Back at it with another chapter, thanks for the advice everybody. And I want to start this chapter a little bit differently with a poem I wrote. It'll still pertain to the story at whole though.

Disclaimer: Tecmo owns Dead or Alive.

She is love.

Lord knows what I perceive

And see is foggier than what it should be

I slowly breathe, close my eyes

I feel her light, closing in on me

She grasps the shells of my shattered heart

She searches for the pieces that's scattered apart

I pause, open my eyes, my jaw, I stare at her in awe

Her beauty is limitless, her smile is radiant,

Her soul touches mine

Her light makes my darkness shine

I feel something in my chest, it beats like a snare

Her fingers graze my face ever so lightly

My chest constricts, I feel it tightly

Her skin is soft, her voice is so serene

Like waves going along the sea

That same sea drowned my light

The light I used to keep

Darkness consumed me, solitude, and no heartbeat

She brings her hand to my chest,

And looks me in the eyes

They held a tenderness and care, I've never seen something so alive

She moves closer, lips inches away from mind

She lightly kisses me, removing all of my doubts from my mind

My mind seeks for her, within the darkness I see her light

My heart beats for her, it pumps whenever she's in sight

My soul screams for her, it reaches to hold her tight

She brought me back from the depths of my mind

I grab her hand, we walk together, leaving the doubts of our past behind

I love the way it sounds, I mean that one cliche line

Always in heart, always on my mind

She is love personified

The love of my life

Hayate wakes up, thinking about the events that transpired last night. He sits up and notices that Nyotengu is gone. 'She must've woken up before me..' He gets up to stretch and notices a note folded up on his pillow where Nyotengu was sleeping. Hayate grabs the note and opens it, slowly going over the words.

Ninja brat.

To say that last night was an eye opening experience would be an understatement.

Alas, I can no longer stay with you

There's something about me being with you that brings about an ominous feeling in me

Don't come looking for me boy, good luck on your journey. And don't worry, I won't go around terrorizing people anymore.

-Nyotengu

Hayate looks at the note and let's out a deep sigh. "I gotta keep moving.." Hayate puts on his gear and heads towards Helena's main office.

When he gets to Helena's office, she is already sitting in her chair looking out into the sea. "Good morning Helena." Hayate says politely. "Same to you. Seems like you and your guest had quite the 'event' last night. A few of my men saw her leaving this morning, she flew eastward." Helena says. Hayate nods and ignores this paining feeling in his stomach. 'What is this feeling...' he continues to try to figure out what's going on inside of him, not noticing Helena's attempts at trying to get his attention. "Hayate!" She snaps him out of his thoughts. "Yes, my apologies." He says. She looks at him with a raised eyebrow. "Are you sure you're all right, Hayate?" She asks with concern, Hayate looks at her and nods. "Well we should really get down to business shall we?"

Unknown area.

"How's the test subject going sir?" A woman with white hair asks. "It's going beautifully my dear, at this rate we'll not only have an army of the perfect super ninjas, but the main vessel will be under our control." The man says with an evil expression. "Christie my dear, why don't you go and fetch Rig for me. This calls for a celebration." "As you wish Donovan, sir." Donovan places his hands on the glass with a helpless Ryu inside. "Oh Ryu, you are by far my greatest project."Donovan says with an evil grin going down his face.

Somewhere in the sky.

Nyotengu is flying towards nothing, she doesn't know where she's going, she just knew she needed to get away. "I don't know why I'm feeling this way... last night was a mistake." She says while placing her hand over her heart. "I'm not the type to.." she stops for a moment. Realizing what she was about to say. "I'm not the type to fall in love..." She says as she closes her eyes and continues to soar, letting the flow of air kiss her soft face, letting the wind blow against her hair. She thinks back to the decision she made and the letter she left Hayate.

Last night after the cohabitation.

Nyotengu awakens in the middle of the night with Hayate's arms around her waist. They both lay there naked. Nyotengu unwraps herself from Hayate and stands up to look out of the window. A feeling of guilt suddenly washing over her. '...this was a mistake...' she looks back at Hayate's sleeping figure. 'He's changing me... I don't know if this is what I want though...' She looks out of the window again and contemplates on her current sense or consciousness. 'I... I need to get away from him...' She hurries and puts on her clothes and heads out the door but stops. 'I can't just leave him without saying goodbye...' She searches the room for something to write with, luckily she finds it. She begins to write a letter, saying her goodbyes to the man that's causing her this inner turmoil. "Hehe bye ninja boy... it was fun.." she whispers silently and lightly pecks his cheek. She then heads out of the door and leaves.

Back with Hayate. Present time.

"Hayate have you heard anything from Ryu?" Helena asks. Hayate thinks back to when he last talked to Ryu. He seemed to be heading towards the snowy tundra. "I haven't heard anything since my last meeting with him... I should head out into the tundra and see if there's something I can fine out there." Hayate stands up. "Prepare a helicopter for me Helena." Hayate prepares to leave, but before he departs, Helena stops him. "Be careful Hayate, I don't know what Donovan is planning." Hayate nods and keeps heads off towards the tundra where Ryu was headed.

Several hours later above a snowy mountain.

Hayate stands over the edge of the opening and looks out towards the mountain. "This is my stop. I'll report what I find to Helena when I get the chance." Hayate jumps off and dives down onto the mountain. He descends onto the side and plants his feet firmly, sliding down the side of the mountain. He flips off of it and lands on the ground. "So this is where Ryu was, I should search around."

After what seems like hours of searching for any clues on the whereabouts of Ryu or even clues on the hooded figure, Hayate comes across a kunai, covered in snow. "What's this?" Hayate digs up the kunai and notices the dry blood on it. "There was a battle here.." he looks around the area more for any signs of a struggle. "Whatever evidence that was here is gone now..." He heads off into the distance, not noticing an incoming blizzard coming his way. Hayate hastily moves in search of cover. He quickens his pace when he notices a cave. He goes into it "it looks like this blizzard won't pass for a while... I guess I'm staying here for the night." Hayate sits along the wall of the cave and waits until morning. He slowly drifts off into sleep.

Hayate's mindscape

Falling...

Falling deeper into the abyss of nothingness.

Hayate is falling slowly into darkness.

He falls deeper with no hope of escaping... "maybe I should just...

... let the darkness consume my conscious." Hayate says.

He closes his eyes

He closes his soul

He's ready to leave it all behind and let all of the negatives consume him.

Something reaches out to him.

It pulls him out of the darkness.

He opens his eyes and winces at the illuminating purple light...

"Your..."

With Hayate

Hayate opens his eye in a cold sweat. "I should head back to my village. I'll send a messenger bird to Helena, I fear Ryu has been kidnapped.." Hayate gets up and heads out towards his village. Hayate treads through the snow groggily. "I need to- *coughs* I need to get to my village fast." Hayate sprints through the snow in order to get to his village faster, it will take a while to get there but he's determined to get there as quickly as he can.

Mugen Tenshin clan

"Lady Ayane!" Ayane stops her training momentarily. "You better have a good reason for interrupting my training, Suki." The woman revealed as Suki hysterically motions Ayane to come with her. "Quickly! It's urgent!" Ayane shaking her head while slowly walking in the same direction as Suki. "What's so important that you have to interrupt my-" She sees Hayate collapsed and sweating profusely. "Master Hayate! Quickly get his gear off." Ayane rushes to Hayate's aid, removing his garments to reduce the sweating, she places her hand on his forehead. 'He has a really high fever.' She lifts him off of the ground and takes him into the village's infirmary.

At the infirmary, Ayane sits by Hayate's side, holding his hand for extra support. "Fight this, Hayate..." she whispers with hopes that her words are somehow reaching him.

Light. Dark. In between.

Hayate stands looking ahead, there is no light. There is no dark. There is the nothing in between the two. "This is a strange phenomenon."

All of a sudden, a gust of black wind surrounds him and seemingly sucks the negatives out of him, it then manifests into it's own body. "That looks like.." before he could finish the statement. The dark silhouette attacks him with a barrage of kicks, barely giving Hayate the chance to defend. He blocks two punches aimed for his face only for a heavy kick to check him in his gut. Knocking the air out of him. He quickly backs up but the dark silhouette stays on him. It delivers a thunderous heel kick to Hayate's temple, stunning Hayate momentarily. "So this is supposed.. *coughs* to be the silhouette of my inner conflict." Hayate grits his teeth and lunges at the silhouette in pure rage. "I Am Hayate! Leader of the Mugen Tenshin Clan! I will not be defeated by my own doubts" Hayate swiftly moves towards the silhouette and delivers two jabs. It rebuttals by grabbing Hayate's arm and Judo flipping him over it's shoulder. Unfortunately for it Hayate lands perfectly the proceeds to pull the silhouette towards him and it receives a beautifully executed kick to the jaw. But that wasn't it. Hayate pulled it back again and uses another powerful kick to launch him several feet high in the air. Hayate then teleports above him and brings his heel down on It's stomach, quickly maneuvering while still in the air, Hayate grabs it's arms and uses his knee to drive it into the ground. Hayate gets off and charges up his strongest attack to destroy it. Destroy his darkness. Destroy his doubts. He finishes it off with a strong wind attack, obliterating it. "It's over." Hayate says victoriously. The silhouette disappears but the area around Hayate changes. A blinding light surrounds him and when he opens his eyes, he's surrounded by black and white feathers. "I see now..." he reaches for a feather and holds it. "I will no longer waiver... there is good and bad in every individual... but it's important to always do everything in the name of what's right..."

Back in the infirmary.

Hayate wakes up and notices that Ayane is sleeping in the chair beside him. "Ayane..." he rubs her head lovingly and she wakes up almost immediately. "Master Hayate!" She says with relief. "What happened to you?" "I... was settling inner conflict Ayane.. but nows not the time for that." He says. She looks at him 'the color in his face returned..' she thinks to herself. "Ayane, contact Kasumi for me, and see if you can contact Momiji and Rachel too." Ayane scoffs at the idea of contacting Kasumi. "May I ask what for?" "I'll explain everything when they're here."

End

So so so so sorry for the late release. Life is an asshole I swear... anyways there is a reason behind everything for those who wonder why the characters are so different. Everything will be explained in later chapters. And I think I'm going to do about 15 chapters of this.