ayane is the child of Raidou and Ayame, who is also Hayate's and Kasumi's mother. What isn't clear is whether or not Raidou and Ayame had an affair or whether Raidou forced himself upon Ayame (Ayane has her own beliefs on this - and so do I *^^*).
Zwei - Who's the 2nd Kunoichi? (smile) If you can't guess, you'll find out soon enough in my other fic 'Finsternis' once this is complete. As a BIG hint, the name is German.
Kogarashi - The cold winter wind. The Japanese have countless names for the wind, depending on season, direction, humidity etc etc. Kitakaze is the north winter wind, but it's termed as the Kogarashi when deadly cold and icy.
Yeahhhhh!!! An update in under 2 weeks. A short chappy it is though, but one I'm quite happy with considering I've been down with the Flu. Let's hope that I can keep this pace up for 'Finsternis' once I return to it after this. Yes, there'll be one more chapter after this before it's complete. I knew exactly how to finish it and if you kept up right through the chapters, the middle was the hardest section to write. On to the replies for now though...
DarkAngel004/1043 - Hehe, not sure which one to call you. I dropped both in to be sure. Once again, glad to see you back 'o' regular reader. Here's hoping you enjoy this 2nd to last chapter.
NthDegree256 - I've taken this off a review I posted to your own fic 'Cyclical', and a helluva fic it is that!!!
Thank you muchly for the past review on 'Unsent Letters'. As for Helena's (At least, the Helena I have in mind) sexuality, she DOES indeed have very strong morals. But like any other human, she accepts there must be sin as well, and to her homosexuality is less of a sin than adultery, as she sees the latter as far more destructive than the former. If she must transgress one sin to protect that which is most dear to her (Constance), then she will do so, and seek forgiveness, for that is her way of life. (Just as she hunts her mother's killer) To her, God loves sinners...period. (Sorry bout the extended rant).
As for your last comment, yes - we're all writing fics, so some liberty (in some fics A LOT) is taken with the chars for the plot we don't see in the game. But I try to adhere to Canon, if I can. I like to see the Helena I've portrayed as not straying from that.
At this point in time, I haven't taken the time to post up the 4th review for you fic yet, this chapter is why. But now that it's up...*grin* Hope you liked it as much as I liked yours!
UnholyPreacher - Hey ho Preacher! Good to see you back. No harm with giving ourselves a little pat on the back once in a while I guess. Gives us the inspiration to write, and that can only be a good thing. *^^*
Great to see you've gotten IA back on track once more with a good idea of where to take it (riiight????) With the DOATEC thing, I kinda thought it was really corny to have it called Dead or Alive something or other, so I just had to rename it something. Guess it worked out (smile). I had no interest in Opera whatsoever (still don't actually), but a few hours on the internet and you can dig up some fairly solid material to support a fic.
I had 2 years of French in High School, so I did have a foot to start of from *^^* Helena and Constance? I decided not to step too far into the lemon department so as to keep this fic 'clean'. Sex may sell, but this isn't the fic for it. Sooner or later, I'll put it in somewhere. Hope you enjoyed this one!
Pyralis - I was about to mention that I'd been waiting for an update to 'Blinking Tears', then I caught sight of the 2 new fics and update (as well as a poem) that you plopped on the Street Fighter archive. Read 'Nightmare Existence', I'll drop a review on that soon. (If theres one fav char of mine on SF, it's Rose). Thanks once again for reading, hope you like the latest chapter!
Next Chap - Final Chapter! Back to where it all begin. Hayate and Kasumi once again.