The characters from Dead or Alive are copyright Tecmo Ltd and Team Ninja. This story is an unauthorised work done purely for my personal enjoyment, and is not intended to infringe on any of their rights in or their profits from these characters. But this story is copy write to me.
Comments, especially (constructive) criticism, always welcomed. Please e-mail me at
Notes
See part 1 for detailed notes. I'll be doing an NC-17 version later ......
Sunlight and Shadow - part 3
Hitomi wandered out onto the tiled pool side area with a dazed look on her face. Leifang got up, a look of concern evident. "Hitomi, what's wrong?" The Chinese girl was always hanging around the beautiful brunette, to such an extent that it had a few tongues wagging .....
"Nothing's actually wrong, Lei. It's just - Kas, did your sister have an odd upbringing?" Blue eyes focussed on the Japanese girl in her revealing red bikini, currently engrossed in a food magazine.
The redheaded ninja girl looked up from her deckchair and shook her head. "Not that I know of, she had a normal childhood, why?" Well, as normal as a ninja girl could ever have, I suppose.
The German girl ran her fingers through her hair. "Because when I told her we're having a pyjama party tonight and asked her if she wanted to come, she asked me what a pyjama party was!"
Tina, who had been standing on the edge of the swimming pool ready to jump in, looked round at the two of them with a bemused look on her face. "What kinda girl don't know what a pyjama party is?! Geez, I mean we did those at least once a month!"
"Yes, but you have to have friends to have a party, Tina." Helena's cultured tones cut across the conversation, and the others turned their heads to look at her. They all knew that the elegant Frenchwoman hated and distrusted the purple-haired girl, believing that she had been responsible for the death of her mother.
"Since Ayane has no friends, she cannot have been invited to parties, now can she?" I certainly would not invite her to anything. Even if she had not killed Mother, she is a very unpleasant person.
"She must have had some friends, Helena!" Leifang rolled her eyes in mild exasperation with the opera singer. "Even someone as antisocial as her must have been close to someone, even if only one or two people - "
Kasumi shook her head. "No. The clan has kept its distance from her since the day she was born. They feared ..... contamination."
"Contamination??" Hitomi blinked at the phrasing of the other girl's words. "You make it sound like they thought she was radioactive!"
Kasumi sighed. "In a way. Her father was .... an evil madman, and they thought that, since he had been like that, she would become the same one day, his madness claiming her. So children were warned against associating with her, in case her evil transferred to them.".
I received the same warnings, and, to my shame, I listened. I should not have, she is my sister after all, but Father was most insistent ....... And so were the other children my age. And peer pressure is such a powerful force ......
"Man, that's a pretty shitty attitude!" Tina looked indignant, which surprised the others. The tall American woman had never liked Ayane, so for her to stand up for the lavender-haired girl was unusual.
"I mean, ain't her fault her old man was a shit!" That was when the penny dropped for the other women. She was standing up for Ayane because of her own recent problems with her father.
"Hey, is that why she's so crap at making friends? 'Cause she never had any before?" The blonde wrestler had a grin on he face, as if she'd just solved an annoying puzzle.
Hitomi smiled. "I think you're right. It would explain a lot. Why she seems so reluctant to try to be friends with anyone." She turned to Kasumi. "Anyway, she agreed to come once I explained what it meant."
Helena looked unhappy. "Just as long as you keep her away from me."
The others rolled their eyes. A chorus of "yes, Helena" met her words.
"Fine. So, everyone in my room at eight, okay?" Hitomi looked at Tina. "You feel like helping me get the drinks in?"
"Yeah!"
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"We win again!" Kasumi leapt up and high-fived Ayane. "That's five games in a row we've won! Three yesterday, and two today!" She grinned at the crestfallen figures of Hitomi and Leifang, their opponents whom they had just beaten 7-2.
"Guess we make a good team." Ayane smiled slightly, a genuine smile instead of a smirk, and the two girls on the other side of the net exchanged surprised looks. No-one, as far as they knew, had ever seen Ayane smile at her sister, not a real, friendly smile. They wondered what was going on.
The redheaded girl brushed sand from her tanktop - she very firmly refused to play in her 'Ryu' shirt, for fear of damaging it - and laughed. "More Zacks to spend on gifts! Let's see if we can get something for everyone for tonight!"
The lavender-haired kunoichi shrugged. "Why not? I hear there's a new store to open soon, but until then, there isn't much in the shops I want. Maybe I could sell my beautician skills to the others?" She flicked the sand from her 'bad girl' swimming costume, straightened her purple sunglasses, and made sure the purple ribbon bracelet was still round her wrist.
Leifang, who had wandered over with Hitomi to listen, looked surprised. "You know how to do beauty treatments? I thought you just liked having them done to yourself!"
"Nab, I know how to do them as well. After all, beautician is a good camouflage skill for a ninja to have - beauty parlors can be excellent sources of information, as people can let slip useful information when they relax." Ayane smirked, her trademark self-satisfied grin. The Chinese girl rolled her eyes.
The Tai Chi practitioner glanced briefly at her teammate, eyeing her curvaceous figure, then grinned at the purple-haired girl. "Maybe you could sell your skills for the rest of the fortnight? I think some people - " she paused " - might like to buy such treatment as a gift for their partners."
Kasumi had noticed the expression on the other girl's face, and looked quickly at Hitomi. The brunette seemed oblivious to the direction the conversation had taken, as she had begun talking volleyball tactics with the lavender-haired assassin.
She looked at her younger sister, discussing the match with Hitomi. She seems ... friendlier now. I'm glad. It's about time she started to thaw out.
I just hope it continues.
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"Aw, come on! You've had enough clues already!" Tina grinned smugly as she lifted her beer bottle to her lips and downed a large gulp of the ice-cold beverage. She looked round at the other women. "Come on now, who's going to guess next! You've only got another five tries!"
The women were sprawled out on the floor of Hitomi's room, in their night clothes, downing alcoholic drinks from the scattered ice-buckets and eating food whipped up by the young karate practitioner from ingredients which no-one knew how she'd managed to obtain. Some thought that the two ninjas might have helped, though both proclaimed their ignorance of Hitomi's supply source .....
The current game was "guess the favourite movie". Christie's was 'Reservoir Dogs', Helena favoured 'La Reine Margot', whilst Hitomi had gone for 'Das Boot'. Now it was Tina's turn.
Lisa smiled. "I can guess."
"Go on then!" The blonde American tossed her empty bottle into the bin and pulled another from the ice-bucket.
"Lord of the Rings."
"Damn! Uh, which one?"
Zack's sister laughed. "Quit stalling! There's three movies and four guesses, so you lose! 'Return of the King', 'Two Tow - "
"Okay, ya got it, darn it!" She threw up her hands in surrender, as the others laughed. Then Tina glanced over at Kasumi. "Okay Kas, you're up next!"
The flame-haired girl sat up straighter. "My turn? Okay, I've got my favourite movie, so you can start - "
"Sleepless in Seattle."
Kasumi stopped and glared at her sister, who gave her an evil grin in return. The others looked between the two of them, before Christie finally spoke.
"Is your sister correct?"
"Yes, she is!" The words came out between gritted teeth, causing a few smiles to appear. The British assassin smirked.
"I guess it's your turn now, Ayane."
"Fine, got it!"
"Okay, is it Japanese?" Lisa asked the first question.
"It is."
"Horror?" Leifang. The lavender-haired girl shook her head.
"Romance?" That was Helena. There were a few sniggers at the idea of Ayane's favourite movie being a romance .....
"Of course not."
"Violent?" Christie already knew the answer to that one. The white-haired assassin didn't even have to wait for the nod to know she was correct. Ice-blue eyes regarded the kunoichi for a few seconds, then swung to gaze at her sister, still sulking from being guessed first time. "Kasumi, any ideas?"
The older sister thought for several seconds, sipping from her bottle of spa water, then she looked at Ayane with a sigh. "I can guess, can't I?"
"Can you?"
"Battle Royale."
"Bingo!"
Hitomi groaned and shook her head, as the others simply looked puzzled. Helena looked at the German girl, a quizzical look on her face.
"What is wrong? What is the movie about?"
Hitomi sighed, gazing at Ayane in mock sorrow. "It's about some Japanese schoolchildren being trapped on an island and forced to kill each other with improvised weaponry." The rest of the women rolled their eyes and shook their heads as Ayane sniggered loudly. Trust her to like such a movie best!
Lisa swallowed some more chilled champagne (Hitomi's source had been very productive!) and grinned wickedly. "Hey, how about a more, uh, 'adult' game?"
Kasumi looked very unsure. "Like what?"
"Well, instead of 'what's your favourite film', how about 'who did you lose your virginity to and when, or, if you're still a virgin, which of the Dead Or Alive competitors would you like to lose it to?'"
"WHAT???" Ayane and Kasumi both looked horrified, and Hitomi and Leifang were blushing furiously.
"I don't want to play th - " Ayane's words were abruptly cut off as Lisa decided to go first.
"Okay, for me it was three years ago. David was his name, a real charmer. We met in Hawaii, where I was doing research." She sighed. "It was only after three weeks that I found out there was no future for us - his wife turned up."
"Bastard!"
"Thanks Tina. Oh well, that's my story. Hitomi, how about you?"
The younger woman blushed scarlet as all eyes turned to her. "Um, I haven't .... you know. Not yet."
"So, who's the lucky man, then?" Helena couldn't resist teasing the German girl, and she smiled widely as Hitomi's blush deepened.
"Um, er ...... Hayate."
Kasumi looked at Ayane, Ayane looked at Kasumi, then both started giggling uncontrollably. "Sounds like Nii-san's in luck!" Ayane rolled out of the way of the beer can the enraged Hitomi threw at her.
"SHUT UP!" Both sisters saluted the furious karate girl, still struggling to keep their mirth under control. She glared at them, then an evil smile appeared on her face. "Okay Kas, it's your turn."
"Me??"
Ayane started to smile, then her face went blank, and she got up. "This is a bad idea. I - "
Kasumi grabbed her leg. "Oh no you don't! If I have to, so can you!" She grinned at the death glare she got from her sister, then looked round at the other women. "Well, like Hitomi, I'm still .... uh .... a virgin. As for who - "
"I think we can guess from the shirt!" Leifang started giggling at the crimson flush on Kasumi's face, as she gestured ay the 'Ryu - Hot Hunk' shirt the flame-haired Japanese teen was wearing. The rest of the group, apart from Ayane, started laughing along with her. "Okay, Ayane, you're next!"
With a violent tug, the purple-haired girl pulled her leg out of Kasumi's grasp and backed away, out of reach of her older sister, and started to head for the door. "Forget it, this is a stupid idea!"
Tina shook her head. "C'mon girl, it ain't that bad! Just a bit o' fun. I mean, you're the youngest here, so you haven't - " Then she paused, staring at the smaller girl. "You haven't, have you? I mean shit, you're still only sixteen!"
Kasumi got to her feet, her eyes fixed on Ayane's face. "Sister, tell me you haven't." As Ayane kept silent, Kasumi's amber eyes widened. "Nii-san will be furious! Who was it, and when??"
Ayane spun away and yanked the door open, almost pulling it off its hinges. Then she turned back. Kasumi was shocked to see the pain and self-loathing which had appeared in her crimson eyes. Her voice was quiet, flat, emotionless.
"My father, when I was five years old."
With that, she turned and left the suddenly silent room.
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Next - repercussions!
PS Yes, I KNOW they're spelt 'pajamas' and 'favorite' in the US, but I'm British and that's how we spell them over here - so there!