Blossoming Swallowtail Chapter 3: Of Caves And Bad Luck, a dead or alive fanfic

Edit: Now I'm at the third chapter. Once again, this chapter has been modified simply to add a bit more to the story and make it easier on the eyes. Can't say this chapter has been modified very much though.

Disclaimer: Ah yes, I remember this particular disclaimer. I was sick as a dog the day I wrote this. Anyways, I don't own DOA or any of it's characters, but you can always dream right?

Blossoming Swallowtail

Chapter 3: Of Caves and Bad Luck

"Eeek!"

A couple of loud shrieks pierced throught the otherwise calm and recently rainy day.

"I pant can't pant ...believe this!" Kasumi complained as she tried to keep her face dry with one arm while the other one dragged Ayane behind her, who also tried to keep her vision in check from the rain in a vain attempt to watch their step while she held on tightly to Kasumi's hand.

The day had started off so beautifully too, the blessing of the sun, a cool summer breeze and (nearly)clear blue skies. If someone were to have predicted that a slight rain spell were to have hit, there would be no way to describe how much they would have been ridiculed.

So it came as quite a dissapointement to both girls when they noticed some clouds had started to obstruct their vision of the clear blue sky, as well as block the warm rays of the sun.

That dissapointement turned to panic when they found that the sky was now trying to drown the poor children in a torrential flow of water and seeing as how the wind had done nothing but pick up since the small storm had started, both girls found themselves in a bit of a situation.

"Keep moving Ayane, we gotta find some shelter!" Kasumi shouted back to Ayane, trying to reassure the purple haired child, as well as herself.

Kasumi and Ayane had once again wandered off somewhere into the forest to do some exploring on their own, they weren't really looking for anything in particular, a few animals here, a flower meadow there and some nice clearings with exquisite views. Basically just heading in any direction that seemed to be of particular interest to the young girls.

Which proved to be a problem, seeing as how they had strayed quite a ways from the village as well as Ayane's hut.

Now both were desperatly searching for some kind of refuge to wait for the rain to stop.

Kasumi was quick to act as it all started, barely even giving the other girl time to react as she grabbed hold of her hand and hauled her in whatever direction she chose. Which just happened to be leading away from the village Ayane noted.

She sighed as they ran, which was pretty difficult.

"Onee-san! Don't worry about me! Just go back to the village, I'll be fine!" Ayane cried out to Kasumi. She knew Kasumi well and it wouldn't take a ninja master to tell that the older girl was worried for her friend's safety.

Had Kasumi been asked, she would not have been able to deny it.

One, being that Ayane was undertrained.

Two, being that Ayane was still quite young (althought she probably shouldn't talk)

Three, being that Ayane's house was more than an hour away from the village and unfortunately, they were at a fair distance from that as well.

And four...well...

Kasumi had so many factors there to worry her with, that she couldn't possibly bring herself to consider the possibility of leaving Ayane on her own. So she ignored Ayane's pleas, instead, Kasumi stopped and quickly scanned the area, her grip on Ayane's hand strenghtened by her resolve.

Ayane worried, they had been out in the rain for nearly 15 minutes now and their clothes were thoroughly soaked. She feared that if Kasumi continued to be so pig headed about her role as the eldest, that both of them would come down with a cold rather than just herself and frankly, she wasn't selfish enough to want Kasumi to suffer the same fate as her (besides, it would only be a cold after all, Ayane suffered throught quite a few of those seeing as how her little hut wasn't exactly made for rainy days) but she was brutally pulled away from those thoughts as Kasumi once again dragged her off into some unknown direction like some kind of rag doll.

Kasumi smiled triumphantly as she lead Ayane into a small cave that was located not too far from a waterfall both girls had found earlier. She hadn't spotted it on the first few laps because of the rain, but for now that didn't really matter. All that mattered was that they now had a place to wait for the bad weather spell to pass.

Ayane on the other hand, was a little more pensive about the matter. They may have gotten out of the rain and all, but they had already gotten their own fill of rainwater, their clothes offered little warmth now and without some quick actions, either girl could come down with a serious case of hypothermia.

So she got to work.

Kasumi stared at the water as it fell from the sky, the cold winds blowing once and a while in the deeper part of the cave where she and Ayane currently were. "Brrr..." Kasumi started to shiver, the feeling of the wet clothing on her smooth skin starting to affect her. Apparently the running she had done had helped her keep her mind off the cold, but now that she was idle, realisation had hit her in one of the most uncomfortable ways possible. She rubbed the sides of her arms and hugged herself, trying to keep warm while looking outside (the cave wasn't that deep upon further inspection), she was starting to wonder if the rain would ever come to an end when she heard a strange sound originate from where Ayane was supposed to be sitting.

TCHHHK!

"H-hey...w-what are -you doing?" Kasumi asked while trying to keep her chattering teeth under control.

Ayane ignored Kasumi, whatever she was doing, it seemed to require her undivided attention. Kasumi took a closer look, "Hmm?" Kasumi wondered but it didn't take long for her to figure out what Ayane was doing.

Ayane put the small piece of flint she had been carrying in a pouch on her belt away and took a close look at the small ember that had started to burn a tiny red circle into a piece of clothing, something she had ripped off her yukata and dried up as best as she could upon entering the cave for this very purpose.

Kasumi watched attentively as Ayane continued and the more Ayane went, the more Kasumi's eyes shone brighter and brighter with both pride and excitement.

"Phfew..." Ayane let out a small sigh as she wiped her brow, making a fire was always very stressful, getting a fire started meant having to follow the correct steps precisely all while being careful not to--

"Eeep!" Ayane cried out as she was suddenly pounced on by Kasumi.

"Waaah! Sugoi! Ayane that was amazing!"

Ayane squirmed uncomfortably under Kasumi, blushing as she complained and tried to get out from under the overexcited Kasumi.

"Kasumi Oneeeee—saaaaaaannnnn...get off!"

Kasumi pouted and got off, allowing Ayane to get back up and recover from her flush of embarrasement.

Ayane and Kasumi approached the fire, which was going along rather nicely thanks to some dry branches Ayane had found a little earlier in the cave (she guessed that they weren't the first ones to use this cave to get out of the rain). The two stayed close together, in hopes of sharing their body warmth with one another along with the fire's heat until the rain let up.

"So...when did you learn to do that?" Kasumi asked softly, curious about Ayane's know-how.

Ayane thought about it, "My uncle's friend Genra taught me how." she stated, turning her gaze towards the fire as she poked at some of the flames with a stick.

"Genra?" the name seemed to ring a bell in Kasumi's mind, though she didn't really remember from where.

"Yeah. He comes to visit my uncle from time to time. He's nice." Ayane smiled fondly at the thought of the middle aged man, who seemed to think highly of her.

"So why did he teach you?" Kasumi asked, noticing that the conversation seemed to take their minds off the lousy weather outside.

"Well...he told me, that as people, the earlier we learn, the more time we have to put these skills to good use.", Ayane paused and thought about it, "So while most ninjas learn these kinds of skills later on in their lives, i'll already have the experience in their use by the time I get to that point in my life I guess..." Ayane answered with a smile.

Kasumi gave her young friend another smothering hug.

"Onee-saaannn..." Ayane stammered, "You're embarrising meeee!" she then wailed with a slight blush while flailing her arms around, trying to get out of Kasumi's grasp. Sure she was aware that she was the youngest, but she could only take so much coddling, then again with Kasumi around, she probably should have gotten used to it by now.

"Awww...Ayane-chan! You're sooo smart! Where would I be without you anyways?" Kasumi squealed while she cuddled Ayane in her arms.

Ayane sighed and simply let herself be played around with, it was kinda hard to contradict Kasumi when she got this way.

"So tell me, what else did he teach you?" Kasumi asked, her eyes brimming with curiosity.

Ayane flashed Kasumi a pride filled look which mixed admirably with the blush that had formed on her face due to Kasumi's affection. It was the first time that she could prove herself to be better than Kasumi at something and to be perfectly honest, she enjoyed knowing that now, she could somehow repay Kasumi for some of the minor ninjutsu lessons she gave her.

"Well..."

Kasumi groaned, it was as if Kami had found it to be a fit punishment for her to be constantly reminded of her purple haired little nuisance these days.

It was by sheer coincidence that Kasumi had stopped by a small cave, similar to the one Ayane and herself had stopped by so many years ago, after gaining atleast a days distance from her old home during the night. She hadn't slept a wink during the whole ordeal and she was starting to get tired of running, seeing as how it was all she did during the night.

So she decided to take a rest, not really to sleep, seeing as how she was still far from danger out here, but merely to rest up a slight bit and have a bite to eat.

"Now...I just blow on it gently..." Kasumi muttered softly to herself as she got down on her knees and as close to the small embers she had created as possible while putting her piece of flint back into her bag of provisions and blew gently on the budding flame, trying to encourage the fire to burn.

One could argue that this method wouldn't really be necessary if she would have just brought some matches along, but it was amazing how hard it was to find matches back home, after all, she was sure any random person who felt like burning down her 80 wood(and 5 paper and 15 misc) home down to the ground would feel really dissapointed at the lack of matches to aid in turning her previous home into a blazing inferno.

"Oh good lord...I'm being sarcastic with myself..." Kasumi groaned, her lack of sleep was giving her a sour disposition. She never realized how much sleep was necessary before this very moment...

It was amazing how much experience could teach a person.

She quickly attended to the fire once again, trying to get her mind off her intense desire to join dreamland. She hated to admit it, but it was kinda reasurring to know that she could always fall back on the knowledge Ayane had shared with her during their friendship together to get her out of small problems like this.

A soft smile fell upon Kasumi's face as she gave those fond memories some more thought.

That is, until a certain memory dared to show itself to her... Kasumi rubbed one of her eyes, something was obstructing her vision.

She had no intention of letting the past haunt her.

"Hmph..." Kasumi's eye twitched as she quickly dismissed the thoughts.

End of Chapter 3

You unlocked Alternate ending 3!

"Oh god...I'm being sarcastic with myself..." Kasumi groaned, she never realized how much sleep was necessary before this very moment. It was amazing how much experience could teach a person.

"You know talking to yourself really isn't healthy..." a voice called out to Kasumi.

"Yeah...I guess you're right." she replied, not paying much mind to whatever it was she was doing.

"That might be a mark of insanity ya know?" the voice added.

"Eh? Really?" Kasumi asked, wondering if she might be going crazy or something.

"Sure it is, just ask that pink bunny over there!" the mysterious voice said, pointing towards a pink rabbit that seemed to just pop out of nowhere.

Somehow, Kasumi followed the mysterious voice's finger to the bunny's location and she asked "Am I going crazy?"

"O' couse' not lassy! You'se as right as rain in my book! Aye!" the bunny replied in some kind of perverted mix of scottish and pirate talk.

"The bunny says i'm ok..." Kasumi replied nonchantly to the mysterious voice.

Kasumi continued on like this, stuck on the subject of her own sanity with her own mysterious little alter-egos (which were infact, herself, as you could guess) she failed to realise that the fire had finally started up and was now carefully traveling up the stick she was using to poke the fire with while she just sat there, in a daze, drooling ever so slightly.

Which just proves, sleep is very important. Unless you want to start talking to mysterious voices and hallucinate pink bunnies, get plenty of it.

End of Alternate Ending 3!

Ah, the end of another chapter. Hopefully, I got the mood of this chapter just right seeing as how Kasumi wasn't really all there near the end of it (yep, not sleeping can make you a really cranky person). If you have a problem with this chapter, let me know ok? Once again, I saved over the older one but I can probably recall the modifications seeing as how they tend to be more noticeable.

Now then, I shall start work on my other chapters as well.

Don't forget to review on your way out if you want this fic to keep going ok? I'm not much for actually making an effort without motivation (translation : I'm lazy, poke me with enough reviews and i'll write more chapters).

Sayonara

-Saddened Melody

A.K.A Final