Chapter 7:

Destiny?

~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-

Nightfall. The forest falls into an unsettling silence, as only a few sets of light footsteps can barely be heard racing over the trees and through the underbrush. Four mysterious silhouettes, almost dancing in the winds, covering miles of terrain in a very short time, and never seeming to grow tired. Upon reaching a small shrine, they stopped their race, all heading in, single file. Many more silhouettes stood at both ends of the shrine, none moving. The four walked forward, past them all, to two figures at the front, one of them male, taller than the other. Upon reaching these two figures, the four halted, quickly kneeling down.

"Hayate-sama..."

"What is the field report?" Hayate responded swiftly.

"We haven't pinpointed the runaway's exact location yet, but we are certain that she is present."

"I see." The man turned to the woman at his side, folding his arms before he spoke again.

"Ayane....the next round of the third Dead or Alive Tournament is set to begin. According to the rules, you are to meet her tomorrow morning for a match in the southwestern section of the forest. You know what to do."

"Wakari." *Understood. came Ayane's reply, simple and cold in tone. Ayane smirked to herself, her reddish-orange eyes filled with anticipation. She would be sure to enjoy every moment of the fight. Finally, a chance to finish off that stupid runaway! Then there would be no obstructions left in her path....

~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-

Ren woke up groggily the next morning. The tournament would be starting today... but he was ready for them. All of them.... even that bastard Max. Ren wore a plain white shirt, black jeans, some gray gym shoes. It was.... 9:06 a.m. The tournament was scheduled to start at 11:30. There was still a little time left, though it would take a while for them to get back into the city, where the tournament would be taking place.

"Got time for breakfast?" Ren's grandfather asked from the kitchen.

"Barely." Ren grabbed a piece of toast, stuffing it into his mouth, seeming to swallow it almost whole. He took up his black duffel bag, and stood impatiently at the door.

"Let's go!"

"Alright, alright..." The old man emerged from the kitchen, and they left the house, Ren eager to get back to Tokyo.

"Are we gonna have to catch a cab again?" Ren asked.

"That's right... but, it's already been pre-arranged. Transportation to and from the tournament site is provided for us. So, we don't have to pay every day."

"Oh. cool."

They walked together down the winding road, until they got to one of the main roads. Upon getting there, a cab was waiting nearby, but it was all-black, as opposed to the typical red-and-white. Ren put his bag into the trunk, and they both got in. Ren's grandfather spoke to the cabbie.

"We're trying to get to the Youth International Martial Arts Tournament..."

"Oh! The kid's gonna enter!? He looks strong!" The cabbie said, glancing back at Ren.

"...You know where it is?"

"Yeah! Of course, of course, I'll get you there in no time!"

The taxi sped off, heading east. Ren was supriesd, as it didn't seem to take nearly as long to get back into Tokyo as it was when they first arrived. Within an hour, they'd pulled up to a tall, silver building.

"The Tournament's being held on the 10th floor. There's a big dojo up there. Oh, and Mr. Hokunaki, there will be another cab like this one here to take you back home, free of charge." The cabbie said.

"Thanks." Ren replied as he took his duffle from the trunk. "Let's head in."

"Ganbatte ne!" *Do your best! The cabbie called out before driving off.

So they walked in. Once entering, they saw all kinds of advertisements for the tournament. There were banners hanging from ceilings, flyers posted up on walls, and signs everywhere.

"...At least we know we came to the right building..." Ren said incredulously.

The two found an elevator, and rode it up to the 10th floor. The elevator door opened to a hallway, littered with torches and golden statues. At the end of it, they came to the actual dojo, which was suprisingly large. There were several mats laid out in the main area, and many students from different schools loitering on the floor. There were 4 sets of spectator stands, lining each wall of the gigantic room. These stands were filling, slowly, but steadily. Ren even saw a few familiar faces from the last tournament. He headed for the locker room at the other end to get changed, while his grandfather found a seat in the stands. A few minutes later, Ren emerged in his Martial Arts School's traditional white gi, just in time as the students began to assemble, sitting down all around the room. Ren found his assigned spot, and was able to locate his grandfather fairly quickly in the crowd, despite the fact that the room filled fairly quickly. Several older men stood at the north end of the room who seemed to be the ones who would set things into motion.

Finally, the room grew quiet. One of the men, a balding fellow with glasses stepped forward, with a microphone.

"Thank you all for being in attendance. Now, let the tournament begin! As you can see, there are five mats located around the room, so logically, there will be five matches in progress at the same time, until we reach the semi-finals. Now, the first ten combatants, please stand! The announcer proceeded to read off a list of names, and Ren's was one of them. He stood, and was told to go to mat #4. Upon getting there, he saw the boy who would be his first opponent. He was about the same size, maybe an inch or two taller than Ren. He looked American. The boys bowed to each other, and took stances. The preliminary matches were set to begin.

~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-

The leaves in this part of the forest turned red pretty quickly, Ayane thought as she sat in a tree, waiting for her sister to arrive. She watched as a few orange leaves drifted lazily into the stream a short distance away, where they were carried along by the currents. She wore her dark purple and black kunoichi outfit, with the gold decorations on the black jacket, and a black headband tied around her head. She blew a few wisps of her lavender hair from her face. While she tried to stay calm, she was aching to get into battle. What was taking so long, anyway? Did Kasumi chicken out or something? Just as Ayane started to get bored, she spotted Kasumi wearing her typical blue kunoichi outfit with the white stockings, her reddish brown hair tied into a loose ponytail. Kasumi walked toward her, a somewhat difficult to describe look in her eyes. Ayane couldn't wait any longer. She wanted action, NOW. She leapt from the tree, a mischeivous smirk on her face as she neared Kasumi. Ayane lashed out with a quick kick, which Kasumi dodged by rolling to the side, though Ayane landed effortlessly and was instantly upon her, attacking with swift palm strikes. Kasumi blocked them all, jumping away in a flip to regain her composure. She stood still after landing, still facing away from Ayane, though she looked over her shoulder before turning to face her opponent. Ayane stood firm, pointing an accusing finger, speaking in her cold, unfeeling tone.

"I find it hard to believe that you are a runaway shinobi! See Hayate-sama, if that is what you wish."

Kasumi remained motionless, the wind playing at her long hair. She maintained eye contact with Ayane, her face emotionless.

"I will see him."

Ayane's eyes narrowed, her smirk turning into a scowl as she made a fist.

"I will kill Genra, and no one will stop me. I cannot let you have this one."

The girls took on their identical fighting stances, each waiting for the other to make a move. Ayane, still the aggressor, lunged forward, with two swift mid palm attacks. Kasumi blocked the first without much trouble, but the second came unexpectedly, like a rigid uppercut, taking Kasumi by suprise. She was lifted a few inches from the ground, Ayane continuing the assault with a vicious mid kick to Kasumi's exposed torso. Kasumi fell back from the impact, though quickly rolled onto her feet. Ayane attacked again with a high kick, a look of both hatred and amusement mixed into her eyes. Kasumi caught it, hopping up into the air to nail Ayane square in the nose with a jumping kick. Ayane hit the forest floor hard, but retaliated with a sweeping low kick, which Kasumi hopped over to dodge. Ayane then spun quickly, releasing a powerful roundhouse kick. Kasumi ducked under this. Though, Ayane continued to spin, jumping into the air and extending her legs horizontally to wrap them around Kasumi's neck. Ayane twisted in mid-air, bringing Kasumi down headfirst. Kasumi let out a brief painful yelp, which Ayane enjoyed dearly. Finally getting up Ayane waited for Kasumi to rise again. She did, quickly attacking with 2 swift jabs to Ayane's face, which were too quick to dodge. Ayane took them, but caught Kasumi's third punch, which was aimed at the midsection, tossing the arm over her shoulder while jumping to throw Kasumi to the ground, landing in a roll on top of her. Ayane rolled into a standing position, though she faced away from Kasumi. Kasumi got up suprisingly quickly, leaping into the air to deliver two forceful spin kicks, one aimed to the back of Ayane's head, the other at her mid-back. The second kick sent Ayane flying, to collide directly with a tree, her body bouncing down the small hill and into the stream. At this, Kasumi stopped, deciding that the fight was over. She turned away, as many cherry blossom leaves appeared around her.

Ayane rose from the stream on hands and knees, panting heavily, still looking down, water dripping down from her face.

"Wait....THIS ISN'T OVER YET!" She yelled, anger rising rapidly in her voice.

Kasumi looked back at her momentarily, but began a quick spin, beginning to depart.

"I must see Hayate..." she said simply, before vanishing completely in a swirl of leaves.

Ayane was outraged. She pounded her fists, kicking up splashes of water.

"Damn it! ...I'll get her yet...."

~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-

Ren dodged several swift punches, almost effortlessly. He grabbed one, attacking the boy fiercely with a power punch to the chest. The boy had the wind knocked out of him, and landed outside of the mat. Bah, what did he expect? The first few matches were always the easiest. Ren plowed through five more contestants, almost the same way. Finally, the first round of the tournament had come to an end, Ren standing undefeated. The announcers congratulated him, and all the other boys who would be returning for the quarterfinals. Then Ren saw his rival, staring at him the same way that he always did.... with that stupid goofball grin on his face, Ren thought angrily. Max had been undefeated too. Ren narrowed his eyes, hoping that Max would indeed remain undefeated until the finals, so that he could finally have revenge. It would be worth the wait. Ren changed back into his normal clothes, he and his grandfather leaving the dojo. As promised, there was another black taxi outside, waiting to take them home. On the ride back, Ren's grandfather smiled at him.

"You did great. I wouldn't be suprised if you won this whole thing without breaking a sweat."

"Yeah..." Ren replied, only half-attentive.

 For the rest of the ride, Ren remained silent. Later, back at the house, Ren decided he'd do more training. He'd need to be prepared to face MAx, if need be.  He went to his grandfather.

"Grandpa...is it ok if I head into the forest to train?"

"Sure...that forest is a great place to hone your skills."

And so, Ren took Lighthawk, strapping it onto his back.He glanced into a mirror at himself, dressed in a simple black training outfit. The outfit and the sword on his back looked cool.....almost made him look like... some kind of ninja or something. Heh, him, a ninja... he smirked at the thought.

He made his way onto the path, heading deep into the thick of forest just as the sun was beginning to set. The orange light shone through the treetops, creating a sort of serene look to the place. After coming upon a small clearing some time later, he decided that it was a good enough area to begin training. He set up a few wooden targets made of tree branches and short logs on the ground, and unsheathed the sword. He looked at it, then attacked at his targets. He was suprised at how easy it was to slice Lighthawk through everything, even without much force or effort on his part. The blade cut cleanly, cleaving everything he swung it at in two. After his little sword exercise, he but the sword back in the sheath, sitting it against a tree stump as he took a brief rest. The sun had almost set completely by now, only a few red rays still coming from the horizon. Ren then worked on his Kenpo techniques, punches and kicks, evasive moves. He did this for another couple hours, until it was dark. Just as he was getting tired, he heard a small sound, or at least, thought he heard it. It sounded as though a small branch had snapped under someone's weight. He looked around, but saw nothing. Then, right before he passed it off as nothing, he saw a flash of something out of the corner of his eye, followed by barely audible footsteps. It was too hard to tell exactly how many there were, but Ren wanted to know what was going on. He took up the sword, throwing it on his back as he ran full speed toward where he saw the object go by. Even though it was hard to hear, it sounded as though the footsteps were getting father away, despite Ren's running at top speed. They were moving fast. Ren reached another clearing, where he was suddenly reminded of his dream. Everything was playing out, just like in that dream he'd had in New York. But, he couldn't see the figure from the dream anywhere. And, the footsteps had all stopped. He looked from side to side, but saw nothing out of the ordinary, no traces of anything unusual. Then, without warning, he felt a sharp pain at his back, as a somehat heavy thing overtook him, bringing him to the ground forcefully. Ren fell face first, Lighthawk being thrown from him, just out of his reach as the object landed on top of him. It was too dark to really see anything, but Ren wrestled with the figure, the two of them rolling along the ground as Ren fought, in his opinion for dear life. Finally, the figure had him pinned to the ground face up, and the two stared into each other's eyes. The dark figure spoke, in a decidedly female voice.

"You....you're the one from the Octagon!"

"What the...!?" Suddenly, it clicked. Ren sat up, staring at the girl in utter disbelief.

"You're....Kasumi...!?"