TheDarkestShinobi: I've got another chapter for you!!
Please be nice and give me a review or two!
I going to say in this few lines
That none of this stuff is mine,
So please owner don't sue
Cause I have no money to give to you!!
Story start
Kasumi jumped quickly and soundlessly from tree to tree. She was closer to the village; she recognized the trees from her days as a mere youth training in these same trees. Back when everything was how she wanted it to be, she had her brother, and a strained relationship with her half sister that was getting better. She remembered a time when she could come home on her brother's shoulders because she was tired to a warm meal made by her mother, her Okasan. She could almost smell her mother's fish in the air, no, that was real fish. Abruptly stopping she hid behind the tree trunk and looked to see a camp that was similar to the ones Ryu would make. She could feel another person nearby, the way they were breathing and walking
"I can sense you too; you may as well come out from your hiding spot"
Kasumi almost flinched, she wasn't expecting that person to find her before she left her hiding spot, it was something she was hoping for, so she would not have to fight him, fighting was one of the parts of being a shinobi she did not like.
"I did not expect you to find me,"
She stood on the tree branch for a second and he seemed to have recognized her because his eyes widened and his lips tilted upwards into a smile.
"Kasumi? I didn't think you'd come to me, must be my lucky day" Kasumi jumped down into the clearing he was in both of them knowing that the fight was inevitable and that one of them would die. She walked forward slowly and stopped with her hands on her hips. She didn't want to fight, neither did he, yet.
"Well... sit," The man said gesturing towards the long log on the other side of the fire. In the fire he was cooking fish and she cautiously walked closer. He was wearing a green muscle shirt and black pants; he had a sword strapped to his back and a shuriken pack tied to his leg. He looked around her age, 22, but acted so much older than she was, much like Ryu, he carried the grace of someone aged far more than he was. He had a firm build, for a ninja of the Hajimon, nothing seemed unusual about him. He stood at 5'9" with pale skin and short straight black hair; he had brown eyes and was in shape, but not above it.
She was a shinobi, a nukenin, someone that teams of ninja could not take down. She was stronger that Hayate and Ayane, two of the Mugen Tenshin's strongest. She was shapely and obviously well gifted in things other than the shinobi arts, and her outfit proved it. He knew the reason behind the outfit, a panty shot here, a glimpse of cleavage there and a weaker minded ninja would look and give her the opportunity to strike and take him out. Supposedly she was almost as strong as Hayabusa Ryu, the strongest man in the world. Aside from that she looked like a normal girl, about 5'2" and defined but not overly muscled. She did not look like she could be this 'Kunochi of Destiny' that everyone had claimed her to be, but he knew that looks could be deceiving.
"Relax, for now anyway, you've been running for awhile, and I bet you have eaten a bite for a few days, it's not poisoned or anything." She looked at him incredulously; did he think she was stupid? Trusting one's foe was an easy way to your downfall, honestly he was trying to be hospitable but he knew she wouldn't eat from his stock, even though he wasn't talented enough to poison it without causing a noticeable difference in its taste.
"I want to test myself, and you as well I guess" She started to feel the effects of not eating for so long and smelling the food now but held strong knowing she could go for a couple days more before she ate. Her stomach growled and her mouth started to salivate, but her feet stayed firmly on the floor as she stayed tense for an attack, it was the power of the mind over the body, her willpower overcoming her desire, even for food and Earthly need.
"If you don't eat, you won't be at your best, I know I will lose, but I want to face you at your best"
Kasumi cautiously stepped forward still expecting a trap. The man sighed albeit sadly, though he knew that living on the run made a person like this, his sister had been the same. He shook his head and pointed east,
"I understand your mistrust of me, there is a river a few hundred meters away, you can catch food there, unless you believed I've compromised the entire lake" Kasumi hesitantly backed off and then turned sprinting away, she couldn't believe she hadn't sensed the water nearby. Now it overpowered her, the feeling of freshness and scent of salt, the cooling of the temperature and the soft sounds of flowing waters.
--
Kasumi emerged from the water and put her clothes back on after an hour in the cold stream. After dressing, she tied her hair back in a high ponytail using her favorite yellow ribbon and turned to the water again. She quickly thrust her hand in and just as quickly pulled it out with a fish in it. She smiled and did it once more and, against her better judgment went back to the previous ninja's camp.
He felt the footsteps against the Earth and was able to feel her surprisingly calm presence moving towards him. It got stronger and he could tell that she was there at the base of his camp just looking at him, waiting for some kind of reaction. He looked up at her and smiled trying to be friendly. However, she stepped back slightly and uneasily, undeterred but calmer he got up and dusted himself off.
"You can use the fire, just put it out before you go to sleep, it'd be foolish to leave without using it."
She watched him enter the tent and frowned in thought. Why would he trust her so easily? Why was she trusting him so easily, and why did it feel like she knew him, or at least what was on the inside, the soul as people liked to call it? She seen the recognition in his eyes too when she first stepped out from behind the tree. She sat on the log stump by the fire and felt the warmness envelop her as she started to dry. She decided that there was no point in running away, at least not before using the fire, for drying and cooking.
After she had eaten she put out the fire and turned to leave when curiosity stopped her, this man, must have an ulterior motive to this, did he really just want to meet his end to her, she knew that many shinobi believe in an honorable death and he might want to bring his family honor, maybe he couldn't do that in his home village. But he recognized her in a scene and she did the same for him. She did not know him, she was never one to forget a face, making friends or, unfortunately, enemies with whomever she met, yet she felt like she did know him, better than she knew some of her old friends.
She watched as the last of the smoke cleared in the sky and felt for her small katana, it was always on her, she never went anywhere without it. It was a gift from her father before he went to go meet the Shogun for a special meeting in which he met his untimely end. She never got to meet him and grew up without a father, but with a legacy to fulfill. She frowned; she really didn't want to fight this man. She sat and leaned her head on the tree and dozed into a half sleep that only shinobi seemed capable of. She was used to being hunted and found at night, when a fraction of a second or a fraction of an inch can mean the difference between life and death, so she was used to this sort of meditative state, it was not the most rejuvenating, but it was what she had to settle for, especially being this close to the village.
--
Kasumi felt something moving over her and opened her eyelids slowly to see a blanket over her body, she snuggled into it before opening her eyes widely jumping into the air and drawing a kunai holding it to the man's neck, but he was holding his own kunai against it with a smile on his face.
He looked amused.
"heh, I didn't know you hated blankets that much." Kasumi smiled apologetically and brought her kunai back and put it in her pouch.
"Sorry" she had almost killed this man because he offered her warmth. Kasumi looked at the fire and seen four fish cooking,
"the stream's
still over there since you don't trust me"
"Hai"
she said thankfully and sprinted off, she still wondered why he was
so nice to her, but there was that spark of recognition again, it
intrigued her more than it should, she should keep running, she
shouldn't stop at the stream and she shouldn't turn and go back,
she shouldn't see him again. She knew she would.
--
Ryu landed kneeled and the entrance of the Hajimon main house.
"I am here to see Hayate" The ninja at the front stepped aside knowing Ryu well, they, Ryu and Hayate, had been close friends for the better part of eleven years, since Ryu was fourteen, he was turning 25.
"Hayate"
"Ryu! Long time no see"
Hayate walked out of his room and they bowed slightly to each other
in greeting a smile on both of their faces, though Ryu's was a lot
less noticeable. His mask was off and his hair was tied back into a
ponytail, Hayate was in his normal attire, the white outfit with blue
edges.
"How is the Mugen Tenshin doing?"
"We
just lost another team" Ryu nodded and felt a snake of emotion
crawling up his spine. He was always one to follow his instinct, and
that instinct told him to watch for the snake in the grass, and that
the snake was Hayate.
"How?" Hayabusa crossed his arms
having a feeling he knew what it was, he never had siblings but the
bond between them was supposed to be unbreakable, he had a bond with
Ayane and Kasumi, and he knew all the details as to why Kasumi left
because she told him, and if Ayane left he would get all the details
before severing that bond and calling her an enemy, and he wasn't
their brother.
"Yes, Kasumi, she took down another team of my best."
"She is too strong for you to kill off like any other rouge nin"
"But she needs to be taken down!"
"Hayate, this is your
sister!"
"She betrayed the clan; that is all I need to
know."
"You don't remember the whole thing she-"
"Ryu!
Enough! Kasumi is a shinobi, she knows this, she knows that if she
comes here, chances are, she won't leave alive, and I'll make sure of
it."
Ryu had watched his best friend change since he got his memory back, he had been cold and distant before he took up the mantle as the village leader, Ryu knew that his best friend was no longer the man he once was and it disappointed him how even a man as strong as Hayate, could fall to the darkness.
"Hayate, you disappoint me" Hayabusa said and turned away, only he disappeared as he did so. Hayate looked down thinking o all the times that Ryu saved Kasumi, all the times he tried to get Hayate to calm down when it came to sending teams after her, how the 'Super Ninja' had grown soft hearted.
"Ryu, you disappoint me as well."
--
Kasumi had just returned to camp when she seen her companion walking around carrying wood. His muscles bulged with the effort of carrying those large logs and he was shirtless, Kasumi felt herself flush and cleared her throat.
"Oh! Kasumi I..." He dropped a long in surprise and it went down and ripped straight down his black pants giving himself a long ragged cut down his right leg. A ninja is taught how to withstand pain, and that was the only reason Sereo could hold the logs up until Kasumi took enough for him to toss the rest into the pile and sit back as the blood ran down his leg and the sweat ran into the wound.
"Shimatta!"
Kasumi laughed and walked up to him, leaving the wood as it fell from
the toss.
"You were carrying too much, be more careful will
you?" She frowned seeing all the blood and grabbing his pant
leg.
"That's deep" He sheepishly rubbed his
head,
"I've had worse, I'll be fine," She shook her
head,
"Allow me to bandage you up please." He nodded and
they walked over, painfully slow for those used to running, to the
stream before she set him down by a tree stump by the stream. She
ripped his pants up to mid thigh, she needed the wound to breathe,
the cut started just below the knee and ran until and inch above his
ankle.
"Kasumi," She turned to the water and
dipped the cloth in soaking it, looking over her shoulders she
responded with a simple 'Hai'
"how long has it been"
She walked back and knelt in front of him.
"Since we
met?"
"Yeah"
"About two weeks why"
"I'm
due back in the village in one more week then" She nodded as she
cleaned the wound and ever once in a while he would twitch.
"You
know, it's been two weeks, and I don't know your name"
"Well
I'm Tademo Sereo" He turned his clean leg to take a good look at
the bruise
"It's worse than I
thought, but it'll be better in a few days, I heal abnormally
fast."
"well, Sereo san it's nice to make your
acquaintance."
"heh" Kasumi's hands traveled up his
leg slowly searching for any other injury caused by the wood and she
felt him tense.
"Relax" She soothed not realizing the
real problem. He rolled his eyes
--
"Kasumi has
evaded us for far too long" Hayate said to the council, which
was a group of powerful family figures, the only one refusing a seat
being Hayabusa. Nobody was against that, he was invaluable in
the field. Ryu said he was never a real part of the village and
could not accept a seat, but they believed what they wanted to.
"I
am sending Yuka Hitori and Megi Haru on a mission to eliminate her,
they are two of our best, and they will not fail."
"We
will also send Hayabusa Ryu"
"And what of
Tademo Sereo"
"we have not heard from him as of
yet."
"We will meet tomorrow to finalize this
mission"
Hayate bowed and left. The council was easy to deal with when he brought up Kasumi, she dishonored the clan, and as long as she was out there it made them look weak. He would fix that, the Hajimon was not weak, he would show them, he would show them all that he was not weak.
--
Kasumi woke up and stretched, she had gotten real sleep last night, she slept blissfully unaware of the world around her, it had been too long since she had done that. She got up and picked up the blanket and pillow Sereo gave her and put it in a neat pile; she had never felt so alive.
She had slept so well yesterday and felt so energetic today. She stretched again and let out a small yawn while pulling her hair back into her favorite yellow ribbon, the one she wore everyday if she could. She walked out and seen four fish by the fire, she had trusted him and eaten the same fish he did and so he had started cooking four, two for each. She sat down and he looked up to her, his eyes were different, they were colder, more like a ninja than a friend. His eyes had always been so warm to her, now they looked at her coldly.
"Today we fight" She opened
her eyes wide and looked at him shocked. His tone matched his eyes,
how could he act so coldly to her now when he was so warm
before.
"Nani? ano Sareo san we, I..." She got up and
backed away slowly, she couldn't believe this, she wouldn't
believe this. She should turn and run, and she started to
"Kasumi"
She stopped, she couldn't bring herself to run away, she should,
his leg was, or should still be hurt, and she was fast, he wouldn't
be able to catch her.
"We must fight, running away will not
stop it, I am ordered to hunt and kill you" Kasumi lowered her
gaze while facing away from him. Why must she always fight?
"You're
right, I was a fool to trust you and believe you actually cared about
me and would actually offer me a temporary home." It might've
sounded as cold as his remark if her voice did not crack as she said
it.
"Eat" She turned and looked up at him with a
hardened stare, she had to pretend she didn't know him, how could he
expect her to kill her friend? Was that the reason why he befriended
her, and what of the spark of recognition between them?
"Food,
eat it." Kasumi sat down and took a fish hesitantly, what's
going on?
--
"Ryu has left the village"
Hayate said to his half sister as she sharpened her sword.
"He
will be back" Ayane said as she stood and put her sword in its
sheath, she didn't even look at him.
"He is probably
training, don't pay it any mind, you have a clan to lead, put your
friendship and petty concern behind you" She said scolding as
she turned to him, Hayate turned away, vanishing in a cloud of
smoke.
"He'd better be back" Ayane said softly and
turned away after her older brother left. She sighed and hoped
he would be back; Hayate was tearing the three of them apart, Ryu and
Ayane couldn't even be in the same room with him sometimes because
it reminded them so much of the Hayate they used to have.
"Oh Hayate, if Kasumi could see you now…"
--
Kasumi turned to run away
once again and avoid the fight but he appeared in front of her,
"We
have to fight" There was that cold tone again. She turned away
with her hand by her heart, her tears were on the verge but pure
willpower held them back, if she were to fight tears would hinder her
vision.
"Why, why is everything always fighting? Why
can't we be in peace?" Sereo laughed
"Kasumi, we are
ninja, if you take the fight from us then there is nothing left.
Fighting is what we were born and raised to do, that is
fate"
"but..." he shook his head slowly and then
looked at her harshly
"You tried to escape it and only
brought more violence to your life, do you see the futility. Now,
come at me!"
Kasumi stepped back.
"Onegai!"
(stop)
"Hajime!" (Begin/come at me)
Kasumi closed
her eyes and brought her hands up to block his first two
strikes,
"Please"
Then she back flipped onto a tree
branch as he tried to kick her. The simple act reminded her of the
times she had faced Ryu and he had told her to run away, to live and
fight another day, and how she had never listened.
"I do
not wish to fight!"
"That is not possible!" He
jumped into the tree and before she could move pinned her to it.
She struggled against him but he was too strong, she would have to
hurt him to get out. He put his head by hers and whispered in
her ear.
"You are a shinobi, the fight is inevitable, as of
now, we are no longer friends, you owe me nothing, you are nothing to
me, I am nothing to you. Seal away your emotions, your feelings, or
this life will drive you mad." Kasumi turned swiftly so she
faced the trunk; she then grabbed her katana and swung at him.
He stepped back and vanished, leaving leaves behind. He appeared in
the clearing below the tree and she clenched her fist stepped forward
on the branch.
"Now! Hajime!" Kasumi narrowed her eyes as she unclenched her fist but made one, she had to pretend that she didn't know this person, that he didn't offer her hospitality,
That he wasn't her friend.
Kasumi crouched on the tree branch, now they were not friends, they were enemies out to kill each other, all because of her brother, was this really the life she had lived before, friends one moment, enemies the next, fighting for no reason other than the fact that someone else wanted you to, being the puppets for a mastermind or an idiot? They were throwing their lives away on a whim, being jus a weapon to be used or discarded at will. She had to stop it; she had to make her brother stop this.
She had to go to her brother and stop this, she was only a day away from the village, couldn't he see that she really didn't want to fight with him, that all she wanted to do was talk to her brother peacefully and make amends, she wanted to do the same with her half sister Ayane and she had longed for her mothers embrace for the longest time.
Sereo lowered his stance and Kasumi jumped down into the clearing drawing a simple kunai. Kasumi looked at him and let out a breath she didn't realize she was holding. She knew it would be alright someday, it had to be, she couldn't live a life where there was someone who wanted you dead everywhere you turned. She would change that, she would go to Hayate and change that.
Sereo pulled out a kunai and spun it on his middle finger before catching it in his hand holding it by his side.
--
Ryu was sitting on a tree in the forest trying to relax when he heard kunai clashing from a fight in the distance. He held his mask in his hands as he looked over the village he had hoped to one day feel apart of, but he couldn't, to this day he felt like an outsider. He was always pointed at admired, and no one cared about who he was. As a ninja, that was how you wanted people to look at you, but after feeling like a part of a family, with Kasumi Ayane and Hayate he missed the simple hi. Kasumi, Hayate was still trying to kill her, know it was different, before he felt pressured by the clan heads to kill her, he had known there was something his sister didn't tell him, but now, he wanted her dead, and he wanted to kill her himself if he could. He traced the silver part of his mask wondering when he cared more for Kasumi than Hayate did.
Flashback
"Ryu"
"Hayate"
"One
day she will come here, drive her away, please, for her own
safety"
"So you still love her"
There was no
response, it was not needed.
End flashback
At
that time he was sure that they both wanted her safe and sound and
carried an older brother's sense of affection for her.
But now, he wanted her dead like the rest of the village, and Ryu was left alone in his affection, even Ayane wanted her dead, though Ayane and Kasumi's relationship turned sour as soon as Ayane found out they were sisters. He found himself asking himself, a lot if he should he hate her too? His old and only sensei would say that he should go out there and kill her now, to end the confusion and mixed feelings.
He was the only one she confessed to and he was still the only one who knew the whole story. And he swore to secrecy. He swore to her to keep the secret to the grave and it was a promise he planned on keeping. He remembered that day, the leaves were turning and it was colder than normal, she had confessed to him her fears and her plan, he tried to convince her to stay, then to let him come with her, in the end she refused both requests and he watched her leave.
Of everyone, he harbored the most affection for her, weakness or not it was true.
He couldn't hate her like they did.
--
Kasumi kicked at Sereo's head and he leaned back and grabbed her foot sweeping her. She twirled and instead of falling put her weight on his arm and swirled around to kick him in the face. He released her and stepped back. They drew a kunai at the same time, twirled it in their fingers and grasped it at all in perfect unison, using the same Hajimon technique. They charged passed each other and their kunais sparked.
--
Ryu stood on the tree branch and slid his mask into place, he was going to find her and end all this nonsense. He was feeling too much and thinking about this too much. He ran and jumped off the tree towards the village.
--
Ayane jumped out of the village's
watchtower on the main gates and landed in front of a man walking
in. The man jumped back but did not say anything.
"This
is the Mugen Tenshin, do not lie to the Hajimon, state your
purpose." The man looked to her and pulled out a
scroll.
"Deliver this to Ieto Hayate, or whomever your
village currently follows"
"From?"
"The
Shogun"
--
You the reader will click the review button on the bottom of this page.
I hope...
Nobody voted on Hayate so he wants her dead, my pick,
now for waaay in the future,
Anybody want a Ryu/Kasumi Lemon?
TDS =)