Huh? You want to know why I've been gone for so long? Ok, I have a completly logical explanation... You see, there was this UFO...
Since Izuna is Ryu's move then don't you think he could adjust it to his liking? He could do it really hard, (Hehe) and smash someone (Ahahaha...) into the ground or he could do it light enough just to knock someone out... (That's my logic anyway...)
Wolf- C'mon now, do you really think that I would kill Ayane, and by Ryu's hands none the less? Where would my story go then?
Metal Overlord- Yeah! I love the Izuna! It rocks the pineapples!
Chapter 14:
"Ayane... Ayane-chan, please wake up..."
A voice... A sweet, familiar voice was calling her...
"Mommy...?" It wasn't her voice... It was the voice of a small child... She opened her eyes to see a beautiful face framed in amber hair looking down at her.
"Oh, Ayane!" Warm, slender arms surrounded her in an embrace she had forgotten long ago... "I was so worried!" A gentle hand began to stroke her hair. They sat in her mother's room. It was richly decorated with the faint scent of lavender in the air.
Mother?! How can this be...? She's dead!
"Ayane-chan?" A voice behind her called, "Are you ok, now?"
"Hayate?" Yes... It was Hayate, but... he was a little boy sitting there in a blue yukata...
Ok... This is weird... What's going on?
Ayane looked at her hands... They were so small... Ten stubby digits replaced her long, graceful fingers... She tried to stand up but a wave of dizziness knocked her back down.
"Please Ayane... Don't try to move just yet..." Gently she felt herself passed from her mothers lap to her brothers, "Hayate, watch your sister, I'm going to have a word with your father..." In one graceful movement her mother was up and walking out the door.
"Mommy!" Her mother didn't turn around and continued out the door. A hand stroking her hair made her look up. "Ni-san?"
"It's ok, Ayane-chan, everything will be alright... How do you feel?" Those golden-brown eyes looking down at her, no trace of anger or hate... Oh how she had missed those eyes... She turned in his lap and hugged him.
"Hayate... I feel dizzy... And my head hurts, what happened to me?" Hayate's eyes became sad, saying nothing he continued to stroke her hair, "Hayate?"
"Ni-san! I brought the herbs!"
Oh god, no... Anything but her...
"Thank you, Kasumi..." Hayate said as a little Kasumi walked into the room in her pink yukata, handing a cup to Hayate, "Drink this, Ayane, it should take away your dizziness..." With the cup put to her lips she drank the rich mixture of herbs, wrinkling her nose at its earthy smell. Kasumi knelt beside her and Hayate.
"Do you feel better now, Ayane-chan?" She asked in her sickening sweet voice. Ayane couldn't help glaring at her and it earned her a surprised look from both of her siblings. "What's wrong? Does it hurt really bad?" When Kasumi reached out a hand, Ayane pulled away from it.
"Don't touch me!" Kasumi's face held a hurt expression as she returned her hand to her lap.
"Ayane, don't be mean! Kasumi's just worried about you. " Hayate scolded her.
No she's not... She's just trying to make herself look good in front of you, Hayate...
Ayane pushed away from her brother and staggered to her feet, the herbs taking their sweet time to work. Kasumi grabbed her arm to help balance her, "Please don't stand just yet Ayane-chan..."
"Let go of me!" Ayane yelled as she pulled her arm away from Kasumi, "And stop calling me Ayane-chan!" She headed for the door, Hayate's voice calling after her.
"Ayane, where are you going? Ayane!"
Ayane? Ayane! Ayane... His voice was getting farther away... Softer... Quiet...
"Ayane?"
Wait... That's not Hayate's voice...
"Ayane, please wake up..."
It's...
Ayane slowly opened her eyes, a dull thudding repeating itself in her head. Emerald eyes lined with concern looked down at her.
"Hayabusa?" The green eyed super ninja nodded his head and sat back in the chair he had brought to her bedside. "Where am I? At your...?" Hayabusa shook his head, his almond hair following the movement.
"We're at your apartment... Now that I know where you live I didn't think you would like waking up at my place..." Ayane didn't bother to sit up, she just let her head sink into her pillow, wishing the thudding would end.
"What time is it?" She asked with her eyes closed.
"It's ten in the morning... How do you feel?"
"Man I'm getting tired of waking up to you asking how I feel... It's like we're married or something..." She could've used any analogy... Why the hell did she have to use that one? Letting out a sigh she answered his question, "My head hurts... A lot..." Guilt instantly spread across Hayabusa's face as he looked to the floor.
Wait a second, guilt? What the hell does the almighty super ninja have to feel guilty for?
It was at that moment the memory of the previous night came back to her. Going to the demon's church, fighting the Kasumi clone, fighting Hayabusa... Falling into darkness... Instantly she sat up and glared at him. "What the hell did you do to me?"
"The Izuna... A technique that..."
"I know what it is! My head is still paying the price of that knowledge!" Ayane tore her eyes from him and cursed under her breath, "And now Kasumi has escaped... Once again I've failed..." Ayane slammed her fist into the bed, "Damn it... Damn it! Why Hayabusa?!" She turned back to him, "Why did you stop me? Why did you have to get in the way?!"
Hayabusa said nothing. He merely looked at her with his indifferent face, but his eyes were filled with guilt... Just seeing his eyes, those eyes that looked at her without malice, filled with guilt was enough to make her forget her anger...
But she didn't, her fight against Kasumi had gone on for a lifetime... Just getting to know Hayabusa for the last week wasn't enough to calm her rage... Even if they were close, which Ayane wasn't sure, that would only mean that he betrayed her for Kasumi...
Ayane reached forward and grabbed him by his shirt, jerking him towards her. The strange thing was... he didn't fight back... He just let her pull him forward. "Answer me, damn you!" She didn't think he was going to say anything, that he would just sit there and stare at her, but he did answer her...
"I didn't want Hayate to kill you... In the state that he was in I doubt he would've hesitated to sheath his blade in your flesh... I didn't want him to suffer through that..." Ayane released her hold on his shirt and looked away from him.
Hayate would've killed me? It's possible... Even more since Kasumi was there...
"Hayate suffer my death? Yeah right! He'd probably be jumping for joy!" She said with mock laughter. "If I were dead then he wouldn't have to worry about anyone trying to kill Kasumi... He would be freed from the burden of having me as a sister..." Ayane looked down at her hands, "If I were dead... No one would care..."
"Don't say that Ayane... There are those who would care..." Ayane laughed a bitter laugh.
"Yeah? And who would that be? Don't say Hayate, because..." Hayabusa grabbing her arm pulling her to him cut her off. He wrapped his arms around her in a soft embrace, "What the... Hayabusa?" She said against his shoulder.
"I would care, Ayane... It would hurt me greatly to see you die..." His voice was low... low and filled with some emotion she couldn't place. Was it guilt? Maybe sadness? "And yes... Hayate does care, he may not show it enough, but he does... So please, don't say no one would care... Don't talk as if your life isn't worth anything..."
She didn't know how long they had been sitting there... Him holding her... Her being held by him... It was all too confusing... Why was he saying this? He wouldn't let her chase after Kasumi because he didn't want her to die? It made no sense...
"Hayabusa..."
"Someone's knocking at your front door..." He said as he broke the embrace to stand, "I'll get it... You should rest..." Ayane sat frozen on the bed as she watched him walk out of the door and into the hallway.
I have to be dreaming... Hayabusa didn't just hug me... Did he? He didn't just tell me that he really cares for me... No, there's just no way... I still asleep, that's it! I'm asleep and I'm about to wake up to my empty room... Any moment now... C'mon... Wake up... I said wake up, damn you!
Ayane started to pound her fist against her forehead but she still didn't wake up. All of this was real... Hayabusa hugged her and there was nothing she could do to about it...
Besides beating the living shit out of him! Why the hell did he do that!? Every time I see Hayabusa more and more question pile up in my head...
"Argh! Why does he have screw with my head?" Ayane tossed her blankets back and noticed she was still wearing her gi from last night.
Well duh... It's not like Hayabusa would undress me to put on my nightclothes... The very thought made her cheeks run scarlet, Gah! Don't think of that! Stupid, stupid, stupid...
Thankfully it was easy to stand compared to her other mornings after battles, "Who would be knocking at my door? I don't think it would Hayate... Not after last night..." But when she left her room and made her way to the living room she only saw Hayabusa by the open door and he was holding a letter.
"What's that?" She asked, knocking Hayabusa from his intent reading of the letter.
Aw man... How can I even look at him now... He hugged me... No guy's hugged me since Hayate and I were little...
"It's for you..."
"And yet you're reading it..." She mumbled to herself.
"Forgive me... but..." Hayabusa handed her the letter and she instantly understood why he had been surprised. The letter bore the seal of the Mugen Tenshin... But if she thought that was a surprise, then she was mistaken... The letters content stole her breath before she could curse...
Ayane of the Hajinmon
This letter is sent from the Mugen estate to inform you of the death of the Mugen Tenshin runaway, Kasumi. Your presence is asked to attend the burning of the body on the marrow. This is an order from Hayate himself...
Ayane read the letter again and again but she still couldn't believe it...
Kasumi was... Dead!?