Welcome back. First the legal disclaimers 'n' stuff:

Dead or Alive and its characters are owned by Tecmo and Team Ninja. I merely own the laptop on which this story was typed. My bf owns a ps2 and a copy of this bloody addictive, great for anger-management-issues game .

And now back to the story.

Temet Nosce – Ch. 3

In a remake of a temple courtyard elsewhere on the compound, a young man was practicing for his upcoming match. He was stripped to the waist, sweat glistening across his chest and arms. Most of the moves, he knew, were only recently familiar to him, as the man who found him and brought him back from the brink of death taught them to him. There were other moves, however, that he was aware of doing, but where he had learned them- they were obviously from another form of martial art, his master had said as much- he had no memory of it. He knew he should, but no matter how hard he searched his mind, there was nothing but a black, empty wall where his memories should be.

It shouldn't be like this, the young man named Ein thought, frustration narrowing his amber eyes. His anger showed in his movements, too, for his pace increased, his punches and kicks snapping out into the air as if trying to shatter that mental wall in the physical world. Only when his anger was spent did he stop, sides heaving from the exertion, sweat pouring down his body. As he was taught, he bowed, completing his practice. You can't fight someone else when you're fighting you, he chided himself.

Ein sighed, running a hand through his sweat-damped auburn hair. He had entered this competition at the suggestion of his master, hoping to find answers, and so far had found none. It seemed like a good idea at the time- when he was found; the clothes that he was wearing bore insignias that closely resembled the one for this tournament. His near-supernatural combat skills also backed the idea up. Surely he would fight someone who he had fought before and his or her familiarity would trigger something in his memory. Yet so far, he had nothing.

He turned and made his way toward the stairs. As Ein bent down to retrieve his shirt where he left it, a sharp, stabbing pain pierced through his skull. He closed his eyes shut tight and winced. Taking a few short breaths, the pain started to ebb. Ein opened his eyes, satisfied that the worst was over, and started to climb the stairs. He had taken no more than three steps when the pain returned with such ferocity that it dropped him to his knees, moaning.

"Not again..." Ein whispered hoarsely.

Distorted images flashed through his mind. Collectively, they had no continuity, no point of reference for Ein, but the emotions they evoked were marked indelibly on his soul, the fear, the anger, the joy, and the desperation. Here, he is strapped to a cold, metal slab, staring up into a blinding light...In the woods on his knees with the cold feel of a gun to the back of his head...Running through the woods, laughing as a child at play...Running for his life down a corridor as stinging blows rain down upon him, lunging out at the last moment as he is overtaken, horror struck eyes looking into his own as he is beaten into unconsciousness...

The young man remained in a prone position on the steps, letting the coolness of the stone soothe the throbbing in his skull. How much longer was he going to have to wait for his answers?

Helena sat watching Ryu Hayabusa as the ninja practiced with the famed Dragon Sword. She had found him in a small, rocky clearing, deep in the woods of the DOATEC compound, and hadn't wished to disturb him until he was finished. The ninja appeared to be in complete focus, almost as if he and the Sword were one. The sun had shifted since her practice with Lei Fang this morning, and the trees that she sat amongst obscured it enough for it to only dapple the forest floor. She had lost track of how long she had been watching, and her mind started to drift back to when she had first met him, at the banquet at the beginning of the Tournament. It was his focus, she recalled with an awkward smile to herself, which had left an indelible mark on her memory of that encounter.

She had chanced upon him having what seemed to be a rather heated conversation with a young redheaded girl dressed in a strawberry-colored kimono. He looked as though he was trying to convince her of something, but she would not hear him out and finally turned from him, shrugging off his hand as he tried to stop her. Helena too had turned away, not wanting to seem as if she had been eavesdropping, and almost gasped audibly when she looked up and found him standing right in front of her. Ryu fixed his penetrating green eyes on her and bowed, his face unreadable to her.

"Mademoiselle Voizin, it is a honor to meet you at last. I have been a great fan of your work." The ninja greeted her, to her surprise, in perfect French. He had used her mother's surname, which Helena had used as her professional name, and what she had used to register for the Tournament, figuring it was much safer to use than Douglas.

"Merci, Monsieur Hayabusa. You are too kind…" Helena began; returning his bow to hide the crimson tint that she was sure covered her face. "I am surprised that such a great fighter as yourself would be interested in such trifling entertainment."

A barely perceptible smile lightened Ryu's face. "The world is full of surprises. I'm surprised that such a great entertainer as you would be interested in fighting. The last time I saw you was at your premiere in Madama Butterfly in Tokyo…I'm sorry." He paused, noticing the pained look that had crossed the young opera star's face. "Did I say something to offend you?"

Helena realized he was looking at her with concern. She weakly smiled, trying not to let her eyes fill with tears. "I- it's not you, no… it's… um… 'Tutta la primavera' was the duet my mother and I were performing when… ah… when she…" The knot in her throat prevented her from speaking further. She looked away from him and gazed at the other guests, refusing to let the ninja see any more of her sorrow.

The ninja saved her from further embarrassment. "Ah, yes, I had heard of that. Such a shame, you have my deepest sympathies, of course. Did the authorities ever find the murderer?"

"No, and I doubt they ever will." Helena replied, hastily wiping her eyes.

"I'm terribly sorry to hear that." Ryu paused, scanning the Frenchwoman's face. "I suppose…that is the reason you're here."

Helena simply stared at him, her mouth slightly agape. "How did you…"

He cut her off in mid-sentence. "Be careful with your vengeance, you may get more than you bargained for, especially here. There is more to this…" Helena could have sworn she saw the handsome face of the ninja twist into a sneer. "… 'Tournament' than what meets the eye."

Then as abruptly as he appeared, he bowed and was gone.

What an odd man, she thought, the memory finishing its playback in her mind.

Below her, Ryu had finished, returning the Dragon Sword to the scabbard on his back. Without looking in her direction, he called out to her, "If you have been waiting for me to finish, then you may come down now". A soft breeze came up, catching the man's ponytail and sending it streaming out behind him like a flag.

Too stunned to speak, Helena climbed down from the stony ledge that she had been sitting on for well over an hour. What she had thought to be a rather well concealed position apparently was not.

Recognizing the singer, he ninja greeted her with a bemused smile. "You are not here to fight me, for it is my understanding that we are not to meet unless it is in the final round. So I am completely at a loss as to why you are seeking me out."

Helena paused, trying to find the right words to use, to say what she had come to him for. She toyed with a strand of her golden hair, debating how to approach the situation in her mind, until she realized that Ryu was giving her one of his laser focus looks. You may get more than you bargained for. There is more to this…'Tournament' than what meets the eye; his last words rang in her head. She decided to forego the use of tact.

"I may be fighting my mother's killer in this evening's match." She held her breath, waiting for his response.