Disclaimer: I do not own Dead or Alive, nor do I own Ninja Gaiden.

Dead or Alive 5

Chapter 1: Mr. "Super Ninja"

"Ding, Ding" a small silver door bell rang above the door as a man stepped into a dusty shop. Gazing around he noted that it was in serious need of dusting, but more importantly repair. The wooden walls he knew that he was going to have to call out a contractor for some updating pretty soon for both the walls and the floor. However, he pushed those inconvenient thoughts out of his mind as he scanned the shop, examining various trinkets, bobbles, and other aged objects to make sure nothing of any really value had been stolen during his absence.

Walking behind the counter emerald green eyes scanned behind the counter making sure everything was in place before popping open a well aged cash register and making sure that no money had been stolen.

"Well then, everything seems to be in order. All that's left to do is take a shower," the man stated as he dropped his brown pack from his shoulders and set it on a well worn wooden chair near the register.

Walking up a flight of incredibly squeaky stairs that man eventually made it up to his studio style dwelling were he began to strip off his white training gear, which consisted of a black gi, grey stealth pants, and mustard yellow sandals, as he made his way into the bathroom. All of the articles were sopping with sweat as he tossed them carelessly into a plastic cloths hamper and headed toward a simple shower/bath combo. However, he stopped at an elaborate porcelain sink where he turned the sterling silvers knobs in order to make sure he had not forgotten to pay his water bill…again.

After checking and noting that he did in fact have hot water he immediately headed over toward the shower. Turning on the water to hot and full blast the man threw off the rest of the articles and stepped into the shower allowing the relaxing heat to sooth his aching muscles. After grabbing a bar of soap and scrubbing away the dirt and filth that had accumulated on his insanely muscular form he immediately stepped out of the shower and slipped on a towel. After going through the rest of his routine he headed out of the bathroom and down a small hallway toward a wooden door tucked between the corners of the wall.

Twisting the gold knob he made opened the door slowly before flicking on a light switch and illuminating the otherwise pitch-black room. Checking his surroundings, while tying up his long light brown into a loose ponytail, he observed that this room also needed to be thoroughly cleaned as well.

'At least I'm never bored,' he thought to himself with a small smile on his thin lips as he walked over to a varnished oak wood chest of drawers, past a modest futon with a forest green comforter on top, a stepped over a creaky board which annoyed the otherwise calm and composed man to no end. Opening the drawer he quickly selected a few articles before making his way toward a walk in closet and selected a royal blue tee-shirt and a pair of well worn blue jeans.

After putting on the clothing, which seemed to stretch far to much over his massive form, he parted a plain set of curtains and gazed out toward the busy streets below full of people running their mid-day errands.

"Well then, I'd better get to work," the man thought to himself with a neutral expression on his face as he headed out of the room and back down the stairs. 'Funny, once I was the gurdian of an ancient evil blade and now I own and work at a Curio Shop. I suppose that is what life is about however, change is eternal and nothing can stay the same. You can't change the past either, for what's done is done,' the man continued to think to himself with a slightly, almost non-existent, frown as he opened the Venetian blinds and turned the "Closed" sign to "Open" on the front door.

"Now all I can do is wait," the brown haired man said with a sigh as he went behind the counter and grabbed a feather duster. 'Jann Lee would get a kick out of this,' the man thought to himself with a small smile as he began to dust down some of the antiques within the shop. "Ryu Hayabusa, domesticated so to speak," he said to himself with a weary grin as he continued to dust.

After dusting the store down Ryu found himself behind the counter again. 'Things seem to be particularly slow today,' he thought to himself as he watched various individuals pass by the shop with almost less then a second glance as they continued to run their errands. 'Oh well,' he though to himself as he walked over to his pack and began to rummage through its contents.

"Let's see, I know it's in here," he mumbled to himself as he dug around the pack trying to locate whatever estranged object he was looking for. Reaching deeper and in the corner of the pack he suddenly felt something smooth and cool brush against his fingers. 'Ah, there it is,' he thought to himself with a ghost of a smile finding its way onto his lips.

Upon pulling out a necklace adorned with black and white prayer beads Ryu promptly put his pack on the floor and took a seat in chair, all the while never taking his eyes off of the smooth and polished beads which ran through his rough and calloused hands. 'Even after all of these years I still have it. I guess it means more to me now, now that she's gone,' Ryu thought to himself as he continued to allow the beads to roll across his fingers. Suddenly he heard the door bell to the shop ring signaling the entrance of what might be a paying customer.

Immediately sliding the necklace into his pocket Ryu walked over to the register and was about to greet his visitor when his voice got caught in his throat.

"What's wrong Hayabusa-san? Cat got your tongue?" a young woman with short lavender hair, which extended down to her shoulders, inquired with a mischievous grin spreading across her rose pink full lips. Her eyes looked to be an exotic pink which shifted to a slightly red pink depending on the light. She was donning a pair of denim blue jeans which hugged her hips and accentuated her shapely calves and thighs, as well as a violet blouse which hugged her ample bosom and slender stomach tightly.

"Ayane!" Ryu exclaimed in shock as his eyes went wide for a moment, but then immediately turned cold and hard. "If you're looking for Kasumi-san I have no idea where she is. You're better of finding her for yourself," Ryu stated with a frown and, although the words were meant to sound hard and firm, he came across as only slightly annoyed.

"Calm down, you really need to learn how to relax more. It's hard to believe Mr. "Super Ninja" himself is so high strung," Ayane said in a bored tone of voice as she rolled her eyes at Ryu. "Listen, I already know you won't tell me anything about my sister but that's not why I'm here. I'm here to give you a heads up. I stopped by a few days ago, but I guess you were still on your training trip or something to that effect," Ayane stated calmly as she ran her fingers across a small antique jade Buddha statue on a shelf next to the register.

"So what is it that you wanted to warn me about?" Ryu asked as he cocked an eyebrow and stared at the young woman incredulously.

"DOATEC is alive and well, and so is the Dead or Alive tournament," Ayane deadpanned as she stopped toying with the Buddha statue and looked Ryu dead in his eyes, her own lacking their usual mischievous glint.

"What do you mean? I thought they were finished after the last tournament?" Ryu questioned as he continued to eye Ayane incredulously.

"My brother thought so as well, but it turns out that the Tri-Tower was just a cover up for a bigger operation. Alpha, in a sense, was only a tool with which to distract us from noticing this new establishment that they were developing," Ayane stated as she reached into her tight fitting jeans and retrieved a small set of photos which she promptly handed over to Ryu.

"Take a look at these. We sent a spy to check up on them not to long ago, and this is some of what we found out," Ayane said as Ryu looked through the photos with morbid fascination clearly evident on his features.

The photos Ryu were currently examining showed five large skyscrapers, almost identical to the Tri-Tower aside from the fact that their were five buildings instead of three, and a strange mass sat in the center of the buildings connected to and supported by the towers themselves. It looked to be a pentagon of some sort with a translucent center of some sort, as well as being outlined by some type of sleek black metal.

"So what is it? What could they possibly be developing now that would exceed Alpha?" Ryu asked as he handed the pictures back to Ayane who slipped them back into her pocket.

"They call it, obviously, the Pentagram. What there developing we haven't a clue about, we were lucky to even get these shots of the place. The security is incredibly tight now, even for a ninja," Ayane stated as she pulled out one more photo from her other pocket and handed it to Ryu.

Ryu examined the photo closely for a moment as he cocked an eyebrow. Depicted within the photo were a set of men donning black suits, as well as various crews donning the usual yellow uniform and hard hats, digging up the area right outside of Vigoor Palace.

'What could they possibly be looking for there? Nothing was left after my battle with the Emperor, nor was there anything left after I defeated Murai. What could they possibly be after?' Ryu thought to himself with an almost invisible frown spreading across his thin lips.

"I know what you're thinking, especially since I had the scout go out there in the first place. It does seem rather strange that DOATEC. would take a sudden interest in the area, unless it had something to do with their new project. Like I said, I don't have much to go off of but I think they might have been looking for fragments of the Dark Dragon Blade," Ayane stated in a deathly serious tone of voice as her eyes hardened and she gazed incredulously at Ryu. "To be completely honest I don't even want to imagine what could happen if those bastards got their hands on such power. I still remember your fight with Murai-san…if he was that strong with it's power imagine what DOATEC. could try to do with it. I can only hope that they don't try to develop another Alpha."

"I agree," Ryu replied as he handed the photo back to Ayane and frowned. Both stood silently for a moment, as if brooding, before Ryu spoke up again. "Did you say that the Dead or Alive tournament was up and running again?" Ryu inquired as gazed into Ayane's pink eyes.

"Yes, and it seems as though it will begin shortly. That's one of the reasons why I said I thought that they were prepared for this all along. We only have two days before the tournament starts again, so I suggest that you don't go on anymore of those ridiculous training trips of yours," Ayane stated with a playful smirk and a wink as she headed out of the store.

"I suspect that you're just saying that because the workout I gave you as an apprentice were just too hard for you," Ryu shot back with a smirk. "Don't worry though, I won't tell Kasumi-san that it took you a month to master a simply triple back flip with a kunai throw which actually hit the target."

"Oh shut up!" Ayane called back with a mixture of playfulness and faux anger in her voice as she exited out of the shop, the metallic bell signaling her departure, leaving Ryu alone with his thoughts.

'She really is a good girl, too bad she tries to mask it so much. It must have been hard growing up being a half child within the Mugen Tenshin, that's the only thing that could explain it,' Ryu thought to himself with a small smile as he took a seat in a familiar wooden chair and allowed his mind to filter through the new information he had received.

'And here I thought I killed Donovan. However, I suppose that can't be the case considering that the company is still up and running,' Ryu continued to think to himself with a troubled frown finding its way onto his lips. 'Furthermore, what could they possibly be doing near the Vigoorian Palace? What could they possibly be looking for?'

"Ding, Ding" the door bell rang once again snapping Ryu out of his thoughts and into attention as an elderly couple slowly made their way into the store. 'I'll just have to think about this later,' he thought to himself as he made his way over to help the elderly couple with their browsing.

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"So, is everything in order?" a warped voice spoke through a Mac laptop at the head of a large, and extremely expensive, red wood table within a giant meeting room surrounded by glass that overlooked a vast, as well as dense, evergreen forest.

"Yes sir, the all three squads have completed their assigned task. Operation Lost Soul is steadily reaching the completion stage, and the subject seems to be responding well. It will only be a matter of time until we can proceed with the fifth tournament," an older gentleman stated as he stroked his sharp long grey goatee and ran a hand through his short cropped balding hair. His face as incredibly wrinkled, and the only thing that kept him from looking like a mummy was the sheer fact that he was alive instead of buried and dead. He also wore a navy blue pen stripe suit, which was more than likely extremely expensive, as well as an immaculate white dress shirt and blood red tie.

"Excellent," the warped voice replied with dark chuckle. "This will be the last tournament. We will rid ourselves of those troublesome ninjas once and for all, and will ensure DOATEC reaches the panicle of its power."

"Of course sir, and forgive me for my ignorance, but I simply do not understand your plan," a portly looking man chimed in from his large black leather seat as he ran a hand through his slicked back salt and pepper hair. His chubby face was clean shaven and his eyes were almost the size of seeded grapes. He had large sausage fingers which seemed clumsy and thick, but some how he managed to type on his Mac laptop with great ease. He also wore a similar suit, shirt, and tie combo as the older gentleman who sat adjacent to him.

The warped voice chuckled darkly again sending chills up the portly man's spine. "How did such a dolt become part of my board?" the warped voice muttered through the laptop before he breathed in deeply and released an exasperated sigh. "Our problem has always been the ninjas," he stated with a hint of annoyance in his voice as he continued.

"You see, while the other three may have been a problem, our biggest obstacle is the ninja known as Hayabusa Ryu. His skills far exceed those of the other ninja's, Hayate being the only one who has almost reached the same level. My plan is to rid of us of this nuisance once and for all using one of his few weaknesses," the warped voice said calmly as he allowed the others a chance to consider his words.

"But sir is it truly possible? I mean considering what we're doing, don't you think it would be more profitable to market it to the upper class. We could bring in a fortune," a man donning a black suit, white dress shirt, and royal blue tie stated as he ran over the figures on his laptop. His hair was long, feathered, and jet black, reaching down slightly past his shoulder blades. His eyes were a light shade of brown and his face was rather thin.

"You just don't get it do you? What we have developed, gentlemen, is a weapon. Nothing more and nothing less. Would you infuse someone with Alpha's DNA? I think not," the warped voice stated, this time with annoyance and fatigue laced in every word.

"I see," another man donning a blood red suit, white dress shirt, and canary yellow tie chimed in. "Yes I understand sir. But, as you just stated, would it be wise to infuse someone, dead or alive, with this new source of energy?" the man questioned as he tapped his metallic pin on the table while correcting a stray blond hair which had somehow come out of his ponytail.

"Do not worry about that. The subject can be controlled, and can even partially control itself. We will not have any problems. This meeting is adjourned gentlemen," the warped voice stated before the screen flicked out. After that the men gathered in the room simply pondered what it is their President could possibly hope to achieve with this new weapon, if it could possibly be even stronger than Alpha, and if so could they really control it.

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"Time to close up shop," Ryu mumbled to himself as he locked the doors in the front and back of the shop before walking toward the stairs and flicking the light switch which in turn turned off all the lights. He then proceeded up the stairs towards the bathroom where he took quick shower and went through the rest of his normal routine.

'Well at least I was able to sell a few things, but it wasn't much,' he thought to himself with a slight frown as he got dressed in a black tan top and a pair of black shorts before he plopped down on his double sized bed. Staring up at the ceiling her reached over toward his discarded pair of jeans and pulled out the beaded necklace again.

'To think I wouldn't even have had to worry about any of this had it not been for that day,' Ryu thought to himself as he ran the beads through his fingers again and sighed deeply. 'If only I had been faster…maybe it could have been avoided…maybe she would still be here.'

With that last unpleasant thought Ryu closed his eyes and drifted off into a dreamless and uneasy slumber, beaded necklace still laced around his fingers.

To Be Continued

Author's Note: Well here's chapter 2, I hope you enjoyed it! Sorry it was a little on the short side, but until I get into the meat of the story subsequent chapters will probably be about this length. Well as always, please review and feel free to flame if it needs gross improvement.

Also, I am still working on my other stories so there will be some updates for my major ones relatively soon.