Disclaimer: I don't own Dead or Alive, or any of it's Characters. Any branded devices in this story are copyright of their respective owners.

A/N: Another chapter. Need info? READ LIVEJOURNAL (Gosh, I'm being so cranky:P) Also, If you see any plot holes, don't hesitate to tell me, I'm a bit of the loop with the story.

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Dead or Alive: Une Lutte de la Jeune Fille

By TropicalWeirdo

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It was about half an hour before dinnertime when things started to go terribly wrong for Helena. First, Zack knocked over a vase in hallway, then Tina kicked a soccer ball through the kitchen window. It hit the chef in the side of the head, causing him to fall sideways into the refrigerator, severely damaging both the refrigerator and his neck. Soon after, a cabinet containing Helena's best dinnerware fell, smashing its valuable contents to pieces.

"Well," Helena said bravely, as she helped Leon and some servants pick up the pieces "At least I'm insured."

She wasn't going to let this psyche her out. Tonight was going to be Perfect, with a capital P.

By the time dinner rolled around, Helena felt somewhat less sure of her earlier feelings. Christie, Hitomi and Ryu all sat as close as possible to Helena, Hitomi literally shoving Leon out of the way to get to the seat next to her. With the refrigerator out, all the meats inside had to be consumed as soon as possible, so at least the dinner looked good. But Helena was much too worried about the interaction currently going on between the three infront of her to pay attention to the delicious food the chef (Now with a neck brace.) had managed to prepare despite such short notice.

"So Helena," Ryu began "About tonight, I-OW!" he cried.

Helena gave him a severe look and mouthed "Our little secret" to him.

Hitomi was studying Ryu with red eyes, Christie giving Helena a quizzical look.

"Um...I was...uh..." Helena desperatley searched her mind for a viable excuse "Um, uh, Me and Ryu...ummm..."

"We were going to do some sparring later." Ryu finished. "Train for the next round." He smiled at Helena. Helena grimaced back.

Hitomi stared at Helena intensely, her hands balled into fists.

"Just keep your hands off her ass, Ryu." Christie remarked.

As if on cue, the entire room, loud and talkative a moment ago suddenly feel deadly silent. Leifang piped up suddenly with the not-so-tactful question on everyones mind:

"Did Ryu molest Helena?"

Helena buried her face in her hands, Ryu sank under the table, and Ayane and Jann Lee simply laughed.

"...I was only joking..." Christie said quietly.

"You should become a stand up comedian." Tina sneered. Zack, Jann Lee, Ayane and Brad Wong all snorted and giggled. Christie sent a cold stare in their direction. They all stopped giggling simultaniously.

Helena took a deep breath, then continued eating as though nothing had happened.

"To tell you the truth, I wouldn't blame him." Zack said suddenly.

Helena stopped eating, violently threw her knife and fork down, and stood up so fast her plate of chicken tipped over. She stamped over to Zack, grabbed his chin and swiftly slapped him as hard as she could. She then stamped to the door, turned to face the table and said as calmly as possible,

"May I be excused from dinner?"

Everyone had their eyes trained on Helena, but nobody sid a word.

"I shall take that as a yes." Helena said, then flung the door open and walked as calmly as possible away from the dining room into the foyer.

This was not the most promising start to the evening.

Helena stayed in her room with the door locked until exactly 7.00 came, and a knock on the door indicated the arrival of Ryu. Helena had already dressed for the evening, a simple black halter-topped evening gown and the bare essentials of makeup. She opened the door to see Ryu in some form of ninja formal wear. He had a formal Yukata on, with matching sandals, and his hair had been tied up into a bun like a samurai from a film. Helena found this all strangely amusing.

"Bonsoir, Ryu."

"Uh, Hi." Helena was somewhat taken aback with how awkward Ryu was. He may have been a super ninja, but he was obviously very inexperienced in the matter of women.

"So, what did you have planned for tonight?"

"Well, I thought we could just keep it simple and go for a walk."

"Sounds good."

Helena slowly lead Ryu down the steps of the front door onto the balcony, and down into the gardens near the ballroom. The recent bad weather had left the sky perfectly clear, and there was an excellent view of the stars. And an excellent view of something somewhat less beautiful.

"Who is that down there?" Helena said, pointing to a bench by the stairs leading down to the garden wall.

Ryu studied the two lip-locked people on the bench. "That's Ayane, on the left. You can see her hair, can't you?"

Now that he had pointed it out, Helena could indeed see the head of purple hair.

"You're right...but who is that with her?" Helena took a couple steps toward Ayane and the mystery person, then tripped on a rock and fell face-first into a bush. Which happened to house a crouching Leifang.

"Lei-Chan? What on earth are you doing here?"

Leifang put her finger over Helena's mouth. "Shhh! Can't you see who they are?"

"Well, that one's Ayane, and-"

"Helena? Are you alright!"

The couple on the bench had obviously heard Ryu, and stopped kissing for a moment to whisper something.

"Helena?"

Ayane took the hand of the mystery person, then both ran off towards the servants quarters. Helena stood up, followed by a somewhat bedraggled Leifang, who spotted Ryu and recoiled.

"What are you doing here?" She said maliciously

"I could ask you the same question." Ryu replied.

"Ryu is right." Helena said. "What were you doing in that bush?"

Leifang looked very guilty.

"I was following Jann Lee."

Helena raised her eyebrows. "So that's who it was..." She raised her hand to her mouth "I didn't know that him...and Ayane...they were...?"

Leifang looked extremely glum "Yep. Since last night."

Helena took Leifang's hand in her own. "I'm sorry, Lei-chan."

"Sorry for what!" Leifang shouted suddenly, causing Helena to jump backwards in shock. "IT'S NOT LIKE I LIKED HIM, YOU KNOW!" She then burst into tears and ran back towards the ballroom.

"I have the odd suspicion that she may be lying about that..." Ryu said, stating the obvious.

"You're right..." Helena said absent-mindedly "Listen, Ryu, I'm so sorry, but I have to go and talk to her...I'm sorry..." Helena then planted a small kiss on Ryu's cheek and ran back towards the ballroom as fast as her stilettoed feet would carry her. Upon entering the ballroom itself, she found Leon.

"Helena! I thought you'd be in the garden. Why are you dressed like that?"

"No time, no time!" Helena exclaimed "Did you see Leifang?"

"Oh, yes." Leon said "She was going back up in the direction of the bedrooms."

Without bothering to thank him, Helena ran up towards the foyer at top speed. She knew she had to get to Leifang quickly, as she had a reputation for doing stupid, and sometimes dangerous things when she was upset.

Luckily, however, Leifang was still safe and sound, although very upset when Helena finally reached her room.

"Lei...fang..." She said breathlessly "Are you...alright?"

Leifang was very quiet. "I'm fine." She lied.

"No, no, you're not." Helena said as she sat down beside her on her bed. "You're not fine, are you?"

"...No..." Leifang's voice cracked up and she started crying again. "It's not fair! H-he doesn't e-even c-care about how I f-feel!"

"It's all right..." Helena said in a voice she hoped was soothing. "You don't need him..."

When Helena finally exited the then sleeping Leifang's room, it was already half past eight. She had just enough time to wash off all the makeup she had put on, and change back into something less formal before Hitomi came knocking on her door. Although she had seemed very upset earlier, Hitomi was now strangely composed. Helena gestured for her to sit on the nearby couch, then sat next to her.

"So what did you want to talk about?"

"Well...I need some help with Leifang..." Helena's eyes widened slightly.

"What sort of help?"

"...SHE'S MAKING EVERYONE HATE ME!" Hitomi shouted suddenly.

Helena jerked her head backwards in shock, which made her glance at her alarm clock.

"It's 8.55 already!"

Hitomi looked at her.

"Oh, sorry, I was a little late..."

Helena swallowed the nasty comment she was about to say, replacing it with "Listen, Hitomi, I have to go. I'm sorry, just, uh, assert yourself, okay?" she then dashed from the room, hoping that she looked presentable enough for her late meeting with Christie. Luckily, Helena made it in the nick of time, arriving in the foyer just as the large grandfather clock in the dining room chimed 9 o'clock. Christie emerged from the lounge momentarily.

"Good evening." Christie said in a somewhat cold voice.

"Good evening to you, too." Helena replied, not noticing Hitomi sneak past into the lounge.

"Where did you think we should have dinner?" Helena queried.

"Up to you, although I think that the tower would be quite nice."

"Good idea, I'll call for the servants to-"

SMASH. A loud shattering noise emmitted from the lounge.

"Oh no." Helena said, opening the door with mild apprehension

"...I'M NOT STUPID, OR ANNOYING, YOU'RE JUST SAYING THAT BECAUSE OF YOUR OWN STUPID INSECURITIES!"

Helena didn't know what had happened, all she could see was Hitomi, standing over Leifang's (Who had obviously gotten out of bed.) unconcious form, shaking and screaming.

A sight that truly was the cherry on top of a fantastic evening.

A/N: Ah, How exciting. I hope you guys like this chapter! I spent quite a while on it, actually. Hm. Oh well,

As my saying goes: Sayonara! Read and Review!

--Tropical Weirdo