Disclaimer: Didn't own Ninja Gaiden and Dead or Alive series. Itagaki-san may storm in my house stopping my idealism of Ryu/Helena pairing…
The morning after Helena's visit…
Ryu trains in the basement of his shop now locate in the streets of Paris. His skill is sharp as usual. Controlling the speed of his motioning, hang-ups many times, and sword kata forms.
It's already 4 hours since training inside his shop. He decide it time to go outside for some fresh air. He heads to the river.
Thinking over what happened yesterday; Helena said that DOATEC is reviving the Dark Dragon Blade and Donovan's ambitions are possessed by the Blade's power. He would have killed Fame Douglas in order to control the company and continue bring the ancient evil back where Ryu once destroyed it.
Ryu walks to The Trocadéro Palace or what is modernly call The Caillot Palace. He stays there thinking about what is going to happen. Where might DOATEC be right now? The Hong Kong base was already investigated. He doesn't think they will appear back in Japan. No, he doesn't want to go back there in his current emotional state. Leave Japan to the Mugen Tenshin. He enjoys life in France as a vigilante. First thing to act is find clues to DOATEC latest headquarters.
To his surprise, Helena show up in the limo opening the window when Ryu about to leave. What does she want now? Can it be, she knows where DOATEC is?
"Are you enjoying yourself here? I can take you to a restaurant if you're starving," Ryu think this is a good time to get some answers, but having lunch with the madam leaves him a bit shy.
"Uh, I'm alright with it," he then heads back to the river before Helena calls him out again.
"I don't mind of you to join me inside the limo. There is much I will like to talk to you about," Helena said.
Ryu remains silent to think about joining her inside the car rather than going back in his shop to change clothes. What the hell, she's a high-class lady. He was toned down into a lowly peasant. He reacts by going inside the limo where Helena opened the door. Quietly he sat shyly without looking at her face to face. Boy is she so clean and astonishing. Of course, he does need to take a damn shower and change his clothes before they proceed to the restaurant.
"Are you alright? You seem rather different than last night?" Helena can sense the nervousness reaching Ryu's silence.
"I've been thinking about DOATEC," Ryu said.
"Knowing my father, DOATEC has several operations. You best not wandering around too much. They have spies you know," Helena said.
"Do you know where they are? The Hong Kong base was destroyed on the last tournament," Ryu asked.
"No, but I track a few of Donovan's favorite places, one being in England. I swore to find Christie there," Ryu give up the shy mannerism and looks at Helena for a proper communication. She looks blue.
"Will you take me to my shop? I'm in a hurry to get change. Don't want my smelling self of hard work training intrude your cleanness," Ryu put an odd smile on his face. It's embarrassing.
"Oh no, it's ok. You'll be in my mansion changing there. I have a set of clothes that belongs to my fathers some time ago. Please, accept this invitational," Helena requested.
Ryu nod and Helena told the driver in French to head for the mansion.
Later in the depths of DOATEC…
"Mr. Donovan, we finished the dna research on Murai's body. The sword's power gave him a genetic change from his normal state. Here is a sample of cell multiplication." Donovan's scientist shows it on a monitor.
"This gives me another part of my plan. In the mean time, I want Murai revived for my special arrangements," Donovan ordered.
The party leaves their boss to continue their work of mass production and dark secrets. Donovan looks at the view of the ancient city. It's clear nobody knows where the current DOATEC headquarters are. With a wicked grin on his face, Donovan decides it time to give Hayabusa a welcome greet in England. He wonders if Christie is still active on duty.
"This is Donovan speaking. How are the preparations going in Paris?"
The mansion….
It's friggin huge, there are two sets of pools there and a tennis court. He doesn't want to see the garden. He can tell it's a field. Helena shows him a gym where she trains, that place made his day. Walking towards the large gym he saw a katana, with the normal length and width of regular Japanese swords unlike his own dragon sword, which is unequal to all Japanese swords. Ryu test the swing of the sword while Helena watches him with passionate interest. Her own blood rushes for sparring excitement. She takes out the Chinese phoenix sword.
"Would you like to test it out by sparring with me?" Helena asked.
"Nin," Ryu prepares the sparring with his sword pointing south.
Sounds of swords clash gather the entire mansion attention throughout the hall. Her butcher who drove them here is waxing the limo; the sounds of the sparring can be his musical calmness.
Ryu is surprise of Helena's sword concentration. Now if she can keep up with him on interception. Interception is the true skill of swordsmanship.
"ngh," Helena's adrenaline pushes her swing with more effort. She parries the first few sets of Hayabusa's Dragon Tears combo. Ryu been waiting to prepare a counter, but Helena found out first by reversing the counter into her own. This katana isn't so bad, but if he has his Dragon Sword with him, Helena will be in a lot of blocking lessons, in other words, over exhausted to continue sparring. He makes sure she's close to the 3rd level of interception combat. Putting her any farther can hurt what made her into a fencer. Sure Kasumi and Ayane are superior, but he can see Helena coming right at them. All she needs is preparation of the final level, then she'll be ready to spar him with his original sword. Long ago, there was a French man who got shipwrecked in historic periods of Japan's expansion with world trading. The Japanese were puzzled by the style the French use to fence their opponents. The French rapier gave the Japanese an innovative idea to remake their sword style into an even better version of Japanese sword sparring. Some people who prefer the old ways despise this innovation.
Ryu prepares to do the shadow strike. Quickly he stun Helena thrust pushing her feet away and did one of his ultimate techniques. Helena's Phoenix Sword left off her hand and spin slowly down to the floor. Ryu is quietly behind her with his eyes closed peacefully. This is magnificent to Helena. To her amazement, Ryu didn't say anything after the final moments of sparring. He puts the katana back in its original post. Helena did the same with her sword.
"Oh, it's been like hours. We should be changing for our dinner invitational," Helena walks out of the gym not before she turns back to her guest. "By the way, thanks. You taught me something."
"Uh…it was nothing, just testing the sword's limitations," Ryu let out a blush.
"You don't think I could stand a chance against ninjas?" Helena makes an 'hmhm' sound of compliment.
"Nonon..it's not that. You're really good; until we can spar more, I can teach you where ninjas get really vicious when they fight," Ryu head sweatdropped.
Helena lets out a laugh. Did Ryu really expect she's not up for the high level? This is getting interesting.
An hour after they changed….
Ryu is still thinking about Donovan, DOATEC, the dark dragon blade, Murai, and his destiny. He is next to the front door on the way out of the mansion waiting for Helena to finish dressing. Can't women dress faster than men? Oh well, both sexes share their differences. Ryu likes dressing faster, because he can memorize the proper way of looking neat. It takes childhood practice. Although, he's not the fashion type neither dressing to make him popular with ladies. He hears footsteps coming at his way from the stairs. She's wearing a white Chinese dress with expensive silk.
"Sorry to make you wait. Uh, why are you covering your face with a ninja mask?" Helena checks up on Ryu. He's wearing one of her father's tuxedos, but his ninja mask covers his face. Why?
"Just for precaution. You said DOATEC has spies, right. So I'll leave my mask on when we're going to the restaurant. A ninja must prepare themselves even in entertained places," Ryu explained.
"Hmhm. Do you always do that on…dates?" Helena asked.
"Not really. I only want to try this once if DOATEC really send a spy here in Paris. I also did this a long time ago with Zack in Las Vegas. He asked me for his protection. Well…in other means, fans of the tournament hate him for winning it," Ryu said.
"Merci…I feel sorry for him coming out showing he isn't joking about his fighting pride. I envy him for his humor," Helena said.
"Zack is a nice person once you get through his non serious comedic goof side. When he studied Muai Thai, he never forgets why he wants to learn that style to make his entire body into a living weapon," Ryu said.
"The essence of Thai kick boxing I presume…" Helena assumed.
Ryu nod and the two begin to head outside in the limo. Outside the gate awaits a mysterious mobile. This must be one of Donovan's spies.
"Mr. Donovan, our object is about to leave the mansion. Shall I proceed to follow?" On the communicator, Donovan's face shows up on the small monitor.
"Proceed and make sure Ryu does not sense your presence," the spy starts the car right after Ryu and Helena left the addressed road and follows quick, but carefully.
On the way to downtown…
"They call this the City of Light. Can you imaginate what Tokyo looks with all this light clearing the darkness?" Ryu eyes are on the window viewing.
"Are there any dolphins in Japan?" Helena asked.
"There's an aquarium that have them. And in my village, there are lots of animals. They are part of our spirits," Ryu said.
"Hm," Helena faces the window looking out the city. Everything is going as she hopes. In order to complete her revenge, she'll have to be right next to Hayabusa here whom Donovan is after.
They finally reach the restaurant. The spy that is following them parked the car a block closes to where the restaurant resides. Inside the restaurant, the waiter shows them their table and told them what they're going to order in French. Helena ordered blanc manger and Ryu wants the same order as her. He never ate blanc manger before and likes to try it out. Sure, he ate some Japanese food like sushi and such, but he wants to try out something different. It pleases Helena so much that the order has finally been check and the waiter give them water and tea.
"So, tell me about Donovan's hiding place in England?" Ryu asked.
"It's not much, but a fencing school. Perhaps, much more than a school," Helena plays with her water with a finger twirling it around and continues, "Christie used to train there too."
"Training in a fencing school. Do they require a membership to enter?" Ryu asked, knowing this hiding place might be a good way to visit and get clues there.
"Ah, you mean this card?" She shows hers at the table and Ryu takes a look at it. "If you want to go in that place, I can arrange another card as guest. We can both go to England and spend the night."
Ryu thinks about it for a moment. If he went there alone, some of Donovan's secretaries will be suspicious of him consider he's not very familiar with the place. So it can be wise to have Helena lead him there.
"Alright, it's accepted," Ryu affirmed.
"But, you will teach me more on how to fight? Will that be ok with you?" Helena request brings a seductive smile at Ryu. If he wants to go to England, he doesn't have a choice, but accept her offer to teach Japanese way of the sword.
Ryu nodded with a shy grin. But, he changes his face into a notify alert. Red dot, coming from meters across the restaurant through that window. He senses a presence of a sniper. Raid feet on top of the roof of an apartment building.
"Get down the table …now!" Ryu alerted.
Gunshot ricochets through the window leaving several people to dunk out of the crossfire. It's an assault sniper rifle. Ryu hurries out of the restaurant to the door going at the alley. Banzai dash isn't hard to learn, but 8 hours of walking around Paris and running gives him a test to dash his way to the building across the restaurant. He sees the spy coming down out of the building. The spy shoots at Ryu in awkward range. Bullet timing is abit predictable because he is holding the gun in struggle to get out of here. Ryu dodge out of crossfire easily and continue catching up with the spy.
It's time for Ryu's own taste of shooting. He takes out 3 shurikens the suit can hold and fires them darting their way 55 mph. One hits the leg of his opponent, the other deploys his gun and the last one hit the chip of his shoulder to slow him down. Ryu then wall run his way to strike the opponent down to the ground of the alley.
"Whom are you working for? Answer me!" Ryu demanded
"Just kill me! You're a ninja right?" The spy didn't answer his question and expected wrong of that ninja.
"I would kill you if you and I are in combat. But, this is an assassination attempt. So tell me what you know or let the cops ask you…" Ryu said.
"We are sent to kill Helena. It was Mr. Donovan's orders," the spy answered.
"Donovan…" Ryu is a bit surprised of this. Why do they want Helena dead?
"Please kill me now! He shows no respect to captured associates. Even Lady Christie…uuuggh…" the spy's dying breath alert Ryu at the direction of one person who killed the spy.
"Well, he asks for it. Now shall I give you yours?" the mysterious lady is non other than Christie.
"You should have let him walk. That is dishonorable!" Ryu shouted.
"Your opinion is priceless. Look at yourself. A ninja. Aren't Ninja's dishonorable mammals who born their life as the greatest assassins in the world. How was honor brought into that?" Christie said.
"Not all Ninjas are like that! Are you also working for Donovan?" Ryu can see she is also a spy. Before they continue, Helena shows up right on time to see Christie is about to leave both of them into the mess.
"Christie? So Donovan send you here to kill Ryu," Helena said.
"If that's so, then I'll clear you up a bit. I'm here to make sure that pathetic bum down there did his worst. Now, I'm off to head back to England. If you're so obsessed to know the truth, then come to England too," Christie said. "Didn't say I warn you."
Christie looks at Ryu one more time and walks away from the scene of the crime. "Au reviour."
After Christie left, the police made their way to the scene. Ryu stands behind the restaurant with his arms crossed. This has been a great night for him if it wasn't for that dishonorable action the female assassin did.
"Ryu?" Helena called at him. His eyes open and turn face to Helena's direction, "When do you want us to leave for England?"
"Tomorrow." Which is Ryu's final answer.
Later in England…
"Mr. Donovan, the assassination failed."
"And the ninja?"
"He's unscratched."
"Just as I expect from one who holds the ancient power of the ancient deities."
Next episode: On his majesty's secret service…..
