Authors note: I decided to split it into two chapters since it's so long with so many extras added to it so here is the last chapter.

Last Tears

When the wind died down she looked round to see nothing of the ground where Kasumi stood was left, and Ryu was nowhere to be seen either.

Somewhere within Ayane she felt shocked that Kasumi and Ryu had died, it was an appalling thought but she didn't see either of their bodies, the Tengu laughed, "such a foolish girl should never have attempted to stand in the way of the Tengu," it cast its eye upon Ayane, "now I must feed," it spoke with hunger and lust.

Unable to move Ayane was helpless as she watched it come towards her slowly, taking each step with delight in seeing the fear in Ayane eyes, the way she stare at him unblinkingly knowing full well what he intend to do to her, she couldn't escape with her legs paralyzed as they are, she was defenceless.

The thought made him gloat with pleasure of the ideas that crossed his mind; he didn't see the leaves began to swirl behind him, not until the unmistakable silhouette of Ryu appeared.

In his hand the Dragon sword had finally been unsheathed; the blade glowing faintly, Ayane smiles when she saw Ryu, the Tengu turn to see the Dragon Ninja standing there.

But something didn't seem right to Ayane, she knew that the sight of the Dragon Sword glowing a pale blue is good but she could not see the sacred Dragon Eye within the hilt of the sword.

This must had dawn upon the Tengu as well, "this interesting indeed," it began running a hand through it's long white beard, "the powerful Dragon sword is resonating with power, without the Dragon Eye placed in the hilt," Ryu didn't seem to care, he brought the blade up.

Tengu smiles, "you think that making your blade glow is going to scare me?" it bellows stamping on the ground, breaking the ground with ease, "you have no power," it taunts, Ryu simply reply "There is power within emotion that you shall never know."

Tengu laughed, "You, boy, are no match for me even with that tooth pick," it never saw the blade swing out cutting the arm that held the Fan. When it realize what had happened it stared down at the arm that laid on the ground, shock registering upon it's face, "you…you…" it tried to speak but it was still shocked.

Blood began to spill out of the stump, covering the hand on the floor with its blood, "you will pay!" it roared, stamping on the ground, Ryu did not seem afraid; no he seemed relaxed, like the calm before the storm.

The demon spread it's great wings out and took flight. Ryu stood motionless.

"DIE!" screamed the Tengu, as it dive bombed towards Ryu intending to use it's head to smash into him.

Time seemed to slow down, the flight of the Tengu brought it close to the ground, it's great wings didn't move and remained out stretched, helping to guide it's flight.

The Tengu was mere yards from Ryu.

Ayane thought Ryu would die, then Ryu began to move, his body turned while the dragon sword swung at the wing of the Tengu. The blade cut away the wing with ease.

The Tengu crashed into the ground, and when it turned and saw one of its wings beside Ryu, its facial expression turned from anger to fear. "Impossible I am the Tengu that will bring Chaos! No one should be able to stand before me, no one!" it shouted the last word, the last words it would ever speak again.

Ryu held the Dragon sword with both hands, drawing it back while the blade began to pulse with a soft blue light, which slowly turned deep then to red, the energy overflowing, needing to be released.

When Ryu moved he left image after image of himself, making it appear that he had created more of himself. Ryu slashed upwards, the force of the slash drove the Tengu into the air.

Ryu jumped upwards before disappearing, then images of Ryu holding the Dragon sword in one hand appeared to the Tengu left and right. They slid through the air and cut through the Tengu's chest, and then two more images appeared at the front and right side, sliding as well cutting through Tengu as well.

Ayane watched in awe as Ryu evoked the most powerful attack he had within his sword technique, Storm of the Heavenly Dragon.

The attack is devastating and none have survived it to tell the tale.

Finally, Ryu was above the Tengu, the dragon blade glowing an angry red. It gathered the last of the energy within for the final strike. The Tengu remained in mid air as if an invisible hand kept it there, unable to move from the pain and fear it felt.

Ryu thundered down like a lightning bolt, the dragon blade cleaving through the Tengu while it crackled with power as it unleashed into the body of the Tengu, before it sliced out from the demon.

Ryu landed kneeling down while the Tengu's body was still in the air. It spasm for a moment then spilt in half. Before the two halves of the corpse could fall any further it disintegrated within the air as a green cloud that was quickly picked up by the wind and scattered. The Tengu was no more.

Ayane just realized that she had been holding her breath when Ryu performed the move; slowly the Super Shinobi stood up and stared up to the sky.

Clouds swirled away, letting a shaft of light beam down to illuminate the battlefield. The soft sun light touched Ayane; the warmth was welcoming, he turned and walked to her and knelt down, beads of sweat running down his face from the effort of summoning the energy to banish the Tengu.

Ayane reached out a hand and touched Ryu's cheek tenderly.

"It's alright Ayane, the Tengu is no more," he spoke softly, something within Ayane felt warmth towards Ryu.

"I see; where is Kasumi?" she asked, wanting to know the fate of her half sister.

Ryu breathed in to calm himself. "She was teleported away at the last moment, she left when she had the chance, vomiting blood."

Part of Ayane cheered at the news but another part of her felt something that she should not feel for the plight of Kasumi.

Slowly Ryu scooped her up in his arms.

"HEY!" she shouted surprised. He smiled.

"You have sprained your ankle Ayane; you won't be able to walk with that leg." She rivalled at him for doing such a thing but part of her WANTED this to happen.

She fell into silence as they made their way from the arena, while the dust cloud that was the Tengu drifted upwards ready to bring Chaos even in death…

Now Ayane knew how Ryu had the strength to do what he did that day, his love for Kasumi was why he had become more powerful. He would do anything to save her, even if it meant giving up his life.

"He loved her and this is how their love had affected him." Ayane thought jealously that she had never had such luck with love.

She had expected that loving Kasumi would have weakened him, but she was wrong.

She felt the air rushing down from her as she plummeted to the ground, unable to believe that she had ended Kasumi's life. "She would be cheerful to everyone," she thought, "even me." The thought was like a dagger being stabbed into her.

Ayane expected to land on the ground but someone caught her before she landed. She found herself in Ryu's arms, while he looked down at her.

"you of all people would have seen that she cared for you."

Ayane felt her cheeks redden as she was lowered to the ground feet first. She turned round to face him; his emerald green eyes seemed calm and soothing, like a warm bath at the right temperature.

She thought about his words and couldn't deny it any longer, deep inside she had a warm place filled with the love Kasumi gave her, put there for her to remember, but that place had now disappeared from her heart, leaving it barren and cold.

It was not because of her hate, but what she had done, that this place had gone. When she killed Kasumi, she destroyed that very place within her heart. Kasumi was the last one in her heart who was keeping her alive to go on but now she felt she had nothing to live for.

Ayane knew Hayate disapproved of her because she had killed Genra and in turn everyone in the village had disliked her because of her birth circumstances. Now Ryu was treating her just as he always did, calm and considerate.

She felt a hand on her shoulder.

"Did you love your sister?" Ryu asked, staring into her eyes looking for that small warmth that glowed for Kasumi.

The long years of hatred had been snuffed out in one night by Ryu. Of all the people to reach within Ayane, it had to be him. She couldn't deny it, no, she would no longer deny it.

"Yes I did." Ayane finally admitted having nothing to hide, "I didn't want her to leave to find Hayate." Ryu grimly looked down, knowing that he had done what he had set out to do. "I wanted her to stay because I felt she was abandoning me like everyone did." She felt her eyes begin to water from the old memories that had pained her. Old wounds within her heart which had never healed since that day. "When she left I hated her because she left without saying good bye." a single tear ran down her cheek while her own heart felt just like the tear, slowly dripping with blood, "I found the letter from her." she told Ryu as more tears began to run down her cheek.

"She wished me to live long and happily, to become stronger than anyone who dared mocked her." Ayane wiped a tear away. "I didn't want to believe the words; she wanted me to understand that her actions weren't to abandon me. She didn't want to either, but she was torn between Hayate and me."

Ayane was about to break down in tears. "I wept because she chose Hayate over me, she knew very well he would have to kill her once he return" Ayane didn't want to continue but felt that she would die there if she didn't tell Ryu her agony.

"I cursed her name and vowed to kill her, for all the tears she brought me," the purple Kunoichi didn't seem defiant, she was crying over lies she had told herself, lies that convinced her to kill her half sister, "but when we met she was cold to me, she defeated me without mercy causing me to weep even more."

The anguish in her voice projected the pain that she had suffered, "yet at the end of the third tournament she didn't make any movement to attack," Ayane remembered every detail of the fight, "she only defended and was defeated eventually."

No pride was left in her knowing that she had defeated Kasumi for once in her life. "I would have killed her. She knew it but didn't make any movement to run away like she always did," her eyes were turning red from the tears she kept shedding, "she said that she had accomplished her goal, now it was my turn to accomplish mine."

Ryu looked up to the heavens, feeling his own sorrow at hearing her words.

"I was confused, I didn't want to kill her, yet I said I would when I returned after defeating Genra."

He rested his hand on her shoulder.

"But I didn't I was afraid, afraid to do the deed."

Ryu put his arms round her when she finished, feeling that he couldn't stand by and let her cry any longer.

She cried, releasing all the sadness that been building up in her heart, for the longest moments in her life Ayane cried there in the arms of Ryu, her tears soaking his tunic, he didn't protest until she had calmed down.

He let go of her and watched her stare at him. He felt shame upon him, but it was his task to do so, to deceive her. He shed the image he cast, he was not Ryu Hayabusa as he led Ayane to believe, he was someone far more powerful.

Ayane watched Ryu's face seem to become distorted, slowly his entire body began to shimmer, like ripples in a pond, and his entire body slowly changed.

She watched his clothes change, what he now wore seemed ancient with leather armour strapped to his legs and arms with a leather armour for protection on his chest with little decoration of any sort, he wore a dark blue cape like the night sky around his neck.

He was armed with a single sword which was about the length of a Katana, the sword hung horizontally on the man's waist. She looked up to meet his calm brown eyes and his hair of white, "you have been judged Ayane," came the man's voice, deep and powerful.

Ayane didn't understand.

"I apologise for deceiving you into thinking I was Ryu Hayabusa," it dawned upon her that he had fooled her.

"Why?" she simply asked, he watched her carefully then answered, "I was sent here with a task by my lord to see if you are worthy."

What he was talking about didn't make sense to her.

"You cannot return to where you came, you will have to follow me but for the time being I ask that you look over there."

His gloved finger pointed to the burning pyre. Ayane stared at the pyre for a moment and felt her blood run cold at the sight that frightened her, standing before the ashes of the pyre was a young woman in a blue Kunoichi Gi, Ayane eyed her Gi.

Blood was visible on her chest like spots, while at her waist blood had soaked the sash crimson, below the sash blood had seeped in as well, her face had a drop of blood as did her hands.

Ayane saw the woman carrying a bunch of Lavender in her hand, her left hand wrapped by something purple.

"Finally the last of the prayers are arriving," spoke the stranger.

"What...what is happening?" Asked Ayane, too shocked to understand what was happening.

The woman knelt by the ashes and settled the Lavender and began to pray. "Please grant my sister a peaceful rest," Ayane heard, but the woman did not even move her mouth.

"That was a prayer Ayane," the stranger explains.

Ayane looked at the man. "It...can't be?" she asked watching him walk towards her. She was frozen on the spot in both confusion and fear of the stranger.

"You may not believe my words but..." his hand ran down to her abdomen, she noticed that there was a slit in her armour.

She watched him probe his fingers in. She felt cold fingers and wondered what he was doing. When he brought up his hand blood was on his fingers.

She gripped the opening and pulled to reveal a nasty sight. She could clearly see her belly button from her angle; just above it was a wound which had blood dripping out from it. When she moved a little to examine the wound closer she saw the wound part to show part of her intestine which had been cut.

She felt her stomach lurch at the sight and found her severed intestine wiggle; she took her sight away from it and tried to throw up. She held her mouth open for a moment but felt nothing. She couldn't throw up for a strange reason, the stranger had the answer.

"Do you remember how you died Ayane?" the stranger asked, "how your life ended?" Like a tidal wave the memories of her death flooded into her mind...

Kasumi leapt backwards, parrying the blow with her own Wakizashi.

"Please leave Ayane," Kasumi begged again hoping to make Ayane leave, but she was wasting her breath. Ayane leapt in again, swinging her own blade in a downward arc. Kasumi backed away from the blade, watching it miss her face by inches.

"You'll die by my hands!" Ayane shouted, standing ready to attack again.

Kasumi backed away in vain to get away from Ayane; Kasumi would not be able to run away from Ayane. Ayane knew this and closed the gap between herself and the runaway.

She jumped up into a lunge at Kasumi.

Kasumi, caught off guard by the aggressive move, leaned back with her Wakizashi pointing towards Ayane ready to strike. Kasumi didn't want to strike out at Ayane, knowing that if she parried the blow Ayane would be able to cut Kasumi's throat but if she struck out she'd kill Ayane.

Kasumi didn't want to die but she didn't want to kill Ayane either. She was now at a cross road, should she kill Ayane and live or let Ayane kill her. When Ayane was within striking distance Kasumi's instinct had always saved her so she could live to see another day.

At that moment her hand shot out with a mind of its own and stabbed into Ayane's stomach with no intention of pulling back, Ayane gasped when she felt the blade plunge into her, but her momentum ensured her blade continued its course towards Kasumi's heart.

Kasumi's instinct saved her life, she brought her up her left hand and shielded herself against Ayane's Wakizashi, the blade stabbed through her hand, the burning pain of the blade cutting into her hand made her cry out.

Ayane's final strike had been a failure, thus when they landed, Ayane's bowel over Kasumi, who lost the grip of her Wakizashi.

Ayane rolled away from Kasumi before coming to a rest, Kasumi lay on her back breathing heavily. She brought her left hand up and gripped the hilt of the Wakizashi with her right and braced herself. She jerked the blade out of her hand and felt her blood pour out from the wound, a drop landing upon her face.

She removed it and threw the blade away; she pressed her free hand on the bleeding hand, suppressing the urge to cry out in agony.

"The pain… Ayane nearly..." Kasumi spoke to herself and stopped when she thought of Ayane, the scene of her plunging the blade into Ayane played through her mind.

Kasumi's head whipped round to find Ayane lying on her side with her back to Kasumi, unmoving.

"Ayane!" Kasumi shouted, seeing Ayane move a little.

"Kasumi..." she heard Ayane's whisper.

"Ayane!" Kasumi shouted again. Forgetting her own pain she tried to stand, but found she was too exhausted.

Kasumi crawled over and pulled Ayane over so she was now on her back. Kasumi's face went pale when she found her own Wakizashi still impaled in Ayane but the wound had widened, the blade had ripped upwards, tearing Ayane's intestine.

Kasumi took hold of the blade and ripped it out, watching the blood spurt along with it, feeling it spray her as well. Ayane buckled in pain, gasping for air. Kasumi brought Ayane close and let her lean on her shoulder, staring down into her sister's dulling eyes.

Ayane just stared up at the one person she hated, but strangely she wanted to giggle, as if they were playing a game and she had won.

"I'm sorry..." Ayane began, watching Kasumi look down at her, tears welling up within her amber eyes, "the blind fool was never you, it was me."

Kasumi didn't want Ayane to die, she wanted Ayane to live.

"I thought you cared for Hayate more than me." Ayane looked up with a faint smile on her lips, "but you knew that I blamed myself for Hayate's injury, you never said a word to me about my failure to protect him."

Kasumi just stared down at Ayane's bleeding wound, knowing it was already too late to save her.

"It should have been me who was wounded, not you… it….it…" Kasumi stuttered knowing that whatever she said could not change the past.

Ayane just didn't feel any pain and placed her finger gently on her sister's lips to silence her.

"I'm sorry for ever hating you." Ayane whispered watching Kasumi look down at her.

"You'll get better Ayane, you'll live, you'll be OK..." Kasumi lied.

Ayane smiled knowing it will be her last time. "Don't worry, it doesn't hurt anymore." Ayane was scared of death when she nearly died on missions for the clan, but here she didn't feel any fear.

"I don't deserve to hear you say that you loved me Ayane, I hurt you and now you're going to..." Kasumi burst into tears while holding onto Ayane.

Ayane felt a tear touch her cheek, she felt another tear run down her cheek and knew that the tear was her own.

"You took it upon yourself to find Hayate, you felt it was your fault for not being strong enough then to stop Raidou from hurting Hayate." Ayane told Kasumi, feeling very weak.

It was the truth that she never saw until now.

"I knew it from the moment you left that letter," Ayane confessed.

From the forest came another Ninja running as fast as his legs could carry him.

"Kasumi!" the man shouted. Neither of the girls needed to look up to know who it was.

Ryu came panting hard, sweat dripping down his forehead, as he neared he slowed his pace while his eyes took in the scene.

Ryu didn't have to ask if Ayane was dying, seeing Ayane lying on her side with blood slowly sipping out of her.

"I'm sorry." Ryu told them, feeling that it was partly his fault for letting this happen.

"It's OK Ryu, you are not to blame," Ayane spoke softly. Kasumi desperately wished that Ayane would live, hoping for a miracle.

The reality was harsh; as she realized that Ayane could not live much longer, she looked down to see her smiling, a true smile to Kasumi, a rare thing to see and this would be the last time.

"I love you sister..." Ayane whispered to Kasumi, Ayane's hold on life growing weaker and weaker as the pool of blood before Kasumi began to grow.

Ayane did one final act, she slowly reached up to her Bandanna, Kasumi helped raise Ayane's hand so she could remove it and with care she wrapped it round Kasumi's left hand, stopping the bleeding.

"This is the dearest thing that I own, now it is yours," Ayane winced in slight pain.

Kasumi brushed Ayane's forehead, feeling it become cold.

"Even in death we are sisters," Kasumi spoke again with a smile amidst her tears, "we may be half sisters in blood but we are full sisters by soul," those words made Ayane's heart glow with warmth.

Kasumi didn't know the depth of Ayane's love for her, neither did Ayane know how deeply Kasumi loved her. Kasumi looked into her young sister's eyes and saw the spark of life in them slowly dying, becoming dimmer and dimmer.

Ayane turned her head to see Ryu standing by Kasumi looking down at Ayane, his face filled with sorrow, like the day his clan was annihilated.

"Please take care of Kasumi for me, Ryu." Ayane was barely able to whisper. He knelt down and bowed his head.

"I will do as your wish," Ryu promised, gripping her left hand, "you can rest easily Ayane." Ryu told Ayane.

Ayane felt the coldness begin to wrap around. "I'm going to leave," she whispered, Kasumi knew it would come but she felt it was too quick.

"Don't leave Ayane, please don't," she begged, never having the chance to be so close to Ayane.

Ryu slowly closed his eyes, knowing that the end had arrived.

"I'll watch over you," Ayane whispered, making one last wish, "I want to see all of you again with Niisan before I leave." Ayane thought with her the last bit of her life. From the depths of some place she heard a voice.

"Your wish has been granted."

Kasumi felt Ayane go limp, Ryu felt part of him die with Ayane, but his pain could not be compared to Kasumi's, who stared down at Ayane's peaceful face.

"Ayane…" she whispered, a tear running down her cheek, mingling with the blood already there...

Ayane looked up at the man, her memories bringing fresh tears to her eyes.

"Your wish was to see your brother one last time with your family," true to his words Hayate came, watching the grieving Kasumi sit before the ashes, the lavender placed before her. He stood on the opposite end of the ashes.

Hayate looked sad and tears could be seen. Ayane never seen Hayate cry.

"He cried for you Ayane," came the stranger's words, "he is filled with sorrow because he never had the chance to say how proud he was of you," the last to join was the real Ryu.

The three stood there and gave their last prayers to Ayane, in hope she would hear them.

"I should have shown you how much I cared for you; I never had the chance, and never will." Hayate's prayer was heard loud and clear, filled with untold sorrow.

Ayane felt like running down to Hayate and throwing her arms round him.

"you were the only friend I had when my clan was destroyed, you saved my soul by remaining and helping me, for that I' am forever in your debt, which I can never repay." Ryu's prayer brought more sorrow to Ayane.

Kasumi's prayer brought sorrow and happiness to Ayane when she heard it.

"I never thought of you as a half sister, you were my sister from the beginning to the end. I will never forget you Ayane, my sister."

Ayane, feeling that she had heard what she wanted to hear, turned to the stranger.

"Your wish has been fulfilled Ayane, it is time to leave," Ayane looked over to see him walking to the tree, which seemed to split open to reveal a door which flowed like water, "the next world is awaiting Ayane," came his voice, his hand resting upon the hilt of his sword.

Ayane had one final question for the stranger.

"Who are you?"

The stranger smiled. "I am the envoy to the next world and I have come to take you there." he explained, "but I was tasked to judge you," he gestured to the doorway, "come, your time amongst the living is over," she looked reluctant at first, "do not fear, if the gods are generous you and Kasumi will be together again."

She followed him obediently, knowing that if she could see Kasumi again she would follow. She stopped at the door way and turned back, knowing it would be the last time.

"Good bye." she spoke with the last tear she would ever shed. She turned and walked through the door to the next world.

Leaving the world she knew behind, forever.

Author note: final version, any input on the fic is greatly appreciated.