Hey! Umm… I don't have a lot to say, me thinks. So, enjoy the chapter, and I'll go back to studying for my exams! Yay! …yeah, right…

And I can finally upload this now! Yeesh. Anyway...

"Something is… amiss around here, Kasumi. Be on alert,"

They were walking through the forest. Birds were chirping, everything seemed peaceful. For the life of her, she couldn't sense anything out of the ordinary.

"Hayabusa-san, maybe you're being too mistrustful. Nothing is wrong here. It's a beautiful day. Nothing is amiss,"

He turned to stare at her with those vivid emerald orbs. "Do you truly believe that?"

She nodded, determined to stand by her words.

"Alright. If you believe that, I cannot stop you,"

He was admitting he was wrong?

"But be on alert all the same. Better to be suspicious and alive then the alternative,"

She hoisted the pack she was wearing further onto her shoulders. It was too big for her, it kept on falling off. "I suppose so, but you can go by the benefit of the doubt…"

"And I could safely inform you that many dead warriors have thought the same thing. Humour me,"

She turned to look at him, when those words came out of his mouth. Literally, it seemed like such an odd statement. She couldn't imagine anything ever making him smile, let alone humour him as such. Kasumi had never even seen him smile.

"Okay. We're about to get attacked. Someone is behind us, and is going to kill us. Happy now?"

To say that it was a poor excuse for a joke was an understatement, especially given the circumstances. She didn't expect him to smile at it.

She wasn't disappointed.

A sudden rustling of the bushes startled her. "Hayabusa, was that you?"

Hayabusa was nowhere to be seen. She spun, seeing movement from a small cave. Before she could say anything, he had slashed at the bushes. A scream cut through the air, truncated abruptly as he spun those bladed nunchaku with lightning speed.

He must have dropped the pack in the cave. She immediately dropped hers to the ground, drawing her tanto.

Movement behind her. She ducked instinctively, lashing upwards with her foot at the same time. She wasn't expecting the ninja to catch her foot, before crushing it in his hands. Pain shot through her foot, echoing the sudden pain that erupted in her injured hip, as she jerked her foot out of the ninja's grip, thrusting her tanto upwards.

The blade imbedded itself in the ninja's stomach. He gasped in pain, but at the same time brought a sword from nowhere and swung it at her head. She rolled out of the way, hearing the blade dig into the soft ground.

She pulled out her tanto from the ninja's stomach. With a rush, warm blood poured down over her. She grimaced and thrust the weapon upwards again, connecting with the ninja's chest. He fell on top of her in a pool of blood.

A scream echoed through the trees. Her eyes instantly locked on where Hayabusa was. No, he wasn't hurt, not seriously, at least. His eyes were shining with hatred as the bladed nunchaku spun in front of him like spinning wheels. In an almost casual manner, he spun his weapon forward, lopping off the ninja's head like a branch off a tree.

She flinched as blood gushed from the wound and the ninja fell forwards heavily onto the ground. She would kill because she had to… but not like that. Never like that.

"Oh, Hayabusa. We never expected less from you. But you didn't have to make this so messy, you know,"

Both she and Hayabusa spun, immediately focusing on the shrouded figure. Hayabusa's eyes visibly narrowed.

"Foster. You were supposed to be dead."

"Of course. But things never seem to happen the way you want them to, do they? And, I must ask. What of Irene?"

Irene? Who's that? She was surprised to see Hayabusa visibly flinch, but then regain his composure in an instant.

"You know the circumstances surrounding her demise. No doubt you had it planned all along,"

The man known as Foster chuckled mirthlessly, the sound easing along her spine, making her shiver. "You should be grateful, Ryu. Not often I come along to do this sort of thing personally. Not enough time, now…"

"I don't care," Hayabusa's voice was ice cold. "What you have already done is unacceptable,"

"Oh Ryu, Ryu… Ryu. Won't you reconsider?"

Several more ninja came out from somewhere in the bushes, brandishing swords, knives, wielding bows and nunchaku. They were surrounded.

Hayabusa's voice was flat. "No,"

"So be it," Foster turned to address the nearest ninja. "Kill him. Do what you like with the girl,"

The movement was so quick, it barely registered. The ninja all moved as one, slashing, aiming. To kill.

She leapt in the air, grasping the nearest branch, and swinging, using her momentum to knock down two ninja directly below her. The first bow-wielding ninja aimed at her. She deftly swung upwards and let go of the branch, soaring into the air and landing on the ground, readying her tanto.

The bow ninja staggered. She caught a glimpse of something imbedded in his back.

Something… smouldering…?

There was a loud bang. Explosion. Incendiary shuriken.

Gods! I never thought anybody would use something like that. Those things are so… brutal. I really never thought anyone… especially not Hayabusa…

The ninja staggered again, dropping his bow, before falling to the ground, dead.

The remaining ninja slowed momentarily, as though caught off guard by the death of their brethren. She seized the opportunity, lashing out at the nearest ninja with her tanto. He wasn't fast enough to react. The blade ended up deep in his forehead, piercing his brain. She knew even before he keeled over that he was dead.

Hayabusa snatched up the bow and arrows, and in a deft motion, aimed and shot. The arrow caught the other bow-wielding ninja in the throat. An instant kill.

Now, it was down to her and Ryu fighting two ninja, one armed with a sword, one armed with fists. She lashed out at the knife ninja, tanto in hand. He dodged the blow and retaliated with several lightning-fast punches of his own. She threw up her arms to block instinctively, and a searing pain shot through them. She dropped her guard for a split second to look at her arms, before throwing them up again, numb with shock.

What the… no… impossible…

There were deep, ragged rivulets in her arm, wounds that could only be made by one thing.

The ninja was wearing claws, also known as shuko. Many hundreds of years ago, barbaric forms of ninjutsu used claws. She had heard the stories. The victim often looked like the result of a lion's kill.

She was only lucky… really, only lucky.

She readied her tanto.