Chapter 4:The Man
Disclaimer: All rights reserved to KOEI TECMO, TECMO and Team NINJA. I am not Yosuke Hayashi.
A/N: *hides behind fluffy white cloud* I couldn't believe that some of you thought I'd kill Hitomi!XD Lol, that was hilarious to read. Just know that I'm not killing her...yet. ;)
-Dream-
Hitomi was back into that strange but beautiful place. She didn't know why she was here again, all that woman that she saw that day did was changing her eye colour. She was still upset and couldn't wait to have a word with her, asking her why she was like that, who that woman was. They were so many questions in her head, but right now, she just wanted to speak to that strange-looking woman.
A sound snapped her out of her reverie. It wasn't just a sound, but music. Melodious music that would put any child to sleep. A flute was playing.
She wasn't wrong when she came looking for the player. It was a flute played by, not the woman, but a young man, about her father's age, with messy silver locks playing it. She cocked her head to the side, wondering who that man was.
"Are you going to be standing there all day?"
His voice made her shiver. But not in the way that Hayate would make her feel. No, his voice made her feel like a caught child that just did something wrong.
"Where am I? And most importantly, who are you?" She asked, but her voice came out an octave higher than usual. The man chuckled at her for being so skeptical and placed his flute on the grass, then walked closer to her. His gaze made her feel so vulnerable and she had to force herself away from those beautiful green eyes. When he was now face to face with her, he gently tucked his finger under her chin and smiled. Hitomi could not help but smile back.
"Listen, here, child. I will only tell you this once. Do not be afraid. Never be afraid of anything, trust anyone your heart thinks should trust. Don't listen to your mind, you never know, it may not be your voice you'd hear, but an unfamiliar, evil one. Your heart is the one you should trust the most. Do you understand?" He asked. Hitomi nodded and he let go of her chin, smiling slightly and walking back to where he was. He picked up his flute, but just before he started to play his tune, he looked back at Hitomi and said,
"Good luck, child. We will see each other soon, but now, you must wake up."
His voice now started to waver and the mystically beautiful place was fading to darkness. Hitomi cried after him,
"Wait! I still don't know who you are!" But his image started to fade and fade...
-End Of Dream-
Tai'an - China - 14:07 pm - 12/05/2013
Hitomi woke up to Leifang's loud sobs and moans, while a damp cloth was on her forehead, cooling it down. Her eyes fluttered open to see her friend's head in her hands, a woman leaning against the doorframe, and a man with blond hair watching his lap sorrowfully. She blinked a couple of times and hoarsely, she said,
"Leifang?"
The Chinese beauty immediately stopped crying, even if her cheeks were stained with fresh tears. Her eyes basically bulged out of her skull as she saw Hitomi cough loudly, catching everyone's attention. The blond man had to restrain Leifang from jumping on Hitomi and squeezing the life out of her. Hesitant at first, he finally placed a warm hand on her thigh. Hitomi moaned and stretched all her muscles.
"How long was I out for?" She asked, scratching her head. The blond man, whom she hadn't recognised yet, looked at her wryly.
"About a week." He said. His voice was very familiar, and his accent obviously occidental but she was too tired to recognise it. Instead, she decided to call him something else.
"Thanks, Real Man." She said, making him blush and laugh nervously. Leifang seemed to smile a bit.
"She doesn't seem to recognise me. Maybe she has a slight amnesia... maybe I should call Mingyu. Mei Lin! Qǐng jiào Míngyǔ!" Please call Mingyu! He called in flawless Chinese. A little girl with Chinese styled pigtails nodded saying,"Hǎo ba!" Alright! Then ran outside. Leifang sat there, quite impressed with his Chinese.
"I didn't known you spoke Chinese, Eliot!" She beamed at him. Eliot felt his cheeks colour and he nervously laughed again.
"There's a lot of things you don't know about me, Leifang." He responded
Suddenly, it clicked to her. Hitomi smiled brightly, her eyes a bright shade of blue and yelled,
"Eliot! It's you! I knew I'd recognise your accent anywhere!" Hitomi said, then threw her arms around him, hugging him fiercely. Eliot responded with the same force, then Leifang joined in. A loud cough separated them.
"Mingyu!" Eliot said, pulling away from his two friends. Mingyu, an eighteen year old girl with dark brown hair and black eyes was glaring at both of the girls. She was beautiful, but Leifang didn't like her one bit. Neither did Hitomi, since her eyes turned completely black when she saw her. Andra also noticed that something was wrong with Mingyu and decided to not trust the young girl.
"Well, Eliot? Who are your friends?" She asked, frowning.
Somewhere in Yokosuka - Japan - 15:12 PM - 12/05/2013
"Master Hayate." Said Ayane, extremely nervous. In fact, she was shaking. Hayate, who was staring at a picture of him and Hitomi, frowned when he saw his youngest sister.
"Yes? What is it, Ayane?" He asked, putting the picture away. Ayane unfortunately saw a glimpse of it and frowned deeply. 'He's not going to be happy, but I have to tell him.' The kunoichi thought bitterly
"I... I have news. From China." She added quickly. Her brother raised an eyebrow at her.
"And...?"
"A plane crashed in Tai'an a week ago. No survivors." She said, wincing. Hayate rolled his eyes.
"How does that concern me, Ayane?" Hayate asked impatiently.
"Well I...we found the passenger list. They were at least sixty-four people on the plane..." Ayane continued. Hayate just blinked at her, remaining completely silent. A voice inside his head told him he wouldn't like this one bit.
"But they were only sixty-one corpses. The three others were declared exploded in the crash." She rambled on, then took a list out of her pocket. She read it silently, her face paling by the second.
"Well?" Hayate pressed. Swallowing a lump in her throat, The Killer Kunoichi continued.
"The three passengers declared were Andra Carter, Liao Leifang and..." She paused,"Hitomi...Buchfink..."
Was there ever a moment in your life when you thought that you'd never see the good in things again? When you thought that all the effort that you've done was completely shattered? Ever felt like your heart was slowly, painfully breaking and you thought that you'd never make the effort to smile ever again? That's what Hayate felt. Dread. Numbness. Anger. Heart-brokenness. Sadness. All at once.
He considerably paled as his brown eyes brimmed with unshed tears, but he will not cry in front of her. He knew that she was ever so slightly pleased. Even just a bit.
"Te kudasai, Ayane." Please, Ayane. Hayate said, forcing his voice to be strong for her. "Mama ni, watashi wa anata o kou." Leave, I beg you. He continued. Ayane silently got out of the room, leaving Hayate with only one question.
Why her?
For the first time in his life, Hayate let tears fall out of his eyes, crying for the pain he carried. He reminded himself of the day his mother got told that Shiden died in a mission. She was a crying mess for the whole day until she was told that she was lied to.
But he knew Ayane didn't lie. Sincerity was written all over her face.
'Hitomi...'
He didn't leave his room to go eat dinner.
Ayane felt like a monster for telling her brother that she died. A small part of her tried to tell her that it was better, that she was distracting Hayate, but another part felt like she just lost Kasumi again. The day her half sister left was the worst day and best day of her life. Best because she was told to kill her, worst because she didn't want to kill her. Even if she was horribly jealous, she'll never truly hate Kasumi, because she was the first person that accepted her.
So losing Hitomi felt the same. She never meant harm to the kunoichi and treated her respectfully. She never insulted her and always managed to make Ayane crack a smile. Her friendly rival...
"Hey, you!" She cried to a Hajimon Ninja. The Ninja immediately bowed in front of her. Ayane glared at him with her hands on her hips.
"Anata to anata no ninja no ichibu o toru. Watashitachiha, yoake ashita taianshi no tame ni nokoshite, sore o gimon-shi sezu, hayate-sama o oshiete inai. Rikai?" Take some of your ninja with you. We are leaving for Tai'an tomorrow at dawn, don't question why and don't tell Master Hayate. Understood? She said quietly. The ninja nodded and hurried away.
Ayane didn't believe that she was dead. So she planned on going to see and decide if she was dead or not.
'Let's just hope she isn't ashes by now.'
With that, she entered her house and started to pack her clothes. It was going to be a long trip.
A/N: Yes! I know Hayate is acting like a girl, but you'd feel the same if the girl or man you loved died. Oops... too many details;). Sorry for spelling errors and please review! :)