A.N.- I'm so sorry about the very long wait. Now, I'm starting school (or maybe have started by the time this gets up) so until November 1st updates will be a little speedier, but after Nov. 1 they will be much faster. Maybe back to once a week. I've probably lost a load of reviewers because of this... I hope not though, so please review.

?????- Thanks, and yeah, the same thing is bothering me. I just havent found a way to include her. As you've noticed each part is written in third person, but focuses on one person. Such as Erikku, Hayate, Ayane, and Yuuna. It's kind of harder for Kasumi for me, I don't know why. I'll try to fix that as best I can.

Wolf Runner- Well, you'll have to read to find out.

Zeshin Hayabusa- Thanks for reviewing, please continue to do so.

digininga- I'm glad you liked last chapter. And it's alright, it happens all the time. Sorry for the long wait though, you musta thought I was dead.

OmegaReaper- Thanks. And yeah, that probably would be awesome, but the only characters who would actually belong would be Taki and Mitsurugi so I won't do that. But I am thinking of doing a Kilik/Seung Mina fic since there is a lack of those. I've only found three of them.


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By: Joey/Mai fan15 aka Hitomi/Hayate fan aka Spider


Night had fallen and Hitomi laid asleep in her bed. Hayate, on the other hand was still up, sitting against the side. He was ready to leave at any moment. After a few minutes, he stood up and silently made his way to the window and opened it. A cold breeze crept in and he shivered at it, then put one leg out. The girl in the nearby bed shot up and he stayed perfectly still until she had fully awakened and noticed him, "You're leaving now?"

"Yeah."

"Don't you need some sleep before you go?" she lit the oil lamp and made her way over to him, "Just until morning."

"I can't, I have no time."

"Why? Your friend can't be too far away from here. Whoever it is can wait a few extra hours, can't they?"

"It's important."

"They can wait. You need rest, you'll never make it without rest."

"I can," he stubbornly replied.

Hitomi gave him a sorrowful look, telling him that she knew that what he had promised was a lie, "Just until morning."

"Why? There's no point in staying here all night. Besides, they'll find me if I do this in the morning," he moved his second leg out onto the roof, but she caught him.

"Please?"

Hayate sighed, "The longer I stay here, the more danger you and your family will be in."

She laughed, "What are you talking about?"

"I'm a ninja," telling her the truth was the only way to save her now. She had been too stubborn to let him go without it.

She backed away from him, eyes wide, "You.. you're supposed to kill me?"

Hayate nodded. She clutched the bedsheet, then she screamed. Hayate shot back in and covered her mouth, she tightly closed her eyes, waiting for the pain to come, "If I still wanted to kill you I would have. I'm trying to save you now. My father should be furious that I haven't come back."

Hitomi slowly opened her eyes. He was gone. The window was open and the curtains blew in along with the cold. As she stood there, tears fell down her face and her hair clung to her cheeks from sweat. Suddenly there was a knock at the door, causing her to jump, "Hitomi! Hitomi, are you alright?"

She unlocked the door and slid it open, "Yes father, I was just having a bad dream."

"About what?"

"Ninjas."

He chuckled, "I told your grandfather not to tell you any stories about them."

She nodded and got back into her bed. Her father knew she wanted to get back to sleep and left the room. Once he was gone, she sat up in bed, wishing that it was just a dream.


Kasumi sat upright in the room she shared with her half sister, gazing out the window her the moonlight lit the room. Hayate... he was gone. Gone and never coming back, all because he had failed his mission. She knew that Midori had left out details from her otherwise descriptive story and she wondered what those were.

She often had nightmares that included everything from sheer bad luck that a samurai had found him to Midori was the one who killed him. These just confused her even more, obscuring everything that her cousin had said and twisting every thought she had around to make it seem like anything could have happened.

Kasumi's head fell slightly, then shot back up again. She didn't want to fall asleep again, sleep equaled confusion. She looked over at Ayane who was sleeping with her back turned away from her as always. Ryu had told her what she wanted, that she wanted to become friends. These past few days, she had tried to go along with it too. Unfortunatley, it was Ayane's turn to be the one who made matters worse.

She began to cry again, not for the fact that Ayane had managed to hurt her, but for her brother yet again. Suddenly her door opened and she looked in the direction of the intruder. She smiled brightly and wiped away the tears that were still on her face and stood up, throwing her arms around who had come through. Tears of joy now streamed down her face, "I thought you were dead!"

"No."

"But Midori said that she saw you die. With her own eyes."

"She did?" Hayate knew that she couldn't have seen that, it never happened, "But that never... is Shinden up?"

"No, he went to sleep early tonight, same with mother," she let go of him and looked straight into his face, "Mari's really upset, you should probably go see her first thing tomorrow morning."

Hayate, feeling sorry for the young woman decided that it would be the right thing to do as long as he told her that he didn't want to marry her, "Yes, I'll go see her."

"Everyone's been worried about you."

"Yes, that's why I'm going to see Midori now."

Kasumi gestured to the wall to her left, "Midori is in that room. She's moved into the mansion so that she could be more efficient in her training."

Hayate kissed his sister's forehead, "Go back to sleep, we'll talk in the morning," he headed out the door, then into the other one that was a few feet away.

Midori was sleeping peacefully on her mat. He walked over and awoke her by shaking her with his foot, "Wake up."

"What..." she grogilly replied as she rubbed the sleep from her eyes, "Hayate!"

"Why did you tell everyone I was dead?"

"Because I thought you were."

"You thought. Kasumi said that you saw everything. How could that be since none of it happened?"

"Okay, I admit, I was sure you were dead since I waited about an hour for you. I thought that there was no chance for you to still be alive," she stood up and poked him in the chest, "Then again, you are a dumass, you probably got lost or something."

Hayate balled his fist but the soft voice of his sister stopped him from doing anything else, "Then why did you tell us all that. Since you weren't sure, you could have let us down a little lighter."

Midori looked around Hayate, "Listen hon, I really don't care how you felt about it. I was sure he was dead."

"Kasumi, go back to bed," she backed away from the door and Hayate followed her out, stopping at the door, "We'll talk again tomorrow."


Tai opened his eyes to see Midori standing over him, candle light shone on her face revealing a grim look. Like something happened and it was his fault. The words finally came, "Hayate is still alive."

"What?"

"Hayate's alive, and I think he knows something," she lit his oil lamp, "It's your fault. You said that it was fool proof."

Reality rushed back into Tai's mind and he realized what she was talking about, "I never said that it was fool proof. There was a large margin for error. We both knew that."

Silence passed between the two, "I know I made a loud enough sound right before I knocked him out. I whistled as loud as I could."

"Yes, but maybe the samurai were slacking off, it happens once in a while even though it's against the Bushido."

"If he finds out the truth, we'll be banished for sure. You might even be put to death."

Tai grinned, "No, no, no. You will be banished. I had no part in this at all."

"Yes you did. You gave me the plan. You have inscentive to do it too. You needed Hayate out so that you could be dubbed one of the best young fighters in the clan," Tai's grin faded and she took one of her own, "If anything, you were the mastermind, I was the pawn."

"It took a lot of pride out of you to say that."

"No. As long as you keep this a secret and don't tell anyone, you'll stay alive. Telling you the facts has hopefully made you realize that," Midori sat down on the floor next to him.

He sat up and grabbed a knife by his side, threatening her with it, "It's the right thing to do, who's going to beleive that I wanted to kill Hayate? He's my friend. Besides, there's still Erikku."

"You didn't know about Erikku. And who's Shinden going to beleive, his neice or someone else? Think about it Tai, you're smart enough... I hope," she still hadn't seen to acknowledge that a knife was pressed to her chest.

"It was all you not me," Tai seemed to ba panicing, "Leave me out of this."

"Keep it a secret, it was just as much you as it was me."

"Shut up, it wasn't me. It was all you! Leave me out of it!" he brought the knife back to thrust it with full force. She caught his fist inches away and twisted it until the knife fell out.

"Don't tell anyone."

Tai knew that Midori was way too stubborn to sway to his reasoning, so he went back to being confused, despite admitting that he indeed had a part in it, "How could it have failed?" he seemed to forget that there was chance of failure.

"I guess no one heard me. I was at fault. But I can't understand how he had survived there the past few days without food or drink. He couldn't have been out that long," she was surprised at herself for admitting such a thing.

"Yes, that has to be it."

Midori looked at him, "Oh, so there was no mistake on your part whatsoever."

"I didn't say that."

"Yes you did, you said that it was practically all my fault," she shot back.

"Whatever, the point is Hayate's back and he knows something's up. He's bound to find out sooner or later, no matter if we tell him or not," Midori waited for an answer but finding none, suggested for him, "We could get rid of him, this time we have to be more careful and sure."

"We were perfectly sure that we had done everything right and it still went completely wrong," Tai abruptly snapped back to the last thing she had said, "Whoa, you want us to try again? Hell no. You can try again, I won't."

"Fine."

"I'm not having a part in it."

"Well if I get caught, you do," she blew out the lamp and the candle, and silently left the room leaving Tai to regret ever agreeing to take the easy way to the top. He laid back down, not caring that he had hit his head rather hard and let out a frustrated sigh.


A large assortment of flowers, banners, and wooden figures surronded an empty casket with an old sword on top, covering what would be open if there was a body. The young man that it was meant for, Hayate, looked on as some of the servants took it apart. He waited for his cousin who had promised to meet him there after breakfast.

He felt that there was something that she wasn't telling hin, but had no clue of the actual severity. He was sure that she had just messed up. Thanks to Hitomi he was still alive though, but right now, that was the least of his concern. After a few minutes of watching, his cousin walked up to him, "What did you want to talk about?"

"Do you even have to ask?"

"Have you talked to Tai yet?"

"No? Why?"

"Just wondering. He said that he wanted to talk to you about something."

"Oh, okay," Hayate sat down on the stone wall and she did the same, "Your explanation last night seemed off. Something happened, I want to know."

"Nothing happened. You got caught, that's all."

"When I was knocked out, it was by a sword. I didn't die, so why would a samurai not kill me? I think that it was you," Hayate whispered the last sentance, just incase he was wrong.

Midori's eyes widened, "What? How... are you crazy? Why would I try to kill you?"

"When I went back to Kasumi's room last night, I talked to Ayane. She told us everything that you had said to her. I know."

"Okay, yes, I want to become clan leader. But I wouldn't kill you for it. As much as I hate you, you're my cousin. I'd never kill you."

She had a lighter tone to her voice and Hayate had finaly noticed her attire, a simple, light pink kimono, if Hayate hadn't known better he would have fallen for her attempt at feigned innocence, "You know, that's not going to help."

She gave an acknowleding shrug, "I don't care, I didn't do anything."

"I'm not going tell anyone, I can understand why you would want to do that."

"I didn't."

Hayate rolled his eyes and jumped off and looked back at the funeral setup. Only the coffin remained. Erikku interrupted them as he walked past, did a doubletake, and returned looking bewildered, "Whoa, am I seeing a ghost."

"No, you idiot," Midori knew he was being sarcastic, but decided to respond anyway.

He breifly laughed and turned back to Hayate, "So?"

"I'm still alive."

"As soon as Shinden told me you were back, I went out to look for you," Erikku's smile grew wider, "And we have a new mission! Tai also. Unfortunately though, Midori is coming along with us."

"Oh, yeah. You guys have the sorry end of it," she rolled her eyes she stepped up to him, "I'm stuck with you two idiots."

Hayate chuckled and stepped past his cousin as she began shouting at Erikku, preparing himself for the tearful reunion with his former bride to be. As he walked away, he could hear Midori and Erikku cursing back and forth at eachother.


Tai yawned and continued on with his studies, tiredly writing with his calligraphy pen. A knock at the door signaled him to get up. Hayate was let in, looking a little upset. Unknown to him, it was because he couldn't tell Mari the truth, "Midori said you wanted to talk to me?"

Tai shot back in horror, "She promised she wouldn't tell! Hayate, I never really wanted to, you have to beleive me."

Hayate cocked an eyebrow, "What are you talking about?"

"What?" seeing the clueless look on his friend's face, he realized his mistake, "Oh, nevermind."

"No, you know something, don't you?"

"What are you talking about?"

"I think she tried to get me killed, you know something about it, don't you," Tai didn't respond, "Tell me, I need to know."

"I... I can't."

"Tai, you have to tell me, I could wind up dead if you don't."

"I can't."

"Tai, tell me now. It can't be that you tried to kill me."

Tai swallowed the lump in his throat, "Kind of."

"Whoa, what are you talking about?" Hayate grasped the tanto that hung from his side, just incase."

"I kind of gave Midori the idea to kill you, and made the plans," Hayate looked at him, eyes wide and mouth agape, "Hayate, beleive me, I didn't really think she was going to go through with it, and I wasn't thinking right either. I had a bad day that day."

Seeing no response, he continued desperately, "Please Hayate, you have to believe me. You can't tell anyone, I'll be killed if you do."

"Midori..."

"She said that she would tell if she was caught, you can't tell anyone about her either."

"I don't know."

"Hayate, please."

Hayate, still frowning got up, "C'mon, we have to go to the mission breifing in a little while. I'm going now."

He left the room, and Tai, sweating out of nervousness, decided that he would wait a while before going himself. He dropped his head down onto the open book, fearing what Hayate would do.


A.N.- I am so friggin sorry about the wait. I havent updated for over a month. Oh, God, I hope that after November 4th I will be much faster with these updates. I can't begin to say how sorry I am. But please, review. I'm sorry.

Oh, and Wolf, sorry if I made Tai a little too soft or desperate or whatever. Erikku wouldn't really fit that part since I have something else in store for him. And Heero cares about his cousin too much. I had to do it since I couldn't find any other part for him to play. Sorry. God, I hope I still have all my reviewers.