Chapter 22: The Amazons
Disclaimer: All rights reserved to KOEI TECMO, TECMO and Team NINJA. I am not Yosuke Hayashi.
A/N: AND I MAKE MY BIG RETURN AFTER 3 WEEKS!
I apologise for many things:
-My behavior before I left. I'm sorry, I just felt like nothing was right in my life so I became hostile. Please don't tell me I scared you off, because I'm normally not like that.
-The delay! Thank goodness I came back inspired. I HAVE TONS AND MILLIONS OF IDEAS!
-Killing Kasumi and leaving you with cliffhanger...some things are about to change ;)
ENJOY!
Don't forget to R&R!:)
The light was so bright, our heroes saw nothing and had to cover their eyes. Hayabusa held Kasumi's lifeless body close his, not caring of its state. And just like that, they were all in the middle of a fire circle. Beings clad with dark coats and tribal masks stared right back at them. Suddenly, sounds of drums sounded everywhere. It sounded almost...menacing, as if our heroes were not welcome in this territory. They suddenly chanted in their native language, which sounded strangely like Spanish. Andra's eyes widened as she heard Eliot yell when he felt hands pulling him to the darkness. He was not alone, as Jann Lee and Hayate getting the same treatment. Hayabusa fought, and the hands struggled to get him away from the copperheaded kunoichi.
"Stop!" Andra cried. The hands pulling at the three men stilled. The music from the drums stopped.
"Brynn! I want to speak to Brynn, right now!" She yelled yet again. The shadows did nothing, but suddenly, one advanced. Taking its mask off, revealing a beautiful woman with tanned skin, brown eyes, and dark, long curls that reached her back. Her face held many tattoos, never hiding her beauty.
"Who are you?" The woman named Brynn asked, planting her weapon down and glaring at The Huntress, her sentence coated with a thick Spanish accent. Andra's eyes lit up.
"Brynn! It's me, Andra!" She exclaimed, smiling. Brynn's eyes suddenly lit up with recognition, and she grinned brightly, running and engulfing Andra in a bear hug. The Huntress started laughing. The others looked confused, but suddenly Hayabusa seemed to have cried with joy.
"Her heart is beating! She's not dead!" He exclaimed. Hayate's teary eyes widened, as he detached himself from the hands and ran to the Dragon Ninja. He rested his head against her chest and grinned happily, his eyes full of unshed tears.
"It's small, but she's alive! She's alive!" He cried, touching his sister's soft face. Brynn calmly walked up to Kasumi, then crouched, watching her curiously. Suddenly her eyes widened, and she shouted,
"Todos ustedes! Bajen sus armas y llevar a esta chica a la Gran Bruja!" All of you! Put your weapons down and bring this girl to the Great Witch! The shadows agreed, letting their coats and masks fall, revealing slender, and very muscular bodies of women; all with dark hair and tan skin. They brought a stretcher out of nowhere and snatched Kasumi from Hayabusa's arms. Instinctively he grabbed his weapon, glaring at the women, but Andra stopped him by holding his shoulder.
"Don't. They're going to try and heal her." She said simply, calmly. Hayabusa moved away from her, not meeting anyone's eyes as he saw Kasumi getting carried away. Irene saw this, and couldn't help the small tinge of jealousy. She placed a hand on Hayabusa's arm and gave him a comforting smile. He said nothing and moved away from her, dismissing her, and followed Andra and the others. Hitomi surprisingly was not budging. She stared ahead, her eyes wide and colourless, her lips parted. Leifang moved next to her and grabbed her hand.
"You okay, Hitomi? You look...out of it." She said, frowning slightly. Hitomi slipped her hand away.
Hitomi...
"Who are you and what do you want?!" She shouted abruptly. All attention was on her.
Let me help you...come with me...
"Where? I don't know where to go!" She cried. Then nothing. Silence. Hitomi sunk on the ground, hanging her head and looking at her hands. Leifang crouched and wrapped an arm around her shoulder.
"Sorry...I just...there's this voice and...ugh." Hitomi rubbed her temples.
"It's okay, Tomi. If I heard you scream like that before and knew that you were still the Electus, I would think that's it's normal." Leifang replied, smiling. That made Hitomi giggle slightly. The two girls stood up, then followed the others to a loud village - filled with only women. All went silent when The four men entered the village. Little girls stuck tongues and teenagers giggled and waved at them. Ayane and Mingyu took no pleasure into being the centre of attention and glared at some women, who glared back.
"I am Brynn, the Right hand of the Queen of us, the Amazons. You might confuse us with the Amazons in ancient Greece. We are a group of women only, not heard of for many years, since we live in this dangerous forest, also that we call our home," Brynn said, then pointed to young girls who were silent, serene, their palms pressed against each other's, pointing to a statue, "they are praying to our goddess. She is Ch'aska. The young girls younger than eighteen pray to her, as she protects them, as they are not of age for sex." She said, her voice hushed.
Leifang couldn't help it, "but with who? There's no man around?"
Hitomi elbowed her side, hissing, "Leifang!" The Chinese gave her an incredulous look,mixed with confusion, while Brynn let out a small giggle. Andra rolled her eyes.
"Leifang, how do you think they reproduce?" She asked, looking bored.
"I don't know...magic?" She shrugged, blinking rapidly. Mingyu snickered, muttering something about Leifang being stupid, receiving a glare from the said girl.
"There are men around. But we only keep them if we have a...craving, or if we decide to have a child. If it is a girl, we keep her, and raise her until she is eighteen. That is when she loses her purity. If it is a boy, we raise him, then bring him with the other men." Brynn responded.
Ayane looked pale, "you don't mean...that if I was here, since I'm eighteen...does that mean I'll have to just...lose myself to some guy that I will never remember?"
Brynn smiled, nodding, "it has been tradition since the beginning of time."
Eliot looked horrified, "so you keep men for that?" He widened his eyes. Brynn nodded happily.
"That is why women are looking at you men strangely. They're not used to see men walking around freely, and-" Brynn was cut off by a woman, roughly the same age as Leifang and Andra, her long, dark hair in a braid, calling Brynn. The Amazon's eyes narrowed.
"What is it?" She asked. The woman leaned in and whispered in her ear. Nodding, Brynn sent the woman away.
"What's wrong? You look really worried." Irene said, watching her.
"The Queen. She wants to meet you."
-Dream-
Kasumi felt as if she had been walking for over three days. The tunnel was almost never ending- the light at the end never growing for her to see if she was near. She thought about giving up, and just as she was about to drop down, she heard loud cries, echoing against the walls. Since there was only one way, she continued to walk. The more she walked, the closer the noise was becoming.
She took long, quick strides, determined to find the origin of the sound. It sounded so strong and...alluring. As if she had to find the origin of the cries. Finally, she saw a light shining on a small form. She couldn't see well, but could tell that it was a little girl. Unconsciously, she held her stomach.
The little girl had long, brown hair like her mother's. She could also see a very familiar pink kimono from her back. Suddenly, the girl started to calm herself by sniffling, and slowly, she turned her head, meeting Kasumi's amber eyes with her forest green ones. Kasumi didn't have time to gasp as she saw her face. She looked exactly like-
"Mama?" The little girl whispered in Japanese.
Her father...
-End of Dream-
Kasumi inhaled deeply as she suddenly sat up, opening her eyes widely. She then narrowed them as she analysed her surroundings. The room was small, with many things that could belong to a museum. She looked down at herself, she wasn't wearing her black armour anymore but a soft, white robe. She frowned. Maybe she had died and went to heaven. The last thing she remembered was-
She sighed sadly. But it was quite expected. Did she really think that the kiss in the cave meant something? Maybe it was just to comfort her. Hayate used to do something similar, but on her forehead or her hair. Obviously, Hayabusa would fall for a prettier, mature woman. And Kasumi was barely one.
Besides, he wouldn't fall for a liar who was pregnant, and refused to reveal the identity of the father.
All thoughts were interrupted when an old woman with kind eyes entered the room. Kasumi was however intimidated by the woman's beauty. Even through her wrinkles.
"Oh, you're awake." The woman said, smiling. The young kunoichi tore her gaze away from her hazel eyes, still slightly intimidated and slightly uncomfortable, since she was bare under the robe.
"You don't have to be afraid, child," the woman continued, sitting down on the bed, "my name is Rona, and I am the Great Witch. I use my powers to bring fortune or misfortune to the village. I also am the chooser of the fathers of the women who desire to have children." She started to move things around.
Kasumi was confused, "excuse me, but where am I?" She asked in a tiny voice.
"Oh! Dear me, I had forgotten you were unconscious on your arrival. You are in the Amazon village. You and your friends are quite safe here. No demons will come near this village." The witch smiled.
"And what you said about choosing the women's...partners?" Kasumi slowly asked, slightly horrified.
"Yes, I choose women's partners." The Witch repeats.
"But, do you not fall in...in love? Do you not...marry?" The kunoichi asked, eyes widening.
"Love? Marriage? What nonsense. No woman here ever falls in love. It is something banished and thrown away to the Men in the other village. Do you want to know why, child?" The older woman asked. Kasumi watched her warily, but nodded, her curiosity peaked.
The woman smiled, and began her tale.
It was many years ago, when there was no Amazon, only a normal village with both women and men living together. To this day, we do not know the name of the village, but it was happy. There were occasional wars, but nothing too drastic.
In the village, in this same forest, lived a beautiful girl. Her name was Ascencion. Never mind her young age, which was nineteen, she was loved by all men from all ages. However, Ascencion had eyes for only one man. Ironically, he was the handsomest. The golden boy. The best hunter. He was loved and praised by many women. But Ascencion believed that she loved him the most, going as far as thinking that she was in love. One night, she declared that she did love him.
The man, who had only felt lust when looking at her, accepted her feelings greedily, and that night, they made love. Ascencion was happy. She thought that the man she loved, loved her back. And afterwards, she found out that she was pregnant with his child. She was beyond happiness, and of course, she had called the whole village, and declared it, claiming that the man was the father.
The most unusual thing happened; he denied everything. He denied ever spending the night with her or even being the father. He had told that she was mad for thinking that. Ascencion had tears in her eyes, was shocked, hurt, angry, and ran away from the village. A few years later, she came back with a beautiful little girl at her arm. Everyone, her family, her friends were shocked to see her again. She called the whole village again, even the father of her child. Her words where these,
"I came back here to show you my daughter. She has the power to find out who is her father." Chuckles were heard around, but all was silent when the daughter showed a simple rope necklace with a cerulean stone at the end of it. It glowed, shined, and suddenly the little girl glared at the man that was her real father.
"You. You are my father." She said, coldly. The man paled as Ascencion smirked.
"My daughter has spoken for herself. He is the father of my child. All those years he has lied to you! That is the power of men. They would make you believe that the sky is green and the grass is blue. I cannot take it that we women cannot have that power. I ask you my sisters, I plead you! Follow me and leave these men! We do not need them, they need us! Follow me and leave this village." With one last glare to the man, she left. Women started to follow, started from five, to thirty, to fifty. The men chuckled nervously, calling them back teasingly, but the women followed Ascencion. Many years after, the Amazon village started. There was although a problem; how to reproduce? Then it came to them. Wars clashed against the men, to which they had victory. They had started to steal men away.
At a quite old age, on her death bed, Ascencion told her tale since the beginning, and right at the end, she pronounced,
"I now leave this land into my own eternal peace. My sisters, take care of us, and the Amazons will live forever."
"...and then she had died. The whole village was in mourning. I was just an infant at that time. Afterwards those words had hit us hard. I was pronounced Great Witch, as the stone was given to me." The witch showed her the necklace. Kasumi stared at it in awe. She couldn't help but compare her situation to Ascencion's. One had fallen in love, became pregnant and made her own destiny, while the other fell in love, became pregnant and...well that was up to her. She could tell the father.
"Can you keep a secret?" Kasumi whispered quietly after a few seconds of silence.
"I will not tell a soul if it is not to be shared." The Witch nodded, smiling.
"I-I'm pregnant." She said, a little too loudly. Silence took over, until it was broken by a door slamming. Kasumi's eyes widened as she saw a flash of purple through the window.
"Ayane..." She whispered.
Without warning, she stood and ran to the door, ignoring the pain and the Witch's protesting cries.
A/N: sorry it was shorter than any other chapter. I promise to make a longer one to make it up.
DUN DUN DUN! AYANE FOUND OUT! WHO ELSE WILL?
by the way, I will update WTSPH! soon, so patience!
Have an awesome day!
HOLY TWO.
Don't forget to R&R!:)