Chapter 1 - Memories of Sorrow

The impromptu orgy lasted for some four hours or so, during which Ayane was blissfully fucked by her black-skinned sexual partners is many varied ways, had her holes filled with their cum, orgasmed more times than she had managed to count, and had almost been bathed in cum, so much of it there had been. It was enough to achieve what she had wanted from it: During those four hours, she had completely forgotten about all the worries, all the heartaches, all the responsibilities, all the expectations, all the distaste she had endured during her lifetime. There had been only sex, and the sweet oblivion that came with it.
 
She had fallen asleep amidst Bald, Pony and Spiky, thoroughly exhausted and satisfied, and had slept a restoring dreamless sleep. Ayane had awoken spontaneously, her biological clock rising her from slumber at the exact time she needed it. A quick examination revealed her dress, heels and purse had been set aside, on top of a chair, and were clean, not having suffered through the inherent dirtiness from the previous night’s activities. The same however, couldn’t be said of her skin, which felt sticky and crusted in places, and her hair was a complete mess of strands sticking together everywhere. She also stank, practically reeked, of cum, and no way was she getting out of the room looking like that.
 
Half an hour later, she was getting off the bathroom, a borrowed towel finishing drying off her hair, but otherwise naked. She was wondering if she ought to wake up her one-night lovers, but Bald had waken up while she showered, and was sitting on the sofa, drinking from a water bottle. “Morning.” He spoke.
 
“Morning yourself.” Ayane answered, finishing with her hair, and allowing him to admire her naked boy, which he knew intimately after last night. 
 
“Last night was… beyond words.” He told her, and the kunoichi could tell he was being honest about it. “I’ve been with a good number of women before, but you… you were something out of this world.” 
 
She smiled at him. “You guys were also awesome, and everything a… “BBC-starved slut”, quotation marks, could have wanted.” And she was being honest with him, for she couldn’t remember a better night than the previous one, one that been so passionately intense, one where she had been such a willing participant, one where she had been as pleasured as she had. So many of her sexual activities were forced on her by the circumstances of her “job”, and in so many of those, her own pleasure wasn’t a matter to be considered. She didn’t have to go as far as she had when seducing them, and she certainly didn’t need to drug them with aphrodisiac, and let them ravage her like she had. She could have messed with their mind, using illusion magic, but instead she had fully indulged in them.
 
“You don’t need to speak like that. I know that’s an act you’re playing, part of the seduction game, and I personally don’t need it.” He stood up, letting Ayane see his cock was flaccid despite her nakedness, not a surprise after the exertion from last night. He scratched his bald head in a sign of embarrassment, which was rather cute. “We’re staying here another three days, so if you want to hang out, you’ll be more than welcomed. Not only during the evening and night…” The torrid sex period. “… but also during the day. I’d very much like to hang out with you.” A twinge of something warm and sweet pulsated within her heart. He was being painfully honest in telling her he enjoyed her company, a sentiment that had been largely absent during her life. “You don’t even need to tell m… us, your name, if you don’t want to.”
 
Ayane smiled warmly at him, and the idea of spending three days with the trio was beyond tempting… but she had responsibilities to attend to. “I’m sorry. I’d love to, but my reservation ends today, and I’m leaving Vegas.” She answered him. “Last night… part of it was about finishing my vacation here on a very high note.” For the first time since meeting them, she allowed her true emotions to show. “But I loved it, and would love to spend more time with you guys, but I can’t. I’m going back to Japan.” 
 
Bald looked both sombre and sad. “Then, I guess there’s nothing to do.” He pointed out.
 
They remained in a sober, yet comfortable silence as Ayane slid into her dress, and put on her heels. Bald brought her thong, and offered it to her, but she pushed it against his chest. “Keep it, a memento of last night.”
 
“I don’t think I’ll ever be able to forget you, panties or not… Miss Jane” He answered her, and despite all the training that had been drilled into her mind for over a decade, about how she shouldn’t allow herself to feel attached to anything or anyone during missions, Ayane grabbed his head and gently pulled him down into a kiss. It was sweet, it was honest, it was loving, it was all the vast majority of her kisses weren’t.
 
They broke after a minute or so. “A-Ayane… my name is Ayane.” She told him, those five words breaking several laws of her village.
 
“Carl.” He replied, then pointed at Spiky. “Joey.” And Pony. “Winston.” He ran his right-hand on Ayane’s left arm. “I’ll let them know when they wake up. Should be a while.” He looked lost for words, so Ayane placed a chaste kiss on his lips.
 
“Bye.” She spoke.
 
“Bye.” He answered.
 
As the elevator’s doors closed, Ayane allowed herself to rage about how spending those extra three days at the hotel wouldn’t be the biggest of problems, how the possibility of setbacks was taken in account for missions, how she could come up with some excuse… but she wouldn’t do it. She couldn’t, not when the respect she currently enjoyed within the clan had been so hard-fought to gain, not when she still got those dark looks from some clan members. She couldn’t be any less than perfect, for they wouldn’t forgive her if that wasn’t the case.
 
How she hated the Mugen Tenshin Clan at times! Yet, she looked for their approval most of all…
 
She returned to her bedroom, whereupon she changed from her cocktail dress into a gym top and shorts, she had an appointment at the SPA, and she wasn’t going to lose it.
 
…
 
Ayane almost purred in satisfaction as the masseuse put pressure on her lower back, kneading the muscles located there. She wouldn’t forgive herself if she had left the hotel without having a lengthy massage, so she had booked a full-body course the previous day. The kunoichi was currently laying down on the massage mattress, naked except for a white G-string she had put on. The room was darkened, just with ambient lighting illuminating it, the sound of running water invaded her ears, and some nice incense was being burned. They clearly aimed at creating as a relaxing ambience as they could.
 
The masseuse had strong and skilled hands, showing her abilities even in this initial warm-up, as she sort of “scouted” Ayane’s body for the points that would require the most attention. It didn’t really start until the purple-haired ninja felt oil being dripped on the soles of her feet, at which point the masseuse’s hands really started working their magic, rubbing her sole and toes, kneading and pressuring every inch of skin and muscle, even working on each individual toe! It was enough to almost make Ayane moan.
 
Next were her calves, which were also oiled, followed by what Ayane would call a teasingly slow massage, where it felt as though the masseuse was making sure every singular muscle was being worked on, until it reached a level of supreme relaxation. She then lifted Ayane’s leg into a 90-degree angle, and did the same for her shin. The other lower leg followed, and already Ayane was feeling the most relaxed she had in weeks.
 
Her thighs followed, being carefully oiled and massaged, some soreness she had been dealing with there disappearing completely, and then her buttocks were also given a proper massaging. The masseuse’s hands were completely different from Carl’s, Joey’s or Winston’s hands. They were smaller, but stronger in a specific way, and much more knowledgeable than theirs. Ayane wouldn’t have minded being completely naked for the massage, but the hotel had rules, so she complied with them.
 
Still… how would it have been if, say, Carl had known how to give a massage? 
 
Ayane might have been tempted to marry him, if she were being honest. A black guy with a big cock, who knew how to use it, could give a good massage, and was an excellent kisser!!! It was like all her weak points were combined in just one person!
 
As her lower back was being oiled, Ayane started feeling drowsy due to how utterly relaxed she was. She felt as though she was in a trance while her lower back, back, arms, hands and neck were massaged. And it wasn’t until the masseuse asked her to turn around, that the Hajinmon Master fully came back to senses. Ayane complied with the request, making sure she kept a towel covering her breasts, and then proceeded to have her front thighs, her tummy, and the top of her chest massaged. The grand finale came when the masseuse started giving her a head massage, focusing on her temples, cheeks and between her brows, working every pressure point located on her face, and Ayane felt as though she was floating on a lake, completely separated from this world.
 
As blissful as it was, it had to come to an end, and it did once the masseuse told her so. Ayane slowly opened her eyes and rose up, making sure to keep the towel over her breasts, and saw that over an hour had passed, and she felt heavenly relaxed. She thanked the masseuse for the service and got dressed before leaving the SPA. Inside the lobby, she could see a commotion going on, as several of the hotel’s guests were set in small groups, all talking about something.
 
The purple-haired beauty was certain she knew what the topic was, but she still walked to the reception, and inquired on what had happened. The answer was what she had expected: a guest had passed away during the night, seemingly from a sudden heart attack, their dead only being discovered as they weren’t coming out of their room. Ayane made sure the show off the perfectly balanced mix of sudden shock and feigned care that most people would display in such a situation, before going back to her room, take another shower, get dressed, finish packing, and checking out of the hotel.
 
As she was leaving, she took a look around the lobby, but her sexual partners from last night were nowhere to be seen. She signed, a feeling of disappointment coming over her, but she had to leave, for she had a flight to catch, and then a trip within Japan before she could return home.
 
…
 
The flight was, as expected, uneventful, as was her trip back to the Mugen Tenshin Clan’s village, and despite all the bad things Ayane associated with the hidden village, it was comforting to be back home once again. As soon as she had entered the Hajinmon compound, her second-in-command, Yoshihiro, was there. “Shishō, welcome back. Did the mission conclude as expected?” he asked rhetorically, for verbal confirmation was necessary to close it for good. Yoshihiro was about three times her age, and had been one of her sensei while she grew up, but the older man, old enough to be her grandfather, had seamlessly fallen in line when Ayane had been appointed as the new Master of the sect by Shiden-Dono.
 
“It all went as planned Yoshihiro-San. They blamed it on a sudden heart attack, so there were no suspicions of foul play.” Ayane replied as she dropped her luggage on her room. “Please report to Tono-Sama of the success, and, are there any noteworthy news within the village?” She asked as she took off her stockings, and jacket, her mini-skirt following shortly after.
 
“Nothing new to report, Shishō, the training of Hajinmon genin proceeds within the expected timetable, much the same as within the Tenjinmon sect, and we will have promotion ceremonies within the next month.” Ceremonies she was required to attend of course, one of her many current responsibilities, Ayane reminded herself, as she pulled off her top, and was left clad only in her purple thong. She knew Yoshihiro’s eyes were stuck to the floor, for the old jōnin was not one to break formalities. “Hime-Sama should have arrived at the Shiranui compound late last night, though we still await confirmation.” He continued, while Ayane put on a purple yukata, decorated with white and darker purple blossoms, and cut at the middle of her thighs, rather than bellow her knees, leaving her legs exposed. 
 
“It’s Hime-Sama’s…” How she detested uttering those words. “…first diplomacy meeting, correct?” She tied the yukata with a dark purple obi, finally turning around to face Yoshihiro, whose eyes rose from the floor. “Yes, Hime-Sama has previously been a part of such meetings, but this is the first time Hime-Sama acts as the clan’s official representative.” It was a good contrast between the two Mugen Tenshin sects: the Hajinmon sect did most of the dirty work, and all the disreputable tasks necessary for the clan’s continued survival; the Tenjinmon sect did all the diplomatic work, and all the missions and tasks which would be written about and remembered in the future. In other words, Ayane did an important and necessary, but dirty, assassination mission, whose only record would be kept secret forever, whereas Kasumi did a diplomatic mission, for which she’d be greatly praised and lauded once she came back.
 
She was ever living in the dark recesses of her half-sister’s shadow.
 
“Confirmation should be arriving soon. Thank you for the update, Yoshihiro-San, but now I’d like not to be disturbed, unless it is an urgent matter.” The jōnin nodded and left the room without making a sound, leaving Ayane alone again, who proceeded to partially undo her luggage, taking particular care when hanging her cocktail dress. She really liked it, it was pretty expensive, and it was now a source of pleasant memories for her.
 
The Hajinmon Shishō then left her room, walked through the compound, grabbing some incense and matches, putting on wooden geta, and exiting the large estate. The day was a warm summer day, perfect for the light yutaka she was wearing, and she breathed in deeply the clean air of the mountain, feeling reinvigorated by it. The villagers gave her polite nods of acknowledgement as she walked by, not the reference and adoration that her half-sister got, but far from the distasteful and judgemental (You don’t belong here. You should have never been allowed to stay.) stares she had endured for most of her life.
 
The village’s graveyard stood in front of her. Ayane paused, just looking at it, before entering. 
 
Once inside she walked to a relatively recent grave. Ayane kneeled before it, lit up her incense sticks and put them on the sand pot for them, which had a purple bandana, stained with long-dried-up mud and blood, wrapped around it. She then closed her eyes, put her hands together, palm to palm, at her eye level, and wordlessly prayed. 
 
Eventually she opened her eyes, and being aware nobody else was in the graveyard, not even hiding, she finally spoke. “Good morning, Hayate Onii-San.” She looked at the gravestone with his name inscribed. “Came back from a mission outside the country. Killed someone who was putting the village in danger. It was easy work, and I even had some unexpected benefits out of it.” Carl, Joey and Winston’s faces came to her mind. “Remember how I once told you I had nightmares about the people I killed? I don’t have them anymore. Guess I’ve gotten over it… or maybe I’ve just grown… heartless to it.” 
 
She takes a deep breath. “It’s nice… no longer having nightmares like that, I’m no longer a little girl, who might scramble under her Onii-San’s covers because she had a bad dream… and you’re no longer alive to hold me, and reassure me, and make it go away…” She could feel her heart aching… but how?! It’s been over two years since that rainy, that horrible, that cursed, day…
 
…
 
Rain is falling hard as Ayane runs over the steps. Her shōzoku is soaked with water, her bandana is sticking to her head, her right hand is tightly gripping a kunai, and her heart is going a mile per minute, as she sees another corpse, this one a Tenjinmon chūnin with his neck broken, and next to him, a villager also lies dead, his face caved in.
 
Ayane runs up the steps, and into the centre of the village, where she sees several villagers, and some Shinobi surrounding one man alone. A Hajinmon Kunoichi jumps towards the man, bringing her tanto on a downwards slash, but the man, almost boredly, avoids her attack, and his open palm crashes against her throat. She falls down, grabbing onto her crushed windpipe, as another pair of Tenjinmon ninja attempt a coordinated attack, but the man easily deflects their attacks, and his counters send them flying, crashing against houses.
 
Ayane clearly sees him then, sees the black dōgi with a ram symbol on the back, the set of armour, tabi-style boots, an obi and sash tied around his waist, the wraps around his forearms, and a pendant necklace around his neck. His hair is dark grey, with sideburns converging on a moustache. His has one single eye, for his right one has been destroyed, a vertical scar running over it. She knows who that man is, who the nukenin is, who that monster is!!!
 
“RAIDOU!!!!!!” She shouts, just as he snaps a villager’s neck, catching his attention and causing the nukenin to look at her. His one good eye is dark brown, and it stares at her light red ones, unblinking. It remains unblinking as Ayane jumps at him with a flying kick, and as he dodges her attack. The Kunoichi launches a storm of attacks on him: kicks; knees; elbows; palms; fists; kunai swipes and stabs. All of which are avoided or blocked in an almost bored manner. Ayane furiously aims a slice at his neck, but the nukenin just moves his hand in a waving motion, twisting her wrist to the side, grasping it, then pulling out, her kunai coming out, grasped in his hand.
 
Raidou doesn’t even look at the weapon, he just tosses it aside… right into the throat of a Tenjinmon Kunoichi with a bow aiming at him. Ayane sees it, and launches another flurry of attacks, her hate for this man boiling hotter than anything ever before, screaming gutturally at him!
 
And he keeps effortlessly blocking all her attacks with only his right arm and hand, not even bothering with using his left. Ayane sees red and loses all semblance of self-control, her attacks become sloppy and careless, and before she realizes it, she hears a cracking sound, and a horrible pain flaring on her left elbow. 
 
She drops down to her knees, clutching her left elbow, which has either been dislocated or broken. Ayane wants to scream and wail, but she won’t give Raidou that satisfaction, so she bites hard on her lip, enough to draw blood, and her tears are masked by the falling rain. “You’re an interesting one, little girl.” He says, finally showing some curiosity in him. “Why does a lowly chūnin come at me with that amount of rage? It’s been many years since I’ve left the clan.” He doesn’t know who she is! Of course he doesn’t, why would he know, why would he care!!
 
“How can you say that after all the crimes you’ve committed against the clan?!!” Ayane channels her rage into her voice, lashing at him verbally in a way she couldn’t physically. “You betrayed your clan, your Shishō, your Ujinokami, your own brother!!! You became a nukenin, and went about doing whatever you felt like, consequences be damned, even though they’d always come back to haunt the clan!!!” Her elbow was destroyed, but her hand still managed to reach out for the smaller kunai hidden behind her shinguard. “And then… and then seventeen years ago you came back, and you… you…” Tears of impotent rage freely flow over her face, and her voice nearly cracks. “… you came back… and you RAPED Ayame-Dono!!! You raped your own sister-in-law!! Just because you felt like it, just because it would pain Tono-Sama!!!” If looks could kill, Raidou would be a pile of ashes in the rain, but he remained collected instead. “And… and… con-consequences be d-dam-damned…” She was sobbing now, no longer able to keep her emotions in check.
 
Ayane couldn’t see it, but her last condemnation of him seemed to snap something in Raidou’s mind. He smiled at last. “Ah, I see, so that’s why you’re so furious at me. It’s personal, of course it is.” His hand grasped her jaw, digging into her skin, painfully gripping her bones, forcing her to look at him. “Yes, you have that same look, her look she gave me that day seventeen years ago. Hate, tempered by anguish and almost drowned by shame.” His smile seemed to grow even bigger. Even scarier. “I had heard my seed had found germination within Ayame’s womb, and that she had carried the baby to term. And that baby was allowed to live, allowed to become…” He paused just as lighting lit the clouded sky, and thunder roared simultaneously.
 
“…You.” He finished, matter of fact. “So, you’re my daughter, aren’t you?” Raidou rhetorically asked, and by that point Ayane had passed her kunai to her right hand, and she roared with all her hate as she stood up and tried to stab the blade into his smiling face… only for her head to snap backwards, her teeth crashing together in such a loud way Ayane was sure they had broken, and then her right cheek and her left eye lit up in pain, before the purple-haired kunoichi felt what she swore was a pneumatic jackhammer crash against her abdomen, sending her flying away and crashing against a wooden door.
 
Her torso was burning. Pain growing ever greater in her right flank, where she had crashed against the door. She had to have at least a couple of broken ribs, and felt like a puppet whose strings had been cut. She couldn’t move, the pain wouldn’t allow her to.
 
She heard footsteps coming closer, and as she tried to open her eyes, she realized only her right eye managed to. She could already feel the bruise forming on her left eye, already swelling. “I commend your persistence, daughter, but persistence shouldn’t be mixed with foolishness, for such combination rarely pays off.” Ayane saw he was holding her purple bandana on his left hand. How had he taken it off of her?! “I’m not here for you, girl, but it was a pleasant surprise none-the-less. There’s so much hate in you, daughter, but you know not how to use it, how to weaponize it. Should you ever be able to do it, then I’m sure you’ll be a force to be reckoned with. But not today, today, you learn a lesson from your old Pa.” He was mocking her, he didn’t take her seriously, he hadn’t at any point since she’d made her presence known. “Never raise a hand against your old man. Punishment will be swift and hard if you do.” He grasped her jaw again, and the floodgates opened fully, tears, snot and sobs coming out, years of it finally escaping all at once.
 
“Let her go, Raidou!!!” Ayane immediately recognized the voice, her eye looking behind her most-hated father, and into the white shōzoku-clad form of her half-brother, Hayate. He had three jōnin with him. “Your rampage stops here, and finally the Mugen Tenshin Clan will recover its lost honour!!” He was wielding a katana, much like his followers.
 
“Ah, Shiden’s welp has finally decided to show himself.” He released Ayane and turned around. “Finally came to meet your uncle, did you?” He walked forward with a confidence that didn’t feel as though he had four skilled Shinobi ready to fight him… and in the next minute he showed why that was.
 
Ayane witnessed, in mute terror, how Raidou got rid of the jōnin, one after the other, until only Hayate still stood. How he disarmed him, and then toyed with him, hitting him with only a fraction of his power, using only one hand, while verbally abusing him, calling him weakling and useless, all the while still gripping Ayane’s bandana in his left hand. “You’re a disappointment, boy. Is that the best our bloodline has produced?! Shiden’s heir??!! That stupid girl showed more fire than you’ve done so until now!!” Raidou unleashed a quick series of attacks, finishing with a punch to Hayate’s gut, dropping him down to his knees. “You’re weak!! Pathetic!!! You and her have the same mother, but it seems like the seed makes all the difference here!”
 
The red-eyed kunoichi had managed to rise up, forcing her hurt body to do it. She couldn’t stand it anymore; she couldn’t stand still and watch Hayate Onii-San be humiliated like this. Ayane tried throwing a punch, but instead she felt an iron-like grip grabbing around her throat, and lift her from the ground.
 
She couldn’t breathe!!!
 
Her left arm dangled, useless, her ribs were sending jolts of pain across her body, she was hurting from several different body areas, and now her lungs were going aflame with lack of oxygen. Ayane weekly hit Raidou’s arm with her right hand and her knees, but it felt like it was made of solid steel, unyielding and unbreakable. Her vision, the half she still had, was showing black spots as she desperately tried to take some hair in.
 
She didn’t want to die.
 
“I’m going to kill this sorry excuse for a daughter, boy, so if you don’t want her death on your conscience, you better step up your game!” Raidou declared, watching Hayate standing up, and then assuming a stand, his left arm sightly bent in front of him, his right one also slightly bent, but half-risen. “The Art of Rending Wind!! Finally!!!” Ayane was thrown away, landing on the mud, on top of her injured arm, letting out a cry of pain as her body fell on the broken limb. But despite that, she forced herself to look, to open her right eye and see.
 
Hayate Onii-San and Raidou stood in front of each other, maybe 20 meters between them, and they had assumed mirrored stands, both men concentrating their spiritual energy. And in that moment Ayane knew what her brother was doing! He was going for the Tenjinmon sect’s greatest weapon, their secret Ninpō, the one thought only to the sect’s Shishō, the clan’s Ujinokami. He was going to win, he was going to defeat Raidou, because no one could stand before the Art of Rending Wind!!!
 
She saw Hayate form a series of seals with his hands, before he pulled his arms to his right side, as if he was cradling something round, cracking energy building between his hands, like electricity inside a bulb… but to her horror, she saw Raidou mimicking him, doing the same. A terrible feeling took hold of her heart as she saw Hayate open his mouth.
 
“Ōgi: Rekkū Jinpū Satsu!!” He shouted, before throwing his hands forward and shooting a ball of white energy in Raidou’s direction.
 
“Ōgi: Rekkū Jinpū Satsu!!!!” Raidou bellowed a fraction of a second later, sending a ball of red energy against Hayate’s.
 
For a moment it appeared as if the sun had materialized underneath the dark clouds, but it wasn’t the sun. It was a clash between two waves of the Art of Rending Wind. Ayane could see how the earth got scorched in the path the spiritual spheres of energy had travelled, and how the ground broke apart at the point where the two collided. Hayate Onii-San’s was standing its ground against Raidou, but Ayane saw how her brother stood on unsteady legs, how his stance was wobbly, how strained his face looked… and Raidou stood confident, firm, a pillar of strength, unmoving and irresistible. “Thank you, boy, for giving me what I wanted, but your use is at an end, now!!” He declared, and suddenly he sent even more energy into his side of the beam clash, and that overpowered Hayate’s, dissipating it, and shooting towards him.
 
“ONII-SAN!!!!!!!!!”
 
It was as if the world had gone into slow-motion. Ayane saw how the scarlet energy sphere travelled towards her brother, and she swore time seemed to stop as it collided against him, tearing his shōzoku, cutting and burning into his flesh. She sees his mouth open in a scream of pain which she isn’t able to hear, and sees his body being project backwards, much faster than hers had been sent by Raidou’s blow.
 
She sees him collide with bone-crushing strength against the wide, thick trunk of a tree, his body bending in a way no human body should, before crashing down to the ground.
 
When she next has awareness again, Ayane is kneeling before the broken body of her brother, somehow having crawled to him while in a blackout. She sees how his arms and legs are bending at angles that are just wrong, how his neck is turned in a way it can’t possibly turn, how his eyes are open, but vacant, dark, with not a sign of life to them.
 
She lays a trembling hand on his neck, feeling for a pulse, but finding none.
 
Tears come unbidden to her eyes, her breaths come out panicked, her whole body is quaking. “H-Hayate Onii-S-San??!!” She calls for him, getting no answer.
 
“O-O-Onii-San??!!!” She calls again, this time using her right hand to shake him. No response comes from him.
 
Her sobs are coming out unrestrained now, as she calls for her brother, shakes him, even beats on him with her good hand, desperate to make him wake, desperate for him to show he’s still alive, desperate for the horrible truth not to be real.
 
But he still doesn’t answer to her pleas.
 
She is sobbing over his body as more Shinobi finally arrive to see the carnage brought by Raidou. She keeps sobbing, glued to the body even as people try to pull her away from it. She’s still desperately and sorrowfully sobbing as their mother shows up. Sees her son’s corpse being cradled by her daughter, and collapses to the ground, not caring how her kimono is stained by mud and rain. “H-H-Haya-Hayate…!!!” Ayame cries, her tear-stained face showing a mask of terrible grief as she reaches for the body that had, just some minutes ago, been her son, and joins her bastard daughter in mourning him.
 
Ayane doesn’t even notice how her mother’s arms eventually wrap themselves around her, how she’s pulled into Ayame’s embrace, their heads rubbing together, as despite her sorrow, the brunette does whatever she can to console her daughter.
 
Ayane eventually notices her bandana, though. The purple piece of fabric floating on a mud puddle next to her brother’s legs. Mechanically, as if somebody else was controlling her body, Ayane sees her good arm reach for it, grasp it, and then close around it with such strength she draws blood from her own palm.
 
All she can feel in that moment, all that briefly sustains her inner flame, all that prevents her from breaking down completely, is the pure burning hate she feels against her brother’s killer. Her own father.
 
She sees blood running over the cloth of the bandana.
 
…
 
She hadn’t worn a bandana ever since.
 
Ayane opens her eyes, and is surprised for feeling tears running down her face. She looks at the grave and sees how much the shadows have advanced since she had kneeled down. She had to have been there for over half an hour, lost in her memories.
 
She furiously wipes her tears. The Shishō of the Hajinmon sect can’t allow herself to cry like this, over memories. How great would be her shame if anyone had seen like this?! She’d be giving ammunition for those who might want to see her removed from her position, those who had held nothing but distaste and contempt against her, ever since she had been born. She wouldn’t give them that. Ever.
 
Her tears wiped, Ayane sees how the incense sticks have burnt out, so she light new ones before she stands up… at which point she senses movement from behind her, and instinctively turns around on a combat stance, her right hand drawing a kunai from its hidden concealment within her obi, furious at herself for not having noticed the presence earlier.
 
It’s Yoshihiro… but that can only mean…
 
“Shishō, my apologies for interrupting!” He says while taking a knee. “But Tono-Sama has urgently called for your presence!!” Ayane finds her heart beating at a frantic pace as she quickly thinks about what might have caused this, and she comes to a quick answer…
 
“Kasumi…” She mutters to herself.
 
“We just received word from the Shiranui clan. Hime-Sama and her retinue failed to arrive at the compound.” An enormous feeling of dread comes over her. “Something must have happened to them!”


And now you know what's the big diverging path for this AU story. Raidou didn't just cripple Hayate and left him in a coma, before DOA1, in this story he actually killed him, right in front of Ayane, who saw her beloved brother being killed in cold blood by her father, all for the sake of obtaining the clan's secret technique.

Hayate's death will bring more changes to the story of course, but those shall be covered in future chapters.

I really had a good time writing this chapter, specially the flashback portion, despite the level of violence and angst shown there. I made the whole thing more brutal than what the games showed, namely in having Ayane receiving a beating from Raidou, and him threatening to kill her in order to force Hayate in using the Art of Rending Wind. Quite honestly, I find it to be the best written piece I've done yet, as I think I did a good job balancing the violent and emotional content of it, and I'm rather proud of it.

I also tried to give a bit more depth to the Mugen Tenshin clan, looking to incorporating titles that might have fit there: Ujinokami (Clan head);  Shishō (Master);  jōnin (Upper Person); chūnin (Middle Person); genin (lower person). All in order to give it more substance (and from what I looked at, those titles for ninja are thought to have been used by real ninja clans in the past).

Again, feel free to comment on the story, for those are always welcomed.

