Nashi- Writing this chapter was kinda confusing because it has a dream with Ayane's mom, Ayame, in it. If you hadn't noticed, their names are really close... I had to keep going back and checking that I didn't put Ayane instead of Ayame or vise versa...

Oh... my... sweet Jesus... DOA: Ultimate finally came out here in the U.S. (It's so...pretty...) I started to watch the opening movie at my friend's house when my boyfriend plugged in his controller and skipped it! I haven't seen it since! Nor have I played story mode yet! Argh! I'm losing sleep because of this!

Sephiroth- I've never reached the end of Ninja Gaiden... (I couldn't get past the fourth stage...) So I don't know how Hayabusa acts at the end... But yeah, I know Hayabusa's off, many a time I've kicked myself after rereading certain chapters...

Chapter 17:

"Ayane-chan! Hurry up! Mother and Kasumi are waiting!" A young Hayate called to his little sister. An energetic Ayane stumbles out of their room and into her brother's arms, "Easy there! What's taking you so long?"

"Oni-chan! I can't find my other sock! Have you seen it?" Ayane waved her one sock at him. Hayate looked at his sister head to toe, shaking his head when he finished.

"You're such a scatter brain! Look, you've got one sock in you're hand and the other's already on your foot!" The little Ayane investigated what her brother had said and bubbled with laughter.

"No wonder I couldn't find it in my closet!" Hayate laughed also and extended his hand to her once she finished putting on her zori (traditional Japanese sandals)

"Come now, little one!"

"Right!" Ayane took hold of his hand and they headed off to meet their mother and sister.

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Lightening from the outside illuminated his room for brief moment, knocking him from his daze. He didn't know for how long he had been sitting against the wall, drifting in and out of a light sleep, but it must have been for awhile since the rain was starting to flood the pond.

Running a hand through his hair, he sat up and started to think about the faint memory of when he and Ayane were once happy together...

So many things have changed...But, have I really changed?

Wet footsteps caught his attention as someone slowly approached his garden, "Who in their right mind would be... Ryu?" He said the name somewhat uncertain of what he saw, but sure enough, it was the super-ninja walking, completely drenched, up to his veranda.

"Hayate... Let us talk..." His green eyes seemed to glow against their dreary surroundings. Hayate simply nodded and stepped aside as Hayabusa joined him in his room.

"Would you like some dry clothes?"

"No."

"You're going to catch a cold like that..."

"I've been though worse..." Hayate shook his head in defeat, and motioned Hayabusa to take a seat.

"What do you want to talk about?" Hayate was now regretting not forcing Hayabusa to change into dry clothes... He was dripping everywhere...

"You mother..." The topic took him aback.

"Why?"

"She drowned correct?" He went straight to the point.

"Yes..." Hayate wasn't sure if he liked the way this was going.

"How did she drown?"

"Something tells me that you already know... She drowned saving Ayane..." Hayabusa seemed determined to get information, and if he knew his friend well enough, he knew that he would get what he wanted...

"Is this what the clan was told?"

"Yes."

"Did they know that Ayane was put into that position due to Kasumi...?"

"...Yes..."

"So even though they knew that Kasumi was responsible for putting Ayane in danger that your mother had to save her, they only bore hate for Ayane?"

"Yes..."

"Why?"

"Because... They all felt that Ayane shouldn't have been given life to begin with..." Hayate paused to see if Hayabusa would have anything to say about his last statement, but he said nothing, "You know... When my mother told me I would soon have another little sister, I was excited... But everyone else seemed to be yelling and arguing about it... Do you know why her birth was so dishonorable?"

"My father once told me..."

"Good, so I don't have to explain it to you." Hayate pulled his eyes away from his friend and to the garden, "My father started to drink heavily and my mother went into a depression... But when the time came for Ayane to be born, father stopped drinking and started to worry more about mother..." Laughing, rather oddly, Hayate looked back to Hayabusa, "Do you know how pissed he would've been if mother had died in giving birth to Ayane?"

Hayabusa didn't see anything funny about it, nor did he say anything, "But Ayane was born safely... Given to a wet nurse and mother came back home..." Hayate seemed to be talking to himself now, needed no more prodding from his friend.

"Everything went back to normal for a while... But, when Ayane was old enough, she came home and everything started to go wrong again... Ayane was very young, so she probably didn't know anything about us being half-siblings. One day, she made the mistake of calling my father "daddy".

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Hayate watched in horror as Ayane fell down, her cheek starting to swell from the blow his father had given to her.

"How dare you enter this room?" His father exclaimed. They had just sat down to dinner when the young Ayane entered the dining room.

"But... Why can't I eat with everyone else?" Tears started to fall from the young child's eyes, "Why do you hate me so much, daddy?" Hayate had never seen his father so angry mad before as he delivered a second blow to her face.

"Don't you ever confuse me for your father! You are the source of my disgrace! You are the embodiment of dishonor!" He raised his hand for a third time but Hayate got in his way.

"Please father, stop this!" He pleaded.

"Move, Hayate, don't try to protect this whelp..." Not once in his life had Hayate ever dreamed of disobeying his father, but now something told him to try to stop him at all costs.

"No! You're going too far!" The blow meant for Ayane was now given to Hayate.

"Daddy, no!" Came the cry of a young Kasumi from the dining table. With the stinging sensation on his face Hayate looked at his father with disbelief.

"Remember boy... I am your father... You will obey me when I tell you to do something." His father looked past him and to Ayane who had passed out from his last blow, "That girl is a mistake. She was never meant to be born... She will forever be a blemish on the Mugen Tenshin clan..." With those last words his father left the room.

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"Where was you're mother during all this?" Hayabusa didn't want to believe what he was hearing, but it was coming straight from Hayate so it had to be true...

"I don't know. Usually she and Ayane would eat together in her room. But mother wasn't there that night..." Hayate's face flinched with an emotion as another thought passed through his head.

"Hayate?"

"You know, I think... She was in another room... Crying..." Hayate's eyes didn't blink as he spoke, they looked like a small boys eyes, shocked from reliving the experience. "I used to come across her... in a different room each time... Crying..."

Hayabusa didn't know what he could say. Such a topic such as comforting a friend wasn't necessary to a ninja... It came naturally to him when Ayane was involved... But with Hayate it was different...

"She always said she was fine... But I could see the expression she wore whenever she thought no one was looking..." Looking to his friend Hayate stated quietly, "She was depressed Ryu... Everything that she had been through... Randou's attack, the burden of carrying his child, Father would lecture her each night about how disgraced he was... He would yell at her, sometimes beat her for not getting rid of Ayane."

Hayate looked back to the floor, "That day... When she saved Ayane... She wasn't scared at all... It was as if she was ready to die, she just hadn't brought herself to suicide..." He paused as he considered what he was going to say next, "She had been looking for a place to die... Ayane had just given her the chance..."

Hayate hid his face from Hayabusa, not wanting to show him the pain he felt inside. No one had killed their mother... She had killed herself... willingly...

"Hayate..."

"I told you everything you've asked for, Ryu... Now, unless you're going to ask me for more of my families depressing past, please leave..." Hayabusa nodded but he didn't think Hayate would've cared if he did or not. Stepping out to the veranda, Hayabusa closed the door behind him.

Ayane... Hayate and Kasumi... So much has happened to each of you...

Looking towards the sky Hayabusa determined that it wasn't going to stop raining anytime soon.

I guess I'll have to consider this all later... It's time to head home...

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"Kasumi, you'll have to stay still so I can tie this..." Ayame said as she struggled with an energetic Kasumi.

"But mom! You're tying it too tight! I can't breath!" Kasumi fussed as her mother adjusted the obi of her vibrant, pink kimono.

"It has to be tight or else your kimono will fall apart... there! All done!" Kasumi took a couple of steps forward but then started to adjust her obi to her liking, "Kasumi!"

"You may as well give up, mother." Called Hayate as he approached them with Ayane in tow.

"Well now, don't we look handsome, Hayate..." Ayame complimented her son in his fresh, green Yukata, "And Ayane... Come here so I can get a better look at you." Ayane stepped forward and did a small twirl for her mother.

It's a little big, but not as large as I thought it would be.

"You look very pretty, Ayane." She patted her daughter on the head.

"Mommy, how come me and Hayate got new clothes, but Ayane didn't?"

"Hayate and I." Ayame corrected her, "And don't say 'got' it's not a word... Now come along, we're late." She said, trying to avoid having to answer Kasumi's question. She didn't know how to tell them that their father, Kasumi and Hayate's father, refused to buy Ayane anything.

"It's enough that I let another man's child to live in my household despite the dishonor it brings me... If you insist on keeping that child then 'it' is your responsibility. I'll have nothing to do with her!"

The words still hurt her... She loved her husband, but he could be so cruel... Ayame had made Ayane's kimono by modifying one of her old ones. She could still remember how happy Ayane was when she opened the wrapped box her mother had handed her.

"Oh wow!" Ayane exclaimed as she lifted the kimono from the box.

"I'm sorry it's not new, but I promise it'll fit you..."

"I don't care that it's not new." Ayane smiled, "I love it because you made it for me!"

The sweet memory made her smile, "Mommy?" A small hand grasped her own. Ayame looked down at Ayane, "You're smiling... Are you happy?"

She may not have planned to have this child, and Ayane may have been conceived in a horrible manner... but she would never give her up... Ayame bent down and scooped her child up to hug her.

"I'm very happy, Ayane ..."

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Awakening from her dream, Ayane opened her eyes slightly to her dark room.

"No... Just a little longer..." She pleaded as she closed her eyes in a futile attempt to return to her dream. She had gotten home and went straight to bed after changing out of her soaked clothes.

Sitting up she ran her hands through her hair and looked towards her window. Rain was still pounding down the streets and the wind seemed to be ravaging the remaining leaves on the trees.

Even with this sight before her there was only one thing she could think of...

"Mother..."